The Slow and Dangerous

Man proposes, God disposes. Especially if it is me. I left office at 7.30 thinking I would reach home early today. And then I found myself in a incredibly traffic packed road and one hell of a ride back home with a little bit of (mis)adventure as well in between.

Distance: 18km

Time: 2 hrs

Road: Tar, Sand cum Water

It was a once in a lifetime experience.. and once you experience it, you would do anything to NOT experience it again. It was raining heavily and traffic was crawling.. infact even a baby could crawl faster than that. And thank god, I wasn't in a car... I would never have had the patience to sit through that traffic. It wasn't anywhere near quick even on a bike though.

But I had fun dipping my legs in the water and trying to feel the weightlessness.. kiddish, ain't it? A little ahead, the traffic policemen were diverting all traffic to the left and blocked the road ahead. I obviously wasn't going to be scared of a little pool of water so I avoided him and went straight ahead and THUMP! My bike got into a big pothole.

The front tyre went in and came out but the rear tyre refused to. I accelerated a lot but it just kept slipping. The policeman came upto and started shouting at me, saying "What are we here for? Wasn't I telling you." I got off the bike and found myself in more than knee-deep water. I tried to lift the bike with one hand while I balanced it with the other and surprisingly, I did it. It was probably buoyancy but I felt like Sylvestar Stallone for a moment. And while I hopped on the bike and accelerated again, I heard the policeman saying, "You are lucky."

All in all, amazing ride. And it also is testimony to a quotation of mine which I haven't yet published on my blog..

"Speed doesn't kill, insanity does."

Fundamental Rights

15th Aug, 1947 to 15th Aug, 2009 - 62nd year of Independence. Lots of development happened in these years. In my childhood, we were taught of "Unity in Diversity" and today I'm hearing "India Shining" and "Incredible India". Honestly, I don't know what is so "Incredible" about India and neither can I see the "Shine". And while the "Diversity" is true, I'm not so sure about the "Unity" part.

And looking back into the 22 long years I have lived so far (of which I only remember about the last 6-7 yrs) I found a few things I could crib about. And they generally revolved around one thing - I have not even been provided my Fundamental Rights.

Aren't the "Fundamental Rights in India" guaranteed to every Indian citizen? Well, technically YES and as per the verbal usage in the Constitution, I'm even exercising my rights. But in the essence of it, I think we lost them long ago and never even realised it. Blame it on Society (ourselves)/Politicians/Law and you wouldn't be wrong.

I didn't even remember the 6 Fundamental Rights from my 9th Class Social Sciences course, so I had to read a little from the net, which you can find here. In this post, I would like to concentrate mainly on:

1. Right to Equality

2. Right to Freedom

4. Rigth to Freedom of Religion (yes, that's our Fourth Right)

2,4. Right to Freedom / Right to Freedom of Religion -

Right to Freedom relates to speech, expression and to move about within the country and the latter relates to, as the name implies, Freedom to follow any Religion. Together, these two rights give you the Freedom to form any opinion and also the Freedom to express it. With Press being given such a free hand in our country, I can't crib anything about that, can I?

But, this is what I think these 2 Rights were included in the Constitution for - to let everyone live in harmony by giving everyone the Freedom to think and move about freely within the country and live life as they deemed fit, and not be forced by someone else's opinions. The idea was that each one leads an independent life and not intrude into another's space. I would like to be treated as a responsible adult, form unadulterated opinions of everything that is happening around me, and take decisions for myself. I would like to settle and work in any part of the country.

The men and women writing the Constitution might have envisaged a happy India with many religions being practised by its citizens, but what they seem to have missed is the chaos that comes with diversity. We have so many religions being followed with each sect having its own presumptions about the nature of the others, that the whole purpose is defeated. I now have to deal with the Ram Sena's telling me how to live life "morally" and Shiv Sena's clearly voicing that non-Maharashtrians are not welcome in their state. To add to this are the inflammatory speeches made by idiots (read: likes of Varun Gandhi), enlarging of the communal, regional or caste-wides divides by political parties (can't single out any here) and of preachings/speeches made by "religious leaders" which are manipulative and biased in their content (such as Hindu Jagruti).

This proves it, I am not being given my Fundamental Rights of Freedom. Infact, if I had done better at Mathematics during school, I would have proven it to you that it is not possible to give everone the Right to Freedom without creating a mess. I would say, revoke my two Fundamental Rights of Freedom, which are but for namesake. Instead, replace them with a LAW OF TOLERANCE - a law which treats "intolerance towards any human/sect/community/caste/region or any other discrimination factor as a punishable offense". I want the word "tolerance" drilled into the mind of every citizen and into the heart of the society. And until then, I would rather live in a country of NO religion than a country of MANY religions.

