MINDZPEAK

Lessons...

2012-01-30T06:46:00.005+05:30

Off late, I had been rather busy in studies and certain complexities of life. In other words, the brain was too busy thinking whenever it wasn’t busy memorizing facts from books.

The exam season is on and I was to write an examination in Delhi in the first week of January. As per my experiences about Indian Railways in the past years, I decided to board an overnight train to Delhi. It has become a rule for the train services to be badly hit due to the winter-fog every year. So I thought it was better to spend the greater part of my journey sleeping rather than tiring myself out throughout the day sitting in a ‘day’ train.

Strangely enough, the weather seemed to change for the good for two to three days before my planned journey. There was no sign of any fog, much to my relief. And it remained so until two hours before the departure. Just as my luck would have it, the fog came down in heaps as the clock struck nine. My train was scheduled to depart at 11:45.

As usual, Dad had offered to drop me off at the railway station. But now with the ever increasing fog, we had to leave more than an hour earlier than usual because of the near-absent visibility. To add to my uneasiness, Mom declared that she would accompany us as well. I tried to reason with her about the intensity of cold and her vulnerability to it. But she was having none of it. So, we left home a good two hours before time.

Contrary to our guesses, we reached the station rather early in spite of the fog. I told the parents to leave immediately for home as I took out my luggage from our car. The train was already on the platform and I told them that I would make myself comfortable inside the train right away. Mom reminded me to call on phone as soon as the train moved from the station. I hastily yes-yessed and once again told them to leave.

Having said the customary good-byes, I entered the station, found my coach and got to my reserved berth. It was still about an hour to departure and so, the train was still pretty much empty. As I fixed my luggage at their proper places, I noticed an elderly couple sitting opposite to my berth. I noticed that they had already fixed their luggage and were sitting in complete silence facing each other on their berths.

Having sat down, I decided to make use of the time and started with a book I had brought along for my exam. People moved around the aisle, searching for their berths and handling their luggage. But this elderly couple sat there in silence without so much as raising an eyebrow. I sensed a strange calmness about them that felt rather abnormal.

I was well into the twentieth page of my book when my phone started to ring. It was Mom.

Mom : Hello.
Me : Ya.
Mom : You settled ?
Me : Ya.
Mom : Is it warm enough there ?
Me : Ya…
Mom : So, should we go ?
Me : ??!!?? You people are still here ??? I told you to leave !!! Huh…
Mom : Ok. We are going. Don’t forget to call when the train departs.
Me : Huh... I said yes. I’ll call. Now go !

I closed the book. It doesn’t help much to read when I’m irritated. Why did they have to wait when I assured them I would be ok ? They always treat me as a kid.

My thoughts were disturbed by a couple of porters who came up with huge suitcases and started to push them in beneath the berths across. The elderly man got up to make way and sat down besides his wife. A young man came up and checked the luggage, paid the porters and with a smile, requested the elderly man to look after the luggage for a while. The elderly man just nodded his head while this guy went out. So, I resumed with reading my book once again.

It was time for departure when I saw the young guy standing outside the aisle door with a young woman (who was probably his wife). Suddenly, the train started to pull away as I saw them waving to people out on the platform. And I didn’t miss noticing how the woman suddenly broke down into tears even as the young guy tried to console her.

As the train left the station, the young couple came inside and sat on the berth opposite to the older couple. The young woman was still wiping her tears amidst soft hiccups.

Suddenly, for the first time since I entered the coach, I heard the old lady speak in a really calm voice.

Old Lady : Were your relatives here to see you off ?
Young Woman : Yes. Mine and my husband’s parents and his sister.
Old Lady : Are you people going abroad ?
Young Woman : Yes. We are going to Australia. My husband works there.
Old Lady : I know it’s hard to say good bye.
The young woman managed a wry smile.
Old Lady : It’s ok. You should relax now.
Young Woman : I know. But it’s hard. You won’t understand.

There was a pause. A rather awkward one. And I was closely observing the people and their conversation.

Suddenly the elderly man spoke up in a voice as calm as his wife.

“We understand.”

The old lady resumed in her calm self. I could see a faint smile on her face that was probably there since the beginning, but it felt more pronounced now.

“Our son was once posted in Australia too. For six months. After that he moved to New Zealand. It’s a nice country he told us. But unfortunately his work didn’t let him stay there for long.”

“I see.” The young woman said wiping off the final traces of wetness from her eyes.

“Yes.” Continued the old lady. “He was then moved to the UK. They made him move all around Europe. In fact, they made him move almost everywhere around the world.”

“So you people must be habitual of this by now. No ? Where does your son work ?” The young woman asked.

It was once again the elderly man who spoke. And he spoke with an air of even greater calmness than his wife.

“He worked at a high post in the richest oil company in the world. But we lost him in the Kenya air crash in 2007. He was 25. Our only child.”

There was a weird but eerie silence just as the man uttered those words. Though not being a part of the conversation, I was still equally, if not more stunned than the young couple. The old lady continued.

“He used to come home every two or three months. His job required him to travel so much. We had gotten to, just like you said, being habitual of his arrivals and departures. And at times he used to say he was tired of traveling. And that he won’t go anywhere now. But every time he was off the very next day.”

“And he was coming home that time when the accident happened. That morning I had an altercation with him. He was complaining why I get so worked up every time he moves. That was the first time when I told him not to call me before leaving. I had got angry on him…”

That was when I saw the elderly man press at the hand of his wife. I felt that he knew he had to stop her. Though she still had that strange calmness about her face which also had that hint of a smile, maybe her husband knew too well where she was prone to break down.

I was still trying to look into my book. But it was all too hazy. And suddenly, I remembered something. I got up to move towards the door of the coach. On the way, I saw tears rolling freely from the young woman’s eyes now.

I took a deep breath as I came out of the door. The sudden chill outside the compartment made me gasp. I took out my phone from my pocket and dialed the number.

Mom : Hello. Bhaiya,… the train left ?
Me : Hmm.
Mom : Is it warm enough inside ?
Me : Hmm.
Mom : Don’t keep awake for long and don’t keep reading in that dim light.
Me : Hmm.
Mom : And don’t forget to call when you reach.
Me : Yes. I won’t forget.

(Image courtesy : Google Images)

Thoughts Through a Colored Window...

2011-12-17T01:03:00.004+05:30

Ever since my entry into the ‘Blogosphere’, I have come across countless blogs. There have been many which I liked in the very first look. And some went on to become regular reads for me. But there have been a very few which never cease to amaze me.

I thus, introduce here, one such amazing blog.

‘Subtle Strokes of Imagination’ is a sort of e-gallery not just relating to art but to thought as well. A visitor to this blog will find himself trying to make up his mind whether to admire the amazing sketches or to dive deep into the thought related to the picture.

‘Subtle Strokes of Imagination’ is a collection of paintings done as just a hobby by the artist and owner of the blog Dr. Megha Agrawal.

Yes ! The artist is actually a qualified doctor who has done the paintings over a period of time just as an expression of her thoughts. So, for all those of you who always think of the dreaded syringe at the mere mention of the word doctor, here is an eye-opener that doctors are not those monotonous, boring, heartless bookworms they appear to be. They too, have the capabilities to think and express.

As you look at each painting on Dr. Megha’s blog, you will be drawn into the significance of the attached piece of text with each of those paintings. It will be hard to understand whether the thought emerged from the painting or the painting emerged from the thought.

It is really fortunate that the doctor decided to share those masterpieces with the virtual world. So, go on to her blog to treat your eyes to some great visuals and to twist your brains at some thought provoking texts.

Strawberry Crush... (Part 4)

2011-11-30T03:40:00.002+05:30

It is highly advisable that you read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of this story to follow the thread.

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He suddenly opened his eyes wide. But all he could see was pitched darkness. He realized himself lying on his bed trying to recall the time since when he was asleep. Or was he unconscious… ?

He also realized that his abdomen had stopped hurting. He had lost track of when he had the last meal. It seemed like his stomach had gotten immune to the hunger pangs which his mind refused to acknowledge. His body seemed numb. He again tried to adjust his eyes to the complete darkness. The uselessness of the attempt made his mind to drown once again into the thoughts that had engulfed his mind. Engulfed his soul. Engulfed his very life. The thoughts of Her…

Once again he desperately tried to fight off the thoughts of the realization that in about twenty four hours time, she would belong to someone else… forever…

He clenched his fists and forced his eyes shut as if to prevent those images entering into his sight. But his eyelids couldn’t hold back what was brimming to spill over. And he could feel the cold traces of fluid which rolled over from the corners of his eyes moving across his face and falling on to the bed.

He gripped his head with his hands. His ears boomed with each beat of his heart. And the sounds kept getting louder and quicker. He knew he was hyperventilating, gasping for air. But little could he realize that it were the thoughts in his mind which were suffocating him. He tried hard to pick himself up from the bed and switched on the light. But once on his feet, he could feel his ears getting hot and strange sensations up in his nose. Something told him he was going to bleed through the nose.

He rushed inside the washroom and looked into the mirror. The face in the mirror looked hazy. Was it the mist in his own eyes… he thought. He quickly splashed handfuls of water on his face. And suddenly he noticed his fingernails which had turned to shades of purple. His fingertips felt numb. He looked up into the mirror. He had never tried to read his own eyes. But now he did. And they shouted back at him. He staggered back to the bed and slumped on it.

He could clearly feel his heartbeats racing like never before. His heart thumped heavily against his chest. His head seemed to be ready to burst any second. He reached out for his phone. He pushed the green button and saw her number right at the top. He remembered trying to call her many times… but pressing the red button before he could hear the bell ringing. He didn’t know what to say to her. Or how to say it. And the chain of thoughts began yet again.

It had been five days since he had seen her. And as each day passed, the levels of his anxiety reached a new high. He thought about talking to her. Telling her everything that was on his mind. The way she had captured all the available spaces in his heart. The way she was all around him.

He wanted to confess to her how he had been crazily searching for perfection all his life. And when he had finally been able to find that perfection, it wasn’t to be.

But then he thought about keeping everything concealed. Never to tell her how he felt about her. She had probably a happy life ahead in store for her. He didn’t want to disturb her in the most important phase of her life. Though he knew he wouldn’t be able to handle it. But he wanted her peace of mind.

He was still fiddling with his phone. Watching her Facebook wall over and over again like the countless times in the past few days. And then he came on to a quote which said, “Nobody Will Know What’s Going in Your Mind… Its Better To Express Rather Than to Expect”.

And he knew what he was going to do. He wasn’t going to leave the world one day with the regret of not letting her know what he felt for her. He wasn’t afraid of the consequences now. He had to talk to her. And he pressed the green button.

***************************

He opened his eyes as the sunrays hit his face through the open window. He was sprawled on his bed with half of his body on the floor. He jumped up to check the time in the clock on the wall. It was already 12 noon. She was getting married that very night.

How did he fall asleep ??? Maybe the lack of sleep for almost an entire week had taken its toll on him. He had to rush. He didn’t have any time.

It was already 1 pm as he walked towards the grandly decorated gate of the palatial building. There was brisk activity all around. People ran around with stuff while others shouted orders. He scanned the area twice to check for any possible hindrances. He rehearsed his words again in his mind, took a deep breath and moved inside the house.

He knew that asking for the bride’s father wouldn’t be much of a difficulty. People had enough on their hands already. So, no one even bothered to ask him any further details as one elderly man directed him towards the entrance of the room where he would find her father.

As he stepped up towards the door, for once his heart leapt up into his mouth and then settled back in its place. He knew now there was no turning back. And he stepped inside the room.

The only occupant of the room who was talking animatedly into a telephone had his back towards the door. He at once recognized him as her dad. The man was well known figure in the city’s who’s who and looked all the more imposing in his white dress.

“Yes… ??” He boomed back as he smashed the receiver back on the table and turned.

“What do you want ?” He enquired again.

“Namaste…” He folded his hands and introduced himself.

“Oh. So you are her classmate ? But she is very busy right now. I hope she invited you for the wedding tonight… ??” The father asked.

He swallowed once. And hardly taking another breath, he slowly said…

“Sir, I am in love with your daughter. And she is in love with me. And I humbly ask you to…….”

He couldn’t complete his sentence before he saw the color of blood in her dad’s eyes as the man in white leapt at him in utter rage.

(to be continued.......)

Image courtesy : Google Images

A Wasted Talent...

2011-10-31T22:52:00.003+05:30

The other night I just accidentally happened to come across the following song/video on Youtube. And instantly, it hit on some very old childhood memories in my mind. Do have a look at what I’m talking about.

Yes. This was a song from an almost non-existent movie from the eighties. But apart from the nice music, this song featured one of the most talented people the Indian entertainment world has ever had. Javed Jaffrey burst onto the Indian Film Industry as the Indian version of Michael Jackson.

I remember first watching him dance on tv in the good old ‘Doordarshan’ days. I hadn’t watched much of Michael Jackson in those pre-cable-television days. So, Javed’s dance moves completely captivated the mind to say the least. But unfortunately, we weren’t able to enjoy more of his unbelievable dance steps as he decided to try his hand at serious acting rather than just dance.

But that too, didn’t get him much more than a few forgettable movies with equally forgettable roles.

I rediscovered him through a tv show which I simply detested at first sight. It was a comical Japanese game show with background commentary in Hindi. But once I sat through an episode of the show (there wasn’t anything else on tv that day, really ! ) I was hooked on to it for dear life.

‘Takeshi’s castle’ became one of my favorite shows not because of its content, but merely because of the marvelous commentary by Javed. It simply overflowed with extreme wit. And it would always end up with me and my brother in splits. Something only a really talented artist is capable of.

Being the son of the famous comedian of yesteryears, Jagdeep, humor comes to Javed naturally. He is the master of coming up with unmatchable witty comments at the drop of a hat. And that is something that signifies immense grey-matter in the head. His realistic and extremely comic impersonations of such a huge variety of characters can leave anyone crutching their tummies and begging for mercy.

I loved the movie ‘Dhamaal’ mostly for the wonderful character of ‘Manav Srivastava’ played by Javed.

It’s a pity that the Indian entertainment industry wasted such a matchless talent not just in dance, but also in comedy and serious acting. But Javed still remains one of my favorite entertainers.

(Picture credits : Google Images)

Strawberry Crush... (Part 3)

2011-09-28T07:19:00.006+05:30

It is highly advisable that you read Part 1 and Part 2 of this story to follow the thread.

*** Warning : A very long post ***

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He was utterly bewildered. He simply had no idea about what was happening to him. He had lost track of everything. No clue to the lectures he attended. Or to those that he missed. Sunny reminded him that he had been absconding from the training for the entire week and that the coach was out in search of him with a cricket bat in his hands and breathing fire through his nostrils. He was even disoriented about the days and dates. He had been missing his meals and still didn’t remember feeling hungry. It was getting crazier by the day.

But one thing he never seemed to miss was to get to the lecture-theatre a good fifteen minutes early every morning. Staring towards the door and counting every passing second until he would catch a glimpse of that face. And then he would feel the blood rushing to his face. Blocking off all the noise in the hall from entering his ears. The sound of someone’s footsteps and the voice of their owner were just the sounds he could hear.

She had always hated waking up in the mornings. But all that hatred seemed to have vanished into thin air. Getting to the morning class had never felt so exciting. And she would find herself trying to catch her breath as she neared the lecture-theatre. And just round the bend, from the corner of her eye she would catch a glimpse of that face. But as she would make her way inside the door, she made sure not to let her eyes wander across to the far end of the hall.

He was hysterical this morning. It had been almost a week since he saw her. The strange sense of irritation was crushing him. He could feel his head hurt. He fidgeted for the hundredth time when suddenly he saw her entering the hall.

He suddenly decided that he couldn’t take it any longer. He had to put an end to all the misery. He had to talk.

By the time the longest ever lecture of his life concluded, he had meticulously planned his every move. He rehearsed each dialogue over and over again in his mind. There was no turning back. He leaped from his seat as he saw her leave the hall. He saw her walking towards the lawns. He quickly matched her pace and anticipated to catch her just round the fourth tree.

She could sense him following her. She felt a strange sense of fear and excitement. But she had to make sure. She suddenly stopped and turned around. He wasn’t expecting this from her. He stopped dead in his track. All the confidence which he had built during the past hour seemed to have made a dash for the restroom.

He took a quarter of an hour sitting beneath the guava tree trying to rebuild the confidence which had given him the slip at a crucial moment. And just then he saw her go into the cafeteria at the far end. He jumped up and rushed towards her to get it over with before it got too late again. With nerves of steel, he entered the cafeteria house to confront her when he saw her standing across the hall with five of her closest friends. Their eyes met. And he could feel steel turning to wax.

It was the post-lunch bell that got him out of his trance. He dejectedly walked towards the academic building with his head as clear as an empty can. He was still brooding, staring blankly as he turned the bend and found himself face to face with her just as she appeared from the opposite corridor.

Panic !

“Hi !” He said. Though he wasn’t sure if he heard his own voice.

“Hi.” She replied with a faint smile.

“Err… Umm..”

“Yes ??”

“Could you please guide me to Lab Three ??!!??”

“Yeah.”

She turned to walk. And he followed her. Still trying to gather his wits and telling himself that he actually spoke to her. They climbed two floors worth of stairs as she led him into a door labeled ‘Lab No. 3’.

As he walked across the strange smelling room, he was startled as a familiar voice boomed across. “Late again ?? You’ve been attending this lab for almost one year now. But you can’t ever come on time. Can you ???!!”

He was still sulking as he emerged out of the lab a couple of hours later, when he saw her talking to her friend.

“You go on. I’m going to talk to the HOD. See you later.” She said. Suddenly she looked back at him and turned around to the professor’s room.

He was petrified. It was clear she was going to report him. He tried desperately to think of some excuses. But he felt stymied. And in utter panic, he ran after her. She was already into the corridor when he reached her.

“Hey… !!”

“Hmmm ??” She looked at him.

“Why are you going to the Prof ??”

She kept walking. Still trying to think of something to say.

“You’ve got it all wrong. See, it’s nothing like that. I’m not like those guys. You’ve got to believe me !!” He implored.

She gave him one last look and turned to enter the professor’s room. He felt his heart sinking to newer depths. He turned to walk away to escape the inevitable. He had hardly got to the stairways when he realized the peon running after him.

“Sir wants to see you in his room.”

‘That’s it ! I’m done for.’ He thought, and moved towards the dreaded room, resigned to his fate.

“May I come in sir ?” He enquired feebly.

“Come in. See,… she’s missed two of my lectures last week. Just give her the notes and help her with any problems she has !” The professor ordered.

“Yes Sir !” He found his voice for a change. His heart which had gone into arrest, starting to beat once again. It was in an overdrive by the time they emerged from the teacher’s room. As they walked the length of the corridor, he looked at her and found her looking back. And suddenly, they both burst into laughter.

They found the lecture hall empty and decided to sit there so that she could copy down the text. She was still smiling when he handed over his notes to her.

“Why were you saying all that ?” She asked with a giggle.

“I thought you were going to report me for following you.” He replied looking away.

“You were following me ?? But why ???” She looked at him.

He looked back at her. And then he felt as if time had stopped again. Looking into her eyes, as she looked into his. Looking right through each other. They let the eyes do all the talking. The eyes confessed. And the eyes accepted. And suddenly, all seemed to clear.

All of a sudden, he didn’t feel that anxiety. He felt strangely calm. He felt like flying. And he wanted to capture the moment for ever.

She couldn’t believe what was happening too. She had never felt so happy. Not in a long time. She felt giddy.

And suddenly, her eyes stopped on her hand. And she felt as if she had been stabbed. She could feel her eyes brimming.

“You know, I wanted to say something to you…..” He started to speak.

She assembled her belongings in haste, and quickly got up to leave. He was taken aback by her sudden action. She got up and turned to leave.

“Hey…. !!! Heyy…. !!! What happened ??!!” He exclaimed.

She stopped. And put up her hand for him to see. The glitter of a jewel twinkled through his eyes.

She turned back to face him. “I’m getting married this Friday !”

And she walked away.

(to be continued.......)

Image courtesy : Google Images

Autumn Equinox...

2011-09-21T03:44:00.003+05:30

It’s not often that at the stroke of midnight, I find myself relishing a full serving of hot biryani for dinner…

And being treated with with Forlan at his very best for Inter Milan in an action-packed game live on tv…

And with my phone to my ear, hearing two girls sing “Happy Birthday to you…” simultaneously over a conference call…

I couldn’t have asked for a much better start to the Autumn Equinox, could I ??? :D :D :D

Hope to finish it off with a grand dinner by the time the day ends ! (That’s the most I look forward to every day in life. :P :D Why worry about the future ? :-) )

P.S. : Equinoxes are the two days of the year when the day and night are closest to being equal. In more technical terms, the day when the sunrise and the sunset are closest to being exactly twelve hours apart.

(Image courtesy : Google Images)

Talk About Redundancy...

2011-09-13T03:22:00.008+05:30

Just the other day, I was aghast to see the news about several newborns losing their lives in a hospital in A.P. And to think, India is said to be the ‘hot spot’ for global medical tourism, I just wonder about what use it is to label something what it actually isn’t.

My idle mind fails to understand whether the following examples actually hold true for the objectives they signify.

* The President of India is the supreme Head of State. * But…

Even a no-good complementary Minister of State from an ‘ally’ political party has more clout in the Government than the President can ever dream of.

* India is a Socialist country. (which means, absence of discrimination on the grounds only of caste, colour, creed, sex, religion, or language) * But…

There are hardly any application forms for employment in any sector which don’t ask for the above mentioned specifications. If there is no discrimination, then why ask for such details anyway ?

* India is a Secular country. (which means, equality of all religions and religious tolerance) * But…

Do I even need to mention how tolerant is an individual towards the beliefs of another in the present times ?

* 26th January is celebrated as the Republic Day. * But…

Apart from the people who at least know that such a day exists including those who don’t confuse it with the day India was declared independent, how many Indians actually know what the word Republic means ?

* India’s ‘National Animal’ is the Tiger. * But…

How many people are actually interested in the conditions of the ‘National Animal’ in India’s jungles (apart from throwing stones at the few of them in various zoos) ? They would rather take care of their bullocks, horses or cows, which are an essential part of their businesses.

* India’s ‘National River’ is the Ganges. * But…

Being the ‘holi’ river that it is, people are more concerned about dumping their wastes into it whenever they are not busy immersing ‘idols’ or the leftovers from their prayers into the ‘holi’ waters. It may have been the holiest water body, but now it’s the biggest inland drain.

* India’s ‘National Sport’ is Field Hockey. * But…

One would be expected to know the intricate details of M. S. Dhoni’s pet dog’s favorite food rather than the name of Indian National Hockey Team’s captain. Some would even be bewildered to know that there actually exists a captain of the National Hockey Team.

* Mahatma Gandhi is known as the ‘Father of the Nation’. * But…

In the present times, it is considered cool to abuse the man and ridicule his thoughts. Probably, the only M. K. Gandhi people follow these days is the one printed on bits of blue-green paper called currency notes.

I don’t intend to question the validity of the above examples. I just wish that such things could really represent the thought with which they were initially associated. Not just be depicted as symbols of greatness which have been actually rendered useless.

(Image courtesy : Google Images)

What Bloggers Say vs What Bloggers Mean...

2011-09-06T03:34:00.014+05:30

The following cartoons were taken from the January edition of Kadzilla's Lounge.

Multiple credits :

1. The text content contributed by Pramathesh Borkotoky, Executive Editor of 'Fried Eye'.
2. Visualized as Cartoon strips by Kadambari, Chief Editor of 'Kadzilla's Lounge'.
3. Cartoons designed by yours truly.

(Please right-click and open the image in a new tab to view it in its original size.)

*****

Rants of a Retard...

2011-08-31T05:13:00.007+05:30

“What ?? You still haven’t watched it ?”

“No ! Just been busy with things… ”

“Oh come on. I thought you loved comedies. This one is a masterpiece. You cannot miss it.”

“Umm… Yeah… Hmm…” I replied.

The above was just a part of the small pleasantries I exchanged with a family-friend over our dinner plates at a party recently. This family-friend, who is just about my age, was trying his best to pull me into the conversation and get me to talk. But since I’m the perpetual listener and also, when there’s food at hand, my mouth turns into a one-way passage, he was having a real tough time getting me to speak. So, in what seemed like an act of desperation, he brought up the topic of a movie.

Those who know me properly, know rather well that I don’t watch any new Hindi movies. And certainly not in a movie-theatre. A few of my mates at college learnt this the hard way when they planned the celebration of one of our friend’s birthday which included a movie followed by a grand dinner. The only snag in all the planning was that I wasn’t informed about the movie bit. Well, they managed to sell off my ticket outside the theatre premises in the end. But not before having a harrowing time trying to coax/plead me into entering the theatre.

Coming back to the earlier discussion, this family-friend was going over the top about a new movie which had something to do with people acquiring intestinal infection in the city of Delhi. Something about which I have been ridiculed by people more than a few times about liking comedies but having still not seen this one.

Over the past month or so, I had read, heard and been updated (on Facebook) a bit too much about this particular movie. Almost half of my friends on Facebook had used words like ‘awesome’, ‘loved it’, ‘coolest movie ever’, ‘laughed till I cried’, ‘mind-blowing’, and other words to that effect to describe what they saw. Obviously, I was intrigued. So while talking to one of my friends who is a movie freak, I asked him. To which he curtly replied.

“Yes. I watched it. And NO !!! It’s not for you !”

Knowing how well my friends know me, I didn’t need a second opinion about whether to watch the movie, even if people labeled it as the best comedy ever, or not. But as I hopped onto one review after another on the several blogs I regularly read, I realized how I missed those statutory warning many of my friends had included in their rave reviews on Facebook, some of which clearly mentioned not to take kids along to watch the movie.

Now, what comedy would it be which wouldn’t amuse kids ? I never knew there would be things funny enough only to make adults laugh. So when I make myself remember that I’m well past the legal age of adulthood, I’m still very stymied when I try to think of things that would be considered humorous only for grown ups.

Which ultimately forces me to accept the fact that I’m a retard as far as the sense of humor is concerned.

After going through the countless reviews about the movie, I came to know that this is another of the many works of Aamir Khan. (Please correct me if I’m wrong) And so, it had to be a masterpiece. People say that, as always, he has managed to come up with something different. But they also say that the movie portrays the reality of today’s life.

Ummm… So how is reality different ??? (My retarded mind trying harder to make some sense.)

As per the reviews I’ve read, the movie is about three bachelors living their life out in the city of Delhi. And the movie doesn’t hold back in portraying any of the waste material which is either in their mind which exits through their mouths or the waste matter in their bodies which exits as well.

I try to find humor in such scenarios. But my retarded mind refuses to budge. Ohhh… when will I grow up enough to be able to laugh my head off when I see people abusing each other ?? Or at the sight of events that take place inside a loo ?? Surely the plot must be full of hilarious situations consisting of some un-mentionable acts. But as they put it… it is aimed at matured audiences. Not for retards like me.

So I’ve decided to give this amazing movie a skip. (something which would have happened otherwise too if it wouldn’t have been for such delirious reviews) Even though it’s one of Aamir Khan’s works (who has given us oldies like Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin, Hum Hain Raahi Pyar Ke and the one and only Andaz Apna Apna) I’m not keen to give it even a passing look.

No. I’m not one of those intolerants who take up arms and run off to tear down posters and burn effigies. I agree that everyone has their own tastes for humor. Just that I have still to grow up a lot to start recognizing such a taste. Because watching the actions which go on below people’s pelvises, whether in the bathroom or the bedroom, doesn’t tickle my humerus one bit. Sad, but true !!!

