There’s something refreshing about a name like Inkfruit, and it’s even more refreshing when it turns out to be a site selling T-shirts. So these guys approached me asking me to review their site, and they’d give me a Tee in return. Now the request was seriously cute, and just because it was so refreshingly naïve and cute, I said OK.

So here I am, with Inkfruit open in another tab, and I’m thinking, ‘That’s called ideating’.

Don’t know how far something this specific will run, and these guys might need to come up with something MORE, but, for the time being, this is a great plan, and I hope it works. ‘Cause, you know, it’s just so cute and refreshing.

Some of the Tee designs are pretty cute and whacky. And these designs are submissions of people – you can do so too. Not just that, you can also vote and rate your favourite designs, and leave back comments. So it’s all nice and interactive.

Click here to continue reading ‘Introducing InkFruit.Com’

It’s quite amusing if one takes a look at recent times Lezzy (lesbian) films with an Indian sub-context. Actually No. Let me rephrase this.

Watching the (only) two Lezzy films from mainstream Hindi cinema was an amusing experience, at least for me. I’m referring to Deepa Mehta’s Fire (1998), and blink-and-you-missed-it, Karan Razdan’s Girlfriend (2004). Of course, the two films differed widely in terms of storyline, direction, and other production aspects. Let’s not even go into difference in the acting department.

However the common thread between the two is this: Both films needed a reason for lesbianism. Homosexuality had to be explained and given a valid raison d’etre: the lead characters of both films were abused, sexually and emotionally, by members of the opposite sex, therefore they turned to other women for ‘solace’.

The latest entrant in the Desi lesbian film circuit is Manan Katohora, with When Kiran Met Karen (WKMK), with newbies Chriselle Almeida and Kelli Holsopple playing the respective lead characters. My inbox has been flooded with mails titled, subtitled and signed off with JMD (Jai Mata Di)-invoking PR for the film. If you are a member of those International filmy Yahoo! Groups you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Click here to continue reading ‘When Kiran Met Karen : Master Piece or Just For Titillation?’

Forgive me in advance,

I plan to get a bit soppy

There’s much reason you see

And even more rhyme

As I’m going to talk about time

Passed, gone, three years to the date

When by chance, or perhaps fate

I opened this site and gave it my name

And with the click of a mouse, became

The blogger you all know and read

With patience and tolerance indeed.

Click here to continue reading ‘Turning 3′

It’s kind of hard to believe that I belong to the same culture whose women were blessed with a pre-marriage custom, popularly known as “the Swayamvar”. Be it Indumathi, Sita and Draupathi; all they were expected to do was look pretty and walk down the aisle with a bulky garland in hand, while the prospective bridegrooms were put through various tests in order to prove their worth in the eyes of their desired princess. Now whatever happened to the after-marriage lives of some of these women (vanvaas, agni pariksha & polyandry), I shall ignore for the convenience of this post.

But as it is often said, “all good things come to an end” similarly the time-honoured practice of Swayamvar went through drastic changes, slowly and gradually tilting more and more in the favour of the opposite sex. Garlands got replaced with “chai ki thali” and instead of the man; the probable bride is the one who gets checked out by the groom and his entire khandan. The eligible bachelor has the liberty of interrogating as many potential wives before selecting the one. My cousin brother zipped through 39 finally settling down with my sister-in-law, the 40^th arranged proposal on his list. Whereas for my bhabi, he was the first and the last.

And this number game according to me is quite skewed.

Click here to continue reading ‘The ‘M’ Word Part 8: On A Bridal Spree’

Well he is nick-named "Dirty Old Man" for no reason.

(This post is not mine. A reader, who wishes to remain anonymous sent it in, and I’m including it as part of the M word series. This piece I feel provides another perspective to the whole marriage issue. Only goes to show how many sides there are to the ‘M’ coin.)

Society makes marriage out to be such an important aspect of life, even if it isn’t so for some people. One can’t but help but get angry with the way things are but at the same time, there’s very little one can do. Society is so important that most people do things just to appease it, at the cost of their own desires.

Take the case of our parents. No sooner does the daughter turn a certain age that they begin to worry what so-and-so said: “Oh! Your daughter is working now and is growing older, don’t you want to get her married?” Pressure from society leads to unnecessary tension in the house. Do the so-and-so of our life really matter? They will only talk for 3-4 days, then calm down and accept the situation. Should we really base our actions on what other people think is right?

Click here to continue reading ‘The ‘M’ Word Part 7 : Love Sacrifice’