Poverty Porn - Indian babus are angry!!

Indian authorities are too obsessed with projecting India the beautiful way. But one thing they forget is, it is extremely difficult to keep the truth buried in this globalized ‘wired’ world. This is the age of tweets. So good news or bad news…news will come out unless you try to brutally bury it. It is a fact that no Indians like to see their country projected as a land of ‘poor hungry Indians’. Slumdog Millionaire has done enough damage. But then it did some good also. The Dharavi slum of Mumbai benefited a lot from that kind of negative publicity. They got donations and help etc which never came from Mumbai municipality. And the slum kids who acted got rich over night. Off late the Indian authorities have accused Kevin McCloud, the television presenter, of damaging Indian tourism industry by making "poverty porn". Kevin is a UK television guy and host of the series called ‘Grand Designs’. Recently he got filming permit from Indian authorities in London to shoot in Mumbai. The Indians giving him the permit were under the impression that Kevin is going to shoot the architectural beauties of the city of Mumbai. Instead Kevin has shot Dharavi slum with all its dirt, squalor and stench under the title of ‘Slumming It’. “We thought it would be about the architecture of Mumbai but it was only about slums, nothing else. He was showing dirty sewage and dead rats, children playing amongst rubbish and people living in these small rooms. He never talked about architecture at all.” told an official from the Indian High Commision in UK. They are planning to lodge a complaint with Ofcom, the UK media watchdog, about the content of McCloud's Channel 4 series, ‘Slumming It’.

The West knows India as the land of Taj Mahal, spicy curries, snake charmers, Yoga, and its iconic poverty. Despite India’s furious GDP growth the impression hasn’t changed much. In the US, impressions about have changed a lot about India but in UK the situations remains dismal. Whose fault is it? I will accuse the Indian Authorities for this. Incompetent bunch of bureaucrats are manning the travel and tourism ministry. And the minister is least interested in the job. It is their responsibility to project India, market India, and sell it to the global tourists. You just cannot shout and hit people coming to this country and shooting the dirt and squalor. Why do you have it in the first place even after 60 years of glorious freedom? The way the divide between rich and the poor is growing in India, I guess only more and more people will be coming down from UK to check out the declining poverty levels. And you cannot ban them. You simply do not have the firepower to take them on.

Recently I liked a TV commercial from Olympus. It holds a lesson for the idiots in the tourism ministry. A foreigner comes and clicks a photo of a typical poor Indian panwalah with his expensive camera. The panwalah in turn takes out his small cheaply priced Olympus camera and clicks the picture of the foreigner. Tit for tat? And I can sense the panwalah shouting ‘teri to’ to the foreigner. Babus at the Indian embassy at London and the tourism ministry…do you get the message? If somebody deliberately wants to pull you down you need to respond in an intelligent way.

But then when out of every three Indian politicians one has a criminal record…you cannot expect much from these ‘inglorious bastards’. Can you?

Why there are so many TV Channels floating in the air?

I really don’t understand why there are so many TV Channels floating in the air….some free some paid…some unpaid. All of them have the sole intention to entertain, to inform, and sometimes hijack the viewer’s mind. Initially it was just the Doordarshan. Now you throw me five six letters at random and I will construct a TV channel name from those letters. The more channels you have the better your social standing. The Tata Sky DTH package that I have taken gives me around 200 channels. My Travel writer friend’s Airtel DTH gives around 250 Channels. And these days even the local cable walah gives no less than 120 channels. We have movie channels, entertainment channels (the ones where serials comes), news channels, sports, regional, lifestyle, bhakti, learning, cartoon…and many more.
Few years back when our government introduced the Set top box concept in the metros, we the customers were delighted. Finally we can get rid of the unwanted channels and get just what we want. But this thing has remained a pipe dream. We always get channels in package. It’s like level 1 has 100, level 2 has 150 and so on. Level 1 might not have the channels which you want to see. So you are forced to take the level 2 or level 3 one. And you end up paying for all those extra channels which you never watch. Lovely country Indeed- Our India.