But, this poor soul who is a big time retard as far as the sense of humor is concerned, humbly pleads to all to spare him the ridicule of not being able to applaud supposedly the greatest comedy movies ever made.

PS : The following is a compilation of some of the movies which always have me in splits. And the last clip is my preferred version of the plot about three young bachelors sharing a room in the city of Delhi.

(Images courtesy : Google Images)

A Special Award...

2011-08-25T07:07:00.007+05:30

Ok ! So it’s time for me to collect another award. :D This time, Sunil & Preethika, a wonderful blogging couple, have generously shared the Versatile Blogger Award with me.

Thank you both for the encouragement ! :-)

It is rather a tag-award with the following set of rules.

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award.
2. Share 7 things about you.
3. Spread the love and honor.
4. Award and contact 7 recently discovered bloggers.

Though I had already done a similar post about ‘Seven random facts about myself’ earlier, I was wondering about what to write this time. But suddenly I remembered a short note which my school friend Kaddu wrote and posted on Facebook on my last Birthday. Kaddu was the one who actually pushed me into the blogging world. So, here I’m sharing that nice little note which she wrote.

7 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Shobhit

1. On phone, he laughs more than he talks.

2. He has not yet been able to figure out why people drink tea... and enjoy it too!

3. If a damsel and a dog were in distress in front of him, he would probably save the dog first!

4. He doesn't like attending formal parties or marriages, but then he thinks of all the food...and goes anyway! :D

5. Mornings and Shobhit are NOT synonymous with each other!

6. He stills uses Yahoo Messenger (like me!) :D

7. He's a fan of Tintin, Asterix and Archies!

Since I had already mentioned the point #2 above in my earlier post, I’d rather substitute it with :

I just cannot make up my mind in selecting gifts or greeting cards.

Now that I’m done with the difficult and rather boring task of writing about myself, it’s time to share the award with some of my fellow bloggers whom I discovered recently.

Alka (Freebird)
Avada Kedavra (Stung by the splendor of a crazy thought)
Pencilgirl (Conquering the world)
Priyanka (Confessions of the Chocolate Obsessed)
Rashmi (Unknown eccentricities)
Sadiya (Ye life hai….take it lightly!)
Soumya (LOL : Life of Leo)

I doubt if all the above mentioned bloggers do enjoy doing tags. But even if you don’t, please accept the Versatile Blogger Award which all of you rightfully deserve. :-)

The Hazards of Growing Up...

2011-08-20T04:35:00.004+05:30

“God……. When will he grow up ??” exclaimed Mom, rolling her eyes heavenwards, as if having a one-to-one with the Almighty.

And without waiting for the Almighty to explain things, she looked back at me as I ended up sprawled on the floor, clutching my hurting tummy and laughing my wits off for the nth time in the last half hour, watching the ‘Tom & Jerry’ show on the telly.

Seeming to have given up on any hope she had for her elder son showing any signs of sanity, she walked off to the confines of her room, mumbling something to the effect of using the ‘parental control’ on our television set.

Ok. ‘Tom & Jerry’ has been one of my weak points, if not the weakest. But what’s it got to do with my growing up ?

Ohhh… Am I supposed to be a grown up ? Maybe…

But do I care ?? Not in this world !

Which makes me ponder… what is this thing about growing up ? When exactly does a person grow up ? Is it really the stage when one can reach up and quietly sneak away the cookies from the top of the shelf ??

I have seen lots of people (rather, kids) itching to ‘grow up’. Maybe so that they can do things which they cannot and should not do as long as they are kids. And I’ve seen people ‘growing up’ overnight on their eighteenth birthday. Maybe there’s a lot more fun on the other side of that landmark in one’s life. But I’ve seen more serious people than joyous ones towards the heavier side of eighteen.

Looking at most of the ‘grown ups’ around me, I always get the feeling that I’m in unknown territory. For a small example, mine was the only room in the entire campus during the days of Medical College, where one would always find a handful of comics on the table. Though they were not officially prescribed by the Indian Medical education, yet I wouldn’t be able to end my day without going through at least one comic.

I could sense some of my mates feeling tempted to ask me to borrow some of those at times. In fact, some actually did too. But most of the times, people showed more amusement of seeing those in my room rather than giving in to the urge of reading one.

At home I still maintain a vast collection of children’s books and comics into which I dive every other day and relieve myself whenever I’m in need to be refreshed.

But then, has age something to do with growing up ? People can drive, vote, consume liquor, marry and do quite a few other things once they cross a certain age. Legally, that is. Because I’ve also seen under aged individuals getting involved in things which they cannot legally be involved in at their age.

One can legally drive. And one can legally consume liquor after a certain age. But would a person who gets himself drunk and then drives around (and over unsuspecting people), really be called a grown up ?

Not including child marriages (which are still illegally practiced around India), so many ‘grown ups’ who can and do legally marry, don’t have a clue about what they are getting themselves into. And dare I mention about how most ‘grown ups’ use their right to vote ??

So what do grown ups do ? What are they supposed to do ? How are they supposed to behave ? And what do they do when they have some free time on their hands ??

And when I put myself through these trying questions, I can only come up with what grown ups don’t do, are not supposed to do and how they are not supposed to behave.

Because there aren’t many (or any) grown ups that I’ve seen who…

* Run out with a football while it rains instead of sitting in the shade and sipping tea.
* Or who play 'Caesar IV' on their computer overnight during holidays instead of muttering sweet nothings with a girl/boy friend on the phone.
* Or who share a toddler’s big balloon to play with instead of shouting at the kid to sit down and behave.
* Or who run around the house with their Mom chasing them with a glass of milk instead of sitting down at the dining table for a proper breakfast.
* Or who quietly sneak inside the refrigerator for some ‘Cadburys GEMS’ at 2 AM instead of snoring away in bed.
* Or who opt for a nice serving of Choco ice cream at a party instead of even giving a look to the liquor-bar.
* Or who are more interested in the latest Spanish-League scores instead of the values of the stock market in the daily news.

Even at my age I’m not considered a grown up and looking at some of my exploits as above, I don’t see me ‘growing up’ in the near future.

But I ask again, does being a grown up anything to do with one’s appearance, one’s age, one’s actions or does it depend upon one’s sensibilities ?

And, is it necessary to leave the child in one’s own self behind, as one continues to overtake new landmarks of age in life ? If that is necessary in order to grow up,……. What’s the big deal in growing up ???

Are you a grown up ???

(Picture credits : Google Images)

Matrimon(e)y Shopping...

2011-08-07T06:22:00.004+05:30

Just the other night I was in the midst of my ‘happy hour’ of the day. Diving into my dinner plate while surfacing in between to check the ‘Newshour’ on ‘Times Now’. And so, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that I felt immensely disturbed as I heard the sound of my phone ringing. Irritated, I fumbled with the phone and pressed the green key.

“Hullo ?!?”

“Hi. What’s up ?” It was my rather eccentric friend on the other end.

“Ohh. How are you ?”

“Fine. You say.”

“Fine too. What’s news ?”

“No news. Just called.”

My sense suddenly shifted gears and went on to the sixth. This guy wouldn’t ever call at such an hour to ‘just call’.

“OK. Come on. Out with it !!!” I exclaimed.

“Well…….”

“Who ? How ?? When ??? Don’t tell me you are getting married !”

“Well…….”

So it had finally happened. The most awaited wicket had finally fell. With almost all my other batch mates having bitten the dust, we all were keenly waiting for this piece of news. Betting each other if this was really possible in this very world. This weird fellow, taking the path to matrimony was one of the most laughed about imaginations amongst our batch. And now it was going to be true.

“You see…” he began. “It was rather a lucky thing. Though I didn’t want a doctor girl, and she’s a Pathologist, but it’s fine since she’s not a clinician. And secondly, she’s from my own city. And most importantly, her dad is a Pediatrician and her mom is a Gynaecologist. So I have all the main departments in my upcoming hospital taken care of !”

And then he grinned. Though I didn’t see him grin, I knew him well enough to know that he was grinning right then. As if I could hear him grinning.

“I’ve also found a girl for you.” He continued.

“Ok. Keep her safe. I’ll collect her when I come there next time.” I replied.

“No. Seriously. What type of a girl do you want ? A medico ? Or a non-medico ??” He was persistent.

“Neither a medico, nor a non-medico !!!” I was beginning to lose it by this time.

“Ohhh. So you’d want an engineer… ?” It suddenly seemed to beam to him. And that was when I burst out laughing. And I was soon into fits of laughter as he further tried to describe how a non-medico was the term used for a housewife and things to that effect.

Putting that incident aside, I really wonder how we, in India, literally shop for a spouse. I mean, just talk to any budding groom or his family. They are absolutely clear about what they are looking for in a bride. Apart from the age old caste/fair/tall/English-speaking/etc. people are not only concerned about the girl being working or not but also very specific about the job she does. Some prefer a girl with a job while others opt for a homely housewife. They look for all the required specifications to be met just as they would buy a consumer product.

In other words, a working girl would mean an extra source of income into the household. It is even better if her job is complementary to that of her husband’s. So that they can easily setup a combined establishment.

On the other hand, a homely housewife would be expected to take care of the home and kids. And actually, without even being paid for it. The guy doesn’t really need a soul mate. He simply needs a working hand at home without any additional cost.

In fact, I have been witness to a case where the match couldn’t work out because the groom’s family had a problem with the prospective bride’s work hours. She was supposed to be at work during hours when they needed her to be at home.

In my own field of doctors (including many of my batch mates) I’ve seen a surgeon wanting a gynaec. wife. A pathologist wanting a pathologist. And so on. And some of my friends have tried to reason with me by telling me that one has to be practical. So one needs to know what’s best for oneself.

So, just as one has all the specifications for a much needed product in mind, before he goes out to shop for it, similarly it’s the case with arranged marriages in India. People have a clear list of requirements at hand before they go out to shop for a bride or a groom. In fact, marriage is just another necessity to fulfill life’s requirements as one spends his or her life. And such people usually follow the principle of ‘love what you get rather than get what you love’.

How can someone marry just to fulfill some needs in life which are invariably related to money ? And thus chooses a life partner who’d be a help in the fulfillment of those monetary gains ?? It boggles my mind !

So, it’s no wonder when some of my aunts, who are distant relatives of some of my other aunts, are busy spreading the word around to look out for ‘doctor brides’ for me.

If only they all knew… I HATE SHOPPING !!!

Sigh…

(Image courtesy : Google Images)

Strawberry Crush... (Part 2)

2011-07-29T03:14:00.006+05:30

Please read Part 1 before reading the following continuation.

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He flipped the book on to the table as he stood up and ran his hand through his hair. What on earth is happening ?? He was utterly perplexed.

It had been getting crazier by the day ever since that incident in class. And he couldn’t even get a hold on matters. He was finding himself in awkward situations once too often.

Just the other day as he stood by the tree with his group of friends. And suddenly he saw Her. Across the lawns. Walking down the path with two of her friends. His eyes following her. Watching her face. And all he contributed to the discussion with his friends was a mumbled ‘Yeah’ to something Ronnie had said. And was startled to death as all of them exclaimed a ‘Whaattt ???’ in unison.

“Did you just agree with Ronnie that Sachin should be dropped from the team for the next series ??” asked one in complete disbelief. “Noo. Yeah. I mean. Noo. I didn’t… What ??” was all he could reply. Had they caught him looking at her ?? No. They didn’t. Could they ?? They shouldn’t…

And then the other day when he saw her coming out of the library. And how she had suddenly looked back. And he had turned hastily, bumping into Mrs. G ! He cringed at the mere thought of the events thereafter.

He had been able to make a complete fool of himself. But somehow, he had been finding her all around. In the class, in the library, in the canteen or in the corridors. Just about everywhere. Or maybe he had been hallucinating. He was completely baffled.

She was pretty disturbed. Her life was going on fine. At least for a normal girl. But things were getting complicated lately. Though she was happy before. But recently she had experienced moments when she felt even happier. And then hours when she felt really depressed. She wasn’t prepared for such a contrasting phase of emotions. What was happening ??

She remembered the other day when she was in her room, deep into a fantasy world, when she was shaken back to reality by her friend. “What are you dreaming about ? Do you want to be late for the lecture ??” asked Nancy. “Uhh.. Ohh… Actually, we are having a party at home. So, I was just thinking about which dress to wear…” She had tried to make up a story.

“Okk. We know who’s that special someone coming to the party. That’s why you want to look your best…” Her friend had winked while the others laughed. They had run off before she could get up to chase them.

Somewhere at the back of her mind, she knew what was disturbing her. It was Him ! Ever since that day, he had somehow captured her mind. He had hijacked her thoughts. And she kept running into him everywhere and every time. Every morning, she would find her eyes searching for him. And sooner than later, she would spot him. And then she would feel a strange sense of relief. Everyday, on returning, she would be filled with a sense of guilt. But all such sense would vanish into thin air on seeing him the very next day.

She had been catching him stealing quick glances at her. And every time she would catch him, he would quickly turn away or look elsewhere. And she would find herself fighting to prevent a small smile on her face. She could experience the delightful thrill in this other world of hers. She wanted to test if it was real. And she decided to play the game with him. Things were surely getting crazier.

It was still some time for the class to start. She looked around in search, and found him standing by the pillar talking to his friend. She walked up to the smart guy right across him.

“Hi”.

“Hi’. He replied.

“I was wondering if you could help me out with this question from yesterday’s test.” She asked him, while making sure He noticed her talking to this guy.

“Sure. Let’s sit here”.

She sat down on the empty bench trying to force her attention to what the guy was talking about. I hope he’s watching. He must be watching ! I’m not going to look up at him !

But it was hardly a minute before she gave in to the temptation and looked up. HE WAS GONE !

“So, you see, you just have to analyze…. ” the guy was still speaking.

“Ok. I got it. Thanks !” She said as she abruptly got up and walked towards the crowd of students near the hall.

“Hey… But I’ve not even started…” The guy called her, but she was already into the crowd. Searching for Him.

And then, she saw him talking… and laughing… with the girl who had almost every other boy falling for her.

He stood there, fixed, looking at them talk. When suddenly, he turned to look at her. Once again, their eyes met. But only this time, it was a lot different.

She turned away and walked. Fuming. While he turned in the opposite direction.

“I HATE HIM !!!”

“I HATE HER !!!”

(to be continued.......)

(Image source : Google Images)

Faith, Belief and Worship...

2011-07-20T03:29:00.008+05:30

This post has been selected by Blogadda as one of the top posts for this week's 'Spicy Saturday Picks'.

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Over the recent years, India has witnessed an overflow of god-men, spiritual gurus and ‘swamis’ who seem to have captured the imagination of the masses. Their followers are not restricted to particular strata of the population, but span across varied professions and social classes.

One often fails to understand what makes such god-men so successful and their followers so faithful to them. Even though pure logic and scientific arguments clearly prove their tactics to be nothing more than tricks to deceive innocent (and not so innocent) followers, these god-men continue to increase their disciples not just in India but even from abroad.

But what is it that makes these ‘babas’ so much in demand ? I’ll try to explain here, how I comprehend the logic behind it all.

Every human life, from birth till death, follows a somewhat similar path. If one remembers high school mathematics, it is very similar to a ‘sine curve’. It’s a curve which changes it’s co-ordinates at regular intervals, consisting of crests and troughs.

The above is a basic and symmetrical sine curve. But every human life differs in the variations of each crest and trough he or she goes through during life. The positive and negative phases, though uneven in time and magnitude, always follow one another just as a ‘sine wave’ does. Which means, periods of happiness lead to not too happy ones, and bad phases are destined to end in good ones.

Now, suppose a person is rather happy and content with his life. Let us mark him to be at point ‘A’. But as soon he passes point ‘B’, things seem to start getting not so good. As he passes point ‘C’ on the baseline, things start going from bad to worse.

That is the phase usually when every person gets panicky and wants relief. The point marked as the red star in the ‘life-curve’ above is the time when such a person, feeling hopeless with his life, runs for some spiritual help, expecting it to turn things around magically.

At this point, he may be advised about the amazing qualities of a ‘guru’ or ‘baba’ by a relative/friend/neighbor or anyone for that matter.

This is when he actually develops faith in the aforesaid person to lift him out of his mess. He becomes a sincere disciple of the ‘guru’, expecting for things to change for good.

Sooner, rather than later, his ‘life-curve’ passes point ‘D’ and turns back upwards towards the positive side. He realizes things to be getting better and attributes this change in ‘fortune’ to his ‘guru’. As the curve passes point ‘E’ and gets still higher to the positive side, his faith now turns to belief for his ‘guru’. Now he is a die-hard devotee. By the time his ‘life-curve’ reaches the next peak at point ‘F’, he has already started worshipping at the god-man’s feet.

The above is just a basic example. A person may have a larger ‘crest’, thereby solidifying his belief for his ‘master’. Or he may have a prolonged ‘trough’, which he attributes to not being sincere in his devotion, and waits patiently for the ‘master’ to bless him.

Recently, I heard about a lady who recalled about how her husband fell ill while on a trip, having a fit and frothing at the mouth. And how she quickly dropped in some of the ‘sacred ash’ into her husband’s mouth which a god-man had given her. And how her husband recovered magically.

I have personally heard countless tales of businessmen running for the blessings of a ‘guru’ after bearing business losses and thereby becoming die-hard devotees for life.

Then there are sick people, who, after going through loads of medication, still don’t find a cure and start feeling better once they experience the ‘miraculous’ treatment of a god-man. Which may be anything ranging from ‘sacred-ash’, ‘magic-water’, or a ‘healing-touch’ to even a wave of a hand.

It is not that once a person having cleared a depression in life will not experience another. But the new found faith, leading to a belief makes his confident that he worshipping his ‘guru’ would once again lift him from the bad phase into the good one.

Thus, one will never find a dearth of blind devotees to every other ‘swami’ or ‘baba’ who look up to them for their miracles to rescue them from physical, mental or economical bad phases in life.

Almost every other spiritual leader, god-man or ‘swami’ has been found involved in some sort of mess or the other. Be it amassing wealth, conversion of black money into white, scandals, illegal land acquisition to even murders. But such cases have not affected the number of devotees to such frauds. The followers refuse to accept even obvious proofs of their ‘master’s’ crimes. In fact, they just cannot take anything that questions their 'guru'.

The bottom line is that people are scared to accept logical explanations of their troubles. They would rather depend on some supernatural cure that has no certainty but is based on positive faith and belief. And the above statement is probably the only thing which such fraud god-men know and take advantage of.

(Picture source: Google Images)

Kites...

2011-07-05T07:33:00.002+05:30

The sun was still playing hide-n-seek with the dark clouds as he stepped on to the terrace. It had been raining heavily all through the day. The clouds, having seemed to have drained their store of cats and dogs appeared to be interested elsewhere. He was disappointed not to find a rainbow. But the brisk and cool breeze sort of made it up for him.

He decided to scan the neighborhood as he walked around the damp terrace. The north end was calm as ever. The only difference being that the kitchen-garden of the neighbors next door had pretty much been converted into a kitchen-pond in which their five-year-old was trying to sail his paper boats.

Moving over to the west, he saw two little birds on the big mango tree making quite a noise about a worm they had just caught. Obviously arguing about which of them was earlier. The south, however, looked a tad disturbed. It appeared that the dozen odd kids from the four-generation-household, who had finished drenching themselves running after each other in the rain, were now running around trying to escape their mothers who wanted to get them out of their wet clothes.

But he stopped as he came to the east-end. As usual, he glanced towards the house down the street. It somehow felt alive within, but motionless as always. The terrace was deserted. He was confused whether to feel relieved or disappointed. So he continued to eye the deserted terrace in order to solve his confusion.

And he got his answer the next moment as the door burst open and revealed contents which instantly spread all over.

The rucksack of terror that emerged from the door was ‘Gonglu’, the ten year old who was the scourge of the neighborhood. Though he was barely ten, he was built well enough to handle two ten-year-olds. He had heard how Gonglu’s mom was to have twins. But apparently gave up on the trouble of delivering twice and instead had Gonglu. He surely looked like a pair of twins that weren’t given the trouble to separate at all.

The quality which kept Gonglu at the top of the weekly charts of the nuisance mongers of the area was his spontaneity. To hatch up an evil plan to render his victims aghast was with him, the work of a moment.

And each time his eyes saw Gonglu, he would involuntarily be forced to recall that day when his ‘Rambo’ ran up and down the street at unbelievable speeds as each of the juicy ‘chatai’ bomb tied to its tail blasted louder than the one before. To watch one’s beloved dog run for his life is bad enough. But to watch him run without even being able to tuck his tail in between his legs is worse. And he simply winced on recalling that incident once again.

He had hated Gonglu ever since he descended on that peaceful locality with his family for newer prey. And he could have easily dealt him some good lessons if it wasn’t for… Her. Gonglu’s elder sister. He remembered the moment when he first saw her. And how he had simply melted. She had mesmerized him. And that sparkle in her eyes had shot right through him. He always wondered, how could siblings be so infinitely opposites of each other… ??

He scanned the terrace once again. There was no sight of her. But Gonglu seemed to be getting ready to fly a kite. Something that gave him immense pleasure. Though it served as a warning sign for the entire living neighborhood. And suddenly he had an idea. “I’ll show the devil how to fly a kite !” He ran back in and came out with a kite and thread.

The wind was brisk, and the kites were up in no time. He realized that the wind was towards the north-east. “Even better !” he thought. “Maybe I can poke it right on the brat’s head.”

Gonglu looked around for probable victims, and saw him tugging at his kite. He grinned. When he saw Gonglu grin, he felt his insides churning and something hot rising up his nose, to his head. “Just you wait. You monster !” And he loosened his kite further to get to the right length.

When he felt it was just the accurate distance, right above the ten-year-old plague, he tweaked the thread. Just as the kite turned down on its nose, he pulled hard. And down dived the kite. Aiming right at Gonglu’s fat head. And he mumbled to himself, “That’ll teach you a nice lesson !”

The sound of the impact echoed through the length of the street. He wondered if people had ever heard a kite strike a ten-year-old’s head. Maybe they hadn’t. But the sound he heard right then didn’t really seem like it. The sound should probably have been close to a thud. Not the thud of a falling sack-full of potatoes. But a thud of a stick striking a hairy head. But this sounded more like a pair of scissors striking a table head on.

And as he shifted his attention to the source of that very sound, he saw Gonglu’s burly Brigadier of a dad pressing hard at his bald head looking around desperately to ascertain the new target for his rifle. In all the excitement to teach the thug a lesson, he had completely missed when Gonglu’s dad had joined him on the terrace.

There are a few situations which ask for immediate actions. And this was one such situation. And the best and only possible action he could think of was to duck. And as he ducked, he plucked at the thread in his hand to avoid leaving any ‘loose ends’. He watched through a crack in the wall, still crouching. And he could see the Brigadier stomping his feet off the terrace. While the real target was still at large.

He wasn’t going to give up. And soon he had another kite up in the air. He decided not to risk repeating the previous plan and ending up hitting bald and unsuspecting Brigadiers on the head again. “I’ll fight him off in a kite fight !” he said to himself. He tweaked and pulled at the thread, trying to get close to Gonglu’s while he had one eye on the terrace to check if the dad really returned with a loaded rifle.

And that was when he lost it. She had just stepped out on to the terrace, looking around skywards. And he felt his heart skip a beat. She had walked up to her kid brother, taking keen interest in the kite flying contest.

He was still tugging at the thread, looking at her, when he suddenly felt it get too tensed. And as he looked back bringing his attention to his kite, he couldn’t find it in the air. And it immediately struck to him that his kite had smoothly landed somewhere behind their house while he was busy admiring the cutest girl around. The prospective fight had ended rather abruptly. And he saw Gonglu look back at him and grin. And she looked back too.

“Oh God. She’s looking. I’ve got to get out of this one !” he prayed. And he tugged at the thread. And all of a sudden his kite appeared from behind the roof top.

But his joy was short lived as the kite was now in the possession of a red faced descendant of the apes. Panic ! He tugged and tried to pull it out of the monkey’s hands. But one cannot do much but stare when monkeys have some other ideas. And this one had too. It quickly started biting the kite like there was no tomorrow. And with each bite, he could hear the guffaws of Gonglu mixed with those of his sister. All he could manage was stand and stare with his face getting as red as the monkey’s, and starting to feel faint with embarrassment.

Gonglu was having fits of laughter. While she had sobered down a bit. He watched silently as she turned to leave. She walked up to the door, and stopped. She turned her head around to face him. Looking at him, she smiled. And then she ran inside.

He suddenly noticed, there was a rainbow in the eastern sky now, and he smiled too.

(Image source : Google Images)

No Reservations...

2011-06-28T04:13:00.006+05:30

As per my personal experiences, the 'Delhi Metro' has proved to be a wonderful alternative for the people of Delhi who wish to travel between different parts of the city. As compared to the harrowing traffic jams and head splitting chaos on the roads of Delhi, the ‘Metro’ provides a comfortable, convenient and cool means of travel. Sometimes, even enjoyable.

The other day, I was traveling on the Delhi Metro from Dwarka towards ‘Rajiv Chowk’. I was to board from ‘Dwarka Sector 13’ station and was relieved to see that there wasn’t much of a crowd on the platform. It being a Sunday evening could have been a cause for the near deserted look the platform had.

As the train arrived, and I entered the coach which stopped right in front of me, I was pleasantly surprised to see most of the seats being vacant. As if in a reflex action, I chose to sit on the ‘two-seater’ located at the very end of the coach. (The reason for my reflex would be better understood as you read further…)

It’s not often when one gets the liberty to choose where to sit while traveling in Delhi’s Metro. In fact, usually one doesn’t even have a choice where to stand. So, I was happily enjoying this rare chance and looking at the sun setting on Delhi through the window opposite me, while a man (probably in his late forties) sat beside me talking loudly on his phone. But my luxury was destined to be short lived.

As the train passed through various stations en route, crowd filled in. And soon, people were already occupying much of the floor space. As the train stopped at ‘Janakpuri West’, I saw an elderly gentleman (probably in his late sixties, with a cloth bag hanging on his shoulder) come in through the door next to me. As he searched around, (I guess, more in search of a suitable place to stand than looking for somewhere to sit) his head turned to my direction.

Instantly, I stood up inviting him to sit where I was sitting. He immediately took the offer, with a soft ‘Thank you’. But as soon as he occupied the seat, he nudged me and said, “Since you have been decent enough to offer me a seat, why should you stand ?” And with that, he shifted himself to try and make some space for me to sit between him and the other man.

I felt a bit awkward and tried to reason with him with a “It’s OK”. But he was quite certain about his decision and he literally pulled me to sit.

As I tried to balance myself on my feet while not being entirely comfortable sitting in about a quarter of the space I would have required, he asked again.

“What do you do ?”

“I’m a doctor.”

“No wonder. !”

I failed to understand this statement from him. But as I looked around, I saw the guy sitting right across us. He was looking right at me. And the look on his face seemed to convey to me that his search for the ultimate moron had finally ended with me.

I suddenly realized that the train had now stopped at ‘Tilak Nagar’ station as more crowd came in. And then I saw a young girl come in from the door next to us. She looked to be a college going girl in her early twenties. But contrary to people almost triple her age, she was absolutely specific and certain about herself once inside the train. She immediately walked up to the seats across and away from us, and went up to a young guy sitting there, enjoying music on his phone through the earphones.

And then I saw the expressions on his face change from one of enjoyment to that of detest. And soon I realized that the guy, while busy with his music, had not given attention to the sticker above his seat. Which marked it to be reserved for ladies. And before one could even bat an eyelid, the young girl was now sitting on the same seat enjoying music on her phone through the earphones. Though I didn’t give a thought to whether she asked him for his phone too.

