Coloured Glass

All sort of funny things happen before the general elections in India. India is a haven for countless festivals (the official stress-busters for the hard-working Indian) that are celebrated throughout the country notwithstanding the festival of bandhs and hartals (the ghost of the non-cooperation movement during the freedom struggle which has not seemed to have left the Indian psyche). And the people just gleefully welcome every opportunity to have some quality time with family or to catch up with long lost friends, a break from the otherwise mundane days of work and stress. I don't think even the Aussies can beat us to this though statistically they are the happiest in the whole world!
And the elections too oddly fall in this category. The elections that come in varied hue and names like the by-elections, Lok-Sabha elections and the Assembly elections are truly something that Indians look forward to. The entire atmosphere changes to that of a Mela (a local fair). As chaotic as the Kumbh mela, this fanfare is held every five years (if the government, often an assortment of small, warring parties does tide over numerous no-confidence motions that the opposition brings as hurdles in the race otherwise called governance).
Indians are true lovers of cricket. We would stay out of work for a whole day just to watch that 'crucial' match and later discuss it animatedly with our friends. On such an important day, if you go out you would find the roads deserted, the shops half-closed and even your neighbourhood appears eerily silent except for an occasional shout that emanates simultaneously from all around for a sixer scored or for that unbelievable catch. The communal, social, class divide disappears and men get to be amiable with each other and with their wives, provided they are ready to discuss cricket!
The same goes for the elections. I still remember in my school days, Papa was glued to the TV. Then there was only Doordarshan as Prannoy Roy (the Indian TV news mogul) who did the election analysis. The leaders and candidates of different parties appeared for panel discussions and much mud slinging and the viewers (read Papa) were greatly enjoying the 'show'. I almost thought that it was his cricket but found out that this was a different sort of entertainment.
Now the Doordarshan has almost been shown the door (at least in urban India) while a line of news channels through the cable give a sumptuous spread of the news programs meant for before, during and after elections. The news channels have now turned into reality news channels, where you are updated with the latest with live footage. You can view the notorious Varun (I somehow can't attach the Gandhi name with him, though he is legally entitled to it!) being taken by the police in the middle of the night to a secure jail or know and discuss who really is the third front (which sadly even the third front is not quite sure of) and know all the permutations and combinations that are possible for party alliances, follow Mayavati (the self-proclaimed Obama, gosh! tell me its a joke!) in her campaign trail or hear Advani's political agenda onscreen.
People watch it, talk it, sleep it, think about it, give their own opinions on it but never do really act on it. Urban India is known to abstain from exercising their franchise. The excuse being, no matter whom you elect, the system remains unchanged and hence the non-cooperation!

The big leaders know it well and so the villages suddenly come into their focus. The farmers (if they still exist, since many have already ended their lives) are hugged, tears wiped from wrinkled faces of old hags and naked babies are held with sanitised hands and their noses wiped clean, maybe for the first time. The roads to villages are mended quickly and helipads are constructed for the candidates to travel as fast as possible. The people who have never stepped out of their air-conditioned BMW's and Mercedes can now be seen toiling it out in the sun. With hands clasped in a Namaste, they trundle along in an open jeep, sweating, toasting in the scorching sun. All for the precious votes. Sometimes they even appear dressed up as mythological characters to exploit the spiritual side of the voter like in this snap that came in a daily, The Hindu.

