Through the torn hood

Disclaimer: The picture is taken from wikimedia.org, an openly available multimedia repository. Hence, no breach of privacy or violation of copyright has been done

Note: Work of fiction. Original, of course.

Yet another denial. As she walked out of the business complex, Sarita realized that this was her fourth interview that week - and the fourth rejection.

The sun was shining bright in the sky. She boarded an autorickshaw.

The autorickshawwallah (the autorickshaw driver) looked at her through the mirror. She was sweating and her face was pale.

She opened her purse, took a bottle out and gulped down some water.

She rested her neck on the edge of the seat and let out a heavy sigh. Her eyelids became narrow as a sharp ray of sun entered them.

She looked upwards, the hood of autorickshaw was torn.

Through the torn hood, she saw light. She saw the blue sky and the beautiful clouds.

As the autorickshaw moved, she saw the clouds moving... They looked like beautiful fishes wading through the deep blue sea... The sky and the sea are both so similar and so beautiful, she thought.

Her eyes smiled... She felt happy.

The only happy person in the world is the one who has tries to see the blue sky and the beautiful clouds through the torn hood.

Death of a Soldier

Disclaimer: Imaginary, random ideas

It was the part of the night before the dawn - the time when the sky is as dark as it can be. The breeze hummed as it caressed the sands of the desert. What cut through the sound like a ray of sunlight through gray clouds was the sound of bullets.


He had been shot in the head. His eyes were wide open. His mouth was gaping like a hungry dolphin when it comes to the surface of a swimming pool after being offered food. His eyebrows were constricted in a S-shape.

I saw a question mark on his face. Just after the bullet sounded, there was a sizzling sound - the sound of skin burning with the lead bullet. A thick stream of blood flowed out of his forehead down his left ear.

He fell on the ground with a thud.

Not a movement, not a sigh.

The soldier was doing what he wanted to do. The soldier was doing it in the best way he could.

Before he knew it, it was game-over for him. He was on the ground with the sand smeared on his face wet with blood.

Vote De India

When we buy a new fridge, we go to different shops, check different sources to decide what we want to buy. Of course, we are the well-aware, educated Indians.

We call our friend and say, "Dude!! We must check out the new movie first day first show alright!" Of course, we are the luckily less underprivileged Indians.

We voted for the Indian Idol over and over again. Of course, we are the passionate Indians.


Why don't we vote as the well-aware, educated, less underprivileged and passionate Indians? Or if we do, why do we randomly put our vote?

Vote De India...


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

No political party in India or for that matter, in the world is perfect. Political parties in India have ALWAYS used the 'Divide and rule' policy - some political parties call themselves secular and go on a reservation rampage to pull in votes while some of them are upfront about their religious / regional biases and divide people from others.

Today voting in an election, one must accept, is about choosing lesser of the evils.

Not voting at all is the biggest evil of them all.

Vote De India...

My own

My first car that brought tears to Papa's eyes...

My favourite film that I can watch over and over again....

My face which I admired in the mirror...

My amazingly chiseled body that made eyeballs turn...


And when I died, I had nothing...

I left my car in the garage..
my memories in the hearts of my friends...


I even left my body behind. The body that I thought was my greatest 'appeal'.


What did I have with me that I could call my own?

Mantriji & the chappal

Disclaimer: The characters are imaginary, mere caricatures.

"No no no!! This is just not done!!", Mantriji was very upset as he spoke to his PA after the press conference,

"How could someone throw a chappal at me during the press conference?

Remember Mr. X? Somebody threw a chappal at him last week. But he has never been the cabinet minister. Highest he has gone is the Handloom and household industry ministry for his state. And me! I have been a cabinet minister twice! I am a management graduate from the UK!

You should've arranged for atleast a Nike shoe! Or look at the Goa episode! Somebody hurled a biryani packet at the neta giving a speech there!! Couldn't you be creative and get something like that done? Maybe a pizza parcel for me?

am very very very upset with you PA saab", Mantriji just wouldn't stop, "This was like a one-time opportunity! And you wasted it with an ordinary chappal!"



When Aamir Khan did it, everyone shaved their heads.

When George Bush got the shoe, (whether he deserves it or not, is a different issue. In fact, the meaning of 'deserving it' is very relative - did he deserve the shoe or did he deserve the attention he got after the shoe) it's this sudden wave during the Indian elections. Food packets and campaign by filmstars are passe. The shoe has arrived!!

And by the time I finish the blogpost, one shoe has landed on some or the other neta in the country!

In Rags

Disclaimer: The name of the person is fictitious. The incident is not. Does not have to be a first-person account.

Rishi sat on the floor cross-legged in his underwear. The only light in the room was that of the street lamp outside the window of his room. He was shaking as he looked at the point on the floor where the floor and the two walls met. His body was wet with sweat and cold water at the same time. His lips moved out of his control. He wanted to let out a cry - his voice box was too choked of fear to utter a word.

