Mom!!

This wouldn't be a long bulleted list depicting the sacrifices that one's mother makes in her life, nor would it go about the rights a mother has beside her duties towards her family. These few lines go for my mother and her unconditional love.

She was a strict mother till my stepping into adolescence. I mean, she used to pull me off those gully crickets, she used to thrash me with a comb for every lie that I had spoken, she used to pierce me inside out with her eyes for every time I used to hide things from her.
But I loved her, for every time she made me cry, she herself cried silently locking herself up in the washroom. I saw her wiping her tears many-a-times. And believe me, nothing hurts more than seeing tears in your Mom's eyes.

Things have changed from then, time has carried us a bit far, where we're self-sufficient and we can live our life on our own terms.
I still remember the day, 4 years back, I had told Mummy that I feel like wearing that sort of Jaipuri Dupatta. The next day we searched the entire market for that but failed drastically.
I assured her that I was Ok, and I won't die if we didn't have that dupatta. But she being Mummy, she rang her entire neighbourhood and cousins and in-laws, and I had that thing in my room within a week. Although it has got withered after I used it frantically for these four years, and I need a new one.. But that's a different story.
I told her few days back that I wish to have rasgullas. I am not at all foody, but sometimes even deserts see rains. I said and I forgot, but she fetch me the Bengali sweet the very next day, and I could do nothing but smile idiotically at her saying, "Maine toh Aise hi kahaa tha".
This list is endless!

She never took a back seat whenever it comes to my choices, specially now, when she can afford those small wishes of mine, whether it be my food habits or anything. The best part lies in the fact that she remembers everything I say. I mean, I don't even remember my own wish list, but she remembers mine.

Sometimes I feel like thanking her, but then that would be too awkward, for we don't actually believe in saying what we mean to each other. But yeah, She deserves the best in her life, and I know I am not the best. I am still trying to be with her every time she expects me to understand her without even saying a word!

Gender Equality - Begin at home!

Women are a blessing to the humanitarian world. They make you and they may break you at times for what you are.
On one side people go crazy announcing it at their highest pitch that they respect women and that they'd do anything and everything to protect their rights, and on the other hand they go crazy raping them. Half of them even dare to justify their deeds with those shameful explanations.
We, plainly, cannot claim equality until we root out those basic elements of inequality prevalent here.
And for that, the best we can do is START AT HOME!

I saw people claiming that we've gone a big way towards treating the two genders equal. They claim that they just have one measuring balance for both a son and a daughter. I would want to ask that bunch of people just a few questions.

Did you not ask your daughter to fetch a glass of water while your Son was busy playing video games?
Did you ever gift a doll to your daughter, while your son played with a football?
Did you ever laid a time limit for your girl to return back home while your son stayed out late at nights?

Most of you would say 'yes' to the above questions, and then attribute your answers to various reasons, for instance, you may say that your daughter likes playing with the doll, or your girl likes doing those household chores, and then, you care for your daughter and that's why summon her to return back home in daylight.
But let me be frank and tell you that they're all escape gates to the inequality you pose to the two prominent genders in the society.
Equality doesn't imply from the fact that you send both of your kids to school, or you never differentiated between them in respect of food or clothing.
I agree that we've come a good way in this field, and earlier, even these basic necessities used to be snatched away from a girl, but THIS ISN'T IT!

There was a colleague of mine who had a lovely little daughter, but the taboo didn't leave her too. Whenever her Mom used to work on a laptop, she would cry out and say that the laptop belonged to her Dad and her Mom was not allowed to touch it. INEQUALITY begins here.
Telling a girl that dress up like one, telling a boy that he should not cry as crying is synonymous to girls, they are all what you call the basic traits of inequality, which is still very much into our Central Nervous System, I would say.

I've never seen an advertisement of a glucose drink which let a girl play cricket, or an ad that shows a boy singing or dancing.
A recent advertisement of a packed eatable offered surprise gifts, a robotic car and a barbie doll, for a boy and a girl, respectively. Why did you do that? I mean, can I not play with the car?
What would be wrong if my brother plays with a barbie doll?
Motorbike ads would show a man driving one, while a bunch of girls follow him maniacally.
Excuse me? How do you see them like?

Politicians are busy releasing statements like women are themselves responsible for rape, and that they should dress up all covered to avoid one.
Didn't we achieve freedom long back?
I doubt so.
And half others are busy chalking out reservations for women in parliament and in various other jobs, and even applying for a job for women is free of cost while they charge plenty for a man. You would say that this is a way to create equality among masses and to let girls step forward in those fields. Your target probably reached a bit far, but ultimately what survived is inequality. Men are dying cursing women for all these perks that she gets.

Woman would not have needed these reservations if she was treated equal and taught at her home that she could conquer every field in this world.
We lack big time here!

Another stream of thinkers propose that We are unequal, and that's a fact. They say a man and a woman are biologically distinct and this is the fact that leads to thousand other inequalities.
Well, we don't ask you to change your sexuality to match a women's, they demand firstly and foremost-ly, a moral equality, to be treated as a human being.

My neighbourhood owns a family where a father wants her daughter to become a teacher, so that she could earn as well as take care of her 'would be family'.
Are we equal?
Why can they not become a mechanical engineer if they want to be one?
Bring equality on this front!

How can we really control those statements given out by politicians when somewhere the men in our house too, in some way, possess the same kind of mentality, believe it or not!
And then, when a late daughter of India is being attacked again by her rapists, that she could have saved her life had she not resisted her rape, we want to hide this ugly face of our society.

