Vision 2020?? My Foot!!

 

I still remember my school days when we pledged “India is my country all Indians are my brothers & sisters, blah blah...... will strive to develop it by 2020.” Now, what part of this phrase are people having trouble deciphering? What’s wrong with people, how come the I-will-save-my-sisters men are assaulting their own sisters?

Hey, You! Would you be cool if this were to happen with own sister? Or rather would you go through the pain that a helpless woman goes through when you are all over again like a mindless animal? No, you wouldn’t you pervert! How about you assault and play with yourself for an instance and put yourself through the agony that a woman goes through; just for once you mindless retards.

Now, the past Delhi rape incident, the so called “the-case-that-shook-the country” the case that I assume: have changed many a people, the case that bought many reforms, agitations, new laws most importantly the case that is lying in the same unattended pile of cases. Amidst that very agitation, many more hearts which were brave were laid to rest. A couple of agitations, candle light marches, debates in all news channels, seeking opinion of bureaucrats, spokes-persons on what measures to be taken and the next morning you wake up it is déjà-vu all over again, switch on the television, grab a news paper both writhe in pain of helpless minor being raped to death.

Alright now, the recent 5 year old rape case; how on earth a human being in the right mind assault a 5 years old? She is not even woman yet, what kind of a planet do people like that hail from, the land that craves for castration I suppose. The incident the other day in Jaipur, where a man’s cry for help of his wounded son and dead wife and an infant fell on deaf ears, seriously the apathy of the people is what makes me dumb-struck. What kind of people are we turning ourselves into? With this squalid state that we are in, we dream to be a country that everyone will look up to? My foot.

People said girl’s attire kindles a man’s desire and sets his libido humming; now what kind of a man’s libido would hum seeing 5 years old? Only a man who would want his balls cut off and fed to the dogs, well, help him for God’s sake. Such a horrible shame, we Indians are so vulnerable to terror attacks, we fed a terrorist who was responsible for deaths of innocent people and respected officers for years, then hanged him, with chest wide as an ocean pretending to have set an example for future attacks, seriously who are we kidding?

I heard our beloved government taking harsh measures to halt the assaults like these, but then I realized they are just all words lacking action. Rapist held, FIR filed, hearing to take place next week- why waste so much time in delivering justice, go for castration put a bullet in his head, end of story. That should not be difficult. We have been holding, rapists, filing FIR’s and hearing cases for years now, it is time to pull up our socks and get to business. Looking at the stats, deciphering them, telecasting them and opining on them is not going to solve a thing.

 “Justice will be served”,” stringent laws will come in to force”, “swift justice needed”, these catch-phrases are designed only to cajole a human ear, not the heart. Justice will be served stale, stringent laws are and will be on their way for ever before either of them arrive, we will have many more hearts to cajole and many more souls to pacify.

P. S: All the readers of this article, request you to help me if I am “arrested” for publishing the article, and voicing my opinion!

Cheers!

Till Life Did Us Part!!

I still remember the last day of my graduation, people elated, relieved and not to mentioned tired. The day had finally arrived for which we have been waiting from the day when we realized the true essence of graduation- probably the first day I suppose!  :P

Chanting, shouting, screaming, jumping high in the air, and getting pictures clicked by all the class-mates. Promising them that we shall stay in touch for the rest of our lives, come what may, we shall cross paths every now and then, call up each other twice, thrice a day, meet up twice a week and make sure every day is just an another day at college.

8 months after the last day at college, and in to this so- called corporate life style, I realized I made promises that I can’t keep, I hardly meet my friends, all the I’ll be in touch phrases seem to be long forgotten. I refrain myself from dozing off after I have my dinner so that I can call a friend of mine and get to know how is he doing, but in vain. Even if I manage to call up a friend, most of the time the conversation happens to be about mundane things and ends up on a “let us meet some time” note!

After 5 days of work, getting out of my bed seems to be an herculean task let alone going out and hanging out with friends. Everything despite being monotonous and thrill-lacking one is bound to be sucked in to the same rigmarole day after day.

