Paheli ( A Riddle)

This happened in an obscure, remote hamlet somewhere in Orissa, a couple of years back. A couple with three kids, farmers by lineage were forced to migrate to the steel city of Bhilai for better prospects. Following an illness to their eldest son, a five-year-old, they were forced to return to their village for cheaper treatment. As they sold/mortgaged their belongings and begged in desperation to cure their child, the head of the family is incapacitated by pneumonia and related illnesses owing to malnutrition and lack of proper treatment. The wife with her baby daughter tries hard to make ends meet besides trying to provide medicines for her ailing husband and son. Most days, they go hungry, with a bowl of fermented rice as a meal. In their state of utter hopelessness, a relative (who was childless) appears, who had often helped them financially, offers to write off their debt if they gave away their baby daughter. The parents reluctantly agree as they see it as the only way all of them can survive. The news spread like wild fire and days later the media, the government, the panchayat all fell upon each other to rebuke the couple and to 'rescue' the child. The parents were chided publicly for such inhuman and irresponsible behaviour and the baby restored back to the family.
After two years, a reporter from The Hindu revisited the now infamous hamlet to follow-up on the case. And he found out that the baby had contracted jaundice and died for want of treatment and proper food, a year after its rescue. The family still struggles as it battles out each day against poverty, unemployment and starvation.

Now here's your question:

Who would you blame and punish if you were given the power to judge :

a. The parents who were cruel enough to sell their child?
b. The relative who offered to 'buy' the child and take care of it as his own?
c. The doctors who squeezed the last ounce of money from this poor couple in the name of treatment thus rendering them penniless and compelling them to resort to such actions?
d. The heartless government for being callous and blind from seeing the actual need?
e. The media who blow up things out of proportion for their own gain and then leave the characters high and dry to grapple with their own now tattered lives?
f. Or is it you and me who read such articles with much interest and then forget all as we get on with our lives?

Sad, depressed, angry, frustrated, hopeless, scared, sceptical...I feel all this and more...maybe you share my feelings if you are a citizen of a country which has had to face quite many trials all these years after gaining its 'independence' 60 years ago. When it severed its allegiance to one, it had unconsciously inherited a package that had more shocks than surprises and has proved to be a burden that none would have anticipated nor desired.
You would share similar sentiments of defeat if you had felt (and still do feel) proud of this nation, loved the people (no matter from which state of the union they are from), the land, the 'chaos' (to the world outside, but for us, our identity), the strong smells and sentiments, the colours, the noise and everything that marks us as unique in the eyes of our neighbours far and near.
Maybe you might have that feeling of despair, the thought that has been echoing the last two days in many of our minds that "enough is enough"...
We are a resilient lot, yeah, and we are proud to be so; but can anybody be stretched forever? For that, we need to be either oblivious to the things around us, as most of us are (the numb variety, who are short sighted with minds short circuited) or who never belonged to this place anyway (the desi phirangis for whom the dude culture is more gripping than the bhai ones).
If you still have some leftover love, pride, feeling of belonging to this nation that is being ripped apart, wake up, be alert, be aware of your rights. It is time that the people showed the politicians, who grapple with each other even in such times for cheap political mileage, the real India.
A nation no longer deserves democracy if the people in it cease to be patriotic.

And finally the people of America have shown the world that they have left behind their racist past,and are ready to step into a new era of justice and liberty for all. History will be created as Obama walks into the white house as the first black president of US of A, the very place which once witnessed the first black person, Booker T Washington, take part in a dinner, invited by the then president Roosevelt.
So fairness (not literally) does hold and for once George Orwell is proved wrong, I quote again, "All are equal but some are more equal than others" (George Orwell, Animal Farm).
Enough said :)

