Seven and a Half Rupees

Once upon a time, at one of Mumbai's many railway stations, I was waiting to board a late train to Ahmedabad. My parents and my sister were with me. We were heading back to our hometown of Rajkot, via Ahmedabad, after a trip to Mumbai to meet a few relatives.

Our train was scheduled at 10:30 pm. And it was around 10:15 pm at the time. As usual, we were seated on the few benches there and I was looking around the platform.

I noticed a little boy, surely not older than five or six, a little farther away. Clad in a torn black t-shirt and brown shorts, the little kid was moving about barefooted, had a plastic bag in one hand and the fingers of his other hand seemed closed around something he was clutching to while requesting others on the station to take up his service of shoe polishing.

Unfortunately, nobody obliged. Slowly, he came over to where my father and I were seated. My mother and my sister had apparently gone for a walk around the station and were not present then.

As he approached us, I noticed that he was holding his earnings from a hard day's job in the clenched fist. It didn't seem to be much, as a little kid's hands can hardly hold too many coins, forget clutching to them.

He was silent. After having been asked to move ahead rather rudely by many of the people he came across, I sensed a natural dejection in him to convince my father and me.

He lightly waved the bag. My father asked him "Kitne me karoge?"

Sensing a potential customer, the little kid's eyes gleamed and he raised two fingers of the hand with which he held the plastic bag and said "Do rupey, saab.", the other hand as tightly bound as ever.

My father removed his chappals.

The kid then sat down, undoubtedly spurred on by landing a customer, and finally loosened the fist of his other hand. Some coins emerged. He sat down, placed the coins carefully beside him, and proceeded with the job on hand.

The dedication with which he took up the task was a treat to the eyes. Like a thorough professional, he opened his carry bag and out came a shoe polish and a brush. Very delicately, he opened the polish, dipped his brush into it and polished my father's chappals. What was more wonderful was that he gave it all his time, like a perfectionist, making sure that not a speck of dust remained.

He was soon done. The chappals were as good as new.

My father took out a ten-rupee note to pay the child, who had by now put the polish and the brush into his bag and gathered his previous earnings.

The child observed the ten-rupee note, and looked at his earnings. I could see that the coins were few and he began counting them. It was a small collection of one-rupee and 50-paise coins. One by one he counted the coins and I counted along.

The coins summed up to seven-and-a-half rupees.

The child, with an anxious look on his face and an innocent nod, looked up towards us and said "Saab, chhutte nahi hain.".







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That emotion called Love

So, Valentine's Day is upon us. Ah! One more reason to look him/her deep in the eyes and say I Love You, ji. One more occasion to re-emphasize memories like "Remember, you used to come to my hostel at 10 pm in the night and honk and then I used to come down and we used to go to eat American makaai. And then you would drop me back and then you would wait till I went back inside. And...", while listening to which if you have accidentally dozed off on being possessed by the spirit of lethargic boredom and you've failed the test of your tolerance, then you end up facing serious consequences.

Sadly, contemporary love seems to have developed pre-conditions, most of which are largely tilting towards materialism. According to me, it's not love if the premise on which a semblance is felt is Kya maal hai bey! or Is he rich? Does he have a car? How good is his English?. Such assumptions only lead to more and more hypocrisy if indeed there is a match and 'something happens'. Sex is becoming a precursor and dressing sense seems to matter more than clarity of thought. But in a commercial world, this is the least that can be expected.

Love, however, is meant to be a celebration. It is the enabler of peace and the forebearer of altruistic principles. And all forms of love must be celebrated. Love for parents, love for siblings, love for family, love for friends, love for society and love for country should be accorded as much importance as love for partner. What makes the emotion of love so inspiring is that interpretation of it with an open mind could showcase the emotion as an example of the tolerance that the society needs. Therefore, even homosexuals and eunuchs have the right to love. Love embodies the basic concept of humankind. And if a society directs itself towards love, then the people stand to benefit.

Love is beautiful. Keep it just that.







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Mumbai Meri Jaan

Hats off to this masterpiece of cinema from a masala-dogged world of Indian films. In a truly sensational way, the team of this gem of a movie has presented the reality that is there for all to see and why we should, in all seriousness, wake up to the evil of terrorism before it becomes a part of our "dark present".

Hats off to the ridicule portrayed by the film - the scene where Kay Kay Menon realizes how every Muslim is not a terrorist, the scene where Paresh Rawal asks a common man to keep patience in the hunt for the bomb-planters and not just arrest and frame charges against anyone, the Rupali Bani Rudali TV show portraying a juicy story-seeking Indian media that has inherently only worsened the fight against terror. Hats off.

Wake up and fight. Yes, not everyone can do something. But at least we can be vigilant, respect our fellow dead citizens and their grieving families and pledge to help.

Independence Day Lessons

A few pointers that I pondered upon during the 24 hours of Independence Day:-

1) End the rhetoric
It's time to bring an end to the "Mera Bharat Mahaan" if we are to truly consider ourselves mature. I do not fully stand by the belief that patriotism is irrelevant in today's age of globalization, but it is necessary to end the rhetoric surrounding the so-called patriotic displays usually seen only during the 2 auspicious national days in a year. It serves no purpose in a fast-growing India.

