The Engineers Of Fate

They had fought so hard to be together. And it was completely worth it, may be the best thing that ever happened in their lives. He loved to watch her laugh, She understood him completely - friends idolized their compatibility.

Whenever they saw others bickering about things, they secretly prayed to God to thank Him for each other. Finishing each other's sentences had become a habit. It was the kind of love they had always dreamed of having.

Tonight was their third wedding anniversary. They had planned this evening at the spur of the moment and decided to meet after work at the street with some of the best restaurants in the city.

He bought her favorite flowers. She applied the lipstick he loved on her. And they set out for their meeting place - happy about the date, happy about their life, just happy.

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Her little boy had finally done it ! After weeks of hard work and ignoring friends' pleas to "come play for atleast fifteen minutes" , he had finally aced his monthly tests. She was insanely proud of him, and thankful to have a son who valued his mother's approval over cricket. After all, he was just ten.

She planned on rewarding him tonight with a pizza and his favorite ice-cream. Thinking about how she would go through labour pain & those difficult initial months of raising a new born for days like these - days full of pride - she picked up her purse and car keys & set out. She would pick her son up from school where he was training to be selected for the school cricket team, and surprise him by driving to the famous eatery street. All his favorite shops were there, they would have a great time.

She smiled inwardly and turned on the ignition.

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After months of their boss breathing down their necks , and virtually no personal lives ; their team had finally done it . The contract was theirs. In a moment of sheer unheard-of generosity, the boss declared a party night. They would get crazy drunk, maybe split some hair at the hep Karaoke bar across the street and go to work late the next morning- including the boss. This contract was going to make a big difference - they had their work cut out for them- but tonight was not the night to think about that. They were going to raise hell tonight and make up for all missed dinners, every angry spouse who complained of being loved less than "this job".

Their favorite hangout was just across the street, bustling with life - there were so many good restaurants in the same lane, it was always busy and overcrowded. Laughing at each other & soaking in their success , they set out for the bar. They couldn't stop smiling - it had been a good day, it was going to be an awesome night.

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The busiest street in the city was the obvious choice. It was noisy and crowded 24x7, sometimes till the early morning hours. There were so many famous places people flocked to at night - bars, nightclubs, bakeries , restaurants. All types of people - kids, young lovers, families, groups of friends, tourists - were there in droves. Guaranteed the maximum headcount in numbers.

That was where the bomb was.

                                                                   ************
If only we were a species that could let the happy people be happy, without feeling the compulsion to drag them in the world's collective misery, it would be such a good time to be alive in.

We Bought A Zoo : 2 hours of sheer positivity

There are movies that tell you about the shithole that is the world. There are movies about self absorbed nitpickers whose biggest worry in life is finding 'the one'. But every once in a while there comes a movie that is about the indomitable spirit of chasing an adventure, that teaches you no matter how hard it gets , as the most evolved race on the earth its your duty to keep on going no matter what, and to see where it takes you.

"We Bought A Zoo" is the story of an adventure junkie who gets dealt a bad hand in life - his wife dies, his son is a teenager who is drifting away from him, and a ton of other problems. To start anew and to escape his wife's memory, he buys a zoo that is about to be shut down for lack of funds. It becomes his home , its where his son finds love , and where he is finally at peace with his wife's memory.

The biggest lesson this movie teaches you is that letting go can be both a blessing and a curse. Do not declare any decision in life a bad one just too soon, and don't hold on to a memory which is ripping your heart into shreds just because you don't know how to live without it. This movie is about the balance of choice, and letting go of the right thing at the right time, finding purpose and happiness on the way.

Matt Damon is breathtaking as Benjamin - the clueless father who doesn't know how to connect with his son , as the clueless zoo-owner who wouldn't let the help put down the lion who doesn't keep well just because it's too expensive, and as the husband who breaks down looking at his wife's pictures sitting alone on the kitchen floor. Memories are both elixir and poison.

And once again, music is the king. Just the right tunes for when the peacocks are hatching, and for when the sarcastic brother turns up in time to help Benjamin with opening the zoo in time. Every frame in the movie is crafted to brilliance, dialogue, background , acting , the works.