Often, I have noticed, as my Dad feeds the birds of the neighborhood every morning, how the sparrows are the first to come down and start to feast on the seeds. But soon, there’s this crow, which descends right in the middle, stamping its authority on the food while the little sparrows spread out and sulk. I wonder how it would be the other way round if a sparrow disturbs several crows and scares them away while stamping its authority on the food. But if it would ever happen, I’m sure the crows would be sulking just the way the guy sulked now after having to vacate his seat for the girl.

Well, the train now reached ‘Rajouri Garden’ and even more crowd poured in. In the middle of which, I spotted a lady holding a little kid by the hand and carrying an even younger one in her arms. She made her way between the crowd, and co-incidentally came to stand right in front of the girl I had seen before.

To my disbelief, the girl decided that she had had enough of music and instead it was time to do some talking on the phone. And away she chatted with continuously changing expressions on her face, ignoring completely the lady standing right in front of her. And surely she must have ignored the sticker above the seats across her which said : ‘Please vacate your seat for someone who needs it more than you.’ (with an image of an old man with a stick and a pregnant lady with a little kid).

Maybe this girl couldn’t relate the lady in front of her with that on the sticker. Obviously, she had a little kid in her arms rather than inside her. So that didn’t match !!!

Which brings me to wonder, why is there the very need to have seats reserved for the elderly or pregnant females or even for females ?

We have to be told that this very seat is reserved for an aged man. So it should be vacated if such a person comes around. Why ?? Don’t we have the etiquette of offering a seat to the elderly ??

Do we have to be told that a pregnant lady needs to have a seat more than a young man ? Or for that matter, a young woman ??

But the truth is, not only do we have to be told, there have to be reservations made for actions which only demand a bit of decency.

What if there are no seats marked as ‘reserved for the elderly’ ? Does that mean that an elderly man or woman will not be offered one ?? In fact, that’s absolutely true. In such a case, we won’t even give it a thought.

Doesn’t marking seats as ‘reserved for those who need it more’ certify the fact that if not done so, our society is so indecent that it doesn’t have even the basic courtesies of everyday life ??

But, on the contrary, there are examples, as my experience above showed that even certain reservations cannot ensure acts of decency from the common public. Irrespective of age or sex, we have to be forced to act courteous.

The young guy in the case above had to be asked to vacate his seat which was reserved for ladies. He wouldn’t have budged had the girl not asked him to.

The girl though, had every right to sit on the seat reserved for ladies. But shouldn’t she have been decent enough to offer her seat to the lady who had two small kids with her ??

The question here is not about rights or reservations. It is about who needed the seat more. Shouldn’t a young girl of 20 vacate her seat for a gentleman of 80 ?

BUT… We now are in a habit of going by the rules. Or, in fact, trying to break the rules unless being told not to. Courtesy and decency are now words of the past. They don’t exist. And the incident above is not just a one-off.

Reservations regarding actions of people towards one another depict a certain flaw in the society. Reservations certify inequality (and indecency in the above scenario).

Maybe people have become more practical. So have I. That is why I choose to stand rather than face the embarrassment of flouting the ‘reservation-rules’ in the ‘Delhi Metro’.

P.S. : The above post is not a generalization. It is targeted specifically to people like the ones in the incident above.
Pictures credit : Google Images

Of Languages and Higher Education...

2011-06-08T20:00:00.008+05:30

Just the other day, I came across an article that had listed the many demands made by Baba Ramdev in his so called fight against corruption. It seemed to be an interesting list until I came to the point where he demands that all Technical and Scientific higher education in India should be taught in regional Indian languages. While I had no real issues with most of his other demands, this particular demand appeared to me to be as absurd as one can get.

Though a large number of people (which obviously includes most of the Baba’s die-hard devotees) would pounce on the opportunity to criticize my opinion, they fail to see facts just beyond the issue of language here. My personal credentials are not so as to speak about other fields of science & technology, but being a student from the Medical stream I thought it better to put my point of view through the perspective of a Medical student, backed by some practical facts. So, the following views should be referred to in relation with the Medical education in India.

The main argument in favor of the above demand seems to be that students, who have had their school education in any regional Indian language, find it tough to follow the Medical curriculum that is taught in English. I have been told that Baba Ramdev didn’t ask for a complete change from English. Rather he demands for a parallel education in regional languages as well.

I don’t have any problem with the idea !

Let’s just suppose that the idea of “parallel education” in regional languages is implemented. Now let us see how it affects a student who has had his education in a regional Indian language throughout his school life.

The student clears the Pre-Medical Entrance Test, and joins the MBBS course in a reputed Medical College which has “parallel teaching in regional languages”.

By the way, here I would like to mention that admission to the MBBS course in all Government Medical colleges in India takes place through either State or All-India Entrance Exam. And 15 percent seats in all such colleges are reserved for the All-India quota. Which means, a college in Delhi with 200 seats would be admitting 30 students from all over India. Which would include students from West Bengal, Orissa, Punjab, Maharashtra, Andhra, Tamil Nadu, etc. (I have not included here the reputed institutes like AIIMS, AFMC, CMC, JIPMER, etc who hold their own exams but are still open to students from all over India)

That means that the very Medical college in Delhi will have to have “parallel teaching” in all of those regional languages too. Assuming that the students from other parts of India have had their school education in their regional language.

According to the eighth schedule of the Indian constitution as of May 2008, the number of “Official Indian Languages” is 22. Which means that the college would need 23 different classrooms for each year of MBBS. One cannot expect people teaching different languages in the same room simultaneously. So, for four Professional Examinations, that would need 92 classrooms.

But we assume that even that is taken care of, and the student has now access to Medical education in his native language.

Now, the MBBS course, spanning four and a half years, consists of 19 different, but inter-related subjects. And each of those subjects has an average of 5 reference textbooks, some of which have up to 3 volumes each. So, that student would now need textbooks of all those subjects in his native language.

Medical text is not something absolute. Each subject undergoes constant revision and addition of text according to new researches and discoveries. Thus, the text has to be constantly updated to keep the student up to date of the latest advances.

Secondly, the translation of Medical text would require the services of persons who are well acquainted with the Medical field. One cannot expect an expert translator to efficiently understand what a particular text desires to convey to the students. Such a person can very well take care of the grammar, but not about the technicality of the text. But I am told that just the general text needs to be translated. So I agree to that too.

I assume even that is taken care of. And all the textbooks of all the 19 subjects have been efficiently translated. But now we require teachers to teach each of those subjects in each of the regional languages. Not teachers of regional languages, but doctors who are able to efficiently teach Medicine in those languages. Though at present there is even a great shortage of teachers who can just teach in English. But we assume even that problem is taken care of.

So, the student completes his MBBS efficiently in his native language with extremely good scores. But now he wants to pursue specialization after completing his MBBS. In other words, he now plans to do his Post Graduation.

We assume that the above student qualifies to a PG course of his choice in a reputed institute of the country. But, according to the “Salient features of Post Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000” of the Medical Council of India,

[Clause 13.7] Training in Medical Audit, Management, Health Economics, Health Information System, basics of statistics, exposure to human behavior studies, knowledge of pharmaco – economics and introduction to non- linear mathematics shall be imparted to the Post Graduate students.

So, all of which should be in the native language of the student concerned.

[Clause 14.4(a)] Every candidate shall carry out work on an assigned research project under the guidance of a recognized Post Graduate Teacher, the result of which shall be written up and submitted in the form of a Thesis.

Work for writing the Thesis is aimed at contributing to the development of a spirit of enquiry, besides exposing the candidate to the techniques of research, critical analysis, acquaintance with the latest advances in medical science and the manner of identifying and consulting available literature. Thesis shall be submitted at least six months before the theoretical and clinical / practical examination.

Now… as per practical experience from PG students in India, the thesis of a student is based on the research work already done by doctors from all around the world. The PG student has to add further work/research done by him to all the work done on a particular topic around the world. In a nutshell, the thesis of each PG student comprises of at least 90-95% of information from Medical Journals and Research papers from around the world if not more than that.

But… unfortunately, all such Medical Journals and Research papers are available in English and not in Indian regional languages.

So, either the doctors and scientists around the world should learn more languages and translate their works accordingly. Or, the doctors in India try to do that task. But the main emphasis is on the works that have already been published.

A single Medical journal is a periodical that is published every month (if not more frequently) with dozens of new studies in each issue. To try to assess the total number of Medical Journals in the world, one may just be informed that China alone has a little more than Four Thousand Medical Journals of its own. (And each one of them is in English contrary to some beliefs) Isn’t it strange why the Chinese chose to publish their own work in English ?

Which brings us to a point where all the past issues of Journals around the world have to be translated from English in order to be understood by a student who did his MBBS in a regional language. If he doesn’t, he’ll be unable to use the knowledge available and would have to compromise on the quality of his thesis.

And… if he is able to understand the Medical Journals in English, why did he initially need to study MBBS in his native language ???

But even assuming the above Medical student eventually starts his practice, how would he be able to manage patients who come to him with investigations and their reports in English. Or would he ask the patient to go and get them translated to his native language first. Or… would he demand the entire investigating procedures, machines and equipments to be changed (oh, excuse me… be made parallel) to those giving reports in English ?

Medicine is not a field restricted to a region or country. Health is a global issue. Diseases are not restricted to particular regions.
For example, if one doctor completes and important research on ‘swine flu’ in India and another doctors finds some important facts about the same in Brazil, they would want to exchange their information with each other in order to tackle ‘swine flu’ better. But what if the Brazilian doctor refuses to budge from Portugese and his Indian counterpart isn’t ready to compromise on his regional language ??

To prevent such a scenario, a common language of communication is essential to standardize things. Just as we have the S.I. units for mass, volume and time. And though one may not particularly like the fact, but that language happens to be English.

Now some people would put up an argument that countries like Russia, Japan, China, Germany, etc. never depended on English. But they have been producing doctors too. I agree. Yes, they have. But have they resorted to alternative language (even parallel) to English in the Medical field ?

The following links would provide the doubters something to think about.

Russian Medical Journals Online

Japan Medical Association

Saudi Medical Journal

Chinese Medical Journal (It specifically mentions that - 'The Chinese Medical Journal (CMJ) is published semimonthly in English by the Chinese Medical Association')

As the above links show, all these countries have stuck to the use of English in the Medical field. Not because they downgrade their native languages. But because they know the importance of a common medium of communication for the exchange of knowledge.

“Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine” which is considered as the Bible for every Medical graduate and post graduate is available in English throughout the world. From Saudi Arabia to Austria, from Ukraine to Argentina, from South Africa to Australia… everyone follows the same book. No one has ever considered it to be translated to Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Dutch, Latin, etc. And this great reference book has inputs from Medical specialists from all around the world.

Will an expert Indian doctor, having studied Medicine in his native language, be able to exchange his valuable research with the world ? He would first need to depend upon someone who understands his work and then would translate it for the world.

I am not pro-English or anti-regional languages. All I want to emphasize is that language is not and can not be a criterion to attain quality education. But one must keep in mind the ultimate purpose of the education one is pursuing. It is not about discrimination between languages to attain quality higher education, but it is rather about how effective education can be.

One decides and strives to become a good doctor not because he or she wants to promote a certain language or downgrade another, but to reach out to as many people and help them recover from diseases and disorders. If one solely aims to promote a language, he can effectively do that by taking up language studies. But if a doctor is accused of demeaning a particular language, that’s really not his concern. A doctor’s sole aim is the diagnosis of disease and its management.

And as far as Baba Ramdev is concerned, it would be better if he concentrates on the field of his expertise. (if there is any !) Not knowing about the practical facts of a field and commenting on it is rather absurd.

AND… how does Baba Ramdev expect his devotees to benefit from his expertise by having his very own website in complete English ?!?!?! :P

Please see the link below.

http://www.divyayoga.com/

And it doesn’t even have options to view the same in any other language ! (something which is common to see in most International websites) Didn’t he think about all those Indian followers of his who haven’t had English education and want to know about him through the WWW ???

P.S. : With thanks for valuable inputs from all my colleagues from Engineering and Medical fields.

Laughter : The Best Medicine... (Part II)

2011-05-31T23:39:00.002+05:30

Here are a few more of my creations... :-)

The Indian Civil Services...

2011-04-30T22:16:00.002+05:30

"Income tax sleuths recovered Rs 4.25 crore in cash and investments from a husband-wife couple who are senior Indian Administrative Service officers in Madhya Pradesh. Arvind Joshi, principal secretary (jails), and his wife Tinu Joshi, who is Madhya Pradesh’s principal secretary (women and child development), surrendered Rs 2 crore in cash to the officers who raided the couple’s house in Bhopal. The raid on the couple’s house was part of 20 simultaneous raids by income tax sleuths in Bhopal and Chhattisgarh capital Raipur. IT sources surmised that the raids yielded unaccounted wealth amounting to more than Rs 200 crore."

The above is not just a one-off incident associated with the workings of civil-servants across India. True, that all such cases do not come to the surface and go unreported in any form of media. But everyone knows what goes on behind the closed doors of Indian bureaucracy. One fails to understand what for does a person, who has enough work to give attention to on his mind, needs no less than 200 crores.

Then there was this other case I read on a blog sometime back about a guy who was preparing for the civil services examinations. He was helped devotedly by his girlfriend who did everything possible to support him through his studies, which included preparing meals for him and copying notes and stuff. But once the guy made it through, he wasted no time in distancing himself from the girl. According to him, she had no place in his (now prestigious) life being a girl from a lower caste/class.

The civil services examination is considered to be the toughest of all examinations in India. Only the very best get through. Which should ideally be the case, considering the sort of job they have to take care of. Be it of administering a district/division, looking after foreign policy and foreign relations or maintaining law and order through the police service.

And though, obviously the best candidates academically make it through the tough three-level examination, the above cases depict there is something horribly wrong somewhere.

There can be two explanations for the above examples. Firstly, it’s possible that those that get into the civil services cannot escape the temptation to use their position for monetary or other gains. And thus, it’s very possible that they find themselves trapped in the web of law sooner or later.

But secondly, and more importantly, it’s possible that people who are already with a particular mindset and with a set of twisted morals are able to get into these prestigious jobs. This is a possibility that is even more dangerous than the first as the chances of such a person to act crookedly are more in such a case.

It is easy to commit a crime when one has the power or position to carry it off. But it is easier to commit a crime when one has the mindset for it.

I have personally known officers with strong prejudices regarding caste, religion and class holding important offices of the government. Can one expect such people to act without any bias relating to caste, religion or class ?

The UPSC conducts a three level examination to induct new officers for the government every year. The first level (Preliminary exam) tests the candidate’s ability to cram a given set of subjects. The second level (Mains) tests the ability to present all that crammed data through writing. The third and the last level (Interview) tests the ability of the candidate to talk himself out of various situations put forward by a set of questions by the interview panel.

But nowhere can they asses the mindset of the individual. And I agree that it is not possible by any examination to asses the true character of the individual. But isn’t it important ? Knowing that the very progress of the society and the nation lies in the hands of these civil-servants.

Thus, we have the likes of the above two examples in addition to those such as one Madhuri Gupta (who leaked sensitive info to another country) or that molester DGP from Haryana who thankfully is rotting in jail (mind you, we can be assured that he is receiving full VIP treatment even inside the jail). Or for that matter that SDM from UP who is on the run after murdering his neighbor or the DIG of Police from Rajasthan who is still absconding on charges of rape.

I don’t mean to say that all administrative officers are corrupt or im-moral. If that would have been the case, then the system would have collapsed long ago. But the system has been in a state just short of collapsing in many parts of India. And that is because of those other bad fish on high official posts.

Though, usually all those acts that are illegal are invariably im-moral, but no im-moral mindset falls in the category of being illegal. And that is where the real danger lies as such im-moral, prejudiced, corrupt and crooked mindsets should have no place in the country’s bureaucracy.

An Unwanted Legacy...

2011-03-31T22:40:00.003+05:30

Sometime back I was driving one of my friends home when en-route he asked me to stop by at one of his relatives’ place where he had to pick up something. As he returned to join me, he was accompanied by a young man whom he introduced as his cousin. We were driving along, discussing this and that when the topic of discussion shifted to some current events in our city when suddenly this young man from the back spoke out. He used derogatory and highly objectionable comments about a particular community which left me almost numb with shock and disbelief.

Here was this guy, at least ten years younger to me, who hadn’t till then spoken a single sentence which would suggest he was anywhere close to being a sensible adult. And yet, he was spewing venom with such an air of authority which was preposterous to say the least.

I could only wonder how this guy, who hadn’t yet been able to even carry himself decently while with a stranger (though through the discussion, I learned he was completing his first year working for a leading multinational company) actually had any sort of opinions about any community or its people.

But soon, I realized that it is a common phenomenon with almost every other youngster in India. He or she already has numerous concrete opinions (read:beliefs) about things like religion, caste, society even before growing sensible enough to be a responsible adult.

Most of our knowledge is acquired when we are still kids and are growing up through a variety of subjects we learn at school. But it is our homes where most of our beliefs in life take shape. It is at home where a kid hears things about one religion being superior to others, what caste to look down upon, which country to identify as an enemy and so on. And hearing it from the mouth of the person whom the kid idolizes or follows makes it that much easier. Be it the father, mother, grandfather, elder brother, or whoever.

Consider two five-year-old kids from two enemy countries being brought up together in a far away land. Away from their respective families and societies. In such a situation, would they resort to grabbing each other by the throat as soon as they are big enough to do so just because they are from enemy countries ?

No !

But the same two kids when allowed to be brought up in their own countries with their own families would probably do so and maybe even more when they are old enough.

It is very common in India that children grow up surrounded by heavy prejudices regarding religious fundamentalism, castes, enemy countries and even political preferences. In India, you will almost always find all members of a family canvassing for the same political/religious party/outfit without even a hint of difference in opinion.

Such an atmosphere, in which a child spends his formative years, only helps to form fanatical beliefs which show their effects once the child becomes an adult. But we never give a thought as to how we are actually passing on nonsensical hatred to our future generations and making their lives as hellish if not more than ours.

For example, in India, people who are just turning adults seem to have strong views for or against the contending parties in the ‘Ayodhya issue’. These are people who weren’t even born during those times about 18 years back ! So, how come they hold such strong views on something that happened before they were even born ? The simple answer is that they have grown up around prejudiced talks within their families, relatives and so on.

Another example was evident recently when children across several government-schools in U.P. refused to touch the ‘mid-day-meal’ cooked by persons of a certain ‘caste’ clearly showing how even small children acquire certain bizarre mindsets handed over to them by their preceding generation.

Would the young ‘stone-pelters’ in Kashmir be such a worked-up lot if they hadn’t been brought up in an environment full of hatred and prejudices ?

The homely housewives all across India are the soft targets for religious outfits and political parties alike. You won’t easily find them raising their voices against their genuine everyday needs. But you can always find them coming out in great numbers in religious processions or for voting in elections based on either religion or caste. Would you expect children of such women be any different in their mindsets when they grow up ?

The most important aspect of it all is that while in older times, people were more emotional and less thoughtful; the present generation hides the emotions while forming big prejudices. And that can be really dangerous at times.

Thankfully, I was never subjected to any prejudiced discussions, discourses or opinions at home. My brother and I were allowed to assess things on their merits before forming our own opinions. In fact, none of us at home ever discuss about whom we would vote for in an election. And I think that is exactly what a democracy means.

There are black-sheep in every community, caste, religion, region and country. That doesn’t mean we should generalize the entire population to be good or bad on that basis alone. And always, we tend to ignore the black-sheep of our own ‘herd’, be it our own community, religion or country.

If the families of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi had been similarly prejudiced, would they be playing as a successful doubles team in international tennis today ?

Do we ever realize how we are building up an atmosphere of war, hatred and tensions for our future generations ? Why should a nine-year-old kid in Pakistan identify India as an enemy country ? Why should a twelve-year-old kid in U.P. refuse to sit with another kid from a ‘so-called’ lower caste ? What business does a fifteen-year-old boy in Maharashtra have to use derogatory names for non-Marathis ?

We simply continue to hand over this legacy of prejudice through each generation either unknowingly or on purpose. We never ask ourselves if we would be happy to let our children grow up amidst fears of a nuclear war, caste based conflicts or religious genocides. We just seem to be happy giving vent to our own false beliefs which were imparted to us by our past generations.

If we want a peaceful world and a happy life for our future generations, we will have to trash our prejudices and keep our children away from any such influences so that they are capable enough to make their own opinions, beliefs and decisions.

Band, Baaja & Baraat...

2011-02-28T22:20:00.007+05:30

BOOM !!!

The loud explosion brought me back to life seeming only to make my heart stop and send me right back to a lifeless world.

I had just drifted into a light sleep the other night, snuggled comfortably inside the warm quilt when I was almost thrown off the edge of my bed by the sudden explosion. As a reflex, I pulled the quilt over the head trying my best not to let any noise disturb my half unconscious mind.

But in doing so, I had unknowingly invited two unwanted guests in the nice confines of the quilt. The two mosquitoes which now hovered right around my ear seemed to be discussing about the best spot to land and have dinner.

I’ve always wondered how mosquitoes never seem to miss buzzing right around the ears before getting down to some serious business. It must be sort of a hear-your-echo spot to hear their voices reflect back from the ear drum just like humans love to do around mountains.

But as I was in no mood of hobnobbing with any tourists right around my ears, and also because the noise from the outer world seemed to increase by the second, I buried my head beneath the pillow. Only to realize soon that it was of no use.

By now, I was almost back to consciousness as I poked my head out to look at the screen of my laptop besides me which showed it to be 1:35 at night. And the thumping in my head appeared to have a rhythm of its own. It was now matching the beats of the ‘Bollywood’ number which was now blaring at full volume through the windows.

So, in a nutshell, all the commotion that disturbed my peaceful soul that cool night was from the wedding taking place at the park next block. Why they chose 1:35 in the night to begin the proceedings was beyond me. Maybe the bride eloped with her ex but changed her mind and returned for the proceedings. Or maybe the groom had to cope with sudden episodes of diarrhea. I couldn’t really guess. But whatever it was, it wasn’t the best time to topple unsuspecting innocent people in deep sleep from the edge of their beds.

The events that carried on late into the night (or morning) had drastic effects on my body clock. I was still drowsy and irritated later in the evening when I remembered that I had to go and receive my uncle and aunt at the railway station. I thought the drive would help my mind a bit, so I drove off with some nice songs playing in my car.

I hadn’t got very far when I was caught in between a rather messy traffic jam. Though the opposite side of the road was as empty as ever, the traffic on my side seemed to be stuck forever. There’s not much one can do when one’s car is stuck in traffic between two cars. So I just sat back and enjoyed the song in the car. But soon, the song seemed add more sounds and voices into it. I turned the knob in order to check whether another station was trying to hijack the one I was listening to.

It was then that I realized that the newer, louder and a lot more distasteful sounds were those emerging from an oncoming ‘Baraat’.

Those who know me well, can vouch for the fact that I’m rather patient with things. But that obviously doesn’t include a ‘Baraat’ full of drunk loonies, with a band making unbearable noises, which moves at a speed of a meter by the hour, with me having nowhere to run and bear the torture from a rather ‘ring-side’ view.

I’ve always wondered why weddings are such big events in Indian society. The following are a few points that come to my mind whenever I wonder so.......

* A wedding is the ultimate event, a chance of a lifetime for people to show off.

* As a groom, it is probably the only chance ever for a good-for-nothing guy to feel like being the king of the world.

* Looking at the lifelong neglect and partial treatment that most girls suffer in a male dominated Indian society, it’s their only chance to hog the limelight.

* A wedding is the best opportunity to get drunk and behave as one’s true character. (specially the groom’s friends and male relatives would agree to that !)

* It is the best opportunity for the groom’s family to be at their obnoxious best and still be treated with utmost respect.

* The bride’s family cannot find a better occasion to showcase their wealth, class and the so-called respect amongst their community.

* It’s a handy chance for people to depict their beliefs/rituals/religiousness. No matter how much the cunning priests benefit from all the blind faith.

* A wedding is the best excuse for people to be let off from work.

* Weddings are the best opportunities for the ‘match-maker’ aunties to do brisk business and fix up forthcoming weddings.

* Weddings are the best way to create public nuisance and still get away without any big hassles. Yes, there are people who enjoy creating nuisance and still feel immune to any action by being part of a wedding.

No wonder India loves big fat weddings. Be it any part of the society, a wedding is the ultimate escape from the hassles of daily life. The big extravaganza provides a release for all the pent-up emotions/aspirations/dreams and all that sort.

I have no problem with arranged marriages. On a nice sunny day and in a good mood, I may even approve of a person’s marriage being arranged. But I just cannot tolerate the nuisance of these Big Fat Indian Weddings !!!

Grrrrrrr…….

Laughter : The Best Medicine...

2011-01-31T23:32:00.010+05:30

While writing for Kadzilla's Lounge, I tried my hand at creating a few cartoons, some of which were published in the Cartoon Corner of the Lounge.

Here are a few of the published cartoons alongwith some new ones.

Poisonous Snakes of India

2010-12-31T23:54:00.001+05:30

Snakes are one of the most dreaded and feared creatures in the entire Animal Kingdom. Though many religions have depicted snakes to be holy and to be worshipped, but still, most of the human race is obsessed with attaching the tag of fear with anything that is related to snakes.

India, with its vast variety of climates and natural vegetation, is home to more than 200 species of land snakes. It is therefore, obvious that encounters with snakes is very common all around the country. And so, it is all the more essential to know important facts about snakes, contrary to myths that go around demonizing all snakes.

Despite the large no. of snake species, there are only 5 species of venomous (poisonous) snakes in India. They are :

1. The King Cobra
2. The common Cobra
3. The common Krait
4. Russel’s Viper
5. Saw-scaled Viper

The most important thing when finding a snake unexpectedly is to find out whether it is a venomous or non-venomous snake. The following chart makes it easy to ascertain this very fact.

The important points to know about each of these poisonous snakes are as follows:

1. The King Cobra (Ophiophagus hannah)

One is not expected to encounter a King Cobra usually, unless one ventures deep into the dense rain forests, which are the homes to this highly poisonous snake. The King Cobra can be identified by its large size (upto 12-13 feet) and a “^” sign on its neck. It does not bear the usual ‘spectacle’ mark like the common Cobra. It’s venom is neurotoxic (affects the nervous system) as well as slightly cardiotoxic (affects the heart).

2. The Common Cobra (Naja)

One of the most commonly recognized of Indian snakes, the Cobra is easily identified by its hood and a single or double spectacle mark on the hood. Though the hood cannot be seen in a dead Cobra, the snake retracts its hood usually while in motion. It can grow to a length of 2 metres. The common Cobra is a somewhat aggressive snake, having a neurotoxic and slightly hemotoxic (affects the blood) venom.

3. The common Krait (Bungarus caeruleus)

The Krait is probably the most common poisonous snake found across India. Though it is smaller than a cobra in length, it’s body is darker in color ranging from a blue-black to a bluish grey. The most striking mark of identification is the presence of white cross bands throughout its body. It is essentially a nocturnal hunter and is seldom encountered during the day. It has an extremely neurotoxic venom which leads to rapid muscle paralysis. It’s venom is much more toxic than that of a cobra.