As far as I am concerned I am only interested in the news channels. I have divided the channels in two categories. News Channels (Times Now, NDTV, CNBC TV18, BBC) and Entertainment News Channels (India TV and Headlines today). There are other news channels but these channels give me everything. I get my daily dose of news, drama, sex, adventure, murder, mystery….virtually everything from them. Let me elaborate. Today I was watching a debate on Times Now regarding the recent IPCC goof up related to the Glacier melting date of 2035..RK Pachauri was having a tough time explaining his position. After some time I got fed up. Enough of climate…first let those idiots decide if the planet is getting heated up or it’s getting colder. I moved to NDTV where people were blasting that monster looking guy Sharad Pawar. After sometime I got so bored of this news and decided to entertain myself. Moved on to India TV. Some Honour killing news was going on…how the girl’s clothes were torn…how she got kicked…every detail was there for viewer satisfaction. Not my taste. Moved to Headlines Today. There was news going on regarding the growing number of foreign prostitutes from CIC countries…especially from Uzbekistan and Russia. All details were given…and they were showing sexy images of various prostitutes captured by spy cameras…obviously the faces were blurred. The picture of their legs, booties were shown as if the channel was telecasting some live show related to “Kohinoor” diamond.

These two channels also telecast various shows from all the reality shows and popular shows. I sometimes seriously wonder why these two channels have been clubbed under news channel category. They should be under entertainment channels.

And regarding all those extra channels which I pay for but do not get time or energy to watch…wish there was a system where DTH rewarded those subscribers who watched the least number of channels despite paying for the maximum amount of channels. I would have surely own some prize.

Hope my plight will be addressed by our honorable government soon and I will finally pay for only those channels which I watch.

Ok I will stop this now. Actually i was on a mission and i think i am successful because after reading this my travel writer friend told that I have written "the perfect shit-storm of crapness". But then writing crap is also an art. Haha. Thanks for reading this crap.

Netaji - Our forgotten Hero!

All is not well in the state of Bengal. The commies forgot to garland Netaji on his birthday. So intense is the grief over Jyoti babu’s unfortunate demise..that they are forgetting their bread and butter activities. I guess Forward Block is no longer with the commies these days! Otherwise the streets of Kolkata might have turned once again into “Cholbe na cholche na…jalaiye dao puriye dao”. And before Didi could realize the wonderful political opportunity, the homage was paid on 24th January. And guess what! All the sarkari karmacharis were told to report on Sunday for the respective homages..bad luck for all those guys whose office had statues of Netaji. Work on Sunday!!

Why are we slowly forgetting Netaji? Leave aside the commies. They have lost their father so error is expected. But what about our central government? Why can’t they be a little more generous in celebrating this day? For the Girl child week Government of India’s child welfare department came up with huge advertisements in Times of India. And they mistakenly put Pakistan’s former army chief’s photo over there. But why can’t even half a page devoted to this national hero from the Central Government Side? Is it just because he was no longer in the good books of Gandhiji? Or he is no longer a source of vote bank? This is what happens when you have an Italian with her army of sychophants manning our country…well no offense but it hurts. Netaji started the fight. No not the Gandhi type fight where if your enemy slaps you allow him to slap you again and again till your enemy is tired! Unfortunately Netaji didn’t buy this crap and gave the first battle cry. Yes he couldn’t succeed but he showed the way long back. You hit me and I will hit the hell out of you. He didn’t want our country to be a soft nation…just look at Kasab and you will understand how soft our country is! Everytime the Pakis slap us, bomb us, pinch us, kick us…we do what Gandhibaba told us to do.

