Chup khade hain aaj saare bhai mere khaamosh hain
Na karo to kuch kaho mazhab mera mushkil mein hai

Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai.
Dekhna hai zor kitna baazuay qaatil mein hai “

Ramprasad Bismil
(The revolutionary freedom fighter)

“ What good is a body that does not have passionate blood,
How can one conquer a storm while in a shored boat.

My brothers are standing still and quiet,
At least say something if you cant do anything as my faith lies in peril.

The desire for struggle is in our hearts,
We shall now see what strength there is in the boughs of the enemy “

The following lines by Ramprasad Bismil the revolutionary freedom fighter, are reflective of the time, era, and more importantly the mood and spirit of a generation of people that believed in Freedom and need for a revolution.

These men, women & children were born in an India that was ruled forever by some ruler or the other. Be it the Hindu Kings of the ancient India , the Mughals or the The Britishers. These people never knew what it feels like to be free.

Yet in their hearts they had an overwhelming desire to attain freedom, to be independet, To be the decider of their own destiny, to breathe in the air of a free country…

The annals of Indian freedom struggle have been recorded and we have read them time and again.
It is time though to read it again. Because the question that really needs to be answered today is this..

Are we really Independent???

I happened to read a chilling account of The satygraghis of Dharasana walking hand in hand after the Dandi March.

They walked towards the police knowing that there has been an order passed asking the crowd to disperse citing any gathering of more than 5 people as illegal…

They knew this…yet they walked…in groups.. towards the baton holding policemen….

And what happened next has been described by an Americal Jounalist Web Millner who witnessed the event, as ‘ a moment in world history that remains unsurpassed as a display of what it truly means to believe in what you are doing ‘

These brave men kept walking up to the policemen and whack of the baton on their unprotected skulls could be heard for some distance…but not a single one of them raised their hands in order to protect themselves…the women kept taking the injured on stretchers and the ones who could stand on their feet gain, kept coming back in line for more..

As Web Millner says ‘ At times, the spectacle of unresisting men being methodically bashed into bloody pulp sickened me so much that I had to turn away…I felt an undeniable sense of helpless rage and loathing….’

But these men did not give up….they did not even know if they would be alive to witness the independence that they were getting beaten up for..

But they marched on….

There are endless such heart wrenching stories of mass public movements …

But all this for what…..???? … for us…..
So that we are BORN in that independent India that these people fought for

But have we valued our independence..??

ON the 15th of Aug 2010, 63 yrs after the independence of India, I was at home talking to my younger brother and his friends.

These kids are newly passed out from their colleges and were very tensed as to what the future holds for them.. Nothing new you would say…but what got me worried really is the general loss of any hope or optimism that these kids portrayed…

They were struggling with some admission related issues as not all of them could get into good Management institutes…this loss rendered them hopeless at their futures and they didn’t know what to do….

I thought of talking to them to soothe their nerves, so I asked them…” What do you guys really want to do????…” ..I was met with blank faces,,,, they didn’t have a clue…

So asked them , “ why do you want to do an MBA for ???”…blank faces again before one of them spoke and said…” we have no option….we need to earn money”…

This shocked me….here is an independent young kid born in the business capital of India (Mumbai) ..well educated and still feels that he has no options to become successful if he doesn’t do an MBA…

Quite sadly this is not the only case..there are lakhs of them…all tied down by a pathetic education system that takes away the basic independence from a kid about what he / she really wants to do on life….

We call this independence..I don’t think so…..

Independence is when a kid feels that he wants to become a plumber out of all the things and still has enough options to become a damn good plumber,….the best that there is possibly..

Here’s another example,
The last week witnessed, possibly the sanest public movement to be witnessed in Mumbai for a long time.

A group of normal people called on the people to stay away from Autos and cabs for one day and defy them…

As these auto and cab unions keep calling for a strike if their demands for price increase are not met, the normal public faces the brunt time and again…

So this call was for everyone to hit back at them…

To walk right past them on the road and not avail their services as if to tell them…” we don’t need you…”

To send a message across to them that you can’t hold us for a ransom every time you feel like…

To tell them that if Gandhiji and his followers could walk for 241 miles to Dandi to get their rights, even we can walk a few miles to our offices and break free of the monopoly of these thug auto unions….
All this and more….

But did that happen???…NO…. It did not….

We are sleeping as a society…..just think for minute what would have made of us today if these freedom fighters…these satygrahis would have decided not to fight for their rights….

We would have been still reeling under the British rule and possible working under a British officer as per his whims and fancies…..

I guess the best way to celebrate our independence is not to wake up in the morning and start wishing each other on social networking sites..

Its about time we start thinking if we are really independent..do we really have the right to decide for ourselves..

Are we still not ruled by so many different people,

A bunch of politicians who think of us as nothing more than just a mob that they can manipulate for votes….

An education system that gives only limited options to young minds so that they are not even capable of thinking anything for themselves

A corrupt society that runs on corruption and we are absolutely fine with it

A local union of some petty local leaders that decide to make noise in the name of religion and we can do nothing about it..

