When the cheers are loud, the whole world will take note.

...and a lot about it has been written, clicked, said and discussed about. Few small things I too had in my mind and wanted to share with the world. It’s what have noticed around, on two accounts. Something that has been in front of our eyes in the recent past, but without any connections for many.

Next morning had my board exam, but still something crazy caught my head and I was at Marine Drive at 11:30-12. Most of the 3 km stretch had people, from young to old, holding the tricolour in their hand or painted on their face, having the country’s name on their tongue (...and in some cases, the neighbouring country’s name too, for obvious reasons.) It took me around 45 mins to cover the distance which usually happens in 10 mins.

Then it was yesterday again. A chronicle moment. Cheers, jumps, hugs, dance. Ah, and the claps with whistles. Did I forget the fire-crackers? Then yes, that too. Unaware of what to do after the big screen + projector went off, six of us decided to do a dandi-march to Marine Drive, again. And with the quarter of mumbai’s population to be expected there, we were better prepared. Didn’t take any kind of vehicle and walking was the best mode of transport.

The scene wasn’t any different than what had seen few days ago. People from all sorts of background were there. None of them knew the other, or in many cases, everyone was a stranger. But every single soul had one single emotional feeling common with every single stranger over there. And if one known face among the throng of unknown people, then the happiness moment was cherry on top!

We had just about to reach the Air-India building and noticed these few bikers honking. Man! The tune of the honking was the very same thing that was in everyone’s mind. It was like they were providing the background music to our cheers. * people taking part in Polaris’s Junkapella, please make a note! :P * The bikers got a compliment right away from all six of us, and must’ve been by many on the road at that moment.

Once at the Marine Drive, we got busy in observing different people’s creative expressions to make a distinct mark on the happiness among others. A biker carrying huge replica of the cup to people having mad face paints, a sardar uncle in tricolour turban to around ten people sitting on a car’s roof while it’s in motion. It sure was a party with the theme of Light Blue, if the tricolour was not an option. And it was on the road. For the first time vehicles were planning to opt the footpath instead of the roads. They couldn’t help missing all the empty space on the roads. And strangers were talking to each other. Laughing, hugging, cheering, shouting, screaming all in unison. One of those few moments where the internal clashes were the least priority on their mind. The only priority they had was the other person was from the same nation. It is this moment which all the patriotic songs wishes to witness. And also, looking at all this, a close friend KaMa said, “Looking at the atmosphere, I wonder if the amount of tricolour and togetherness among the country people that we’re witnessing now comes to reality on any of other patriotic days!!!”

People were trying to break all possible records. Of the civic sense. A two-wheeler carrying 3 people, and in some cases, 5 or 6, a four-wheeler carrying double their capacity, stuffed in like it’s a pick-up truck. Stopped their vehicle wherever they felt like. Played music at the top of the speakers and all the strangers joined in to dance. Oh, don’t worry, the police were right over there. Right from normal police to traffic police, rapid action force to the commando’s. No one seemed to mind the act, unless it created a huge ruckus. For the first time all the illegal civic sense made some sense to me at that moment. The moment was historic, and temporary too. So as long as it didn’t cause any serious harm to anyone, it wasn’t taken as an illegal act. You had to be there to understand why. Just a passing thought, I shared with my troupe, “If a foreigner lands up here who has no clue of the sport, will wonder if the situation like Libya and Iran has come down to the sub-continent.”

From one who’s who to other who’s who, it really didn’t matter. Everyone over there were waiting for this one bus carrying those 16 fortunate a game’s soldiers, who bled Light Blue on the battle-field, and helped the nation bleed too. Everyone else’s bus passed by. The soldiers on the opposing side’s too. Looking at the situation outside the perimeter of their bus, they didn’t know what emotion to be in, whether to feel the joy around or distress for not able to live upto their countrymen’s expectation. But many of them had smiles on their face, appreciating the host’s efforts. A sportsman spirit. Well appreciated.

