Evenings with the Wizard

I will start by thanking everyone who gave a motivating feedback on 'the Gentlewomen' (http://kimayarkulkarni.blogspot.in/2014/02/this-is-ode-salute-to-women-iabsolutely.html) Thank you ever so much, guys :)

You know how a regular day goes by. Because, of course, everyone witnesses a day go by. 

You wake up according to whenever the first thing in your priority list needs to be done. You brush, have a shower, etc. You have breakfast. You set out on your bike to college. You curse the traffic in the city. You try manoeuvring your vehicle through a gap between a PMT and a BMW, curse both the drivers heartily, in your head, of course, and ride off with a vrrrroomm as the traffic light turns green.

You meet your friends in college and they have plans. Be it a plan of watching  'American Hustle' in theatre, a plan to attend a poetry slam or a plan to apply for an Ivy League University, friends always have plans while you look like a complete "nincompoop" with a helmet on your head and 'The Lord of the Rings' in your hand. 

Of course, you can always join in on those plans but that's not the point, is it? The point is that the only plan YOU are able to come up with is a Sherlock marathon, or an LOTR marathon, not to forget Harry Potter, and Pizza.

Only when you hear your friends' plans, do you realize that the Universities don't care about how much you love the concept of a Patronus or that you know Tolkien's poetry by heart. You imagine yourself going "All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost.." in an interview and the professor's what-just-happened expression when you finish with a dramatic "The crownless again shall be king" line.

You spend the day trying hard to think of the things you like about yourself and fail miserably. But there are these breaks in your self-deprecating thoughts that feel like  two hands full of cool water splashed on your face, or like a gasp of air after you've almost drowned. The sudden surge in your mood when your imagination gets a wanderlust and your mind travels to places that you love the most, with the people you admire the most. And that's when you spend the evenings with your wizard.

And you land up in the middle of the story before you know it has started. You are sitting under the beech tree on the banks of the Great Lake. He is laughing at the joke you just made about the Malfoys.

"You are ruthless" he says, laughing.

"You are laughing" you state, matter-of-factly.

"I am shameless" he says, trying to make a serious face in vain.

"It's getting late. Let's go back. They must be waiting" you say.

"But let's stay" he says, "Only for a few more minutes"

"OK"

He is sitting with his legs spread out in front of him, his hands resting on the ground. He occasionally tosses back his head and lets out a sigh.

"How old do you think this tree must be?" he asks.

"I don't know. It looks like it must have been around since even before the founders came here."

"So this tree has witnessed more magic than the history of magic itself?"

"I suppose so" you laugh. "Why?"

"Think about the conversations it must have witnessed." he says, ignoring your question, "there have been generations of students that must have been sitting here, discussing magic, muggles, love lives, the Ministry politics..."

"You forget Quidditch" you say.

"No. I never forget Quidditch" he says, "I just shift it to the back of my mind when I am trying to focus on trivial things"

"The tree has also witnessed the conversations of people who aren't students, I believe, considering you and I aren't students any more" you say.

"Well. We don't go to Hogwarts any more, no. But I wouldn't stop considering myself a student. Would you?"

"I guess not"

"It's only healthy"

"Yes, you're right. We really must go back though." you say, getting up.

"Let's come back tomorrow" he says.

"Of course. But I was thinking London next time"

"Sure." he says, "I hope they have left some pudding for us."

You hold hands.

"On the count of three."

You apparate back into the city, alone. Your helmet is lying next to you as you still clutch 'The Lord of the Rings' to your chest.

"Come on." you think to your scooter "Let's get back."

You ride home, not bothering to squeeze between the gaps this time. 

When the signal turns red and the sun is bearing down on you, you feel the drop of sweat trickling down from your neck, along your spine.

You try humming to yourself-

"Rain may fall and wind may blow,
And many miles be still to go
But under a tall tree I will lie,
And let the clouds go sailing by"

the Gentlewomen

This is an ode, a salute to the women I absolutely adore. I look up to them and they restore my faith in humanity every time that I watch them work, talk, and be. I choose to go alphabetically to avoid the implication of bias.

Adele : She has brought back the swagger in the world of feminism through her in-your-face music and lyrics. Never has a post-breakup phase been so cool and empowering. She belts out her revenge through her divine voice and you wonder whether that poor ex-boyfriend of hers is writhing in regret right now. She flips the bird in the middle of a tongue-in-cheek song like a boss, and you feel the rush of adrenalin that she might be feeling in that moment. Her loud cackle and the cocky sparkle in her eyes are refreshingly contagious. What makes her different is her constant determination of choosing to be happy. Yes, it’s a choice. It always was.