Because we still have people who think Pakistan is bad, because they fail to get it that a certain few individuals do not necessarily reflect the qualities of a nation. That way, atleast Pakistan is ruled by a man who had it in him to reach the top. Unlike us, where we are ruled a woman who just happened to be the grand-daughter-in-law of a great man.

1. Right to Equality -

It is commonsense that, we are born different, we think different, we are at different levels - socially and financially, then how can we all be treated equal. This Right guarantees us equality - equality before the law, equal access to public places, equality in matters of public employment.

But in reality, it is just another of those "namesake" Fundamental Rights. Because, also written into the law is that "special provisions may be made for women, children or socially or educationally backward classes". See, the very Law that's supposed to treat us all as equal is trying to divide us. So, while you are waiting in the long queue at a temple, a politician or his wife's uncle's cousin's stepson might just get a VIP pass. Same goes with court matters or applying to a public post. While in some cases, it's unofficial "recommendations", it is "special provisions" in the rest. And the bottomline - there is NO EQUALITY.

But, don't bother. Because equality is like a man conceiving a child. It's just against the very law of nature. After all, even if I were more capable than Vijay Mallya's son, he would still leave everything to his son, right? Why else do you think sons, daughters and nephews of all actors, directors and producers are coming back into the show-business. What's worse is that, we are today being ruled by men and women who just happen to be the grand-daughter-in-laws or great-grand-sons of men who once ruled India. And these are the people who we trust are going to safeguard our Right to Equality. Right, why not.

But who is the culprit? Who snatched away my Fundamental Rights? I guess the answer is everyone of us. The politicians and a few other men - for their own greed and selfish motives. The court, for having let antisocial elements make our system seem like a farce. And the rest of us, because we stayed silent and tolerant of all the wrong things.

And I would like to end with what Rabindranath Tagore wrote decades ago and what still holds true. Only, we should now say, not "Country", but "Every living being"

LET MY COUNTRY AWAKE

Where the mind is without fear and the head held high;

Where knowledge is free;

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;

Where words come out from the depth of truth;

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;

Where the mind is led forward by Thee into ever-widening thought and action;

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

The 3-day Celebration

We celebrate... we are happy... or the other way round. In my case, I can't distinguish if the celebrations came first or the happiness.

It all started on the Saturday of what seemed would be a boring weekend. I met a close friend in the noon and then met another very special friend in the evening. Technically, everything went wrong that day. I couldn't have lunch on time and worse still couldn't even have a proper dinner. And the movie I went to watch was as dumb as dumb could get. The name was Agyaat, a hindi dubbing of a telugu movie (Adavi) and the story was that of a haunted forest. As the name implies, everything about it was Unknown. I didn't know why I had to watch that movie and what was the plot. I shall copy my friend's words here, since I can't put it any better - "it was a horror-comic". And the suspense in the plot was so intense, that it is not revealed even at the end of the movie. The director asks us to wait for Agyaat-2 but I doubt anybody would be eagerly awaiting it.

So after a Saturday late-night horror-comic show, I was woken up on Sunday noon by my brother. He had just returned from Germany. He brought A LOT of chocolates for me and my nephew, so being woken up early was worth it. Better still, he even gifted me the iPod Nano that I was planning to buy from long. And as if this wasn't enough, I went out shopping in the evening to buy something for my dad. Now any spendthrift would tell you that, shopping gives you a unparalleled pleasure and unadultrated joy. So, after I was done shopping for my dad, I shopped for myself and my nephew.

After a perfect 10hrs sleep, I went to office on Monday an hour late (but nothing unusual about it being a true-Indian). I didn't have any work so just whiled away time and left an hour early and went shopping again ;) I had selected the venue for dinner (Rajdhani, in Ameerpet) and it turned out to be the best place for a perfect dinner with family and close relatives. It was one of the few places where they charged you high and yet served good food and served you well.

And thus the awesome 3-day celebration time comes to an end with me writing this post. From tomorrow, it's back to boring work-office-home life. But fingers-crossed, maybe there is more in store for this week.

The Shutter

It's an open secret that I'm not bold. I mean, I am not daring enough to try the "new" thing... true... but what I am saying here is that - I am scared. I am scared of the dark, of lizards and of horror movies. And I left more than a hint of that in an earlier post.

I have mentioned the movie "The Shutter" in the earlier post too and since then I intended to write this post describing why I am scared to this day to even think of that movie. But before I tell you what actually happened the night of the movie, I will have to give you a synopsis of the movie.

Plot (better not read this if you don't want the suspense to be revealed)

Shutter is actually a Korean movie (I think) and anyone who has watched it would definitely rate it as one of the best horror movies ever. It's one of those movies where the suspense is steadily built (that's it.. I can't take it any more. It's past midnight and I am too scared to even think of the movie now... I will continue this post again some "day". For now, let me check my bank statement... hopefully, my deplorable "financial" condition shall divert my mind.)