Hiding a fact won't modify and correct the thinking of our society. It never will!
Change need to begin at home, exactly then, we can hope for a safer, a better society, where a girl is brought in this world, is educated and then told to choose her career, without ever reminding her that SHE'S A GIRL!

P.S. I am not a feminist, but few of these things, they haunt me, badly.

Chilled Winter Night!! - Short story

This is a short story!! It would just need a moment from your life.

"Chilled winter night!"

"Please come down to the college corridor from your RajMahal. Its urgent," a male voice repeated after I denied him the umpteenth time.

My chilled night of winters which should be spent lying under covers, was instead being wasted by this man so very ruthlessly. It was a call from him at 1 O' clock sharp that killed my sleep that night. Moron!

Trying to register everything, coping up with chilled winds, sitting on that very cot of mine, I cursed him inaudibly, and to an extent that he again called me back.
"Gaali kyun de rahi hai? Its just a night sleep of yours that I ruined, at least this much you can do for me," he said mischievously.

"Yaa right. I am coming, just stay there," I said, with a 'whatever' tinge in my voice.
But deep inside, I wanted to say much more then that tacky 'whatever' which was just a way to hide my emotions.
And how do I exactly tell him, that I could do any damn thing for him? Forget about just one night, I could spend all those coming nights waiting for his call.

Amidst those slumberous thoughts of mine I reached at his specified location in the corridor where he was already waiting for me.
As soon as he saw me coming, a wide smile scattered on his face. He clasped my wrist and began dragging me till somewhere.

"Have you gone crazy? What exactly are you trying to do?" I asked him narrowing my eyes, walking with him.
"Patience girl!" He grinned.
"If its your prank or anything, be prepared, coz I am going to break your bones," I glared at him, and he just wrapped my shoulders with his arm in response as we continued walking.

He led me out of the building into the lawn. I still had no idea what he was trying to do. But as we moved forward I spotted something there in the middle of the lawn and my eyes gleamed with an unsaid joy, as I looked at him with welled up eyes and he just smiled back lovingly in response.

"You remembered?" I asked.
"Of course, I cannot even dare to forget it ever," he chuckled.

No it wasn't a cake or something, it was actually a small bonfire, surrounded by mats and beside it was placed two cups of tea. Night could never have been this beautiful!
I just hugged him with all my might chipping lots of 'Thank yous' in just one breathe, and he engulfed me tight as a sign of accepting those Thank you's that very moment.
That cup of tea merged with his care and affection and my laughter was the best tea I had ever sipped down my throat.
Nobody could have done what He had done for me in this small span of friendship.

Next morning, at probably 8 O' clock I woke up with the sound of my alarm clock. As I stretched my hand towards my phone to wish him a good morning, I saw a message already flashing in there.

"I am going out with Richa today. Try n mark my proxy in today's classes".

Oh yes, his girlfriend!

My best friend was going out with his beloved girlfriend. I should be happy, no?
That's a different reality that I loved him, I had infused his love into my soul long back. I wished him to be mine but that never happened.
He loved me I know, he did everything for me which I had ever anticipated I know, but We Were Best Friends, and nothing more.

Well, I was happy that he was in love, and that his love was in his arms, unlike mine.
*********

Thank you so much for reading this shot!!

Being an Indian

I won't be talking about those big issues prevalent in our country, like how we should be a responsible citizen or report corruption or fighting terrorism or must vote to select better government. No. All this we acknowledge very well already.

There are many other things that we do or we love to do or is actually attached with our destiny being an Indian.

First and foremost thing that creeps into my brain is Cricket. Earlier less number of us were interested in it when we just had test cricket. Number of cricket fans increased with the commencement of One Day Internationals. My mother tells me stories related to 1983 world cup. She would recognise every player who used to play cricket when she was young like Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev etc. It won't be an exaggeration if I say that I've got an inclination towards Cricket from my Mom and not dad, "breaking the stereotype".

We Indians, many of us, are born cricket fans. This was about interest. Apart from this you must have heard about Indo-Pak cricket matches and the crowd gathered there? There was a girl in my class when I was in School, she used to crib a lot about Cricket, "What's so special in it?", "Why my brother is crazy about it?" No doubt she was unaware even about the terms related with the game. But the very next day of an India-Pakistan match she was the one who talked the most about it, "Being an Indian".

From the very childhood one won't be knowing the name of the genius who got the Nobel for Chemistry but would be knowing very well about his cricket team and its glorious victories over other nations' teams, "Being an Indian".

The next thing worth noticing is out immense love for Movies. Number of movies a year is directly proportional to the number of languages we have in our country. Telugu, Bangla, Kannad, Marathi, I mean, what not?

We breathe in movies and their songs.

People accuse Bollywood of copying ideas from Hollywood and South Indian movies but "being an Indian" they are the ones who strive to watch the first day first show of that movie starring big names from Bollywood.

Admit it or not, a movie in your mother tongue if put in properly, influences your brain more effectively. And the craze for a movie star is well-known here. What not people do to just get a glance of their favourite actors. Abuse SRK once on twitter and you will be abused back ten times by his "fans" (I have tried this several times).

What to talk about fun and enjoyment! Everybody does it. But here, people have their own ways of doing it, "Being an Indian".

Youngsters find relief from their day-to-day activities by partying, movies, outings etc whereas you must have seen women chilling out by gossiping about every second issue around them or even shopping and spilling money over every silly thing. No, of course they do it responsibly as well, but this is their stress-buster many-a-times.