Beyoncé : She is graceful, grounded, and sings like an angel. She knows where she is and she knows how she got there. And that makes her so damn attractive. She rocks a concert in killer heels while giving a lesson in feminism. She knows she is a role-model to lots of women and girls and she keeps working at being an even better one. She has made feminism glamorous. She has made the world refer to the King of Rap, Jay-Z, as “Beyonce’s husband” Now that’s something, isn’t it. She rules, and people don’t mind it. She looks at you from that flood-lit stage but she knows how it is to be on your side too. She is definitely the Queen. But the beauty is that she is an elected one. Now, “GIMME SOME!”

Jennifer Lawrence : She is a rebel and that’s why you love her. She rebels by not being thin in Hollywood and she rebels by retorting to Kate Moss quotes. She gushes over how she loves food and says “F*** off” to those who try to talk her into changing her body. She doesn’t want you to go “Oh I want to be thin like Katniss” and she triumphantly ignores the critics who say “Isn’t Katniss supposed to be a lot thinner?” You respect her for tripping at the Oscars, and for defending her ‘armpit fat’. She has made it cool to be a feminist. She is real, she seems approachable, and most of all, she doesn’t try to be pretty all the time. What’s real is what’s for you to see.

J.K. Rowling: She has that calm assuredness that keeps you in constant awe of her. Whatever she is is out there for you to read. She has nothing more to prove. She has got all the Answers and she has been selfless to share Them with you. You will always owe her for what she has told you through her works. It’s the secret and laws of the universe, if you think about it in detail. Instead of going into the depths of depression after a nasty divorce she chose to rise from it like the phoenix she so beautifully describes. She decided to turn things around and used her anger and grief. And the result is for the world to witness. She gives feminism a feel-good feeling. “Is fat really worse than vindictive, jealous, shallow, vain, evil, boring, or cruel? Not to me.” All hail the Queen.

Lalitagauri Kulkarni: I like to call her a working class heroine. The Karl Marx woman. She cooks for the family in the morning and leaves for work at 9. She is an economist (sometimes I also call her an “eco-geek”); she is an economist who likes watching Modern Family. Oh and she is also my mother. She doesn’t have an Oscar, a Booker or a Grammy. But she has a PhD. What makes her a heroine is that she couldn’t care less for the things she doesn’t have. Her contentedness, her gratitude towards all that she has and all that she is is empowering. She is a working woman with a job that she loves and a daughter who loves her, and she couldn’t ask for more. That’s right , the husband doesn’t come into the picture. Sorry Dad, we’re all about feminism.

Mirka Federer : People don’t get why I love her so much. Sometimes, even I don’t get why I love her so much. It’s just that she is so motherly, and warm, and reminds you of the person you always wanted to be like. She gets sullen when he’s losing and starts furiously texting on her Blackberry. She shouts and cheers for him with clenched fists, and she calmly smiles when he wins with an “I told you!” expression on her face. And despite being so involved in her husband’s career she gives off a feeling of complete indifference as if she is the one who has settled. You’d never know if she has or hasn’t. But when you see her cuddling the twins you wish you were one of them. She has no qualms about where she is and who she is. She knows she rules the roost. And without her, there won’t be any roost at all.

Mrunmayee Saudade : That’s not her actual surname but she’d rather adopt this one than get stereotyped and judged on the basis of her real Marathi surname. That’s her. She cares. She is a poet who never admits she is one. She is an activist who doesn’t know she is one. She is a teacher who never lets herself think she is one. She is adorable but I’m pretty sure she is oblivious to that too. She is a feminist and a thoughtful one too. That’s the one thing she is aware of. She knows she is intelligent and capable of ruling. If you are French or German and deem yourself too cool to speak English, she would be delighted to have a chat with you about anything under the sun and around it. And don’t be surprised if you meet her in Tuscany or Provence. She has a highly feverish wanderlust.

Tanvi Joshi : No matter how anti-social you are, you won’t mind having her as your friend. She is non-judgemental to the point of annoyance. But that’s what warms you to her. She is unequivocally, a feminist. She has no doubts about that. She will point it out if you are being unfeminist and will ask you about it. Most of the times, you don’t realize what you were doing was unfeminist until she tells you. You try to cover it up. You even think she is a bit impertinent but then you know better. She comes off as detached. But she loves you like she loves every other friend of hers. She is who she is and she has no intention of being anyone else.

                

                 The women who are on this list inspire me to be myself. They remind me of what I want to be like. They make me realize that I am what inspires me. They are beautifully and unapologetically themselves. Watching them be drives out my insecurities. They prove success to be the best revenge. They ooze confidence and make feminism delightfully stylish. They all have their own “You’d be a fool to mess with me” look. They use it as a weapon. They rule their worlds like a boss. And they are sexy. And boy, they know it.

*Lalitagauri Kulkarni is my mother. Mrunmayee Saudade is a friend, philosopher, and guide. Tanvi Joshi is the carziest best friend I've got.