2) The crisis over flag sales
It makes little sense in flouting the Indian tricolour so openly on I-Day. The same state bus drivers or private vehicle owners will commit all the sins that make for an anti-Indian approach, but still proudly sport the flag. Moreover, many flags are found in the dust and the dirt once the sun sets. Flag sales definitely mean that a few people earn a little more during the day. But it's only one day and we cannot afford to sacrifice national honour in the process.

3) Take pride in Indian history and culture
India is more than just Bollywood, cricket, political scandals and corrupt bureaucracy. Explore the true India and become a fan. Take pride in the history of Bharat and learn to love and respect all cultures and religions.

4) Respect the dead
Every year, hundreds of people die in the country. The reasons are aplenty. Terrorism heads the list. But if the living raised the level of respect offered to the ones who've left us and try to learn from history, then a lot of pain can ease.

5) Have faith
Despite corruption, poverty, bureaucracy, rising crimes and terrorism, India maintains a steady growth rate. The world sees India as a future superpower and it's best to keep faith in the country and it's ideals and values, in order to visualize dreams that we harbour of superpowerdom.

All is not lost. Yet.

[PS: Post written out of pure passion and there may be grammatical errors that I just felt like ignoring.]

Among other things

Inflation hits an all-time high of 7.83% among other things.

Hindu children are forced to wear turbans in Punjabi schools among other things.

The Gods create havoc in Kerala among other things.

The Indian hockey team does a few good things in Malaysia among other things.

The Great Khali is set to team up with a new tag team partner, Bollywood, among other things.

Aamir Khan takes a dig at Shah Rukh Khan on his blog among other things.

And our dear old friend Terror had a multi-cuisine breakfast, satiating lunch and a pleasing dinner at 7 places in Jaipur. Terror loves India, you know. He finds it really easy to smuggle into our country, have fun, create noise, turmoil, chaos, disorder and of course take a few lives in the process that nobody dare care about in a country that takes immense pride in it’s callousness to such events. We are conceitedly weak and foolishness comes naturally to us because we will never understand the need for SEPARATE LAWS to tackle Terror.

He is waiting to come back and he knows we will welcome him with open arms as national security is something that neither us or the decision makers holding important posts at the top of the country’s administrative set-up care about…

…among other things.

From Pink to Red

7 blasts, 60 dead, terror strikes the Pink City of Jaipur and life goes on. Another typical we-are-united-in-adversity response from the UPA government. There is no doubt that terrorists targeting India have it easier than other countries because of democracy’s fallacies and India’s soft-hearted response to every attack on the mainland.

Terrorism’s latest episode was smartly planned and executed and targeted a city that has never seen such kind of ensuing chaos and despair. Being a hotbed of Indian tourism, Jaipur was always thought to be a city safe from such dastardly, inhuman acts and was never on the priority list of India’s probable targets.

We, the people, meanwhile continue to remain unfazed by this bloodbath as we have done so for many previous attacks. We live on. The cold war is being smartly played by cross-border foes who have now praised India’s response and are trying to assert their “friendship” on us. Let’s just hope we send a message sooner rather than later. Vulnerability, complacency and the feel of defenselessness are eating us from within.

May God bless the victims and their kin.

Dumbstruck

[Link to a Reuters' post on George Bush's comments on the food crisis] So, what do you think?



And Happy Mother's Day.

Global food crisis - An analysis by George Bush

How George Bush served two terms of presidency of the United States of America is something I can never comprehend completely. He basically comes across as a poor decision-maker, lacks crisis management skills and is a source of inspiration to people interested in garbling up English grammar for general use [Wikiquote link]. Or even fun.

His latest gems come out in the form of an analysis of the world’s food crisis and squarely laying the blame on India’s middle class. This follows a similar allegation from his top diplomat Condoleezza Rice, who had earlier asked India and China to “eat less”. While speaking in Missouri, Bush has stated:-

...the more prosperous the world is, the more opportunity there is.

Why yes of course, sir. Quote of a genius. Please carry on.

So, for example, just as an interesting thought for you, there are 350 million people in India who are classified as middle class. That's bigger than America. Their middle class is larger than our entire population.

So the context of his speech seems like a dig at how Americans are probably running dry (pun intended). And definitely, the thought is immensely interesting. Like there was nothing more interesting. Next please, Mr. President.

And when you start getting wealth, you start demanding better nutrition and better food. And so demand is high, and that causes the price to go up…

Wow. If ever I was too smart myself to analyze the world food crisis, I’d definitely say that the rise of the Indian middle class is to be blamed for it. How can we demand better nutrition? We are a third world country with absolutely no rights to better food.

So what if we don’t use our maize fields for bio-fuels to serve energy problems over food deficiencies. It makes sense diverting agricultural fields from food to ethanol production. Doesn’t it, Mr. President? And he replies.

No contest. We're an unbelievably compassionate nation.