Aged lot of people find enjoyment playing with their grand children which give them immense pleasure that cannot be replaced by those materialistic luxuries of life. They just want importance, solace and love. (Well, this factor must be common all across the world).

"Being an Indian", we are always up for whole lot advices and concern for our neighbours or our relatives even when they don't want it. Look at the extra sweetness!

What to say about marriages! here we spend all our belongings marrying our children because that's the most important task in parents' life. Being an Indian they do every bit to select a perfect groom/bride for their kids and marry them off gifting them the second half of their lives. Attend a wedding ceremony here and you'll get to know us, care,  love, affection, respect in us in a better way.

And last but not the least "our culture".

We love integrating our culture, "Being an Indian".  Heard about Bengali Roshogulla, Agra ke Pede, Rajasthani Daal Baati, marathi Vada Paao, Gujarati Dhokla, South Indian Rasam and many more? You will find these food items in the entire country and loved by all of us. Same goes for Clothing. Even versions overlap.

We are so closely integrated and proud to be an Indian "being an Indian".

When we had no inverter

I still remember 7 years back in 2007 January, when I was in my 10th standard, it was just 2 months to go for my board exams. (Ours was a more serious one, not like how government ruined the education system today making 10th boards as just a "grade yielding" exam which is of no use practically).

One fine evening I set a target of learning a particular lot of chapters of Social Science, the day itself. I was well around my target and just then darkness got scattered all around. Yes, the power was gone. Mind it, we had no inverter, just an emergency light and that too was not charged at that point of time. That was really annoying for a "dedicated student" like me.

Just then I felt a candle walking towards me. No, not a ghost, it was my Mom. She lit 4-5 candles on my table around the text book and said, "You carry on. I am here". That was the love and care witnessed and felt by me "when we had no inverter".

We used to sit under the quilt, all four of us - Mom, Dad, bhaai and me, and talk endlessly about every idiotic detail of our lives in candle light. But yes, summer nights were breathe-takingly disastrous. We used to sit on mats on the terrace although sweating badly but still we were together. Sometimes it used to be a trouble for the entire day and night when we had long 10-12 hours power cut. That time I could always feel my family's presence beside me waving that hand fan over me till I fall asleep.

Inverter is a necessity now-a-days I agree. Even in my house, parents have grown older, they need enough sleep to wake up feeling good the next day. We need 24 hours bulb and fan overhead to keep the work going whether it be our jobs or studies or household works. Laptops have become a lifeline for people "in a metro". Even our "beloved Television" is a must in every house now. People will forget having tea but won't forget watching their favourite drama or cricket match on TV (I am no exception over here). So.. Bravo! We all have got a substitute of candles in our lives. Battery operated fans, inverter, lights are all examples. Now we don't suffer any more. We lead a comfortable life sitting in our rooms, enjoying songs on i-pods or spending time chatting with friends on messenger.

But did we forget we have a family too?

Too busy to ponder over this question? Then I guess the answer of the above question is a "yes" in your case.

I have seen people who say that they go to a mall or a movie or for dinner, once in a month with their entire family. Well, great! But it do not exactly give you the opportunity to interact with them thoroughly as you could have done very much at home over a cup of tea. (Well, its just my point of view, nothing to panic about).

In my case, now after these many years we achieved enough to own an inverter, but in no sphere of time could we get back those moments of togetherness.

Although I create an artificial one often, making tea, dragging my parents in my room and talking and arguing with them over every small issue of life.

Its feels awesome. try it!

Contrast between idealistic ideas and practical considerations

Its never so refreshing and rejuvenating than being in the midst of huge bunch of people and still alone sitting in a corner and exploring and analyzing every phenomena occurring.

I just forgot it was the Rose Day! People had roses with them gifted by their loved ones may be, happiness in their eyes. Just then I noticed a girl with a bunch of roses. I thought "Wow! She got so many of them", but no, she went into a shop and gifted one rose to the owner saying "I shop from here very often and thank you for being so helpful". I had never witnessed something like this ever. Often we talk so idealistically but when it comes to incorporating those ideas into practice we generally back off. But this was treat to the eyes.

Then a second angle was added to this thought. One of my friends' said "Valentines' week is just a money making trick, they sell an ordinary rose worth 20-50 bucks. Gifting a rose is not something bad, but if the girl had gifted it on 15th of February (after the D Day), those shop owners would still have felt over-whelmed".

I found "a little" logic into this argument.

I am planning of talking to some more people over this issue. Its important what a "Random Sample" thinks.

Sometimes ago whenever I used to look at someone sitting all alone in a crowded place I used to think how tough is his/her life without friends or without a good company. Now when I am experiencing this peaceful time all alone but with myself it feels a new energy has surrounded me which makes me think in a positive way.

Its not important that your friends sit around you all the time, what is more important is that they stay with you forever although veiled and come out of the fog whenever you need them. Those who sit around you every moment are the ones whom you need to survive, in this fast moving world and mind it, there is a thin line of difference between them and your friends in real sense.

My Dad says, "Lion never hunts in a group", you need to walk alone to achieve what you want, you cannot drag somebody with you where you want to go. But then when I see the reality, it tells a different story. Every one here has few people around them who would help him/her to surpass all the difficulties of their day-to-day life. Those who move alone are termed egoist or abnormal or "how he manages alone?".

Why do we need to socialize if this phrase is true? In today's age they say if you don't have good relationships with your counterparts and colleagues you'll be behind every time you need your work to be done. In short, those counterparts are taken as ladders to walk ahead and up. Now we can very well see the contrast between idealism and the so-called practicality.

