In today’s world, where feminism is the favourite tea for the critics and the crowd, it is vital to figure out good aspects of it. Kanika Saini has depicted feminism at its best in her latest novel ‘The Mumbai Monsoon.’ In its 188 pages, she has thrown light on hardships faced by three women coming from three sectors of life alien from each other.
Ruby is a 20-year-old sustaining in prostitution of Delhi while her eyes glisten with bigger dreams. Ayesha is an influencing Bollywood actress dwelling among paparazzi and luxuries of life. Her suffering in a toxic marriage is a second thing. Last but not the least, Simi, a middle-class woman, is struggling to do everything out of the box to survive with her unfaithful husband along with her toddler. The inevitable monsoon of Mumbai is all set to shove the trio in a tempest, scarier than the ones…
It was June 2019. I wasn’t living the best days of my life. I was in between jobs and was figuring out how to make ends meet. I had decent savings, so I knew I could survive a month or two in Mumbai, one of the most expensive cities of the world.
I spent my days sleeping and searching for better job opportunities while I would binge watch ‘Game of Thrones’ at nights. And then one night, the show ended.
I was done watching all the episodes of the popular drama and now, I was clueless what to do next. I am sure, most of you can relate to that feeling.
So, I decided to write something. However, I had no clue what I would write. I opened my wordpress blog and went through my already published blogs.
I started reading the one titled ‘The Nightmare’ (you can check it out). I have always loved that piece of mine. For a reason, it’s very close to my heart. Though I had read it like 60 times in the past, I still read it again.
And this time too, I loved it. I revisited the moment when I had written it. The lonely night.
This night too was lonely and a bit sad. So, I decided to extend this blog. But how? Still no clue.
I copy pasted it in a word doc and stared at the laptop screen. It was midnight.
And then, I started to amplify it by putting more thoughts. I still had no story in my mind. But I somehow decided how I would end it.
Well yes, I decided the ending before I could even develop a story. And when I had the conclusion with me, the message that I wanted to portray and the feeling I wanted to share with the world, developing a story wasn’t hard anymore.
I wrote one scene at a time. I didn’t rush into things. Though I did set a timeline.
I decided to write 5,000 words a month. I achieved it sometimes but mostly I didn’t. For the characters in the story, I took inspiration from the people around me.
The story changed as I wrote. But I made sure not to tamper with the emotions I wanted to portray with the book.
I wrote for 3-4 months. I had a job now. Tired, I used to come back home with no energy left to continue my draft. I kept reminding myself that this draft was my life saviour when I was out of work. On most days, I wrote 50 words a day.
I just knew I had to keep going. For a few months, I didn’t write at all. And then, the pandemic happened. Indian government announced lockdown. So, I was given the gift of time again. I picked up my draft and finished it. And on June 21, 2020, I published my debut book ‘The Day I Met Him: Not A Love Story‘ on Amazon Kindle.
Did I tell you that the date in 2019 on which I started writing was June 21?
I will be posting more interesting blogs on my journey as an author! So, let’s stay connected. Post in the comments, if you have a particular topic on which I should write about!
I was climbing up the stairs to catch the train and talking to my bestie at the same time. Travelling alone is boring for me. And I was just talking nonsense over call.
This man was climbing up the stairs as well, and just looked at me. I stopped my chat over call, coz of course, If he would have had heard me talking nonsense, he could have dialed mental asylum to pick me up.
I was a minute late to reach the station, courtesy Road traffic. It was 7 pm already. So I decided to just roam around the ticket counter and talk some more nonsense with my Bestie. 5 minutes passed and I was busy on my phone.
Wanting to be aware of my surroundings, I looked up and there was that same man standing right next to me. ‘Oh, he must be waiting for someone’.
‘He is looking at me. No, staring at me, ‘ I said to my friend.
‘ Change your position. Just go somewhere else, ‘ said my friend.
I took the advice and walked to the platform. There’s always so much rush all the time. I kept on walking and didn’t look back. And then amidst the crowd, I stopped.
And there he was. Again. Constantly keeping his eyes on me. He knew that I noticed him. He didn’t care.
Two men were standing near me, so I just hid myself behind them. But it didn’t help. He came closer. He was just 5 steps away.
Those eyes. On me. Constantly.
I wanted to walk upto him, and punch him real hard. But I couldn’t. What if people around me blamed me instead? What if people let him go and I become the target? How would I explain that what was just happening?
20 minutes passed and those eyes were still on me. I was losing my calm. I decided to give him a look back thinking he would walk away. But no. He started murmuring something. Started making some gestures.