While some list out promises of basic necessities like water and sanitation, others are quick to point out the needs of a tired labourer when he heads home, a television to entertain his tired soul!
Elsewhere we see netas suddenly transforming from Scrooges to great givers. Unable to 'see' the misery of the aam aadmi (common man), they distribute money around. I always wonder how it eluded them all those five years, only to revisit their memories before the elections!
But all know how much they desire the rift between the poor and rich to stay and widen. The politicians need both sides of the society, the rich they need for all the money needed to oil out their power machinery and they need the poor equally, their precious votes which would keep them at the helm of their well oiled system. Some even have innovative ideas of splitting a state into newer ones. If successful, the small-time leaders can be assured of a bigger office in the newly formed state!
Then there are the super rich NRI's mostly from US finding a way of investing in the Indian market. They either vow to sponsor an already successful party so that when it comes into power, they would be equally benefited or some even have greater plans to actually contest the elections!! They try out their luck in getting a ticket through big parties, party ideologies are never a point of contention. All that counts is dollars or pounds! If they win, they stay put in India; if they lose, nothing actually lost, they go back to where they came from. Many have forgotten that elections are actually conducted to find out a good representative of the people!
Many Ministers and candidates probably go for a dentist sitting as they do have to exhibit their dentures (be it their own or fake ones) to the public in all its glory.
Some who get tired of smiling, resort to wearing masks with a fake 'plastic' (how true) smile on it.
One thing we Indians can never deny is our love-hate relationship with the movie world. I have heard of rickshaw drivers who do day and night shift to make ends meet but would never miss the first day first show of their favourite movie star. And during the elections, these very stars step down from their tinsel cocoon to fetch those votes from their fan following for different parties. They are paraded along with the party's candidate. He/she waves at the crowd and the hysteric crowd wave back at them. That's it, the vote is assured.
Under the 'strict' watchful eyes of the EC, the elections are conducted all over the country, forget the booth capturing and fake votes. Many vote; majority do not, who feel wise to sit at home and watch the proceedings with popcorn and cola in front. And children being innovative, play memory games with the innumerable party symbols that keeps increasing every term as disgruntled sidelined party men pop up with newer parties.
Soon one more election will be over and when the results are out after much nail biting wait, people congratulate each other over phone when their favourite candidate wins even if they never voted for him. A long day that ends in celebration and fireworks...
And then next day dawns... a new day for India? God knows!

Images! So important for all of us. Images that help us to understand a situation, a person, an idea...Be it a time of celebration- the crumbling down of the wall of Berlin or a time of crisis- the Twin Towers crumbling down...Always helped us to arrange events in the shelf of the memory, neatly stacked, often to pop up at the right time sometimes at the wrong moment, just like when you are clumsy enough to stack too many books on top of each other and then pull at the one at the bottom.

Apart from all those famous photographs and videos, there is our own personal collection, of our ancestors, long gone but their images still remained, mouldy, black and white-turning-grey and yellow, faded but still stuck to the heavy photo album, the ones with black card sheets as the pages and huge metal (usually gold plated) spirals to hold and turn them...and others, old reminders of life's milestones, first birthday, college farewell, first car, wedding, first trip abroad and all the trips that followed the first...

Still remember an old photograph of my grandparents (paternal), Thatha (grandpa) with a turban and long sherwani, garlanded, looking very thin and too young (he was just seventeen) and Ajji (grandma), hair decked in jasmine flowers, a large nose ring, head bowed, garlanded and in a light coloured sari, she was twelve...Fast forward a little to the future, my father in pants and shirt tucked in garlanding my mother, smiling at her and my mother(God! she had such long, thick hair and a beautiful face) looking down...

Once upon a time, photographs were taken artistically, a skill was needed to get hold of that one moment in life, to be framed or showcased or to be awarded. The lighting, the shutter speed, the exposure time, the lens, the angle...technical stuff. Today anybody takes a picture, even my two year old can click away with no worry.

Result, an overload of images...

Images can be so deceptive at times. The well-circulated picture of the white-clad politician garlanding the statue of the Mahatma and later heard mixed up in homicide or the well-known police chief who would let sparks fly as he spoke against drug dealings in schools and colleges only to be later caught red-handed with a fresh supply of marijuana and brown sugar at his home.

Images can be so delusive. The beautiful couple married off in all pomp and splendour, send back snaps of their honeymoon trip to their waiting friends and relatives. Images of them both holding hands, hugging, smiling from ear to ear, all are happy. And then drops the bomb shell of divorce, exploding in their faces as a firework doing its work at the wrong time. Behind those smiling faces, was there hatred, bitterness and cussing?

Images can be so misleading. The wrong person with you at the wrong time and circulated to the wrong people and hell is broke lose. The influential can deny, claim it to be doctored, blame the media. The not-so-influential is expected to endure the shame, the blame and the maim...

