Last Thursday, as I entered my home after the Johannesburg event, “An Evening with Arundhati Roy”, there was a fair amount of sulking and foot dragging as I placed my unhappily unsigned copies of “The God of Small Things” and …
Category: South Africa
The “Indian Problem”
When I wrote The curse of the Charou and the “civilised” blacks, I wrote it with an ardent hope that someone would hear my message, that someone would start having different conversations, that someone would help to turn the tide. And …
The curse of the Charou and the “civilised” blacks
A weird thing happened to me when I moved out of my hometown a few years ago; my perspective changed. Also, it was the first time in my life where I lived in a neighbourhood where almost no one looked …
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What if I was born white?
There are things we don’t say, there are things we are too scared to talk about. We tip toe around sensitive topics because we don’t want people to feel bad. Hey Mr White Man, I know you didn’t earn everything …
What if White people were criminals too?
Now before you think I’m throwing stones, let me first remind you that I do live in a proverbial glass house here, I too have deeply ingrained prejudice that is at times very difficult to shake, so I write this …
Icons of Apartheid
I’m at a fairly dodgy neighbourhood haunt. Not dodgy in the way that might get you killed but dodgy in the way that you feel a distinct need to wipe down any surfaces before touching them. There is a group …
Guilt
Guilt. A short word for a complex, selfish emotion. I met Goodday yesterday. She was not a small woman, yet I barely noticed her sitting outside the grocery store. An acid sourness wraps its hand around my throat. Do I …
