Its not just about Mumbai !! Its about INDIA !!

Mumbai is angry. Justifiably so. The specter of terror looms large over Mumbai all the time. Since 1993, the sheer number of terror attacks on Mumbai, let alone the magnitude of those strikes, is too big to manifest this feeling of anger and fear among the common citizens of Mumbai. After last night's attack, this anger is again out in the open. Whether it is Shobha De, Javed Akhtar or any other citizen of Mumbai, all are angry and they have every right to be.

But, somewhere down the line, media and "some" people of Mumbai are giving too much stress on one word. MUMBAIKAR.Every Indian is as perturbed by these attacks and not just Mumbai people.We have people like Javed Akhtar coming on TV and saying, Mumbai is attacked because it has "more". How is a life in Pune or Varanasi has to offer less than a life in Mumbai? Does that make an attack in Connought Place in Delhi or Parliament a less frightening for Delhi's citizens.People are coming on TV and saying, we pay the highest tax in India, so we deserve better security. Does a person in Guwhati or Coimbatore, who also pays tax deserves lesser security than a "Mumbaikar" ? Yes, people are angry in Mumbai, but its a common sentiment that comes out of Mumbai many times. Not only at the time of these attacks.
Jerry Pinto, a Mumbai based writer, comes on NDTV and says, Why is NDTV doing a program about Mumbai sitting in New Delhi ? He mocks Nidhi Razdan,the anchor, when she says she understands why he is angry by saying , "My Goodness, You Do?" And gets a perfect rebuttal from Nidhi, which puts my whole point in picture. She says, "She comes from J&K and she knows how is life under terror".
Yes, the frustration is totally understandable, but what do Mumbaikars do when there are blasts elsewhere? They do the same thing that all other Indians are doing, they sympathize.Somehow, media and page 3 mumbai people are making it all Mumbai show but they forget its India's Mumbai.New Delhi has born the brunt of terror as much as Mumbai has, but has there ever been a voice out of Mumbai about those? Indians have been watching the telecasts since last night,India was awake the whole night on 26/11.But when people of rest of the India, show compassion some people in Mumbai come out on TV and shout on them.
Even as I write, Shobha De is shouting on TV and saying "Mumbaikars are very proud". Of course people like her are proud. This was evident when after 26/11 less than 50% of the Mumbai people turned out to vote. Least percentage was in South Mumbai, the place where many "elite" Mumbaikars live.
And media !! Cmon guys, pay more attention to other such incidents as well. I bet most of the people by now must have forgotten, 2010 blasts in Delhi, Pune and Varanasi! Those lives are also vulnerable. Just because they don,t offer elite of the society , to bark and speak on the panels on the TV shows, they should not be ignored.
Lastly, each Indian stands by people of Mumbai at this point of time. Normal Mumbai citizens are making such true comments and making right noises on TV. Hemant Mehta, a Mumbai citizen makes correct noises in this piece. This is the common sentiment of all Indians, not a Mumbaikar alone. We dont need Shobha De or Sohail Seth to come out and bark their "Pseudo Intelligence" .Come out of that mindset. Its Indians not Mumbaikars !

Padna Likhna Seekho, oh pade likhe logon !!