If its not already, add this movie to your bucket list. For me , its the best feel good movie ever made. The perfect Sunday night to prepare you for Monday blues.

Cheers !

Bearings of a recent IMNU passout

Change is the only constant of nature. Hence the word 'recent'. IMNU is known for its infrastructure and pedagogy among outsiders, but to us insiders there are a few other things as well that are the hallmark of our alma mater as much as the fame of IMNU in business education and will always be a part of the memories we have of the place.

1. You have started talking MBA
Although we have all pretended to be the 'devil-may-care' bad boys and girls of IMNU who would not study until there are exams approaching , we have all noticed that whatever we are taught seeps through even while we snore on the back benches. Be it noticing the marketing mechanism at Qwiches, or beginning to understand the discussions on CNBC, we can't deny MBA is making a difference. And half your sentences definitely start with "It depends". And you can discuss a topic to the death.


2. Veg Makhanwala brings tears to your eyes
You'll just have to take the word of the mess staff to believe its Veg Makhanwala, because you can't make out any sort of vegetable in the orange colored blob you put in your plate. And don't get me wrong, the IMNU mess is known for being hygienic and some items on the menu are to die for, chilly idli is the reason most people are able to attend the first class of the day. But Veg Makhanwala is the innermost circle of Dante's hell, no kidding.

3. You have had atleast one bad fight with an autowaala
Because IMNU is in like Srilanka, you have had to endure a war of words with autowaalas about whether or not they deserve 'dedha bhaada' to drop you there from the city. With time, somewhere along the second half of your first year, you mastered the tactics of negotiation and were proud of it , before it all went to hell and you made a fourth friend, which gave rise to a different issue, "4 log ka kitta logey?"

4. Gattu and RD are your Maseehas
Now I am a girl who had no access to two wheelers for about half my time at IMNU, but for whatever time I did, I made a guaranteed trip a day there. If your friend is missing, go to Gattu ki tapri before you go to the police station, you won't have to go anywhere else. You would not have had as much  Bournvita in your entire childhood as you had there  !! And no matter how palatable the food in the campus is and how full the city is of upscale fancy restaurants, there has been one trip a week to RD. And miraculously, the proprietor of RD knows the mess menu everyday and plans accordingly !

5. A location is a location is a location
You have heard this phrase innumerable times and sniggered , but were still never able to make head or tail of it.  Yes a location is a location, and a potato is a potato.  Phrases like "Ap padhte nahi hain", and "Peel the Onion" are full of meaning, just for you. You happen to know more about China's economy than possibly do the MBA students in China , but  you also have a page in your notebook somewhere , on which you keep noting down such catchphrases, and you cry with mirth every time they are repeated in class. Best of both worlds !!

6. MAFIA rush
I have no idea how and why this game became popular, but it spread faster than Swine Flu. Now this may be particular of the 2012-14 batch, but it was a fad that made us crazy for a while. And it was good practice . People discovered their anger management issues because of this game !

7. You write on IMNU's  facebook pages with caution
Enough said :D

8. You have started reading newspapers
Now this really does depend on person to person. I have seen many people religiously pick up all the heavy weight dailies like Business Standard and Economic Times and gobble up every word. But I have also seen those who pick up TOI and MINT, then slowly slip out AT and put back the rest later. I have been one of them .

9. You are insanely proud of the sports complex at IMNU
You spent atleast the entire month of January on the grounds or in the cellar, and got to see a camaraderie only sports bring forth. Experts and newbies alike , at IMNU everyone just keeps on playing !

10. You have a soft spot for the Richter ground
That's where love stories have bloomed, friends have had the best of times, we have all rocked to the beats of cultural committee's wonders and where it all came together for us in the end, where we officially became  MBA's.