At times I become nostalgic, just listening to my brother talk about his day at college. The records, exams, lectures, slogging for attendance, last minute run for the evaluation of records, seminars, bunking classes; which once seemed to be never ending, is now history which carved numerous memories on our hearts. Every day an adventure, joy full and awesome!

I still remember the pocket money crunch I had at times, that made me settle only for a couple of "Samosa’s" and my appetite admonished me for not saving the money properly.  Now it is the other way round where the appetite has grown smaller and money has taken lead. I wish I could go back to the college days and cease to exist in that very moment. Because life now has only one thing to offer- Nothing! Eat, Poop, Work, Sleep  and well eat and poop again. 

 Though we made stringent promises that our “lives” would be the same even after the college days as it turned out life itself did us part.

Adios!!

The Corporate Gossip!

It has been quite some time that I wrote something, then all of sudden I realized how come I missed writing about the things that I put myself through at workplace. And, ergo gossiping about the gossip!

6 months into this alien (corporate) land, I have witnessed people from being a modest, subtle, chaste to being contentious, selfish, boot lickerish. It’s like working with a bunch of chameleons, and sooner or later you are bound to become one. The first day of my office I still remember my mom said” Never utter a damn word, be all ears all the time”. (Mothers I thought) as it turns out she was right to every bit of it.

 

What would all the dog do when 10 dogs bark in front of him, sure as hell he will bark for all he knows he doesn’t want himself to be left out, call it social outcast perhaps. And, the next thing he knows he has just hammered the last nail in his coffin. One shall elevate the very intentions of you to the senior and the next thing you know you are in your manager’s cross-hair and by the time you realize- You are triggered, not fair but square!

Every story has 2 sides is what they say, but in corporate genre you have myriad stories all liberated from a single one and none of those; not even one stays remotely close to the raw one, it is like "Creativity @ Peaks!"

Most of what one utters, falls on deaf ears, had they been functioning then the real story would have made buzz not the one that’s fabricated like- 100 times?! One doesn’t quite mind his own business, for all we know- we humans are gifted with a nose.

You grab a cup of coffee with a colleague of ours your ears are blessed with his version of the story you go for lunch you hear a whole different story from another colleague and go for dinner- hell breaks loose!  It is so hard to cajole ones heart, portraying others are bad for all you know you don’t know a damn thing about what the reality is. Reality lies way below and is piled upon by the creativity!

Being dialectical, sorting out the melange of emotions that people pour out seems a conundrum that is hard to crack.  No matter how hard one tries to evade the scene, they get to you hard and quick. The gossip is so contagious that one can’t keep away from it; and everyone wants a piece of the crap!

Sooner or later one slogs his ass only to save it from being kicked (harder). It so happens at times that you get to pay the bet that you have not even agreed to, things spread like a wild inferno setting ablaze all the reality and truth. 

One need not have to put himself through the tough task of eavesdropping, wait for the moment, it shall come and your ears shall be blessed  by the gossip and crave for help!

Adios! *Elated*

Arrivederci 2012, Aloha 2013!

Here I am scripting the very first post of 2013, and that implies “Suck it Mayans”! 2012 has been a year in which life has taught me one too many lessons and each lesson was new and different from one another. I have seen life take steep twists and turns and yet offering something to rejoice at the end of the day.

It was the year that saw the end of my wait for 4 excruciatingly long years to call myself a “graduate”. That was one hell of a ride, I miss the college days at times but, I have learnt to let go of things and move on. 

It was the year that exposed me to the corporate world, working for the largest gaming company is the best thing that happened to me last year! Moreover, I have always heard about the fact that “there is no better feeling in spending what you earn” from my Dad, but this year bought reality to it. And, all the myths I have heard about the perils of corporate world bust one after the other.

It was the year I grew more stronger mentally and why fake it physically too! People have made me realize about the various facts about me that for these many years I was blind to see. Now, that I know them I feel proud about myself.