A gang of goons ( big & small) who decide to do any kind of crime and get away with it…

And above all, a generation of people who are more than willing to live a soulless existence and let go of their rights…

We belong to the same lineage of the people that said and believed in,
“ Sar kataa sakte hain lekin….sar jhukaa sakte nahi…..”

But today we are fine with …“ let go..”… “ its k”….“ so what”….“ let it be”….“ chalta hai….”..“ it wont make a difference….right”…???

It brings me to the end with these lines by an aspiring modern day poet…( i would like to think that about myself..:-) )

“ Aaj sar toh jhukaa sakte hai lekin usko uthaa sakte nahi,
Kahna toh hoga kuch hame, yun to jee sakte nahi…

Hain kulaa aasman upar aur saanso me itminaan ( Satisfaction),
Na hai aaj dushman aur na hoga ikhtataam (End),

Khwaab dekhe hai jiske kya pahoch paaonga main us makaam,
Fir bhi Hai umeed ki hogi har subah se bethar meri yeh shaam.

Hazaaro khwahishe hai dil me zinda, inko faut ( Go away ) hote dekh sakte nahi
Par afsos sad afsos ( very disappointingly)….
Aaj sar toh jhukaa sakte hai lekin usko utha sakte nahi “

– Zaki Shah
(A ‘trying to be’ socially aware human being)

Its your warm kiss that I long for….
It’s that shy smile that I can kill a King Kong for….( it goes pretty well..so don’t laugh…)
It’s the scent of your body that makes my head spin…
It’s the feel of that skin that makes me say..” God..what took me so long to begin…”
I cant do without you..say the novice lovers….
I don’t WANT to do anything without you …says me and I can say that in a thousand birchers..

Tis love they say that doesn’t let you live…it kills your breath and holds you captive..
Thy love my darling helps me be… I long for the sun…for then you I can see…
My senses feel awake when I hold your hand…
My feet don’t hold true …they start sinking as if quick sand…

You… is what I need….in day and in night…
In comfort and in hardship….in love and in fight….
Ok..so much rhyming is giving me a fright….:)
So I will end this by saying something light…
I love you…is what I won’t say…
I need to breathe….does anyone ever say….

courage: a quality of spirit that enables you to face danger or pain without showing fear also known as bravery, will, intrepidity, and fortitude, is the ability to confront fear, pain, risk/danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. …

 but forget the dictionary….what is bravery to me?

 I think bravery is the quality that people possess which only comes out when faced with unwanted situations that seem to be going out of your control…..

it is the fight to pull back things within your grasp…within your control so that you are not further plunged into facing dangerous situations now I know…. not all of you will agree to this definition….. which is fine and which in fact is the point of this article…

what is bravery according to you?

Acts of bravery have over the years been exemplified by the soldiers of various countries who fight for maintaining peace and harmony in their countries….

people who fight selflessly so that the inhabitants of their native land lead a peaceful life and can go on doing the developmental activities without having to worry about their security…

in India too….we have the brave armed forces who lead a selfless life protecting the interests of the people…

there have been various instances where they have well and truly shown what they are capable of… the mumbai terror attacks being the most recent example…

but is that the only form of bravery?…..

the answer according to me is negative….

 I had the privilege of reading a story sometime back in the newspapers about a 18 yr old girl from kashmir… the story revolved around how this girls family was attacked by the so called mujaaheedeen soldiers in a small village of kashmir…

the terrorists walked in with AK 47′s and such weaponry to kill this girls family as they believed them to be police informers….

seeing her family being brutally beaten by these terrorists, this young girl had the nerve to take over an AK – 47 from one of the terrorists and fire a shot…

not familiar with the usage of such weaponry, the girl missed her target but the 2 other terrorists started running for their life…they knew that this girl could kill anybody to protect herself and her family..

she didn’t stop at that tough..she picked up an axe and repeatedly brought it down on the terrorist who finally succumbed to this onslaught….

 rukhsana hussain is the name of this 18 yr old girl who shocked the nation with this unbelievable act of bravery….

she is one such story amongst the hordes of them that go unnoticed and which demand a moments respect from everybody who is reading them or listening to them….

way to go girl…you truly symbolize woman power all the way….

so fighting terrorists or soldiers from invading armies is the only form of bravery one would think….

well… certainly not…

heres another story depicting courage of a different kind…

 its about a young working girl from a family belonging to a lower middle class income group staying in a small one room house with her parents…. so whats unusual about her….

the girl is the younger of the 2 siblings and has some how managed to scraped through to get basic education…. the parents are both no longer employed and even when they were employed…it was strictly a hand to mouth existence….

the parents had taken a loan to buy a house for their son who also happens to be the elder sibling of the two…. the son has gotten married and is happily staying in that house….however completely oblivious to the responsibilities towards his parents or the younger sibling…. he also is not paying up the loan installments as the loan happens to be on the mothers name….

 the mother on her part is not asking him to pay up or leave the house becoz she is immersed in her ‘maa ka pyaar’ ideology… now the young girl works 2 jobs a day to take care of her parents..provide for them….and also pay off the installments of the loan on behalf of her mother….

 she has given up hopes of further studies and adjusted to the fact that this is her responsibility and she will fulfill it…

this too is an amazing example of how when faced with difficult situations, only the brave stand up and get noticed… this is one of the thousands of stories of endless families and endless people enduring such hardships… I am sure every family has a tale to tell…

 but it still does not take away anything from the fact this girl is brave …brave enough to realize the difficulties…to fight against the tides…to still have the nerve to smile and say its k….its my responsibility….i will do it….