4. Russel’s Viper (Daboia russelii)

The Russel’s Viper is another common Indian poisonous snake which is less closely associated with human settlements than cobras or Kraits. It is also a nocturnal hunter ,but ,becomes diurnal during cool days. When threatened, they curve their body in the form of ‘S’ shaped loops and produce a hissing sound louder than any other snake. They can be easily identified by the presence of 3 series of dark brown spots on the back of a yellow, tan, or brown body. The important point in the identification is the presence of a black ring around each of these spots and further intensified by a rim of yellow or white. There are other harmless snakes with similar dark spots on their backs, but they are not circumscribed by a black ring. The Russel’s Viper has a highly hemotoxic venom.

5. Saw-scaled Viper (Echis carinatus)

It is a small snake which may grow up to two and a half feet. It has small, white, diamond-shaped and somewhat square patches along the middle of the back. The head has a distinct white mark, which may sometimes resemble a trident. When disturbed, it coils itself up in the shape of the figure ‘8’. It rubs its body producing a sound like that of sandpaper. Each of its scales is ridged in the middle like a saw, hence its name, the saw-scaled viper. Its venom is highly hemotoxic.

Though the above five are the only poisonous snakes one can find in India, the various sea-snakes are an addition to these poisonous snakes, as all sea snakes are deadly poisonous. But it is rare to encounter a sea snake commonly.

Apart from these, the only other snake which can cause some harm to humans is the Python. But pythons are usually very lazy creatures and not usually big enough to trouble adult humans.

In spite of the presence of such common poisonous snakes around human habitat, still the most commonly found snake in everyday-life is the harmless ‘Rat-snake’. It is a dull colored average sized snake which feeds on rodents as its name suggests. It is commonly mistaken to be poisonous, and hence is killed.

One can find the various remedies for a snake-bite all around. But what is important is to keep a few important tips in mind when encountering a snake.

Do not panic and run around on seeing a snake. There may be other snakes around too which you might step upon.
Stay dead still if you are within striking distance of the snake.
Hold your nerves. Do not disturb or provoke the snake. It will more often than not move away from you itself.
Do not approach a snake when it is cornered. (For that matter, any animal that is cornered is expected to attack when approached !)
Using the above features, try to identify whether the snake is poisonous or not. But do not try to handle it by yourself or by any stick or any other object.
The snake is bound to move to a hiding place. Keep a lookout for his movements if it is entering a house or a room while keeping a safe distance. (So that it can be easily found if and when some wildlife support staff arrives for help.)
Never try your agility even if the snake looks tired and still. It can attack with the quickest of reactions if you get too close.
Most importantly, do not kill the snake just because it is a snake. Snakes are living beings too and will not harm you unless you disturb them.

Picture Credits: Google Images

Bride & The Prejudiced...

2010-11-25T02:28:00.005+05:30

A very familiar scene:

Boy and girl, a very committed couple since long, having a candle-light dinner, with some soft mushy music playing in the background…(obviously!) are lost deep in each other’s eyes, when…

Boy: My princess…
Girl: My angel…
Boy: I love you…
Girl: I love you too…
Boy: Will you marry me?
Girl: Ohhh… YES!!
Boy: Great. Then let’s get you converted…
Girl: …… ??!??!!??!!

Well, maybe it’s not usually as bluntly put as that. Or maybe it is. I don’t really know. But it certainly is put sooner or later before a person decides to marry someone he (or sometimes… she) loves, who belongs to a different religion/caste/community.

And all this while people tell me that the new, young and developing India has moved into the twenty-first century!! (Really?)

Which makes me wonder that why would someone want to change a person he loves! People have simply no issues when they ‘supposedly’ decide to fall in love. No issues still while going around the town dating that someone special. And no issues still more while flaunting their ‘committed’ status on Facebook, Orkut and what not.

But when it comes to actually marrying a person from a different background, issues start appearing from absolutely nowhere. Then is the time when age-old and absolutely pathetic reasons fly out from left, right and center.

We have such different customs and traditions…
My family won’t accept her without getting converted…
We have to answer the society…

Do we ever realize the heights of ridiculous prejudices regarding different communities in our own country, though we see it all around us, everyday of our lives?

My granny’s cousin was so prejudiced against certain communities that she wouldn’t even let such a person anywhere near her kitchen, let alone eat the food prepared by him/her. Unfortunately, she passed away before I could put some of my questions for her to answer.

For any such person prejudiced against other communities, who happily eats food cooked by someone he or she approves, I’d just like to take things back to their origin. Does such a prejudiced person actually know…

the caste/community/religion of the person who sowed seeds in the farms?
the caste/community/religion of the person who carried the grain to the crusher?
the caste/community/religion of the person who crushed the grain into flour?
the caste/community/religion of the person who packed the flour?
the caste/community/religion of the person who distributed it to the market?

The answer is a big NO!

We all travel in buses, trains and planes. Do we ever bother to ascertain the caste, community or religion of the driver or pilot? Someone in whose hands we literally put our lives…!!!

Does a person stop sending his/her child to the school because one of the teachers is from a different community? Does a person refuse to do business with someone of the other religion? Does a critically ill patient first ascertain the caste of the doctor on duty?

NO! Because those are our needs! In times of need, we let all our prejudices go into hibernation. Only to appear with renewed vigor when it’s the time for marriage!

And most often, it is the girl who is expected to ‘convert’ if she decides to marry into a different community (though there are many examples otherwise too… as per my own experiences!).

And then I again wonder why such ‘wisdom’ dawns on the individual not once before the talk of marriage. It baffles my mind no end. Are people in a state of illusion or delusion while they are falling in love? Do they imagine their love-interest to be of their own communities? Do they forget all such reasons of ‘wisdom’ while they date?

Why would a sane person try to change anything about someone he or she so dearly loves?

I have actually known people who broke-off their ‘relationship’ (that’s such a big misnomer!) just because the other didn’t agree to convert into their community. I seriously ought to be informed if there’s anything more ridiculous than that.

I would simply ask such people, that “while falling in love with that special person, did you ask your family’s, community’s or the society’s permission? (And did they allow you?) And even if your partner accepts your preposterous demands, wouldn’t you be changing the very identity of the person?

What would be better?

1. A bride who doesn’t convert, but cares for everyone and follows all the customs of her new family as they should be followed.
OR
2. A bride who converts (or is from the same community) but cares for nothing.

We, in India, are brought up on a daily dose of some outrageous prejudices regarding different communities. Though in unspoken terms, we are also taught to forget all such prejudices in times of materialistic needs. But as it is said, ‘Love is blind’, one becomes blind while falling in love.

I so dearly wish that love was deaf as well, so that all such ridiculous talks from our society wouldn’t affect lovers' ears…

Picture Credits: Google Images

Glorious India at CWG 2010...

2010-10-17T15:31:00.016+05:30

The nineteenth edition of the “Common Wealth Games” has concluded successfully at Delhi. Contrary to some impulsive negative publicity amongst the so-called educated Indians all around the globe, the ‘Games’ were hosted superbly.

Personally, I couldn’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime chance to witness a sporting event of such magnitude. And hence, I booked my tickets for the games well in advance so that I could be a part of the extravaganza.

Though I missed the grand ‘Opening Ceremony’ (as I couldn’t get past the ‘sold-out’ status on the tickets website) there was still lots to experience and enjoy during the events. And Delhi was wonderfully decorated, ready to play host to 70 countries from around the world.

As expected, the ‘Games-venues’ & stadiums were simply magnificent leading to a more than pleasant viewing experience. I had no problem in traveling between different venues, thanks to the efficient ‘Delhi Metro’ which had provided free conveyance to ticket holders during the games.

The many layered security was right on the mark but posed no problems to the viewers. The security personnel all around were vigilant, quick and polite which was sort of a pleasant surprise as compared to that at any cricket ground around India. The young and enthusiastic ‘CWG-volunteers’ were more than helpful and made sure that the spectators faced no problems during the games.

The combination of all these things made for an unforgettable sporting experience where people could admire the talent and hard work of the sportspersons. That was and should have been the centre of attraction of ‘Delhi 2010’.

Before the games had even begun, some people had started a sort of campaign to boycott the games. Just because some corrupt officials of the CWG Organizing Committee had bungled up crores of Government money, people were ready to punish the athletes who had worked hard for years to perform at such an event. The same people would be more than delirious in support when India hosts the Cricket World Cup in early 2011. And then they cry out that sports other than cricket are not supported in India. Simply ridiculous !

But the games went on and were a resounding success which is aptly exemplified by the performance of the Indian athletes who returned with more than hundred medals. And there were even more of them who missed a medal by a whisker. And also those who participated and performed their best. Wouldn’t it have been a great dis-service to all those players and athletes by crying for a boycott of the games itself ?

People shout if some corrupt government officials run away with the tax-payers money. But they are happy to go crazy after an IPL where a certain Lalit Modi scams into thousands of crores just by himself.

It is time people shunned these double standards and catch hold of the corrupt officials instead of trying to demoralize the athletes for no fault of theirs. People find it very comfortable to voice their opinion from the comforts of their homes or offices. But never do they consider the amount of hard work the players put in their training.

Just for an example, Ashwini Akkunji (one of the winners of the women’s 4 X 400m relay gold) hadn’t been to her home for the past one year just in order to train for the games.

It was a moving experience to be in the various stadiums watching the players perform their best to bring glory to their respective countries. It is a heavenly experience when thousands of people stand in respect to one’s national anthem as a result of one’s excellence in his or her sport. And every winner in the CWG 2010 has been lucky to experience just that.

The games were not about money or economy or officials or politicians or anything of the sort. They were about sports and the sportspersons. The sportspersons were and are the real heroes of the games and we should acknowledge their efforts and the glory they have brought to their nation.

The following is a small clip I have created which I dedicate to all Indian sportspersons who have brought glory to India and will continue to do so for times to come.

Shaadi ke Side Effects....

2010-09-07T04:10:00.016+05:30

It was just the other day, while reading Pooja’s ‘Reflections on Indian Marriage’ (the featured post on the latest issue of ‘Kadzilla’s Lounge’), that I had to log off and rush in search for some fresh air. Those who know me very closely would vouch for the fact that I don’t just grab at my throat, cry out for help and make a dash for the open spaces unless I’m seriously stirred.

And that was what the problem was with the piece of text I had just read. It was superbly written on a topic that touches a rather sensitive spot in my mind. The feeling of Déjà vu quickly took me to the very first day (rather night) of 2010 AD.

We had just finished partying for the Birthday of our close friend. (I had always found it interesting how he chose ‘New Year’s Day’ to sneak into the world to torment us all for the rest of our lives with his dumb questions, until I was enlightened by the fact that since he had been born and brought up in some remote village, no one actually remembered his real birth date. So they decided what better a day to choose for the same than 1st of January !)

So I was just dropping him home that foggy night when he asked me to pop in for a few minutes as usual. We were greeted by his elder brother at the door and were lead in through the side door into the house that looked asleep already. But to my surprise, we were led to his brother’s bedroom, the contents of which looked as follows…

1. His dad sitting right in the middle of the large bed, with an assortment of packets and papers around him, deep in some pensive thought.
2. His mom on a chair by the bed, with her face supported by a hand, looking at his dad who was deep in some pensive thought.
3. His ‘bhabhi’ (elder brother’s wife) sitting at the edge of the bed, fidgeting with what looked like the remote of the television.
4. His four year old nephew, who was sitting beside his dad (my friend’s dad, not his own dad as his dad, (the nephew’s dad, not my friend’s dad who was sitting on the bed in a pensive mood) was standing with us), and was trying to load his toy gun.

At the site of us entering the room, the various reactions I got were as follows…

1. His dad looked up, nodded at me, and again looked down going back to his deep thoughts.
2. His mom, straightened up, smiled, and then again went back to supporting her face on her hand and looking at his dad.
3. His ‘bhabhi’ turned towards us, smiled too, and went back to the fidgeting.
4. The little kid didn’t even bother to look up. For him the loading of the gun was of utmost importance lest he would be left wanting if he decided to shoot me.

All in all, something serious. I was provided with a chair and I tentatively sat down on it after touching the parents’ feet as my friend’s brother took his place on the bed as well. It was then, when suddenly, his dad became lively and stated that it was much better now as I was there too. What for, I didn’t know yet. He then asked the lady with the remote to switch the television on. So I guessed we were going to have a show of some new movie.

But to my surprise, as the screen came to life, there were no colorful or animated scenes to be seen. Instead, I saw a list of folders just as one sees on a computer screen. And then a girl’s photograph beamed on the screen… And then, I had to actually pinch myself to believe, what my friend’s dad said to me, if he actually said that…

“We are rating the proposals of girls for Sanju (my friend). We should have a variety in opinion. So you also rate the girls as you think. Then we’ll match everyone’s list. That’ll make it easier to decide on the prospective brides.”

All I remember that I mumbled then was… ^&%%#%& ………….. !?!?!?? while my face turned a few shades of pink.

I looked at my friend who was now imitating his mom and was sitting on a chair besides me holding his face in his hand. “You should ask Sanju. No ?? He’s the one who’ll decide the girl. No ??” was all I could say as my senses started returning to me.

“Ohh… No no. Let’s have everyone’s opinion. Not his alone.” His dad replied handing me a paper and pencil. “Just rate them in decreasing order of preference.”

I turned to look at my friend. The bloke wasn’t even given a paper or pencil. And there he was… smiling behind his palm which hid his mouth. Without letting me think of anything else to say, the slideshow on the screen started. With the picture of each girl that appeared, the lighter shades of pink disappeared from my face which turned to newer shades of red.

With each new picture, everyone commented upon their likes and dislikes about the girl on screen. Except of course, my friend’s mom, who as always the simple and quiet lady, just smiled and looked, and my friend, who kept smiling behind his hand, and the little kid, who by now had started on deciding who the targets for his shooting practice would be.

“I really like this girl !” His brother would say suddenly in between. Which would invariably evoke an “Ehhh… ????” from his wife as she would look back and give him a really good stare. Which would lead him to try to explain the merits of the prospective bride, while sweating from the sides of his head even on that freezing night.

I’d better skip the details of more conversation to save myself from some really embarrassing memories. But in the end, the results were far from a consensus. The dad didn’t like the nose of the girl topping the ‘bhabhi’s’ list, while ‘Girl no. 1’ of the brother’s list didn’t even find a place in his wife’s list. In a nutshell, quite a useless exercise as now, the differences in opinion made everyone even more confused.

Though I could hardly concentrate on the pictures on the screen, as I was more concerned about the new shade of color which my face would be displaying, I just peeked into ‘bhaiya’s’ list and copied names. Only that I listed them in an altogether different random order. My racing mind, after quickly assessing the situation, was swift to thus make a list of my own which matched nobody else’s, thereby adding to the confusion there already was.

I handed in my list to my friend’s dad, threw in the proverbial towel and got up to leave without waiting to hear the declaration of the results. I once again touched the parents’ feet and made a dash out into the foggy night. And as my friend came to see me off he commented how I would have to pass through a similar procedure when I get married too. It was partly because of the big grin he now had and more so because I didn’t think it would be the best idea to punch a guy on his nose on his Birthday (even if it is a symbolic one), that I just bid him a good night and slammed myself inside my car.

Coming back to Pooja’s article about arranged marriages in India, it’s not only a harrowing experience for the bride or groom in search but sometimes also for even those not remotely related to the event.

It is not just the choice of the person planning to get married but also every near and dear and not so near and not so dear ones as well. It is as if, a person’s life partner should be acceptable not only to him or her, but also to their families, relatives, friends, friends of friends, neighbors, neighbors’ relatives, neighbors’ friends and almost everyone they know or even do not know.

The bride, or the groom (like my friend in the case mentioned above) are happy to accept what is acceptable and finalized by everyone else. And so has been happening for generations in our country and our society. And surprisingly, everyone seems to be happy with the procedures followed.

But, as for me, it is not only the bride or the groom, but sometimes even people who aren't even involved in it all are the ones who bear the side effects of an Indian wedding.

In the second part of this post that’s coming up, I’ll relate to my very own experiences about attempts of me being forcefully made a prospective groom…. Huh…

And, by the way, finally the prospective bride for my friend has been selected. And she is the same girl whom I had put at no. 1 in my list…………

Ties that Bind...

2010-08-24T04:26:00.005+05:30

It is that special time of the year once again when people all around are busy diving in a sea of emotions for their brothers or sisters... Boys flaunting their 'Rakhi' covered wrists and girls beaming around with all those special gifts... :)

Here is a small collection of videos to further add to the emotions of Raksha-bandhan...

*******@*******

This post is dedicated to my sisters who have always been a special motivating force behind me...

The 10 Question Tag....

2010-08-07T03:20:00.004+05:30

One week ago, I had been tagged by Garima with a set of 10 interesting but tough questions to answer. So here I am trying to answer those 10 questions while providing 10 of my own for others to answer.

1) What would you eat – a donut or golgappe?

Ans. Golgappe anyday. :D

2) What would you do to get the remote from your irritating sibling who is watching an action flick and in turn forcing you to watch it, when you want to watch Ducktales?

Ans. I’d tell him that his phone’s ringing and take control of the remote as he rushes to answer it. (I have actually tried that one when I wanted to watch ‘Tom & Jerry’ instead of WWE ! :P )

3) You would want your spouse to be stupid and rich or poor and smart/intelligent?

Ans. I’d go with smart/intelligent and poor.

4) Low neckline or low waist?

Ans. Huh…. ???!!!

5) You know that a member of opposite sex is attracted towards you. You don’t consider that person to be your ‘someone special’. Would you still go ahead and let him/her fall for you to enjoy all the attention?

Ans. Knowing the fact that no one can ever prevent someone from falling for them, - they would fall anyways – I’d let her fall for me while preparing a nice cushion to prevent her from getting hurt by the fall. :) Not for the sake of enjoying all the attention but for acknowledging my gratefulness to her for considering me deserving enough to fall for. I believe that those who rebuke or distance themselves from a person falling for them don’t deserve to be the ones to fall for.

6) What would you do to seek attention of your ignorant spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend?

Ans. Yet to face such a situation. (More so because of me being single rather than being deprived of the attention ! ;) )

7) You have a fetish for ….

Ans. Brand new sports goods. (Specially cricket gear and those brand new cricket balls !)

8.) If given a chance whom would you replace your life with and why?

Ans. Any and all of my friends who have had or are probable to give up their love because of un-accepting parents or family. My parents are sensible enough not to conjure up something as stupid as religion, caste, class or nationality to be the basis of eligibility for the person I choose.

9) What would you do if you get to know that you would die today in next 5 hours?

Ans. I would make sure that I let all those people for whom I have something to convey to, be conveyed that very something, before I’m no more there to let them know what I thought about them.

10) One song that you never get bored of…just ONE??

Ans. Just ONE ?? Well, it’s that ‘Aao na’ one from ‘Kyun Ho Gaya Na’. (I had to search up the movie name to mention it here ! :P Thanks Youtube !)
But I’ll name one more. Please…. Just ONE MORE…. :P
That ‘Naam ada likhna’ one from the movie ‘Yahaan’ !

Well now that I’ve finished answering to Garima’s 10 questions, I’d like to put up a set of my own.

1. Which would you choose for a pet ? Fish or a Dog ?

2. You are stranded drenched in the rain at the roadside, with no possible mode of transport available in the heavy rain. Who would you call for help without a second thought ?

3. If you are given a chance to be a non-living object, what would you be ?

4. What would be the three things you would be worried the most about if you suddenly had to shift to a new residence ?

5. On a rainy Sunday afternoon, would you
(a) Enjoy the yummiest of snacks with hot coffe/tea on the terrace ? or
(b) Go for a walk in the rain with that ‘someone special’ ?

6. What is the first thing that you observe about a stranger ?

7. Which one subject at school would you have skipped if given the choice ?

8. En route to your best friend’s B’Day party, you are buying a gift for him/her when you suddenly see the last piece of something which you wanted for dear life. You have money to buy just one thing. What would you buy ?

9. If you were allowed to go back in time and un-do one thing, what would it be ?

10. One movie that you can watch again any day and any hour. Just ONE ??

I tag back Garima with these 10 questions from me…. ;) :P apart from also tagging Kaddu and Avada Kedavra…. :D

And every one of you reading this post, consider yourself tagged ! ;)

An open letter to the 'honor-killer(s)'...

2010-07-08T05:07:00.005+05:30

Congratulations !

You must be highly delighted at your success of late. Especially around North India, where you have managed to accomplish no less than nineteen incidents between April 9 and June 30 of 2010. Which translates to about one every four days. And it clearly appears that there is a lot more to come.

It really intrigues me as to how and from where do you manage to gather such courage and inspiration to shed the blood of your own. Is it the commendation from your community that drives you to act ? Or is it something bigger ??

Oh… I’m sorry ! I completely forgot that it is the threat to your family’s and your community’s honor that drives you to take the path to glory. Certainly, you will go down in history as champions for the cause of honor.

But my idle mind fails to understand what exactly is the honor that you fight for. Maybe it is something you get in exchange of the highly expensive weddings that you plan for your children ? Or something that you receive in exchange of the big fat dowry that you give and take in such arranged marriages ? Or, to sum it up, it is what you get in return for selling off your very own children ??

Ok. I get it. Your honor is centered on your children’s marriage.

It doesn’t matter then, if you are a cheat in your profession. Or even if you are a traitor to your nation. But your honor rests solely on how and where your child marries. Wonderful that you have managed to keep it as simple as that.

Please pardon me for my stupidity as I used to link your honor to your beating up your wives in the confines of your houses. Or for that matter, to any such instances where I found you turning a blind eye to any misbehavior towards a female either in public or in your own home.

Maybe that’s why you don’t care to loose your honor while openly mouthing foul words in public. Or staring at more than suggestive huge-sized posters of ‘C’, ‘D’ or ‘X’ grade movies that decorate your cities and towns. How foolish of me to link your honor to such ‘normal’ things.

Obviously, it is absolutely normal to chase girls around on your bikes or cars. And it is also absolutely normal for you to stare at girls your daughter’s age. And maybe even go a few steps further. You don’t need to care about losing your honor there. But of course your honor is at stake when your daughter/son/sister/niece/nephew dares to choose their life-partners. Bravo !

Ohh… But I see where this is leading to. You actually have no real problems with your family member marrying someone from a different community. The religion, caste, gotra, village and all that rot is just a big cover-up. It is actually love that you cannot tolerate.

Ok, I know that you searched for love too when you were young. And I also understand that you never had the courage to stand for your likings. It had to be sacrificed for the sake of honor too, back in those days. So obviously, how can you let the next generation have their say even if they manage to gather courage to stand for their love ??? It is so very unfair to you.

Kudos to you that you will not hesitate to even kill your own loved ones to get justice !

But I must applaud you to turn all your vengeance towards the females who commit the ‘crime’ of love. I must say you have used your brains to the fullest and have exhibited extreme bravery in silencing the female ‘criminals’. That is why, most, if not all cases of you killing for honor are from the girl’s family.

I can only admire your valor in brutally and mercilessly killing your daughters/sisters/nieces/granddaughters and keeping your honor intact. It really glorifies you as champions of honor.

Obviously, it isn’t clever to kill your own son/brother/nephew/grandson. A female is a safe target and a better route to glory. I can only laugh at all those poor souls who relate the lack of education as the reason for you being a champion 'honor-killer'. If only they knew that many of you are highly educated people too.

So, in the end, I apologize for having so many meaningless myths about you in my mind. I will always remember that basically, you are dead against love. And that being a male-dominated society, you obviously cannot tolerate a girl standing up for her love which then leaves you no control over her life. And if she tries to do anything of the sort, it is a direct threat to your honor.

I specially commend all you elderly female 'honor-killers' who are providing the much needed support to their male counterparts in maintaining the society’s honor.

People say that our country is hundreds of years behind many other countries in terms of development. But I can surely say that with honor-killers like you, who amazingly carry on to protect our ‘culture’ and ‘traditions’, we can certainly give the Taliban a run for their money.

Once again my greetings to you for being real 'honor-killers' and efficiently killing our country’s honor for the world to see… !!!

Debt to Debt....

2010-06-25T08:13:00.006+05:30

Case Study #1 :

A small and happy Indian family. A husband, his wife and their son. The parents ensure the best possible upbringing of their son. The son completes his studies, doing exceedingly well all through. He gets a job overseas and hence migrates abroad. He works hard and well enough to get much more than a decent salary. He uses his finances to get his parents a beautiful villa back in India with all the luxuries possible, including servants, drivers, etc. He sends them a big cheque every month and calls them once a week.

A few years later when his father suggests him to return, he explains that his job abroad is a must for them to have a good life. And also that he wouldn’t be able to adjust in India again. But he ensures that his parents are well cared for.

Case Study #2 :

A similar small and happy Indian family. A husband, his wife and their son. The parents ensure the best possible upbringing of their son. The son completes his studies, doing exceedingly well all through. He gets a decent job in their town itself and so the family lives happily together.

A few months into the job, the son falls in love with a girl colleague. But their families have completely different backgrounds. The girl’s family is strictly against their marriage. The guy, hence, gives up his love and decides to marry a girl of his family’s choice for the sake of his parents’ wish to have a daughter-in-law.

The above two scenarios, though completely different, are a common occurrence in the Indian society. Most often than not, you will find young boys and girls taking steps to ensure proper care and well being of their parents, while also ensuring priority to their parents’ wishes. Something which is really heart-warming to find all around us.

But a deeper understanding of such actions provides evidence to a much heavier basis to the above attitudes.

In the first scenario above, the son was more concerned about his parents being well cared for, while in the second scenario, the son put his parents’ wishes on priority. And if you ask anyone, neither of them would be doing any wrong on their parts. In fact, both are being the good sons anyone could ask for.

But in most cases, (surely not all) the reason behind such a caring attitude of children towards their parents is because they seem to realize the great debt they owe to their parents. As per my experiences, people tend to care for their parents in order to repay that debt. You will most often hear someone say. “My parents have done so much for me. So I can’t be selfish. I have to care for them too.”

What I don’t understand here is that do parents care for their little kids so that they can pile on that debt on them which could be retrieved later in life ???

Obviously NO ! Parents do whatever they do for their kids because they love their kids more than anything. So where does this debt thing comes in between… ???

Suppose a guy has to borrow some money from a money-lender in some unfavorable times. He can always repay that debt once he has enough money of his own. But how can one even expect to repay the debt of one’s parents by any of his or her actions ??? In fact, considering the unconditional love of one’s parents to be as a debt is, in a way, reducing it to something cheap and materialistic.

And if one is adamant enough to consider it all as a debt, then, it is absolutely certain that such a debt can never be repaid by any action. Even if one lives for a million years earning a zillion bucks per hour !!!

And if one is adamant enough to consider it all as a debt, then, he will surely take this forward in the next generation onto his kids. Which usually happens later in life. People who believe in this ‘debt’ business towards their parents are the ones who deal for their children’s happiness later in return.

Why can’t people love their parents instead of trying to repay some debt all their lives. Our parents will never ask us for sacrifices in return for any ‘debt’. In fact, they won’t even ask for care or affection. It is actually onto the children to have real feelings for their parents which comes from within. Not due to any obligations.

The real happiness our parents have is through seeing us happily leading a good life and by us being with them. No amount of money or sacrifices would give any happiness to our parents if they see us unhappy or don’t see us at all.

I hope people would understand that they should care for their parents out of their love for them. Not because of trying to repay any debt.

We care for our parents because we love them. Not because we have to...

Hope...

2010-05-31T23:13:00.001+05:30

Seven Random Facts about Myself...

2010-04-05T04:24:00.005+05:30

This is the first ‘Tagged’ post on my blog, thanks to Garima. The following are just seven random facts about me.

1) I hate tea !

Though I never ever tasted it, I still hate the sight of tea. And being around people who literally survive on tea isn’t much fun either. Here’s an interesting incident that happened a few years back.