History will not forgive us for forgetting Netaji. Forget the congress politicians. Like the commies they can be excused. Afterall they are busy 24/7 licking the butts of the central high command…as Ramachandra Guha told in his recent Outlook story ‘its darbari democracy’. So these leaders are extremely busy attending to the King, Queen and the prince in waiting. Who cares for Netaji? Where is the bloody time? Even though he admires Netaji, Dr Manmohan Singh has not spoken out why his Government rejected Mukherjee Commission report. Some sabotage? The answers to the following questions still remain unanswered:

a) Whether Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is dead or alive;
(b) If he is dead, whether he died in the plane crash, as alleged;
(c) Whether the ashes in the Japanese temple are ashes of Netaji;
(d) Whether he has died in any other manner at any other place and, if so, when and how;
(e) If he is alive, in respect of his whereabouts.

But then what about us. You and I type public. Do we remember our hero? Well we don’t. I will be honest. It was only in the evening of 23rd Jan I realized that it is Netaji’s birthday. And I went quietly to the Balcony and gave a salute to the sky…probably he is up there somewhere watching us. But how many of us did that? And did that in public?

India is getting hijacked by the rich and the mighty. Big corporate houses bring out memorials in newspapers during Gandhi birthday. Netaji’s birthday do not get much priority…few Bengal based companies probably give advertisements in the regional dailies. That’s it. “Give me blood I will give you freedom”. Netaji told. The corporates and our politicians say “Give us profits. Gives us votes. We will remember you.” Netaji has none to offer. Gandhi has.

I know what I have written holds no value. It’s just an emotional ignorant coward Indian doing faltu bakwas. But then imagine if the entire emotional ignorant coward Indians starts doing bakwas simultaneously? I guess that will sound the bugle of change.

Mee Marathi mulgi nahi ho!

I guess the time has come when I will be finally heading home…permanently. Five years back I left Bengal as I was not able to get a job there. Low paying jobs were abound but was not enough to sustain my hunger. High paying jobs were there but those were for the highly intelligent and the extremely connected ones. I had none. So I had to move to Delhi. But now I have a ray of hope. And you know the reason? “Marathi Manoos” funda. Ashok Chavan, the chief minister of Maharastra has issued a directive that only those people who have lived in Maharastra for 15 years and know how to read and write Marathi will get Taxi permit. So basically only the Marathis will be eligible and all the migrants from UP and Bihar mostly have to look for other options. He has simply hijacked the agenda of Shiv Sena and MNS. So initially it was just that Spineless Bal and Raj Thakrey…and now you have the NCP and Congress campaigning for Marathi Manoos votebank. Soon the entire Mumbai will be only for Marathis. And there lies my hope. The other states will hit back. Indian politicians are masters in playing regional and divisive politics. They wont take this lying down. Lalu is already thirsty for Chavan’s blood. So Mr Chavan do not worry. Soon all the states will issue rules in similar lines. Gujrat for Gujratis, Bengal for Bengalis…and so on. And soon IT companies will be forced to hire only regional candidates. And yeppi!!…………I will be swiftly placed at my home. Come on Chavan. Give us more. Tell that Bollywood can only function if Marathi movies are made. Kick Sharukh Khan away. He is not a Marathi. And Big B. And there are loads of others. Come on Raj Thakrey. Get some fake spine, stand up and deliver…the time has come. Chavan has sounded the Bugle…time to get down in the streets and fight for Marathi manoos pride. Show your manhood Raj. You know your otherside…time to show the hidden side provided you have some. Laloo, Modiji, Mamtadidi….get ready…the time for India has come! Let us all unite. And let’s all go back to where we belong! Ah my hometown river….I will be soon cruising on your banks…just like I did in my school and college days. Just wait for some more time. And you know my dear river I now have a car…no more cycle…we will have the ultimate fun. I can also afford some costly wine..we will have it together. Just wait. I am just waiting for the announcement that Bengal is for Bengalis. Till that happens to all those who calls our politicians dirty, bastard, characterless, swine, and what not..pls hold on for a while. Let them do their job..its a big task. Let Deve Gowda take this dirty job up…he is doing well by calling Mr Yeddyurappa ‘Bloody Bastard’. So let him waste his energies calling names while we save our energies. We will need that when we have to pack our bags and return home.

