What's Love Got To Do With It?

There is no conflict that cannot be resolved through dialog. This belief of my mentor is at the heart of what I try to do with my life � in daily life, here on this blog, and elsewhere in the social media space. There, of course, are times when dialog leads to greater confusion and upheaval, but if the spirit of dialog is nurtured and kept alive, it leads to a clearer and more meaningful understanding of the issue at hand without fail.

The Right to be Wrong

A recent dinner table conversation got me agitated. We were talking about how one�s looks and dressing led to being discriminated against at establishments and institutions. As is the nature of mealtime talk at home, it went from Manipur to Modi and from Siachen almost to Sri Lanka. At a particularly heated point of the discussion, I was asked whether my writing was not a way of being judgmental of people�s lifestyles and beliefs. In what way was my attitude in endorsing minimalistic/frugalistic need-based lifestyles different from that behind the rants of religious fundamentalists or even the government�s insistence that we grin and bear it? I denied it with the vehemence that only married men can conjure, but it got me thinking. I respect people�s freedom to live their lives as they wish, and I expect the same from others. Yet most of my writing is centered on promoting what I believe in. The Rushdie�s and the Coelho�s of the world might need entire novels to say it, but for me it takes a short sentence. You have the right to call me wrong, but it is not wrong that I am right.
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