Two more days to go before its D day for the Americans. It is not just for them but for all those people around the world who have been closely watching, following, discussing the new developments in American politics. For those ardent fans of the rising phenomenon called Barack Obama.
We (Manoj and I) have been discussing this stuff for a while and wondered what was it that really pulled us into this trail?
There are many reasons, looking at Obama's background, humble beginnings, almost like an outsider with a Kenyan father, half-black, his struggles to rise up to be a senator, the odds he faced and ofcourse to see a makeover done on the American face which is lately quite discolored and wrinkled with Bushism.
We, in India are way too far away to even be directly affected by the whitehouse politics but it does rouse our interest whenever this black American opens his mouth to speak. He is so unlike his counterparts, be it Republican or Democrat, his responses, reactions all are so different, not to speak of his temparament. And above all he is positively confident of himself. And look at his family, they look so ordinary and hence believable.
I feel that as the days went by and as the parties got tougher on each other, it must have been Obama's coolness or coldness to those fiery darts that must have increased his fan following not just in America but else where too.
Maybe these clicked something in us to follow all those programs, write-ups on the elections (ofcourse Manoj is keener than me...no wonder Abhishek has stuck Obama pictures on his bedroom wall).
We too hope like many of you that Barack Obama wins the elections. It might not change even an iota of America's foreign policy or would never usher in a greater IT boom in India or boost a higher outsourcing but it would just help everyone around the globe to feel comforted that fair play still holds, that nastiness not always gets an upperhand and that all are equal and not that some are more equal than others.

In God's own country, devil's own people?

Yes, that is exactly how somebody I know described the land and the people down under (in India, ofcourse!). The southern tip, the 90% literate, the verdant, monsoon blessed state of our nation. But lately, this land flowing with rubber and gulf money has been displaying hues way too far from the natural green and the crimson (communism is part of Kerala's rich heritage and the rebellion/naxalism of the 40s, remembered proudly as the civil rights movement of the lands of far beyond).
Kerala, once known as the land of coconut trees is now quite infamous for sex scandals, that has not even spared the serene interiors of a convent notwithstanding the politicians, ministers included and other godmen involved. This state boasts of a high percentage of educated females and yet (sad to say)statistics reveal that girl children and women of lower financial strata are often lured for money into one of the India's most powerful trades, flesh.
The love of money seems to have not even spared those who proclaim to have renounced the world for higher goals. Throughout the state, godmen and godwomen have risen in an alarming rate, squeezing money off the rich and the poor alike playing on their religious sentiments.
The land is alleged to be the new base for LTTE, Kochi being the new 'trade' route. Well, the hyenas will have the tigers for company.
And now for the latest 'development', north Kerala has emerged as the epicenter for terrorism!!! Young men are promised jobs, recruited via an agency, even converted to Islam, sent to Hyderabad or Kashmir for militant training and let loose for their exploits. Their undoubting families receive a steady pay and are spared from the truth until maybe someday they are jolted back to reality when they receive the dead remains of their sons, tagged as terrorists killed in an encounter.
Let us not just blame one community, we do have other strongholds in this little state, where arms training is a routine for karsevaks and the church has a greater say in the government.

Welcome to a new Kerala where the less harmful bandhs and hartals, the party jumping politicians and the stone pelting class-bunking student unions are told to take a backseat. This is the state's new avatar, militancy!

Vivekananda once called this state a land of pandemonium seeing the crazy caste system. In this modern times, I still wonder has anything changed? Maybe the backdrop and the characters but the story is still the same...

God and Politics

I wouldn't want to go into those lengthy discussion stuff on religion followed by politics and then rounding it off by an equally boring (but it doesn't bore into one's head) conclusion, FYI.

But honestly religion(not God) is taking an active role in politics these days, that's what I have observed. In those olden golden days, people were inspired by religious philosophies. They parceled those higher thoughts into whichever political party they formed or were part of (except for of course the communists who were/are outwardly atheist and inwardly confused). But today, religion, which consists of philosophies, doctrines, traditions, dogmas and all those factors that outwardly try in vain to perfect man, has taken the high pedestal in politics.

Here, let me make it clear that I am not an atheist but a believer. According to me, man cannot exist without having the knowledge of God (be it in the form of a denial or an acceptance). I am a christian myself. But it is not a religion for me in the sense that I do not have to follow certain patterns, traditions, even use meaningless jargon forcefully to appear 'religious' while the real me does what pleases to get myself forward in life. If that was the requirement, then its no longer a liberating system but a stifling one where man is bound forever in the cycle of trying to be good and then getting caught in his own follies. Real faith should liberate man from this endless cycle, so he can rise higher to help others. This, I have found that in Christ.
It is true that faith helps man to rise higher but religion pulls him down. Society can never be separated from religious philosophies but when man uses it on the ignorant for his own glory, there is danger.