Recently, I saw a video on a friend’s profile in facebook, which showed how Indian Army and paramilitary forces are violating “human rights” by beating the people who were pelting stones at them among the other things. And in the background, a silly rap song, saying how Kashmir should be free from Indian demon or something. It’s not the song that troubles me. There is one more thing, which is much graver than the Kashmir situation. It’s utter lack of knowledge of the whole issue among Indian youth.
I asked my friend, why are you posting a video that’s showing only beatings handed out by the forces. Why not all the things that make them do that? During the recent rioting in Srinagar, a policeman on duty was crushed by a 3 Kg stone thrown at him by the crowd. Why is there no video of such thing? Just because a policeman, a CRPF or army jawan, who has no interest in Kashmir other than serving the nation, has no so called “Human Rights”, you just can’t go on and tell that he is not doing his duty. Yes, there might be some exceptions and these cases are duly taken up by judiciary and Army tribunals. Law takes it own course. Pat came the reply, if they had been doing their duty, “Kashmir would still have been the heaven on the earth”. At that time, I decided to call it quits. No use arguing there. To vent out my frustration I just updated my status on lines of Hurriyat bashing!
My point is, our generation thinks we are living in the age of information and we are so informed. But then, when you come across such things and some random program on MTV or Channel V where people don’t even know if our President is a male or a female, it makes you cringe. What is the point of being living in age of information when we just want to know who’s dating whom in film industry!
And issues such as Kashmir are so important. Yes, our politics might have made it redundant, but it is still one of the most important issues we face today other than the regular stuff like BIPASA (Bijli-Pani-Sadak). How can we not know what is going on there when our forces are at constant state of war? And I and many other people were living in bliss that people of my age are so aware, we can do anything. Being educated in the top colleges, working in the top MNCs is important but how can an MBA student, who is supposed to be aware, not know about what is wrong in Kashmir, What is wrong with CVC appointed by PM or for that matter who was the lead actor in Paa! The basic awareness of our gen is going down the drain. Just running after money, we read newspapers (read The Hindu) only when we need to clear a CAT or a GMAT or something. We are just reading what is there in our engineering or MBA text books. We are just watching our MTVs, Vs and Zooms. This attitude has to change. One need not be a total gyaani or something but a basic awareness can help a lot. We need to take up the newspapers, India today’s or the Outlooks. We need to start watching NDTVs or Times Now. The important thing is we live in a democracy where we have a freedom of speech and right to express our thoughts. But how can we do that if we don’t know a thing going around. An opinion or an idea can do wonders when they are implemented. Egypt or Libya are not even democracies but when people decided that they had had enough, they used a common opinion to stand up. An informed population in a democracy is its biggest asset.
As for my friend and the similar people, who are so in hand in hand of stone waalas in Srinagar, I would just outline some facts. For rest Wiki is there and google will also oblige if right queries are entered.
• What is Kashmir : It’s the part of Jammu and Kasmir, which is the northernmost state of India. Its basically a valley falling between high ranges of hindukush and himalyas. Muslim majority area, but native Sikhs and Kashmiri pundits also reside as minorities. Srinagar is the capital. Other parts of J&K are Jammu and Ladakh.
• History: In short, at the time of independence, it was a province ruled by a Hindu ruler, Hari Singh, who decided to be with India rather than Pakistan. Since then it has been governed under Indian constitution. It has parties like NC,PDP who have had different CMs. Kashmir was attacked by Pakistan in 1947,1965 when they were able to capture some of the area now called Pakistan Occupied Kasmir (POK). Line of Control was made after Simla Agreement , post the war of 1971
• Who is Hurriyat Conference: Hurriyat is a political outfit fighting for “kashmiriyat”, formed by asses like Yasin Malik .Kashmir was largely peaceful till 1989. In late 1980’s, hurriyat got very vocal about their demand for a “Separate state of Kashmir” (effectively a country independent of India). People like YASSin Malik, started getting Pakistan support for violent extremism which started the era of militancy and insurrgency, leading to HUGE military presence in the valley. “So my friend, Indian forces are just saving the kashmiris from the terrorisits.Period”
• During that period, native Kashmiri Pandits were ethinicaly cleansed from the valley. They were killed, their houses burned down. More than 200,000 pandits fled and were made to live in refugee camps in Jammu. Btw, do we ever read any article about these people? I guess they don’t have any human rights. Also, can we forget Chitthisinghpura Massacre when 36 Sikhs were killed during Clinton’s visit.
• Why is Kashmir important ?
Strategic : Surrounded on three sides by China and Pakistan. Chinese military has huge presence in Tibet. If they decide to attack India, Ladakh region will be the first one to face the action in northern sector. If Kashmir is an independent nation, it will make it tough for our forces to deploy quickly as right now only Srinagar-Leh highway is the only Road link(Manali-leh link being the other but longer route) Plus all or airbases in the valley will become redundant. Since we are on the lower altitude as compared to Tibet, our aircraft can carry more payload and fuel than Chinese aircraft, which will mean we will have an edge when it comes to domination of airspace in case of a war.
In terms of Pakis, an independent Kashmir will prove to be a blunder of humungous proportions. They will have direct access to Jammu, Punjab and Himachal regions. In case of war, that will make some difference. Also, Punjab being a minority region again in terms of India, Pakistan can again start a proxy war like it did in Kashmir and also the Khalistan movement in Punjab of 80’s.
Ladakh: Ladkahis are peace loving people . Majority of them, Buddhists who are at peace with India and have no issues. If Kashmir goes independent, we have a problem of access.
Rivers: Jhelum and Chenab will be lost. Also the huge hydropower generation capacity. It’s a big big issue, which is ignored sometimes. Read Indus Water Treaty.
Tourism: And huge tourism potential of the region can never be ignored.