Once I was asked by a girl in a social networking site to add her as a friend. Her profile picture was that of a thin, innocent girl, probably in her late teens with a sweet smile. i checked her profile to get to know her better and I regret it even today!! She turned out to be a lesbian and her page was filled with filthy stuff of porn that made me retch. Who would have thought that under that innocuous smile and angelic face lay such dirty thoughts??


Go to any social networking site and you see snaps of friends, families, kids on a vacation, couples hugging, friends at a party...You go for a party/get together, snap, snap, snap as you pose deliberately (most often), say cheese and then freeze. The moment captured forever. You carefully put them up, one by one, for others in the list to see, others who are far away, wondering occasionally about you and your life (do they? how stupid!!). The most amusing thing I have discovered is that it doest matter that all cannot be in your good books but you can always add them in facebook!!!
Often you feel compelled to project your satisfied life to your friends, to convince them about...what??
An acquaintance once asked me after getting in touch after a long gap, through such a site, "I heard that you are married, to a Muslim...is that true?" and when i said "Yes", responded back, "But you look happy!!" Excuse me!! Then another one said, "Oh! you look happy". Thank you for your observation and the revelation!!
This nudged me to post a host of snaps, a happy me, happy kids, happy me and Manoj...happy, happy, happy!!!

So life was not all that boring for me all those years, chum. See, me, 'enjoying'? And if those glossy pictures (sometimes photoshoped) are absent, then does it mean that he/she is not really happy in life??

How much do we take care of our image that sometimes has taken years for us to build around us. An image often unlike the real us. Some hide fear in their bold life or statements. Others laugh off their sorrows. Others cover up their disappointment in their endless cynicism.

I am told and often pleaded to believe by the media is that the world is coming closer with technology, through the internet. Everything is laid bare before us or rather it seems. There is transparency everywhere whether you need it or not. All seem to be too honest about their faults and failures. Everyone seems to be so lovely and loving. And yet people are so stone cold. There is no real passion in us anymore for any cause.
We live life and now capture those precious moments in our lives not as just keepsakes but as a spectacle for others to watch. Some sites for socialising aid you in this direction. You sneeze(I wanted to say 'fart' but don't you think it too crude?) and the whole world will know. It is so convenient to create an image that is pleasing to others now. Hold that stray puppy and say cheese and you become an animal lover. Nobody will care even if you kick the puppy on its a**. You can let the whole world know that you love God and so pray day in and out and then go party, sleep, indulge, who knows and who cares? You can say sweet things about your wonderful husband/wife or hint subtly or obviously being such a devoted spouse and then be as passive as possible in real life. Nobody would know!!

The one image that wormed into my memory recently and keeps coming up above others is the picture of all those fans of the movie actor Chiranjeevi. They had all appeared wearing masks of their favourite actor. A sea of chiranjeevi faces facing the chiranjeevi!!!

What is happening to us? Is self-promotion the only motivating factor for all our deeds and talks? It is sickening to hear endless talk sans action from people far and near.

Take for instance the women at war; the not so gentle Nirmala and the over-reacting Renuka (but to be honest, I like her) . I thought they were appointed to voice out the problems faced by Indian women and ease them out of it.

Ofcourse the Pub incident is long forgotten except for those repeated visuals on TV channels, which is aired now and then to stir our rusting memories. Yeah we do have short term memory loss but mostly it is selective memory loss...

Maybe not always in a pub but girls do get attacked on their way back home by cab drivers, at home by alcoholic husbands, in a park while with her boy friend or while in a car with him...and yet these ladies on a pedestal choose to ignore such incidents and remain silent until the cynosure or the eyesore, whichever you might want to name a pub as, of a very posh locality is burst upon by slogan shouting, 'tilaked' and saffroned men crying war on girls who frequent it.

And what about all those children who are attacked, maimed, killed everyday around us? I am sure you must already forgotten the little girl who was tortured by the UP policemen or the boy killed after torture in a policestation or even the street children who were bold enough to say to a set of media crew that they are being sodomised by the night patrol in a well-known city. And soon the incident of rape of innocent deaf and dumb inmates in a girls' home that is doing the rounds now in the channels will be moved to oblivion... Did you say, "Disgusting"? Well, FYI, there are much worse stuff happening around us than we can imagine and that too often borne by children and women.