I wanted to ask what his problem was! But I couldn’t. What if he takes fun of it. What if that’s what he wanted- Me walking up to him. What if he takes on his ego and my life gets in danger.
There was still some time in my next train. “But what if I take the train and he follows me till home?”, I thought.
He had to take the train of opposite direction. He was getting late now. He had already left 10 trains just to keep an eye on me. But now he was running out of it. Another train came. He took a step towards it, but didn’t take it. He knew I was looking at him.
Then came another train. And he took it this time. He stood at the door. But the gestures, those mumbles, and the bye gesture he made without looking at me?
He was gone. And I had my train in next 5 minutes. But those 30 minutes of constant stalking!!
Was he following me from outside the station, or before that? Was he in same auto rickshaw in which I was? What if he comes back tomorrow as well?
Imagine your little kid standing on the edge of a cliff and is about to jump. And there you are looking at him from below, asking him to stop but he won’t listen. You are helpless and fearful. Your heart is beating fast, you are breathing heavily before he jumps.
Now imagine you come to know that your kid/father/mother/husband is going to jump off an airplane without a parachute. And you can’t do anything to stop him. All you can do is watch them as they jump.
Feel the fear for that one moment?
That’s what a soldier’s family goes through each day, each minute. That’s the fear they live with each day of their lives. However, you will never know the dear unless you become a part of it!
Gently, he put his hand on her forehead; careful as always, so not to disturb her sleep.
The morning sun was finding its way through the half openWINDOW. He looked at her face. How beautiful she was. Strands of hair carelessly hid the face. Her eyes were so serene they could hide the world within. Her tender eyelids vowed to protect them from everyone else. The neatly arranged rainbow shaped eyebrows made all the colors go blind.
HerLIGHT pink, soft cheeks could make even rose petals shy away. Her beautiful lips, gave her probably the world’s best smile. Read more
Every coin has 2 sides. Now when Donald Trump has been elected the 45th president of The United States of America who is a man of controversies and has gained immense publicity after giving controversial statements on women, African-Americans, Mexicans and Islam. However, instead of mourning and criticizing, we shall try to flip the coin and see the other side of it.
Trump is a hard core businessman who is pro business and pro Wall Street. He believes in less regulation and in letting businesses flourish. His tax proposals intend to reduce taxes across the board, thus giving a boost to consumption.
While on the other side, Hillary Clinton was aiming at increasing taxes on high-income families, large businesses, on algorithmic trades, businesses that moved operations out of the country to save taxes etc.
Trump has proposed to lower business tax rate from 35 per cent to 15 per cent, and eliminate the corporate alternative minimum tax. This will result in large savings to corporates and boost earnings, if implemented.
While Clinton favoured clamping down on Wall Street to ensure that a repeat of 2008 crisis does not occur, Trump is in favour of lower regulations. He does not believe in imposing restrictions on banks and Wall Street firms, which is favourable to stock markets.
He also aims at imposing a countervailing duty on Chinese imports and use tariffs to eliminate trade deficits with all countries.
The sour relations that America shares with Russia is well known to the world. With Trump in power, it is expected that the relations of both countries will get better. In the process, countries like China and Pakistan will tend to lose.
People of other nations were shocked to see the results of elections. They failed to understand that the victory of Donald Trump was definite.
One reason was because of his say against muslims.
No offense, but People of America hate Muslims after the unforgettable attack of 9/11.
People chose him, because they believe him. They believe that he will surely take certain steps in the direction to end terrorism.
He also gained the faith of Indo-Americans by expressing his love towards India and also condemning the Mumbai Attacks, 2008 and The terrorist attack on Indian Parliament as well. He believes that India holds the most important position while fighting with terrorism.
It is now believed that the presidents of the three nations, that is America, Russia, and India would come together for greater good of the world, and countries like China and Pakistan are going to suffer.
She was standing still near the window. Her eyes were constantly gazing at the little droplets of rain water falling onto the window glass. And the droplets rolled down the glass in the same gesture as the tears used to roll down her cheeks. The only difference was that someone was witnessing the droplets while her tears always went unnoticed.
“What are you doing there?”, a voice behind her broke the silence of the house.
“Looking at my past”, she murmured. Even the loud voice of her husband couldn’t distract her.
“Looking at the past? Is there an old DVD playing out there, outside the window?”, he laughed.
She turned around and saw him packing his luggage.
“You are leaving again?”, She asked with distress.
“It’s my job. You know that.”
She went inside. And saw those droplets still rolling down. It was a mirror this time.
MY_HEART_SAYS_YES 