I am in awe of every such person who doesn’t give up and strives for happiness in whatever way he or she can…. we notice various difficult situations everyday in our life…… but have we ever given it a thought that there are various brave people putting up a fight somewhere..

be it…

people giving up their families to come to an alien city and fight their way through different cultures, languages etc to lead a better life for themselves and their families….

people fighting with illness everyday of their lives…ones with diabetic problems, heart ailments etc and not giving up becoz they are the sole bread winners of their families….

people living under the constant fear of being bombed by some crazy terrorist organization and still getting up to earn money, cook, eat and raise children…knowing that they might not last till the next day..

people working in horrible places such as a morgue, public urinals knowing that this is their only way of earning something for their families….

people working out a budget for their families within a small earning and giving up things that they like so that they may be able to provide more for their loved ones in the family..

people who are addicts and have decided to give up the addiction….struggling to stay clean in rehab centres where everyday is a fight… on a lighter note…

people juggling multiple girlfriends..that is damn brave too….

I can go on and on…. and you can add so many to this list too…

so its about time we acknowledge the importance of bravery in our lives and start respecting people enough because everyone is brave in their own way…..

it brings to my mind the following lines written by an urdu poet…

“ zindagi kyun hume maut ka payam le kar aati hain….

   ye kya kum hain ke hum jeeyee jaa rahe………………”

 why does life tell us that we will die….

 is it not enough that we are living painfully….

be brave!…..

1)      Major corruption scam unearthed at the Commonwealth Games

2)      Aamir Khan’s latest movie Peepli Live releasing soon (which unfortunately I wont be able to watch..Sigh…L)

Both these events hint at the niche space that Corruption has carved for itself in our society, culture, psyche, lifestyle, daily life, etc…. Now we have heard all of this before..Many a times..So a lot of us would say ….why read again?…

I think we should dwell on this question a little longer….Why read again???….This question in itself is the reason why we should be reading about it…..

This is how far everyone has accepted corruption to be a part of our society….an intrinsic part of our society if I may add…..

The hosting of the any International sporting event is matter of pride for countries all over the world….

• It’s a time when all the international sports personalities visit our country and our countrymen get a chance to see these people in action….
• It’s a time when the tourism if our country develops and there are lot of foreign visitors
• It’s a time the revenue generation of our country  increases drastically…..A classic case study would be the recently held Football World Cup……I bet the amount of money the Vuvuzela manufacturers and sellers made, was almost equivalent or more than a Senior Mangers salary…..:)
• It’s a time when our country gets placed on the World Cup…when people all over the World talk about our hospitality and our economy..

This list is endless….

But unfortunately it changes when it comes to our Bharat Mahan…here’s the revised list…

• It’s a time to earn maximum money  through corruption for everybody involved……be it  the Minister, Chairman, Asst Chairman, Asst Chairman’s Son, His wife, their kids, his watchman…and almost everybody who gets to even touch the official tag of the Games…
• It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to amass so much wealth that even if  there are no further events allotted to India…one should be financially settled forever…
• It’s a time for the local vendors to harass, dupe, fool and at times rape the foreign tourists visiting the country..Scare the hell out of them..So much so that they go back and recite the horrific India tale to at least  100 people and discourage them from coming to India….(there goes our tourism )….
• It’s a time for the government officials to allot projects to their loved ones.. brothers, sons, son in laws, family friends etc….after all India is all about loving the family you see….our family values are very strong….
• Its also a time for fans to sell AND BUY tickets to these games in an illegal way…..yeah if u were thinking that only the top officials are a party to this, then think again..Even we are….we will buy tickets from unofficial and illegal vendors for various reasons..Because they are cheaper…. because they are easier to get ( who will stand in the queue yaar….!)
• It’s a time fore betting punters to rake in the moolah on games that they don’t even understand….

It’s an even longer list than a first one..isn’t it??….but no where in this list features a very vital point….which according to me is the essence of it…

HOSTING A SPORTING SPECTACLE FOR THE WORLD TO SEE AND US TO BE PROUD OF…..

It’s a shame….it really is….

Just read the kind of scams that are coming up everyday…everyone can pick and choose their favorites….hell I think I can make a Did you Know on it..