Time passed by, and everyone wondered where are the most awaited people’s bus. And none of us was bothered about anything else. That’s when, an interaction with one of the security personnel, we come to know that that one bus which we’ve been wanting to see had taken another route and reached their destination long ago, to avoid the large crowd gathering for a smooth ride. And as soon as we heard this, we realized that it’s way too late in the night (it was 2 o’clock), realized that each one of us had terrible pain in legs, realized haven’t had dinner (or anything else for that matter) the whole night till then and that every situation from now on will be tough. No vehicle to carry us back home, so had to walk with the pain. Everyone had informed to their folks that will have dinner at home once back. So all of us were wondering, the food will be on the dining table, all cold and it’s a terrible point to reheat it and consume it. Thought this case was with me only, but my troupe were in similar situations too!

Somehow crossed all the hurdles and silently welcomed the dream world with only one thing in mind, tomorrow’s morning will definitely be skipped without experiencing it. And once awake, this one word was still replaying in my head...

INDIAAAAA....INDIA!!!

PS: For those who are still in a fix wondering to what context this blog is about, here’s a little update. The chronicle moment was that India won the cricket world cup 2011 tournament against Sri-Lanka at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. The second one, after 1983. Now read the whole blog again to understand emotionally!

Cheers!

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?”

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!

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!

Three different chronicles, One destiny?

15^th Sep, ’08 1745 Hrs

KING OF GOOD TIMES….WHAT ABOUT THE SOLDIERS??

My current gtalk status message says ‘King of Good Times’. I’m. I feel happy without signs of blues to hamper my happiness. I feel good even with the signs of bad. I feel being the King of ‘Good Times’.

I go to college today. Most of the college time goes well. I still feel King of ‘Good Times’. Then comes Sudhu’s lecture. Two hours later, I wonder am I really a king of good times when other’s don’t get to be even soldiers of ‘Good Times’??

22^nd-24^th of Aug, Karnala. Our class trip for Sociology. Those three days went without our notice and the fun we all had, truly it’s gonna be in our thoughts forever. The first ever class trip, an outstation trip. Some enjoyed the atmosphere, some the surrounding, some the woods or some the foods. On our concluding day, we even went villages around our centre, walking on highway in a single file. Some even played with the children of Nepali workers in the centre we stayed. Day and Night they made us laugh, and smile, at some or point of time.

Today we come to know, that these children ‘used to’ go to school, where we went for sometime, daily by walking on the highway, the very same route we took that day. Now they are no more. Few days back, like any other day, they were on their way to school. A jeep trying to overtake another vehicle, went down the road, did not notice these kids walking. When the driver realized their presence, it was too late.

About 20 days ago we’ve walked the same road. We were all talking and laughing, walking in small groups. We never ever thought that such a tragic thing can take place over there. I still can feel walking there. I still can feel the chat I had with those kids. Now only I have is the memory…

4^th of Sep, K-scope, Sophia College. JPEG event. Varad, Jhanvi, Franco and I, the participants from Wilson College for the event. From the total of 3 hour duration for the event, we’ll were laughing and enjoying for most of the time, ‘trying to’ think out of the box. Event over and still for a long time we’ll were enjoying.

Today we come to know, Varad, a TYBMM student, yesterday went to bid a goodbye to an elephant-head god, which in local term is known as ‘Visarjan of Ganpati’. While doing so, unfortunately a huge statue of the god fell on his lower part of the body. Soon he’s been rushed to Jaslok Hospital where about 8 hours of operation is performed on him. After which, people outside come to know he has fractured most of his bones in the lower portion of the body, with a major crack in Pelvic bone and a puncture in his lungs. Doctors say even 15 mins delay would’ve caused his death. For at least 8 months he’s under complete bed rest, and it will take around 1 and ½ years to walk properly.

15^th Sep, FYBMM class, Sociology lecture. Topic of discussion, Education in India. On some question asked by a student, reply from the teacher includes these lines ‘You’ll are among the 6-7 % of the elite people among your age groups who have facilities to support your education’. I never knew that the ratio is so drastically imbalanced. All that comes in my mind is, being on the smaller part, what am I doing for the rest 93% people who do not have access to Graduation studies??

Three different chronicles, but one common destiny?

DO YOU BEG, ARE YOU A BEGGAR ?!

05-06-08 1447 Hrs

DO YOU BEG? ARE YOU A BEGGAR??

That's an offensive title, huh? I agree. So, what made me keep this title? No particular reason....I felt like keeping it, so kept it! :P

So, what's your idea of Begging? What?!? You don't beg? Alright, that's great! Then you're surely the person i want, to read this article.