Home is where the heart lies. Jai Ho!

I am afraid. I don’t want to die inside the bathroom.

Today an embarrassing thing happened while I was relieving myself in the office bathroom. I had a completely unexpected neck sprain. And what was my fault? I guess I quickly looked down…I generally look straight or sideways provided no one is at the next pee station. This time all the pee stations were occupied so I was looking straight at the wall in front of me. I was done and looked down to zip up..and the neck sprain struck from nowhere. For few seconds it was complete blackout. I somehow pushed my head up and rotated it sideways…and it got stuck again. It was paining like anything. The guy who was also reliving himself looked at me oddly. I guess he took me as a ‘gay’ ogling him in his private moment. Sensing that I told him that I have got a “keech” in my neck and tried to smile. He laughed. Others joined from the respective pee stations. It was so embarrassing and irritating. I somehow washed my hands and came out. I sat on the lounge sofa and massaged my neck vigorously. I moved it sideways then up then down. Repeat. After few minutes the pain lessened. But once I got up and walked towards my seat it came back again. Generally this type of thing happens while we sleep…like you wake up and find the sprain in your neck. But hardly one encounters this type of stupid thing in the bathroom. I think somebody is doing voodoo on me.

But the most worrisome thing is the comment from my wife. I told her that I had got a sprain while I was relieving myself. She got extremely serious and told this is the initial stage of a heart attack. What? I shouted. She told that people generally have heart attacks inside the bathroom. And having a sprain in the neck is an ominous thing for grimmer things to come. I should take my health more seriously and do routine workout to reduce the extra layers of fat. Otherwise next time I might get a heart attack during relieving inside the wash room. I vigorously contested her stupid point of view by saying that nobody in their late twenties get heart attack. She told times are changing. If SAP CEO can die in his late forties despite been so fitness freak…well I simply stand no chance. I got to be careful.

Yes! It’s pure voodoo. Somebody is trying to screw me up. I am afraid. I don’t want to die inside the bathroom.

Jyoti Babu is no more. An era comes to an End.

Jyoti Basu is gone! Forever! The last stalwart of communism has vanished. The person who was so much for the party, of the party and by the party. So how will history remember him? Most of us who are below thirty, the young brigade will pinpoint the downfall of Bengal on him. Why? Because when we entered the job market there were very few jobs in Bengal. Most of us have to move out of Bengal for sustenance and better opportunities. But at the same time ask anybody above 55 working in a state government, central government or other big private factories (specially the senior guys)…majority will say he was a hero, a real leader. Why this dichotomy? In his time the power of trade union flourished…the bandh culture threatened management big time. So people who are on the verge of retirement will pay their ‘Lal Salam’ to him. Virtually no work…and getting paid for that. Who doesn’t love it? So majority of people who have worked their prime during his 23 years of rule in Bengal have enjoyed the Trade Unionism, the frequent holidays due to Bandhs, the power of strike, chakka jam, rail roko and what not. With due respect to all the elders, I want to say that Basu has done nothing for the people of Bengal. The lucky people who had jobs in government and other areas during his time will have a different story but the struggling middle class left Bengal completely during his tenure- I am one of them.

