Enchante:Lately Opinionated

It was today (18th August) in the year 1958 that the US decided to give a professor’s perverted love a chance to be expressed – ‘Lolita’ was published after remaining banned for two years because of a suit filed in France against the paedophilic eroticism it portrayed. Nabokov had decided to get the book published pseudonymously because of the content. It was termed ‘scandalous’ by those who had witnessed its general reception when it was originally published in 1955. In India, the ban only contributed to its popularity. Now, after many years, it has maintained a strong foothold in literary circles and even got itself a place in the syllabus for MPhil in English of Delhi University, years after its advent. So is ‘Lolita’ really what it is perceived as? Do Indians, in an atmosphere of perpetual audio visual stimulation, still feel interested in the intricacies of intense and poetic exploration of a middle-aged professor’s (Humbert) psyche when he starts obsessing sexually over his mi

A minister's son stalks a girl along with his friend. The girl reports the alleged threat on her body and mind and the two are jailed for few hours before getting a bail. So the question is, whether all the universe conspires to extend VIP treatment to the ‘privileged’ stalkers, even when the complainant was the daughter of an IAS officer. #JusticeForVarnika, AintNoCinderella #बेटी बचाओ बीजेपी से: Social media was flooding with expressions of protests and condemnation. On the other hand, c ctv's had stopped working and so no footage was available, section 365 (kidnapping) and 511 (attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment) were deliberately forgotten, to save the Haryana BJP minister's son Vikas Barala and his friend. Nevertheless, the constant campaigning by the media, resulted in outpourings from the father and party persons in favour of Varnika. She was applauded for her timely response against the contemptible act, and

“Yeh kya dekhne aa Gaye, yeh toh bohot gandi movie hai!”- when a certain citizen blurted out this dimwitted remark in the cinema hall, I immediately realised that India has to go a long way, to understand women’s desires, needs and psychology. The censor board was too frightened to let a “women centric” film, shake the nation to its awakening, and spread awareness about topics which are omnipresent and natural- such as the rights of a woman! Still, the four women from different age groups, in the city of Bhopal, went on dreaming, scheming, and pursuing their ideas of liberation. Whether it is young college student Rehana (Plabita Borthakur) trying to be a part of the “cool” college crowd by adopting their manners; Leela (Aahana Kumra) a parlour employee who dreams to travel and shares a passionate tryst with her photographer boyfriend while juggling a fiancé; Shireen (Konkona Sen Sharma) a married  saleswoman, who lacks the courage to tell her husband about her job and Usha Buaji (Ra

In our country the ‘holier-than-thou’ disposition is a legacy and bigotry is a birthright in privileged societies of hardliners. The result is- unsolicited services being endowed on the population freely, which favours the privileged, and overlooks the deprived. The case of the Gau Rakshaks or Cow vigilantes comes under this description. It's the duty of human beings to preserve and protect the flora and fauna: although, if it costs the life of a fellow human being, then something has gone awry in the implementation. The nation has been inflamed since the murders of: a Muslim boy on a train alleged as a ‘beef eater’; of Pehlu khan’s- a cattle trader's murder in Rajasthan; Alimuddin Ali’s lynching in June 2017 on the suspicion of carrying beef; Mohammad Akhlaq’s in 2015 and many more which might have gone unnoticed- is it protection of “gau Mata” or some sadistic orgy? The response to this was the slaughtering of an innocent calf by some members of Kerala youth Congress. De