Cut-Piece : SHE

She walks around the house all day taking care of everybody. She laughs when her kids laugh , she cries when they hurt. She remembers the time her husband comes back from work everyday, she cooks for him with all her heart, she beautifies the house, she waits. She hides her troubles and problems sometimes to be able to be there for family. She finds her happiness in the love she gets from them. She eats garlic because her kids love garlic. She doesn't know much about the world, but she knows her neighbors and is there for them in sickness and in health. She follows all series on television but somehow still finds time to shop for everyone.She prays all the time for everyone she loves, she closes her eyes when she hears a hymn being played somewhere because she is thinking of you. She haggles over a rupee with the greengrocer, but she wants you to buy the most expensive things because it makes her happy. She can kick your ass in mental calculations,  and at the same time she fasts for your health for days on end .
She knows where your socks are in the labyrinth of your cabinet, even when you don't. Sometimes when you are angry or upset, she lets you take it out on her with a smile. She smiles wider when you apologize later. She is the one who looks the most delicate or fragile in your family portrait, but she is your strength. The house crumbles when she falls ill. You need her around for positivity. She is a mother, a housewife, the core of the household. She is completeness. She is love. She is the balance of life. She is what you need to live.

'Tune' In To My Heart

Music moves me.
In MBA, we get to know about all these types of people. There are so many differentiations  they will make your head spin.There is Type A and Type B. Then there is the differentiation that depends on types of learning styles- the auditories and the visuals and the kinesthetics and what-nots. All these differentiations are supposed to help you understand yourself better.
I am a visual learner by definition. I can't retain half the things said to me, I space out. I remember things I read. Now this is supposed to help me understand myself. Sadly, it doesn't.
There is one cranky quality no one has explained to me yet. When I watch a movie with my friends, they cry at the words said, they ooh and aah at the beautiful locations, they appreciate the acting of protagonists. I , strangely , am obtusely oblivious to that. Only one thing affects me- the background music.
Music has that effect on me. It can reduce me to tears in seconds, it can make me want to dance, to look in the mirror feeling that I am special and beautiful, or to start ruminating about the wonder that is the world around me. I admit it is crazy but a 30-second long piece of music has that effect on me, more than a visual or thousands of words heard or read. If I am ever motivated to change the way I think, it will be because of the inspiration I get through a piece of music, and nothing else.
This is the reason, every once in a while I get stuck on a particular section of a song or a particular scene in a movie. I just relive it , yes 'Live' it again and again, till the moment comes when the music is stored in my memory for eternity.
For me , the music is the star. I could watch crappy actors in a silent film if the background score is good, because that's what gives character to the scene.
What 'type' of individual does that make me? I wish someone would try to explain that !


PS : My latest obsession (actually its relapse, I have been addicted to this tune in the past) is the minutes 1:28:45 to 1:34:46 of JUST MARRIED (Ashton Kutcher, Brittney Murphy). I fell in love with the movie because of that music. :)
Cheers !!

Death Penalty : Too Little Too Late

So they are being hanged. The judiciary of India gave a "fast track" decision that took 9 months to decide punishment for people who had confessed their crime within days of being caught. People are happy. Serves them right. Justice has been served. Has it?

No it has not. When you are hanged , and your neck can't take the pressure and your spine breaks , it takes seconds before you die. She suffered for forty five minutes. And for fourteen days after that. There was news that she will live and then the next day they said she might die. One day the doctors were hopeful, the next day they had to fly her to Singapore because matters were getting out of hand for even the best medical institution in her country. Her intestines came out in the torture she was put through. That's not rape. That's the kind of heinous horrendous hell no one wishes upon their worst enemy.  Hanging someone is no punishment for this crime.

The 'juvenile' was sane enough to rape a girl and torture her with an iron rod, but he was a kid when it came to justice. What kind of law can't see which situation can be considered worthy of a law's application and which can't be? The upholders of law in the country behave just like the statue you see in court. They can blindly follow rules at best. Nothing more than that.

When the girl's father got to know of the 'juvenile's' punishment, he said, ' its probably why people pray that they don't have a daughter. Atleast they will never have to go through what I am going through.' How heartbroken does a man have to be to say this. We can't even imagine what the family is going through. The death penalty will bring them no solace. They are condemned to hell for life.

This is not justice . This is a joke. Its a mockery of women and the institution called India. Now there will be court appeals and then NGO's will come for their share of the limelight and then who knows, the President might suddenly grow a heart and give an approval to the mercy plea. I beg to whoever has the power to influence this decision, do not worsen the family's pain. Snapping the rapists' necks is already the bare minimum you can do for Nirbhaya. Don't spit on her grave. There should be no mercy.

