Friday, November 19, 2010

What kind of question is that in the first place???


Hello!

Most of you have already read this post on my facebook notes. Wanted this to appear here in the first place, but coz of some problem with the blog site, couldn't do so. Finally it's back into action and here's the same post, coming on my blog, for the records! For those who've not gone through this, it all goes on from here....


It’s been ages I wrote a blog, and while watching the live telecast of Barack Obama’s interaction with the college students at St. Xaviers College, there’s something which struck me and have been thinking on it for quite sometime.

I’ll come to the point directly. While interaction, a girl by the name Aashi Jain (if am not wrong) from HR College questioned the President as to why Pakistan is not tagged as terrorists country by the US Govt. And basically this blog-post is for this young lady with the specs (as the President called her) and to everyone else who wants to call Pakistan a terrorist state. And so, I’ll be glad if you can help me pass on this blog to the said girl from HR.

Also, before I begin, just a disclaimer, that I was so engrossed in my own thoughts to what to write in this blog the moment heard the question, am sorry didn’t pay attention to what the President replied. And yeah, whatever my views are on the topic, are my own views, few of them personal experiences, and that do not take these as the facts as I maybe right or wrong, they’re my personal views. Everyone out there reading this have all the rights to oppose or support them.

The simple thing to understand is, why do you want to tag a country as terrorist state in the first place? Just ‘coz its Pakistan, the country with whom India has chattis-ka-aakra? There are few people in the political arena over there who wants to cast as many wounds to India, as they can. Reason? Something they heard about India which was hard for them to buy it. Alas! They created few terrorists group which can be used to create punctures in India. I guess, Jihad is what they call to this thrill in them. But it is only by the little, handful of the ruling class. The common man over there is, is as common as you and me here in India. What they know is to wake up in the morning, work the whole day to earn some bread for the family and sleep in the night, soundly. The only opposition comes when there’s India-Pakistan cricket match. Call these simple people terrorists and then imagine what their condition will turn into.

Rather, will just turn the table for a moment. Who are terrorists? A dictionary meaning for the word terrorists describe it like this : A radical who employs terror as a political weapon; usually organizes with other terrorists in small cells; often uses religion as a cover for terrorist activities
Get to the two son of the soil political parties residing in the state of Maharashtra. They use violence as a method, to harm innocent individuals from other states of the country. Why ain’t these political parties be tagged as terrorists organization? They fit the bill of a terrorist completely? The idea is, it’s only few ruling people who have political interest to create a fortress out of nothing. The common man here as well, in spite of these odds, wakes up in the morning, works the whole day to earn some bread and sleeps in the night, soundly. And similar to this condition in Maharashtra, am sure there are different versions of the same story in every state. The govt around have lot of corrupt individuals. The recent Adarsh Building scam is one of those countless examples for this statement.
With this thing in our mind, how will you feel when a Pakistani stands up in front of the world as asks, “Why isn’t India called a house of terrorist organizations?”

The point am trying to make here is, you can’t simply blame someone, for something. Let me give you an example which can make my point clearer. Few months ago, I visited the valley. Valley, in general as a word, is a direct point of access to Jammu & Kashmir. I had heard a lot about the valley under constant terrorist threat. It isn’t safe to be in the valley as is constant threat to one’s life. Terrorists inhibit there and blah blah. When you hear such news, what kind of perception do you tend to form for the native of J&K. That everyone over there are suspected terrorists? If yes, I beg to differ. When I visited the valley, I surely got the biggest shock. Have expected them to be rude and arrogant and all that. But in reality, Kashmiris were absolute hospitable, humble in personality. Expected the place to be full of army and police personnel, as the news said, but felt it was like any other Indian city where people throng around the market-place, screaming, enjoying. The only difference was the presence of army people at a distance of every 100 mts. The shopkeepers tried to help us find the perfect souvenir with keen interest to know what is going on outside their state, how do we live, etc. Imagine how do they feel when it is said that terrorists inhabit the state of J&K? But in spite, they were humble.

