Ishani's Pen

“Happy Birthday to you” chortled a bunch of girls merrily as I entered into a restaurant located in the very heart of the city of Guwahati. As I sat down on my table, just opposite to the girls, I was thunderstruck. All the girls were hardly aged 12-13 years and all of them were dressed in mini skirts, hot shorts, high heels. And when I glanced at their faces, I felt short for words. These young girls had their eyebrows shaped, heavily made up eyes and huge amount of dark lipstick!!! Looking at these young kids and their body language, I thought “How did the innocence of these young girls get lost?” Their faces did not reveal the slightest hint of cuteness that children their age possess, rather they appeared to be like some models walking on the ramp. Is that what our society has come to today? Yes, we are heading towards moral degradation my friends. We no longer treat our girl kids as cute, innocent angels and try to nourish them with good values. Is it really necessary fo...

I have this habit of observing people in public, trying to gather the topics of discussion that go around in society. I usually go out alone for shopping, lunch etc. where I observe these things. This incident occurred around 2-weeks back when I decided to indulge in Mughal cuisine for lunch in a restaurant located in the very heart of my hometown, Guwahati. The restaurant was almost empty as it was not lunchtime yet, with only one occupied table (except mine) where a group of men sat huddled together. I had just paced my order when I noticed a girl dressed in a hijab (headscarf) and niqab (face veil) walk in. I don’t know but for some unknown reason I always feel myself drawn to such “covered” women.   She was dressed in a black salwaar kameez and sat in an opposite table, facing me. Though I couldn’t see her face, but I presumed her to be around my age or maybe 1-2 years older. She sat with her face down as she chose what to eat. As she sipped water from a glass, I ...

Dr. Abshar Hasan – one of the most hardworking human beings that I have met in my journey of life. Calling him a legend would be probably too much isn’t it? But we can actually call him “The” Abshar Hasan. When I saw this 6 feet something inches muscular guy during my PhD interviews at IIT Guwahati, the first thought was that – if such older (and big) people are interviewing here, where will a fresher like me hold a chance!! But fate had other plans – not only were both of us selected at IITG but we ended up sharing nearby labs. I really don’t know where to start as I don’t really know him from his early days. In fact it was only yesterday (after 4 and half years) when I came to know that he was working as a sales executive for Nestle in Punjab. So I will just go with the flow. He was one of the very first (and also probably the best) guys with whom I bonded in my 2014 PhD batch but I had never imagined  this bond to grow so much. Was it for our love for food, I wonder...

“Man is a social animal” – something that I had learnt during my Moral Science classes in school. During that time (I am talking about the 1990s), this statement meant that we, as human beings, must dwell as a society; we are, each, the part of one human nation and we must cherish that love and compassion for each other. That was a time when fights were resolved by a handshake or rather a “thumbshake” which we used to call “ abba .” Cousins that time were our first friends and such friendship literally meant a single soul residing in two different bodies. And most importantly, we had experienced the strong bond called “Family”. Holidays meant seeing our cousins and having a lot of fun. My sister and our first cousin were called “ Pabho Jura ” because they were literally inseparable, when together. I still remember that my maternal cousins were more scared of my mother than their own. In short, there was no discrimination between my child and my brother’s child in terms of love, ...

A very qualified person today informed me that Shahrukh Khan had said "Become rich before you become a philosopher!" I took the liberty to rephrase Mr. Khan's words in my own style "Become financially first before (or so that) you can chase your passions!!" Well, maybe that is what i am trying to do at my current state but i really want to hear what all my fellow beings want to say to Mr. SRK's and Ms. I's view..... Do let me know in your comments......Cheers :)

The paradise on earth is bleeding…she is crying for help…but who is there to hear her?? She is echoing the cries for “AZAADI” since decades but her pleas go unheard. Why is this injustice towards her..why is she being tormented so much? Is it mainly because she cradles the minority group in her lap as majority?? Kashmir is and has been burning since ages. The beauty of the valley is streaked with blood -   blood of young infants to aged people to women – no one has been spared. The former princely state of British India became a disputed territory since 1947. What actually is happening in Kashmir? We as onlookers or residents of “Independent India” would only think that there is huge amount of terrorism in this region owing to the Muslim majority in the valley, the demand of Kashmir by Pakistan and so on. But when I got to hear about the actual scenario of Kashmir from the lips of a Kashmiri, I was devastated. Indian government from the time of obtaining possession o...

The holy month, Ramadan or Ramzan of the Islamic calendar ended some months back and billions of Muslims all over the world were fasting all over the world from dawn to dusk. With the onset of Ramadan, we usually see various new products, particularly food items, in the market for sale. This year however, it was not food items but another commercial that has taken YouTube by storm.   The Zain Telecom Company, which is a Kuwaiti company, releases an Arabic video (with English subtitles of course) every year on Ramadan just like Surf Excel. I had not really watched the previous years’ videos but I believe they are usually to be based on the current status of the Muslim nations. The 2018 commercial by Zain entitled “Mr. President” however, is something more than just a commercial. For the benefit of those who have not yet watched, this 3 minute video features a young boy visiting look-alikes of powerful world leaders and speaking his heart out to them. US President, Donald Tr...