Suomen Soliloquies

We have these mugs in our house that have Japanese-anime-style whales on them. Their smiles are wide and innocent, the shade of blue in which they swim is pleasant, not the sad kind that makes you cry inside. Years ago, my parents decided they wanted more of these mugs but the store they bought them in no longer stocked them. So we went online and discovered that there were yellow monkey mugs, and pink rabbit mugs too, a whole world of cute animal mugs that kept their chai hot long enough for them to slowly drink it each morning while they read the paper and ate khakra. So they ordered the monkey mugs. My mother only had my dad order 6 of them. Each mug is $12 so this felt like a splurge. The monkey’s joined the whales in the shelf, breaking up the sea of blue with their gentle yellow. She now regrets that decision. These mugs were already a Prized Possession then for their superiority to other mugs. But they are more valuable now because we can no longer find ...

Picture announcing the revival of the Ramyana and Mahabharata (bottom) When India suddenly announced a lock down for three weeks in March, it was a big deal. The entire country was now stuck inside with limited means of entertaining themselves. The TV networks took this as an opportunity to revive some favorites, specifically, two Indian serials from the 1980s that had held the nation enthralled while they were running. Both of these were based on Hindu epics, The Ramayana and The Mahabharata.  My family has also been watching the Mahabharata as a nightly ritual. This is quite a commitment since the serial has over 90 episodes that are each 45 minutes. Arjun listens to Lord Krishna tell the Bhagwad Gita But this is a commitment that I think we all hold onto eagerly (though my father admitted one evening that he as other shows that he wants to watch and so would be happy to take a break from it for an evening. He was overruled). This is because the Mahabharata, speci...