Basu and his party categorically killed Education in Bengal by banning English from primary schools. Thanks to my parents- I was lucky to be studying in a convent…but everybody didn’t have the same opportunity! Why did he do it? Basu came from an Aristrocatic family, was educated in London, sent his son to London for Education…he very well knew the value of English but why did he want the Bengali sons and daughters to stay away from English? History will demand an answer from him. I have read quite a few newspaper editorials especially by Mr Ram of Hindu and Mr Ashok Dasgupta of the Bengali newspaper ‘Aajkaal’. I have one thing to say – Basu is generally praised for his Land reforms, i.e. sharecroppers got the right to land. Well Mr Ram and Mr Dasgupta..if you go back to history you will find that it was not Basu who did this…the seed was sowed well before his tenure..But he was given all the credit. Ok, even if we for argument’s sake accept that he did that…after that what? All those poor people who got land were converted into CPM cadres (most of them became rich by dubious means) and we know how the cadre strength worked for three decades for the benefit of the communists. And it in turn unfortunately created one more divide. The haves and the have-nots. CPM had everything while people not following their party line didn’t have anything. Trinamool was born driven by this factor only…and thanks to the communists now we have two monsters pitched in a deadly battle in Bengal. Mamta gang vs Buddha gang!

And in Basu’s tenure what was the growth of the state? Negative. What about healthcare? What about Education? Why did Calcutta turn from an intellectual city to a lifeless city? Mr Dasgupta you know it better so why just you cant write the truth. Yes Basu was free from corruption (his wife owned huge properties though) but the case rests there. As a CM people judge you by the growth parameters in the state…not by some red idealism however excellent it might be.
Mr Dasgupta you have lived your prime…Mr Ram same for you. But right now what you say doesn’t matter…it’s the young generation who will decide not you guys.

Mr Basu at the best can be called as the victim of his own system..the politburo machinery. But he was one of the founding members…and in lot of circumstances he took the moderate path but had to tow the party line because he was a complete party guy! He was a moderate but without the willpower to apply his moderate thoughts. Buddha inherited a bad legacy.

Right now the future of Bengal looks extremely bleak. The lady who is waiting for the CM chair has very little to offer except her big talks and ‘Ma Mati and Manush’ funda. She has taken all those things which the communists under Buddha tried to abandon – The Bandh Culture and street politics. And the communists seem to be hell bent in tackling her in their old ways…an eye for an eye! And look who is gaining – the Maoists! God bless the Bengalis. We have breathed the air of Bengal. It still remains a Golden state only if people had the eyes to see it and appreciate it.

Anil its pathetic. Do something!

Reliance is a real big company and everyone knows it. But then what is the definition of a big company? Depends. If you are talking about money then yes it is a shit large company…billions! If you are talking about integrity…well my personal opinion is they have nil. What you don’t believe me right? Just look at those two fighting brothers and their mother with that accomplice, their late daddy’s friend, our present petroleum minister. Rape of India is going on. Ok I will shut up. They are big people and I am an insignificant guy wanting to take on the Goliath…sorry! But honestly I do not like that group. The day Government of India lifts the ban on the book ‘The Polyster Prince’…that day I might rethink my position. Till then they are just a cheap baniaya company hell bent on profits and publicity. Money Money and more money. Rest is all bullshit for them.

You must be wondering why this outburst. Am I running out of topic to write? Today (unfortunately) I paid a visit to Big Cinemas for Avtar 3D morning show. And this is an Anil Ambani run company. First there was no one at the counter to give our tickets. Ninety percent bookings were Internet booking. And they knew it. But there was no one to take our booking ID and give us the tickets. The guys came some 15-20 mins before the show and by then it was a really big queue at the counter. After lot of fights and shouting we got our tickets. They had started the show despite the ticket delay from their side (Reliance is big company..they can do what they want). Now the specs given to us were not working. It was a 3D show but without 3D glasses it was a just hazy shadowy film going on. Most of the glasses were not working. Majority people inside the hall had never seen a 3D show and they were seeing the show without realizing that they were been cheated. Thanks to people like us who could catch the drama going on. We had to really shout and at the same time badmouth to stop the film…and forced them to get us new glasses. And the attitude of the Big Cinema guys! Anil Ambani you should see that personally. I am not sure if you will feel proud or not but you should thank your stars that those guys are alive…the crowd inside the hall were very decent. Those guys deserved to be caught by the collar and given a good thrashing. But then when a company bans a book just because they told some bitter truth about their founding father…you cannot expect much…isn’t it Anil sir? Donot trouble yourself. You just keep running.

