An Year to the Day...

A year to the day… A year to the burning Taj… A year to the heart wrenching CST photos…

A year to my blog…

Something’s having changed…some not…

Moshe is a year older… he has been orphaned for a year now… caring tears have flown out for him…

Kasab is a year older… he has been repudiated by his parents now… angry, loathsome tears have flown out for him…

Millions candles have been burnt… thousands SMSes have been sent… gatherings in whites… parades in crisps… Numerous salutes… firings in the air… debate by intellectuals… blogs by fellow bloggers…

In spite of all this what stares back at us? A wounded country… a lost bullet proof jacket… ghosts of the past… kasab in jail… inclement terrorists… restless blood hungry youth… patient diplomatic geopolitical leaders…

What about Moshe? What about justice? What about the Maharashtra police? How many more 26/11 to make the NSG’s reach the terror stricken place faster? Still we burn….still we bleed internally… still we make use of the “lathi”… still we are too scared to not to support the naxalites…

How many more Moshe’s? How many more Kasab’s?

Days, months pass without writng a single letter...

more days more months pass...with the burning anger still burning within...

make me courageous...to speak up, to yell, to stand up for, to break free.

make me brave... to do that i want to do.

help me to not to get sucked by the system...

let me be ME. who i was and who i am.

Just another day…

Just another day dawned in my dull drab boring life…

Nothing much to do except play peek-a-boo with the books spread across my desk. Surf on the net. Listen to various sounds around including music, mum’s grinder, dad’s shout, brother’s grunt. And then I happened to watch an advertisement on the not-so –idiot-but-can-turn-you-into-a-lazy-bum box. It was an ad of a chewing gum…centre fresh…the “zubaan pe lagaam!” one… That ad put me into fits of laughter! I was dumb-struck at the astuteness of the person behind the ad! What with the ‘neta’ shouting out to his party members…”samosa kaun? Aur kachori?”. And then I happened to see a live example of the resemblance to the ad…

An emaciated boy was sitting under the traffic light of a near-by crossroad and was trying hard to read his text book. His friends were playing some sort of a game where they found happiness in lifting up a boy and throwing him on top the boy reading his book. He was neither irritated nor did his concentration fail him.

And on the other hand there are the education ministers blabbering about cancelling the boards and introducing ATKT?! They are doing nothing but providing the people around india to debate fruitlessly. Providing me to write a post about it. And giving a chance for the umpteen news channels to hold a debate, discussion blah blah…

Because the real issue is not to reduce the stress from the students, as Chetan Bhagat had said (in one of the debates) “you send your children to schools not to spa’s”. Schooling, appearing for examinations is a part of every student’s life which should be made available and enjoyable…

I don’t know when that boy will be able to relish his book under a proper source of light. I don’t know when the netas watch “the ad” eat centre fresh and get a lagaam on their zubaan.

Just another day for me, that boy under the signal…and for the ever “lets-debate- instead- of-any-action” morons…

It's Raining!!

Finally it rained today!!
We could see some traces of hail too...
it felt so good to stand in my balcony and rather feel the rain!! water spraying on my face and my clothes partially getting wet!! but the best part was watching my neighbor's kid (my best friend at times and my good adviser although she is just 4) getting drenched in the rain and dancing like a maniac. her hair plastered across her forehead. she was barely listening to what her mum was saying...yelling rather. huh...felt so good to watch her. it was as if i was playing in the rain and she was watching me and my mum yelling and me doing the typical rain dance and my friend making paper boats and we splashing in the muddy water!!
first rain of the season...surely it brought so many sweet memories back!! and gave moments of joy to the kid and countless others...
i love rain!!

Traveler

I love traveling. One thing that i realized after coming to engg college is that the thing i always wanted to do was to travel, with friends, adventure group or strange people; like they show on discovery channel! Going to different places, eating their food, interacting with the people...it's kinda fun!
I had been to Jaipur with college people and had an altogether amazing experience.Firstly because 70 of us had boarded the train without confirmed tickets.And secondly because it turned out to be the best part (now that i think about it, at that time...it sucked a bit!). traveling on "waiting list" is a whole new experience...u get to see the other side of the journey. The bathroom doesn't seem that unclean, you get used to stench, the most comfortable seat turns out to be near the door close to the basin! and you manage to sleep on the narrow side berth with at least two people sitting at your legs. you don't even care when your cheek gets stuck to the seat while sleeping( coz u ave nt put any chaddar) you are just happy that after forcing your eyes to stay open for the whole night you have found a flat surface to sleep on...you finally get to stretch your legs. And no matter of the morning sounds that you hear, the cries of children, the chaiwallas, the other "wallas"...you ignore them, you don't get irritated...all you do is sleeeeep...till the confirmed person wakes you up.Then you move on somewhere else where there is space and the journey continues. In between you get to be with your fellow mates...you play with them...chat, eat, talk in code languages, laugh, get down on random stations in the middle of the night, yell when there is a tunnel coming up, get choked by smelling the gas given out by people (as you are so close to the bathroom!). all in all this kinda journey is a must for a student, you actually learn management and the art of talking to people!