I have been a confident girl all my life. I went out alone, wherever I went. Never needed a chaperon. But this incident shook me. I haven't been able to be that confident after that. I pray that my sisters and all my friends whom I love to death are the lucky few who will always be safe. And I will always do that now. Everyday.

Because in India, you need God on your side to be safe. Atleast for now. Let's hope this changes soon.

A very happy Krishna-Janmashtami to us all !!

Its the birthday of the most loved god to have adorned our planet, the naughty and mischievous  Lord Krishna ! Until a few minutes ago, celebrations were in full swing in our hostel . There was music blasting away . Although it bummed me to be sitting here typing away and not being in the thick of it downstairs, I couldn't help but use this time to say this....

Students came out in droves today, ready to let others stand on their shoulders, unified under the single aim of reaching the 'handi' that symbolizes the favourite snack of the beloved Krishna. This entire ritual is  a recreation of how His buddies helped Him steal the jar of  butter when Yashoda wasn't around.
There was water , mud and colour everywhere, there were people everywhere-standing on top of each other, falling, cheering. No one cared about the soiled clothes, the scratches from falling again and again, broken spectacles were cast aside, bruises dusted , friends patted on the back for trying again after falling flat into the ground.
They kept falling and kept coming back. And the cheer kept getting louder each time. It was a strange sense of unity, even those dousing water buckets on the 'gwalas' trying to get at the  'dahi-handi' did not seem like the other side, they cheered the loudest when the 'handi' was finally reached and broken.

Its strange how my mind felt peaceful watching them like this, when people around you are happy it rubs off on you.  This was one moment where there was no animosity towards the one trying to make you fall, they were a part of your celebration when you finally succeeded. Maybe such rituals exist to remind us that no matter what the situation is , if we approach it together we can extract the best out of it and be happy in the process. I have always been a sucker for unity and watching people being merry together is the most beautiful sight in the world. I wish Syria and The United States could have a 'dahi-handi' festival !!

Cheers !

AND THE MOUNTAINS ECHOED : A REVIEW

Anyone who has read the first two literary masterpieces by Khaled Hosseini  can  identify with this book right from the first word . Al- though it has no connection (except Afghanistan) to the other two books , the characters, their losses, their love and their situations will give you a slight sense of Déjà vu.  
This book has outgrown the war that destroyed Afghanistan. Now the characters are not victims of the war literally, but they have been affected in some way or the other by the aftermath. And the characters , though Afghanis , are globally spread.
But unlike the other two, it lacks that soulful connection to the un- fortunate country, and borders on being a medium of encasing the author’s knowledge about whatever has happened there.
The narrative begins beautifully – the relationship of a little boy with his baby sister, the unconditional love he feels for her, and the brutality of fate that tears them apart. But that’s that. After that, it’s just a gallimaufry of storylines.
Too many plots and too many characters kill the show. And the worst part is that when you finally begin to feel connected with the character , after reading 80-odd pages about who they are and how the war affected them , they are done and won’t return as an important part of the central storyline.
Each buildup is heart-touching in itself.  But their relevance to the main characters and their story is lost. Makes the reader wonder what the point was in knowing that character so deeply.
Although its still light years ahead of its contemporary fiction novels in terms of the attention to detail, and emotional content, its still very poor competition to its predeces- sors and in all fairness, stands no- where in comparison to A Thou- sand Splendid Suns.  
This book would have been a treat had Abdullah and Pari been the only focus of the book. But as the spotlight shifted from them, the mountains were lost and all that remained were the barren bland plains with nothing much to keep a reader hooked.
In a nutshell, a good but disap- pointing read.

