Essays / Rants
Speculative Non-fiction and Political Commentary
-
My unblemished self
Upon entering the world, one carries a presumed purity, unaffected by external influences. However, as life progresses, one becomes marked by various experiences, shaping one’s personality and physical appearance. Scars and imperfections become symbolic of a life lived, making each individual unique. Vismay reflects on the marks that life has left on his unblemished self,… Read more
-
My day at bangalore literature festival
Continuing the annual tradition, yesterday I attended the 12th edition of the Bangalore Literature Festival #blrlitfest. Scouring the website before going to Lalit Ashok, I found that while there weren’t many celebrities (apart from the usual suspects of mainstream authors and Huma Qureshi), there were a lot many sessions being conducted – in fact the Read more
-
James Bond chalisa: who does it better – me or chatgpt?
So I have been thinking: Will ChatGPT kill my moribund / non-existent writing career? How does it fare if I give it the same writing prompts that I had to work with? I have been tinkering with the prompts and ChatGPT’s responses, and have been getting some interesting results. First impressions though: ChatGPT seems to Read more
-
Beauty is NOT in the eye of the beholder!
Contempt. Zipping her lips, she forced air inside her barrel-like nostrils, to push down the bile rising at the back of her throat. Use ‘contempt’ in a sentence: Rabdi Zeek was feeling contemptuous of her body. Her cheeks felt like the moon – cratered and dry. Beautiful, only if you view from a million miles Read more
-
The Song of Democracy
“If I have to take police protection in my own country from my own people, then there is something wrong with me, I’m fighting within the framework of the Indian constitution and it is not against anyone, but for everyone.”[1] -Narendra Dabholkar On August 20th 2013, Narendra Dabholkar was shot dead while out on Read more
-
My lady, you have no free will!
The next time you are laughing, remember you have absolutely no control over it. You may try to rationalize as to why you elicited that embarrassing snort that drew unneeded attention from all the quarters, but then your conscious mind has known how to delude yourself. All these post-hoc attributions to reasons for your laughter Read more
-
Hypothesis v/s Insight
Imagine yourself to be Descartes sitting under an apple tree. An apple hits your head and you wonder, ‘Whether in this Earth-centric vortex, are there invisible particles which force the objects down towards Earth?’ Then again, imagine yourself to be Newton sitting under an apple tree. An apple hits your head, and you wonder, ‘Why Read more
-
Creation of Quality
I am a man who has always lived in darkness. I know nothing, I perceive nothing. I don’t have any preconceptions. Complete, utter darkness – total isolation. Then I see a light, from a corner of the boulder that had been obstructing the view of the outside world, in this dark cavern that I have Read more
-
Why all Happiness is Not Equal?
‘A man’s flesh is his own; the water belongs to the tribe.’[1] – a Fremen Quote, Dune E.M. Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints says, ‘A chain is as strong as its weakest link’[2] or ‘any system is limited in its pursuit of achieving more of its objectives by a small set of constraints’. For the Read more
-
A viable business model for Space Exploration
Space, the final frontier. We wax lyrical about the immense possibilities of space: Martian Colonies, Base Camp on the Moon, the wonders of the Titan, Asteroid Mining, and what lies beyond the realms of this Solar System. Our strong and unassailable faith in human endeavour has brought us so far ahead… Read more
-
Why Alienman?
I clammed up. There, you see me, my neck craned over my cell phone, oblivious to what’s happening around me. That’s me trying to be inconspicuous. I am an anachronism, and people don’t like to be reminded of that fact. The group is polite enough, not to ridicule me. I have had worse. I don’t Read more
-
Can a Robot be creative?
A disclaimer: This article is written by a layman who misunderstands and is misunderstood often. Robots have more often than not, been subjects of speculative fiction. So much to an extent that, every science fiction writer worth his salt has written at least one story/novel/article featuring robots. No other subject, except perhaps ‘Interstellar travel’, Read more
-
Why India works?
I firmly believe that even if a craven despot becomes the leader of the nation tomorrow, he won’t be able to do a lasting damage to our society. Mainly because the common folks have become impatient. They have become all the more interested in the specifics of what is being offered and are not rigidly Read more
-
AN OPEN LETTER TO ALL THE OPEN LETTER WRITERS SET AGAINST MODI
This is to tell you from the onset, that I am a bhakt. Personally, I hate the terminology as it pits me as a saffron-tinged rustic Hindu hooligan, but for taxonomic purposes, you can classify me as Moditus Admirus, known otherwise as Bhakt. So now that you have already wrinkled your nose and would be Read more
-
How a recourse to Content Writing spelled my Redemption?
