Life As I Know It

Benzer kept me company during exams. He was a German shepherd who was neglected, never loved and never taken out for walks. His master fed him well and the kids teased him. Benzer was ferocious and bad tempered but like all dogs he was a very good listener. Benzer’s cage was right opposite my room window which is why we had uninterrupted conversations which went on till late in the night. We had a routine -  5 nights a month ( during unit tests), 3 weeks i.e once every 6 months ( 2 weeks prior to exams and 1 week of exams) He could see the lights on in my room and he would wait for me to take my breaks to talk to him, he would sit and listen. What did I do for Benzer? There was one week every year that I would stay up late just to keep him calm. That was the week that led to Bakrid. His master would get 3 goats that were tied near Benzer’s cage. The goats would bleat and Benzer would bark. The animals knew their fate and Benzer knew their fate too. The master’s kids would pet the ...

Travelling has its perks especially because it gives you an opportunity to observe people. Being a lawyer I think I have managed to at least grasp the basic art of distinguishing between fact and fabrication when a client is telling me their story. Sifting – an art that helps one retain just the essentials to come to a conclusion. I don’t guarantee that the conclusion is concrete, a percentage of gut feeling contributes to the final conclusion. During my recent train travel to Bombay I met two characters that deserve a mention in my blog. 1.   The Creepy Overtly Social Guy: This person spoke to everyone in the coach. He started off by initiating a conversation which was reciprocated by some and bluntly cut short by others. The thing that creeped me out most about the guy was his body language which  wasn't  too obvious but there are little things that people do that causes some alarm switches to turn on inside my head. This particular guy set of at least 3 ala...

" I live life vicariously through violent movies"  - Ashwini Shenoy ---------* SPOILER ALERT*-------- ANY ONE WHO HASN'T SEEN PART 2 OF GANGS OF WASSEYPUR AND INTENDS TO WATCH IT READ NO FURTHER. I honestly wish the last 5 mins of movie were edited and removed for good. Otherwise Gangs of Wasseypur has been my movie of the year 2012. There are a lot of things that I particularly enjoyed about the movie apart from the violence and cussing. The sound track is very interesting and the title of this post is my favourite track from the movie. Nothing says it better than Keh ke lunga. In my mind I have killed a lot of people, done a lot of violent things but society prevents me from doing anything beyond the confines of the privacy i enjoy in the depths of a very imaginative mind which helps me through situations that would have gotten the better of me.  So watching Gangs of Wasseypur and the violence that it portrayed and the language that was used didn't just ...

"In journalism, there has always been a tension between getting it first and getting it right." Dear Journalists and police, IF( and this is a very big if) after what you Did: Crowding the court halls causing commotion without letting advocates represent their cases and then started foul mouthing the advocates. Resorted to blows. Threw around the court furniture. Man handled innocent advocates. Abused a judge. Burnt vehicles belonging to advocates and judges and you still have the gall to label lawyers as “Black Coat Bullies”? If the lawyers were actually how you have portrayed them in your papers and channels then the lawyers would have had no qualms about trashing every news room in the state. Portrayed a sad story of media persons being beaten black and blue by advocates. Airing half truths and only a part of the commotion that took place without investigating into the matter completely and branding advocates as goondas/hooligans/bullies. Only to find out af...

I’ve always hated lending my books to others. There are only a few handpicked people who have been allowed a glimpse of my collection. I am very particular [bordering on being psychotic] about how my books are handled. The only sign that the books have been read are the lines on the spine of the books I have. I do not have dog eared books, I don’t write or mark pages in my books, the pages of my books don’t come off and if they do I take care of them immediately. My biggest compliment ever to a person is when I let them borrow a book from me. I could not bestow any higher gesture of trust than that. During my French classes, on the days that I reached early I would sit at the back of the class and read a book while waiting for my class to commence. A girl who did not belong in my batch looked at the book I was reading and asked me if I could lend it to her after I was done reading it. I gave her my “eyebrows raised high” look. She misunderstood it to mean that I would lend her the book...