We were appearing for our University examination practicals in Anatomy at the Medical college. While in the midst of it all, I saw the attendant distributing small biscuit packets to the students. And much to my dislike it was followed by tea in small disposable cups. Before I could be handed one too, I saw my roomie Tarun being provided with one. As he didn’t usually like tea himself, he just refused taking it. Which was heard by our HOD (Head of the Department) who happened to be passing by.

As he was informed about Tarun’s dislike for tea, he softly said the following sentence in utmost seriousness. “Abhi pi le nahi to 6 maheene baad piyega !” (Better have one now or you’ll have it after six months). Which would surely happen if he failed him in the exam.

To which I saw Tarun gulping down the whole cup in one single go. Thanks to the Almighty, I finished up my work before my turn of being served. Otherwise I don’t know how many years I would have had to spend studying Anatomy… :P

2) I check the time often !

In fact, too often. Every few minutes I find myself looking at either the wall clock, the time on the table-piece or on my laptop. In fact, I’ve sort of unconsciously put a big clock on my desktop’s sidebar. Come to think of it, I must be checking the time at least 10-15 times every hour !

And another thing regarding time is that I keep my watch behind the actual time. You must have heard people keeping their watches ahead of time so that they don’t get late. But ever heard of anyone keeping it behind time ??? :D

3) I have this thing with animals !

I don’t know how, but I can communicate with most animals. Not verbally though… (If you are trying to imagine me making all sorts of animal sounds :P) But I can read their minds and nature. Something that really helps me to be friends with most animals quite easily.

4) I am bad at making choices !

Not just bad, I’m really lousy at choosing gifts or greeting cards for anyone. I’ve often entered stores to get one of those and took hours in choosing a suitable gift. It even happens if I’m trying to select an e-card online. :P

5) I survive on short-term memory !

I know people won’t believe it, but I’ve seen the biggest of examinations through by studying only the night before. Even those thick and heavy Medicine books have been read (and forgotten… :P) in just a day’s span. Maybe the reason that people at college had this thing going that I use the books as a pillow… :D

That doesn’t mean I’m good at cramming up things. In fact, I’m even worse at mugging up stuff. (A big reason why I shouldn’t be in the Med field as it is like in India… ) But once I remembered the value of ‘pie’ (22/7) to a hundred digits after the decimal both forwards and backwards in no more than fifteen minutes. Though I had already forgotten it by the next morning… :P

Maybe that’s why I can never remember phone numbers or Birthdays. :(

6) Currently my Blood Group is ‘A negative’. It was ‘B positive’ before !!!

Maybe you’ll have a hard time believing this just as I had when I saw my blood group change. But really, before I entered Medical college, my blood group was mentioned as ‘B positive’ wherever required. Surely it must have been investigated before being confirmed.

But when I tested my blood group myself during our Physiology practicals at college, it came out to be ‘A negative’ ! Well, yes, there may have been a mistake. So I got others to check mine too. But in the end it was confirmed to be ‘A’ instead of ‘B’. Strange ??? :D

7) I’m just not into religious rituals, ceremonies or functions !

I’d rather use my time doing something constructive that the Almighty would be happy about than having it one-on-one with him, trying to convince him to get pleased and bless me with what I don’t deserve. For me, belief is more important than praying.

So those were some strange random facts about me. I invite anyone who reads this post to tag herself/himself and let us all know some interesting facts about themselves. :)

Before it gets too late...

2010-03-22T03:09:00.002+05:30

The other day, I saw the movie '2012'. Though its review requires a separate post in itself, I would like to share one scene from the movie which conveys more than just one message.

Here's an old man working in a music troupe on a cruise ship. He hasn't talked to his son ever since the son married a Japanese girl. But now he calls his son after knowing that the world is about to end....

A few messages that this short scene conveys beautifully are....

* Parents always love their children. No matter if they disapprove of certain decisions and pretend to break away, there is always the love....

* Love knows no boundaries. Be it either caste, religion, race or nationality. We ultimately love irrespective of any differences....

* One should not wait to accept and express love. One never knows when it gets a bit too late to do so....

I hope you like the scene. Specially the cute little girl... !

True Lies...

2010-03-20T02:22:00.005+05:30

We all seem to have our moments of madness. And it was in one such moment when I had decided to jump on-board a social networking website. Just as per my personal preference, I don’t really subscribe to the fact that my life is one useless bit if I don’t dedicate a few good hours every day socializing on one or maybe more such networking websites. To cut it short, I have much better ways to get busy rather than ‘scrapping’ people just for nothing.

Does that signify that I’m not social ?

Maybe. I don’t really know. But I’d rather not be social instead of troubling the mind no end by surfing those socializing platforms.

The other day, I was just checking out if I had been ‘scrapped’ too when I committed the big mistake of drifting into the profiles of ‘Friends’, ‘Friends of Friends’, ‘Friends of Friends of Friends’, and so on….

One strange thing that caught my eye was a typical similarity of a part of personal preferences of an average profile. I say average because there is a significant majority of people who are simply nowhere near the likes of a normal person if you are to go by the look of their profiles.

The thing that I picked out was that almost every other female (and even males) had mentioned in their ‘Personal’ section that they hate lies and liars. Some had mentioned liars as one of the turn-offs while others had commented things like “I cannot tolerate lies…”, “I hate liars…”, “I never forgive liars…” and the sorts. Some even added an ‘of course’ to lies and liars while categorizing them in the list of negatives to add a matter-of-factness to the statement.

It really amazes me no end when I realize the number of honest and truthful people we have between us. Of course only honest and truthful people can be turned off by lies and liars…. NO ?

Or does it concern just the lies coming from the other end ? Ohhh… so you mean one can lie himself/herself, but is entitled to hate the other liars out rightly ?? Because if it’s not the case, then what do we really do if not tell a lie when we…

* Tell our brother/sister to tell our friends on phone that we are sick and will not be able to make it…. Just because we don’t feel like going ??? *
* Use the worst possible expletives while on the roads or with friends…. But behave as the most sober persons at formal gatherings ??? *
* Are going out with that ‘someone’ while having a serious ‘affair’…. But telling our parents that we will be busy in classes at the college ??? *

And many more such everyday instances.

So why are people averse to lies and liars ? There are actually some people, who, while being oblivious to their own lies, look at someone else’s lie as an unpardonable offence. Some even decide their preferences in relationships on such ‘offences’. These are the people who cannot take lies….

So do we really need to be so judgmental about lies and liars ? If not, then is hating lies and liars the evergreen ‘fashion statement’ for personal profiles on and offline ?? Something that certifies instant nobleness to one’s personal profile, indirectly suggesting that he or she is not and can never be a liar.

Those agonising 20 minutes...

2010-02-25T01:02:00.003+05:30

It’s been more than six hours, but I still haven’t really got over it…

In fact, just six hours ago, I went through the most agonizing twenty minutes of my life till date.

But it had to happen sooner than later. And ‘he’ finally broke the 200 run barrier !

I was busy diving deep into my books (have an exam coming up on the 28th) when I just checked on the on-field proceedings online. And the next moment I found myself down to the living room, my eyes fixed to the telly.

He was on 190, just four short of the highest ever. And ten short of the unbelievable. And with plenty of overs to spare. This appeared to be a piece of cake.

But MSD has sort of learnt to do things at times when they are least required. And today was no different. When all MSD was being able to manage in many recent outings was nothing more than single digit or barely double digit scores, before lobbing the ball safely to a half-sleeping fielder, today he had decided against the usual form.

He was just hitting balls out of the park and on top of it, making sure that he takes a single on the last delivery each over…

So, during the span of those twenty odd minutes, and about 40 available deliveries, MSD hogged the strike. Until finally, it was left to the last over with still one run to complete the amazing 200 feat. And MSD on strike again to begin with…

But thanks to a desperate and well-timed dive by Hashim Amla on the square leg boundary, they were restricted to a single. The next ball ending the most agonizing twenty minutes or so that my mind can recall.

We read and watch super-humans in comics and movies, but there’s one in real life too.

AND HE IS MY FAVORITE SUPER-HUMAN !

My Name Is KHAN...

2010-02-13T03:47:00.007+05:30

It is now a well known fact that we in India like to mesmerize ourselves with utter non-issues and spend days and weeks at a stretch in awe of them.

The release of ‘MNIK’ (even I’m getting the hang of calling movies by their abbreviations now) in a state of absolute chaos precisely certifies the above statement. The way we let our lives and property be at the mercy of a bunch of goons somewhat indicates our progress as a democratic nation.

Not once did those buffoons think of the nuisance they are creating by protesting against the release of the movie. Though, the only way of protest they ever knew was to break and destruct their own property in their own city. But excuse me. How can they think ?? How can one expect a bunch of empty-headed hooligans to even try to think about anything ??

The truth of the matter is that such goons (or the so-called party workers of any political party or outfit in India) are no more than a group of unemployed, uneducated and probably illiterate people with an added quality of destructive tendency in them, who run amok at the slightest provocation by their moronic leaders trying their best to gain publicity.

I’m extremely extremely glad that a person has shown courage to stand for what is absolutely fair against such creeps. It doesn’t matter if that person happens to be a Shah Rukh Khan. At least he has shown the goons their proper place. SRK has won a lot of admiration in the past few days from me and probably from countless other Indians by the way he has tried to put forward his point.

People question his controversial statement regarding the participation of Pakistan’s cricketers in IPL by saying he himself didn’t opt for any of them for his team KKR. But obviously, while making his bids, SRK, (whose KKR have done terribly in the last two seasons) needed players who not only would perform well but more so would be able to be allowed to perform in the first place.

What if, suppose, he had opted for Abdul Razzaq, only to find out later that Razzaq would not be available because of denial of a visa or an NOC from his cricket board. The decision not to opt for a Pakistani player was obviously made keeping in thought about their chances of availability rather than anything else.

Those moronic right winged fundamentalist political outfits not just in Mumbai, but all over India find it an issue not to have any sporting relations with an enemy country. They are least bothered about the real issues that India faces in everyday life. All that they are concerned about is what actions or words by anyone hurts their (or the nation’s) sentiments or has brought disrespect to all.

I wonder who has given them the abilities to judge what or what not hurts the public sentiments. It is always just a handful of evil political leaders who make statements and provoke the good-for-nothing party workers to let all hell loose on property and life.

I wonder what wrong did SRK do in stating about Pakistan’s cricketers playing in India. He merely said it on their merit as cricketers and not on their nationality. Something which these morons are hell bent to try to prove. And no one has the business to ask him for an apology which he wouldn’t agree to tender too to any hooligans or goon.

And when those head-strong and spineless spokespersons of such political outfits shout on camera with their paid/unpaid hooligans supporting them in the background, we should better show them their real place in the trash cans. Just as SRK did !

And as he says in his one of his recent interviews, let us show them that we are good-thinking bloody Indians. These scoundrels just cannot take us for granted.

WELL DONE KHAN !

You can watch the interview here :

Nuisance Value...

2010-01-29T02:49:00.005+05:30

It was one not so fine a day last week, when I woke up rather early in the morning. Not that I’m any enthusiastic about shunning the warm quilt and rising in the small hours, running joyously around to welcome a fresh day. And that wasn’t any different a day too. But the thing that jolted me out of my deep slumber was some strange noise. For a moment I felt as if I was having a dream (read : nightmare) of being held captive in a cinema hall and being made to watch a song sequence.

But as I rubbed my eyes and got the ragged old wheels of my mind to turn, I realized that it wasn’t a nightmare. It was something real, and much worse.

Once again, after a few weeks, some bright-minded people had put up big loud-speakers about the place which were blowing to the best of their capabilities. Presently playing ‘bhajans’ to some God on the tunes of a cheap item song. I couldn’t remember what the song was like, but recognized the familiar tune.

Having been woken up, after repeated attempts to bury my head deep beneath heaps of pillows, I finally gave up and readied myself for a day full of high decibels of spirituality.

By about 3 pm in the afternoon, the stuff really started to get to my head when some guy (supposedly the one in charge of the sound system) decided that this was his chance to hog all the attention and started shouting on the microphone.

Well, all that he seemed to shout was either a ‘halii’ or a ‘heliou’ instead of a ‘hello’, which made it all the more irritating. So, I set out towards the source of the sound, to give whoever it was, a good piece of my mind.

Here I would like to mention that our house is situated at just a street’s distance from the banks of where the Ganges once used to flow. As the water has moved quite a distance away, the land adjoining the bank has been occupied by numerous temples and ‘ashrams’ which organize some sort of religious functions or the other every few days, and let the neighborhood have a good deal of it.

The present event being no different was a ‘maha-yagya’ of sorts as I could see on big banners as I moved towards the particular ‘ashram’. No sooner had I reached the place when I saw a big crowd entering the premises in the form of a procession with a couple of big luxury cars in the front. No wonder carrying the chief guest who claimed to be some ‘shankaracharya’ from somewhere.

Assessing the lack of any options to get myself to the source of the sound, I was forced to retreat and wait for it all to get over.

After two unbearable noisy days, I finally heard someone announcing the arrival of the Divisional Commissioner himself to grace the occasion. I felt a big relief on the prospects of it all coming to a much needed end.

The commissioner came, gave a speech and left, not once giving a look to the numerous big-sized loud-speakers hooked on to every nook and corner which were performing at their best. I am quite sure he didn’t because the noise continued with some increased whim after he left. A particular person was sporty enough to request the organizers to plant a couple of big-sized loud-speakers right on the roof of his house…

And that was when I lost it. It was already dark when I reached the spot. The ‘pandal’ was absolutely empty, with an assortment of pictures of gods and goddesses exhibited on a podium, and with the sound system blaring at full volume with no one at the controls. I saw a guy approaching who pretty much looked like one of the organizers what with a bearded face, a ‘tilak’ on the forehead, dressed in a pair of jeans and pullover and with a small bag in his hand.

He mistook me as one who had got late in ‘paying’ (no pun intended) my dues to the gods and hurried towards me to get the work done. And that was when I let it all loose on him. The blaring loud-speakers which made me shout at the loudest made me all the more heated up to let him have it in no uncertain terms.

He : Yes ??

Me : I want to get this shut. RIGHT NOW !!!

He : Why ? (he actually had the nerve to ask me…)

I don’t quite remember what I replied to that, but I shouted without a stop for the next five minutes.

I then gave him an option to either go and get the sound-man immediately and stop the nonsense or otherwise, he’ll be a sound-system short.

I don’t really know what made him decide to go and fetch the guy, whom I saw coming ever so nonchalantly, until he saw the look on my face and hurried a bit. But to my relief, he quickly stopped the system. That was peace for the rest of the night.

Though they were at it again the next foggy morning. But by now they had cleverly turned the loud-speakers to a different direction (towards the city zoo which is in our area too. I really pity the poor animals) so that I wouldn’t bother them again. This nuisance continued for the major part of eight days, making life hell for whoever came in line of the high volume of the loud-speakers.

It just goes to show how people misuse religion in our country and can get away with murder in the name of religion. (they actually do…) I had a good mind to report them to the police station. But seeing that they had the patronage of the commissioner himself, I felt it would all be of no use.

I would like to inform everyone reading this that there is a particular ‘Public Nuisance Act’ through which you can complain about any such nonsense that troubles you and others, specially in the name of religion. (IPC Public Nuisance sections 268-295)

In these months when kids and students are ever so busy preparing for their examinations, it is all the more important that we put our foot down on such stupidity. There are old and ill people in neighborhoods, schools and offices that need a certain degree of quietness to function. We, as responsible citizens need to raise a voice against such acts of public nuisance that affects the lives of one and all, and not sit back and tolerate it all in the name of religion.

Visit to a Test Match...

2010-01-20T23:09:00.003+05:30

I did it again !!!

For the second time in my life, I went to see a cricket match. It’s not that I haven’t been to any more cricket matches before. In fact, I have rarely missed any being played in my city. But here I’m talking about going to watch a cricket match all alone. And that too, a ‘Test Match’.

Yes. In these times of T-20s and T-10s, when some people are even bored enough of spending a full day watching a ‘One-day Match’, it is highly unlikely that any normal person would so much as even think of going to watch a Test Match. And if there is lack of company, it would be all the more un-imaginable for a normal person.

But here I’m not referring to any normal persons. I’m talking about myself…

The opponents being Sri Lanka didn’t help any bit to make the prospects much exciting. But for me, there is something more, much beyond mere excitement about watching a cricket match live.

I had already made up my mind to watch the match as this would probably be the last opportunity in my life to watch two of my favorite cricketers in action in my city. And that was reason enough for me to ignore anyone who’d suggest that such a plan wasn’t worth it.

I still hadn’t bought the ticket till the eve of the match due to two of my friends who still weren’t sure if they would be able to make it. As it was mid-exam-time for bro, he had already been excluded from the scheme of things. Somehow, I managed to agree to one of my friend at his suggestion to wait for the first day to see how the match progresses. According to my friend, it wouldn’t be too clever to go and watch the Sri Lankans bat all through the first day if they decided to do so, considering Team India’s bowling form. This seemed a bit sensible and so I decided to wait, hoping that India doesn’t bat first.

But keeping up with my luck as ever, I was greeted with the news of Team India winning the toss and electing to bat, first thing in the morning.

I spent the rest of the day praying for Sehwag’s form so that he continues to bat and India doesn’t loose any wickets. I just couldn’t afford them losing any more than one wicket for the day. But by the evening when I was returning home after getting the ticket, I got the news that India were two down. That sent my heart sinking. What if ‘HE’ gets out before day two even starts….

But thankfully, for once, just once, my luck stood its ground. SACHIN TENDULKAR and RAHUL DRAVID were still not out overnight. At last, I would have my wish.

I reached the venue well before time and was pleasantly surprised when I could actually get so close to the ground while still driving and not being stopped some ten kilometers or so as usually happened in the past. I parked the car and moved on as more and more people poured in from all directions. But today, something was strange. And it took me a short while to understand what it was. The ever so aggressive police men who were all around the ground like ants around a box of sweets, didn’t actually look their usual aggressive self. There was a strange laid-back attitude I could observe in them.

And then I remembered the news in the morning’s newspapers about how an IG of police had thrashed a cricket fan who managed to get close enough to Sachin to shake his hands while on practice the earlier day. It would have been a trivial and very normal incident had it not got some media attention. But it did. More so, because the fan at the receiving end was none other than one Sudhir Kumar who has now become a sort of mascot for the Indian cricket team. The guy who, you can easily spot during India's matches with his face painted in Indian tricolor and Tendulkar painted on his back, with the map of India on his head.

And this piece of news getting to Sachin’s ears didn’t help much for the police. Much to their embarrassment, the top officers of the police force were confronted by Sachin accompanied by Sehwag who wanted strict action to be taken against the guilty official. The officers tried to make excuses but were left ashen-faced when Sachin demanded for an identification parade to be held if they couldn’t find the culprit. This resulted in not only Sudhir getting free VIP access to all parts of the ground but also a lot of respite for other cricket fans who otherwise had to face the wrath of the police just for nothing.

This was just a part of what makes Sachin so different from any other celebrity.

I had taken my seat in the new stand which was still only about twenty percent occupied. The two teams were already on the ground practicing various skills with their respective coaches. I could make out that the members of Team India appeared more relaxed as they jogged around while throwing a ball or two. On the other hand, the Sri Lankans were busy in a tough practice routine. Though I could make out most of the Indian cricketers, I still couldn’t find the two I was looking for.

And just then I looked to my left near the pavilion end where two batsmen were busy hitting balls in the nets. Usually, when the batsmen practice their batting in the nets, there are numerous kids who are from the various training sports hostels who run around picking up the balls and throw them back to the bowler. But here were two cricketers who, in spite of being the biggest of icons, were humble enough to pick up the balls near them and hand them over to the little kids without a hint of arrogance. Something that is usually found lacking in the new and young players.

Watching them go about their business with sheer dedication was really inspiring !

During the next half hour, I realized once again as I have often realized in the past, that what a difficult task is it to play for one’s country in front of thousands of shouting people. Specially when few of those people are as uncivilized as one can be. I could see a group of men shouting profanities at not only the opponent team, but also members of their own team who passed by after completing their practice session. It surely must feel like a performing cage for the players with such people getting on their nerves. It is more than enough if they can so much as ignore such a crowd and still get on with their game.

At last, it was time for the day’s play to begin. Something I was really waiting for. And the reception to which Sachin stepped on to the field was to be seen to be believed. By now most of the stand was occupied. Mostly by highly placed Government officials and their families for whom it is a status symbol to go and watch a cricket match without having to buy their tickets. In fact, these days people seem to have an attitude for getting free ‘passes’ to watch the match which signifies their so called high contacts. As if they are doing a favor to the players by coming and watching the game.

The match had started and the crowd in our stand got a bit animated when the Team India fan Sudhir was joined by a certain ‘Chacha Hindustani’ who is gaining fame as well during India’s matches. Amidst all the action, there were the odd derogatory shouts for the Sri Lankan players who would be fielding near the stand. This, in spite of repeated announcements and even numerous written warnings that no sort of racial comments would be tolerated towards any person during the match.

And we cry foul at the racial abuse Indians face in places like Australia…

Meanwhile Rahul Dravid completed another century in his already long list of centuries, much to my own pleasure. I really can’t understand what our problem is. Here is one player who has been performing consistently all through his cricketing career but people just don’t seem to let him be in peace. The stupid selectors finished off his One-Day career sighting his age being the factor. But why can’t they replace him in the Test team ?? Because they know they cannot.

Hats off to one of the most dedicated, disciplined and talented cricketers we have seen in our lives.

Before things got much settled, Sachin lofted one and was walking back to the pavilion much to everyone’s shock and disappointment. But here is one person who gets an equal applause when he departs as when he enters.

By lunch time, the Indian dressing room had more batsmen who had been dismissed than those who weren’t just as our stand had more of those pot-bellied and balding police men seated comfortably munching away at their free lunch packs than the real, cricket-loving crowd.

The rest of the day was mostly uneventful, what with the Indian batting line-up being cleaned up pretty quick and the Lankans getting a solid start after a first-ball hiccup. Well, a large group of young boys did make things somewhat ugly for the people in our stand during the second half. But I guess we in India have become used to tolerating all sorts of nuisance makers in our daily lives.

I returned to the parking area only to find a flat tyre on my car. But I was pretty content with the achievement of watching two of my most favorite icons in action which has always been a great inspiration for me. I, for one, do not go to watch a match just to shout and have a blast. It’s just my way of getting some good inspiration for myself.

******* I had written this post more than a month ago but couldn't manage to get enough time to post it here. *******

Escape to Love...

2009-12-31T23:33:00.009+05:30

Having been extremely busy with stuff, I haven’t been able to post anything here of late. To finish off an eventful year, I’m posting a story which I wrote for Avada Kedavra as a guest post on her blog. I’ll be back with lots more in the new year soon.

******************************************************************************

She felt weak in her knees as she hopped down on to the platform.

She didn’t know if it was due to the exhaustion of the tiring journey or due to the biggest step she had ever taken in her life. But either of the reasons didn’t really matter now. Here she was. All alone, in an entirely unknown city.

She looked left, then to the right. No sign of him. “He must be there somewhere, checking every coach for me.” She thought. She hadn’t had a chance to tell him the coach number.

She saw an empty bench ahead. “I better wait for him here.” She sat there with her bag clutched in her lap.

There was life all around. Families getting off the train with loads of baggage. Porters running along in search of prospective customers. The vendors shouting at the top of their voices while doing brisk business. She tried her best to divert her attention to those little details of people’s lives. But at every next minute, she would involuntarily look around in search of him.

Amidst all the noises, she found her mind recollecting the events of the day.

It was early morning, when her dad had announced that the prospective groom and his family would be arriving in two days. And that was when she had lost it. She had announced her disapproval about the idea in no uncertain terms. And her dad had shouted at her. And she had shouted back at him. For the first time in life… !

And then she had rushed in to gather her belongings. She couldn’t breathe anymore in that cage. She shoved her things in the bag even as her mom continued to let her have more than just a piece of her mind.

She had decided. She was leaving. She wanted to be with HIM. HE was her life now.

She had tried to call him. But couldn’t get through. So she messaged him to let him know that she had left all for him. And that she would be arriving by the evening express. She got herself an un-reserved ticket with whatever little money she had saved. And she boarded the train. She was free. She was finally going to be with him.

A slight chill in the air shook her back into the present. The sun had almost gone down, letting the darkness take charge of things. But he still wasn’t there…

She felt her throat go dry. She quickly took a couple of gulps from the bottle she had bought. She felt better. But still…

It was almost an hour since she had de-boarded. Why wasn’t he here ? Did he get her message ? She took out her mobile phone. She hadn’t even got a chance to recharge the battery before leaving. The screen was blank. She switched it on. It showed some signs of life. Suddenly it blinked twice. “LOW BATTERY.” And it went dead again.

She saw a pay-phone on the side of the coffee shop. She went up to it, dropped in a coin and called his number. “NOT REACHABLE !”

She tried again. And again. And again. But without any luck.

She was starting to panic. Here she was, all by herself, in a completely new city. She didn’t know a soul. Except him. She didn’t know where to go. And she didn’t even have enough money.

She took out her purse and counted. She hadn’t eaten anything all day. Would that much be sufficient to buy her a meal ? If it was, then what after the meal ? Or should she skip the meal and buy a ticket back to home ?

HOME ?? What home ?? She had left home for good. There was no one to receive her back. Even if they were, did she have the courage to return ? She had argued… shouted… and vowed never to return. Could she face them now ?

And suddenly she felt her heart sinking…

She slowly went back to the bench and sat. What were the options for her now ? Were there any ?

“Why isn’t he here yet ? He’d surely have got my message. He always does. Ohhh… Why did I leave ? Why didn’t I think ? Did I act too hastily ?” That was all she could think of. Her heart sinking deeper with each passing second. Her mind was inching closer to the extreme decision. Her eyes brimming with tears.

He smiled as he looked at her from behind the pillar, still trying to catch his breath. Running the length of the long railway platform coupled with the immense anxiety about her had almost left him breathless. And then he slowly moved towards her.

He stood there, quietly, in front of her, while she looked down at the floor, almost numb with hopelessness.

“Hi.”

Startled, she looked up. And there he was, smiling at her.

She suddenly felt extreme emotions ready to explode inside her. Nothing could match the sense of relief she felt. But the raging anger felt matchless too. She loved him all the more now. But she also hated him with all she had. She wanted to run into his arms. And she wanted to kill him.

But all she could manage to do was to stand up and say, “Where were you ??”

“Sorry. Late as usual. You know I can never get my things ready in quick time…” He replied, still short of breath.

“Things ? What’s in that bag ? Where are you going ?” She was puzzled.

“WE are going back. To your place. I have to ask your dad for you. I don’t want him shouting later that I stole you.” He grinned.

“He won’t let you…”

“Then we’ll run away together. That’s why the bag…” He laughed.

She couldn’t keep herself from folding into his arms. Finally, she let go of the tears as well.

“I’m hungry…” She said.

******************************************************************************

Wishing you all a very HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

Unacceptable Love...

2009-12-01T04:08:00.004+05:30

Almost all of us, at some point of time or the other, have been witness to couples (lovers) being separated instead of letting them marry and live peacefully ever after.

Reasons ? Differences in caste or religion or nationality or even financial status.

But whatever the reason may be, we see it happening day in and day out. And eventually, the helpless lovers give in and marry as and where they are demanded to.

It was only the other day when I came to realize the real reason of such incidents happening with an amazing frequency in India. I was talking to a close friend, discussing about his plans for his marriage.