A Beauty Salon left me wondering about Life

Yesterday i was sitting in the waiting room of a plush beauty salon in Ahmedabad, getting utterly frustrated at the human suffering of 'having to wait' for every service imaginable. When i was done moping , i started looking around for the sole purpose of having something to do. My eyes fell upon a little boy who was sitting in a swiveling chair  , getting a hair cut. But his expression was akin to that which someone has before receiving capital punishment. He was close to tears , flinching each time the scissors or the hairdresser's hands touched his neck. His face looked so miserable that i felt an instant rush of adoration for him, and i gave him a smile assuming my friendly expression would calm him a little.
Result, you ask? He freaked out and started looking in the other direction. Maybe if he had not been so scared , he would have pointed to me and asked "Ghar me baap bhai nahi hai kya!!Ghoorti kaiko hai!!" Anyway, I felt mortified and stopped staring, but i still kept glancing at him maintaining a bravado, holding back tears, flinching, nodding, flinching...

And then suddenly, his face broke into the most beautiful smile. He beamed and waved to someone behind me, and started chatting animatedly with the hairdresser, the actions his hands were making lead me to assume he was saying " give me a Mohawk, dude!"

I was baffled, I turned around to see who had suddenly turned his day upside down (or downside-up, if you can get the wordplay). And I saw a lady in a saree, adjusting her grocery bag on her shoulder, smiling at the boy. One look at her features and i was in no doubt whatsoever, mommy had arrived.

Why do the people we love are the only ones who make this world worth living, worth getting up in the morning everyday, inspiring us to do something with our lives  . They are the core of our universe, the reason our faces break out into sunny smiles on a frequent basis.

Such a smile would never be brought to your face by a paycheck, however fat that may be, unless you think of some dear one's wish that you may now  fulfill using that amount.
Makes us wonder, what should be the priority in life? I am living away from my family for 3 years now, trying to make it as an adult in the world, trying to become someone they can be proud of. I am old enough to be able to control my emotions in public, and yet it is I, who most regularly breaks into tears and says " ghar jana hai".

Crying about your blood-sucking boss, or about  the market scenario that is ever so gloomy, or the fact that sometimes you can't figure out what is going on with your career plans, whenever you feel life is getting out of control and you had rather it wasn't your life; close your eyes and think about the faces that pop up. In the web of your life adorning some wall of God's office, you will find a lot of interconnected threads, their lives are your life and they are a reason you should still thank God everyday. Those who still have at least one person they can't live without, can't stop smiling thinking about; they are the Chosen Lucky Few.

Prioritize everyday. Everything else goes wrong because God knows he has put a good maintenance team in place to sort the wreck that is you. But about maintaining your relationships, He says "Do it yourself, Sucker. There is no spoon-feeding here !"

Cut-piece : Confessions of a Paranoid Soul

When I see the world around me, can’t help but feeling the world is being set up for the worst kind of Doomsday. The kind seen in movies like 2012 and Deep Impact. Needn’t be a nature related cataclysm but I get a really strong feeling that the world as we know it isn’t going to be around for much longer.

I’ll tell you my reasons for this paranoia. The Eurozone crisis and unrest in countries like Syria, The extreme financial crisis being faced by Greece, the political-cum-tactical games being played by China against India , America losing face along with it’s credit rating at the world stage, Iran building it’s own nuclear weapon despite the international pressure and the worries that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons might end up in the hands of terrorists; are just a few of the things that make me feel , that we are on the verge of World War III. And we all know how this one will end.

Reading too much newspaper has done me in, I should say.

But there is one thing that gives me the willpower and optimism to stand up and go about my chores every day , and that is the sound of my neighbor’s baby boy laughing as his mother plays with him every morning. The sound of giggles he makes when mommy tickles him cleans my heart of any traces of pessimism I had gathered throughout the previous day. If God decided to send another life to Earth at times like this, Surely he must be giving us another long lease at life and happiness.

That kid doesn’t care what kind of crap is going on in the World as long as the woman he loves more than anything in this world (yet) is with him to protect him till the very end. All people like me can get inspired by him.

We all have people who would die before letting anything happen to us, and for whom we would do the same. Its for them that we should make an effort,  after all , they are the main thing our world is made up of.

If everybody thought about the people they loved and lived just for them, the world would automatically become a much better place to live in.