Thanks for your time, Mr. Bush. You are truly great. Apart from your diplomatic and leadership skills, you can see through covered binocular lenses. No ordinary man can do that. [Picture courtesy: Humor Vids]

Inspiring.

The Price of War

Time.com's Picture of the Week.

Take a look at this gut-wrenching photo of three US soldiers providing aid to a child wounded in a bombing in Mosul, Iraq.

The blood, the pain, the guns, the eyes.

When men were men

When observations take a toll on your mind, they make you frustrated and create an irresistible, inescapable urge to rant. Maybe this post is an example of the burden of silence. I call it the Fair-N-Handsome effect (no offense meant to the brand and the company). Let’s just say that the world has more women than men because there are a lot of men who are actually women, in disguise. These are some of the common symptoms of this infection that calls for immediate emasculation of such feminists:-

1. You’ll find them sticking in and around girls, looking to make an impression that would delight the girl and “make her day”.

2. “Guddi, tujhe kya chahiye? Pepsi. Abhi lekar aata hoon. Arey sun, tujhe My Can chahiye ya woh 500 ml ki bottle?”
Help yourself.

3. The guy will try to make inky-pinky pansy-wansy Barbie doll impressions, act intentionally foolish (Or maybe is naturally foolish. I am yet to figure the logic out here.) and at loss with his sense of humour.

4. The guy won’t be a sport lover. Generally. If he fancies David Beckham over Ronaldinho as to who is the better football player, then you can probably make the judgment that he is infected.

5. The guy will like the colour pink, try to be overtly metro sexual, go gaga over Shah Rukh Khan’s 6-pack abs and will have assumed that MTV Roadies is the revolution that is the saviour of the Indian youth, like HRD Minister Arjun Singh.

6. The guy will cherish his collection of fairness creams (purchased with an effort that could have been wasted in better things) and will live in the hope that one day the darkness of his skin will pave the way for bright lights that would make girls freak out at his sight. Yes, freak out in ecstasy.

The raw truth is that there should be some space in life to do what you have to do with women and all the associated madness. But at least it would be wise to not lose yourself in the process.

One more thing, if you have had a newborn baby recently, please throw it over your rooftop to be blessed by God.

Save yourself.

Say hello to league cricket

In what is set to turn cricket into a rabid, monstrous business, the Indian Premier League kicked off in Bangalore amid the hype that is certainly here to stay. It’s cricket, cricket and more cricket than ever. The obsession just got worse. Fast-paced matches, inter-city rivalries, cheerleaders who make as much of an impression as the players and most importantly – a format of the game that seems to be played on steroids and takes passion in the Gentleman’s game to a whole new level.

Never before has India witnessed such an extravaganza in sport (although inter-city rivalries do exist in football’s I-League). Never before has an Indian crowd expressed an unnatural silence when Rahul Dravid hits a four, and followed it up with ecstasy at his dismissal. Never before have the corporates and film stars been so heavily involved with sport. This is a new era.

But this is league sport just the way it should be. It has existed for years in other countries and people thrive on their local clubs and cities coming up and delivering trophies and garnering acclaim and applause. It is new here. But you could clearly see that the Eden Gardens welcomed Brendon McCullum like a home-grown hero and went berserk at the dismissal of VVS Laxman, the architect of India’s famous win over Australia in the same ground seven years ago.

This will eventually benefit India, despite the opinions of cynics and critics of the league. Imagine the amount of experience the youngsters will gain in this tournament. They will get used to playing with the best, playing in front of huge crowds, playing with passion and working towards becoming national heroes. All that remains is for us to welcome them with open arms.

Let’s say cricket just got sexier.

Vadodara catastrophe - An unfeeling from hell

When 41 children die in a road mishap, then we can probably compare such a tragedy to any national calamity that has been a part of the past and our instant reaction would have to be OH-MY-GOD, even if you are an atheist. This particular tragedy took place today in the city of Vadodara in Gujarat when a bus carrying 44 people (41 among them children, most studying in standards 8th and 9th) fell into the 60-foot deep Narmada canal with reports stating that the driver lost control of the bus.

The state government has announced a one lakh rupees compensation package for each of the victims, but there is truly no recovering from such damage. Sometimes life throws up situations that are beyond human control. And when our weaknesses (read children) are the ones affected, then every other thing seems very, very ordinary.

Reality’s harshness was belligerently exposed in this mishap, but the root cause of such life-altering events is us, we the inexplicably ignorant people. I won’t say that this particular disaster was a result of reckless driving until proven so, but India’s roads are as far from being safe as an Indo-Pak resolution on the Kashmir issue. Add to that, our attitude, craze for road rage and need for the thrill of speed play key roles. There should be space for them, but buses in public places don’t exactly justify the heed we pay to our needs.

The following is an extract from a Reuter’s report, where if I imagine the victim’s kin as myself, then the feeling is bloodcurdling. Even just the feeling.

"My daughter was going for her last examination today," Bhikiben, one of the bereaved mothers, told Reuters Television.

"She was very happy that her holidays were to begin, but now everything has ended for her," she said.

May peace be upon them.

[Image courtesy: Instigator Blog]