Dear House Owners

Most house owners (especially the upper middle class ones) live on a massive prejudice. This is a prejudice towards unmarried men and unmarried women. In most of these so called 'societies', youngsters with jobs in a city new to them are often told either by the brokers or directly by the owners that 'we don't allow bachelors' (referring both female and male bachelors). Bachelors get very raw deals, when it comes to that. They get places to live, which their parents find uncomfortable, when they visit them. They get fleeced both by the brokers, and by money-minded owners who will readily accept them as tenants, due to their desparation for a place to live.

 In the brains of these so called 'homely' house owners (brains so small and narrow, that even an electron microscope can't see them), bachelors aren't humans, they are ogres, that ought to be ostracized for not being in that institution called marriage. You know what, we bachelors are mature working adults, I hope you've read the word 'mature'. Below is a note to these so called 'sanskaari' owners.

(Not so)Dear House Owners,

  FUCK YOU!! FUCK you and your hypocrisy, for you were unmarried at one point of time, or you have kids who will grow up (or are grown up) to face the same prejudice (prior to their weddings), when they settle in a job in some other town. You are that (cancerous) scum of the society that believes that people cannot have friends of a gender different from theirs. You believe that friends of different genders are only there for having sex (a fictitous character from a comedy sketch explains it better here. Actually that line of thinking clearly reveals who is a bigger pervert. You are the reason that our society will never ever become progressive. There is a lot of amount of sexism in you, about which all my female friends will tell you lots more, and more. You are the ones who display tonnes and tonnes of casteism as well. You better hear about it from every one of the people you've oppressed based on their caste, and that list is long, really really long.  You are the most judgemental people on this planet.

So long you 'sanskaari' barnacles.

Yours (not) Sincerely,

A Bachelor

A Close 'Companion' From Hyderabad

Everytime I am home in Hyderabad for a short vacation, I go for my evening walks in the colony in which I live, and I walk on this one road, which has on its side an old Standard Companion lying parked there for who knows how long. It's been a nice subject for my photography, thus triggering my fascination for clicking old cars. Here's my photographic 'Companion' in a sketch.

My Favourite Tea Kadai

My favourite tea kadai.

Kadai (கடை), for those who don't know Tamil, simply means a 'shop' or a 'stall'. My student life lasted ten years, the first five of which were spent in a university in Hyderabad, doing my undergrad and postgrad studies, and the next five were spent in a reasonably well known (atleast among nerds) institute in Chennai. The tougher five of those ten years were in Chennai, as I needed to work twice as hard as I did in college, and the atmosphere there was a tad lonely. Thanks to a very close friend from the neighbouring journalism institute, I came across this tea kadai run by a very sweet Malayali uncle, and his two cooks. Ever since my second year in Chennai began, I used to go there every evening for that one cup of tea, and biscuits, to just relieve myself of the academic stress. Very soon, I developed an attachment to that kadai. Enjoyed my little conversations with the cooks, and sometimes with the uncle. I miss Chennai a lot, but of all, I miss this kadai the most. So on one of these days, when I was feeling very nostalgic, I decided to draw a sketch of this little shop (from a photo I took of the place). In the sketch is one of the cooks, and a customer who after a hard day at work, came to have some tea (or pick up a smoke), while probably waiting for his food at a hotel nearby.

The Good Ol' Chennai Local

In the five years of my Ph.D in Chennai, I used to spend my weekends exploring parts of the city. On many occasions, I used to take the local train to go out. The Chennai local isn't a madly crowded one, like its Bombay counterpart, thus, a ride in them is quite a joy ride. One day, I decided to randomly go for a ride in the train upto its last station (Chennai Beach) and come back in the same one to my stop (Indira Nagar). On the way, I clicked a photo inside my bogie, which I made a sketch out of. Here's the sketch.

The Good Ol' Chennai Local