"Abe saale bh%%we, yeh le!!" he remembered the words he had heard some time ago. What had followed was a splash of ice cold water and several kicks that landed on him from all angles.

Was Rishi an accused in a police case? Was Rishi a criminal? Was Rishi kidnapped? Was he a terrorist? Or was he a prisoner of war?

Rishi was neither.

Rishi was a student of an engineering college.

All that was happening to him was a part of an initiation in his hostel. All the abuses and kicks, all the serving the seniors food and water, all the strip-to-your-undies-and-dance-for-the-seniors was a part of a 'process' which every junior in the hostel was undergoing with different magnitude.

It was a process to get 'introduced' to your seniors. It was a process that went on under the pretext of "we seniors are only preparing them for the big bad world outside". It was a process that simply had to happen because that was the way it had been happening for many years. ('Kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi' translates to 'Kyunki mera senior bhi har%mi thaa' in this case.)

Ragging is prevalent to different degrees in almost all educational institutions of the country. These students who will occupy managerial and technical posts three to four years from now are doing this to their 'juniors' just for the sake of sadistic pleasure or satiation of one's hurt, whatever the case may be!

Isn't it utterly appalling that students are actually committing suicide due to the humiliation and depression they undergo as a result of ragging?

This has to stop. Ragging must go.

To everyone who would be joining an institution newly, do not think someone can dominate you only because he / she has been in that institute for a longer period of time. You do not have to do anything that you are not comfortable with and say that out once and for all and DO NOT encourage any ragging. (The day you look at your abuser and say you don't want it, the abuser will think twice before doing it to you.)

To everyone who would be the 'seniors', let us please break the cycle of ragging. Getting to know a junior or being friendly with him can be done in several ways - which will maintain the dignity and self-respect of both the parties.


To everyone who would be the 'seniors' and who want to rag their 'juniors'...

... I want to see you behind bars.

Boo Boo Munnabhai

Disclaimer: My first political blog. But very straight from the heart. I do not make any statement specifying who to vote for and who not to vote for. The blog is only my reaction to certain newspaper / news channel reports

Actors are so different in real life than in their reel life. Sanjay Dutt has just proven that.

At a Sabha recently (he is campaigning for a particular party), Sanjay Dutt says, " I was beaten up in the jail because my mother was Muslim!"

I think this is the most hedious statement I've heard in my life!! When will politicians stop spreading hatred? The statement coming from an actor who plays the good Munnabhai only surprises me.

The party that Sanjay Dutt is campaigning for also has some interesting points in its manifesto. One of them touched me completely. The party says it will be putting a BAN on computers in INDIA because they believe in the power of manual labour and want to generate employment.

What kind of a regressive thinking is this? Do we expect India to continue to be the land of the poor and the wretched? Ofcourse, computers are not the only way to achieve an improvement in the economy, but banning computers is utterly Taliban-esque!!!


Boo boo Munnabhai!! A WRONG WRONG MOVE BY YOU (in the speech) and BY YOUR PARTY (in the manifesto!!)!

Read full DNA report at : http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1247636

Cyber crime

Internet is a revolution. Every revolution brings a revelation - a revelation of the opportunities that open up to you.

Cyber crime is one such door that has opened due to the internet. Just that this door leads you to a room with no floor.

I just happened to read today that a 16 year old Ahmedabad boy was convicted for sending hoax emails threatening a bomb blast pretending to be from the underworld. The boy admitted to the prank.


There are many such incidents in which the accused have intentionally or more often, unintentionally committed crime on the internet...

'Some' political parties, after reading this, may want to go on a rampage breaking down all cyber cafes as they are 'responsible' for all the 'dirty new generation'. In fact, it happened a few days ago in a city in Maharashtra.

The root of the problem is that we do not want to go to the root of the problem. The political initiative limits itself to get into the public eye either by making remarks or by breaking things down.

The issue can only be addressed by awareness. Awareness of what is legal and more importantly, what is illegal on the internet. An authority resource to know about the cyber-laws in India is:

http://www.cybercellmumbai.com/cyber-laws/


Let's not break the cyber cafes down, oh political parties! Let's educate the people about the laws in the new domain!

Elevator

Tanmay's reflection on the metallic doors of the elevator split into two as the doors opened. He stepped inside the elevator and turned around. He pressed the button to the third floor. The button turned red.

Tanmay felt heavier as the elevator moved upwards.

The lift came to a halt with a minor jolt. As Tanmay looked into his reflection on the door, the door again went open in two halves. Tanmay walked out.


* * * * * *

You have to stop looking at yourself when you decide you want to go up in life. That is when Tanmay's image splits into two due to the opening of the doors.

When you are moving upwards in life (like Tanmay in the elevator), you ought to feel heavy. Rising upwards in life, too, is certainly difficult.