So, forget about it being a separate state, ever ! Cant happen. Even if it requires a fight against kashmiris or pakis, it will carry on. Those who want a separate state can go to POK anyday.
Kashmir has been given so much economically. Special rights, an all weather train link, jobs and all. Yes, work needs to be done, but violence has to stop. And even if they are a separate country, how can they survive without Indian assistance?

Oh and btw, the people who were pelting stones, most of them were crowds which were “bought” by hurriyat. There have been stings and news reports about that. Lets give our forces a chance and please enlighten ourselves on the issues faced by them. They are not there for fun, they are there to do their job and to protect valley from going to Paki hands. Let’s appreciate them and stop being Shoba de or Arundhati Roy, who really are asses!!

Aman aur Nirasha !!!

Times of India (TOI). That's the name of the newspaper, the giant in Indian media. Now this giant , for a reason unknown to an average Indian, has started an initiative , "AMAN KI ASHA" in partnership with Pakistani newspaper "Jung"(even here they are at war),which involves artists from both India and Pakistan performing, other people increasing people to people contact and promoting bhaichara and all....bah !! Curious name, "aman ki asha" , considering we are pinning all our hopes on a nation, that has no meaning for the word AMAN and they dont even know the meaning of ASHA. TIMES of India..thats what they claim to call themselves, but with this initiative they just fail to recognize the mood of the nation and its people in the current times.

Lets see where TOI has failed. In last twenty years, Pakistan has raged a proxy war, killing people by thousands, displacing people by millions and knocking off our defences and mocked at us and we have done nothing but started useless peace initiatives like this. Then when proxy war was not enuf, they started a real war in kargil. We lost hundreds of the finest soldiers. Not content, they attack our parliament. What do we do ? We relent under American pressure after a massive border build up. And between all this we had a 26/11, a 11/7 and several other attacks in every major Indian city. And then our leading newspaper starts " AMAN ki ASHA" , when Pakistan even fails to bring the culprits of 26/11 attacks to the book.

What a tragedy !! I mean , doesnt this newspaper realize that an average reader , does not want anything to do with Pakistan or its citizens until Pakistan is held accountable for each and every Indian killed by it? Of course they are troubled by terror now, but hello? who created it ? Its their rot, they have to clean it up, by supporting them through such things by saying "oh ! poor pakis, they are the victims now" we cant let them go away.

Of course there are peace loving people there as well, but we are not going out of our way to kill innocent JUNG readers. No , we are not. We have lots of other things to worry about. We have a nation that is on a verge of achieving its dream, that all its population has been seeing through each day and night. Just imagine, without all Paki trouble what we could have achieved in last two decades. We are moving ahead and I think we should let Pak rot on its own unless it does not co-operate. We have fought for 60 years, we can fight for another 60. But we do not want peace with Pakis at the price of insulting all those brave soldiers who died in Kargil, all those police and NSG people who died in all our cities while protecting us. If Pakis want peace, let them come to us, we have had enough offering a handshake.