It might count as short-sightedness, but just like that baby I have decided to live day by day, not caring much for what developments in the world might mean in the long run, I’ll enjoy each day as it comes, being optimistic that nothing wrong can happen till that kid has seen life, had good moments , fallen in love and lived to the fullest. That must be God’s plan. Why else would He send him to earth at times like this?? :)

We Are Way Behind The Times

God made one earth, nature divided it into continents , man divided it by countries and religion. Our country went a step further and divided people of the same religion on the basis of different castes.

It should have stopped there.

There was once a time when some of the brightest minds in the country decided that some races  have been victim to oppression for centuries and that the time was ripe to bring them to justice.

And it was true , some castes (let's call them 'The Oppressed') had been ill-treated in our country's past. There is no denying it. They were oppressed, insulted , demeaned and denied the right to respect of fellow countrymen- which, in my opinion, is the most basic of all human rights and should be a constitutionally valid fundamental right as well.

What was done to enforce justice to The Oppressed was not right . At least it doesn't seem right now.

Reserving a few seats in educational institutions, providing education to the oppressed at minimal fee, might have seemed to be breakthroughs to the people in power at that time. In today's scenario, these ideas just seem stupid. These concessions should be for the people who need them, not for those who want them just because their forefathers got them and it has become a right of sorts for them.

And yes, The Oppressed were the poorest sections of the society at that time, so it was only logical then to provide them education free of cost, but why now?

Are The Oppressed the only poor (or let's say 'not-that-well-to-do') people of the country?

Are they still the undermined minority?

And if they are, is reserving half the capacity of educational institutions for minority right? Leaving the majority to fight it out tooth-and-nail (and bribe and coaching and endless hours of study and backdoor entries and suicide if nothing else works because all your friends got somewhere except you , as  they were either geniuses or kids of rich people or of those who the government has vowed to cherish and protect as their own) for the other half ?

It is a rule of human nature, that people realize the worth of something only when they have earned it, and paid for it by their blood and sweat and toiled for it with all they had. The Oppressed have their future presented to them on a golden platter , the others have to slog endless hours , and even then , there is only a 51% chance that their efforts will do them good..

What our intelligent leaders don't realize is that it's differentiations like this that divide the society, and don't let people forget that they are separated by something, that there is a difference between the way the world sees them and treats them. How can you be friends-forever with someone if you could not get into the college that could have been the gateway to your bright future because you weren't considered intelligent enough for it, but your friend could, he/she didn't have to prove their intelligence (because the results showed you deserved it more than they did ), but he/she ended up in your place, because centuries ago, your ancestors had ill-treated their forefathers.

Would it let you treat them as your own? I don't think it would.

There is a reason why a system of cut-off percentage is applied in admissions to specialized courses, so that the quality of people being trained is maintained. There is a huge difference between the performance expected from the different sections of society being discussed. It’s not understandable that the people given this advantage are allowed sub-standard performances unlike others.

This discrimination is being extended further . The Oppressed now have reservation in public sector jobs too . And any company that opposes it faces the wrath of the Mighties.

Doomsday for us would be the day when its decided that this rule will be imposed on the private sector as well.

The meritorious will reach success , with these crutches or without them. Kids in remote parts of the country sit in boats  and cross ropeways to reach schools. Our greatest President used to study under a street lamp. They did not have this favoritism fueling their aspirations. Why do some people find the need for them. And more importantly, why is it decided again and again , that they deserve that?

The day when some government has the guts to stand against this would be a great day for our country. The starting line for the leap to progress. That day India would be called a developed nation.

Governments would never be able to muster up the guts to tell off those in favor of this discrimination. They have their motives to think of. But it should be done. This is not right. Education is everyone's right and it should depend only on merit how far a person can go in his career. Not on caste, or religion, or even sex for that matter.

I know many girls who can kick any guy's ass in a quiz contest or a math Olympiad.

Our country has known great men from the classes we consider oppressed, even from the time they actually were being subdued, who rose from the ashes and achieved greatness.  People don't need  mercy to get where we deserve to be. But they also need a fair game to be played.

What can be done here is to appease The Oppressed by giving them a rebate on fee and last dates of receiving forms of admission and extra help with preparation and studies, workshops to educate them about new technologies and career options, to bring them up to speed about where the world is at, so that they don't need to feel behind the times and the other people around them.

