Magic Moments

What would it be like for a girl of impressionable age to be surrounded by intellectual minds - progressive Brahmo samaj, nationalists, writers, poets and passionate orators. What would it have been like to see the best and worst of worlds - sheer support for the women’s education and stark criticism for the same citing Hindu religion and conservative traditions as the foremost reason.  Reading these chapters I wonder, what would our world be if these women and their supporters didn’t exist. Sati system wouldn’t have been abolished. Young widows would still be force fed opium and dragged to their dead husband’s pyre. Child marriage would not have been made punishable offence. Widow remarriage would have been viewed with censure and scorn by society till date. Girls would be still seen as anomalies in a male dominated classroom and workplace. The right to vote would have been still reserved for the men. And devadasi system would still be prevailing under the staunch conservative Bra...

I say dissent or disobedience is an important aspect of an individual. If your son or daughter has the exact same opinions as you, the exact same thought process as you do, and does exactly as you say every single time - that’s not something to be proud of. That is a point of concern even, in my humble opinion, as it shows that there is no difference between two generations. Dissent, once in a while, when need be, is essential for character building. Owning one’s own thoughts, instead of mimicking an elder’s. It is a necessity for progress and reform - to do away with old regressive customs practiced in the name of tradition, and make way for new ways of living. I do not subscribe to the belief that elders are always right, that ‘gurujans’ cannot be wrong, and we should always obey them without questioning. I understand that elders are humans, they grow each day in their thoughts and as individuals as we do, so they can be wrong, and it is our humble responsibility to challenge their b...

This show appreciates the small town life, the pleasures of the slower life in the countryside, more specifically the seaside. The female protagonist loses her job as the dentist in Seoul, owing to a whistleblower act by her where she exposes her boss of minting money from unsuspecting patients admitting them for needless procedures. She visits Gongjin, a fishing village just hours away from Seoul, missing her last visit their with parents and reminiscing carefree childhood days. And decides to open a clinic there, go solo. And thus begins the lovely tale, with such dear and loving characters. As she learns to accept and appreciate ways of the people there and opens up to them, over the days learning her way to walk on their simple footsteps, we see amazing humane bonds get formed. Quirky characters, old grannies who love feeding people around them potato cakes, and teens, and kids petting a strange animal. I am forgetting it's name.  Korean world of sitcoms is so humane. It is so ...