But what do our women and child care commissions or such similar outfits do? They take up issues that has flesh in it (not literally) and then Ooh! here there is ample chance to fan off a communal conflict of ideologies and get enough political mileage to ensure the safety of their seats in the parliament. As for the seemingly naive Nirmala, lady luck was smiling as her quite dissatisfied irate face was shown on every TV channel, fighting for the sake of the erstwhile Indian culture. What more do you ask for if the BJP itself comes at your doorstep to parade you as their darling candidate? Mission accomplished. Renuka became the voice of all the upper-class women whose ego was hurt by the monkey army while Nirmala rose as the Joan of Arc of Hinduism. Now what is left is the poor under-privileged, illiterate women who sadly form the majority of the female populace.

These women at the top are so busy fighting it out against each other that they even fail to see how women are portrayed these days on TV, like sniffer dogs after a beef cut, women fall all over men who put on a certain perfume. Wonder why the women's activists never could put an axe to it? Well that doesn't mind me much because all I can say is that an overuse of this perfume could bust any girl's olfactory system!! Maybe women should sue the perfume company concerning this health hazard. Just look at the images flashing through the screen (I know, I don't even have to urge you to look because its eye candy for most men) girls, women skimpily clad, wooing men with fragrance or attitude or long legs or cleavage (front or rear)!! Now would you say disgusting looking at the news makers these days? Rapists who are barely 12 years old to 80 years old, victims as young as 1 year old to as old as 60 years old. Who would you blame? The media or the passive audience who lap up anything served in their platter?

Talking of promotions, the extent to which the distributors go to get their movies reach the public is quite shocking for me, well, I am still a very primitive-minded person, very old-fashioned and hence boring for many... well that's my problem and never mind... For the movie DevD, the crew started a web-site and invited surfers of all age to leave lewd comments to one of the characters (supposedly a school girl whose story highlights the forgettable MMS incident in Delhi) and even do some dirty talk with her. Some promotion I should say!

And to top it all, there are the grand and the incredible alliances and number games among the political parties. Their Math defying seat sharings and unethical coalitions are irksome and pukesome. And every scam and scandal is adopted by them to shower allegations against their counterparts. Be it a new comers like Varun Gandhi, Raj Thackerey or veterans like Narendra Modi, their only aim is to project themselves be it by inciting violence or actually preparing a path for violence!!

Where are we going? Is it just "Shut up and vote"? or Is it "Vote and be upright"? It is obviously up to us to decide...

How to ward off the ram sene army on valentine's day


If you want to go out with your lady love, insist on a Prada, I mean, Parda...

Change your hangout to Sharavana Bhavan or Sukh Sagar than a Cafe Coffee day or Barista.

You may garland her but never give her a rose.

If you really want to have sometime with her, get the neighbour's kids for babysitting. Take them out to the park and call your girlfriend/boyfriend over...When you go back, do get the kids back home, we do need them next year don't we?

And why not some shopping, hmm...not at the mall, get (plead or steal) your mom's shopping bag and take your friend to the nearest vegetable market.

Always carry a camera (atleast get your kiddo brother's toy one) and if you see the Sene (the moral brigade) approaching, behave as if you are tourists, furiously taking pictures, be it the garbage bin or the public urinal and talk gibberish...

For the pub wallahs:
Wash the front of the discotheque or pub with cow dung and water and put a 'kolam'/rangoli, avoid the cupid figurines and heart shapes.

Insist on tradional wear as the theme for the night, so it would be pattu sari, plaited, well-oiled hair for girls and mundu, silk shirt for men.

Get local 'musicians' from the nearest 'kalyanamandpam', install them at the entrance and let them play till midnight.

Change the name of the waterhole eg: Amnesia can be Sri Sai Amnesia.

Culture Vulture

Watching the news these days causes my hands to itch too often, not to slap the presenter, which I would gladly do given a chance for other reasons, but to write all that is churning inside my head. But these kids keep me on toes and I cant even turn my head to the PC. Today I just had to find time to puke out the matter or be dyspeptic.