Am from media background and in our curriculum, in one of the subjects (don’t remember which one duh :P ) there’s a debate on whether Media can shape mass’s perspective. And a lot of votes go for the motion which says it does. The mass believes what the media tells you about. Whether it’s a fact or no is another question. And that is what happened with the case of J&K. I believed it to be completely different than what I saw over there. Also, my opinions can be counter-questioned for the amount of time I spent over there to realize what is reality. Whatever the case may be, I will still think J&K to be something what I’ve seen with my eyes than what I hear from the media.

Coming back to the main topic, whether Pakistan should be tagged as a terrorist state, I feel there’s a lot n lot to ponder about before that.

Again I’ll say whatever said, may not be the fact, but are my personal opinion. Thank You for wasting your precious time behind this blog! I appreciate it.

And also, ponder on what Obama said, and so does our very own Prof. Sudhakar SolomonRaj after every peace talks, “How can you make this world a better place to live?”

Monday, July 12, 2010

ta


Assume this. There’s a bowl, filled with water. Still. And then a water droplet falls in it. It created a sensation in the whole bowl. And then another came. And another. And another. And so on...

Looks good.

The sensation, the ripple effect in the still water. It surely is better than the still water. Compare this to the day’s position. I am the water in the bowl. Your wishes are the water droplets. They came. One after the other.

Looks good. Better, rather.

Who can tell that you step out of bathroom, drying your hair, some 4-5 hrs before your Birthday’s 12 o’clock, and then a loud “SURPRISE!” bazooka is fired on you.

Shocked? Aghast? Balled over?

It’s not even 12 now man! It’s still a day before! Don’t cheat the time! And then a huge gift is handed over to you, probably the bearer was already tired of carrying it and wanted to take the load off as soon as possible.

A gift is a gift, none the less, treasure it.

And then I could see my little world treasured in that big gift. I said, treasure what you get. Wasn’t a bad idea, after all, with all the surprise people eagerly waiting for my reaction. Am not sure what they assumed, but I was mesmerized. With happiness. With glad. With honour.
And then second set of surprise people started pouring in my living room. { Dude! My B’day’s tomm!!! } Food time! Aah! And then I realize am the host. Gotta take care of the guests before I myself even look at the food. Had to obstinate. No choice. Mafia rounds fired. One set of surprise people surprised the other set. And then the clock struck 12. And then that moment appears where you curse to have your B’day that day, for all the love these surprise people have for one, is poured in. Anything part of leg is the weapon to pour in the love, warmth.

Cut.

The one to feel the love is same. Atmosphere changes from the living room to a micro pond of murky water. Surprise people changes to expected ones. Time is 10 hrs since the last love potion was poured in. The rules are understood in zip-zap-zoom moment and the affection process begin, drowning & pulling out one in that water. 22 times. Last one was a splash.

Cut.

2 hrs prior to love bath. Expectedly unexpected moment happened. 40 people. More than half, unidentified. 1 icing structure on my left hand, knife on the other. Rain drops falling all around and one umbrella to support the food of everyone’s thought. And this sugar-coated baked flour helped me identify each of the unidentified figures around.

Cut.

11:30 P.M. of prev day. Chocolate covered baked flour is slaughtered for the prying eyes whose only motto to sing the melody was to welcome the moment of choco consumption moment.

Whatever was the cause or the reason, moments will always be cherished throughout one’s lifetime. Appreciation, is beyond the bounds of one’s help.

To begin with, first in queue is one’s sibling. They say, siblings are god’s gift. I say, mine’s a miracle. Then is one’s parents, who supported the sibling’s cause.

After this, one would like to thank, err, THANK each one of you who, in one way or other, physically present or mentally present, played part in one’s own day. The day filled with joy. The day filled with delight. The day filled with emotions.

And here I end this with William Shakespeare’s quote “I can no other answer make, but, thanks, and thanks.”

Take loads of care.

With Lots of Love.