Did you know that……

• The amount shown as an expense to hire a treadmill for 45 is days is approx Rs 9,00,000, whereas the actual cost itself is somewhere close to Rs 3,00,000…
• The cost of a tissue paper box is Rs 4000 in India ( mind you its just for the Commonwealth games….special offer..)
• The amount paid to lay the artificial grass turf is Rs 1.5 Crores whereas the international companies have quoted the same job at Rs 25 lacs….
• An umbrella at the games costs the officials Rs 4000 each…..:O
• And so on and so forth

My personal favorite is the umbrella one…..one umbrella for a hundred bucks…Incredible India…:)

It’s a shocking list really…

Question is when will this stop..Or will it ever stop…..

A very good friend of mine has a very interesting take on this…..we always hear that we should at an individual level stop being involved in Corruption so that the change can flow from Bottom Up….

But how realistic is that..Not very….So how will this ever work…..

The answer to that….. is that the people need to see some support from the Top Down as well…

Just for once if we see a major minister being hanged for excessive corruption….or a traffic cop being put behind bars for accepting a Rs 100 bribe….a government t official being stripped of his job and his subsequent pension for accepting bribes

All of this and more…if people see more of this happening, it will encourage them to discourage corruption…we will not pay bribe because we would know that there is a system in place to tackle it and tackle it very sternly…

Now our judiciary acts on this..We do have verdicts passed where ministers are sentenced to imprisonment on corruption charges but again the execution of these verdicts is lost due to corruption….

That needs to be handled..These verdicts need to come out quick and need to be executed promptly…..

Having said that we need to change our attitudes too….

We have accepted it as a part of our society…that needs to stop….

How does it not matter to us when we read and hear about thousands of cores being pocketed by these ministers….

Do we even for a minute realize….IT IS OUR MONEY……

That realization needs to come soon…. Because Corruption is the curse of our country…..and we are all cursed….

Now we have two options….either to sit back and live with it or wake up and act….

Top Down is important but it is incomplete without Bottom Up….

It’s a good thing that we now have a symbol to denote or currency globally……..….

But I think more than that we need ways and means of protecting it… or else we will simply be using it to show how much money has been lost in major corruption scams…something like this…

 22 Lakhs scam unearthed at the AIIMS  in New Delhi….

That’s todays news by the way…

So Save money …. And dont bribe…..

Jaago re….!

By-

Zaki Shah

 But I watched something yesterday that I haven’t in a long long time. Bollywood over the last few months and years has given one bad movie after another and so I felt like sending an SOS to somebody for stopping this ordeal.

I received help from unexpected quarters. A relatively lesser know movie named UDAAN released on the 16th of July 2010 and it made me sit back, notice, feel, live and breathe the story of a teenager stuck between the world of his dreams and harsh realities of life.

If ever there was something called as goosebumps, by the time the movie ended I was feeling it. A great visual experience ala Avatar it is not. It does not even boast of any renowned actors from the world stage ala The Godfather. No shocking scenes to make you yelp ala Quentin Tarantino movies.

But what you do get is a realistic tale of a teenager who gets thrown out of his school/hostel for bunking school and watching porn. In a delightful sequence the kids run from the hostel at night to watch a B Grade soft porn movie called ‘ Kanti Shah ke Angoor ‘ made by the head honcho of soft porn movies during early nineties Kanti Shah.

So the kids get caught and are expelled from the school and asked to go back home. Its here that the movie wakes up and so do we. The soundtrack at this time says ‘ Kahani khatm ya koi shuruaat hai…’ and you start wondering the same.

 I wont give away the story so let me just tell you that it is the tale of this kid who goes back home to his disciplinarian father and a step brother that he didn’t know existed until he sees him for the first time. He is made to give up his dreams of becoming a poet and writer and forced to take up engineering and work in a steel factory.

It is a story about coming of age for this kid and his dreams. How he resents the sight of his stepbrother much in the same manner that his father resents the sight of him. You are drawn into thinking that loneliness and hatred does run in your genes. All that changes as the kid grows up and starts understanding the realities of life.

As teen agers most of us must have reached a cross path in our lives where we don’t know what the future holds for us and whether what we have and possess is good enough for that world. It is here that the direction of our lives gets decided. Some people look at the bitter realities of life and start living to simply succeed by absorbing the bitterness in their quest to succeed.

However some people look at life and think I will follow my heart and see if it is any good. If I stand a chance in this world. If I have it in me to stand up for my dreams and aspirations. Do I look at the beauty of things around and absorb them in making me a better human.

The professional success of a kid might get decided in a school or college but the humane success of a kid gets decided here. On the crossroads of adosclecece and adulthood.

This movie talks about that. And does so wonderfully. It takes a lot for a teenager to stand up for his aspirations against difficult situations and in a non supportive background. Rohan (the kid ) does that and helps you realize the value of dreams in our lives.

It has been a long time that I have felt something like this after watching a movie. Much less a Hindi movie ( no offence meant ). I distinctly remember huddling up with my brother and watching a movie called ‘ The Power of One’ on TV and being completely shell shocked when in a scene the young girl simply falls down and dies . This movie gives that feeling back to me. That haunting feeling of somebody making you look at the world in a way that they want you to watch and then the ability to make you feel in a certain way.