I am pondering upon this issue for so long and hope to find the answer soon!

My recent memorable train journey

I was writing in the middle of a journey that is entirely not by choice, writing because I don't have anything better to do in a closed compartment, writing because these moving grasslands, fields, animals, humans, buildings etc are telling me, inspiring me to do so.

I have read somewhere that writers need to travel frequently to experience things, experience this world and then transfer those experiences on paper. (Well, I think then I am not experienced enough to comment on this.)

A morning 7 O' clock train in winter season is not easy to catch. I still remember how the cab driver would take a U-turn and find another way for railway station every time he saw thick fog endowed on roads. For the first time I saw a dead scared cab driver who took twice the time reaching the destination due to fog.

And then the train, it was as frustrating as it can be. First set back was the absence of pantry car. We were shivering in cold searching for tea or coffee and getting none in return. Finally after 3-4 hours of that unbearable cold we got a cup of coffee all four of us (me, mummy, nana and nani). Although it was tasteless but at least we could call it a coffee, a boon in a foggy winter morning. And after that there was a flood of tea or coffee in our compartment. My nani said "Piyo, kitni chaiy piyogi!" How true! Just a few hours of patience won't do much harm to you but after that tough period, good times is not far. Patience pays.

I had a bunch of people accompanying me in the journey, all of different kinds. I could hear few of them conversing for long-long hours about congress, BJP, AAP and Congress-AAP alliance and the possible consequences of it and everything. Too intellectual a conversation somehow didn't impress and involve me. It looked like a cooked intelligence to me. There was a 72-year old man besides seat who was talking. rather praising his entire family all the day using different words which conveyed the same meaning. And one more noticeable gentleman of the same age who did nothing to get noticed by us. He just introduced himself and his family to us and then kept quiet like us and heard the self-praises patiently of his counterpart.

All of this had a glance of beauty, the variety that we possess on this Earth, variety of human beings, We all know the girth of each of us when we start talking but still we talk endlessly. There's nothing wrong. Even we are not perfect then how can we tell the person in front of us to eradicate his imperfections.

Complaining about the basic amenities like cleanliness, sanitation etc in trains has become so frequent by all citizens that I should better shut up in this respect. But one thing for sure, toilets are in terribly dirty condition. Who is responsible? You, who's talking so loudly that nothing else can be heard. Did you do your bit in keeping them clean instead of blaming it all on the authorities?

Too idealistic? No. It's quite practical if you really want things to fall in their places.

I've never seen in my life a train arriving exactly on time except for 2-3 times, whatever be the reason. Once your train is late somehow, you'll be pulled back again and again however badly you want to cover up. The same happened this time. Reaching somewhere 8 hours late is never acceptable but then I think I should feel happy that its just 8 hours because our trains, behind the veil of fog, can be late for as long as 15-20 hours or they are even cancelled we all know that.

Well, I think all of us are unique in one respect or the other and my family too is one of its kind specially Nani. She would pack at least 10 bags every time, not from clothes but various eatables, blankets (in winters) etc. This time we even had table fan, electric metres for their newly laid down home in suburbs (where we were heading), and the stoppage time of the train at our destination was just 2 minutes. I was sure that we cannot take all of it in one go so I just randomly asked, "Nani, which of theses things you want to leave here in the train itself?" She said, "none".

What a determination on an old face! And yes we did it. As the destination station was approaching we just brought one by one all the luggage near the gate of the bogie and I was the luggage keeper standing at the gate counting all and taking care that they don't fall off. And as soon as the train stopped we were out in just a few seconds with all the luggage.

A 28 hours long journey is tolerable and productive if we look at everything around us with a vision!

Photographs: Windows to a soulful past

We were not very financially capable but still, since my birth they gave me those photographs as a memory for me to look upon my past.

"You want to know how your first Birthday was celebrated?", said my Mom before placing those beautiful pictures of mine with my family in front of me.

As I grew up I don't know how my maternal uncles got hold of a camera (that old one, which needed a reel to work). They must have bought it borrowing some amount from here and there. And all this happened just to capture my childhood for I was the newest and first little member in their family. From the age that I remember ( may be I was as young as 6-7 years of age) those photographs were the only time when they all used to come up together and pose, the cutest family ever. One of my Uncles was so fond of clicking photographs and even get it clicked that he used to wear all sorts of stylish  (self-made) accessories and even spectacles for that matter before getting a picture clicked. I still remember his funny and yet adorable clicks.

And how I remember such minute details of a time nearly 15 years back? Through those photographs that my family left for me to relive my past. The time I look at any one of them, you will find me lost in imagining the previous and the later scenes of that moment that was lying captured in front of me. I sort of relive that moment with all of them in the same ambiance that existed in my village 15 years back, the ambiance which is lost somewhere in wake of modernization and industrialization. That joint family which is no more "joint" for people were to leave for work and got settled in different cities of the country. So the only way to feel the presence of my loved ones "always" around me at this point of time is by hopping into my past through these pictures.

Understanding this from my kid-hood I developed a habit of capturing every moment of mine in my phone's camera right from the day I received a phone from my Dad (that was the day I joined my Graduation). Then I met the best self-chosen relationship of life, that is, Friends. I somewhere knew that we tend to loose these gems in the run of life as we go ahead, hence I never missed grasping any special moment of our lives in my camera. Those pearls (I do not have enough words to denote them, every adjective is incomplete) are my life. This is not an adolescent attachment towards friends, but my sincere love and gratefulness towards them. This love and belongingness overflows from the photographs that we have, it depicts our journey to the most difficult phase of life.