As usual, his is an inter-caste case. So, obviously, not much help with starting things (if you are in India !). The girl’s family is not too pleased about it all. In fact, there has been an un-official refusal made already. So, while discussing about the available options, he informed me about the case of the girl’s elder sister, who had already experienced a forcefully broken relationship.

“Inter-caste too ??” I asked him.

“No.” He replied.

“Inter-religion ??” I asked again.

“No.” He replied again. “Same caste and religion.”

“What do you mean ?? Was the guy a criminal or something ??” I asked back.

“No. He was a well settled doctor.” He replied back.

And thus, it dawned on me that the reason for the family’s disapproval of the match was that the girl knew the boy before marriage. And that couldn’t be allowed.

CAN YOU BEAT THAT ???!!!

Yes ! That is exactly the reason why us Indians are never comfortable with love marriages. We make all sorts of excuses. We so confidently claim that arranged marriages are always more successful than love marriages. That a person can never adjust to the lifestyle of a family of a different community. That there is nothing called love that’ll last a lifetime. And a pile of such age-old arguments.

But the bitter reality is that whatever excuses we make, it is actually the idea of love that we cannot accept. We just cannot see two people who are happy being with each other. Instead of being content with our own happiness, we are troubled to see others happy. Even if the others are our own children.

Take for example, the recent cases in Haryana. A whole village made life hell for a couple who fell in love and wanted to marry each other. Reason ?? They belonged to the same ‘gotra’… (whatever that is supposed to be)

So that means, they won’t take people marrying out of their community. And neither would they allow people marrying in their own community. But don’t you get it ?? Actually, they wouldn’t tolerate a love marriage.

But why this intolerance ?? Is it merely an intolerance or is it in fact, a sort of payback ??

People who fall in love, but give in to the demands of their parents, family or community, wouldn’t often tolerate their next generation trying something similar. If they couldn’t have their way, how can the kids have theirs… ?? What they went through in their times, has to be paid back.

For instance, in the above case, the parents didn’t want their daughter to marry someone she already knew. But they wanted to marry her off to some unknown guy who, only God knew, would turn out to be what. They would rather take the risk of marrying their daughter to a possible wife-beater instead of letting her marry a decent guy she already knew. It would just be the girl’s luck if the guy turns out to be nice. If not…

In other words, if the mom found things out the hard way, why shouldn’t her daughter too ?? Is that the question they are trying to ask ??

And such a thing is not just limited to the un-educated population. Education has nothing to do with the mindset of the individual these days. I know well about a very senior doctor who is the head of his department in a reputed medical institute, who is making life hell for one of his residents just for the reason that this resident married a girl he loved out of his community. (the biggest irony is that this senior doc married his wife in just the same manner when he was a resident himself !)

We call ourselves the largest democracy in the world and take pride in it too. But do we let it out to the world about the type of sadists that we are ?? That we don’t even spare the happiness of our own kids… We don’t have the guts to love and then face the world. But we revel in targeting anyone who dares to.

Why can’t we just mind our own businesses ?? Why can’t we feel happy if our children are happy ?? Why can’t we just simply accept love ???

Strawberry Crush...

2009-11-30T04:01:00.006+05:30

He was still in a trance when the missile hit him. The small, white cylinder got him somewhere around the right pectoral. The impact was enough to jolt him back to the real world. In the next couple of seconds, his mind raced quickly enough to evaluate the summary of what was happening while he was away. The results were quite startling.

Professor Mr. D was the source of the piece of chalk that was sent flying across the hall towards him. And Mr. D was now practicing the dreaded stare he was famous for. It was the conditioned reflex that instantly told him to stand up. Mr. D’s eyes seem to see right through him coming from behind those thick glassed spectacles.

“I’m sorry to have disturbed your visit to dreamland.” The tone was sarcastic. “Should we expect an answer from you ? I guess we aren’t fortunate enough. Well, it would be just as fine if you could repeat my question.”

Darn. Had Mr. D caught him ??? Did she know he was looking at her ??? She’d surely know now… How could he be so careless ??? What to do now ??? What was the stupid question Mr. D had asked ???

There were whispers from the immediate neighborhood. Most probably suggesting the answer. Not the answer but the question. In fact, the answer to Mr. D’s question. But he didn’t seem to grasp anything. His mind seemed to refuse to do so. Bonny from the back seat even said it loud enough for Mr. D to hear. But panic didn’t allow his mind to work.

This sudden activity startled her a bit too. Though she was constantly feeling uneasy about something. What was it ? Maybe the sixth sense which was perceiving the stare of a pair of eyes. But she daren’t look. How could she, sitting in the first row of the class.

And she was trying her best not to look there, even now. She was just listening to voices. Voices, which tried to make a picture of things in her mind.

“I think you need some fresh air. Better if you go get some outside.” Mr. D’s voice boomed. And that was that. There was no other option left, but to comply with the suggestion. But now was the most difficult part of it all. He would have to walk across the room. Right in front of her. Darn. Better to get it over with as quickly as possible, he thought.

He gathered his belongings, and walked up towards the front. Even approaching Mr. D in one of his bad moods didn’t seem as tough a task. His mind was just concentrating on the front bench. The silence was deafening.

She couldn’t look up. Or at anyone else. She just glued her eyes into her notebook. But her eyes couldn’t read. The letters seemed to be some haphazard design in ink. All she could sense was him walking past her. But she didn’t look up.

At last, he was out of the hall. Somewhat a with a sense of relief which a ringmaster would have experienced after coming out of the ring, completing the dares with a pair of newly recruited lions. But still, he wanted to kick himself. How could he act so stupid ? Why on earth did he have to look at her ? Why ?

He was still sulking when he seated himself on an empty bench in the shade. And it all came flashing back in his mind for the hundred and sixtieth time in two days. Just two days ago, the past weekend, there he was, outside the lecture-theatre-complex, waiting for the doors to be open so that he may peacefully complete the mid-afternoon nap that was so mercilessly broken by the odd hourly class. He restlessly looked around as people were busy chatting with their friends.

And that was when, suddenly, out of nowhere, without warning, their eyes had met…

It couldn’t have been much longer than two seconds. There wasn’t a smile, nor a frown. Just two expressionless faces staring into each other’s eyes. Those two seconds seemed longer than eternity. And suddenly, back to reality.

And that was the beginning of the strange uneasiness…

(to be continued.......)

A K9 Concern...

2009-10-22T07:32:00.004+05:30

Yesterday I visited one of my school friend’s house, who was home for the Diwali holidays.

It’s been more than two years since I last visited her place as she has been working out of town for long now. But I did remember about meeting her pets on my last visit. So I was expecting a noisy welcome this time too.

As we entered the gate, and moved along the side of the cars parked in the passage-way, I noticed Archie standing and looking at us from the far end. For the information, Archie is her little dog who is somewhere mid way between a ‘Blood hound’ and a ‘Basset hound’. I wonder if we have any ‘Basset hounds’ in India. If not, then he is a ‘Blood hound’.

To describe him, he’s a little K9, not much higher than a 'Pomeranian', with large black ear flaps hanging on both the sides. He is white, with patches of black all over. One of those dogs who are full of hair.

As I approached him, I was pretty surprised at the amount of soberness he was showing towards a stranger. Before long, he started walking towards me too. But as we came close to each other, I could sense something strange about his manner. He just sniffed and after deciding that nothing was abnormal and worth creating a ruckus about, he turned back and walked away. Something highly in contrast to his manner when we had last met.

When we had seated ourselves in the drawing-room, and he having placed himself quietly at my friend’s feet, I couldn’t help but ask her about the reason of Archie’s quiet behavior.

To which I was shockingly informed that he being old now (ten years is too old an age for such dogs) had developed cataract in both the eyes. Because of which, his eye-sight had almost gone down to level zero. No wonder I couldn’t find the sparkle in his eyes this time.

Remembering about the active and lively self that he was at the last time we had met, I felt really sorry for the poor pet.

My friend told us how they had consulted the top ophthalmologists of the city for Archie’s problem, but everyone declared their inability to help in his treatment. While we chatted, he quietly changed positions around the room to rest without disturbing us even a bit. Something I constantly felt uneasy about all the time.

When we got up to leave, he did arise from his nap to see us off, which must have been a reflex for him all his life. And as he came near me, he couldn’t stop bumping his nose against my leg, which clearly indicated that he wasn’t being able to even make out objects in front of him.

I wonder why there are no specialist veterinary ophthalmologists who in my city who could treat the poor pet and get him going as he was some time ago. I really wished then that I was a ‘vet’. Then I could at least have helped those wonderful living beings who cannot speak, but still make our lives so beautiful.

If any of you reading this bit does know about any veterinary ophthalmologist in India who could treat Archie, please inform through this blog or at my email, so that something can be done.

And I wish everyone should consider their pets as one of their family members (which they obviously are) and take good care of them like this as they would of a family member.

Elopement...

2009-10-15T03:57:00.008+05:30

Ok. So, I’m back !

Back after a rather adventurous fortnight of my life. Being somewhat in the thick of things, I couldn’t really get time to post about my exciting life lately.

Ok. So as you must be knowing by now that I got involved into helping my friend elope and marry. It being the usual ‘inter-religion’ case, things weren’t easy at all. So, desperate measures were required.

But rather than the usual ‘elope and marry’ thing, it became a sort of ‘marry and elope’ scenario. Well, if you are failing to grasp the plot, I’ll just elaborate it for you.

As mentioned in my last post ‘Right or Wrong...’, I was on my way to get my friend married to the girl of his choice. Though both their families were well informed of their choice, neither was ready to accept it. (Isn’t it ironical that people who carry on an affair behind their parents’ back are always considered the obedient son/daughter by them. But if they are honest enough to confess their choice, they at once become the spoilt and disobedient child…)

So, they eventually got married. It was decided after the ceremony was over that neither would inform their family and they would keep it a hush-hush affair till their parents see some sense and they could manage to persuade their parents to accept their choice in due course of time.

But as usual, there are always people around who cannot do without getting some ‘excitement’ into other people’s lives. And it so happened that within the very first week, both the families got the news of their lives. (Well, surely not everyone does get the ‘news’ of their child getting married…)

As almost always happens in such cases, the scenario regarding the girl’s family is usually the more delicate one. And it just sounded like a co-incidence to me when their arose an emergency of sorts in the girl’s home which resulted in her arriving in some panic.

If I have not mentioned it earlier, I should tell you that the girl is from my own city living not more than five minute’s drive from my house. (And her dad’s office is just two houses down my own street…!)

So, I received the couple when they arrived at the station. I dropped the girl some distance from her house to avoid her being seen by someone which could result in some unpleasant consequences. We (my friend and I) were driving to my home when she called to inform that there really was no emergency. It was a trick to call her home and look into matters (which I was sure wasn’t going to be something pleasant…)

While my friend continued to try to get to talk to her on the phone (there appeared to be quite a commotion on the other end between her and her mom as I could hear), I decided that certain drastic measures were needed to be taken in the situation. We had already entered the street to her house when I heard her mom shouting into a phone for her dad to return home immediately. Which meant, he had no clue about the proceedings by then. But the return of her dad would make sure that things would get highly complicated. I had already heard about the shortness of her dad’s temper before.

So, I quickly and strategically parked my car into a by-lane very near to her house while my friend suggested her to come out of the house as quickly as she could. Now, when I say suggested, it was more of a mix of panic and desperation. But it surely was effective.

We were rapidly losing precious time, as it wouldn’t be much more than a matter of five minutes before her dad would be driving in, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Well, we didn’t get to see if actually he did so because before long, she could ‘escape’ out and made her way towards us. I was ready with the door open and she had hardly got inside, when I told her to lie down on the back seat.

And we drove off….

I still wonder about the number of seconds by which we gave her dad the slip. But yes, I had to drive around town (with her still lying on the back-seat) into clever short cuts and by-lanes to avoid barging into her dad or someone even remotely known.

I have always believed that the best place for any criminal to hide after committing a crime is the police station. That is the last place where anyone would go searching. And so, I got them to my home, knowing that her dad’s office was barely a few steps away. But as I said, he would never come searching for her anywhere near his own office. Though I had to use a back-lane to get to my own house, but that was worth it.

We waited until it was dark and then I got them bundled onto a bus headed out of town to escape being pulled up by any acquaintance. So it became a case of ‘marry and elope’…

It has been many days since, and they have returned and resumed their work. The families, though still sulking, are somewhat recovering from the shock. But we all are positive that they will manage to please their families in due course of time.

As for me, I’m rather satisfied to have been of help in preventing at least two lives getting spoilt for good.

And also that I got sufficient practice at driving off with a girl in the back of my car… I don’t know yet if I’ll require that for myself too.

But, who knows… :p

Right or Wrong...

2009-09-29T19:53:00.010+05:30

Lately, I have been pre-occupied with matters of life and death. Not exactly mine, but of someone extremely close to me. If you have read my earlier post about ‘Being an Indian Girl…’, you would very well know what I’m talking about.

Ok, so there’s this case of a young couple who are in love and are facing some pretty bad opposition from their families in order to end it all. But thankfully, due to the prevailing of some better sense (and some serious efforts in persuasion from yours truly), they finally decided to marry.

So, just the other day, I suddenly got a call that all was decided and they would be marrying in the quick way which such couples usually have to resort to ultimately. As I was needed as a witness, I had to leave immediately for the destination.

Since all this was a hush-hush affair, there wasn’t anyone else who would be there to give some much needed confidence and support to the marrying couple. Not even our other friends. So, I decided to hook along one of our close friends who was visiting his family during the Puja holidays.

All I told him over the phone was that we were going to attend a wedding. Whose, I did not tell. I promised to let the secret out once we met at the bus station.

I found him inspecting the vacant seats of a bus when I reached there. As he caught sight of me, he gave me that look which said, “You have some explaining to do… and pretty fast”. I smiled and suggested that we find seats for ourselves first.

We had hardly been seated when he threw the flood of question at me. I had to break this slowly to him, for I knew about his history of being really bad at taking surprises. More so, this would be surely a shock rather than a surprise.

But experience isn’t everything. Because, hardly had I revealed the name of our mutual friend (who was getting married), his eyes bulged out of their sockets and he jumped almost bumping his head on the luggage rack above his seat. A classic example of watching someone jump even while he is seated…

After a few minutes, when things had probably started to sink in, and also the bus had started moving, did I see him coming back to life once again. The following is the conversation we had between us after that.

______________________________

Me : So…. ??

Friend : This is not right !

Me : What is not right ?

Friend : They shouldn’t marry like this…

Me : But there’s no other option…

Friend : How will their parents feel…

Me : They’ll feel bad. Obviously.

Friend : They should think of their parents who’ve done so much for them all these years…

Me : Hmmm…

Silence…….

Friend : They should have thought about all the problems before starting their relationship…

Me : When love strikes, the brain is always in deep slumber. Love is not a decision. You cannot decide emotions.

I just remembered my earlier post ‘Decision or Emotion…’

Friend : How can they just forget about their parents… ??

Me : Who said they are forgetting their parents ? Or they would forget after marrying ? Why is it that everything that they’ve done for their parents is calculated on the basis of this one decision… ?? Would everything they’ve done for their parents get wiped off just by their decision to marry… ??

Friend : I mean why can’t they think of what their parents wish for them.

Me : Isn’t their wish in this matter unreasonable ?

Friend : Why ??

Me : What’s the shortcoming in the boy or the girl ? Just that they were born in different communities ?

Friend : Still. They are trying to make their lives at the expense of their parents.

Me : How do you mean ?

Friend : Their parents have to live in this society.

Me : Yes. So… ?

Friend : They have to be answerable to the society.

My hand twitched to hit something in a fit of irritation….

Friend : It will be a difficult life for their parents.

Me : Leaving this case aside, have you ever seen anyone from the caste/community come forward to help one of their own in times of any difficulty ? But yes, they’ll be right there to criticize once a person does something off track.

Friend : Still…

Me : Still what… ? Tell me. Is pleasing one’s own community more important than the happiness of one’s children ?? That community which gives a damn to everything once the wedding dinner gets over….

Silence…….

Friend : Have their parents done all that they have done to deserve this ?

Me : Deserve what ? If they both give the utmost care and respect to their own and each other’s parents after their marriage, is that a raw deal ?

Friend : And how long have they known each other ?

Me : A little over three months.

Friend : How can they expect to know each other so well in such a short time that they expect everything to go nicely ?

Me : Hadn’t A****** (another mutual friend of ours) met his wife just for an hour and decided to marry her. Is it valid just because theirs was an arranged meeting through their parents ? In most arranged marriages still, most couples meet each other for a few hours once or twice. How then, is that considered to be a good prognosis for a happy married life ?

Friend : Still how can they put their lives in each other’s hands… ? Parents know best as they are experienced.

I thought of reminding him that he hadn’t known the driver of our bus well enough too before putting his life in his hands. The way these drivers drive these days, it’s really like putting our lives in their hands. But I decided against telling him this.

Me : Usually parents look for a decent reputed family, financial stat…

He chipped in…

Friend : Yes. A reputed family background. That’s not a wrong criteria to look for.

Me : Agreed. But does a reputed family background guarantee a boy or a girl with a good moral character ?

And I named a few such examples from good families whom we had seen and experienced in college.

Friend : In an arranged marriage it is not just the couple but the bonding of two families…

Me : So, is that bonding between two families more important even if the couple are not a good match and are not happy being together... ?? And if the couple themselves cannot bond, how can you expect the families to bond... ??

Friend : Do you mean to say arranged marriages are wrong ?

Me : No. In fact they are the best possible option for certain people. I’ll tell you which people. They are the best for people who have never loved. Those who are happy to live with a person who has been searched according to the criteria they and their family have. Those who want a simple life with a partner who can manage the aspects of married life according to their own and their family’s needs in life.

Friend : So ?? Aren’t arranged marriages more successful ?

Me : If you consider success by two people living together just because they are wedlocked, then I don’t agree. There are so many examples where the couple can’t stand the sight of each other. But are still together. Either for the sake of family or for the sake of their children. You can call that a successful marriage. But I won’t. But then again, there are numerous examples of successful arranged marriages too. But it’s absolutely wrong to arrange a marriage elsewhere for someone who is already in love with another person.

Friend : They are resisting their family’s wish to get married elsewhere. I know its difficult. But after marriage, everything becomes fine. Everyone forgets and moves on in life.

Me : How do you know… ??

Friend : Why ?? Isn’t A*** (another mutual friend) happy ? He got married as per his parent’s wishes. He forgot his love.

Me : Hmmm… It may be possible for boys to forget and ‘move on’. But I guess it’s not so with girls. And I have ample proof to support my statement which unfortunately I cannot divulge. It’s easier for boys more so because they have the upper hand in a marriage.

Friend : Huh…

Me : And by any chance, a guy gets to know that his wife had an affair before marriage, which most often he does, then life’s nothing short of hell for that girl. Is it right to ruin the life of one’s own daughter just for some false honor… ??

Friend : Hmmm…

Silence…….

Friend : But if I were in a similar case, I wouldn’t have done this…

Me : That’s why you are not in a similar case…

Friend : I would never approve of my children marrying into another community…

Me : Well, I hope such a situation never arises. But I know you’ll love your children more than anything else.

Friend : You may say what you like. But caste/religion/community does matter.

I wished to ask him if he knew what caste or religion or community was the vendor in the bus from whom he had purchased the bottle of cold-drink earlier which he was busy sipping now.

Me : I know parents do all they can for the good of their children. And also that children do all they can for their parents. But they should be allowed to take this one decision of their life.

Me : They are making a difference. And I’m with them in this. That’s how some stupid mindsets would eventually be eradicated from our country.

Me : And you are with us too in this. Aren’t you ??

I smiled....

Friend : Hmmm… Yes. I am. Why do you think I’m accompanying you…

My smile broadening….

Friend : But…

Me : It’s not wrong… !

My First Awards...

2009-09-28T14:56:00.004+05:30

Over the past few days, I received three awards from fellow bloggers. Considering that I’ve been into blogging for just about over three months, these awards have left me simply overjoyed.

Kaddu was the first to award me the ‘timeless friendship’ award. It was obvious that my very first award came from her as she was the one who motivated me to start blogging in the first place.

(Timeless Friendship Award from Kaddu)

Thanks a lot Kaddu…

I received the next two awards from Avada Kedavra who has been supporting my posts with really nice comments.

(Blog Buddy Award from Avada Kedavra)

It feels really nice to know that people actually like to read whatever my blog has to offer.

(I Love Your Blog Award from Avada Kedavra)

Thanks a million dear, for appreciating my blog.

These awards will surely inspire me to write more frequently about all the varied thoughts that fly around in my mind all the time. :D

Architects of our future...

2009-09-05T18:10:00.002+05:30

It is the 5th of September once again. The day, which is dedicated to teachers in India. In other words, the day when India celebrates ‘Teacher’s Day’.

I remember the enthusiasm for this day right since the time we were in school. It was a much anticipated occasion. We would have the classes being off for the day. The school hours on the day would be used up in decorations and wishing all our teachers a happy teacher’s day. And then we would have our school’s annual music & dance competition.

But the real relevance of the day, (which, I guess we didn’t use to realize back then) was to make the students remember about the respect they should have for their teachers. For us, (mostly) the event used to be just another school function.

One thing that makes me ponder is, does a teacher really need to teach a student in class to command his or her respect ? Or for that matter, do all teachers who teach us in class are entitled to respect by default ?

I remember that back in our school days, people were asked about the significance of ‘Teacher’s Day’ in India. Failing to reply to this question (in other words, not knowing much about Dr. S. Radhakrishnan) would result in a simple opinion that the person didn’t really respect his or her teachers.

But one thing that always irked me was how people would be so respectful to the teachers on one hand while calling them by their ‘pet names’ behind their backs. (and those ‘pet names’ are not always cute, obviously) After all these years, it actually amazes me how I never ever referred to any teacher (irrespective of my dislike for some) by their ‘pet name’. Maybe because I was myself from a family of teachers, including both my parents and my Grandfather (Mom’s Dad). I don’t really know. But it never would come to my mind while even talking to my closest of friends.

It is a fact that all teachers can never be the same. Not every teacher is ideal. Most of them impart academic knowledge to the students. Only a few really ‘teach’. Obviously, those few command special respect from their students. But the others deserve their share of respect too.

But as teachers are humans too, there is always the presence of favoritism. It is surely not something new. As very well exemplified in ‘The Mahabharata’, how Drona demanded for his ‘guru dakshina’ from Eklavya in the form of his thumb. Drona was afraid that Eklavya would become an even better archer than his favorite student Arjun, and thus demanded the sacrifice. Amazingly enough, Eklavya sacrificed his thumb happily even though he had never been taught by Drona in person. He had simply been practicing with Drona’s statue being a symbolic guru. He very happily paid for his guru’s demand. But, ‘guru dakshina’ or respect can never be demanded. It is always commanded.

I always hear that it is our country’s tradition to respect all our teachers. I agree to that completely. But would it be right to respect someone who doesn’t fit anywhere in the definition of being a teacher ? I’m forced to ask this question to myself as I remember a few examples of people being a blot on the name of teachers. (a certain male teacher in my school who was a total creep. >-( )

Shoving all such examples apart, teachers deserve our respect. But it shouldn’t be confined to just a single day of the year. Do we love our mothers just on ‘Mother’s Day’ ? Or our Dads just on ‘Father’s Day’ ? So, why do we remember, all of a sudden, on the fifth day of September, that we owe some respect to our teachers too ?

Though our country takes pride in the belief that we respect our teachers like Gods, the reality is far from it. Even in the India of 2009, there are ample examples of not just disrespect, but much more towards teachers. Every one of us who has attended some sort of an educational institution would agree with that.

Isn’t it outrageous that in our own ‘teacher-respecting’ country, rowdy hooligans who call themselves students, not only attack and brutalize a teacher in broad daylight, but end up murdering him in full public view. (Just for the reason that he wanted students to spend their time in studies rather than on the elections of the student’s union) And in the end of it all, they get acquitted by the court of law…. !!!

The world saw how those ABVP goons brutally murdered Professor H. S. Sabharwal in Ujjain’s Madhav College. The media even aired the video of the leader of that mob openly threatening the professor with his life. But three years on, and the court acquits all the accused as all the witnesses turned hostile. ‘There was no proof’, is what the court says. But a teacher was murdered in full public view. So, there must be someone responsible……. For God’s sake……. !!!

Does the court mean that no one was actually responsible for a man’s death who sustained 3 broken ribs and punctured lungs ??? If those criminals are actually not guilty, then there must be at least someone who was guilty. Shouldn’t the court order an enquiry to nab whoever was really guilty ?? But it doesn’t. And we can guess why.

And there is no shortage of people who go to the extent of defending those thugs on live television. Just watch what the dumb lady answers to a simple question by Arnab Goswami, that, “who killed Prof. Sabharwal”…

We like to show off our traditions to the entire world. But in reality, we really don’t care if we ourselves tear our very own traditions apart every day.

If we cannot stand up for the very people who shape our futures, then I wonder whom can we stand up for. Or do we consider our debts paid just by remembering our teachers on the 5th of September every year ?

Leisure...

2009-09-04T23:55:00.003+05:30

These days, I am enjoying the company of a new friend who visits as often as his busy schedule permits him to.

On one such visit, he wasn’t much in the mood of interacting with me that much, and hence, decided to utilize the valuable time in relaxing in a quiet corner of the house.

I couldn’t but help capture the moment of such carefree leisure and at once snapped it up on my mobile phone. Well, you know the sound these things make when you try taking a snap. It was loud enough for me to look for cover at the prospect of breaking the spell of slumber of the four-pawed pack of naughtiness. But, instead, he just lifted his head, turned it my direction to about 15 degrees, gave me a sort of look which probably said, “Ohhh. So it’s you again…”, and then went back to enjoying the late-afternoon nap.

There are countless things we can learn from animals. One of them being, to indulge in complete leisure once in a while, leaving the world’s tensions and complications out of our minds. Isn’t it so ?

Obsessed with Success... (Contd.)

2009-09-03T21:07:00.003+05:30

Before continuing with my previous post on success, I’d like to link Kaddu’s post about ‘Failure is Never Final...’ for all those who missed it.

Coming back to the topic, I agree to the fact that different people have different criteria for success. A big success for one may not be such a big deal for another. For example, the other day, I didn’t think much of watching a kid on the street trying desperately to pull down a kite he had discovered dangling on the branches of a tree. But it probably made his day, that after about half an hour he managed to get hold of it and ran triumphantly with the prized thing in his hand. It would have even made not only a day but maybe even a week for him.

As I said, the criteria may be different. It could be fame. It could be money. It could be the dream job. Or, for that matter, it could just be a kite. But such successes are just a part of a successful life.

It couldn’t have been anything but the feeling of success when Archimedes discovered the principle of buoyancy while in his bath tub. (No wonder he ran the streets shouting ‘Eureka’…’Eureka’… even forgetting to dress himself)

Success would have just been what Shah Jahan must have felt on seeing the completed Taj Mahal.

No different would have been the success of the Wright brothers after the first flight of their plane.

How would have Neil Armstrong felt after setting the first foot on the moon ? Or for that matter, Sir Edmund Hillary after conquering the Everest ?

So, success can be based on anything. As the above examples prove. In the first case, it was serendipity. The second was success in love. The third was the success of imagination. The fourth being the highest example of thrill and adventure.

Now I would like to state some other examples.

Would you consider the Indian Prime Minister to be successful ? Every morning he wakes up with nothing less than a trillion problems on his mind. Does he feel successful in what he intends to achieve ? Which is, the ultimate well-being of the nation.

Is Barack Obama successful ??

