Emotions of Emptiness

                                           
                                                       

Making love memorable in “Manori”

Mahie Gill in Dev D as firebrand “Paro” bundles up a mattress and cycles to the fields for an amorous rendezvous. Well the scene very well depicts that we have come a long way from hesitating to talk about sex to PDA.

Call it a sex revolution or the quest to know it all; the Generation X surely wants to take their relationship to the next level. With premarital sex eliminating as bad notion people are taking their partners to places they can remember about. And one such place is Manori. A beautiful island connected to Mumbai via road. Though sea route is relatively shorter and it takes approximately 15 minutes to reach Manori from Marve beach. Adding to one’s romantic experience is the ferry ride that takes you there.

People have converted their homes into lodges and resorts and believe it or not if you are looking for a place to make love memorable, Manori is the place. Rooms are available at reasonable prices depending upon the number of people and hours. “The rooms are spacious and homely. When you come from the beach to change and chill in the resort you just won’t feel that you are missing something” says a visitor on the beach.

                                                                            (photo: Prabjhot)

A room for a day in one of the resorts will cost you from 500-1500 rupees. You can order food of your choice and enjoy every part of it. The place is considered to be safe, far from the hassle and hustle of Mumbai. A location where people say love can be felt in the air.

Young couples all round the year make small one day trips to Manori to explore the physical aspect of their relationship along with emotional and mental understanding. It’s just not the couples but even groups of friends and people with their families that come to enjoy the scenic beauty. The emergence of the place as a shelter for sex is not something that people living on the island are oblivious to. “The open mindedness and business attitude of the shack owners, rickshaw drivers and other people is what makes Manori a comfortable place for romance” says shraddha (name changed), who spoke to us while checking out from the resort.

For those who think that there might be a shady touch to the stay at Manori must know that there is a proper identification that is done before the allotment of rooms in these resorts. Managers ask for identification proofs and license numbers when they register the names of the guests making an entry and exit.

 Couples making out are shooed away by policemen every now then from places like bandra-worli sea link road and band stand. Manori serves as a perfect escape. Considering a lot of people in a relationship face accommodation problems in an overcrowded city like Mumbai and stay with their families; so rooms on an island like Manori is the best place you can ask for to satisfy one’s sexual urge.

Amidst all the chaos and cacophony of Mumbai, Manori’s overall culture is very reminiscent of Goa and the place provides a mini-Goa experience within boundaries of Mumbai city.

Truth, love and a little malice : Book Review

Truth, Love & a little Malice is a blunt and honest autobiography of India's most renowned, read, lauded, critically acclaimed and controversial living author and journalist Khushwant Singh. He starts it by apologizing for writing an autobiography and calls it a swansong of his profound career and eventful life. It is a memoir with footprints on the sand of time.It contains some unforgettable experiences both good and bad, unbelievable experiments both successful and flop, undeniable truths and a life both worth reading, writing and remembering about. Written with utmost candidness it talks about his relationship with his grandmother, parents, friends and colleagues.

The novel being an autobiography is written in sequential manner beginning with the childhood episode of KS to the present day. Singh who has been a witness to all the major events in modern Indian history- from independence and partition to emergency and operation blue star remains forthright in telling them. He also has stories to tell about many influential people like Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Lady Mountbatten, Jinnah, Amrita Shergill and many more.

 He records the comforts and disappointments in his marriage of over sixty years; his first, awkward sexual encounter; his phobia of ghosts and his fascination with death. In one of the chapters he writes about the ingredients essential to be a good writer. It also gives us a glance into the frailty and fragility of communal harmony, unenlightened masses in times of crises and political propaganda. "It is written in a simple, lucid and unpretentious style characteristic of Khushwant Singh"-India Today.

The story is captivating, unmatched and full of meaningful quotations and poems.  The Last but One Chapter is the last chapter of his autobiography where he mentions his desire to die the way his parents died. He wraps up his life’s account by saying that he would like to go as Allama Iqbal exhorted strong men to go
“Nishaan-e-mard-e Momin ba too goyam?
Choon marg aayad, tabassum bar lab -e-lost”
(You ask me for the signs of a man of faith? When death comes to him He has a smile on his face.)