Enjoy!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Trip to UK



Sitting on platform # 1 of Nizamuddin, Old Delhi, the train announcer’s voice crackling over the speaker every now and then, people rustling on the platform with curious look at a group of odd 44 people...more than half of which were already flat on the floor, dreaming happily about the week went by.So what do I talk about, the sleepless nights or the sleepy days, the yummy grub or the shooting star? There’s so much to share the experience, every available space seems Lilliputian.The moment everyone woke up, to realize that our bus’s reached Nainital, not a single eye shied away to praise the beauty around that was passing by every moment. The lush greenery and the speaking silence! And no wonder even after continuously travelling for two nights, most of us were still feeling afresh!

The tents for boarding took everyone’s joy to another level. And then the amazing meals following suit! I didn’t find a single soul from the camp who refrained from eating the yummy sweet-dishes! Infact the bunch was sad for not getting multiple servings!!

And then we come to the bath scene. Two bathrooms and so many people eager to have bath. The queue number booking started even before the participants could unpack their luggage!! And upon realizing that there’s no water heater, many got goosebumps there itself!! And once the job was done, am sure the only song that roamed in their head was “I’ve become so numb..!” The cold weather and the chilled water, the challenge was huge but the campers determined to have bath.. Alas! Mission Accomplished!!And then, the following day, was the day of getting in the skin of adventure sports enthusiast! A twin sitter W Kayak was handed in the arms of two people to row in the silent lake. As everyone got chance to get the practical feel of the basics of Kayaking, we realize that it’s not only the direction which you need to constantly think, but also need to have proper sense of understanding between you and your partner so that both your oars don’t collide. Oh by the way, chuck the water getting in your kayak, that’s natural. A tough job to handle, but practice is what will help you row!

How does the idea of crossing between two valleys, hanging from the rope, sounds like? Scary? Then you need to try Valley Crossing, or as its initial name Taroline Traverse. A rope between two valleys, water below, a pulley, a carabuna and a harness did the job to enjoy the manual valley crossing. Going halfway was easy, but the second half...ahh, tiring. Pulling yourself to the end was tough, heavy on the arms.
Rock climbing and rappelling turned out to be simpler than expected. Although once up, on the rock, rappelling down the rock properly, as advised, was tough. Most were wondering how to stand on the rock keeping your straight legs, which from another perspective was lying parallel to the ground! But once on the ground, the feeling was nice to know that rappelling is fun!

And how can I forget that day’s bathing session? Scarcity of water at the place where we were put up, after the first day’s parky water, the only chance to freshen up completely was on this day, at the waterfall ! Straight from the nature’s womb, the sight of gushing clear water was enough to bring back the lost energy from earlier sports endeavour. Once getting the feel of bathing in the nature, with the purest form of water, came the moment, which many still cherish. The moment was ‘Changing in the wild!’ Phew! Amazing feeling, I say.

Next day. Super amazing breakfast of paratha’s and sheera, hot chocolate and coffee’s. Understood the reason at the end of the day. Throughout the day we trekked, trekked and trekked! It was like treating a ‘bakra’ before halal! Jokes apart, leaving aside the tiredness, everyone enjoyed the trek from one mountain to another and by evening, back to square zero. And biggest blow came when after the whole trek, which we thought must’ve been some 15-20 kms, was only 8 kms!! Disaster! We walked so much, it has to be 15-20 kms! Calling it 8 kms will be a shame! Now can’t even boast in front of others that I trekked for 15-20 kms!!

The fun seems endless. It was like catching the horizon, the more you move towards it to catch, it moved away from you. But we knew, it’s just a dream. We’ll soon wake up. But there’s still time, lots of time. Cherish it!

In the end, all I want to say is, those were one of the most precious moments that came as tagged with WCNC. If you got the chance to be a part of this fun, you’re the ruler of ‘NC Moments’. And if you didn’t, don’t forget, there’s always a next time!
Cheers!


And yes, if you're still wondering, UK stands for Uttarakhand!