Recognition...

my previous posts ave been hard hitting and reality check types...well this one is also going to be equally hard hitting and reality check types... :P
for decades, we have been worshiping the great scientists of the world. The Einsteins, Edisons and others of their kinds...their important work have been recognized (even though not understood) by millions of humans around the globe... they have been flooded with awards, titles and what not. their fame has reached places far and wide...such "star" people! in my colg lingo "pure white sheep"! (its not dat i ave anything against these fine men, i m in no doubt awe of them).
but has anyone (except me and philo) realized that the real credit and recognition of saving mankind should go to the person who has given this world the ultimate and priceless gift of "chivda". i mean how many times have we entered our homes with pangs of hunger and found stupid 'bhaji' on the table? what have we done then... who comes to our rescue? its the underdog...chivda! this delicacy saves us! it can be and is eaten anytime anywhere...while playing cards with friends, wen all the uncles and ur dad are having a peg or two...you go in between the 'mehfil' and have a spoonful of chivda..(this was obviously when you were small, situation can be exchanged as per likes!..:P). when u come home and are frantic to fill your growling stomach..you open the chivda dabba, grab the spoon which has found a permanent dwelling inside it and start hogging till your mother snatches it from you or till your bro wants to have it and fights for it!
have we ever given a thought as to who might have prepared this lovely dish? how the hell did he come up with the right ingredients? i mean he could have gone wrong. i think that the farsans were a result of the chivda recepie which might have had gone wrong. and then one fine day Eureka! chivda came into eternal existence, for the holy act of saving people like me...who can have chivda for breakfast,lunch,dinner,supper...and fillers!kudos for this philanthropist!!
he receives a big hand and what not! hats off to him!! may his likes are born again and again...
(philo thinks this chivda guy was a marwadi person...i think he could be a maharashtrian...who cares, as long as he is not kasab!)

Indian Of The Year...

In the morning, that is late sunday morning, i happened to read Shobhaa De's article in Times...which described the India-Pakistan relations in a lay man's language. Very sarcastically she has written how the "kuttas" of a neighbour are pooping in her flat while her own "kuttas" are fast asleep! And also how a common friend has also failed to solve this problem of hers of restricting her neighbour's dogs from crapping in her beloved home...the neighbour's dogs poop while her own and she herself are fast asleep in her apartment...how aptly this article summarises the pathetic condition of our homeland...just after this,on sunday afternoon i happened to watch "indian of the year" which was aired on CNN-IBN, and i saw how so many people who have made their motherland proud win accolades for their sacrifices...but the point is how many of these "indians of the years" do we have to host who have been badly scarred by the neighbour's "kuttas"? how many indians will we have to sacrifice for some dogs and why?..."indian of the year" also prompted me to think about the slumdogs...the slumdogs who are still slum people but the one who hacve enacted then have no doubt become millionaires..! how proudly we invite the 'goras',show them the 'real' india and they make films out of it...win oscars...become millionaires,a job well done!!
proud or ashamed...is the real question we ask ourselsevs...one dog gives us oscars..the other nominations for "indian of the year", but we fail to realise that by doing this, the dogs continue to poop while we sleep...

Growing Up...

The other day i saw some school boys standing near the end of a lane,not just any lane but a lane which is very close to my heart...the lane in which i traveled for the most beautiful years of my life.
After attending tuition my school friends and me had this habit (which was extremely irritating to the neighbors) of standing near the end of the very lane which i mentioned above.We used to have round table conferences here...even though it was next to a big rubbish bin.not caring,we used to chat here for hours.and after 6 years i see some kids doing the same thing..
Not even in my wildest dreams had i dreamt that i would ever grow up.I mean i never thought that i would ever have to think or act in a grown up way.a childish thought certainly but it was weird to think that one day i would be going to college,weird to think that the people who were so close to your heart will have to leave you.I always thought that everybody whom i liked or who were near to me would never,never leave me.In those times i had this beautiful little small world of my own where i dreamt,lived and thought that things would never change.Life was beautiful,easy,no tensions,only a fun filled blue sky!
It's not that life is not beautiful now.It's not great.kinda sucks sometimes.But remembering the past and practically going down through the memory lane is fun.Gives you a feeling of being a grown up individual.Could be frustrating sometimes but this is what is life people say.Atleast we have got blogs where we can write crappy stuff to empty the mind which is full of some more crappy stuff!