But James Cameron made our day despite all this bullshit inside the hall. All the pain vanished when we got our new 3D glasses and the show finally started after all the delay. Marvelous special effects. And the 3D effect. You need to see it to believe it. It felt like you can touch the actors, the flowers..and sometimes gunshots came straight at us..as if it’s going to hit us. A must see for all! But avoid Big Cinemas please. You day just might get spoiled if you decide to be the guest of Reliance. And you don’t want to get inside some place where there is no accountability…isn’t it?

My Friend's Post Marriage Crisis - Its a situation down there!

My friend who has got recently married is now an extremely frustrated person. Before marriage he was so upbeat. Got himself a Sherwani for Rs 15000, designer shoes etc etc. And every time he got something new he made it a point to reveal their prices to me. People who have seen ‘3 Idiots’ might be thinking about Kareena Kapoor’s fiancée in the film…well he is not at that level…her fiancée was too much type! Anyway the marriage was a gala event. Their honeymoon went preety smoothly. And now almost two months are over post marriage. And he has finally started facing the music. First his in-laws including his wife is complete veg. Point is during the courtship period (his is a love cum arranged marriage) every obstacle seems insignificant. When I used to ask him how will he manage after marriage because his wife is a strict veg he used to say “Koi nahi. Paneer tikka ke sath daru pi lenge”. And now his entire life is made of panner and sag sabzi. His mother who earlier tried to convert him to a veggie has found a perfect weapon to demolish his extreme chicken eating habits. Bahu is giving an able company. Second problem is bahu’s cooking. Once in a while her wife cooks some “tasty” dishes. Now the problem is those dishes are not tasty at all. And he was idiot enough to tell her “This is shit. It’s not like the same dish my mother used to make for me. I cannot eat so much”. Guys hope you can imagine the crime! This is pure suicide. You are not supposed to tell your wife (who are generally in charge of the kitchen) that she has cooked bad food. Grow Up! Even initially I used to make this type of stupid mistake but then I was always a ‘dramabazz’ character. My friend unfortunately is not. So his life is spiraling into total chaos daily. And to top up his pains every Sunday he is dragged to his in-laws place for lunch and there he has to digest three four dishes of panner with various sag sabzi. His entire shit has become paneer like. And he constantly bores me with all this nonsense complains. Boss what the hell can I do? I am also married. And you need to handle your marriage in an intelligent way. And there is no tutorial to lead a happy married life. You learn it with time. Every time he complains to me I give him my stock reply “Sabur karo beta. Sab thik ho jayega”. Hope every thing becomes all right. I sincerely pray that he starts eating tandori chicken again. But I fear this might not happen. Instead he might become a ‘frutarian’. People who have seen the movie ‘Noting Hill’ will remember that Frutarians are those people who only eats fruits and vegetables which fall on the ground ‘dead’. They donot pluck fruits etc as that is considered a ‘murder’. And the way things are progressing with my friend that soon he might be a ‘Frutarian’. God gibe him strength. Let us all pray for his well being. Ah men! One more thing. My friend looks like a classic case of the following verse:

“Before wedding
you are my heart, you are my love’
After wedding
‘you get on my nerves'.”

Teenso ka Liya. Pure Leather!

Reading “Riders to The Sea” by JM Synge in college was my formal introduction to the literary concept of universality of emotions. Simply speaking, I am referring to ‘emotions’ and how these emotions are same for every human being. The grief that Maurya witnessed when one by one all her sons were devoured by the sea is universal. It’s a mother’s pain in losing her children. And this pain is felt by every mother in an equal amount irrespective of location, social standing and nationality. The same thing applies for happiness, love, anger, hatred. All kinds of emotions are same with all of us. But the distribution of wealth is not equal and here lies the problem. Some are born rich and some are born poor. Just like some road dogs are lucky to find a home. Majority don’t. I constantly wonder why does this happen? Why such grave inequality? Man was born in God’s image….well then why so many destitutes…and so many rich people despite been big time crooks are living comfortably? It’s a stupid world…the more you think the more painful it become.