I can go on and on. The poems used in the movie come from the unbelievable depths of human thoughts and leave you dumbfounded. Actors get into the skin of the characters brilliantly. The young debutant giving a cracking debut. I was also amazed at the confidence of this 6 yr old kid who portrays the role of the younger step brother.

Watch out for the climax. When Rohan decides to run away. The mature handling of that part takes the story to different level altogether.

Indian cinema has arrived. It truly has. Many critics would argue that the movie can be shorter or fatster.

All I can say is that a single scene between Rohan and his uncle without any dialogues and any background score whatsoever portrays and displays more emotions than many a movies.

So dig deep and go watch Udaan.

It’s a real movie, about real people, with real emotions and circumstances.

So real that you it hits you real hard at times. It depends whether you can take it or not.

Not many people can come to terms with the fact that everybody has grey shades to their lives and if somebody portrays that on screen, not many people can accept that too.

 I think I can and so I feel that we are here on the world film map finally. We have something to match and beat the much acclaimed ‘ The Childern on Heaven ‘.

Some great thinker said ‘ To think is to create ‘ . Udaan makes you think…!

If there is a list of things that I wouldn’t want to do in life, the following things would be high in that list:

cleaning up my room

working so hard that my head starts aching

sleeping with my clothes on

etc etc

and a very recent addition

street shopping with a woman!

As luck would have it, I was out shopping with a woman and was subjected to the most brutal assault on human patience since the Holocaust by the Nazis….i am sure all the guys who have been there..done that, will agree with me…

let me begin by explaining this phenomena (guys start licking your lips…this might be fun..)

I will narrate this experience with the help of following example,

Exhibit A is the man whereas the woman in question in Exhibit B and both of them have gone out shopping together….

B is praying that she should get good quality things very cheap…

A is praying that there should be a storm or some natural disaster and this trip gets canned…

bad luck folks…B’s prayers get answered

so..both of them are supposed to go to a specific market in some remote corner of the world only because some Einstein friend of hers has recommended something nothing short of sheer brilliance being sold there…

and that gem of a thing is so rare and unique that you wont find it anywhere else…

so they end up going to such a place after hours of struggling with traffic to get there….

and when they get there…..exhibit B starts looking around at the shops with eyes that would put the poor Somalian kids looking at food after 10 days, to shame…

so out comes the statement…”park the vehicle somewhere ! ”..which in other words means this…

“ park this shit somewhere …i wanna run and get in that shop..”….so bothering about no parking zones and stuff like that further aggravates the hunger of this Somalian kid i.e., exhibit B….

and if you happen to park the vehicle a fair distance away from the market…get ready to be dragged along on your ass if the need be, if you happen to walk slowly towards the market…

and yes..very importantly..exhibit A should simply shut up there on end…!….he can talk only in the following situations with the corresponding responses,

Exhibit B – “ This shop looks good…should we go there ? ..”

Exhibit A – “ yeah sure..why not….”

what exhibit A is really thinking – “ anywhere is fine…as long as I can get the hell out of this whole market as fast as I can….”

Exhibit B – “ am I looking good in this ?..” or “ is this looking good ?..”

Exhibit A – “ it is really nice and you are looking good..” or “ yeah..it suits your personality..”

what exhibit A is really thinking – “ what the fuck…how is it any different from what you already have..”

Exhibit B – “ can I wear it out..to office and all..? ..”

Exhibit A – “ of course you can..you can carry that off easily…”

what exhibit A is really thinking – “ if you wanted to buy something to wear at home…what the hell are we doing here..”

Exhibit B – “ do you think this is worth it…”

Exhibit A – “ oh..it is nice and yeah its worth the money….”

what exhibit A is really thinking – “ just pay for that god forsaken thing and get the fuck outta here..”

Exhibit B – “ I shopped well today..i mean I got stuff for cheap..”

Exhibit A – “ oh ya..that you did…very smart…”

what exhibit A is really thinking – “ wow ..what an achievement…the world is saved from global warming due to that smart thinking…”

 so you see Exhibit A needs to limit is vocabulary when on a shopping spree….

 so they walk into endless shops..spending endless hours….not sure of what exhibit B wants to buy..

“ I don’t know what I should to be buying..” is the standard the reply….can you beat that? !!!

so if B finally likes something..just pray to God that the store has that thing available in her size….

or else…A is doomed..doomed till eternity…..

 because, a) she will be very unhappy b) your search doesn’t end and c) you need to spend more time in another store…..

 I mean what the hell….this thing is supposed to be size X and you are size X..so how can it not fit you….

 I mean that’s defying science and logic..ain’t it…?

 but that’s just another bout of indecisiveness that B has had….so you move on…without questioning…prisoners are not supposed to question after all…

 now comes the important part …negotiating….

so now she has liked something and due good lord’s mercy it is available in her size…and IT FITS HER TOO!!!

so now B will negotiate with the store guys on the prices of these things…

these negotiating rounds leave me awestruck….i suggest they put all the women on a plane to Pakistan and and let them negotiate the kashmir issue with them.

