Gomathi Reddy

That piece of cake

When was the last time I enjoyed a piece of cake, watching television with a hot cuppa, without worrying about who’d be hacking my laptop at that time…I almost forgot what it means to be free in a wired world, where all the people who run businesses as service providers play around with their “business rules” sans propriety, integrity, respect for intellectual property and personal space of the…

Congratulations! You’re a Star!

Are you getting ready for watching your next reality TV show?

How does it feel…if you were on the show, part naked, part blurting out truths about your life, part yourself or part whatever… Exciting? Or is that a “Ew…EW…EW” from you?

What if I tell you that you could be part of so many reality shows? – But without your knowledge?

Did you know that your Smart TV, Smart Phone and Smart everything…

There are 3 kinds of people – the 3 kinds of idiots this society is filled with.

Idiot Kind # 1:If you are this type, then life is a long train of boogie-woogie bogies, and “ignorance” is the one driving your engine. It’s thorough bliss. That’s the best one can ask for. You don’t even know you are inching towards the epilogue of your life. That’s how blessed you are with your blissful ignorance.…

My son often thinks that my little efforts to share thoughts on what should change in this society are in vain. He sincerely tells me to just mind my own business and not worry about the world, ’cause the world will anyway never change and that I am wasting my time, discussing or writing about things that are beyond me.

I try my best to remind him that if generations before us had thought that…

Today passed off as Makara Shankranthi – The onset of  another year, with promises of a bright future, wonderful experiences, oodles of happiness and all that supposedly nice stuff that makes our lives worth living.

On this quest to all things positive, “happiness” somehow takes the center stage for all those sad people wanting to find a goal post to their lives. Sadly for them, somebody out there…

We Are Like That Only

A few days back, there was this call asking me for my PayTm wallet details. My alarm bells were ringing – This must be a hacker/spammer, it screamed. Then I calmed down. Actually I get into this tizz as soon as I hear this Call Centre Bihari Bhaiyya Hinglish.

All these support centers from the north of India, have personnel responding with heavily accented Hinglish.  Blame it on my being a pucca

It doesn’t matter anymore

Our lives are layered over time; sliced over interactions; they are mug shots of incidents PhotoShopped into a collage with people, places and emotions that have made us what we are. Our lives are like 21st century miniature paintings, frozen in moments, with the background resembling a 3D hologram capturing our personal journey.

Are our personal journeys innately personal?

We are here, because…

I can’t help admiring the way life shapes you up – creating ideas,  collapsing those vulnerable thoughts, driving those strong thoughts to action, creating chaos out of your thoughts & action, bringing order to your chaos, helping you settle down with clarity, and finally delivering the strength to stay determined to carry on what you believe in, no matter what – the conviction to see your…

“Indian Origin”  – These really a fun thing, you know; I  mean there is  nothing so fantastic about being of Indian Origin – if you are a normal, right-thinking, hard-working, intelligent, pride-filled middle class woman, living in India, or anywhere in the world – This tag is exasperating!

Whether you want to be an entrepreneur or an employee, it doesn’t matter; Whether you believe in  playing…

Creativity – This one word always had amusing connotations, all through my life.

My dad used to buy exotic painting kits for me, with some notion of making an M.F.Husein out of me. He very sincerely believed that I had the talent, while like every average kid, I was quite kicked with all those imported painting kits at home. I used to dabble with them with some funny strokes, which definitely…

Damn civilized living!

We just can’t say or do a few things…and we call it civility. By default the constitution takes away our basic liberty of being nasty in a creative way and then we gloat that the constitution protects our liberties, our freedom of speech blah, blah, blah….The constitution and the system – those damned frameworks that define rules, so that governance can be just as easy as…

I wrote this post on the 7th of December, a silent, yet chatty prayer to Mother Nature

07-Dec-2015

The last few days have been a huge downpour – inside out- quite literally. The downpour in Chennai for the past 2 weeks has been unprecedented, historic and has thrown us totally out of gear, in every which way. The cataclysmic changes in weather, broke down infrastructure and every-day-life.  As…

The Politics Of Language

A couple of months back, I filed for an RTI application, seeking information on cases of Domestic Violence and the (un)successful passage through Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 (PWDA) that most women go through. It opened up a Pandora’s box of mail!

Everyday I receive about 10-15 mails from the various districts Public Information Officers(PIOs), the Women and Child welfare…

Life is just a Patch

This morning I was reading Jiddu Krishnamurthy and his take on why one must discover oneself first to be able to connect with everyone else. It was sheer poetry of thought. He mesmerizes me with his clarity of thought, and sense of purpose of who he is, and what we can become. Amazing!! If you are one of those who has some level of self-love, you must read this.

If you are one of those who looks…

MK Stalin is DMK 2.0

Emerging, Rising Out of Ashes – That’s a Phoenix.  In Greek mythology, the phoenix is a long-lived bird that is cyclically reborn, arising from its ashes. It is associated with the Sun.

Today’s ET, spoke about “Son to Emerge Out Of MK’s Shadows,” talking about MK Stalin and his team working on a political makeover. Stalin 2.0 they said was being rolled out.

The title of this opinion piece is a…

Are You A Phony Bumper Sticker?

We all create our own identities. Something like bumper stickers.

Something like “Yahoo!! To hell with you” types. And today, everyone is a publishing house – what with the social media giving you space to be whatever you want to be. Every post, page and tweet is a bumper sticker. Its a whole world out there, filled with bumper stickers in tons.

Being on twitter and Facebook is about creating…

Amma’s Food For Chennai’s Rich

This morning’s Economic Times(ET) threw up an interesting equation.  The Chennai’s poor only need Rs.63 a day and that takes care of their 3 meals a day, travel costs and shelter for the day. It was an interesting back-of-the-envelope study.

The major component of this calculation made it look like all poor people in Chennai have their food out of Amma Canteens, have only 2 idlis and 1 chaifor…