I know you are dead bored by this philosophical bullshit. So let me say what I want to say. A little thing happened at office today. Nothing eventful but it touched me. I was having a glass of water at the pantry area when the Xerox guy came for a cup of tea. The pantry area had quite a few office boys and peons. They shouted almost at the same time “Wo dekho. Charan ne nayi jacket pehena hain”. Ok! The Xerox guy’s name was Charan. And he was wearing a navy blue wind cheater kind of a jacket. Charan gave them a big smile and pointed at his shoes. The peons looked downwards and again exclaimed collectively! “Jute bhi naye!!..kya baat hain Charan”. Charan looked at them smugly and told “Teenso ka liya. Pure leather”. Has he gone crazy? Got a pure leather shoes for Rs 300!! I looked at mine. Four times costlier and I am not sure about the purity of the leather!

So you must be wondering what is the point in this Charan episode. Well I have two observations to make. First one related to my ramblings regarding the concept of universality of emotions. I have a friend exactly like Charan. Whenever he wears anything new he keeps smiling the whole day and asks everybody to give him new pinch. Once I pinched him so hard that these days before saying ‘new picnh’ he adds ‘aram se pinch kariyo’. The happiness at wearing something new is same as that of Charan. And my friend’s salary will be like 15 times more than what Charan earns. The way Charan is happy at his Rs 300 ‘pure leather’ shoes is the same way my friend becomes happy when he wears his Puma or Lacoste. Same type of happiness despite one earning 15 times more than the other guy!

The second point is regarding me…How I have changed over the years. When I first came to Delhi from my small town I was a different guy. A guy who could never imagine that shoes might someday cost me Rs 1500. A shirt will someday make me poorer by Rs 1000. Initially I was so happy wearing ‘sasta’ stuff. Sasta is not the right word gut using it anyway for lack of a better word. These stuff I carried with me in my suitcase from my home…my two pair of shoes (one I got during my university times), few shirts sewed specially for my Big city trip by our family tailor, few trousers…etc etc. I wore them initially. But soon I could realize that I was becoming the center of attraction for all the wrong reasons. Everybody was wearing attractive dresses. I was the odd one out. I used to oil my hair…people in my office geled it. Soon it started becoming embarrassing. And finally the city gripped me. Or may be I was gripped by the glittering façade of the phony city life. Soon I was spending times inside various trial rooms. My tastes changed. I was no longer interested in hometown shoes and clothes. It looked ridiculous. I changed my entire getup. And I still remain the same. Wearing clothes which I don’t want to wear but have to wear because everybody is wearing them. If I don’t I will be called the ‘odd one’. I don’t like it. I feel a prisoner. I want my old life back. I want my simplicity back. But it’s easier said than done. You might be thinking what drama is this. But believe me it’s no drama. People who come from small towns to big cities will agree that the city changes our soul, thoughts and outlook towards everything. I am sure Charan would have never said in his younger days at his village ‘Teenso ka liya. Pure leather’. It is the city which is making him talk like that. He is a puppet in the big scheme of city life. And most of the time it’s not for the better. All that glitters is not gold. The city glitters. Intelligence lies in ignoring it. But I am not Intelligent. Hope you are!

How does it feel to save a life?

How does it feel to save a life? Obviously it feels extremely good. But how does it feel to actually save a life yourself? This is a tough question. You actually need to save a life to answer this question. Few days back if I would have been asked this question I would be without an answer. But today I know how it feels. Humbling, satisfying and extremely heart enriching.

