Fair World?

Yesterday I was browsing thru a couple of news channels when this one picture caught my eye and I just froze. Channel: Times Now. Location: Bhagalpur, Bihar. Description: A man being brutally beaten up by a mob for good half an hour and later tied up with a police bike and dragged by the cops while world around him just watches. Crime: Tried to snatch a chain.

I was so terrified to see the pain and humility the man was made to go through. I was disgusted to watch the people flocking around him urging other to join, I was sad to see the media and the police being a part of this brutality. I was also shameful to be a part of the same world…..

I was wondering how the news channel had the audacity to record the entire event without trying to stop the barbaric act. I agree it is important to bring these things out in the open, but the better way could have been that a team of reporters (considering that even they feel that it was wrong) could genuinely try to stop this savage act while another team could record the event for the awakening of the nation. Is it always a question of TRP’s?

That man did something wrong by stealing, but why cant one see that no one becomes a criminal by choice. This 20 year boy is an orphan; he has a young sister and is the only bread earner in the family. He is a cart puller by profession -- I am sure it is not difficult for us to guess how much dignity and money his work offers him. Is it so difficult to understand that he is already poor, frustrated and depressed -- he needs money and it is not surprising that he is urged to steal. Not that I am saying it’s okay to steal, but it is important to see the bigger picture. Without any thinking we go any buy clothes which may never wear, we go to fancy places and eat royal meals, we go for weekend outings and spend hundreds of bucks – hardly do we realize that there are some people like the Bhagalpur victim who perhaps earn less than what we just spent in one day.

I feel bad when people honk like crazy at hand rickshaw pullers – most of them painfully old having weak hands, thin legs wearing torn clothes with sweat dripping from their pale faces - struggling to pull the load behind them in busy roads. I have seen many people doing that -- people sitting in t he comfort of their luxury AC car, feeling irritated about what the boss had to say about their work, about the state of the roads, about the low increments, about not getting the promised phone call from a loved one...

Why are people forgetting to spread the love? When the world around us need to be cared for and needs us to be compassionate, all that we are doing is getting into a rat race of winning our space, even if it requires us to crush others around us. The lessons of sharing and of helping others taught to us when we were children have long been forgotten or worse even, practiced selectively.

Why is the world becoming uncivilized? Why is it so difficult for people to stand up against wrong doings? Why doesn’t our heart ache to see cruelty around? And why can’t we take a step forward to stop these wild acts? Why is it that we think that 'It is none of my business' when it comes to protecting and suddenly 'everything becomes my business' if we are participating in a wrong doing or something which directly affects us?

The problem is the also the abject poverty prevailing in the country. There is a huge gap between the rich and the poor. The problem here is also the corruption. I read in the papers a couple of days back about the 800 some crore Rupees grant that the government had announced for the poor in Orissa -- According to the scheme, atleast 75 days of employment per year was promised to be provided to one member of every family in 7/10 villages in Orissa, but that of course did not happen. The progress report said that some 700 crore Rupees had already been spent and 55 days of work were provided to the people, but investigation by independent and politically uninfluenced people showed that the families were not even given 5 days of employment and that too not every family was fortunate to avail this scheme. The employments cards were fraudulent; all records were fallacious and fake. An estimated 200 crores were spent and the rest 500 crores were pocketed by immoral and unethical officials - the civil servants who are supposed to work for the people - who have pledged to take India forward.

Solitude and Forlornness

It has been almost a year since I am staying alone and I would want to write about how it feels to be alone and independent.

Freedom is the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of people who live by themselves. I know many people who stay away from their families, but I don’t know too many people who are totally living ‘alone’ -- by that I mean, I know people who live with friends or their lovers (in shared apartments) but I have met very few people who are really staying with no one but themselves. It is not same. Even if you try to argue that it is and I am sure all people staying ‘alone’ will assert it. It’s not as easy as it looks from outside. Freedom comes with a price - doing the household chores - cleaning, cooking, keeping the house neat, buying stuff for the house, paying the bills, paying the newspaper man, the cable guy, disposing the garbage and the list goes on. It doesn’t sound difficult does it? But trust me it is not easy. I am not complaining at all, because I love staying by myself -- I love doing things for the place I stay. It’s nice to come back home when you feel like and go to the gym or take a nice shower. Make yourself some coffee and sit by the window pane -- enjoying some music or thinking or doing anything that you feel like, for instance roaming around naked in the house – that is what I call total freedom.

But then, sometimes the solitude gets to you. Sometimes you don’t want to come home to an empty space. Sometimes you feel too tired to cook. Sometimes you crave to eat something that you mum cooks the best and you cant even make it half as tasty, sometimes you feel sick and if you need a glass of water to take a medicine, you have to move your ass to get it for yourself, when you wake up all untuned because of a bad dream, you find no one around you to comfort you - we are humans - we all need some human touch -- some assurance that we are cared for and that we are not alone. There is a difference between being alone and being lonely.

