Taj, Gun, Blood and Nanny!

After reading what Mayu had to say on her Chit Chatni, I just wanted to add some more to it. As she has put up something intimidating in plain and simple words, yet I find only couple of people looking to it. The problem is not that she hasn’t spoken on a public platform, but the problem is that there aren’t many people who would have actually acted like the way she did. The most common reaction would have been to shout at the policeman and make a run for the train. I don’t know but yes, probably I too would have done the same thing ( :) a self realization! )

Anyways, that was just a part of it. The impacts on Taj and Trident is hardly any, both of them are insured and would be up and running in no time. But, the impact on those present there or those who have suffered personal loss the blood bath is a permanently tattooed heartache. While the whole ordeal was going on, the young Ajmal Kasab was watched on national television captured in camera during his (brave according to himself) act of inhumanity. But most of India was still moving according to its daily routine – offices, schools, shops – all functioning like nothing has changed. Of course, I don’t expect that day to be “the day the earth stood still”, but to mention this was somehow making the whole thing look like an irony, which most of the writers have done (??).

Personally, I pay homage and deep respect to the people who couldn’t survive the whole ordeal. My heart goes out to them. Here I would like to make the special mention of the Rabbi couple, who are now survived by their two children – the older one who is suffering from a terminal illness and the younger 2-year old who was rescued by his Indian Nanny, Sandra Samuel.

This earth has lots of religions surviving over it. After these attacks and in fact several others, the Islamic community has been looked down upon as the one spreading terror. But is it so? Ask the meaning of terror to the Christians who were slain in Orissa few months back. Ask Rahul Raj’s father whom he thinks is responsible for the untimely death of his son. Ask anyone about what they despise or what they think is terror… you’ll get a different answer each time.

The point here is, that the wrong is not in a single community or region, but the wrong is in everybody. Few overcome that wrong with good in themselves and some let the wrong out because of something bad (now, I don’t know what bad… but probably any bad).

Well, enough of the philosophy and lecture. I know I can’t make a solid point here, but I still wanted to speak all this out aloud. What touched me most is that India is still the same after all these attacks at its integrity. And I think it is time for the example that I had preserved for so long…

The incident is dated a month back. According to my daily routine, I take a three-wheeler to my office daily in the morning. Now, the place where I have to get down is spelled – “Thavrekere Road” but is pronounced in several ways by the people in Bengaluru – “Taavarkara”, “Taavarkere”, “Tavvarekar” etc. etc. – the correct one even I don’t know till now, though I end up using the third option often. Now, on the day I’m talking about, I hailed an auto and asked the driver to take me to “Tavvarekar Road”. Now this dear fellow was only proficient in Kannada, which unfortunately is no proficiency of mine. Still I tried my level best to explain to him where I needed to go. After a tiresome 5 minutes of explanation, the driver looked at me and smiled, hit his forehead with his hand and looked at me as if I was someone real stupid and said.. “Ai yo… Taavarkere Road”… and signaled me to sit inside. The most important lesson I learned that day was, even if two people don’t speak the same language, still they can communicate effectively, what is required is a little patience.

Then why do such misunderstandings leading to terror take place? Why don't people sit and solve the problems they face? Why do they always have to take up the gun and shout? Why??

P.S: Thanks to Ankit for his support regarding this post, and also to Mayukhini - for posting that incident. :)

Induction Blues

Sitting in the Induction Room, along with few others, it just crossed my mind that Taxes are not just going to be in Maths Text Books. They are very much going to haunt me for the rest of my life. The only thing left now is to wait and watch what it would look like?

Would it be a big headed, hairy, huge, and shark toothed monster; coming to scare me in my dreams in order to capture the power of my screams. Yeah, yeah… you got it right, I’m talking about Monsters, Inc. But are there any chances of having a Sulley who finally realizes the mistake and transforms the whole concern to capturing laughter instead of screams.

When I look around me and by “around me”, I mean the world and not just this Induction Room, I find people running to save taxes, playing tricks to get away and in some cases go to the extent of committing crimes… don’t look at me like that… morally Black Money is still considered a crime! I don’t think that Humans and Taxes can come to terms and go hand in hand together. By the looks of it, there can never be a happily ever after for this couple.

But now, I don't know what to write... I can't get to a conclusion... I have just started earning... I guess it would be right though cliche enough to say that time will tell. So for now Au Revoir and C Ya!!

Gender of the “Walls of India”

Pondering huh... what is this gibberish that I’m gonna give you after more than six months of wait. OK, I know nobody waited but then it kind of does add to a feel good factor to write that! Anyways, when I woke up after such a long sleep, I decided to come up with something weird and yeah stupid too, in order to come into my writing trance again.

This idea sprang up when I was finally leaving Roorkee. You see, Roorkee is a small town in terms of commuting and travelling facilities. But I don’t blame Roorkee for that, because UK as such is a small state. (Oh, please your highness the Queen of Britain. Forgive me but I wasn’t referring to the mighty state governed by you. UK is the postal code for Uttarakhand, a small crunch of land that has now been separated from Uttar Pradesh). Anyways, back to business, in order to get to Bangalore I was required to catch a flight from Delhi’s domestic airport and so I boarded a train from Roorkee to take me to the country capital.

