- ‘Raabta’ with Naukuchiatal
‘Raabta’ with Naukuchiataal – I
As the car turned the bend in the road, the dust settled, and the cacophony of the cities was suddenly left behind. Green trees, tall with age, and bent with the continuous suction generated by the passing vehicles, stood by the side of the road, and swayed, as if welcoming the travelers; their leaves forming…
Keep reading- Sleep-Wake
Sleep-Wake
Sleep, wake. Sleep, wake. Sleep, wake. That is how life goes, from day to day, day to night, night to day. Life exists in binary; sleep-wake, happy-sad, alive-dead, yin-yang. Sometimes we are asleep even when we are awake, and sometimes we wakeup when we sleep. Both the worlds are real – sleep world and waking…
- And then I woke up
And then I woke up……
I am young again, very, very young, a child. It’s an open field, and darkness descends. Birds are returning to their nests in the surrounding trees, making a lot of noise, happy noise. They are happy to be back home after the day, safe, without having been eaten by any predator. Safe with their loved…
Keep reading- Young love
Young Love
What does it take to love? A look? A smile? A touch, the bat of an eyelid, the careless flick of hair? The fabric of her cloth which flutters in the wind? The way her lips curl when she smiles? That one tooth of hers which is crooked and stands out when she laughs, throwing…
Keep reading- A Joker lurks inside us
A Joker lurks inside us
Insanity! Such a small word, and yet so powerful. So lightly used by those who do not realize its import, and so devastating for those who live it. What is insanity? A different point of view can be insanity. A different outlook? Inability to adapt to the society at large, is that insanity too? Maybe…
- The Reunion
The Reunion I: The beginning
Twenty-five years! That’s how long it had been, twenty-five years, since we had first set foot upon the campus of Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University. When we went to join the medical school, we were young men and women, little more than kids, fresh out of schools, still wet behind the ears and…
Keep reading- Everyone needs Winnie the Pooh!
Everyone needs Winnie the Pooh!
Grind, grind, grind. Life has been like an interminable grind ever since Corona. There has been no ‘work from home’ for us doctors! No holidays, no vacations, no leaves of absence. While the world stayed indoors, we have gone out and done our jobs; and it has taken its toll. Life has become a grind.…
Keep reading- Taking Chance
Taking Chance
https://anchor.fm/divya-narain-upadhyaya/episodes/Taking-Chance-e12a27h A beneficial spinoff of the Corona pandemic induced lockdown has been that I have been able to catch up on some great movies in the free time that most of us have been forced to endure. Although there were several remarkable movies I saw recently, the most memorable one that comes to my mind…
Keep reading- Life in the times of the Corona Pandemic
Life in the times of the Corona Pandemic – I
That day I woke up to the chirping of birds. I had not heard so many birds singing outside my house since I don’t know when. And then there was another sound which made the morning very pleasant…….silence. No cars honking, no screeching of tires, no cacophony of people fighting with each other. Ever since…
Keep reading- Excerpts from ‘The Battle of Panchavati’
Excerpts from ‘The Battle of Panchavati’ – I (Prologue)
Over the next few days I shall share excerpts from my book ‘The Battle of Panchavati and Other Stories from Indian Scriptures’. The book is available in India as Paperback and ebook on Amazon and as Paperback on Flipkart. Outside India the book is currently available as an ebook on Amazon country/region specific sites and…
Keep reading- ‘The Battle of Panchavati’ reviews
- Heart of the Matter
Heart of the Matter
Spending time with children is a rejuvenating experience; a course correction of sorts. It helps one remember, with help from the innocent clarity of a child’s vision, what is wrong, what is right and what one should be thankful to God for. I often try to steal some time away from my daily schedule to…
Keep reading- Motorcycle Nation
Motorcycle Nation
I have a peculiar aversion to motorcycles, the reasons of which are not particularly difficult to fathom. It is not only the sheer numbers of these ‘hell horses’ and the way people drive them, but also the noise they create and the number of road traffic accidents they cause and the death and disability that…
Keep reading- Tiger Zinda Hai: Barely!
Tiger Zinda Hai: Barely!
Family movies these days are difficult to come by, especially ones that you could watch with your kids and not have to answer uncomfortable questions. So when we came to know that the Salman Khan starrer ‘Tiger Zinda Hai’ was playing at a theatre near us, all of us bundled into a car and drove…
Keep reading- The National Medical Commission Bill: Right Diagnosis, Wrong Medicine
The National Medical Commission Bill: Right Diagnosis, Wrong Medicine
The recent, token, 12-hour strike called by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) on 2ndJanuary 2018, brought to the fore a confrontation which had been slowly building up for some time now. The medical fraternity, beleaguered as it already is with several anti-doctor media campaigns running presently, finds itself pitted against the central government which, the…
Keep reading- Sec 377, LGBTQ Rights and Lessons from Indian History
Sec 377, LGBTQ Rights and Lessons from Indian History
The Honorable Supreme Court’s recent admission that it may have erred in 2013 when it reversed a Delhi High Court order from 2009 decriminalizing homosexuality is a shot in the arm for all LGBTQ activists. It is also an honest confession by India’s top court that archaic laws, dating back to 1861, which are not…
Keep reading- The House on the Hill
The House on the Hill – 1
I am sitting on the porch, the balcony which looks out over the valley, and the range of mountains which skirt it. Far to my left, deep down in the valley is the lake, the Naukuchiataal, the lake with nine corners.…
Keep reading- Varanasi Again
Varanasi Again!
I begin to write again, after six-seven months. It has taken a trip to Varanasi, and more, for me to start writing again. But no, wait, there is more. Before I come to Varanasi, to Banaras, I have something more to…
Keep reading- The Hills Beckon Again
The Hills Beckon Again
Lucknow to Bareilly to Haldwani once more, with a fuel stop and car wash before we reached the foothills. Yes, the mountains had beckoned once more, and I had answered. From Haldwani we could see the hills in the distance, but…
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Random Musings 