We can have  creation of groups of equal number of representatives from The Oppressed and others for all assignments as part of school curriculum so that the feeling of brethren increases during childhood itself. For those sections that really are backward-hail from remote villages, we can assign mentors from good schools : kids their own age, and keep activities that will encourage more social and academic involvement in each other’s lives so that the difference between development of kids from different realms of society can be decreased. After all, that is considered the basis of the demand for reservation. If we eradicate the cause, the problem will go by itself. All that will remain then, would be to appeal to the sensibility of the masses to warm them up to the idea of eliminating reservation all-together. The Achilles Heel of the entire task, yes, but has to be done someday. We can at least stop increasing the percentage of reserved seats in educational institutions. Reducing the number or reserved seats can follow.

 In the end, it should be merit for everyone that get them to places , so that they can hold their heads high while talking about their achievements. The Oppressed need to understand too, that what their forefathers went through at the hands of The Oppressors, is exactly what they are doing to those not included in The Oppressed.

One should get what one deserves and it would be best for all concerned if there is an environment of equality so that the competition is fair and there is no environment of enmity that poisons the air of our nation.

The Boy Who Lived

'The Boy Who Lived'.
A word no smaller than 'phenomenon' could describe Harry Potter for my generation. A bespectacled , lanky ,little boy; ill-treated by his only living relatives, all alone in the world, fighting not just the loneliness in his life but also the feeling of being abnormal in some way; this character was drafted since the very beginning in a way that provoked sympathy in the hardest of hearts.

The journey begins when Harry is just an 11 year old. He fumbles with his new found identity, makes friends , encounters some phantoms of his unknown past, and experiences a head-on with the 'Darkest Wizard of All Time', the infamous He Who Must Not Be Named. The reader weeps with Harry when Dumbledore tells him that it was the power of his mother's love for him that saved him from the killing curse when he was a baby. The emotions of a boy who wants to weep but does not want his tears to be seen register with the reader, his pain can be felt.

While the first three installments of the series were Children's books essentially, J K Rowling achieved the amazing feat of making Harry grow along with his avid readers. The following installments contain emotions like love, jealousy, darkness, fear, loss; and make us witness the coming of age of the protagonist so effectively- his thoughts echo in our heads, we can understand why Harry yells at Hermione in frustration when everyone thinks he is a nutcase to believe Voldemort has returned from the dead , and why he insists on digging the grave for Dobby the house elf, rather than burying it using magic.

Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire is the turning point in the basic attitude of the series- it is here that Harry becomes the hero , and starts getting equipped to fulfill his destiny. Till this point Harry was just a kid whose life was in danger and everybody was out to protect him from any harm. It is here that he sets out as a man on a mission, who wants revenge for his parents' death.

Another that appeals to me the most is the ease with which all the characters have been carved so  distinctly , it's difficult to absorb that all the characters are actually the product of one person's imagination. With Dumbledore's cryptic monologues ("..but in essence divided?.."), and Hagrid's "..Arr..", she has spun a web of creativity so intricate , the reader gets to know on his own, which character is supposed to be saying the words that he is reading.

I fell in love  with Harry when I chanced upon a book (Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix) that I was getting in exchange for a prized Agatha Christey that I owned. I had agreed to this exchange after much deliberation, needless to say, I have not enjoyed any book immensely after that, because subconsciously I start comparing the current writer's prowess to that of my idol.

Being fully aware that these words give the impression of having been borrowed from a hardcore Harry Potter Fan page, I would still recommend Harry Potter to anyone who can read !! You are missing out on a literary experience of a lifetime!

Till some other inspiration drives me to the laptop-Signing off.

Caput Draconis!

MAYBE YOU LOOK IN THE WRONG PLACES...

It’s not that rare to witness a scene when parents, or elders-for that matter, irrespective of how they are related to some kid, dishing out advice about how much time a kid should spend in front of the TV.

The reason they give for their aversion to the ‘idiot box’ is that there is too much promiscuous or/and sinister activity being aired on TV these days, which is bad for a toddler or  a young boy/girl who has just stepped into teenage.