It’s not that difficult to decide whether you are a hack or a writer, when you mechanically, monotonously and quite without a definitive surge of emotions, string together words so that they make cohesive sense as a whole, syntactically or otherwise, just that and nothing more, without giving a damn about what you have written, Read more
-
The Other Universe
I have had an interesting childhood. Having never been interested in sports overmuch (partly because I wasn’t good at anything), I used to vicariously lead the life of superheroes, local as well as of phoren import, fighting their battles, facing their dilemmas, adoring their love-interests (Shaktimaan’s Geeta, the feisty reporter comes to one’s mind), and Read more
-
How to screw a perfectly fine Interview?!
There is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous. – Napoleon 1 For some people, failure is a setback; for some, it a learning opportunity; for others, failure is success in disguise; for the writers of the self-help books, failure is a source of employment. But for me, failing is an art. Read more
-
Alienman calling Alienman!
It sucks to be me! To pull myself out of this self-defeating blackhole, I have decided to go on a one hell of an egotistic journey. I have decided, once again, to write Alienman! Read more
-
Essay No. 3 : Large Swings in India’s policies – Environment, GAAR derailing investments
The once ‘Shining India’ has lost its sheen. With inflation skyrocketing, a large CAD, amid low manufacturing outputs, India’s growth story has hit a bumper. The normal tendency of the ruling party is to blame it on recession in U.S. (of 2008). But there is a consensus amongst the learned economists of this country that, Read more
-
Essay No. 2 : Can grow fast now and clean later work?
‘Myopia’ is a condition associated with short-sightedness. Humans are often blamed for that when it comes to environment. Too many diabolical sci-fi novels have been written, but soon enough, they might become reality the way we are moving forward. Climate change and Pollution, Deforestation and Erosion – are the fallout of unbridled industrial expansion. The Read more
-
Essay No.1
I would be posting essays on a wide variety of topics as a part of preparation for entering a B-school. I might not achieve my desired goal, but with your help, I might become a brilliant essayist. Feel free to comment so that I could improve myself. Read more
-
Lost In Translation
7 million things, lost in translation each day, An analog being, being digitalized each day. When the nimbostratus cloud meets the triangular hill on the wayward side, A moderate drizzle of tear-shaped drops hits with a splatter, with a tint of acid, dyed. Busy as a bee, cunning as a wolf, sly as a fox, Read more
-
Cocoon
The snug status quo that I had ensconced myself in, The shock-absorbing fluff that I had holed myself in, The certainty that it afforded lasted just a while, Had more than estranged me from reality, damn this gossamer globule’s guile. Cocooned in this contraption, it’s difficult to wade through, The treacherous, winding paths of life Read more
-
Differentiator
Were you there when they tore my dream down with a shredder, And beat it to a sodden pulp? Oh, I didn’t cut a pretty sight then! I was young. Were you there when they chose the Smart Pants over my hard work, The glitzy exterior over my inner grit? They rejected me, with their Read more
-
Alienman: the Anthem!
Blood! Blood! Blood! Blood! A nuke fries up my insides, Forming a passive layer of oxide, Protecting my heart against the rancid, dank and corrosive air, Breathed by a thousand ugly aliens with their venomous stare. Blood! Blood! Blood! Blood! Blood! Blood! Blood! Blood! My fingers tried to grip the gravel, As the saint inside Read more
-
In Defence of a Poet!
“Oh, who is he?” She pointed her finger in my direction. “A crazy man. A crackpot. He has totally lost it. He is someone who is of no particular importance,” he said, his voice cutting like a serrated knife across my fibrous heart. “Why, what’s his crime?” “He writes poems that hardly rhyme.” They both Read more
-
Oh my hands quiver as I type!!
Oh my hands quiver as I type, Something quite polemical, am I about to write? Uncertain, unsure, nervous and anxious, Should I not stop before I commit this travesty, this horrendous crime?! I tread cautiously over each noun I write, And check my adjectives – are they not too derogatory, should I take out the Read more
-
Such a loser!
It was just another day. But the sun, set. He looked at the path ahead of him. This hadn’t still got him what he was looking for. Thanks to the mobile telephony, he got to know the other competitors were already basking in glory as they have reached the finishing line. Shit. He flopped Read more
-
On a Planet far beyond the influence of Earth!