I got this experience last weekend in a freezing Saturday Night. My friend from Faridabad came down with his newly married wife to our place for dinner. He had got a bottle of Teachers Highland Cream as a gift for me. These days Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and intoxication is extremely happy with me. For the last few weeks I am been treated with expensive booze for one or the other reason. Thanks Almighty. Keep it going. We were having a good time inside our cosy drawing room. Outside it must be like 5-6 degree…icy cold. Suddenly there was a muted barking outside. Initially it looked like the barking came from inside our flat. But we don’t have any Dog. My friend’s wife quickly opened the door. A little puppy was standing outside…shivering. It has come all the way to the second floor climbing the stairs. It wanted to come inside. My better half threatened to kick me out if the puppy came inside. So had no option but to keep it outside the door. She got a roti, tore it into small pieces and gave it to him. But it was not interested in the food. It kept on shivering. His eyes were wet. The cold was killing him. We got to make him feel warm..only then he might survive the night. I got a small towel from the kitchen and tied it around his shoulders. We could sense that he felt a tad better but not enough to stop his shivering. My wife gave me a big towel..the one which was generally used for dusting our furniture. It was preety thick and soft. I was overwhelmed by this gesture! Women’s heart afterall! I wrapped the towel around him and picked it up and came downstairs to our garage. My friends also accompanied me. My wife located the best place near the garage…a three side covered area. I placed the puppy there with the towel properly wrapped. The roti pieces were given to him. My friend asked should we give him little Teachers? We decided not to get so much excited. After few minutes the puppy felt better. He looked at us with satisfied eyes and started eating the roti. Victory! He is no longer going to die tonight from this freezing cold. Death has got defeated tonight!

Started 2010 with a Bang!

My blog has been abandoned for long time now. Apologies my dear blog! I never forgot you but it’s just that my priorities shifted a bit temporarily. In life priorities change! But you have nothing to worry. You have the first right in my heart. It was a momentary affair. But to be honest with you there is someone extra in my life. My new DSLR. This long time dream got fulfilled on new year day itself. So I was dam busy with that. Hope you understand Bloggie!

I know you must be curious how was my new year weekend. It was rocking from the moment go! Exaactly at 12 I had little scotch and burst some firecrackers at my balcony. My wife and CJ scolded me for polluting the environment. And in a minute the entire society started bursting crackers. New year time! The right to celebrate! Both of them went quite. I smugly enjoyed my drink at the balcony. It was chilly. Shivering. But who cares! Its new year! I should have been careful. Right now I am having a very high fever. Few moments of fun in the cold....leave it. Its new year. Sab chalta hain!

We made a quick one day trip to Rishikesh on 2nd January. Thanks to my Travel writer friend and his luxury car, our very dear ‘Santro’. Very few people can match my friend’s driving skill! Kudos to him for making the tour so much fun and enjoyable. We started off with the agenda of visitng Rajaji National Park but ended up at Rishikesh. The dense fog screwed our vehicle speed and we got late. As a result and our cottage booking got cancelled. The guy at GMVN never told us that the tele booking remains till 4pm. I have memorized his name - ‘Gildiar’. This world is a small place ‘Gildiar’. We surely gonna meet sometime! And I’ll show you the cost of giving half information. ‘G-I-L-D-I-A-R’. Anyway It’s new year so let me keep my anger aside. The entire year remains for my anger.

The visit to Ramjhula and Ananda Spa were mind blowing. Didn’t get much time to roam about but the tour was crisp and full of treasured moments. I should have come to this place in my younger days. So many gori mems in search of nirvana – well demand for Yogis and Babas are huge over here. All you need is a little bit of oratory skills and the art of persuasion. And the pleasure if all yours! Am I taking like a devil? Yes I am. Its new year buddy!

And yes i have made my resolutions. But then whats the point of narrating them when i cannot fullfill them. Wish you all the best for your resolutions! Stick to it.