I bet we will get kashmir and some portion of Islamabad too and for much cheaper price…

I am not exaggerating….women are that good….

who would quote a price which is one tenth of the original price quoted by the store keeper…

store keeper says..1000….B will say 50……haaaaa…..Exhibit A falls down with his jaw open and eyes popping out…

don’t these women feel scared that the store owner will simply slap them some day….i mean ..what the hell….

but no…A is mistaken..the shop keeper does finally wilt under pressure from B and gives away the merchandise for 100 bucks….

and how does B manage to do that..by talking continuously and irritatingly to the store keeper criticizing everything about the merchandise….right from the make..to the brand…to the fit..color…size…material..etc etc ..also letting him know that this is available with a lot of other store keepers and they are willing to sell it for cheap…

and poor A is wondering that….if the thing is so bad….why the fuck are you buying it in the first place…and if it is so easily available everywhere…why are you troubling the poor soul of this store keeper..

but A better not voice out the questions…

so finally after going through almost thousands of various items and negotiating with hundreds of vendors….

A & B finally come out…….with B showing a look of content on her face and beaming with pride…whereas A is walking out with lots of bags in his hands and with a look that says….” I think my village just got hit by a tsunami and I survived…get me home..! ”

the funny part is that when they get home B turns around and says,

“ I think that top doesn’t fit me too well so we might need to go back to get it altered or exchanged..”

and A…well… he simply disappears!

I was born in Bombay and i grew up in Mumbai….nothing much has changed though except the name….Over the years , i seen hordes of bomb blasts and attacks by external terrorists (Lashkar, SIMI etc) and internal terrorists (Shiv Sena, MNS, Bajrang Dal etc) on my city….every mumbaikar will agree with me that we have become used to this and quite frankly accepted this as a part of our lives….

But nothing could have prepared me for what i saw on the evening of 26th November 2008….my city was held hostage by a handful of kids sent by our ‘over friendly/ always ready to help/ peace loving’ neighbour…..if they would have planted bombs and ran away i don’t think we would have had a problem….but this was something different…..what got me very angry in fact very very angry was the image of these terrorists taking a stroll at the CST station in the heart of our city….

i mean what the fuck were these terrorists thinking ….they can walk into our city and shoot at will and take over important locations (TAJ!!!!!)….but if they were thinking they can pull this off…they were absolutely RIGHT…they did just that and more than that….killing our top cops was a bonus…..what happened after that the world knows (thanks to our in the face media)…..

here are some of the shocking facts
1) the cops in my city have not fired a single bullet in the last 10 yrs even for practice becoz there is no practice range
2) the NSG commandos who are the only ones trained on anti – terror activities have an annual budget of 159 crores for 08-09 whereas the commandos who are appointed for the security of our political leaders in delhi have a budget of 180 crores for the same period
…so for billion people 159 crores and for a handful of people which include many ministers that have criminal cases against them. a budget of 181 crores….phew!!! are they important or what..

i am very sure this will get all of us very pissed..but that’s not my intention and neither is it to ask people to show the MUMBAI SPIRIT ( that term needs to be stopped becoz we as mumbaikars have no other option but to get back with our lives anyways) or ask people to light candles (rang de basanti overdose!!)….i am not even a RJ asking people desperately to meet at Marine Drive, nariman point etc to pay homage (gimme a break)..last i heard there wasn’t any space left anywhere so one radio channel had people gathered at Dharavi…

my intention is to realize who we are…..everyone wants our govt to take out Pakistan from the world map (and not take movie directors on a tour of the affected areas )….finish them off completely becoz i feel Pakistan is a Migraine..a pain that never goes away completely and keeps hitting you when you don’t expect it…even i wanted our govt to do that till a few days back….then someone made me realize that there is more to this than just reaction…

in the last 50 years, there has been much talk of peace, but little evidence of it. I think peace is something that you have inside yourself, too, though. Its not just a word to describe the lack of fighting or hatred between two parties. Even when things around you may be out of control and hard to deal with, we need to find something peaceful in ourselves…

we have got to start looking at our system with the intention of making it good rather than being cynical about it….we have heard the terms ‘we are the change’ , ‘what have we done for the society’ etc etc…but really its high time we stopped doing stupid things like lighting candles, wearing black arm bands etc to show that we mean business…this attack should wake us up….each one of us needs to find that inner peace becoz only then can we look at the society and see how we can make it better…everyone in this city is angry….rich vs poor/ Hindu vs Muslim / boss vs employee / One who is sitting in the train vs The one who is standing etc ….

we are all angry and when we look at the society with our angry eyes all we can see is more wrong and more anger ….that needs to change….so i propose lets take that journey within and find that peace within ..that will help us bring about a change in the world…..

lets not be angry…becoz then the terrorists will win…they will get what they want…always remember ourselves , what we stand for and what we need to do at an individual level to start the change cycle in the society ….. becoz In ‘Violence, we forget who we are’.

