Dheeraj Kalgutkar

Or How Hindusim Came Into Being; Brief History Of Hindu Religion For Zoomers-n-Boomers Who Refuse To Pick Books Ayodhya Temple As Of Today. Courtesy: Newslaundry.com I was just on a call with my distant neighbour who after the regular round of questions asked me if I had received the Ram-Mandir-Rice (akshata). For those who haven’t and don’t know about what’s going on, people associated with BJP-RSS have been going door-to-door and distributing some posters related to the new temple in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh along with some colourful uncooked-unbroken-rice in tiny plastic pack (hardly 20 gram). Akshata basically consists of uncooked un-broken pieces of rice which is mixed with turmeric. It is sometimes used to bless bride and groom during weddings. Akshata is also sprinkled during other auspicious ceremonies. When Akshata is offered to a deity, it is believed to be the finest offering that a devotee can make. Akshata is believed to be equal to offering clothes, jewelry, food, or ...

Photo by Artem Bali on Unsplash I forgot my red water bottle. Wait, what? You want us to read about you losing your water bottle? No, no, not any bottle but red water bottle with white cap. It’s no ordinary bottle. It’s the one that I take with me to the gym. The one in which I fill water from a water purifier attached there with those weird beads in that machine. I have a theory that that machine just doesn’t work and I’ve been drinking tap water for long now. Thanks to placebo for not letting me fall sick. Anyway, coming back to my water bottle. I remember taking it to the gym, drinking water from it. Sweating working my legs out. Oh yes, it was a leg day. But don’t worry. Somehow for some reasons that I’m unaware of, my legs aren’t hurting today. It’s 11:30PM, full 3 hours since I reached my room and found out, actually, I did not, I have not been able to find my bottle. The red one with the white cap. I had to drink water from another stupid bottle from which my flatmate u...

Strange how a hi turns to casual flirting and that flirting turns to being sweet and being sweet turns to wishing we were together, together at this very moment. Strange how people who are far far away from us say hi on social media, dating sites, and things go up. We know there are scarce chances of our meeting, we know distance is a killer but sometimes with some people, these barriers just don’t make sense. It feels like something is better than nothing at all. We may not meet in future or maybe someday our paths will cross but right now, the way our hearts feel reading each other’s texts; that’s special. That’s strangely special. The happy-smiling-curl our lips draw when reading those texts is more special than the ones we have in the midst of a crowd of friends in any room. For some time now, I have tried to understand it, deduct answers to why, but so far, there are no specific answers I can come up with. We know, long distance hardly works, especially if you have never m...