Now coming over to what we started with. The best part in travelling within India is not just the countryside but also the walls of the towns and cities. These walls are painted, marked, and postered with various messages. Based on these messages, one can come up with an idea of which gender do these walls support. Support in the battle of sexes, support in the war of power, support in the struggle between Yin n Yang. Till the afore mentioned journey I had this idea that it was the feminine gender the walls felt for. Why? Well here it is why?
1. Sachcha desh banana hai... Bahu betiyon ko padhana hai.
2. Chahiye budhape ka sahara, to kyun sirf ladke ko pukara.
3. Mat karo atyachar, har ladki kare yahi pukar.
4. Karte hain aap apni betiyon se pyaar, Mat karein sweekar dahej ki maang.
These are some of the slogans, which spoke of the loyalty of the Indian walls.

But then... just two things changed my mind... I came to a conclusion that Indian walls are of a democratic mind. Without further ado, I present to you the best roadside one liners ever!!

1. Lovely Men’s Beauty Parlour (I’ve never seen a lovely man before).
2. Dahej kanoonon se agar biwi kare pareshaan, hamara is or zaroor kheechein dhyaan. Forum for Men.

I know it is an abrupt end, but you see the above statements left me speechless. I don’t have anything more to say. Have a good time!!

A Lifetime of 5 years!!

Its almost an year now since I posted Chronicles of Nostalgia and now I again stand on those cross roads, the only difference being that previously others were leaving and it is now I who is leaving, in the world of Nostalgia I am the Chosen One this time.

This thought struck me just yesterday while filling up slam books and diaries or better termed as memoirs for my friends and juniors. It was this one statement that I wrote, that came from somewhere within, that caught up with my thoughts and here I am telling you about these 5 golden years. But first of all what I wrote - "I have lived a lifetime here!".

Some people would take it as a result of boring persona and a give up attitude but then I guess they fail to understand what I want to say here. NO, I have not grown old, wrinkly and weak so that I write that. It is just simply the fact that this place here called college campus lets you gain a new experience, help you grow mature and give you all the possible opportunities to mold yourself. I am not the same person as I was when I joined this place on 31st July 2003.

I tried my hands on new things, learned stuff, gained best of friends, made foes, argued, laughed, cried, consoled, and what not. All these things comprise a lifetime and that is what I have lived in these golden five years. It was great to be here and this place will always ROCK!!

Bete-Noire

Well, the title has nothing to do with what follows next. Its just that, its a new addition to my vocab (courtesy: PTV in one of his post). For your ready reference, bete-noire means a detested person; someone or something which is particularly disliked or avoided; an object of aversion. Everyone has someone or something to dislike, it sometime seems that the very own existence of us humans depends on how much or to what extent do we dislike the particular object.

Whatever be the case, it is none of my concerns to get worried about the amount of hate or love that is spread in the world. So far, life has been going good with all its ups and downs. A suitable enough update would be - failed MS, got lucky with Oracle and again back to a failure through CAT so the next is that I am waiting for another success in queue. Life always goes with ups and downs, it somehow has never learned to travel on a widespread plain. After a large bum, I have to settle down and wait for a low rise. Still its been comfortable till now and I hope I won't feel even a bit of motion sickness on my leftover ride... which by the way I think is going to be long enough.

Couple of days back one of my friend told me that I'm so lively and I just repeated the famous Jab We Met dialogue - "Main apni favorite hoon!". But when I wait and think about it, there are lot less people remaining who actually love themselves. Most of us are busy cribbing that the others get more, they have a 'better' good luck than ours, there has been a case of favoritism etc. How many instances have been there where one has not done so? I admit that at a point in my life I was like that too and then one day everything changed. Everything as in everything. It was the day I got my rejection from MS, was dejected (it was my first rejection after all) to the core and the feeling was hopeless and then that almost an hour talk with Dad made me take a whole new perspective towards everything. He just said one thing, if I would have got selected for Nestle which sure was a better lucrative offer than BHEL, you wouldn't have been there thinking about your rejection because I would have been long dead (Nestle was posting in some remote village in Punjab, where at that time terrorism was at its peak and the factory was burnt with all its employees inside) and you would have got a compensation instead of the chocolates you think about. That one sentence made me realize that whatever is happening to me is probably for my own good. I don't say that might be some odd day MS campus in Hyderabad catches fire and I die there but now I don't care how everything goes... I just live through it.

Somehow, that one sentence has changed something within me and has changed my whole perspective turning me into the one who just loves whatever happens - good or bad. Again here Good and Bad are couple of the relative terms that we come across. Its the relativity from person to person that classifies things as good or bad. As they say, Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, similarly I would quote this as Morality lies in the minds of the people. Boozing and fagging might be in for some whereas they are just a no entry territory for others. Similar is the case with pre-marital sex affairs, bribe or prostitution for that matter. Still some don't take things lightly and create a hype over that. Why does this simple fact never cross their mind that their roaming and cuddling around with there boyfriends, or simply having a boyfriend, is considered BAD by some others. Somehow, everyone ends up overlooking these facts and this aspect of theory of relativity.

I am all vella (not yella or della) this semester, the above passages were a part of the gibberish that runs in my mind these days. Pardon me in case it offended you. For now that is it... let me relax and switch over to watching "Music and Lyrics" - a lovely tale of a song writer and a born lyricist! Adieu!