I am not the kind who would plan on writing anything and then put his thoughts down on a piece of paper or on a word pad…..

My thoughts are not necessarily so clear in my head most of the times too…

so why this sudden urge to write…i guess it’s simply the immense amount of frustration brewing inside of me at the huge lack of depth , awareness, effort, excellence in the society today….

it is very unfortunate how mediocrity has become the order of the day where everybody is fine with even the slightest of effort towards achieving something…..putting in a lot of time and effort towards achieving results is a pain in the wrong place to almost everybody….

Why work so hard or why pay too much attention to details….it’s alright yaar….this is fine….

the lack of self aware humans around is hurting me like never before…how can anybody not think beyond the obvious…are we not supposed to be the thinking species….?…then y don’t we behave like one…

I am not talking about everybody including the high scoring pseudo intellectual IIT’ians, IIM’ites , reporters etc etc….that form the cream layer of the intellectual society…

Books can only teach you so much….they cannot guarantee you the education that is most important in this world….

Knowing yourself..!

Sounds familiar? Well… it certainly is…..

How many of us find it very difficult to answer this question when asked in a job interview or an appraisal interview?

What are your strengths and weakness?

I bet most of us answer this with the tried and tested safe bet answers that we have perfected over the years…things like…

I am a team player

I take ownership

I am over enthusiastic about my work at times…

etc etc

These answers are just given in order to avoid any trouble with your boss…isn’t that right?

But really….have you ever introspected enough to find out what you really are…

Intro….what?

i know that’s a very heavy word to be used in this rapidly changing world…nobody has the time, desire and ability to think deep about both their strengths, weakness, their choices ..So and so forth…

Let me ask you another question to prove my point….it’s my favorite one..

What is your passion in life..?

I don’t have a research to prove my point but I am certain that more than 95% people today will not have an honest answer to that question…

Do you?

But what is the need to know oneself you may ask…

That according to me is the root cause of this soulless, materialistic, highly superficial society…

Nobody wants to go one layer deeper than the obvious….because going beyond what meets the eye is a habit not encouraged even by our pathetic education system…

Why do people feel the need to visit restro bars, bars, pubs, discs, malls etc etc almost every day?

Why do we end up watching movies almost every weekend?….why do we shop when we had not intended to shop in the first place? And after doing this we are happy calling ourselves shop-a-holic….

It is not being a shop–a-holic….it is being so frivolous and superficial we cannot spend time with ourselves…

We cannot stand spending time with ourselves becoz we are strangers to ourselves and can’t stand the reality of who we are…

We need constant distractions to distract our mind from ourselves…we go dancing out to a disc almost every time we get some time off and call ourselves party lovers….

Are we really party lovers? But who cares?..That’s the understanding we have about us….and we are happy with it…

ITS CALLED BEING SUPERFICIAL….!

Question is… why is that the case…?

To answer that I need to speak in a language that we understand…

Cinema….

Having had the privilege of watching one of the most pathetic movies of all times….i was anyway not in position to think clearly…

If cinema has this calming, soothing effect on you…if it makes you feel good…on the other hand…

It should also make you feel pathetic if it sucks…

But I was jolted upright when I realized that it was actually being liked by many people…with people raving about the quality of cinema…i felt lost and not belonged….

People around me consoled me by saying that it’s only a movie so it’s alright…

I was further enraged by that…

But why are we talking movies….

Lemme explain….

I know it was only a movie….but they say that the cinema of an era is the direct reflection of the society in general…

And I couldn’t have agreed more…

The cinema of this era in India is superficial …so is the society….

When you watch a movie like the one I did…you have the option of coming out and saying,

It’s alright…it is only a movie….

Or you can think…hold on….what do filmmakers think of us as an audience….this is what they are dishing out to us and expecting that we will like it..Applaud it…

Has anybody given a thought to the deteriorating condition of storytelling in today’s movies…?

Make a crappy movie…and then promote it well…!

As an audience…i think I need to be aware and question such people when they make such pathetic crap in the name of cinema…

Imagine somebody coming down to you personally and asking you to watch something absolute hogwash and expecting you to like it…

How would you react…or rather how should you react….

I would be aghast and say…how you dare question my intellect by asking me to watch this piece of shit…

This is the exactly the same…only except the personally coming down to you part…

But for realizing that…we need to be self aware…

Only a self aware person can be aware of the society in general…

Lighting candles on terror attacks and wearing black arm bands on world aids days is today’s idea of being self aware…..

It’s a pity…it really is…

I rest my case….the frugality of self awareness wins….

chalta hai yaar….right?

India has been sitting on the doors of development for the past many years…

There are various reasons for it…education…poverty etc etc…

However this is also a major contributor to it…

A soulless society ….which thrives on being superficial…

And then there was him!