Gulzar sahab, amazing poet. He says "we should offer an olive branch to Pakis as this is a good time for peace" . Sir, you might be great at writing kajra re kajra re, but why should we extend an olive branch to them , when we dont have to. Why do you want to give Pakis another chance so that they can come back and do another 26/11 or Kargil ?

So all those people and TOI , who are supporting this initiative , let go of all the brotherly feelings you have for Pakis and stop this sham !! Start an initiative for people like Kashmiri Pandits, for families of those who were killed in Kargil and everywhere else, stop appeasing Pakis just to increase your readership !! Shame on You!!

wish I can write something like this, someday :)

Someday We'll know....by New Radicals
(Song also features in the movie "A Walk To Remember" )

90 miles outside Chicago
Can't stop driving
I don't know why
So many questions
I need an answer
Two years later
You're still on my mind

Whatever happened to Amelia Earhart?
Who holds the stars up in the sky?
Is true love just once in a lifetime?
Did the captain of the Titanic cry?

Someday we'll know if love can move a mountain
Someday we'll know why the sky is blue
Someday we'll know why I wasn't meant for you

Does anybody know the way to Atlantis
Or what the wind says when she cries?
I'm speeding by the place that I met you
For the 97th time tonight

Someday we'll know if love can move a mountain
Someday we'll know why the sky is blue
Someday we'll know why I wasn't meant for you
Someday we'll know why Samson loved Delilah
One day I'll go dancing on the moon
Someday you'll know that I was the one for you

I bought a ticket to the end of the rainbow
I watched the stars crash in the sea
If I could ask God just one question
Why aren't you here with me tonight?

Someday we'll know if love can move a mountain
Someday we'll know why the sky is blue
Someday we'll know why I wasn't meant for you
Someday we'll know why Samson loved Delilah
One day I'll go dancing on the moon
Someday you'll know that I was the One for you........

just a thought...

Once upon a time, I wanted to know what love was. Love is there if you want it to be, you just have to see that its wrapped in beauty and hidden between the seconds of your life.......If you dont stop for a minute, you might miss it.

On the Valentines...

14th feb has never been fruitful for me. So I always dream about it as I cant really do much about it. But I guess it will be fun to share a story which is well, a nice read, though it has no relation to the famed 14th feb, i dont have such luck :P Though I think it is an interesting story none the less and has love angle, BIG TIME...So here it goes..

The spirits were high that day. After all Deewali was nearing and all the guys were going home after a long gap. All the lads were unusually happy. The atmosphere in the hostel was like nothing we had seen in past few months. So here I was , with lads,in 129,packing my stuff and eating left over namkeen from the previous night. I was the first to leave as I had to take a different bus than and the whole group was to take another bus some time later. So they were all helping me out with my packing and the bonhomie was rare. My things were not been thrown, not a book being taken out of my bag so I was quite, dont know wat..

Anyways, so we got hold of my belongings and went outside. Now these friends of mine, how could they be so generous, I still have no idea to the day. As I was signing the attendance register at the hostel gates, my eyes fell upon a girl, coming from the girls hostel side, carrying a handbag. I had not seen her, ever in the college, and she was quite pretty. None of my friends saw her coming and she stopped by chat with some other girl. So I did some quick thinking. What if by any chance she is also going my way? So I hurriedly signed the book and asked my gang to leave and I told them that I will go alone from there. But those rascals, dont know what had got into them. They were hell bent on not leaving me alone and pushed and wheeled my protesting frame all the way to the college gates. She was still talking to the girl till that time. So I thought, okay, i still have time. But I had underestimated my lads. I mean, they were getting all so worked up, trying to stop each and every vehicle and they finally pushed me on a TRACTOR and I was transported to the bus stop, alone, with that girl nowhere in site.

Thanks to my gang, I was standing there, feeling like kicked away by friends in the time of need.Anyways, I was not going to give up. I decided to wait for her. I left one bus, I left another, all in all I let go 3 buses while waiting for her, with crowds mounting with each passing bus. And finally, she came in all her glory in a jam packed auto rikshaw and I sensed she was alone. So it finally felt like a win win situation.Then the bus came.My prayers were answered as she hopped on to the same bus and sat next to me. Deewali for me had started and how ! After ten minutes of not looking at her, I turned towards her to start a conversation and the first blow struck.