Be it in India (on the road to development) or US of A (that boasts of having achieved it) I see the same picture - religion does have a hold on the polity.
Be it the Hindutva or the Jehad in our nation, the governance is often(now read always) hindered on its way to progress by the fundamentalists. In the name of God, the political parties affiliated to/remote-controlled by religious organisations often play with the sentiments of their fellow brothers, either making them feel guilty for not participating in destructive activities or feel elated being part of some holy calling as they go about extinguishing lives and damaging properties. Or it could be those promises to restore age-old customs or worship places which could spell out pride for those 'servants' of the public (That was the meaning of ministers once) who are so passionate on preserving (read pickling, which takes away the original and replaces it with nothing but the shrivelled remains) our 'culture'. Or it could be the drive to expel the 'traitors', the outsiders, who till yesterday were our compatriots and had equally contributed for the growth of our nation, sharing in our pains and sorrows.
Elsewhere (you know where), people use religion to pool the votes of the pious. But as the election date draws nearer and campaign heats up, they have no qualms in using the meanest, lowest tactics to win the election. The very words of the God whom they profess to believe are forgotten as they lie about and slander their opponent, defraud, cheat fellow citizens, conspire, rig elections to pave their way to victory.

God never was or is interested in politics but He is always interested in history :)

I am no fan of Shobhaa De, i just know her to be an Indian yuppie's favourite. But the other day I was browsing through in a bookstore (I would never go to those fresh smelling designer bookstores mushrooming the upmarket side of every metro these days. I would rather go to a seconds sale mainly for cheaper older books and for the musty smell of old books). Yes, coming back to this new bookstore, I saw this title by her called 'Superstar India'. Anyway I got hold of one copy and started reading it when I got back home. I am not an expert to comment on others' writings so nothing on that (lucky you!).
Sadly, I had to put it down, put the reading of this book on hold for awhile as a picture, contrary to the glitzy image of India that was so lovingly painted by the author, appeared in the media. i personally am proud to be an Indian, have never ever desired to pack my bags and relocate to any other country for the sake of prosperity or education and would so love to see my country to make progress and develop in all good things. But I dont believe in fact-hiding, eye-closing, pushing-under-the-carpet attitude. So the facts are here,

Terrorism, still very much present and now it has company from communalism, regionalism, fundamentalism...
Poverty still exists and has taken an increasing percentage of India's population under its wings, though it was the favourite slogan by the late PM Indira Gandhi by which she had a landslide victory. Gareebhi Hatao, as if the only thing we had to do was take that broom and sweep off that Gareebhi (poverty) sitting on the porch steps. Yes, some still try to obey her, atleast in part, they try 'Garreebh ko hatao' which is much easier...
And I dont want to write again about our detriorating health and education system.
Talking about systems, caste system is still practised in today's India. And can anyone forget the corruption which is deeprooted in our administration system...
There is much more than these that stunts the growth of our country and for a moment I wondered however did our country get this 'superstar' status? And then I remembered the 'super stars' from the tinsel town, all glittery, magnificient, generous, rich, influential bunch of successful achievers and once you look at their private lives, the first impression soon fades. You would find them to be dishonest, greedy, ruthless go-getters. Do we resemble them? Nah! not us!!! We are not like some of those who are educated but still insist to receive a dowry, hold ridiculous superstitions, bribe and lie our way through anything, spread gossip, ashamed of their mother tongue and try to be something which they are not, never can keep their word, blame shifters, attention seekers, selfish...

Twinkle, twinkle super star, how I wonder what you are?

I know I am a boring person, always thinking and writing about things people would love to believe is never happening. But I am not here to entertain you and wouldnt turn sleazy at any cost (even if you promise to publish my book!) just to get a few more comments and clicks from you. So bye from me now, I would continue writing anyway...And BTW I would definitely finish that book.

Seen and Heard

After the Delhi blasts, the government was quite quick in rounding up terrorists in and around the capital. Elsewhere, similar operations dug out the main links from underground. That was too fast, wasn't it?
The blasts in the capital turned out to be the last straw, or did it? The main news in almost all Indian news channels (I am not talking of Aajtak where the lines between news and tabloid has already blurred, you can never make out whether you are watching news or a masala movie), all the blasts in major cities are solved and the channels flashed images of the terrorist masterminds, all caught red handed from a residential area, head dutifully covered in pink prayer shawls, how else to tell everyone that they are muslim terrorists?