As has been the case all along in his cricketing career, when the world is busy talking about somebody or something else….Rahul Dravid quietly goes on with his job of saving the Indian team…

 on the 16^th of November 2009, the Indian media was running stories about how some political leader somewhere has taken offence to what Sachin “the God” Tendulkar had to say about Mumbai belonging to India and some such crap…Endless clippings of his past performances and the political leader ran parallels… with the reporters thronging the streets to get the comments of the people about how they feel about their cricketing god…

At the bottom of the screen ran this news flash…

1^st test India Vs Sri Lanka – India 385 / 6 – Rahul Dravid 177*

That illustration sums up the career of arguably the greatest cricketer that played for India…

Always overshadowed by greatness or frivolities!

What makes those runs so important you would say…the problem is…those 177 runs were scored after India was 66 for 4!

In his long standing international career playing for India…he has scored more than 20 thousand runs in both formats of the game. And anyone who has any cricketing knowledge and has followed Indian cricket over the years will agree with me when I say…Multiply his 20000 runs by 4…that’s the real worth of his runs…

Because Dravid plays where everybody else gives up….

Swinging wicket

Seaming wicket

Spinning track

Bouncing wicket

Uneven pitch

Day end

Opening

Late middle order with the tail enders

No lights

Heavy drizzle

Hell….even if it’s snowing…

You know for sure Dravid will play!

Why? Is it because he is superlatively talented? Is it because he possesses unnatural ability to do things unheard of? Is he a cricketing God? No the answer is very simple….it’s because he tries…because he works hard…because he is determined…and because he has grit that is beyond measure…

I am sure in this hero starved country of ours many idolize Sachin Tendulkar and look up to him and want to emulate him. There is no doubt that Sachin is worth all that and it is a universal truth that he possesses talent that can be only described as DIVINE. However not everybody is so talented and hence to me idolizing Sachin is like idolizing a divine being…

To mortals like me…Rahul Dravid stands out as a hero! Why?

Here is a man who is not superlatively talented and is often termed as not interesting to look at…

But the same man has overcome all this in his long career by simply working hard by being determined…

I recently read in an article by a Ranji player that in a Ranji match against Karnataka (Dravid’s home team) on a pathetic pitch, even if the bowler managed to beat him twice, he celebrated as though he has got him out…And when he finally got out after scoring 78 valuable runs. They felt as though a mountain has moved….

That the stature of this man…Ask any budding cricketer or any cricketer who has played cricket professionally at any level…We always value a player not by the number of runs he scores but by the number of matches he wins for your team from absolutely hopeless situations! That gets you respect…respect of your teammates and your opposition.But for the ones who value statistics…some shocking facts are mentioned at the end of this article to refresh our memories.

But forget the statistics I say…the biggest statistics is this…every time he has scored more than 200 runs in a test match…India has never lost that game. And in the successful run of 11 successive matches chased and won in one day matches…Dravid scored an unbeaten half century in almost all the matches…leading India to victory!

That is what gets you respect folks….

You get hit on the face by a Mervyn Dillion bouncer and you come back to score 144*…that’s guts!!!

And yet we have come to a stage where we see the Virat Kohli’s and Ravindra Jadega’s getting a nod ahead of him in the Indian one day team…The question is…have we treated our greatest war hero with respect? No we certainly haven’t! He deserves more respect than that….

So when he scored the 100^th run in the test match against Sri Lanka and ran for his single. I have never seen him more animated than that…he has scored endless more important runs than that single and has never reacted to anything. As Alan Donald recalls “he never said anything…it was as if we were sledging to a wall…”So why was he so animated in his celebration….

It’s because he is hurt…hurt at the treatment given to him by the BCCI and the Indian public in general…you call him for a series and ask him to open.He scores at an average of 35 or so and you drop him? I bet he is not done though….that’s the fighter in him…He has more to do and earn more respect…

Dear Dravid,

The day you retire…is the day when I will come and watch your last test match anywhere on this earth…

That’s a promise….A promise made by a humble fan to the WALL of world cricket…

You make me believe in grit and not giving up…Thanks for all the memories….

Yours,

Zaki

(Without any shame in accepting “a Rahul Dravid wannabe”) 

• Dravid has scored 26 centuries in Test cricket at an average of 55.11, including 5 double centuries.
• He is one of the few Indians who average more at away matches than at home, averaging over 10 more runs a match abroad than on Indian pitches
• Uniquely, each of his five double centuries in Tests was a higher score than his previous double century (200*, 217, 222, 233, 270).
• Also, Dravid is the current world record holder for the highest percentage (%) contribution of runs scored in matches won under a single captain, where the captain has won more than 20 Tests. [35]
• In the 21 Test matches India won under Sourav Ganguly’s leadership, Dravid played his part in every single one of those wins, scoring at a record average of 102.84 and piling up an astonishing 2571 runs, with nine hundreds – three of them double-centuries – and ten fifties in 32 innings. He contributed nearly 23% of the total runs scored by India those 21 matches, which is almost one run out of every four runs the team scored.