Today we are far away from each other, in different corners of the country but still our journey is jailed in my laptop and in my heart.

If you love someone, these photographs would help to keep them in your memories even when they are not by your side every time. Memories are precious. Ask me, they have served me happiness several times!

This beautiful life surely needs a window to re-visit and relive our soulful past!

How I happen to opt for Science

If you ask this question people will answer you by praising Science in all respects and explaining the beauty of it. True! Science is beautiful. But for me there are several other reasons involved.

From my childhood I was told that my Mom and Dad both are Science stream post graduates, Also my Mom's father always wanted to marry his daughter to someone who has studied Science in his life as according to him only a Science graduate has brains. My entire family had Science background except one or two. So it was pre-decided that I'll go with Science further in my life, pre-decided not by my parents but by me as I thought people will call me weak if I don't opt for Science.

The dilemma of our Education system is that we have to decide upon our subjects the time we reach 11th standard (~ 15 years old). I don't think at that time we are mature enough to decide what we want and what we are good at. Even I had no idea.

I was a good student and was confident enough about Science because I was sure that I cannot do anything in any other stream. Arts and commerce both gave me strange looks commerce being an entirely new subject linking to business which as a profession didn't interest me. Art subjects looked confused in themselves where we need to memorise responses and many-a-times they were not sure which response is correct or may be there are "n" number of correct responses.

Science on the other side is very much concrete and methodical. We have a particular logic about why it is this way. Also, we can solve our query about everything that is happening around us, a logical response indeed is obtained. And all these things made me feel that Science is the best of all and I can excel only in Science.

My opinion took a turn the time I joined my B.Ed. (Bachelor of Education) after graduating in Chemistry. In B.Ed. they teach you Philosophy, Sociology and Psychology as a compulsory subject. In the beginning these subjects were a headache for me because I didn't understand a word but slowly and steadily I started liking the fact that these subjects have "a range" of answers and not a single particular response to a question. I started developing my ideas as well. As one of my Teachers used to say - "You Science people have extremely structured mind, you don't even try to listen and ponder upon a set of responses to a particular question." So, I gave it a try and succeeded as well.

And finally I concluded that all of these subjects have a thing of beauty, you just need to understand the nature of it.

Choose anything but love it for your entire life!

Killing the soul of the society, the so-called saints

People worship these Saints like they are the messenger of the Almighty. Just look at the crowd emerging at the places where they preach, as if the preachers are distributing gold or something! Its look like a lot and lot of people are believing in them so much as if they really have some divine powers.

You must be remembering the case with Nirmal baba. He was even accused of buying hotels from the donations he received through his big "Fan following".

Can anyone clarify upon what a "Saint" (A God sent human) would do with a chain of hotels? Or simply what would he do with this much wealth? And you must be remembering his unique solutions to your problems - eat something, go here, go there, and you will be sorted. This in itself was an indication that the solution of your problem lies inside you. Its your faith, whether you establish it in a Saint or within you.

Same was the case with Baba Ramdev. What an immense wealth he possessed! He was reported buying land abroad, on islands etc. Somehow I believe on Yog-Aasans that he used to teach. Once my Grandfather encountered serious joint injury 2-3 years back that he could not even walk . So we went to his Yog Aashram near Haridwar. I was astonished to see the charges they were imposing for rooms, meals etc.

Is this the way you claim to treat people, a social service accompanied by heavy charges?

And how will poor people be benefited by your "super hit" treatments?

And then hopping into the issues of politics by a Yog Guru was another blunder committed by him.

And then came Asaram Bapu into the picture.

The allegations on him are not just money-oriented but worst than that. A girl (daughter of Asaram's follower) in Rajasthan (Jodhpur) came out with an allegation on him that he raped her. Of course media hyped the issue so much and filled the minds of us, the non-believers of him with more of mistrust and hatred. I still can't say what's the truth but if there is fire of this much intensity then there must be a slight spark somewhere surely.

Remember his statement about Nirbhaya case? He said that she should have held one one of the culprit's hand and called him "bhaiyya". How idiotic! So, according to him rapes are fault of girls because they don't call the rapists as Bhaiyya.

As it unfolded I think I got a strong opinion against these money-minded preachers of the society. I may be wrong to some extent but not entirely.

I had a dream last night

I had a dream last night. And to my exclaim I was the main lead of my movie like dream. I was never this much idealistic. But then I think somewhere in my sub-conscious mind I possess an idealistic character. The dream goes as follows.

I was with my friends in a car going somewhere. Suddenly I saw a boy (may be 6-7 years old) in his school uniform with his Dad, may be going back to his house after the school was over. He instantly threw his little flag, The National Flag of my country and many other Tricolour stuffs on the roadside. May be it was a few days after 15th August Independence Day. I don't know what happened to me, what lit inside me that I at once ran to the child and tried "preaching" him that "you should not do like that. Don't you know its our National Flag? Why did you bought all this if you wanted to insult it like this?" And so on.. But then I realised he was just a kid, how will he know the importance of the Tricolour if his parents and elders around him are not interested. Then I started picking up all those things lying on the road. After picking up half of the things I looked up to find that nobody was listening to me. He just left with his Father. That was a heart breaking moment. Even his Father was not interested. Then I looked at my friends and they were smiling, I don't know "on me" or "for my good deed". As soon as finished picking up all those things I found a little hand coming towards me. It was another boy, 5-6 years elder than the previous one. He touched my hand and said "Didi, It doesn't matter. Nobody is looking at you and nobody is learning from you." At that moment I wanted to scold and slap him. But his "innocent smile" and the word "Didi" caught hold of my anger as I kept silent. But then looking at my face he was like, "Didi, I promise I won't ever dare throw my National flag here and there. I will always follow what you taught me today".