But a few days back, the government was too slow even to react verbally on the blasts. It was the same words that came out time and again, "No need to panic, everything is under control". But we know for sure that nothing really was under control. The terrorist outfits have been fed and fattened in our own country even as all eyes were told to focus on our neighbours. The impoverished in our society were used cleverly by the groups to make cheap bombs and transport to different cities. Everyone seems to be 'aware' but no one really 'knows'...


Going back a few years, a state witnessed the murder of thousands of innocent people, in the streets. They were burned to death, women and even little girls were raped, pregnant women were not spared either. Their houses were burnt, occupants were driven out and butchered. And incidently they all belonged to one community. And the reason for the attack, retaliation.

If you can go back a few more years in the past and dust your memories, it was time of great turmoil. I was just a kid of 8 or 9 years when Indira Gandhi was assassinated. There was chaos in the capital. And a particular community was targeted by the whole nation. They were singled out, pulled out of trains, buses, homes and brutally killed. Reason, avenging the death of the Indian PM.

Coming back to present, elsewhere, houses are burned, people charred to death or beaten up, churches prayer halls destroyed, major roads leading to these locations are blocked leaving many christians homeless, starved and naked. They take refuge in forests and are still hunted. The government is almost inactive, silent spectator while the carnage continues...
As a repercussion, in two other states, Christians are again persecuted, churches and worship places vandalised, state government talk of aftermath of conversions, Central government can only look on and mouth threats...Again the reason here, retaliation over a death for which someone else is responsible.

An Indian state insists that people belonging to that state should be 'loyal'. A sort of regional patriotism is demanded so no body from their part of the country can contribute anywhere else but here. And talking of regionalism, it is reflected everywhere throughout our country and so south Indians cant stand north Indians, malayalees cannot stand telugus and tamils cannot stand kannadigas and viceversa. Gujaratis cluster together and so does Punjabis and Maharashtrians and among all, the North easters are kept at bay...

A movie star turns politician, launches a party with glitz and glamour, many jump parties, change policies, many still are sitting double minded and parties are waiting for the 'star' to reveal his policies and stance, to consider a coalition. The reel star, who wants to do things 'differently', eradicate poverty and corruption, still depends on his tinsel image and the vote bank of his religious caste!!

Welcome to the new face of India, where we speak of secularism, equal rights/opportunities, peace and democracy for the sake of it and do what we want. For power, anyone can be friends with anyone and even sell the nation as long as the votes keep flowing to bring them back to power. Ethics and morals are gone with the wind and all that remains is greed, the green-eyed monster. Thankfully, our nation was not named the United States of India!!!

Few Ugly Truths

Bible says, promotion comes neither from the east nor west but from God, but people have proven it otherwise. Promotion(not just in work place) cometh also by nepotism, financial status, influence and sometimes through compromise.

Money rules. Not just in politics but even in religious circles. A person of great wealth is often/always considered a person of great worth almost everywhere.

Fair skin is still in vogue (maybe not literally in the fashion mag, as dusky skin is accepted there). But from Americans over their preference for a white president (till date) to the Indian chachis, mamis, atheys (aunts in Kannada) and thathis (grandma in Tamil) who select brides for their bathija/ nephews/grandchild, fair skin is still a required qualification.

Talking of marriage, commitment and fidelity are two words almost deleted from matrimonial dictionaries. Children come as option these days, divorce is the immediate solution. Liberalisation has entered not just the Indian market but Indian families too.

Dowry(Giving it and being harassed for it) and ragging are similar to me in the sense that whoever endures it endorses it later.

Religion is no longer peace-loving, but is aggressive. We do know of terrorist outfits proliferating in Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and elsewhere and the hands behind it and the ongoing riots in J& K between the two religious groups. Add to this the attacks on civilians in Gujarat by fundamentalists, demolition of Babri Masjid we get a better picture. But it still is incomplete until we consider many christians who are on the lookout of the anti-christ ( instead of second coming of Christ) and every eye focussed on Iran and Israel for the outbreak of war and the end of the world. I am quite unsure if anyone remembers what Christ spoke about peacemakers...

One man's poison has become another man's butter. Talking of war, I am reminded of the scores of innocent lives lost in Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa and other troubled regions. But I can never forget some who have been feeding on them! There are many enterprises thriving in the war engulfed regions who supply necessary aid to the US/UK army and have turned millionares overnight. I personally have heard reports of them confessing to friends that the word "war' brings them new hope, as it opens yet another avenue for their business. I have not forgotten the clever tricks of Bush governement to oil their dealings in the middle east well. In Africa, the leaders of different states have been exploiting the ignorance of local people and have only helped in prolonging the tribal/ethnic wars to their own advantage.