That’s a perfectly legitimate anxiety on the parents’ part. When harmones are a-raging, watching ways of attracting the opposite sex in seconds could give you pretty nasty ideas, which is bad when at that age you need to have your wits about you and concentrated on academics and character building. so parents are not totally wrong in imposing the frequent embargos on their child’s liberty to watch whatever he likes. Mostly its like “only pogo, discovery, or a news channel”. Sadly there might have been an oversight in this clever plan.

What do you do , when in the middle of SHINCHAN, an AXE commercial is aired, or your kid stumbles across a news being aired about a sex racket on the news channel you recommend? You bubble of security is not as sound as you think it is.. !

And its a very biased assumption that all television does is to corrupt young minds and put ideas about violence and the ‘bad stuff’ in minds of the young ones. I watch a LOT of TV and yes, occasionally I have come across inappropriate content, but I have also learned a lot, and not only through Natgeo and discovery. I learnt that Nokia is from Finland by watching Transformers; I know what and where Harlem is and that people of Indonesia prefer a lot of spices in their food; I perform really well in any audio based  test because from having an experience of watching Star World I understand what people with different accents are saying; I fully understand the severity of 9/11 and its impact on the world because I have seen almost every documentary ever aired about it . And yes, I also know that Shahrukh has an unmarried sister; John didn’t want to commit and that was the reason Bipasha broke up with him; but entertainment is not that bad for the mind as people mostly assume it to be!

By being exposed to such a lot of information people also can develop awareness of what is good and what isn’t. None of my friends use AXE to have the ladies swarming around. They use it because they want to be presentable. And about the people who are ‘influenced’ by the advertisement (generally intersecting the set of people who scream about the ill-effects of television), let’s just say when the top bunk is that empty , just smelling good won’t get you anywhere 

Its still important to guide young people what to watch and what not because the quality of content has degraded. But its a public medium and you can’t expect your filters to be applied everywhere. The storm comes even if you close the windows, if you stop your kid from watching it on tv, he will access it on the net or his friends will tell him about it . What you can do is educate them about some things you want to protect them from and information about why this age is not suitable for knowing about those things.

Inculcate their interests in the right things, so that they don’t migrate to the ‘banned’ channels even when you are not around, there is a lot of good stuff too. And its not just the chemical formula of sodium carbonate that makes them an aware person. Don’t put so many hurdles around them that when they finally break through , you can bet they would try what you stopped them from trying earlier.

Now that’s enough for today, Its time for me  to watch some TV.

Call me an idiot as i love that box!

Cheers!

WHY BLOGS

This blogging industry is not that old..Probably celebrated its 7th or 10th birthday, to be vague. But the boom that it has seen puts our economic growth to shame, even though it does form a teensy bit of a part in it.

People may not be sociable always, but we cannot deny the fact that man is social. He needs to interact, to talk, to share, to listen, to appreciate and be valued. It is his position in others’ lives , that forms the basis of his everyday life – most of his actions, beliefs and his mental makeup.

Social networking sites give you a platform to share bits and pieces of your life on display- what you feel at the moment (not more than 140 characters, including spaces !) , what you wore at a friend’s birthday, what that friend wore and who liked whose outfit..

To people who have more to say than that, who don’t feel its enough just to express your mood in two lines, who like to express their opinions along with the explanation of their origin and bases behind those thoughts, and most importantly who would love it if you had something to say about their views, be it trashing their ideas on a public portal, so that they can prove their point again; or people who just want to showcase their world of talent to others, however small that be; blogs are God’s greatest gifts to them, running a close third after mothers and oxygen.

Its my turf, I am the master of this little space, I decide what can be published where and what is just too simple to be worthy of a space like this.. If this were RUNWAY I would be Miranda Priestly.. This little blog might not be even close to that million dollar magazine yet, but I would always cherish it just the same, its my baby, the product of my imagination,.

Some lunatic who just had to have a paper and pen .. or in today’s scenario, a monitor , a modem and a working keyboard; to be lost in his own little world, would have created blogs, our very own little pieces of paper, only they don’t involve killing of trees or the fact that papers and ink run out..if the space on these blog sites is endless, so are my ideas.

Its going to be tough fight 

cheers!