On a Planet far beyond the influence of Earth, Prevailed a society, which did not persecute its people at birth. The law of the land gave the power to the people, Unequal it wasn’t, yet each of them was considered unique and capable. Peaceful by nature, yet it possessed the most potent weapon of all, Read more
-
LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF ALIENMAN
LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF ALIENMAN I, Vismay Harani (more popularly known as Alienman!) aged 20 years (occupation: – ……………..let’s talk about this later) hereby write my final will. Any wills written previously are revoked under the soon to be defunct laws of Government of India. I am writing this will freely and under no Read more
-
Loser Writers’ Association
Good Morning all, It might suffice to say, I lost one more of those competitions and hence am writing this post so that I may be able to release my pent up frustration that had (for a moment at least!) forced me to hang myself with the noose carved from the literary thrash that I Read more
-
Up against the Wal (mart)!!
Dear Mr. Common Man (of India!), hear my plea, I know that I am pretty much unwanted in your country, poor me. But I suppose you well know my charms, “Low Prices – always”: rather it be toothbrushes, fancy dresses or fresh grocery from the farms. Maybe Walmart strikes fear in your heart, But let Read more
-
And so God created Arvind Kejriwal!
In the beginning, the God created heaven and Earth, And mountains, humans, rivers and trees of massive girth. But the inquisitive humans wanted to explore, And try to satiate their growing hunger for more. But still, each character was happy to be a part of God’s gig, To be a hunter or hunted, whatever they Read more
-
This Week in News
Oh dear, there are many things that makes the news, The spicy Page-3 gossip or someone’s highly unpalatable views. Rest assured, here is all the stuff that you have unknowingly missed, Which I try to capture in a lyrical gist. A Manmohic Smile has come to play, At the Dalal Street and on Ms. Gandhi’s Read more
-
I am the P.M.
Hear, Hear My Friends, My Citizens My Countrymen, My constituents. A Tale of Tragedy, I speak of, Of Drama, Money Crunching and Rancor. Of Shattered Dreams and Broken Limbs, Of Brazen Opposition and a Stuttering Prince, Even of the Anna’s Aanshan, where you throng, I speak it all in this telltale song. Why did I, Read more
-
Bella, oh Bella!!!!!
Oh dear, my love is NOT like a red, red rose, No dear, I cannot bear the tantrum that she throws. With a thousand thorns wedged inside my undead heart, In another man’s arm, off she departs. Without a care or a goddamn concern, For my colgate-white fangs and my face that glistens in sun. Read more
-
An Eye on the Gold
The Sky is wild, all thunder and rumbling, The Waters are turbulent, with waves crashing and tumbling. The Mighty Sun is set to scorch and sizzle, For the Greatest Show on Earth is bound to dazzle (everyone). Take cue from these portent signs from the Gods, For Zeus, Poseidon and Apollo are no mean sods. Read more
-
The ‘Not so’ Old Man and the Sea
The following story has been published at Your Story Club. Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean- roll! Ten Thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain; Man marks the earth with ruin- his control Stops with the shore. Lord Byron Unfathomable, deep, dark, turbulent, mighty, raw, intense, awe-inspiring, stone-crushing, foam spraying, pouting, gathering forces, Read more
-
My 100th Post
‘Space- the final frontier…These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five years mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.’ –Introduction to Star Trek (television series) 1966 onwards, by Gene Roddenberry Hello readers, Many of Read more
-
Dead Beyond Imagination
Ha, maybe you would say that death is not a quantifiable thing, nor can it be written in the form of degrees (dead, deader, deadest). So it may be a little hard for you to digest ‘Dead beyond Imagination’. But you see- I fit the bill. I am 100% dead- so dead that even heaven Read more
-
When the God plays Dice
This has been my only published work!!! Of course I am proud of it… Read more
-
The Five Hundred Words Limit
This was one of those angry retorts that I sent to one of the publishers as I crossed my word limit!!!!! But don’t you worry, I am no stalker!!!!!!! Read more
-
Mumbai Moods
It was four in the morning and a bloody cold at that. I dug my hands deep into the pockets while I watched my friend Ronak gazing out into the night through the open portal of a railway window. Cold air swept in but I think it did not bother him, though I was freezing. Read more
Alienman 