Many a times while travelling, through trains or in our vehicle or any other place, we see "beggars" coming to us n beg for a rupee. And of those many a times, I’ve heard my co-passengers commenting something like this, "..such ($&^#$) beggars, such shameless people..." Very good. They should get an award for making such a comment, right?

If that's the idea of the word beggar, how do you explain this :

When in your childhood you begged your parents to get that toy, which you wanted badly.....but you called it your 'Stubbornness'

Then you begged your siblings to please, give you a piece of chocolate they were eating....but you called it part of your share.

When in your teenage, you begged your best friend to get the phone number of your good looking classmate....but you called it 'Crush'.

When in your college, you begged your colleagues to help you with your assignments n projects......but you called it as a part of College life.

When you grew older, you begged your boss for that few days holiday, to go out with your family......but you called it as 'Vacation'.

And when a beggar comes to you for your kindness to ask you for just a rupee.....you make lewd comments to that beggar?

The other day, me & my sis stopped at a local station's stall to refresh our self with a drink. In the meanwhile, a small boy, a less privileged one, comes to us n ask for a vada-pav. I ignored him a lil’, for the drink i was supposed to get, but the next moment I turned to him, he disappeared from his place n saw him going to another person to ask for a share of 'his' vada-pav. And then next moment I heard my sis asking me take this money n buy that boy a vada-pav. All i could reply back to her was....he's gone...

Earlier, whenever i jaunted around, in my free times, i happened to be followed by beggars for a rupee too. Almost everytime I used to take my wallet out n look for a rupee or 2 coin, which were my share of the bucks my parents gave as pocket-money, n if found, used to hand it over to the beggar. I felt sorry for them....but that's what I could do at that moment.

Then one day I went to one of my ol' pal, Naveen. We, as usual, did the usual talking. Then out of the blue he asked me, "..Supraket, tell me one thing. What would you do if a beggar approaches you, when you're just roaming around? Would you give him/her something or won't you?" I became dumb for a moment n all i could blubber out is, "..yeah, I’ll give a rupee or two, if i have it.." Then he replied back, "..I won't.." Exactly, even i felt the very same feeling about Naveen, what spoilt person is he, how ungenerous?! How can he make such comment? Then after a pause, he continued, "..Not because am ungenerous. But i think what will happen to them if i gave them the money? They'll again come to you n beg tomorrow.." I didn’t pay attention to what he said.

Then years later, when a beggar approached me, unlike years ago, i denied giving even a rupee, even when i had one. Later on i myself thought of the very same thing, should i give the money to beggars whenever they come begging to me? If yes, am being generous, if no then am stingy. But if i give the money, am spoiling the beggar more, as am giving him/her the hope that by begging also one can survive. Am giving them the hope that 1 of 10 people they go to beg, will definitely give them the rupee after looking at their condition. Am giving them hope that kind people can’t see their condition n by all odds will give them the money. Am giving them the hope that why to do any other job when you're getting money here too??

So what should one do about it? Rather than giving money like to this to the beggars, we should encourage them to work, do a proper job & earn. And not beg. We should collect money n create some plans to those under-privilege people. ...I don't know anything more. I need suggestions from you, can you support the life of those under-privilege people?

Also, (again!) many a times, i read in newspaper about how many goons force the unprivileged to beg n hand them the money. At first i was shocked n thought its cant be true. But got to hear such things from many sources. This probably was another reason why i stopped giving money to the beggars.

Getting back to that other day story of my sister giving money to the small boy who wanted to eat vada-pav, i kind of agreed to my sister. If believing what the media says, about how the goons force people to beg for money, giving something as kind n not cash to the beggars ain't all that bad too. But again, the question comes as to whether by giving something to the beggar, are you giving them the hope to beg more?

I agree, like the numerous times people commenting to be help the under-privileged people, just the way i just did, you'll think about this for a while, will work a little for it, n then, Zappak, Zukk n Zoooom, it's off your mind. Nevermind. At least, you thought about those people for a while... :)

What's the point of writing this article then? Only i can say is, "..Am just creating a lighthouse in the midst of a sea. Who knows, when a traveler nigh around n in need of some light n direction.."