CHAT CAFE

As the continuously jerking bus we are sitting in scuttles ahead on faintly-lit metallic road running and winding along the roaring Lidder River, Kalyani Prasher blurts out her mind– “I could have never imagined myself travelling in Kashmir in this much dark of a night. This is different.” I hear this and feel  somewhat   startled. How can she read my mind? Is she some kind of a clairvoyant or what! Because I am sure if Kalyani wouldn’t have uttered those words, those would have been my words a couple of moments later. It is almost 9 o’clock in the evening, or rather night. I look ahead of me and then behind me. Nirupama Dutt seems busy looking out of window, and so are Rafat Quadri, Ghulam Pathan and Rajesh Sharma sitting in back rows. May be, some of them are already lost in similar thought with their gaze directed nowhere, and some are trying to lose themselves in the almost musical babbling of the crystal clear Lidder waters. But I am sure of one thing- no one i...

One more air crash and over 150 lives have been lost. A second major air disaster in one month. Who is to be blamed for the latest one?? Should Yemeni Civil Aviation be held responsible for this? The burning question is- how could they keep flying an aircraft which was 19 years old, had accumulated 51,900 flight hours, and was black-listed by French authorities two years ago after they found a large number of faults in it. France had categorically denied this fateful aircraft A-310 an entry into her skies. That was why the Yemeni airline Yemenia had employed a relatively newer Airbus A330 for the first two legs of their Paris-Marseille-Sana’a-Moroni flight number IY-626. And for the final leg of this flight, from Sana’a to Moroni, the passengers were asked to shift to A310 carrier. This whole episode is enough to throw light on how irresponsibly civil aviation of Yemen had acted in this matter. They are saying they never knew the aircraft was faulty. Then why had they not emp...

Yesterday, when I was writing a comment on a friend’s blog, I got carried away. Mine was a not a comment on the post, but on a comment made by someone else about the post. I am not a person who usually likes to correct each and every person, or tries to emphasize my own point of view upon him or her. I take this pain for (or liberty with) a very few chosen ones…where I don’t think twice before saying what is there in my head, and say it straight without even thinking about the right way to say or choosing the right words. But this time I could not control myself and let myself go loose. Well, those were last two lines in that comment that made me write a full commentary. What irritates me is when people talk superficially but they try to sound very concerned. We show our concern for the society, we talk about national unity… but are we initiating or pursuing any action? Do we know from where to start, or do we really want to make a start?? Are we contributing in any way towards ...

My coming back to Chandigarh has helped ignite in me a new passion- photography. Till now, it was only an interest. But thanks to my editor Prabhat Singh who keeps on telling me- and all of us- about the finer aspects of this art. And he takes delight and satisfaction in it. He, being an accomplished lensman himself, told one very interesting thing sometime back- that photos are   not clicked, they are   made. What he said changes one’s whole perception. Anyone with a camera and a good scene in front of him can click a photograph. No matter who is behind the camera, that scene is going to be captured anyhow. It is very much true, especially for static scenes. And better and expensive the camera better will be the details! But, if you go with a mindset of   making   a photograph, it is then that you create a photograph. Many things are lying before you, and the photo you wish to   make   out of them depends upon your eye and mood. What surroundings...