Hey, KM

You remember that book by Sooni Taraporewala I pointed you to? Well, turns out her fascination with her community has led her to make a film about them (also, a little bit of perspective about Parsi-based films in Indian cinema). All with contemporary issues and stuff, and an almost-entirely Parsi cast.

Bonus: There's apparently a scene in the film which the interior of a fire-temple has been recreated. I'm surprised there's not more hoo-haa about this, given how protective Parsis can be about these places. The film is probably worth watching just for that, if you've ever wondered what exactly goes on in there.

Now I feel like finding a gloomy old Irani cafe and trying to chat up the bespectacled (always bespectacled) owner about the film, before being (inevitably) shrugged off by the surly man, and deciding I'd rather just quietly enjoy my mawa cake and bun-pav-chai-extramaskakesaath.

Space, review please?


Update from comments: It's Bastani that's shut down (an old story about the state of Irani cafes here).

I Am, I Be

Take a stance, reach a decision, make a choice, follow a path.
Or don't.

Drink, or be a teetotaller. Carnivore, vegetarian. Feminist, traditionalist. Smoker, smoke-frantic-wave-offer. Mac/PC. Idlis loses to eggsontoast beats Porridge&cereal. I bike...Ha! but I drive. Kurta-jhola?No,no, torn jeans and slingbags! Writer, reader, listener. Happy-clappy fights show-me-a-miracle-now. Tolkien against Joyce. Socio? maybe Physics? maybe Stats. Dylan acoustic v Dylan electric. Couch potato hate lycra-lover.


You do or you don't.
You say or you don't.
You believe or you don't.
You are or you aren't.

On and on and on. Always with the making a choice.

And that's what defines us. Or that's how the world chooses to define us.

And look what a lovely little world we've made of it, eh?

Maybe we should just be more often.
Be more neutral, or be more everything.
Take a stance less often. Or learn some newer stances.
Make fewer choices. Or make more choices.
Reach that little twist in perception where you no longer have to choose between the choices. Or where you can choose all the choices.

I am, I be. And I refuse to be defined by my choices.

....except for mangoes. One is most decidedly all for mangoes. Make of that what you will.