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Action Heroes Online

This is the brief I got - "When did you flip a situation so you could resist, when did you give back as hard as you got? When and how did you choose to confront? When did you become an Action Hero?"

Here's my story
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It happened when I was 18.

I was returning from a pooja at a family friend's place and I was wearing saree for the first time and hence a very big day. It was two in the afternoon on a Saturday. The street that I was walking down was not crowded but not deserted either. I had walked down that street for years so I was not thinking anything but about the day. Suddenly an auto pulled up next to me, three men were inside apart from the driver, they tapped on my shoulder and I turned around assuming they were looking for some address. One of the men inside asked me "barteeya" as in "will you come?" It made no sense to me. What does he mean "will you come?" then he pulled out some money from his pocket and grinned. I was so ashamed, scared and shocked all at once. Somehow managed to shout at him and they sped off. My home was a good half kilometer form that place and I was shivering with fear and was doddering along and the auto reappears at the next curve and the guy tries to grab me inside. I use all my strength and try to slap the guy. He laughs and auto goes away. All the while the other two men in the auto are looking away and the auto driver is looking ahead as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening. This happened in front of a shop where I went to buy groceries every single day since I was 6 or 7. Not one guy there budged even as I walked on with my hand bleeding (I had a cut when I my glass bangles broke trying to slap the guy).

The story doesn't end there. I go home and mom freaks at the site of me. Entire neighbourhood gathers around and my dad's called from office and I tell him lets go to the police station because I had noted the auto number plate. But that never happened because everyone convinces my parents that going to the police will spell doom on my future(!!!). Nobody would listen to me. Everyone talks how bad the city is getting and goes back home.

I came down with fever didn't dare to go out for the next week and jumped every time an auto slowed down near me for a long time after that. I also convinced myself that I had somehow managed to look inviting that day and brought it on myself. I dreaded wearing sarees for a very long time after that and thought ten times before I wore anything else.

Then may be about two years later when the incident didn't hurt as much to think about I realised that it was not my fault, I didn't ask for it. It was a big moment and since then I have not taken such things lying down. I carry a paper knife / screwdriver with me all the time and haven't hesitated to pull it out when just shouting hasn't helped. And at times just Bisleri water bottles have come in handy.

I have even stepped into police stations and lodged complaints without male company. (It's a different matter that nothing has come off it)

It was a big lesson learnt that people don't have the time to help other people and it is up to you to take care of yourself!

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Joy!

Hearing an old Kannada song I grew up with when surfing channels on the radio.

Getting little toffees wrapped in crispy green covers instead of change, that I longed for as a kid.

Discovering a tiny place that serves the best parathas for less than 20 rupees

Discovering that the yummiest kaara kulazhambu is bottled and sold

Discovering that me and V have done similar things as kids at around the same time when we didn't know the other existed

Bumping into the video of the animated song "ek titali anek titaliyaan" that was the high point of DD viewing long ago

Finding out that an old friend has gotten over her heartbreaks and found the happily ever after

Discovery of a perfect little sequence to add in the film to make all the difference

A subtle gesture that says your little brother looks up to you

The absolutely wonderful line that pops in to end the article brilliantly

Catching a smile on a child's face, playing in a park by herself

Glimpse of the innocence with which children trust you and hang on to your every word

The memories of hot bajjis, amma and my little brother on a rainy evening

Oh the list is endless...And it is in moments like these that the world seems utterly beautiful and an immense love for every person washes over.

Mysore.

I was in Mysore the whole of last week. Of course I had no time for sight seeing but saw enough to wish I lived there. First two days I went around the city, something kept coming up at the back of my head wasn't able to put my finger one it...then it struck me - there is not a single high rise building in that city!!! There is open sky everywhere. Not like the piece of sky I can see from my terrace but much wider and bluer. There are still so many trees that you can see the moon shining through them at night. In the evening when you are not blaring your TV off to kill boredom you can hear classical music coming from the Kalyana Mantapa nextdoor - live.

The mornings are clearer and the evenings are pleasant and there are lakes around which you can walk and see the most gorgeous painted storks busy building nests on the island. The city still has space for the not so young and hep ones. It still has the old world charm that made it the pensioner's paradise which made me regret I was not earning any pension soon enough.

But I also saw old buildings razed down and big names in construction advertising there. There are signs screaming that soon the sky will shrink and the storks will fly away. I do hope I am proved wrong or that it doesn't happen as soon as it seems.