U2 had rescheduled after their original concert was canceled after the Paris attacks. Later, Bono had said, “The least important voices tonight were the ones onstage, because more than any other night, what mattered wasn’t the melody, it was the harmony.” How can there be that harmony without an audience?
But mommy, it’s Taylor Swift! and Ed Sheeran! and Dua Lipa!,” my 10 year old daughter protested. My mind was paralyzed as soon as she had announced that she really wanted to attend the Poptopia concert at the SAP Center in San Jose. News stories of the Mandalay Bay shooting were still coming in; not enough time had passed, I was still reeling from it all.
My first instinct was to say “No.” That was the parent in me talking. My second instinct was to buy more tickets (though I finally did not act upon it) As a good citizen, I believe that I am part of the everyday line of defense against terrorism. Would I be teaching my daughter to stand up to terrorism if we went to the concert? Or would I be a foolhardy parent if I did? Must I not protect her? Was I overreacting thinking that disaster could happen to me and mine too? The third voice in me, the artist, who by definition is rebellious, courageous, and expressive also chimed in: It is a true rite of passage to go to a concert. At school, my daughter had dressed up as Taylor Swift on the day that they had to talk about their icons/heroes/famous people. Hers was not a run-of-the-mill music-lover passion for Swift. How can that which is independent in her thrive, if I taught her to cower?
Esta historia es de la edición December 2017 - January 2018 de India Currents.
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Esta historia es de la edición December 2017 - January 2018 de India Currents.
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Elephant and Donkey Tribes of Politics
The Motorcycle Guru Speaks.
On Feminism
It has been eight months since I started my MFA at Bennington College. In the last eight months I have cooked half a dozen meals. I pack my children lunches and I clean up the kitchen after my husband when he makes dinner for the family after he comes home from working in a Silicon Valley tech company. Cooking has never moved me. Motherhood has—but not the baggage of social dos and don'ts that accompanied it. I have done fewer play dates than the meals I have cooked in the past few months, and I rarely go to a birthday party. My husband takes the children to their social engagements. “But is this fair?” you might ask and I answer, “It is not about fairness, it is about what moves you as a person and how to keep that flame of what keeps you alive, burning within you, while negotiating roles in an adult world that still largely favors men over women.”
Of Wedding Bells And Hospital Bills
Not another invite,” I groaned, picking up a thick cream and red colored envelope.
A New Lease Of Life
How an Indian grandmother started making heart-healthy choices.
A Mother Loses Her Child: Fact And Fiction Coalesce
LUCKY BOY by Shanthi Sekaran. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, an imprint of Penguin Random House, New York. 472 pages. Hardcover. $27.00
From The Hood Without A Loo
TOILET: A LOVE STORY. Director Shree Narayan Singh. Players: Akshay Kumar, Bhumi Padnekar, Anupam Kher, Sudhir Pandey, Divyendu Sharma, Subha Khote. Hindi w/ Eng. Sub-tit. (Viacom).
Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Happiness
A LIFE OF ADVENTURE AND DE- LIGHT by Akhil Sharma. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.: New York. 202 pages. wwnorton.com $24.95 hardcover.
Who Was Enid Blyton?
Raised in and out of India, I don’t remember reading too many Enid Blyton novels—barring those from the Noddy series. I knew, though, they were all the rage among girls—mostly girls. They’d spend hours reading them and like fish in a school, prattle over what they’d read over their lunchboxes.
Victoria And Abdul: It Looks A Lot Like Love
VICTORIA AND ABDUL. Director: Stephen Frears. Screenwriter: Lee Hall, based on book by Shrabani Basu. Cast: Judi Dench, Ali Fazal, Eddie Izzard, Adeel Akhtar, Tim Pigott-Smith and Michael Gambon. Focus Features, 2017. MPAA Rating: PG-13
Looters, Schemers And A Curse
Koh-i-Noor: The History of the World’s Most Infamous Diamond.