A minor jolt is an indicative of the fact that you have come to your destination.

It is now that your image will no longer be cast on the inner part of the door. The image will again break into two when the doors open. Not the image but the person itself is what the world outside will now notice... Since the doors have opened..


We often groom images for ourselves when we set off on a journey. It is later that the images come off and the elevator shows the world the real you...

A cheesy cheesy line

Just thought of this line today. I cannot take the blame for 'mis'-consequences if this line is used. :-)

"You are so sweet that when you ate chocolate fudge ice-cream that day, I could hear chocolate fudge ice-cream ecstatically telling me how sweet you tasted!"


:-)

I want Global warming

I want global warming. I want the world to get warmed up with smiles and pleasantries. With heartfelt wishes.

I want the globe to go warm with joy and compassion.

I want global warming...

Differences

We are all different. The differences may start with the God we believe in, the socio-economic background we come from and go upto the choices and the preferences that we decide to make in life.

Why is then so much hatred and hostility towards a person just because he does not practice your religion? Or does not come from your community/region? Or does not like things that you like? Why the glaring eyes at the squint-eyed person just because he doesn't look like the more common people around? Why the animosity towards a student just because he seems to be showing no progress in his studies?

Why do we love equations and balance-sheets so much that we forget the Entity that is greater than all of us and that cannot be equated to anything else?

We all are so obsessed with equality that we cannot respect the differences between us.

Kids crossing the road

Disclaimer: A creative and imaginary description of something I saw the other day

It was a long road in Powai where five to six year-old kids fifteen in number were walking along the footpath with their hands held. The sun was stronger than ever that afternoon as two female teachers and one male assistant guided the kids from the garden where they had been for their physical training classes.

The kids walked carefully on the footpath as the teachers guided them.

"Chalo kids! Time to cross the road!", the teacher declared.

There was a visible scare on the faces of the toddlers.

The teacher took them to a zebra crossing. As they waited for the signal to go red, the kids were all scared for the new adventure in life that they were about to do - cross the road all by themselves.

The signal went red, the cars stopped.

"Chalo kids! No talking! Walk fast!!"

I saw the excitement, fear, anxiety and joy on the faces of the kids as they looked around and walked with their hands tightly held. All of them were scared - but their only comfort was the person's hand they were holding.

Probably, this was the first time the kids were realizing what friendship meant - a sense of security that grows without the need of having the same blood running through your veins.

The kids walked swiftly as they crossed the road. As they reached the other side of the road, the kids looked jubilant. They had these wide smiles on their faces and looked all happy. They continued to hold their friends' hands. I could see the joy of a never-before thrill in their eyes...


============

The kids were, in their mind, happy and were celebrating their success - the first time they crossed the road ever without their parents around.

Why do we adults then always look at negative side of things and fail to celebrate our much bigger successes? Why do we want to be sad when only small reasons like these are enough to be happy?


One of the boys in the group was nearly jumping in joy. I am sure the first thing he'd do after getting back home is to tell his mom that he crossed the road all by himself today.

Just the zeal in him made me want to be a child again...

Fools of the World Unite!

Disclaimer: In humour only. I am taking digs at a lot of people

(I know this should've come yesterday on the April Fools' Day. But somehow, the idea didn't strike me yesterday. Kya karein, fool hai na!!)

Aaditya climbs the podium and looks at a sea of crowd that goes into an uproar. There are camera flashes. "They are enough to light up the terrace of our Preeti building on a New Years' eve", a little girl tugged at her mom's sari and said.

Aaditya eyes the crowd left to right and to left again.

"Fools!", he shouts.

The crowd jumps in excitement.

"Why does the world look at us with contempt when it calls us the fools? Why are we the fools? We should be proud to be fools..."

The crowd cheers.

"And what do we get in return? One day in the middle of the year called the April Fools' Day. "

"They pull pranks on us on that day! But what the heck! Do they realize that the same day is the beginning of a New Financial Year - when all the records of the year gone by are backed up and the balance sheet comes out clean!! Isn't THAT the biggest April Fools' prank ever?!"

The crowd went berserk. One person pulled his tshirt out and moved it round in circles.

"It's time to unite. We cannot continue to stay in the closet! We cannot stay separate in different places - different institutions, different communities, different groups! Why do we stay in different political parties when we can come together and form a party of our own? Why do we stay in different companies when all of us can pool in our talent to set up a company of our own? We have to unite!!"

"Fools of the World, Unite!!!!"

The crowds kept cheering even after Aaditya had got down the stage and walked away.

Aaditya thought to himself, "How many are going to be left in the other parties, companies and institutes if all of them join me? Am I going to have competition anyways?" He smiled.

Maybe he shouldn't have said what he said at the sabha. But which political leader thinks before addressing a public meeting anyways, he thought.

He smiled as the crowd cheered in support.