Incredible India

Bomb blasts, first in Bangalore (more like a dress rehearsal) and then in Ahmedabad and more live bombs are being discovered and defused. Earlier it was Hyderabad, Jaipur, Lucknow...the list growing bigger (ofcourse blasts in J&K has become part of heritage of independent India). So the terrorists are targeting 'second -tier' metros now, according to our media. Now what? Is there panic? Mayhem? People scared of their own shadows? Not in India. We are such a resilient group of people that we just bounce back to 'normalcy' instantly. Keep aside the fear factor, many of us were least bothered about the whole thing.
Most people in Ahmedabad and Bangalore were jolted for a while but the rest of India watched the events (quiet keenly, I must admit) on TV and then flipped channels to more 'entertaining' numbers, their excuse, "Enough is enough, we cant let terror rule over our lives, so why not just ignore the gruesome details (when you get to see more gore on Hindi movies) and watch some Bollywood 'natch-gana' (legshaking) or better still, drown all the sorrow in some hep watering hole after a movie?" Quite practical. It was the media who had their fill as you could almost feel their excitement in this new scoop after the theatrics of MPs during the confidence vote in the parliament. They held debates, discussions, tele-conferences with anybody whom they could get hold of, polls, statistics and even interviewing a parent who had lost his son in the incident. Two days later, life goes on. Its Que Sera Sera...Hakuna Matata. Who cares even if the bombs were 'manufactured' in your neighbourhood? Who would even bother to alert the police of suspicious people or objects? All I want is to make money and then get back to my home, my kingdom. Even if the very people whom we elect to rule the country would turn out to be traitors, we would rather continue making the same mistakes than step out to protest. Incredible, we Indians are...

Chewy Steaks

* Ever wondered how bad news travels faster than good news?

Here's an example:
case1

person 1 : Hey, how are you? BTW, have you met so and so lately?
person 2 : Me doing good. No I didnt meet them lately but do you know that they have split? It was not surprising for me anyway...
person 1 : stale news yaar! Actually I got it when I met their friends friend's cousin and just wanted to update myself before I meet my gang.

case 2
person 1: Hi! how are you? what news? how is so and so?
person2: Hmm...nothing much. yeah they are doing well, I guess...nothing new, only thing they are planning to buy a new car...
person1: well...lets go shopping...


*There are so many male gynaecologists around here. Why are'nt there many female andrologists?

*Why dont men wear skirts and women stick to pants alone? Both would feel comfortable, I guess.

*For centuries women have been waxing, shaving and spending oodles of moolah on cosmetics just to stay hairless. Why dont women just 'evolve' into hairless creatures? I think there is a conspiracy between the cosmetics industry and genetic engineers...

*Its inflation time!! But why is it called 'inflation' anyway when all we get is our deflated egos and lighter pockets? Well, its about money and the banks are the cynosure of the issue. So, inflation leads to 'inflated' bank's vaults. Just like our debits being the bank's 'credits'.

*Statistics show an 'alarming' rate of increase in number of singles in most countries and the reason being women choosing career over marriage, men and women bored of life-long commitment and in India woman to man ratio is dwindling owing to female feoticide. Well, its not alarming for me except for the feoticide part. Look at the brighter side, it is a way of checking population explosion.

*Most of us drool over everything American and view Americanism as ultra-modern but how come its difficult for them to have a woman or a black man to be their president while in India, Srilanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh we have had many women presidents and prime ministers. Many of them presidents/prime ministers were not fair-skinned either.

*As fuel prices are rising, India can patent the manufacture of dung cakes and biogas. We can package the cakes well (maybe vaccum packed and flavour locked) and export it. Biogas is ofcourse through pipelines which were originally meant for gas imports from Iran. Soon we might rise up above our oil producing gulf countries.

*These days talent hunt shows are outnumbering soaps as they are better tear-jerkers, with all 'emotional performances' delivered by participants and judges. Not only that, the singers are expected to even dance, emote to be the winners. They can fall flat with their singing but never on their foot-tappings. Result, a 'wholesome' entertainer on your platter. Imagine, Mohd. Rafi and Geeta Dutta acting out 'Piya tu...' ridiculous!

