'People-work'

Dear friends, now Vienna is done and dusted. At the blog  http:// ippfaids2010.blogspot.com/2010/ 07/ time-to-pull-plug-on-internatio nal-aids.html?spref=fb My dear friend and mentor Kevin Osborne says 'whisper it, its time to pull the plug off the international conferences' - please read it when you have the time. Its a voice of reason and experience c oming from deep within the vicinity of the epdemic just as much as the voices of those who have returned from the conference, some with an extended holiday thrown in thereafter to recover from the fatigue.  Its likely that the next 'bigger spectacle' will be held (in Delhi?) with complete aplomb as though none of these comments ever traversed the HIV world's cacophony. But its time to stop repeating the conferences that have long ceased to yield in proportion to the spend. Anyone monitoring the 'returns on investements'? Anyone taking stock of whether these dollars can be better invested? I a...

Its the story of 4 people who got together and did what people do when they truly 'get together' - they transform, they surmount, they deepen the depths and they find without setting out to discover, they sway dangerously knowing there is somewhere to lean and they risk for magic, they make reaching somehwere seem like a waste of time coz they constantly kick up their goalposts, they remain manic and mysterious till they come together and feed off each other's hungry creative souls and finally, together, they make sterling music.  I watched this documentary film last week at the premeir of its theater release. Its a rare one, not to be missed, by those who like music and films and those who want to watch a slice of contempoary indian life. This documnetary is showing in theaters in several cities in India and in New York.  Watch whether or not you know Indian Ocean or their music; coz you will most certainly find yrself and yr yearnings in the film; watch the film c...

Depending on where you stand  HIV is a virus,  a daily reminder of mortality,  a story of defiant bodies and minds,  of intimate betrayals,  of smiling through searing pain,  of scary 'body fluids'.  HIV is a story of conquest of stomach churning surprises of a constant 'so-what'  of unbearable and hurtful love of living in a way that no one dies.

Weird games Of pebbles Of size so small of riverbed prints Of Grains, Of Grime, of nightly chime, Of wailing clocks Of strings With time, of spring, of thyme, Of weird games of yore Of Yarns of pleasure, Of cutting So clean of ties.

Well finally, let’s just be truly honest and admit it. This whole ‘unity in diversity’ fairy tale is going horribly wrong.  We have to be one of those societies in the world that is most prone to discriminatory behavior. We must be a country that is totally committed to keeping the ‘other’ at bay, constantly harping at the ‘separateness’ of people, and manifesting this in small and big ways, subtle and overt actions, and sometimes in ugly, inhuman and violent ways.  Mumbai and its recent display of brute politics cannot have us believe any other way. We’ve just had enough of this feel good sloganeering that we are a tolerant society. Are we, really? And I’d go a step further, tolerance is hardly enough; it is a word that is built upon difference rather than sameness and stinks of being on the brink of tipping over into intolerance.  One tolerates pain, because there is nothing else one can do about it. Tolerate the pain till it leaves your body. Grin and be...

And Nisha... To wear a condom when with her, Did make it feel incomplete? A bit odd? Several times, it was. But I wanted to sink neck deep into life. So To wear a condom I invented the 'lovedance'. You think all this is a bit crazy? I am sharing these memories with you because Maybe what was between Nisha and me - That lovedance - May be useful for someone out there.

On April 15 2008, sex workers' homes in Sitamarhi district in North Bihar were yet again targeted, attacked, and subsequently torched and looted. 12 sex workers and 4 children were brunt alive. Several other sex workers were taken away by the police, some of whom are still missing; several people were booked under the anti-trafficking act. The administration took no interest in protecting the basic citizenship rights of the displaced and victimized sex workers. The camp where the sex workers were housed in the interim did not have food and water, those burnt in the incident did not get access to proper medical care; several people died. Subsequently, after local groups advocated for their return to their dwelling under full administrative protection, the sex workers were allowed to go back to their burnt down homes – but without adequate food and medicine supplies and protection from further harassment. While the local administration is clearly not inclined to make any special...