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Shruthi Rao has a delightful surprise for January's writing theme inspired by the cue "We tell ourselves stories in order to live."
the connoisseur
Shruthi Rao has a delightful surprise for January’s writing theme inspired by the cue “We tell ourselves stories in order to live.”
Shruthi Rao writes stories and articles for adults and children. She blogs at Hallucinations!
“Namaste, Mathurji. Please come in.”
“Hmm, Katkar-saab. All okay? Settled in?”
“Everything’s fine – but the bathroom light has a loose connection… if you could…”
“Let’s see, let’s see… Katkar-saab, was that your daughter singing early in the morning?”
“Yes, yes, she’s a disciple of Pandit Gopalnath Nirodi, and she’s….”
“Katkar-saab, you hadn’t told me about this singing-vinging when you moved in.”
“Tell? What’s there to tell?”
“The noise. That terrible noise early in the morning. Katkar-saab, this building keeps respectable hours. Families live here. Small children, elderly people. Disturbing others so early….”
“Noise? Disturb?”
“Broken mixer. I thought it was a broken mixer and told my wife. She said it must be the Katkar girl singing.”
“That broken mixer, Mathurji, was a morning raag, Bhairav.”
“See, I don’t know about morning raag – evening raag. All I know is that the other families are getting disturbed, and I must ask your daughter to stop this.”
“She’s a very talented girl, Mathurji. Even Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia listened to her and said…..”
“Said what, that she’s Lata Mangeshkar?”
“I’m sure Lata Mangeshkar’s landlord didn’t ask her to stop practicing…”
“What, Katkar-saab?”
“Nothing, nothing…”
“See, if you’d told me about this earlier, I would’ve adjusted the rent….”
“Oh, is this about money, Mathurji? Alright. I can pay 500 extra per month. Is that okay?”
“1000 more and you can stay. But still, close all the doors and windows and ask her to sing softly. Or all the other tenants will leave. Namaste, Katkar-saab.”
***
“1000 rupees more, Baba? We can hardly afford that!”
“Nidhi, child, you know we were lucky to get this place, so close to Panditji‘s house and your college. Don’t worry about all this.”
“But Baba, 500 rupees…”
“Look Nidhi. You have the talent, passion, opportunity. We cannot let a tone-deaf man ruin everything. You do what you have to, and let me worry about everything else.”
“Oh-ho-ho, Choudhury-saab! Long time, how are you?”
“Good, good, Mathurji. How is Bhabhiji? Fine? All good? Arrey Mathurji, that Indian Idol girl.. I heard she lives in your building?”
“Nidhi Katkar! Yes, yes! Wah-wah. What a voice, what talent. The first time I heard her sing, I told my wife. ‘Pankaja,’ I said. ‘Mark my words, this Katkar girl is going to be something really big.’ Wah-wah.”
“Yes, yes, what a voice!”
“And such hard work, Choudhury-saab, I tell you. Five o’clock. Everyday she wakes up at five o’clock and practices for three hours. What dedication!”
“Five o’clock? Doesn’t it disturb you?”
“Tch-tch-tch. What are you saying, Choudhury-saab? Disturb? Do you call birdsong disturbing? Her father came to me the first week. ‘Mathurji,’ he said. ‘I hope my daughter’s singing doesn’t disturb the other families.'”
“And then?”
“You know what I said? I said, ‘Look Katkarji – your daughter is destined for great fame. Why bother about ignorant fools?’ Such a voice, I tell you….”
*Photo credit: { pranav } (Used under the Creative Commons Attribution License.)
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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