Its hard to imagine to sleep on a short bus ride, on a bumpy road and there she was sleeping, with head resting on the bag in her lap. How could she? I mean that was one crowded bus and it was hard to sit in there as well. But she managed the impossible, girls always do that. So I sat back, planning my next move with Udit Narayan, singing "aye ajnabi" in my ears. We were both to get off at some intermediate stop to change the buses, that much I had gathered when she asked the conductor for tickets. So the plan was to start a conversation at the stop and carry it to our destinations, which I was hoping to be same.

So finally after 40 minutes of agony and Udit Narayan and Sonu Nigam, the stop came and we got off. Now was the chance. I knew I had to do it now, it was now or never. I had never started a random conversation with an unknown girl, so I started to get freaked out. 10 minutes were wasted and somehow I had a feeling she knew that I was looking at her with my uneven and low confidence gaze for some time now. And then came the opportunity...

The roadside vendors always crib about the change. An unsaid rule in these parts of world is that one should always carry some small currency while traveling. But this girl had not followed it and I was going to gain from it, I had to. So when the kurkure wala started to argue with her over the change, I started to move towards them with the solution in my pockets, hope in my heart and stars in my eyes. Finally, I thought, a chance was there and I had to take it. And then the death blow struck...Shut !

When you are going to help the girl of your dreams when she needs you the most, you dont expect a heavy and a very very very familiar voice calling out your name in a crowded place. I mean lets face it, who does? So I decided to ignore the voice and kept on moving. But the voice got even louder now and more urgent as well. I decided to have a look. And when I turned my face, I was confused, shocked, amazed, horrified, terrified and all those feelings which a guy can feel, when he sees his elder brother, hanging from the door of a slow moving bus, shouting at top of his voice, waving frantically and asking the conductor to stop so that his dear little brother can join him. Just imagine the visual. Only 1 thing came to my mind, "bro, what the hell are you doing in this bus, you are not supposed to be here and for god's sake where the hell is your car?" And why do you have to be here only now. And all I could utter while shuffling my face between the girl and my bro was a feeble "bhaiya, hi" . And I was pulled into the moving bus by an outstretched arm of my bade bhaiya. Hell, I was not even able to look at her face for one last time. I say it one last time, because that was the last time, I saw that girl. I gathered she was just there to visit some one. So I left with bhaiya, talking of how bored he was feeling in the bus so far and how slow the driver was and all...And I never had a chance even to ask her name..

So thats a story, which I will remember all my life. No matter how I hard I try whenever I am going to see my bro, I will be reminded of the cruel game that my bro, that kurkure wala and fate played with me. My gang and my bro, they dont know that in trying to be so benevolent what they did to me :P And never again I met anyone remotely related to me in buses or the places I dont expect them to bump into me. And for my gang, they were never so happy again I guess, I never again got to see their senti side :P

The quote by Chetan Bhagat's FPSO seems so accurate here
Life screws you when you least expect it to do so.
cheers to life :)

Jai Ho ????

It seems the dust wont settle down on " SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE" until it wins the Oscar for The best motion picture for the year 2008. Way to go Danny Boyle, you will also be awarded the best director award for making this piece of work of yours. So let us all, at least me, wish that Feb 22nd comes asap and slumdog gets relegated to just another movie that won an oscar as fast as possible because thats what it is, another undeserving movie that should not have won anything, leave alone a golden globe, a BAFTA and a very very sure Oscar...

I have no issues with what it portrays. Portray poverty and slums, you have all the liberty to do so. Sensationalize it, I have no issues with that as well. Its a fact that there are slums and people live in those conditions which are appalling and no human deserves to live like that. So show it and if people get to know about what its like to be in slums, fine, good job, u need to be lauded.