*We dont seem to be 'producing' many scientists in our country. My explanation : we seem to be having more coconut trees and jackfruit trees than apple trees (remember Isaac Newton). The school dropouts are sent to work and the lamp posts are already booked by urchins.

Reality Bites

Shinjini - does that ring a bell? Well, if you have been watching the news channels (Indian), your answer would be 'Yes'. I just happened to watch the footage of the infamous Bangla reality show in the news yesterday. A heavily made-up Shinjini (she is just 16) sobbing away as the judges one after the other points out her 'mistakes' and rebukes her remorselessly. The whole nation seems to be following up the developments of this bit of news as the girl is being treated for paralysis and depression in some hospital in Bangalore. The parents sure must be feeling elated as their child is now famous! I am not sorry for being sarcastic.
I felt sick watching the whole thing. A child, dressed up in glittery costumes, made to look like a sexy woman and sways and hip-swings to some 'Bollywood' number, trying hard to impress the whistling audience and the hard-hearted judges.
What is happening to us? In the name of game shows, are we trying to rob innocent children of their childhood? These children are taxed beyond their capabilties through rigorous training by their ambitious parents. They brainwash the children and convince them the 'importance' of their victory in the show. Big money is involved and hence threats cannot be far behind when selfish, ego-struck parents push their offspring to the limit. In this process, they forget that the child is highly impressionable and is ill-equipped in coping with too much pressure. Such traumatic events can destroy the child's health and her/his outlook on life itself.
Why dont we ever treat children as they are? Why do we want to speed up their growth, making them talk and walk like grown-ups? Of all the places, please let us not have children brought into reality shows where everything is far from reality. Children by nature are never pretentious, what they say they mean it and what they think they say it. Let us not fool our children or rather not teach them to fool themselves.

Honestly speaking

A movie star once said in an interview that the reason that she is still single is that all the good guys were either married or were gays. Shocked? Not surprising, after all, we are so quick in catching up with all that is 'western'. Well, pardon my dry humour, factually, this trend has existed even before the west got involved with the east. So can we conclude that all that is old is good? Certainly not.
There was a time when I could use the word 'gay' freely which used to mean happy/glad. Well, not any more, there are too many reserved words in English these days.
In the past few years, the number of same sex 'marriage' has increased and many cities/countries have already legalised this 'gay' (quotes intented) union. And what more, such couples 'boldly' claim to have decided to bring up children under their care as a family. And the society is quite silent to all these new developments (is it really development?) Is it because many are ignorant of the consequences? Or is that we really do not care?
I might sound old, mouldy and rotten but the stark truth is many of us are not sure!
A society is built on family as the building block (yeah, all base and boring stuff). This functional unit that well resembles an organisation is where an individual traces his origin to. A child grows into a man/woman, his character forms, his personality evolves and eventually he/she is prepared to step out to build his/her own life and the lives of people around them. Though feminists might fiercely disagree, the fact that man and woman are different, still remains. And this dissimilarity spreads across the physical, mental, emotional and the psychological. And yet both are incomplete without the other. Each complement the other through their strengths and weaknesses. Our world needs both man's rationale and woman's sensitivity to run it (and ofcourse vice versa for all the bra-burning feminists). In a family, a child is perfected under the shadow of the father and the mother. According to the dictionary, the word marriage refers to a legal union of man and woman and also means, a blending or matching of different elements or components. Unless pieces of a jigsaw are different, would they fit together to form the right picture? Marriage is not just the society's tool for procreation ( then why would we be having overflowing orphanages and demanded abortions?), it is the healthy way to promote a morally sound civilisation and ultimately sustain human kind (remember the Romans).
Normally as humans grow up, they develop an affinity toward the opposite sex by instinct but a person who is insecure, has a past of sexual abuse, or is posessing a convoluted perception about sexuality might develop other preferences. This does not mean that the choice that he/she makes is the right choice. A plant will grow into a tree with twisted trunk and branches if its growth is restricted when it is tender which would effect its fruitfulness.
Here's my point, loud and clear, having an alternative sexual preference, according to me, is a mental disorder that needs to be counselled and treated. If you think otherwise, we need to aquit paedophiles, necrophiles and all others who commit sexual perversions just because their 'preferences' were different.
How can a joining of two people of the same sex be legalised and termed 'marriage'? However can they be expected to bring up a mentally healthy generation out of this union? Gay/lesbian marriages are a cancer that is gradually eating into humanity reducing human beings to entities that are enslaved by lust, driven by instincts devoid of self-control and boundaries.
And ofcourse the Good Book forbids it. (Do I sound religious? I hope so.)