These words were magical for me.

That's it. I woke up.

I have always wanted to rise from these worldly possessions and do something for all. But for now I succeeded in just a dream. And then I also realised that I want to be big at heart and inspire people for good, which of course can be done without coming into power as Arvind Kejriwal is doing with his Aam Aadmi Party. I don't have any idea whether he'll succeed or not because I've heard a lot of bashing and people calling them jokers etc.

Okay it happens most of the time that I start writing on a topic and automatically switch to other hot discussions linking the two.

Moral of my story is (what I conclude) "start from the roots of your country, i.e., these little kids, transform them and you'll be able to secure India's future. Then think of going further ahead!"

Its still extremely tough!

Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon incomplete without Barun and Sanaya

Those of us who have watched Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon on Star plus would definitely know the magic Barun Sobti and Sanaya Irani created together. As Arnav Singh Raizada and Khushi Kumari Gupta (Singh Raizada) they both entered our hearts and after this long the show being off air we still miss them and remember their show as the best we have ever seen.

Now suddenly I got to watch a promo on Star Plus itself that showed a man telling a woman that you girls know nothing but think high of yourself then he sits in his car and their he has a girl sitting next to him. He pretends that he cares and want to do everything for the good of women. I was quite normal looking at the promo but I was really shocked to see the title "Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon... Ek Baar Phir".

What?

Are you serious?

And the lead pair did not look like Barun and Sanaya I suppose and you still named the show after the name of their serial (IPKKND)!

The title of the season 2 being the same, is just a technique to earn the profit out of the extreme success of the first season. And of course business do not know the language of heart. So we cannot either expect them renaming the show just because the title "Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon" is attached to the feelings of us, the fans.

I, as a fan of the show and of my lead jodi Arnav and Khushi, am not interested in watching the show for any reason. I just hope if they have not included Barun and Sanaya into the show then they must not even use the names Arnav and Khushi in it either.

Cheers to Sarun and Arshi!

All the best to Avinash and Shrenu!

Generation Gap becoming narrower with respect to age difference

They say we cannot understand our elders and vice versa due to the "so-called" generation gap. Things they had in their childhood, we got extremely different than those.

When my parents were kids they used to play with wooden toys carved out of the bark of trees. They used to wear clothes, not ready made, but stitched by their mother out of plain clothes. They could just go to a government school because of unavailability and un-affordability of private high-class schools. They were totally unaware of the "lingo" that we use today. We are being called the "SMS" generation and I have seen my Mom not even understanding the SMSs I write to her due to "you" written as "u" and "I have" written as "I've". And what to talk about Television! Our knowledge store is enhanced a lot compared to our parents, although our gained knowledge can be categorised into both positive and negative aspects.

Talking about the compatibility between the two generations, I can bet that till adolescence its only our parents who try to come on terms with us learning our language of conversation, and we remain so much self-centered that we don't care and call it a Generation Gap.

From the side of elders the phrases like "When I was your age I used to do this and that" are really irritating statements which can tear apart your relations.

So there is a certain age when parents need to cooperate and afterwards their kids also need to care about understanding what their parents actually want and why.

Going a bit further if I talk about my cousins just 10 years younger than me I find a greater gap in between our thought process. I can say that the generation gap is becoming broader when the age gap is narrowing down. Now-a-days kids are exposed to internet as early as 6-7 years of age. And you can very well imagine the extent and variety of knowledge they get out of internet making them sharper and shrewder that they can beat you anytime in various tasks of life. Seventh and eighth standard children are seen having relationships (boyfriend - girlfriend as they say), thinking that they look cool if they would have one.

Even though these people are just 8-9 years younger than me but still the difference between our thinking looks like nothing less than a Generation Gap. The Gap has become too short to be ca;led a Generation Gap but it do exist. Its the same. We have a vacuum in between us and our parents and in the same way we feel a vacuum between us and the 12-13 years old school going children.

As you can see how it has narrowed down, from ~28 years to ~8 years now.

Even the new laws like "You cannot fail kids till 8th standard has given students license to avoid studies, avoid teachers and avoid their parents too, if they speak anything against these kids, And I cannot identify with this behaviour.

I don't even know whether the Gen Y is going to the advanced stage or its a depreciation in their personality and thought process due to they being over-exposed to a lot of things.

First Rain of the season for a common man

And after much patience and burning heat, here comes an evening which comforted us all the way.

I was in my room and exactly at 4:30 I noticed the color of the day, somewhat dull outside my window. It left me wide awake and I couldn't stop myself from smiling continuously looking at the beauty of the weather outside. I just ran towards the terrace.

I noticed at first that it was a dust storm. The color of the sky was light red or brown or wait! Was it the color of the sky or layer of dust engulfing the sky? And a ferocious wind started blowing. At first it was hot but slowly the hotness melted down and I could sense a cool wind, although it brought lots of dust along with it. And I could notice a tired and somewhat scared face of my mother who surely was thinking about the trouble she was going to have cleaning up the entire house afterwards.

I thought it would stop here. But no.

I was given the privilege of enjoying rain by the almighty. It was raining a good amount but I could not feel the droplets uniformly on me. As of course the wind was playing with the droplets changing its direction every now and then. It was fun watching this cute game of the wind and the rain droplets.