But at least make a good movie man. I mean seriously, Slumdog is the most over rated movie in the recent history.
Its direction, after the kids grow up is poor, narration after that point goes haywire..It kept me going till Jamal left Latika with his bro at the hotel..after that, no.
The character of Latika is more of an object other than a human being.
Dev Patel is totally blank and has a same lost look through out the movie and for this consistency he gets nominated for best actor at BAFTAS..amazing.
Mahesh Manjrekar...dude u are better when u stutter..
And the King of them all, the grand daddy...ANIL KAPOOR..he overacts, he hams his ways through all the questions and movie.And again shoddy character development for him as well..
To top all this, there are so many flaws in narration and inconsistencies that sometimes you feel as if your intelligence is insulted. Take for e.g. 3 things which Boyle guy tries to enforce upon us as Cinematic liberties..
* Darshan do ghansham...is written by GS NEPALI for a movie Narsi Bhagat in 1957 not surdas as Mr Boyle wants us to believe.
* Bloody Chaiwala does not know who's picture is on an Indian currency note ? Is the lad retarted?
* And the best...In a school in slum, they are teaching..THE THREE MUSKETEERS..wow and that too, in ENGLISH !! Okay we get the point that movie is in english so, they speak english...but hello ? Its sad that the researchers boyle got dint know that these kinda schools use HINDI as a medium of education, not ENGLISH !!

So other than these three, there are so many glaring errors that make this a shabbily researched and poorly executed movie. Yes, the kids were brilliant, uske baad the movie falls flat on its head..

So leaving all the technical points at a distance, lets shift the focus towards the Indian people who are so in awe of this movie that they will start naming their kids danny and jamal and latika or even prem ( as if we dont have any Prems). What makes u guys fall head over heals about this movie ?

It has nothing new to offer. Yeah, for the firangis, Slums of Mumbai are the India they want to see, so there it is guys, u have your wishes fulfilled. Now all you firangs dont need to carry yourselves to the slums with cameras hanging around your necks to photograph India's poor. You have slumdog..cheers !! Any Indian knows what goes around in India's cities. WE know how poor people cope with their lives. We are so awed by the famous autograph scene from the movie and i am surprised. Lets face it guys, travel on early morning Shatabdi from chandigarh to delhi...i bet u will see lot more s**t and bottoms. even the s**t wasnt new.
Ask ourselves why are these firangis prasing this movie so much. Havent you noticed that these firang tourists do nothing but try to capture poverty of India through their lenses? They seem to think this is what India is and this movie re-affirms their faith.
We Indians have a problem. Sometimes we dont get up to speak our mind. Sab keh rahe hain to movie achee he hogee, to main bhee keh deta hun its awesome and all.c'mon guys, we have made far superior movies than this on this subject as well. We have shown mumbai's underbelly in far more engrossing manner in movies like Amir and Mumbai meree jaan, even Ramu's Satya. These movies show all this but without sensationalizing the whole issue. Their is a praise slumdog wave and we are riding on the crests of that wave.
And it is quite shameful in fact to know poeple coming to know about slum conditions after this movie. I guess some of us need to wake up. Thats the only good thing Boyle did by showing some of us the part of our society that they have so conveniently forgotten. Leave alone mumbai, each Indian city as a result of exodus from the villages has huge slums. And this is a part of our social and economic evolution. Each developing nation goes through this phase and after a long struggle, the divide between rich and poor will narrow down in a long run. London had huge slum areas during the Industrial Revolution era and after the prosperity increases its reach, it all begins to even out. But India hasnt reached that levels as yet, so yes, slums are a reality and it takes Boyle's pathetic attempt at movie making which makes some of us realize this reality, which is the sad part.

At the end, I would just like to say, it should not be another Danny Boyle or any other gora to inform us about our socio-cultural realities next time around. And lets start watching movies of firangs with same ferocity and hawk eyes with which they watch ours and ridicule them. And Mr. Danny the Trainspotting Boyle, I know, your insides are all smiling like monalisa, coz u know u havent made anything special and you are getting all this praise and laurels when you dont deserve them. Luck accha hai tera,boyle...All the best for oscars and vanish as soon as possible.