Culture Shock

This happened many many years ago, when we were just out of college. While me and Manoj were planning, contemplating, struggling, enjoying and altogether being adventurous in our marriage with a meagre income, in Kochi, our friends and batch mates were either landing up in cushy jobs or migrating to USA for higher education. So far so good. Now, when I met one of my friends for her wedding (she opted to get married, migrate and then study in promised land, wasnt that clever of her?)Well, after the priliminaries, we got into deeper gossips and then she spoke of a classmate who went to US of A for further studies, had come back to India and couldnt stand the life out here. She had a culture shock!! Oh my gosh!!! This was Deja Vu for me. My father had told me this one years back. His cousin brother, a very young man then, had been sent to Dubai by his uncles (includes my grandpa) following his father's death and as he had to take care of his mother and two sisters who were still studying in school. The boy was intelligent and hardworking and soon was working with a good firm and after few years, his mother found him a bride and the couple settled in Dubai. Now is the best part, he comes back to visit his mother and sisters but refuses to stay in the house he was born in!! The reason, the place is too hot and dusty. So every time he visits his mother, he stays in a hotel and moves about in air conditioned taxicab in good old Bangalore. Wow! Some culture shock!

Metrographics

It's hip and happening if:

1. It takes a couple of hours in rush hour through smog and honks to reach the destination which is just a few blocks away.

2. You have more shopping malls and pubs than a decent modest cafeteria.

3. You prefer to stay at home on weekends for a break.

4. You see a pickup truck loaded with stuff in your neighbourhood and you are not sure whether your next door neighbour is moving in or out.

5. You come back home after your honeymoon and the landlord 'informs' you of the newly revised rents. Well, you are fortunate if you find the house when you come back, most probably, the landlord would have already sold it to a builder to make way for a luxury apartment.

6. One morning, you are shocked to see your dignified and quiet neighbour being introduced on prime TV as a ruthless serial killer.

7. Your child demands license for weapon for self defense in school.

8. Your maid insists on you owning a washing machine, a dust buster and Tata Sky if you want her to stay.

9. At the metro station, you happen to hear an old hindi song and you see everybody checking their mobiles.

10. You've lost your car key and immediately think of dialing its number to find it.

11. The travel to the airport is costlier and lengthier than the air trip itself.

12. There is atleast one bomb blast twice a year and scores of hoax calls through the length and breadth of the city.

13. You have to walk through the metal detector to enter the toilet.

14. You have to pick and choose programmes in a kids channel.

15. You have difficulty in hearing sounds below 200 decibels (which is acceptable and advantageous for healthy living).

16. You have specialist vets and puppy food at a minutes walk from your home while the paediatrician is half hour away.

17. You and your spouse see each other only on weekends (if you live in the same city) or/and your child fails to recognise you in a crowd or vice versa.

18. You finally decide to own a vehicle even if you are scared stiff of the chaotic traffic as you are more scared of confronting the autorickshaw drivers and of taking a ride in the local bus.

19. Your daughter runs up to the TV and calls "Mamma!"

20. You feel disabled if your mobile turns off.

21. You prefer to own a dog rather than have a baby as the latter needs both you and your spouse's involvement, time and money.

22. Your dog's name is longer than yours.

23. You insist to use the lift even to reach the first floor.

The Great Indian Rising

There was a man in our neighbourhood who used to spit paan (betel leaf and betel nut chewed after a meal, which turns your mouth red) in front of our porch every night. When morning came, we had an extra task of cleaning up our walls while feeling disgusted. No amount of pleas or threats worked in this case and the cold war continued till we moved out of that place for other reasons.
I love to travel by train as I enjoy watching our beautiful country's landscape unfolds through the window. Verdant fields, red earth, lakes, coastlines, hutments...But I hate to look out the window in the mornings especially near the stations as the railtracks serve the second purpose of being the lavatory for a majority in our country. Here the shy,coy wife/daughter, the sober father/son all sit, chat and watch the trains chugging along while they perform their morning duties nonchalantly.
The other day we were hurrying through a street, fortunately in a car (with the advantage of having a window to close) and were shocked (as usual) to see men turned to the walls, attending to nature's call. I would be only exagerrating in the negative If I have used the word shocked as this has become a usual scene through out our country. And I always thought women suffered fom urinary incontinence! Not only that, but men can stare at you at a bus stop or a shop, measure you up from top to bottom, even when you are well dressed (fully covered) but when women happen to pass a street with a man pissing round the corner, it is she who feels embarassed (and even scared that she might have seen too much) and looks elsewhere.