It was the year I saw my Facebook profile picture rake likes and comments in double digits, it was like a social dream come true. I gave up on this but, a new hope is now kindled in me. *Tears of Joy*

I have had the most abysmal record as far as adhering to resolutions is concerned but, it is fun to make some and sooner or later forfeit them. So, here they are:

*Drum roll*

• Write more often don’t let the blog go in to a dry spell. 
• Read all the books in my shelf, and also all the books (apart from the ones already read) written by John Grisham till date.
• Try to gain more likes and comments for my Facebook profile picture, and this time triple digits! *semi-colon parenthesis*

Well, that’s about it, these don’t seem hard enough to adhere to! I also thought about sticking to a fitness regime and ergo lose weight. But then there is no point in dwelling about a helpless cause when you know you can do nothing about it. J

Though I snatch away many memories from the year 2K12, I’m glad it is over, for all I know 2K13 has something better in store for me. Dwelling in the past only makes one realize that though it seems familiar, it has nothing to offer. 

Adios!

 

Pen Is Mightier Than Sword! Or is it?

Well, I have been on a non-intentional hiatus from writing for quite some time, for the fact that I have been in the afterglow of the corporate life, where you sleep, eat, party, go shopping and then sleep again....and to be honest it feels great! J

 

I have been pondering on this very thought for quite some time, recently a colleague of mine happened to ask me “if I could lend him a pen”, and I with utmost pride said “who carries a pen these days!”  Well, as it turns out I was right- who carries a pen these days? People have so evolved with the technology that one can literally make a note of anything in his mobile phone, and save it forever. People tend to carry everything with them which is remotely of use, but are indolent to carry a mere pen!

Long gone are the days when one picked up a pen and wrote something for a real purpose, I sometimes wonder how could one evolve so much? We (as most of us are) as graduates hardly consider writing something during their graduation except during the exams, when we script something sensational, something out of the box!

Where are those days when people wrote letters, when pen was considered the most influential weapon that could liberate any human’s wildest feelings when the nib of it touched the very layer of a paper? Long gone or those days when people considered a pen to be mightier than a sword, that it could silence the mighty mouths of people with utmost poignancy. I don’t quite remember when was the last time I held a pen, except fondling my hair with it, let alone writing something with it.

It sometimes is so hard to believe that we have out grown ourselves in myriad ways, the first thing we learn to do after we are born is to write, and we learn this even before we learn to realize the fact that we pooped in the same diaper twice! And, look at us now, the former is completely forgotten!

Imagine a world without pens, people would probably scribble everything in the air and just pretend that they have made a note of it. No more signatures, they might as well carry a digital sign in their mobile phones! Exams would be taken orally, and yeah “doctors you no longer have to be ashamed of your handwriting and you no longer have to be terrified of the mocking that would follow after a patient reads your ‘you-can’t-understand’ prescription.” 

I so miss those days when my dad wrote letters to me when he was transferred somewhere else. Going through those letters makes me realize that our generation has been missing something very beautiful. Now, we have emails, texting, facebook, and what not thanks to the technology again. Everything that has to be noted these days is noted in the most technological way possible, and corporate life hampers usage of pen and paper in the most decisive manner, thanks to mobile phones, tablets, and laptops.

Pen these days is held to scribble crap, scribble our signature over hundred times all over a book, and if it happens to be held for writing something- then what has been written is not worth the pen. 

I so believe that the day is not so far when people would probably kill each other with pens! In that context, ironically, pen is mightier than sword!

P.S: The current article is scripted on a laptop; despite there was no serious intention in doing so!

The Show Must Go On!

He woke up to daily dose of his father’s anger.  He knew there was no way he could get off the bed, before his father lost his cool every day.  Angry, and frustrated by his father for depriving him of the “15 minutes” before he could complete 12 hours of sleep, he slowly and reluctantly mustered the courage to let the blankets go off his body.