Are the Ambani brothers successful ? Obviously they are the richest Indians in the present times. No matter they are fighting bitterly between themselves. But they have in their accounts, the amount of money that many people can’t even think of.

Was Michael Jackson successful ?

I hope don’t you don’t laugh at my next example…. but…. is Sachin Tendulkar successful ? Yes, I know he holds more number of cricketing records than almost all the present cricketers combined. Ok, he may not give the Ambanis a run for their money, but he has ENOUGH for himself. And talking of fame, you cannot find a single Indian (ok, make that 10 Indians) who don’t know him.

But if you ask Sachin if he considers himself successful, I can bet he will answer in the negative.

Reason ? If you may have seen his interview a couple of days back on the television, he stated that he is not yet satisfied. And he has that never ending hunger to perform which goes on and on.

Which makes me think that for any person to feel successful in his or her own eyes, there is just one criterion. And that criterion is SATISFACTION.

Satisfaction in whatever you dream of achieving.

If one dreams of inventing the time machine, but ends up being the director of the best technological institute of the world, he will not feel successful. But he is a great success as others see him.

If one dreams of being a psychiatrist, but ends up becoming the best cardiac-surgeon, he will never feel successful. Obviously appearing to be highly successful for everyone around him.

The girl who died in Delhi, scored 93% in her boards. But failed to get into LSR. For everyone, she was not successful.

If one dreams of marrying his beloved (who gets married elsewhere) and ends up becoming the richest person I can only wonder how successful he’ll consider himself to be. But don’t we all consider the richest people to be the most successful ??

Which means that there is a difference between being successful and appearing to be successful. And that is probably what people today fail to understand. They would rather appear to be successful than feeling good about themselves.

Short term successes could be anything. It could be fame, career, position, love,…. even money. But the real success lies in the feeling of satisfaction. And that is something that no one else can judge but the person himself.

Most people these days are giving up on their dreams for the sake of money. They feel that big money can buy name, fame, and all the luxuries of life.

If only money could buy satisfaction…….

Obsessed with Success...

2009-09-02T20:35:00.004+05:30

In my last post, I mentioned about the mindset of people regarding success. Different people may and do have different criteria for judging success. But, usually, in the end it comes down to how others judge people about their success and not people themselves.

As a nation, I guess, we are becoming ever so obsessed with success. Be it the results of our national cricket team or be it the results of an election, we just cannot take failure. But what exactly differentiates success from failure ?

Last night, while once again watching the news on the television, I came across an incident from Delhi where a girl had jumped to her death from the balcony of her house. Reason ? She had failed to get admission in a reputed college after missing out on the cut-off list while most of her friends made it in.

Ok. One can understand that she must have been highly disappointed at her ‘failure’. Even more so as her friends had succeeded in achieving the common goal. She didn’t do well enough in her boards. So, obviously it was a failure for her.

But the next revelation in the story made me almost cringe. She had scored no less than an aggregate of 93% in her board examinations… !!!

To be honest here, if I would have scored that many marks (in any examination whatsoever) I wouldn’t have stopped jumping for joy till someone would have brought me down to earth. Scoring 93% in any examination itself signifies that the person has performed much more than just average. Even most of the examining boards categorize anything over 90% as excellent.

For this girl, the same result was no less than a tremendous success at one level, but it was a big failure at another. Failure as in the eyes of others.

Shouldn’t she be happy at her success ? Hadn’t she performed excellently in her studies ? But the failure was big enough to overshadow what she had achieved. And the only option she could choose was death.

Why are we so obsessed with results ? And successful results at that ? We just don’t seem to have the ability to use failures as motivation for future success. In fact, we are absolutely intolerant to failure. Be that our own failures or those of others. We are never ready to put it behind and move forward. We are dead scared of failures… !!!

What if that girl could have got into a not-so-reputed college, studied hard enough to become something even better than her ‘competitors’ studying in the reputed colleges ? Wouldn’t that have been a sweet and satisfying success ?

But as I said, we want to be successful enough to stay level with others, but we cannot accept a failure which could be a stepping stone to move ahead of them.

*** To be continued... ***

Decision or Emotion...

2009-09-01T14:19:00.007+05:30

Recently, I saw the movie ‘Love Aaj Kal’. Though I’m not a big fan of any new Hindi movies, but since Kaddu had suggested me to give it a look, and also because it was one of those nights when sleep was nowhere in sight, I decided to… well… give it a look.

There are movies which entertain you right throughout. And then there are movies which portray reality. But then there are a few which, while portraying reality, also try to send across a message. Most often, it is a rather concealed message which only those with ample understanding capabilities can actually take out after watching that movie. This was one such movie.

I don’t intend this post to be a spoiler for all those who haven’t yet watched ‘Love Aaj Kal’. So, I’ll not go into the plot and surely not discuss the end. But I’ll just share what I felt after watching it.

The movie aptly depicts how the present generation of youngsters treats love. If you look around yourself, you will see people running helter-skelter in pursuit of their careers. Something, which is actually quite good both for an individual and for the society in which he or she lives. But it is when people complicate things by bringing love or relationships in between their career goals, that the problems start.

In fact, what I don’t understand is, whether people are in search of love or in search of a relationship in their lives. Personally, I’ve started to feel that there is a difference between the two.

A person always tries to achieve all the requirements of a successful life. It begins with acquiring the best of education, leading to a job which earns him a handful more than that’s required for a luxurious life. I guess that should be satisfying enough for anyone who intends to be successful. But somewhere I feel that in today’s times, people consider themselves to be successful by not what they have achieved, but by what others think that they have achieved.

I guess I’m drifting from the topic here. But coming back to it, a relationship is now just another necessity people tend to add to their achievements. Just like a car is a necessity for a working person in today’s times, so is a relationship. People, more than anything, need to be known to be going around with someone. But just as a person cannot take his car along with him or her if he shifts to another country, similarly does he act in case of relationships.

And that is what this movie, 'Love Aaj Kal' portrays very well, that for today’s youth, long-distance relationships don’t work. So, as a person is happy to sell off his old car before shifting to a new place for better work options, he is equally happy to break off his or her relationship too. Even to the extent of throwing a break-up party… !!!

I agree to the fact that people have their own career dreams. Some are nurtured right from childhood. But should the pursuit of a dream be such that it doesn’t even care about the most important people in one’s own life ?? In other words, can a dream career/fame/big pay-package take preference over love in one’s life ?

It can’t… ! And if it does, it is not love. It is just a relationship. Because love can never be a hindrance to any dream. In fact, it is a great motivating factor towards any achievement a person dreams of. One can break-up a relationship. But one can never break-up love.

People tend to show that they have different priorities. For them their career dreams are above anything else. Even love. But personally, I feel that such people have never loved. How can job/money/fame be more important than a soul mate ??

And that is probably what this movie portrays about love aaj-kal. The youngsters of today are confusing love with relationships. They consider a relationship to be an essential part of their success in life. And for that, they use their brains in the matters of the heart.

But what they don’t understand is, if it’s really love, there is no amount of thinking the brain can do to get matters straight. It is only the heart that can.

Sometime back I read a quotation somewhere which said, “Love is a decision, not an emotion.”

But personally, I always feel that...

‘Love is a wonderful emotion; it can never be a decision.’

Those of you who find it tough to manage their ‘relationship’ (long-distance or otherwise), along with working hard in pursuit of your career dreams should surely watch this movie.

Being an Indian Girl...

2009-08-12T03:29:00.003+05:30

You know what… I sometimes wonder how special would Indian girls feel. To be playing the role of a mother, daughter, sister and getting all the admiration that is showered on them.

But when, sometimes, I imagine, what if I was born as a girl in India…. I’m scared to the limits of my soul… !!! Makes my hair stand on end… !! Why ???

Ok. I’ll tell you about a real Indian girl whom I know.

This girl, is as simple as they come. She had always been the sincere daughter as was expected of her. Never ever asked anything for herself. Was always truthful to her parents. Studied hard to become a doctor. Kept studying hard to qualify for higher studies. When suddenly…….

She fell for a guy.

Someone, two years her senior. Someone, who really cared for her. Someone, who reciprocated her feelings in just the same way. Someone, who made her smile even through tough working hours. Someone, who made her feel really special. Someone, who fell for her just in the same way as she had for him.

So, where’s the problem ? It’s going perfectly fine, just like a fairytale, you would say….

Religion it is…. Now you realize this fairytale is Indian…. Don’t you ??

As per her nature, this girl didn’t want to hide her feelings from her family.

You must already be expecting what’s coming round the corner by now….

The bomb had been dropped…. !!! Sacrilege…. !!! Matter of life and death. No…. !!! It’s even more than just life and death. It’s about religion…. And respect….

Obviously, she was greeted with stern disapproval. An outright NO from her brother and mother. They didn’t have the heart to inform her father.

And then begins the tormenting. The increased commotion to find a ‘suitable’ match for her as soon as possible.

This girl, who hadn’t so much as had a proper conversation with any guy all her college life just because her family wouldn’t like it (Yes…. It’s true), gets constantly pestered by the same family now to talk on the phone or even meet total strangers, one of whom would be her ‘match’.

And as she refuses or even hesitates, the mother gets hysterical, stops eating, continues crying and using these as handy emotional blackmailing tools. While the brother tries to gather any cooked up shortcomings of her love-interest and threatens him of dire consequences.

The family are ready to stop at nothing. Even if it means stopping her from pursuing her studies altogether.

Why ?? Because she has let them down…. !

If I may ask,…. How has she let them down ? Is it by being a sincere, honest and selfless daughter all her life ? Or has she let them down by proving her merit in studies ? She could have gone and got married behind their backs. But she chose to tell her family the truth. Yes, she let them down.

If I may ask,…. Is the guy she chose unsuitable ?
Is he illiterate? NO.
Is he uneducated ? NO. Most highly educated.
Is he unemployed ? NO. And with a bright future indeed.
Is he a criminal ? ABSOLUTELY NOT.
Is he indecent/manner less ? ABSOLUTELY NOT.
Does he indulge in bad habits ? Never drinks. Never smokes. (A rare virtue in doctors these days…. Believe me)
And he has utmost respect for elders and Indian traditions.

So, does being from a different religion over-shadows all other virtues ???

Or does religion or caste decide the real marital happiness ???

And today, I hear the most ridiculous thing of it all. While pressurizing her yet again her mother said something which was…. “I’ve kept you in my womb for nine months. Consider that as a debt. I beg you to repay me that debt now by ending your relationship.”

Is that why parents have kids ?? So they can demand the payment of their ‘debts’ at the expense of their kids’ happiness just to fulfill their unreasonable demands and the desire of a fake respect in the society… ?? The society, that is nowhere to be seen after the wedding dinner is over.

Should all the acts in life and results of relationships be assessed just by the decision of marriage ? Shouldn’t a girl be allowed to choose her own life-partner ?? Should she accept to be tied to a complete stranger who assumes that he owns her ?? Should she be even a bit considerate for parents who feel as if they’ve obliged her by bringing her into the world even though she is a girl ??

It boggles the mind….

But I do sincerely hope and pray to God, that, better sense may prevail and this girl must not face the fate so many other Indian girls face everyday.

And I also hope that more and more Indian girls stand up for not just their rights, but also for their dreams and aspirations.

Thank You GOD !!!

2009-08-05T06:31:00.008+05:30

Just a few of the reasons that make my life so so wonderful…….

That moment when I first saw that look in your eyes… And numerous such moments to follow… When I felt my heart melt with the feeling of sheer joy and happiness… Every time… And still do… And will for always…

The time when we first went for a bite… And I ended up spending my last penny for your insatiable wish for chocolates…

The day when I first heard your sweet voice on the phone… The sun shined so bright but yet so cool… And like raindrops falling on my closed eyelids as I drowned even deeper in the sea of joy I never had felt before…

The way you would search for me, when you needed company… And the way I would accompany you to accomplish those difficult tasks…

The way you would listen to my heart’s call… Even when we were far apart… And call me up… Instantly… To make my day…

The times when you would snatch my papers… As I would fumble with them, dropping them around… And put everything right in order, to keep safely with you…

Those midnight calls… When I would listen while you wept… Ready to absorb all you worries, and sadness… And that feeling of satisfaction when you would laugh in the end…

The ways in which I would tease you… Without fail… And you would run around chasing me… And I would let you catch me eventually…. While you would punch me in the arm as hard as you could… That wonderful pain which would make me laugh so much…

The things you would make me do… Which no one else in the world could… (Including making me eat ‘Black Dal’ which I hated for dear life...)

Those wake-up calls which you would make… To make me rise, and study… Without fail… Every day…

That tone of panic and sound of worry in your voice… When I was due for my eye-surgery… And the cute and funny ‘sms’… Which you would send to make me laugh and be at ease… Though you weren’t at ease at all…

The way we would fight… And you would go away… And how we would always make-up… Me with a sorry… You with a punch to my arm again…

Those long… Late night chats online… And how miserable I would feel… To type those three letters… B-y-e…

Those priceless little gifts… Which you gave me… And which, I still don’t allow anyone to so much as touch…

Those long drives… With just the two of us… While you emptied all the sorrows of your heart… And then quietly listened to my advises…

That simply marvelous ‘curry’… That fabulous ‘Maggi’… That awesome ‘I-still-don’t-know-what’ that you made for me… And how I always ended up licking my fingers…

The evening when I lost my pet… And how you were the one who consoled me… And got me going once again…

The way you would suggest something silly… And I would scold you… And eventually would run around to my wits end to try to please you…

The hours I would spend on the phone… Listening to all the latest gossip and the grudges you had with your so-called friends…

The hours I would spend on the phone… Trying to put some sense in your mind…

The hours I would spend on the phone… Holding it… Staring at it… Waiting for your call…

The way you would scold me… For not eating properly… And then I would eat…

Those little things… Some difficult things… Which I would go any lengths to do for you… Just to see that smile on your face…

That power you had… To make me accompany you inside a girls shop… Thoroughly enjoying the embarrassment I felt…

The way you would clutch my hand… When we would cross a road…

That time, sitting on the steps… Together… Amidst drops raining from dark clouds down the walls… And tears raining from your eyes down your cheeks…

Those long walks… When neither said a word… But both listened all…

That moment when I faced a loaded gun… Aimed at me… Just to get to meet you…

Those achievements of yours… Which always made me so proud…

The deepest secrets… Which I only shared with you… Those chapters of my life… Which no one else knows about…

Those sleepless nights… I’ve spent worrying about you… Hoping that you slept peacefully…

The sheer cuteness of it… When you called me up two hours before midnight… On my Birthday… To be the first one to wish me… (And then realized that in all the excitement to wish me, you had miscalculated the date and were a day before…)

The way you would always know… When there was something troubling me… And really pester me till I confessed it to you… (And the cute helplessness you had on your face if the problem would be beyond your powers of fixing… But you tried all the same...)

The fact I always knew… That you are always there… Just a call away… Whenever I need your support…

The inspiration of never giving-up… Which just your remembrance brings to me… Whenever I feel down in the dumps…

The way you made me laugh…

The way you made me cry…

The way you made me smile… And still do…

The million goose-bumps I had… When you tied that thread around my wrist… Giving me the happiness I never had felt before…

And the way… You still pester me like anything… To get you a ‘Bhabhi’…

I could go on for ever… But for the mist in my eyes… Just like every time I miss you so much… Not my fault though… Because my emotions for you… Tend to escape through the eyes…

I miss you Dearest Sis…

For the fact that you are so far away… Though you are still in my heart… And will be…. For always…

*** Dedicated to my sisters with whom I was not lucky enough to be born in the same family… But feel like the luckiest person to have found them en-route my journey of life… ***

Thank you God !!!

A Celestial Marvel !

2009-07-22T09:42:00.007+05:30

It’s not often that you find me wide awake in the early hours of the morning. It only happens if I have to catch some early-morning train. Or for an all important match on the telly. Maybe even during exam days. But otherwise, catching me in the best of form when the sun is just about up is as nearly rare, if not equally, compared to a solar eclipse. And that was exactly what got me up and about today morning. I’m just back after witnessing another one of the numerous celestial events that I’m so crazy about. This time it was a total solar eclipse yet again.

After all the hype and drama on the countless news channels that we are now almost used to, the day finally arrived. I was actually waiting for it for some days now. And so, I made it a point to set an alarm to go off at five in the morning (which is usually comparable to midnight according to my biological clock).

I instantly tuned into a couple of news channels for the updates on my laptop. The countdown on NDTV showed 14:35 minutes. So, I just moved out onto the terrace to check if the sun was out yet. And more importantly, if there were any clouds around which would greatly upset my plans.

Thankfully, there wasn’t even a single cloud in sight (which wouldn’t have been a welcome sight on any other day in these times of badly needed rains) but neither was the sun. So, that gave me time to get my cameras ready.

Well, I am as much an admirer of simplicity as of advanced technology. So, I had both a pin-hole camera along with a digital camera ready for the event. I don’t know if you have ever experienced it, but the old and simplest of gadgets which are based on basic scientific principles provide the best results. And a pin-hole camera is a great example.

The countdown had reached to four minutes or so when I suddenly heard something in the form of a commotion outside. It appeared as if all the crows from the neighborhood accompanied by all their visiting relatives had all of a sudden decided that their vocal sacs (birds lack vocal cords) needed some urgent exercise. My first reaction was the thought that the horde of the hooligan monkeys was back to cause nuisance. But as I looked out to check, there were none.

And then I observed that the birds, which had woken up on time and were out on work as efficiently as ever, had realized that something was unusual. They couldn’t actually decide if really it was once again the time to get back home so soon. Maybe they were so panicky, they were shouting at each other to decide on to what action needed to be taken.

The sun by this time was up enough to be seen above the houses around ours. Here’s how it looked like as it emerged from behind the buildings.

As I checked the news again, it was already eclipsed to about a quarter in Guwahati. And so I positioned the pin-hole camera and observed the image. It was already cut to almost half. To my amazement, I could see some people in the neighborhood. Two people on their respective terraces (one of whom was sort of busy in the daily routine of exercises), the newspaperwalla throwing those rolled newspapers onto balconies and over gates, and a man walking (maybe on his morning walk) on the road. This was very much in contrast to the last time we had a total solar eclipse way back in 1995 (or was it 1996 ??) when I was the only one on my terrace around a neighborhood that looked as if put under curfew.

But I couldn’t see any of the stray dogs which are otherwise always around our street and more so around our house (as I often give them something to bite). Almost all of the birds had vanished. Except for the three brown fakhtas (country doves) sitting on the power cables which were still so confused to decide whether to return or not.

The sunlight was feeble by now. Just as it is at the time of sunset, but it felt very different. The pin-hole camera was showing the sun in almost a crescent.

I tried taking pictures of the sun with the digital camera. But it was still bright enough to glare, refusing to be caught being eclipsed by the moon on cam. Luckily, a few of the snaps caught an added reflection of the eclipsed sun besides the bright glare.

In almost within a minute or two, the sun was a mere crescent. Just as the moon appears on Eid.

I checked the news again. The channels were showing pictures of the total eclipse as seen in parts of China and many cities in India. But what was so irritating was the emphasis on the astrological aspect of it (if there really is one). There were those big fat jyotishis sitting almost on each news channel and blabbering about the things not to do on the day of the eclipse. Also adding about the ways one can escape the ‘wrath’ of the eclipse.

More than showing the actual visuals of the eclipse, they were happy to provide those where people had gathered to take a dip in the holy waters, to pray, to donate food, clothes, even cows…. !!! Even for once, they didn’t talk about what new studies the scientists were planning to carry out during this eclipse. So I shifted my attention to NASA’s official eclipse website.

By then, the light had started to get normal once again, and some of the birds had started to appear too. The crow which now sat on the edge of my terrace was giving a look to his partner as if saying, “I told you so….”

God's gift to the world !

2009-07-09T20:20:00.009+05:30

I was just wondering about the things about which we feel ourselves being extremely lucky to have been able to experience during our lifetimes. Things which we consider as God’s gift to us. Well, such things would surely differ from person to person. Although there are things which may be common to some people. Also, there may be some those are common to a whole country. But is there something that’s common to all of the human race, (well,…. almost) across borders and continents.

A simple answer would be music. Of course, music is not limited to certain parts or people. But, it connects people across the world.

And no one did that better than a certain Michael Jackson.

I wonder if there has been someone more popular than him around the world ever. Ok, at times for the wrong reasons rather than the right ones. But yes, he was ‘well known’. And so was his music. (well, you surely can’t have unbelievably huge crowds all around the world for concerts just for nothing !)

Wikipedia describes him as a recording artist, entertainer and businessman. (not as a singer/musician/dancer strangely) And an entertainer he was. In the truest sense. I wouldn’t consider him as a successful businessman though, having been in no less than about 500 million dollars in debt (if you would consider money as the basis for his business)

I first came to know about his existence sometime back in 1986-87. It was an audio cassette titled ‘Thriller’ that was presented to me by my friend Akshay on my birthday. I was rather fascinated by the image of the slim young man holding a cub that was on the cover of that ‘Billboard’ cassette.

And strangely, that gift coincided with my getting my first ‘walkman’. It was as if, destiny had planned well to introduce me to something that would be with me for ever. And for the next few months, I would listen to the cassette at least twice daily (the ‘Thriller’ track more than five times every day).

In the next summer, after a hard day’s cricket (we were in the middle of our summer holidays, of course) Akki suggested we watch the ‘Making of Thriller’ on tv (those were the days of the video cassettes) as he had rented the same from a library.

And I was mesmerized…. To put it lightly.

There was something…. something special in the way he presented the dance (if it was really a sort of dance) that I was hooked. And I hadn’t even seen any of his other videos. So, when he came out with ‘Black or white’, I would never lose a chance to catch it on tv.

Once again in 1995, I was presented his ‘Dangerous’ on an audio cassette (on my birthday as usual) and as expected, I couldn’t stop listening to it.

And then began all those controversies about him which would be obvious for any celebrity even of a level much less than his stature. But I didn’t get to hear or know much about all those except from the newspapers mainly because I had myself busy in rather important decisions of my life but also because I didn’t care.

As I found on the internet, “Jackson donated and raised more than 300 million dollars for beneficial causes through his Heal the World Foundation, charity singles, and support of 39 charities.” Making a sort of record in itself too. But even in his music, he had messages for everyone. ‘Black or white’, ‘Heal the world’ and the ‘Earth song’ were a few to mention. In fact, the ‘Earth song’ is considered to be an anthem rather than just a song. No wonder people were after his life.

He changed a lot in appearance. In fact, he had completely changed from those times of ‘Thriller’ and ‘Billie Jean’, but still, was special.

And suddenly, we heard of his passing away. I didn’t know how to react to it. So, I decided not to. But I was tempted to type in his name on ‘Youtube’ to check what I get. I had barely typed M, and I when it showed up results related to MJ. Maybe because of the increased traffic searching for videos about him since his death. There were some of his music videos, his interviews, personal compilations and some from his concerts around the world.

As I started watching one video after another, I realized why he was so special. Here is one such excerpt from his 30th Anniversary concert in New York in 2001.

And I watched on. From Munich, to Bucharest, to Kuala Lumpur, to Mumbai, to London, to the magnificent ‘Superbowl’….

Yesterday, I was showing my friend some of MJ’s music videos that have been in my collection since the time I had started downloading from the internet. And as expected, he reacted in just the way someone who hadn’t seen MJ perform before would. So, before long, he was wishing if he could see more. And so, I shared some of the amazing videos I had ‘favourited’ on ‘Youtube’.

As far as I gather from whatever I have seen and known of him, he was humble. Not full of that typical arrogance those so called famous artists carry. Tell me, which performer would allow his fans to come on stage and hug him right in the middle of the show. I doubt if any of them would risk it. But MJ did. And was always graceful.

We were soon onto a discussion about whether he was really special after watching seas of fanatical fans in each of his concerts (my friend hadn’t seen people crying and getting unconscious, being taken away on stretchers right in the middle of the songs too). So, we decided to check on the concerts of some of the other famous artists for the sake of comparison.

I wouldn’t name the other artists on whom we checked as people might have different preferences. But our instant reaction after watching those was…. Its not the same. 'Dry' was the word we both used in comparison to those by MJ. I can’t and wont say that he was a better singer, or dancer than other famous artists, or that his music was better, but surely he was the best entertainer. The best ever.

But still, there was a sense of loneliness about him. You could feel it if you ever followed him and his life. But he always smiled (at least that’s how I always saw him). I don’t know what people may think about him. Maybe I don’t even care. But for me, he provided the magic which would take me into some other world (even if for those few minutes) away from all the thoughts troubling my mind. And maybe that’s what he did for people around the world.

As for now, I’m obsessed with ‘Blood on the dance floor’ and ‘You rock my world’ which I have been watching regularly at least five times daily for the past week or so. And I will remain so till some other of his videos/songs catch me. They keep changing time after time. But, for me, Michael Jackson was and will always be God’s gift to the world…. always !

The importance of waiting...

2009-06-21T21:10:00.003+05:30

Sleep usually evades me in the early hours past midnight. And last night wasn’t any different. So, I got hold of a movie called ‘The Lake House’.

A few minutes into the movie, and I had started to lose it a bit. Not because the sound quality was bad or anything, but I couldn’t really grasp what exactly was going on. So I ‘Googled’ for the English subtitles and played it over again.

And before long, I was right there, being totally involved in the proceedings.

For those of you who haven’t yet watched ‘The Lake House’, I’ll just provide a brief introduction to what it’s about.

Kate (Sandra Bullock) is a doctor who has just vacated a small but beautiful house built on the lake-side. Unsure about whether the post office would take care of her changed address, she writes a letter to the new occupant of the house requesting him to forward any mails that are delivered for her. This new occupant is Alex (Keanu Reeves) who is an architect and is looking for some peace and seclusion.

In her letter Kate apologizes about the dog paw-prints at the front door and clarifies that they were there even before she had arrived. And also mentions a box in the attic. But, to Alex’s surprise, there are no paw-prints by the front door. Neither is any box in the attic. So he writes back to her suggesting a probable mistake in the address. And she replies back being absolutely sure about the details and also reminding him about the mistake he made in the date in his letter. It’s supposed to be the year 2006 rather than 2004 which he had mentioned.

But Alex is as sure of it being 2004 as she is of it being 2006. And they have proofs to back it up too. And before long, Alex finds a dog appearing out of nowhere from the woods and running into he house, making his paw-prints.

Yes, they are actually living apart not in distance, but in time… !

Not really believing that such a thing could happen, Alex goes to the address Kate had written in her letter. But only to find an under-construction site where she supposedly resides in the present.

After being somewhat convinced that neither of the two is playing a game with the other, she provides him with the events that had occurred in 2004 which he finds actually happening. And most amazingly, they happen to be having the same dog called Jack with them.

And one day, while returning from work, Jack the dog runs off with Alex behind him. And Alex ends up finding him at a house where there is a party being organized. And to his surprise, the party is called by Kate’s boyfriend to celebrate her birthday. Alex attends the party, meets Kate, they get close, but he isn’t able to tell her who he is. Because he knows her from her future. Maybe she would consider him being crazy.

With each letter they exchange, they get closer to each other. They try their best to meet up. But they cannot…. Because they are living in different times.

It seems obvious that Alex would have to wait for two years before he can try to meet Kate. But the wait seems to be just too much for either of them to go through.

And so, losing all hope that they would ever be able to meet, Kate tells Alex to stop writing to her. And she decides to marry her boyfriend with whom she had broken up after the birthday party. Alex has no option but to accept it too. But there are still some twists in the tale.

Though it is obviously something that is impractical, still the movie captivates the viewer. A story, that would leave you trying to reason with the happenings at many occasions. I found myself working out the way which would enable them to meet even though living times apart. And more often than not, the movie itself pointed out a flaw in each of my solutions.