But still, it didn't stop here.

It started raining heavily with the equal intensity of wind. Alas! I had to step into the small room on my terrace as I was there with my 'mortal' diary.

But then Mom rushed towards the terrace and reached me in no time saying "Is it a snowfall anyway?". And exactly then one dazzling piece of ice was noticed resting on my hand. What a feeling it was! Mom (just like me) loved ice-fall (snowfall would be a big term for a place like Delhi where just 30 seconds of falling of pieces of Ice here and there is generally observed) and always used to see it happening running towards either the front gate or the terrace. And the same happened this time as well.

I was extremely speechless looking at her when she was playing with those few pieces of ice and smiling on her own. The best feeling for a daughter watching her mother rejoicing the weather like a kid. Wow!

It continued for further 10 minutes and then ultimately it all came to a halt.

Its exactly 5:30 now. As I am sitting here writing what all I felt till now, I can still hear the thunder clearly and I suppose I can get a showery weather anytime again In My City!

Daughter of a middle class family brought up like a princess

Whether it be movies or houses in reality, you all must have noticed mothers shouting behind their daughters to make them learn household works even in today's age, forget about the time long back when girls were even not sent to schools.

And then I got to know about a girl who has an altogether different experience regarding life.

She was born in an entirely lower-middle class family. At that time her mother was a housewife and father an unemployed elder son of a miser family. You can imagine how difficult the Life would have been for them!

As her Mom says. "I cried a lot whenever I saw my daughter wearing a torn frock. I always wanted to give her everything. I felt broken from inside whenever I had to feed her water due to unavailability of milk, an irresponsible behaviour by my in-laws."

You must be wondering "what kind of princess is this girl?".

But then  after four years of her birth she was out of that miser jail along with her younger brother, Mom and Dad and entered into a new world "Delhi" where her father got posted as a teacher. But a meager salary has never helped any family.

And hence starts a common journey of parents to feed their children when they themselves lived with half empty stomach. But they never let their children feel anything like that.

Time kept flowing away and this family slowly and steadily collected every thing of luxury (almost) which is needed in today's age.

This girl still remembered how at the age of 13 (In 2004) her family got their first telephone (Tata Indicom - the cheapest one) but ultimately they had one. The best part was she always understood what life was for her parents and hence never complained about anything.

She was always allowed to do anything and go anywhere on just one condition, she should at least tell to her parents where she was going. Acceptable? Of course yes.

She (along with her brother) was sent to a reputed convent school without caring about the amount they would be charging and hired a van for conveyance (when their relatives started taunting them). One more thing, she never got a pocket money as her mother would say, "I will provide you with everything you need or desire, why do you need a fixed amount everytime?" She agreed to it having calculated the pros and cons mathematically.

Then comes the adolescence - the age where children need special care without being chained.

And the girl got a friend in her mother. Of course she could never discuss her crush with her mom but indirectly she did that as well.

Okay, she got slapped as well, beaten up with 'comb' for all silly mistakes till 8-9 years "but never after that".

Having successfully crossed the adolescence age without any blunders, she then stepped into her early adulthood, the age from where an Indian girl confronts every idiotic comment regarding her marriage.

I just read on facebook - "Nobody is going to marry you if your roti is not round", and I could not stop myself from laughing out loud.

But nothing of that sort happened to this girl. She was never told to do any work at home whatever she did was her own will. The major focus was studies all the time. And tell me just one thing which she demanded and she did not get. Although sometimes the demand fulfillment took a year or two, but it happened.

And now, 2013, she is 21 years of age. She received a news that her grand mom wants her to get married now, this just left her baffled. Again Mother comes to her rescue and says, "You study and forget about everything else in this world. Whatever is going to happen will happen anyway, don't worry."

Trust me, she still don't do any of the household works unless her mom is ill or any emergency situation hops in.

Her brother too treats her like a princess and in every condition thinks about his sister that how will she cope up with life and guides her every time (like an elder brother).

There was a lot to say but when did I cover the journey of 1991 to 2013 I myself didn't realize.

But yes, the girl is thankful to God to have got such a great family!

Marriages these days - Arranged for love or money ?

(Real Life Experiences)

This is the ultimate question. And raising this question I have totally ignored the concept of Love Marriage as for half of the population Love Marriage is morally incorrect. Also, Arranged Marriage vs. Love Marriage is an old debatable issue, hence not going further into it.

Lets talk about marriage as a whole without categorizing it.

Citing an example from real world one of my relative happened to marry a financially sound man working in a hotel for 6-7 years now, having good property both in town and in village, he even owns a factory of some sort. Overall a well-qualified and a wealthy man. On the other hand, the girl is just 12th passed and her father belongs to an upper-middle class.

So, I asked the groom, Why her?

His answer was, "I don't like girls wearing jeans or western clothes so I was mentally prepared that I want a village girl who should be good at speaking Hindi at least and nothing else".

Ok now, what i could conclude about this marriage - Groom wanted such a bride who is not a degree holder and hence won't shout for a job and just sit at home. She would be inferior to him and consider her husband as God, take care of family and rituals etc.

(Here, I want to make it clear that they even demanded approximately 10 lakh as Shagun, yes, "Dowry" in our terms).

To my exclaim, everyone in my house could not see what I was looking at! I am not wrong. Am I?

Marriages are still based on money and not quality and compatibility. And parents want to decide 'everything' themselves!

Here comes one more example.