Alok always knew neither he could never live up to his father’s high expectations as far as his academics were concerned nor could he ever accomplish what his father has accomplished against all odds. Alok never really had the courage to look up to his father and ask for what he wanted; his mom came to his rescue all the time!

“Don’t you have any studying to do apart from watching movies all the time?” asked Alok’s father.

“I was about to start studying”, replied Alok with a tone of guilt.

“Well, you don’t always have to study the college books, that will fetch you nothing but a degree. Read literature, fiction, drama, the ones that have always made people come alive and have literally drenched people in insurmountable pleasure.”

“Books are the most loyal friends a person can ever have, read books that make you feel your life is worth living not which makes you worthy of a degree”, having said that he left the door slamming the door shut behind him.

Alok never really bothered what his father has told him that day. But, he soon realized that he had made a mistake.

It was Alok’s birthday, and, he looked forward to the prospect of taking pride in everything he did from now on- as he was a teenager now!

But, today he woke up to something different. He saw what-he-thought was a gift from his brother wrapped in colorful sheet of paper. To his dismay it was from his father, he ripped the gift of its cover and found a fiction novel by John Grisham. He with a frowning face started reading it, and, he was hooked to it for a strong 4 hours. He couldn’t let go off the book without reading it one go.

“That was a great read dad”, said Alok.

“I know, feel the difference now?” that is what a real book does. It sucks you in to it and shows a world so surreal, which in every way seems realistic.

“Yeah, suggest me some books from your Book-Shelf and I will read them”. Alok’s father was beaming beatifically now, which was uncanny.

“Sure, I will and on every birthday of yours, I will gift you one book from my favourites of all time”

No sooner did Alok realised that books were his best company; one learns to be alone when he is with books. His father has always told him that, feeling lonely? Grab a book.

Exchanging the knowledge about the new novels Alok read and his father read was the only talk Alok had with his father in a father-son manner, rest were between an angry father and a frustrated teenager.

Every Birthday from then on, Alok woke up to a new book by his side and he looked forward reading it with utmost enthusiasm for it was his father’s all time favorites!

His father has always told him, “no matter what, no matter how grave the times may be, never stop reading books; they offer you a lot of new things and change your life in many ways, do remember I have managed to keep away from the gloomy days of my life by clinging on to a book. The show must go on regardless of what one is going through, because the audience applaud at the end of the show, not in the middle of it.

The prospect of earning on his own and gifting his father a book, always lighted him. A glow of pride passed on from one end of his face to another. And, then decided he would buy book with the pocket money he has been stashing under the bed for almost a year now and gift it to his father on his birthday.

“Get up Alok, shouted his mother, it is your birthday today!”

“He woke up and felt void, the time froze and everything around him seemed motionless, there was nothing on the bed, no book wrapped in colorful wrapped sheet, he felt sick to his stomach.”

He went to his drawing table a pulled out a sheet of folded paper and put it in his pocket; he freshened up and put on the new clothes he bought the other day along with his friends. He went to the nearby book store and went straight to the lectern that read “fiction”, and pulled the sheet of paper from his pocket. He started crossing the sheet of paper several times and then stopped and looked for a book in on the shelf.

“I will take this one” he said to the shop keeper, paid him and left the shop.

“Hey dad, sorry I am late, I woke up a little late today, was up all night reading The Godfather.” Well, guess what I have been planning to gift you a book on my birthday today, here you go, he pulled out the book colorfully wrapped in a sheet of paper and placed it on the ground beside his father’s grave.

Alok’s father died of a cardiac arrest a month before his birthday 3 years ago. Alok never really was bereaved; he knew there was no need for anyone to take care of him, for he had “books” with him. Tears never really stirred emotions in him nor did the loneliness.

Alok always has learnt that, "One has to be attuned to everything that life throws in one's way." 

Alok slowly tore up the layers of wrapping around the book, sat on the ground, and started reading. A drop of tear rolled down his cheek but, he felt nothing because deep down inside he knew, no matter what, no matter how grave the situation may be, “The Show Has to Go On”.

Adios!