One important message that the movie brings out very well is the importance to wait.

People everywhere seem to be ever so ready to jump aboard the 'train of life'. We just want to get to somewhere without even waiting to analyze if that is where we intend to reach. In other words, we just want to get our lives going. And almost nothing that we leave back seems to matter. (for the time being, that is…)

Whenever we reach a hurdle in life, we are prepared to change our course and take an easier path. Take for example, relationships. Whenever we tend to reach a difficult bend in the path, we would rather end it then and there and ‘get a move on in life’. But we don’t want to wait. We are neither ready to give time to the other person, nor to our own selves.

I wonder how people can be so impatient to find a soul-mate. Ok. Agreed that it is absolutely reasonable to get impatient finding that ‘special one’. And even more so for those who haven’t yet found theirs. But how can someone, who ‘supposedly’ is in a relationship, be so impatient to couple up that he/she is ready to end it all, only to move on with someone else at the onset of difficult times… ???

The beauty of relationships (or life in general…) lies in the sense of success one has after weathering the storms and achieving all that he or she actually wants. Rather than opting out the easy way and compromising their desires for an easy life all along. But, of course, waiting is never the easy way out….

I guess we all just believe in spending our lives, rather than living it. But in order to live life in the true sense, one has to be patient. One has to wait.......

Three cheers for 'Team India' !

2009-06-15T04:02:00.004+05:30

It is 2 AM and here I am in the company of my laptop, not in the very best of moods. I’ve just returned after watching England defeat ‘Team India’ to mark their exit from the ‘T20 World Cup’. In fact, I’m really disgusted…. !

No. My current frame of mind has nothing to do with the performance of the team. Absolutely not. The reasons for my repugnance are anything but the events that occurred on the field there at Lord’s.

I had seen this coming even before the tournament had started. Right since that ‘bring back the cup’ campaign got underway. There were those ‘wish the team luck’ promotions all over the place. On tv, radio, newspapers…. People even organized special prayers, havans and what nots…. All the news channels, as usual, were quick to try to cash the event. Breaking news captions were hijacked by the latest scores rather than those events of national or international importance.

And now, after the team has failed to reach the next round, everyone is jumping in to have their share of the ‘team-bashing’. The ‘experts’ on tv are trying to point out the flaws of each and every player. The unpardonable blunders that the captain made. The lack of technique that led to the loss.

And if all that wasn’t enough, they are ready with video clips of the players walking around the streets of London accusing them of ‘sight-seeing’ and ‘shopping’ while they should have been practicing. I wonder what they would have done with those clips had the team pulled off an amazing victory….

I don’t have the heart to pick up the newspaper in the morning. But I guess some people would even come out on to the streets in protests and burn some posters or effigies.

When will we start taking sport as sport and not a matter of life and death ??? First of all we put all the possible pressure of the world on our team to not only to perform but also to win the cup. Having done that, we expect nothing but a victory in the finals from the same team. We aren’t ready to accept anything short of that in any case.

Can’t we accept the fact that our team was outplayed by a better performance on a previous day. Didn’t they perform well even today as they lost the match by a mere 3 runs… ??? Can we really doubt the abilities of our team ?

As for me, I enjoy watching the team play for the sheer talent that our boys have. The joy that those special (maybe individual) performances bring. Just like that effortless six which Yuvraj hit first ball. Or the clever consecutive wicket taking deliveries from Harbhajan in the last over ? Or, for that matter, the sweet hits by Yousuf…

Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed them all. It would have been even better if ‘Team India’ had won the match. Well, who wouldn’t like his team to win ?? But just because the team didn’t end up on the victorious side, should we forget the entertainment the boys provided us ???

Well, I would give anything to watch our talented and entertaining bunch of cricketers any day irrespective of the result of a match. They are incomparable to those ‘programmed robots’ which usually the likes of South Africans/English/Australians are. I would rather watch a Sehwag hit 4 consecutive boundaries and get out trying to hit the ball out of the ground, rather than watch a Kallis make a monotonous century.

It’s all about the entertainment, isn’t it ? And our team never fails to entertain.

So let us watch and admire our team for their brilliance of talent which they exhibit once in a while (more consistently these days) rather than crib about results of matches.

And I will always cheer for the fact that our boys are THE BEST.

Ohhh... What a Waste !

2009-06-14T18:04:00.006+05:30

As most of my friends have classified me in the group of nocturnal animals, I was, as usual, seconding their views about me and fooling around while the rest of the neighborhood slept in peace. And before long, I was surfing the channels on the telly to find something worth watching till the time I dropped off too.

And it was then, when I stumbled on to ‘MTV’. Since the time when I first came to know about it, ‘MTV’ was supposed to be ‘Music Television’. A channel, that was related to music of all sorts. But as I find it now, music is the last thing you would find being telecast on it.

We are living in the times of reality tv. But what has reality tv got to do with ‘MTV’ is something I find hard to understand. Shouldn’t they be aired on channels made for all round entertainment ?

Well, I guess I’m drifting away from the point I want to make here.

And the point is that when I got to ‘MTV’ I found another of those reality shows. It’s called ‘The Fast & The Gorgeous’. I don’t know if you have heard of it. But I had seen a few minutes of it one or two times before.

For those of you who are still unaware of the contents of ‘F&G’, I’ll just try to brief you about it. Well, they have assembled a group of (apparently gorgeous) girls from all over India (well, mostly from Delhi and Mumbai) and put them up together to compete with each other. They are given certain ‘tasks’ to perform through which they can ‘vote out’ one or two of the competitors each week.

And what do the winners get ? They get a chance to become the ‘face’ of the ‘Force India’ F1 team, travel with them around the world, host the after-parties and appear in the F1 calendar. (well, the F1 calendar has nothing to do with the schedule of the F1 races but is another form of the ‘Kingfisher calendar’, if you know what that is actually about… )

Ok. So that pretty much appears to be another normal reality show. A show where girls try their best to depict themselves are ‘commodities’ which would be the best bet to help to enhance ‘Force India’s market value. Probably that of ‘MTV’ too.

As I stumbled upon this show, I just watched on to see what they had in store this time. And the ‘task’ in progress right then made me twist in my chair. I don’t know if you have ever experienced being twisted in the chair while relaxing in the short hours of the night after a yummy dinner. But if you have, you’ll understand just how it made me feel right then.

They had coupled those ever so skimpily clad girls in teams of two. Each team had to take on another team in a very simple competition. According to which, one girl from each team would stand in between two poles, her hands tied to them, blindfolded, while the girl from the opposite team would try to hit her on the face from some distance. Each girl getting six attempts in a span of one minute. All very simple.

But, what made me twist was the object which they had to throw at each other. It wasn’t a ball or a water balloon. (I guess a shoe would have been the best possible option here) But they were actually using ‘pizzas’ to throw at each other’s face.

Well, our country has had the likes of Anjali Vedpathak who had exceptional abilities to aim at the target using her air-rifle. (won so many medals for India)

But there cannot be a comparison between a well trained shooter and some (apparently gorgeous) girls throwing pizzas at each other’s faces.

And so, they picked up pizza after pizza and hurled them with all they had got. And with each miss, my heart bled. One after the other, those delicious discs of bread baked with all the yummy toppings, flew past each targeted girl.

I felt as if even the pizzas didn’t approve of the idea of getting anywhere near those girls and dodged themselves past those make-up loaded faces. And eventually they kept ‘biting the dust’ all around the place.

Ok. I admit treating myself to a wholesome and taste-buds-satisfying dinner a few hours earlier. But I’m not one with a heart of steel who wouldn’t think much of so many pizzas simply going to waste….

But, on a serious note, I wonder if such a ‘task’ was actually in any good sense. There are countless number of people in our own country who go to sleep every night with an empty stomach. And here we are, finding fun at game shows wasting so much of food just for nothing.

I wonder if a particular Dr. Mallya who owns ‘Force India’ and ‘Kingfisher’ would give a thought to diverting just that bit of money used for the ‘pizza task’ for feeding those unprivileged people sleeping with empty stomachs.

Dear Dr. Mallya, we are, no doubt, happy about you naming your team as ‘Force India’. And we won’t protest either if you decide to add some glamour to your team. You manage some big business in India as well as around the world. But surely you wouldn’t approve of even a part of that money being put to wasting of food ?

I do hope that sooner than later, you would take notice of this and prevent any more wastage of food. If they need to hit each other in such reality game shows, let them find other options. But please spare the wastage of food at least.

And if you really want to add real glamour to your team, keep away from those girls in ‘F&G’……. :D

Ragging... Crime unchecked !

2009-06-07T14:03:00.006+05:30

I was going through the ‘trick post’ on Kaddu’s blog about the ongoing situation in Australia which incited a lot of sentiments all around. And ending her post, she wondered whether our Government would manage to find answers to some really serious problems in our own country even if it does find one for the Australia-scenario. It would, probably. Because it’s the question of the safety of Indian students there in Australia.

Which brings to mind a simple question. A very simple one, in fact.

Are students in India any more safer than those Indian students studying in Australia ???

No. I’m not referring to any foreign students who are studying here. I’m talking about Indian students studying in India itself. Well, what about their safety…. would be the question you would ask me right now. Ok. So, how safe, exactly, was a boy named Aman Kachroo while studying to become a doctor in a Medical College in our own country ???

Now, you would ask me why I’m picking up an off-season topic to speak about. An incident that is past and almost forgotten. And what relevance does it have to the ongoing incidents in Australia. It was just a case of ragging….

Well, there isn’t exactly an off-season for ragging in our country. And even if you manage to convince me that there is, then we are just about to hit the peak-season, with most of the academic sessions about to get underway in a few days time.

To put matters in their right place, I’m not at all trying to defend what is happening in Australia. But for those who are quick to jump to conclusions, I just want to direct attentions to similar matters occurring right here which seem to evaporate pretty quickly from our minds. In fact, ragging is just an uglier form of racism. Only that, a person being ragged is spared from the accusations of “You Indian…!!!” while being brutalized.

Ragging in India is not an issue related to some unknown colleges or universities. In fact, the most reputed institutions have been known to bear the brunt of the menace for long. The list includes the IIMs, the IITs, and numerous other elite engineering colleges across the country. I didn’t mention any medical institute not because they escape the notorious list, but because there would hardly be any medical college in India irrespective of its reputation, which would be a stranger to the most brutal forms of ragging.

But don’t we all know about these facts already ? Yes. We do. So, instead of getting into unnecessary facts, let us get down to the problem itself.

I have heard many ‘knowledgeable’ people speak at lengths on the benefits of ragging. I cannot comment on other fields, but, as far as the medical field is concerned, ragging, according to the ‘learned’ persons presents with the following benefits…

(a) Bringing back to earth, the airy minds of the freshers who are in a state of assumption that they can now play God. (after cracking the medical entrance examination)
(b) To prepare the freshers for the tough study schedule and extended hours of sleepless hospital postings.
(c) To prepare the freshers for the tough real life after and outside the college campus.
(d) To teach the new students to always respect their seniors and teachers.
(e) To ‘break the ice’ between the freshers and the seniors.
(f) To help the freshers to settle well into the ‘home away from home’, which is, the hostel.

I guess the same goes for the freshers of other academic fields except for the first one and a half points above. And thus, I’m forced to stop and think about the validity of the above reasons in the favor of the menace we are presently talking about.

Here, at this point, I’m tempted to provide first hand accounts of people’s experiences about how they were ragged. But as we all are too familiar to all that and because I don’t want you to go through horrific stories that people have managed to share, it would be better to skip those.

I’m forced to find reason in the madness of trying to teach basic morals to adults entering college life. Isn’t that something which our schools are made to take care of ? Is the best way to teach freshers about manners is to beat them up black and blue ? Are the juniors forced to learn to respect their seniors out of fear ? Isn’t it true that respect can only be commanded and not demanded ?

But the sad truth of it is that the freshers learn a precious secret very soon if they do not know it before. Which is, that, they need to be in the good books of the seniors in order to avail benefits in the form of books, notes and valuable academic advice. And this they can only manage by satisfying their seniors’ demands for sadistic pleasures in the name of ragging. Self-respecting individuals who refuse to give in have to face the consequences. They are labeled as outcasts who are never allowed to settle comfortably into their campus life.

I would here quote the experience of a well known ex-IITian who faced brutal ragging himself.

“For freshmen, getting ragged for a month was a rite of passage that would ensure them free books and the patronage of someone powerful. It was easier to 'get it over with' than be ostracized (so they were told) for the rest of their stay in the hostel.”

Why are the juniors made to believe that their academic life is doomed if they don’t receive ‘help’ from their seniors ? Doesn’t it kill the self-confidence of a fresher about his own capabilities ? And they speak of instilling confidence in the name of ragging….

Why should a newcomer be asked to get habitual in the use of the filthiest of abuses as a part of ragging ? Does that actually help in making him a more decent and sober individual for the future ? Why should he be subject to absolutely inhuman and perverted acts and forcefully made to think and express the same ? Does that prepare him all the better for the ‘real’ world outside ? It baffles the mind…

One thing this certainly does is to corrupt a previously innocent person to the extent of becoming one of those ‘perverts’ you can find out there on the streets. Simply adding to the number of such men in our society. I wonder if girls are subjected to anything similar too. Probably yes, after case of a particular engineering college in Andhra Pradesh came to light.

As far as ‘breaking the ice’ with the seniors goes, does someone really need to be humiliated to world’s end to become familiar with strangers ? Do we always punch up the strangers we meet at our new work-place in order to get to know them well ? Do we need to insult someone to gain their confidence ? No. We do not. Why then, do we accept that ragging does ‘break the ice’ ? Why cant people resist the urge to torment a fresher ?

It is because ragging is probably the only time in most people’s life to experience power over other people. The power to humiliate, to instill fear and to extract sadistic pleasure at the expense of a nervous newcomer.

And the worst part of it all is the feeling of revenge which the ragged fresher nurtures all through the duration of ragging, only to unleash it all when he is in control of the power, over his juniors. And that is one of the reasons why this menace is so hard to put an end to. If you ask me, to take out one’s revenge on innocent newcomers who are already very anxious about their new life amongst strangers away from home, is nothing but a cowardly act.

That is why we cannot see an end to this practice. I don’t think there is anything that the Government can do about it. Don’t we find strict warnings all around campuses banning ragging of any sort ? But it still goes on in most of them. Reason ? No fresher would risk getting labeled as an outcast and spoiling his or her chances of the all important ‘help’ from the seniors. Those that do come out in the open are usually those who have been tortured beyond tolerance, the damage been done already.

The possible cure, if I’m right, can be achieved only when a particular batch of freshers stand tough by not letting themselves become a channel that passes on this ‘tradition’ down every subsequent batch. Even if they feel the need for revenge, they have to take it out on those who ragged them. Rather than some innocent newcomer.

Luckily, being a part of the pioneer batch in college, I was never subjected to any such insanity. And it showed off one year later when the juniors arrived. None of us had that feeling of revenge which we could possibly have had we been witness to any seniors deriving sadistic pleasures at our cost. In other words, our batch didn’t require to torture the juniors in order to gel with them. But we were lucky at not having to either sacrifice our revenge or face any hazards which would have resulted from our giving it back to any seniors.

What I don’t understand is why does a whole group of individuals let themselves be subject to inhumanity at the hands of another group which is equal in numbers. Is it just because the other group consists of people one or two years older than them ? Or even more ridiculously, consisting of those who have managed to be admitted to that institute barely one year earlier ? People who haven't a clue to their own twisted psyches, but who are busy twisting those of others. I can’t see how a particular group can become so enriched with wisdom and experience in a period of just one year that they find it absolutely necessary to pass it on to the next group for their own benefit.

Which is why, I think there cannot be a reason to this madness that has been polluting even our most reputed institutes. I completely disagree with all the so-called 'benefits' of harmless and clean ragging as debated by some of its supporters. It is rather, just a term to legitimize to some extent, the acts of crime which certain perverted individuals commit. And those are not few, but, in fact, spread all across our country. And it is no better than any racist attack.

So, along with demanding security for Indian students in Australia shouldn’t we be demanding safety of Indian students in India ? But honestly, there’s nothing that any Government can do about it. It is we ourselves who have to be strong enough to put an end to such a menace. Be it ragging, or for that matter, racism.

To, The Indian Female...

2009-06-04T16:39:00.013+05:30

No. I’m not feeling sleepy. I was feeling sleepy though, some 8 odd hours ago. But not since I decided to browse around a bit for some updates if any before hitting the bed. I found an update on Nikita’s blog in the form of 'A Letter' to the 'Indian Male'. And the rest of the night was spent twisting and turning trying to discover a comfortable position which could get me some sleep. But, which wasn’t to be.

Well, the reason for my sleeplessness was the sheer amazement to how she had put into words, the contents of a part of my mind. She had tossed a coin pretty high. But it would have been much better if she had turned the other side of it too. The other face of the same coin which was staring right at my mind’s eye…. refusing to let it drift into sleep.

So let me toss the coin again….

I first faced one such situation after completing school. It was some cold December evening when I was with three of my colleagues in a restaurant. Having ordered, we were in the midst of some discussion which suddenly shifted to the females of our batch. And suddenly, I found myself rather uncomfortable. I made two futile attempts to divert the proceedings elsewhere. But I guess they had got the ‘masala’ for gossip. And it was getting filthier as each second passed.

I could feel my eyes starting to burn, hot air escaping the ears and my head nearing the point of bursting. And just as they started to use names, I lost it. I completely lost it.

People who have known me would tell you that they have never seen me lose my temper. They would be surprised to know if I did. But, personally, I surprised myself by the sort of anger that I let loose then. I gave them a public dressing-down which I never thought myself to be capable of. All the people sitting around were looking at us and I wouldn’t be too mistaken if they actually expected me to get rough any second considering the state I was in. Soon, I was storming out of the place with my colleagues absolutely shocked and the onlookers pretty surprised.

And guess what !!! One of those colleagues of mine later married a girl of our own batch (not that very day… of course).

Coming to another incident which happened right during class hours. We had our batch divided into smaller ones (groups of about 20) for the sake of the numerous subjects we had to study. During one such class we were still waiting for our professor while being busy in our talks. As usual, the girls occupied the first two rows of chairs in the room while the boys sat at the back.

And the group in the last row got busy in their usual cheap talks. One or two of them made sure to use the filthiest of expletives in the loudest of voices so that it may reach the ears of each and every one sitting in the room.

The girls were busy in their own talks. In fact they tried their best to portray exactly that. But the intense observer that I am, I could see that people were very uncomfortable. And then there was a repeat of the feeling I had at the restaurant.

And suddenly I got up, and stormed out of the room without a word. I was moving swiftly. To where, I didn’t know. But it was as if I was being directed unconsciously to where something wanted me to go. And I had picked up the knife in my hand when I realized what was happening. I could sense two forces having a battle of sorts inside my head. One wanted me to use the knife to good effect. While the other tried to reason. If I did confront the perverts, I would in fact be bringing the filth out in the open which, the people had till then told themselves, didn’t exist. I would make it obvious what everyone was trying their best to ignore. Cause for great embarrassment. And that was exactly what those pervs wanted. I ended up breaking the knife…

And guess what !!! One of those colleagues of mine later married a girl of our own batch (not that very day… of course).

Which is what makes me ponder to my wits end. And what Nikita wrote in her letter to ‘Indian males’ underlines the very crux of my pondering.

“I understand that all of you are not the same, but I do not know which of you to address. I don’t know which of you is a ‘safe bet’. And I have no way of knowing it.”

But wasn’t it something else I knew all the time ? Something which said that, men’s minds are absolutely simple to understand. While a female’s mind is the most complicated thing you’ll ever come across.

If a male’s mind is so simple to understand, why can’t the females evaluate his real character ??? Why is there a dilemma in knowing the ‘safe bet’ ??? Why is there no way of knowing it ???

Consider a situation (in India, of course). A girl is away from home (be it a market, at work or the college campus) and a boy comes up and says that he would like to be her friend.

The reaction…. ??? Well, it depends. If the girl in question is a bit more adventurous, the answer would depend on the type of footwear she has on herself at that moment. A not so adventurous girl would let her eyes do the work of the footwear instead. But, almost in every case, the outcome is the same. Which actually means…. “How dare you could come up and talk to me like that?”

And if by any chance the boy happens to be her batch mate she has known for years…. SACRILEGE !!!

And the same girl would be meeting a complete stranger sometime later in life who has been discovered by her parents as a probable match.

So what…. ??? Her parents have investigated everything there needs to be.

The guy is an MBA, working in the US with a huge salary package (would take his wife abroad with him) and has reasonable family background. What else can one ask for ? Character ??? No. That’s obvious.

So what if the guy robs the parents of their life’s earnings in the form of that sacred ritual called dowry. So what if he is having an ‘affair’ or two. So what if he is the same old pervert while with his ‘gang’ of friends. Marital rape ?? Oh. Come on. That’s nothing compared to the comfortable life she will get after marriage….

But obviously she just can’t accept an offer of friendship from a colleague. She didn’t know if he was a ‘safe bet’. And she had absolutely no way of knowing it too… !!!

So down the dumps goes a real decent guy. Just because he tried to be honest in his desire to be really friends. Even if he had never heard of the theory which states that a boy and a girl can never be friends.

But yes, the Indian female is quick to point out every pervert she sees away from home. Quick to sense every pleasure attempted to be derived from her. Quick to go crazy at every attempt of friendship offered by a known but ‘un-trusted’ colleague.

Mind you, I too, understand that all of you are not the same. Just as you understand that all Indian men are not the same.

I have always admired the Indian female. In her roles as a mother, a sister, a daughter, a wife or a friend. In fact, her role in making India as it is. But I feel terribly disappointed in her abilities to identify the true character of a male.

Just for a tip, a high level of educational qualifications, luxurious levels of financial status and even a sound and respected family background cannot rule out perverse-ness.

Accepted. So many males are perverted. Maybe even to the extent of a majority. But that doesn’t mean you label them all as the same, put them in a box, blindfold yourself and pick one out. And once picked, remove that label from him and place him on a pedestal which equals to that of God. What I’m driving at is that don’t wear such spectacles which through one eye, show all males to be perverts and through the other eye, present those which, luck or you yourself have chosen, as angels.

So, Nikita, surely you can have your spaghetti straps and walk down a lonely street identifying yourself as an easy target. But there do exist males who would accompany you through such lonely streets as a companion to protect you from any perv eyes and one who admires you for the beauty of your very being rather than what you expect him to.

Sleep…. Dear sleep…. Where are you…. ???

P.S. : I guess I got delayed in posting this bit which I had managed to do in the morning courtesy the Electricity Supply Association.

Birthday Bashings...

2009-06-02T20:15:00.003+05:30

The other day I called up my friend to wish him a happy birthday. The pleasantries having been delivered, I ended the call not before he had promised me a nice big dinner in the near future. Of course, it couldn’t be managed that very evening owing to the fact of those 500 something kilometers that separated us.

I was still fancying about the prospects of that future dinner treat when I found myself going back in the past to relive some of the birthday parties I had been part of.

Back in the times of good old school days, birthday parties were eagerly anticipated events. The usual course of events being, a small treat at the school canteen for all classmates, followed by the main event at the “B’Day person’s’ house. The usual games, the dance (of which I was never a part), cutting of the cake and then the mouth watering food.

But things have changed drastically with time.

I was witness to these changes quite often during my college days. Any person who has spent some part of his or her life in a hostel (or for that matter, living away from home with mates) wouldn’t be a stranger to what I’m talking about.

As per my experiences in college, a birthday was nothing short of a catastrophe, a calamity that had to be faced once every year. People take birthdays to be a sort of "PAYBACK DAY". Giving vent to all their emotions for the 'B’Day guy'.

I remember one of such experiences on the birthday of my batch mate who lived in the room opposite to mine. It was the night before his birthday. It was all peace and calm in the hostel. But only till the clock struck 12. And suddenly people started to appear from all corners and converged to the door opposite mine. Just as suddenly as a large population of ants, appear out of nowhere and converge at a point, when the word is out that a fresh source of sweets is there for the taking.

The poor guy answered the knocks on his door (well, not really knocks but thumps which would bring the door down if not answered pretty quickly) with a smile. It was a smile, but one which, I guess would be on the face of some prisoner of war just as he gets ready to be taken to the gallows.

The ceremony started with the nearest of friends giving him hugs. But somewhere in the middle of the second hug, he simply vanished. And the next moment he was dangling in mid-air. Some people grabbed his wrists and the others grabbed his ankles. While all the others rushed to get the best strategic position around him.

And then they began to hurl him up into the air and down again. Just as I had seen some washer men do to dry some big piece of cloth while at the pond. The so called ‘birthday bumps’ which are considered to be the ritual without which no birthday is considered complete….

The total number of bumps corresponded to the number of birthdays the guy had celebrated. But what shocked me was that with each heave, all the people standing around him, kicked his back with all their might. Some clever ones had even come prepared with thick-soled boots for that very purpose. And with each kick, his cries of agony drowned in the shouts of the people whose mercy he was at.

According to his age, 20 something bumps were what he was to be subjected to. But as they counted 22 or 23, someone shouted that they had missed the correct count…. And that it had to be started again. That was when I had to intervene. Thankfully, for the guy, they let him down on the floor, wincing in pain, but still managing a smile. He had to smile. After all, it was his birthday…

Then someone got a rather innovative idea. He went and fetched a bucket full of water. And as expected (unexpected for me), the contents of that bucket were emptied on the birthday-boy who was still lying on the floor trying to feel for his back. Maybe that was a well meant idea to relieve some of his pain. But I didn’t really believe that pouring cold water on a beaten up guy past midnight was an act intended to alleviate his pain.

They even had a good mind to cover him up with a blanket or sheet and let go at him once again. But I don’t know what made them have mercy on the poor guy.

This was and is not an isolated incident. Birthdays, today, are ‘celebrated’ on these very lines and sometimes on even worse ones. But I’m really at a loss to understand the fun behind it all. Ok, if you need to take out your hard feelings on someone, you have all of the 364 days of the year to do that. Why not leave that one day for him or her to enjoy in the true sense.

Is it just because on the birthday, the ‘B’Day’ guy or girl has to accept whatever behavior that is meted out by the so called friends as a gesture of good wishes ? Come on…. Since when did you need to kick a person black and blue to wish him your good wishes ??

I guess this is a case of give and take. The very person being kicked on his birthday tolerates the torture maybe because surely before the next 365 days, he would get a chance to ‘Payback’ all of it to all his friends on their birthdays. But still I cannot get myself to reason with this madness.

Another aspect which makes me go crazy is the ‘Birthday Cake’. Isn’t the cake there to be decorated, cut and then eaten ? They decorate and cut it alright. But what happens about the eating bit ?? I simply fail to understand the fun behind smudging the face of the ‘B’Day guy’ with the cake. Well, if it is that funny, why not get one of those dummy cakes they have in movies which they throw at each other’s faces.

I don’t know if chocolate or vanilla cakes taste even better when applied to the face rather than let the tongue do the tasting. The scenes which I have witnessed regarding the fates of birthday cakes have led to my sufficient dislike to them.

Gone are the days when we had good clean fun and enjoyment along with the yummiest of food on birthdays. Now, birthdays are celebrated in strange ways. And strangely enough, people tend to like them too.

Thankfully for me, I never had the experience to ‘celebrate’ my birthday at the hostel. I know someone people would say that I've missed a great experience. But personally, I would rather give it a miss....

And never did I taste my birthday cake through my face. But it’s a ritual that has spread all around now. As the picture below suggests….