This had happened some 12 years ago. After 2 years of marriage, a wife after fighting with her husband suddenly started saying again again "Return back my 4 lakh rupees which my father gave to you at the time of marriage and I would just leave from here". I don't know she was tutored from where regarding all this. I was just 9 years old and these lines got stuck into my head. I still remember it completely.

Grow up guys!

You are having a relationship based on love and respect or based on money?

And parents want to decide everything themselves!

Road to success waiting for you

A sweeper sweeping dry leaves in an institution or even on roads always has a tough fight doing so. I just witnessed this in my college right in front of me. Every time he started from one corner sweeping those dry leaves, a strong breeze used to blow. Leaves again used to get scattered. It happened four times in front of me. Every time that breeze used to render him baffled and somewhat irritated and frustrated & he used to stand at his place for few minutes and probably cursed that wind which somewhat wasted his efforts.

But every time he used to wait for the wind to stop blowing so hard to continue and accomplish his work, there was a determination on his face. I never saw him giving up anytime.

It was a small quadrangle, which used to take him less than 20 minutes earlier when it used to be a calm and quiet environment. But this time he was struggling hard for over an hour now but still not successful.

The spark of the desire of victory in his eyes was all the more visible to me, as if he was saying "I devoted a long time to this work and now I won't give up anyhow".

And yes, finally the God of wind saw his hard work and determination and had some mercy on such human being devoted entirely to his work and it (wind) controlled its velocity (both magnitude and direction) and finally helped him do his work and that too properly, without leaving any of the leaves scattered on the ground. I salute that spirit of him!

And I could connect this incident very much to Life (mine or yours). We receive lot of hurdles in the road towards success. If we give up trying and leave our enthusiasm to achieve what we want we certainly are nt going to succeed. But like the sweeper, following our work with full vigour is going to serve us with the taste of success.

Keep trying and working hard!

Introspect !

Sometimes I just feel that I want to go into a phase of stagnation, leaving all the dynamics of life behind.

Sometimes I want time to stop at its place for me so that I am able to stop worrying about past, present and future.

Life will become a burden if it stops anyhow because its beauty lies in it being dynamic, ever changing with new dimensions every moment. But still being a Homo Sapien heart demands peace, love, care, (list is endless) and if anyhow it gets all these things then it do not want to move on leaving it aside.

Life is a struggle for us to achieve something, which is called "Success" in simpler terms, success with respect to material things like money, fame, position and even abstract things like Love, relationships etc.

If I look upon my days, I spend it doing something, not always fruitful.

Then I want to ask a few questions.

Do we have to do fruitful things things every time?

Is it a pre-condition to success?

Or a pre-condition to attain satisfaction?

Well, I don't have exact answers of all these questions. But I think our mind will wear out if I stress it out with the burden of doing only things which going to yield me something. Don't be so selfish with respect to your own body! Selfish, to risk your health for obtaining or achieving something every time.

I am talking generally about the things which are in our framework and control.

All of our planning go in vain automatically with respect of things like Fatal disease or Death.

There is nothing we can do to prevent this kind of terrifying situations and who wants to loose people around them anyhow? Hence I want this time to cease here at this moment.

Just Pause for a moment or two and introspect. Look upon your life and make sure you are not wasting it just for your achievements and who knows you do not even live to enjoy the fruits of your hard work!

Horrifying reality as a dream

Last night I had a dream, somewhat devilish, somewhat unacceptable and horrifying for any girl whose thoughts anyhow superimpose on mine.

I left for home form my college. I don't how it became dark outside (may be I got very late to revert back home). And then I came into an area which was so quiet, uneasy and people there started staring at me as if I am a piece of meat in front of them (as was evident from their eyes). One of them asked me to come with him but I denied. Then some more people did the same. I don't know what happened to me but I started running with whole lot of people of that locality running behind trying to catch me. I called my family and loved ones but none of them picked up the call or may I say didn't heed it. May be they thought I am calling just like that. And I found myself helpless in the middle of a crowd of hungry animals.

Do you think I can escape anyhow?
What can be the possible ways to do so?
Or is it THE END of the girl stuck there?

First Teaching Experience as a trainee Part 1

Actually I was never so much afraid of teaching a class and even sometimes feel that teaching is in my genes. Earlier I have explained concepts to my friends and then I became so sure that I have this capability in myself.
The course which I am indulged into (B.Ed.) "forces" every student to undergo a teaching experience for 40 days in a school, not 40 days continuously but 4 days in school and Monday & Friday lectures in college (per week).
Things become much more complicated and difficult when you know that you are judged in this regard. I fortunately got a government school to teach, fortunate because I can see a lot of benefit in having government school students to teach :

• You will find your actual capabilities in extremely adverse conditions without any facilities in a government school.
• You will be facing the exact scenario of the atmosphere which the children of your society are experiencing.
• A small benefit of mine - "Hindi" being the medium of transaction and my mother tongue makes my job of curriculum transaction easier.

But yes, everything has its own negative side - The principal of the school as one of her own kind who considered everyone else as inferior. She was living just for her own prestige without thinking about the betterment of students or even teachers for that matter. She herself used to arrive in school in a nice big car and used to be fully loaded with makeup and stepping an hour late into the school but she could never tolerate her teachers and students coming late. I have seen her slapping a girl fiercely and shutting the gate of school in front of a teacher and not letting her in for this reason. So you may very well understand that when the roots of the institution are this much damaged morally then expecting the ultimate goal of education - character building - is impossible.

But yes We as teacher can still try our best to set an ideal example in front of our students so that they may get inspired from us and give us sincere and morally sound educated citizens of India.