I have many friends, a lot of activities to indulge in (which I do), many things to look forward to, many things that can easily keep be busy -- but then there are times when you feel the emptiness.

Yesterday a friend who is one of the very few people staying 'alone' sent me an sms saying "If you stay alone you tend to speak to yourself a lot." Correct -- Now the intellectuals would spring up justifying why it is nice and important to speak to the self. I agree. BUT, when you speak to yourself most of the time because you don’t really have a choice (for whatever reasons - you may be too bored to talk to anyone, or you may not find the right person, or any other thing..), that is the time when it becomes not so nice and not so positive. In fact, it makes you feel lonely and left out. You feel lost. And when you try looking into the future and see that there is going to be no change -- nothing better and nothing worse that will happen, then it gets frustrating. No one likes stagnation and doldrums -- something should happen be it good or bad -- It gives you a sense of being alive. Please don’t take the liberty of trivializing this by calling it "self inflicting sadness/injury" because it is not as simple as it looks. I must admit that even these huffishness don’t last too long -- because none of us want to be sad -- it gets hidden behind something else and then re emerge some other time.

Staying alone however teaches you a lot of things -- just like bad relationships, bad experiences etc.. It teaches you the value of a cooked meal, of finding washed and ironed clothes when you are out from a bath, it teaches you the importance of someone handing out a glass of hot water to you when you are unable to sleep because of a sore throat, it tells you the importance of money, it teaches you the importance of having a person with whom you can discuss the news while having a meal....

Anyway, I don’t really know if I made any sense to anyone and if I could convey what I had set out to write. Its time i should leave for home. My house is waiting for me.

Deepanwita

She was 16 then and would have been 28 now.

24th August!

Giving a title everytime I post sucks bigtime!!!!! I am feeling sleepy. Woke up at 7 in the morning. Made myself some Oats and rushed to the gym. Burnt some calories and rushed back home. Caught some glimpses of the headlines in the newspaper -- Gosh, Sanjay Dutt looks so worn out -- with the half grey beard and bald head and tired eyes.. I also noticed the shackles tied around his wrist. Anyway, he sure is luckier because of his celebrity status. Anyway, after that I went in for a quick shower and rushed my way thru terrible traffic and reached office at 10.30. And still I don’t seem to get over the drowsiness. Oh! The good news is that ever since I resumed my gym (it has been 7 days of continuous mehnat) I have lost 600gms :). Ok. Don’t laugh. It does matter to me. :P Today someone told me about Aamir Khans blog, and I read it -- its nice. You can see it via the AK Blogging link on the 'Recommended' section. Tomorrow i have the Hi-Tech (special children school) visit. We have planned a clay modeling activity for them. I have feelings that it should be nice as usual. Fuck! I am still yawning away to glory. I was all sad and low in the morning. Was actually missing my people – my mum and others. My gym instructor Avinash also noticed it. He came to ask me if everything was fine. Many people have said that my face is very transparent -- it tells exactly what I am feeling inside. Just a couple of minutes back I was thinking of a Great Dain that lives in my block and that’s when I thought of my sweetheart - Archie. That cute doggie of mine :). Dogs have a strong sense of hmm.. of everything. Archie doesn’t like any sadness. He doesn’t like to see anyone crying. If you cry in front of him with your hand over your face, he will shove his face to yours and manage to move your hand off your cheeks and then snuggle up close to you. Yes! he is that lovable and caring. I am missing Archie. Sniff sniff :(

Lion.. The king of the jungle. Big Deal !!

Check this out. You will know what I am talking of. Its hilarious :)

Thats what I call power :)

Leopards mate 70-100 times a day and that too for 7 days at a stretch. :) Unbelievable ?? Check this out. .. Now can anyone beat that :)

This Bulb

For all those people who thought they could hardly do something for our planet, check this out.

Small Pleasures

I am promoting the group blog 'Small Pleasures' in this post. A couple of wonderful people have got together and are writing about things that make them smile and gives the engine of their lives the much needed choke start. (If you remember cars of the bygone years, they had this knob which says 'Choke' which was needed to start the engine in cold days. I guess they still have this concept in chilly places.). Anyway, do visit the blog and drop me a mail if you want to be a part of it too :).

Buddha

Nikkon - D200

Saving the best for last?

Today I was speaking to someone and there was a funny problem. Let us not discuss the problem; nevertheless, I want to talk of a story which I had read long time back when I was a teenager.

Okay, the story goes like this. One day a man gets his girlfriend a present, it was a set of pretty satin undergarments and an expensive perfume. But as soon as the she got the gift, she packed it up and put it in the closet to use later – on a perfect and special occasion.
Days passed by, and one day the woman died an untimely death. Just as the man was going thru her things, he found the gift box that he had once gave her – it still had those things which she liked but could never use just because she was waiting for the right time.

I learnt from that story.

Its raining cats and dogs in Mumbai

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.
~ Alfred Tennyson