deviousways

Our little man went back to school on Monday. We watched him put on his new t-shirt, wear his new pair of  shoes. We watched him walking with his new school bag, new lunch bag, new water bottle, new name tags And he looked so handsome and smart, and happy, that my heart swelled with pride, with love. I watched him walk beside his father and prayed he would be safe and secure in the world out there. As I went back inside our flat, I happened to look out the window of our living room. A small figure was standing on the open first floor of the under-construction building next door. Dressed in clothes that had been washed many times, this little boy certainly wasn't going to any school. There would be no new academic year for him. Just life on a series of construction sites. The boy is just one of the many children running around wild near our building. Their parents are migrant labourers from North Karnataka who have camped here to work on the under-development plots just bes...

So an out-of-town cop beat up his daughter in public, over an alleged affair.  People, including the girl's own mother, stood by and watched. I am sure the mother was distraught. But she did nothing. Two women passersby (may their tribe increase!) came to the girl's rescue and called the local cops. But in the end, the daughter failed to file a complaint. No surprises there. Perhaps the daughter is used to this kind of behaviour. Perhaps the mother gets beaten up too, back in their hometown. Perhaps both mom and daughter are conditioned to expect this abuse from the husband/father. Perhaps the daughter will go on to marry a man who will beat her up too. And if she has a daughter, than that girl too will grow up thinking this is normal. And the cycle of abuse will continue. Who is to blame? The mother for doing nothing. Mind you, she is a teacher. The bystanders for doing nothing. (Someone even took photographs. I wonder if someone else took a video on his/her s...

A sign I found on a private property on Spencer Road The sign says it all: A bungalow in the Cantonment area in Bengaluru The quaint names, the tree-lined streets, the quiet roads and most important, the bungalows make the Cantonment area, a sure-shot target for real estate 'developers'. My husband and I moved here ten years ago because of this old world charm--we loved the serene areas in and around Cooke Town, the streets adjoining Mosque Road, the hidden gems around Richards Park. But now standalone homes, of every size, from stately bungalows to matchbox-shaped houses, are morphing into apartment buildings. And the end result is a sandwiched existence. Take Davis Road for instance, where I live. Our building is a co-development project, a pact between the original owner and a builder (thankfully, the original structure was not a bungalow). Over the years, more co-development apartments have sprung up around us. In fact, now the buildings are so cl...