A few weeks back, I received a Whatsapp text. My Muscovite friend Katya, of whom I talk all the time in my Prochnost updates, was up to something awesome again. She had switched jobs recently and the ‘Kniga Worm‘ that she is (no literally!), she decided to get the kids in her new school excited about books by, get this, blogging about books!
Continue reading “To the land of budding book lovers”
This post comes after a month-long delay, so I want to apologize right away for that! I was travelling and fell sick, followed by a slightly long recovery, thereby making me want to just lie down and read. That’s no excuse, but still I wanted to say that. Continue reading “Project Prochnost: Week 13”
On my flight to Varanasi a few weeks back, I luckily stumbled upon one of most interesting conversations I have had this entire year so far. Continue reading “One Happy Flight.”
Flipping through the pages of yet another piece of fiction, I had an epiphany. There was something wrong. The book was well-paced. Nice plot. Then what was it? After a few moments of silence, I got the answer.
Hiraeth is a Welsh word that refers to the longing for a home that no longer exists.
On one of my visits to Varanasi long back, I went to the nearby Chunar Fort by sheer luck. It was my birthday and all I wanted from my parents was to go stare at a Fort’s ruins. Well, they smiled and agreed. They are awesome that way!
‘The DNAs of Chimps and humans are 96% similar and it appears that the similarities doesn’t end with genetic structure itself ‘. Such a heartbreaking and moving post!
“Do you know why Kiri is kept in a cage, alone and away from rest of the chimps?” The caretaker enquired
It was a sunny afternoon and the “zookeeper for a day” at Uganda Wildlife Conservation Education Centre (UWEC) in Entebbe (Uganda) was proceeding in an amazingly awesome way. During the first day in African soil I had pleasant interactions with a cheetah, Edward –the cute baby elephant, Charles – another young elephant, giraffe, and even rhinos. Now I guess you would agree with my “amazingly awesome” adjective!!! Just when I thought I won’t be able to handle anymore African awesomeness I was told by the caretakers that next I’ll be taken to Chimpanzees’ shelter. Uganda and Rwanda offer trekking opportunities to watch Gorillas and Chimpanzees in the wild but exuberant price of packages were too hot to handle for the humble backpacker from Kerala. So I was more than…
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I woke up this morning to the sounds of Vande Mataram, right outside my bedroom window in my society’s grounds. Continue reading “India, the sentiment.”
‘When a language rule—which was created specifically to respect people’s agency and personhood—gets in the way of actually respecting the person in front of you, it’s time to ditch the rule.’
Such a brilliant and enlightening piece!
Language is a tool. It can make our worlds bigger or make them smaller. It can be used to create connection or to cause harm. It can affirm or it can disparage.
When it comes to how we describe marginalized aspects of ourselves or others—things that are perceived as “not normal” by the mainstream—language matters a whole lot, because how we talk or write about ourselves and each other can either affirm the value of diversity and difference, or demean people who are different from the idealized norm.
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