How can I ever forget our dear Indian brothers turning our nation into 'spitsville'?

BTW, did I call them brothers? (Un)fortunately I am reminded of the ever increasing number of rapes, assaults, and abuse unleashed on their 'sisters'. Children and grandmothers are not spared these days either. Is the media to be blamed for portraying perverted images and corrupting youngminds with warped ideas of sexuality? Or is it our own fault for lacking to provide a moral basis (though we often boast of it) to each generation in our haste to hoard wealth for them?

Every Indian city has a newface each day, with malls, multiplexes, boutiques, exclusive shops, joints, pubs springing up. Each screaming of better entertainment than the other. Fashion shows, music concerts, cricketmatches (this is the fusion of fashion, movies, music, cheerleaders and lastly and the least, sports), food festivals, raffles, inaugurations, movie campaigns and what not are held to mark the growth of a metro. Yet the bylanes still carry unattended rubbish heaps swarming with flies, street dogs take their nightly stroll in huge groups.
As evening darkens, the elite clink glasses of champagne and dance to techno music, men and women, some who came to work over a construction project (there is a mass exodus from villages to urban areas every year) for a measly sum and others who lost their land to the 'dream' project of someone else, huddle up with half empty stomachs under the flyovers and the unfinished patios of huge multiplexes, to get a goodnight's rest and dream of a better tomorrow...
We have super and multi speciality hospitals mushrooming everywhere and yet many do not adhere to basic medical requirements regarding hygeine of equipments and premises.
Inflation has hit the roof, an alltime high in 13 years, people have gone on a ricewater diet ( I am talking about the common man), farmers (the media likes to use the word 'ryot' rather than farmer as this sort of blinds our eyes as we feel that some 'ryot' has killed himself and not a farmer) still commit suicide, the number of jobless, homeless pushed to the street continue to increase, begging, prostituition, petty thefts increase... Elsewhere, an India-born industrialist purchases another billion dollar mansion, the richest Indian builds his costliest home in Mumbai, political parties hold day long debates in air conditioned rooms on the nuclear deal, buffet lunch and dinner soon follow, the average Indian viewer satiates his sentience with the lovelives, whims, diets and pilgrimages of his Bollywood (disgusting, why cant they find an original for this at least?) icons and from the tabloid news channels that churn up in disgusting details the criminal exploits of some mentally sick individual.
Our country boasts to be the largest, still working democracy (owing to the successful elections, by-elections, often too many, barring the leg-pulling, remote-controlling, party-hopping, new-part-forming, backstabbing and all other power plays 'normally' adopted by polititians of our country) and yet, the word 'democracy' is a farce as far as the common man is concerned. Many stay away from exercising their rights to vote (deceived to think as the best way of defiance to the ongoing anarchy), others 'over use' it and still others are unaware of any rights. Hence we have qualified criminals, bootleggers, tenth failed loud-mouthed dadas, ambitious (ofcourse for their own sakes) businessmen, tongue-tied moviestars as MLAs, MPs and even ministers!
We project our 'tolerant' secular image with pride but forget those dark days (not far behind and could be nearer in the future) when slightest provocation lead to communalism which rendered many homeless, fatherless, motherless...orphans, destitutes raped and left to die in the street in the name of whatever. Yes we are tolerant enough to entertain all those religious political parties.
The government boasts of rise in economy, the bulging purse of Indian middle class and the boost in per capita income. I quite agree as younger men and women are getting employed even before gradutaion. I personally know many who have quit college to work and make quick money, where they exchange their identity for an 'Erich' or a 'Michelle'. We are now bestowed with a generation mostly undergraduates, unskilled and having dearth of pros. But has anybody seen the coming danger? I hope so. The power of Mammon is quite intoxicating. The new xyz generation is finacially independent, yet, emotionally unstable and mentally confused. Morality takes a back seat here while all boundaries are blown apart. A veritable ticking bomb...

Is this the great Indian rising to turn in his bed and sleep again?