I really get irritated the moment I hear the word culture, I might even turn violent one of these days. The BJP's monkey army's talibanisation of India has been played out umpteen times on the news channels, I cant blame them, when they get to shoot the scene, almost as if pre-arranged even with a cameraman shouting 'action', it was too irressistible for the media wolves. Who would think of calling the police when the real 'show' had just begun. It was almost like a cheap thriller played out, some enjoying the 'doing' part, others watching it. And now the CM himself backs up his 'fellow brothers' in condemning the 'western culture' that has 'corrupted' our country.

Let me take this time to just look back on our 'great Indian culture' that we so often trumpet or honk around.

The great Indian culture that we see in every lane and even on the main roads, peeing away sometimes turned to a wall and at times facing you.

The culture that teaches us to keep our house and compound clean but to throw the garbage in the neighbour's plot. To use one's neighbour's potted plant or doorstep as a spittoon and the neighbour's gateway as the dog's toilet.

Our 'moral' police condemn women wearing western dress but wouldnt mind enjoying the sight of sari clad women exhibiting their midriff and navel, as long as the face is covered by the 'Ghunghat'.

The great culture where desi and videsi women are quite unsafe. Indian women (barring a fortunate few) face violence, abuse, discrimination, sexual violation, harassment while their videshi counterparts have to think twice to pay this country a visit even as a tourist (think Goa, Gurgaon, Delhi, Chandigarh).

Our culture is so great that we boast of tolerance, secularism and then destroy all those who do not stand under the same umbrella. Hope you have'nt forgotten Godhra in Gujarat, Manoharpur village and Kandmal in Orissa and many others which went unnoticed as they never stimulated the media.

Our culture is so wonderful that we kill our own leaders, no, first we call them Mahatma and then reduce them to atmas.
A culture where young widows were (are) allowed to commit suicide in their husband's funeral pyre and are later worshipped. Elsewhere widows are abused, exploited by the society, never allowing them to live on their own terms. Where educated men are sold like cattle in the name of marrriage and women have to pay up to get married and dare they fail and they end up paying with their lives.

A culture where women have a secondary status in many households and a girl child often not welcome. Where female foetuses are discarded heartlessly in rubbish bins in hospitals or even buried alive in the backyard.

A culture where a century back, devadasis were trained at an age as early as 4 years. The temples built with seminude figurines, promoting eroticism more than anything spiritual.
Why the culture even describes paradise as a place where the 'gods' get drunk as they watch skimpily clad nymphs dancing away. I could never see any high calling in that.

The 'clean' culture which condemns the west for all the 'wrongs' while secretly ogles at the 'phoren' women tanning in the beach and drools over porn. Is there any 'clean' reason that can be given for the statisitcs that point at our nation as one of the fastest growing in AIDS? And why do you think we have redlight areas in almost every city, prostitution being a profession for many destitute women if our culture was the best?

The culture that teaches us to bribe our way through the government system. And what about all those politicians and ministers who are caught in the act of bribing, being bribed, who later deny and are conveniently forgotten?

Our culture teaches us to live double lives, the goody goody face in public and take out our frustration in private. Never be assertive, keep that plastic smile, butter up all those whom you might need help from and grind your teeth and curse them and do a bit of backbiting in their absence.

Our culture teaches us to be greedy and selfish, how else would you explain the way the locals helped themselves with the belongings of victims of a train accident down south before lending a helping hand? And what about those men and women who gleefully waved, winked, smiled at the TV cameras accompanying reporters and called family on their mobiles to let them know "I am live on TV!!!" immediately after the 26/11 attacks??? We push each other in a line, elbow our way to get into a bus and dont mind stepping on fallen bodies of women and children in a stampede.

Yeah our culture does add up to be pretty much impressive, so why not condemn the westerners. Out with the pub culture, out with the west. longlive our great culture pooh!

NB: Someone said somewhere, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her..." John 8:7

Hey, did you know that I had writers' block!! would u believe it? even I couldn't buy it. But I hate constipated ideas and a diarrhea of words, so I stopped for a while and now am back for mysake. Did you give that smirk just now? Here's a bigger one from me TO YOU. So there! And By the way, I wasn't talking to you.

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!