On being sick...

Being sick can be fun... when you're just sick enough.

You remember those times when you can run a marathon if you have couple pills? But you don't, and so you can't lift your grocery bags?

That is what I'm talking about.

No throwing up. No coughing your lungs out. No Sachin Tendulkar fevers. Nothing dirty. Nothing so painful.

Just sick enough... to not show up for work. :)

Knock knock!

Indian writing in English

I was chatting with a friend couple days ago.

Somewhere in conversation, context was set up, and it became necessary to use the word whorehouse.

It wasn't.

My friend preferred "house of illness in reputation."

I couldn't help smiling. The more obvious reason was the need to use a euphemism, and the cleverness of it. Indian sensitivities...

The not so obvious reason was the realization that this is uniquely characteristic of contemporary Indian writing. The kind that we rave about.


PS: I personally don't care for Indian fiction. So I might be wrong to generalize... Please give me license :) Oh, I'm currently reading Dune, by Frank Herbert. I think it is bloody brilliant.