Sitting on the floor on Nik’s home with his family a day before his wedding, I wonder what is it that actually keeps such a big family together. The one immediate clarification I need to make here is that Nik’s family is not a joint family, where all members are staying in the same large house. The family is very much scattered, with relatives living all over Gujarat, Mumbai & some even abroad. With this diversely located family, I was amazed when I heard that the family always came together for important occasions.

So I caught up with Nik’s mama(maternal uncle), and got him talking about his family. How were they managing to stay together so close, even though they were physically living at far off places. (more…)

Continued from Part I

26-Jan-2008:

The air-conditioned bus had a gamble involved. I had the option of going for a semi-sleeper or a full sleeper berth. Knowing that I am not very comfortable in buses, I decided on the semi-sleeper option. Now luck played its game with me. (more…)

The land of Gandhi and Modi beckoned me in late January, for the wedding of my closest college friend Nik. I was looking forward to this trip, one because it had been over four years since we had met, and second coz I wanted to see a Gujarati family function up close and personal.

This post will be divided in three parts, the first part(this one) is about my first evening in Ahmedabad, the second part would be about the Nik’s wedding ceremonies and gandhidham & the third would be my learnings from a big Gujarati family that sticks together.

Parts I & II were written on my mobile phone on the spot, & I will reproduce them in verbatim. Part III is where I search inside my empty head

Here goes part I (more…)

Justice it seems, has been sent off to exile. At least in the Indian state of Gujarat, where the current chief minister has thumped his chest at a pre-election rally justifying the police encounter of Sohrabuddin and his wife. Sohrabuddin was under suspicion for terrorist activities for a while before he was killed by the cops in what was a staged encounter. His wife was also killed by the police in the same encounter. The fight for justice for this family is currently on in the Supreme Court.

Narendra Modi thinks otherwise. For him, justice was delivered on the day Sohrabuddin was encountered by Gujarat’s finest. And the crowds cheer and applaud for him. Read the story on Modi’s election speech at NDTV’s website.

The bigger question stands, are we turning into a nation that is more inclined towards vigilante justice?

(more…)