Another trip back Home

Today, while checking my posts, I found the below one in the drafts since 1/16/09 12:50 AM. I honestly forgot what I intended to write here. All I remember is that this was some sort of a continuation to this older post.

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I was on a short vacation from Saturday, Jan 10th to Wednesday, Jan 14th. I was back at my native place - Kodada - supposedly for Sankranti which was on Wednesday. Another reason, which was also more primary, for making this trip was that my mom had a school reunion to attend - that's right, all her 10th class-mates and their teachers were meeting on Sunday, Jan 11th. The reunion went great, it was organised on a grand scale and why not - all her ex-classmates were now settled (mostly in Hyderabad) and doing well. One owned a Jewellery shop, another owned a Diagnostic Centre and so on.

But what amazed me most was that everyone, including the teachers, recognised most of the others. And it being a village and there being only one govt. school in those old days (today there are 4 engineering colleges there), all the siblings went to the same school and were taught by the same teachers. So, as the teachers went around getting updates from their ex-students, and their siblings, they could easily have written a History of Kodada.

Apart from the reunion, there was practically nothing else to do than EALSAL - Eat A Lot, Sleep A Lot. No need for me to mention that I love such trips. As per the Indian culture, the closer your relatives the more food they try to stuff into you. And everytime I went out, the ultra-cheap prices (which I have already written about in an earlier post) only used to increase my appetite. This meant I had to sleep close to 12hrs every day (9hrs during night and 3 hrs during day) just to keep the digestion on track. I bet, I would have added on atleast a couple of kgs.

As I was writing this post, an old lady walked into the house. She was apparently related to my Aunt (through a chain not less than 4 links) and she was a specimen. A "live; walking and talking; BBC". Towns are small places and almost everybody is related to everybody someway or the other. But this lady was the heights. In the 2 hrs she spent at home, she spoke for like 1 hr 45 min and gave a complete round-up of all the happenings in the town. She would have easily put any News Network to shame with her coverage, inside news and the pure zeal. She was generous enough to end with a short 15 min Q&A session, before remembering that she was also supposed to be visiting some other relative.

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This is where the draft ends.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

The title of this post is sure to make you think of "FRIENDS" - the TV Series. Wonderful Series, eh? Absolutely. Awesome characters and great humour. Brilliantly written, brilliantly executed. Every episode is a masterpiece. Lots of emotions that the characters go through, throughout the series, but they still manage to tickle your funny bone. So much so that, they make you wish.. wish that your life was the same. And if half the reason for that is the way the series has been scripted, the other half would be that it is about "Friends".

Afterall, who wouldn't want a bunch of great friends around them. I definitely would. It would be so exciting. I would have some great stories to share with my kids and their kids. But alas, my life never felt as special as in the series.

No wonder, when I look back at my life today, I don't really have some great episodes to share. I mean, if you have done some adventurous or uber-crazy stuff, you would have something to share. And my life has been "extraoridnarily ordinary". But I don't love Joey and Co. for doing anything adventurous. What, then, sets them apart? What makes them special? One answer is, they are such "characters" (if you understand what I mean) that they make very lovable characters on screen. And the other answer for it would be, their life has been documented.

TRUE. And that's the sad part I realised when I looked back at my life. My life already had most of the FRIENDS' characters. I had already met Joeys, Chandlers, Rosses, Phoebes, Rachels or my sweet-heart Monica. But why do I still wish that my life was as good as the TV Series. I have two reasons for this well.

First would be, we just live life, we don't LIVE life. Worth mentioning here would be Ezekiel's (in the movie, Sex Drive) comments about the Amish people, "Sometimes I just miss the world. You know, I miss sarcasm. It's mostly lost on my people. And gambling."

And second would be, my life hasn't been documented. Because if it was, I'm sure it would have been as good as FRIENDS. There have been good days and bad days, but everyday there has always been something to be happy about. While we enjoy that instant, we don't care to remember it. We meet some very interesting people in our lives who we grow very attached to, but soon wander and meet someone else. And thus, God's greatest gift to Man, is also his greatest curse - Imperfect memory. If only we had trained our mind to weed out the sad episodes much more quickly and keep the happy memories forever. But almost always, its the other way round.

Let me try recollecting the names of all my "best buddies". During my schooling in Delhi, my life could be spelled as BAVA (Balaji, Aakash, Vikash and Akshay) at school or as S (for Sveta) at home. They were people I hanged out with every single day. Back in Hyderabad, it would be JATAPS (Jiddu, Adi, Theju, Aravind "Warrior", Pallav and Sriram) for a couple of years and then probably, PJ-MAS2TheC (Parrot, Jiddu, Makhi, Adi, Sriram, Sharan, Theju, Choudhury). And those school-bus journeys with ASK (Arvind, Sai Kiran and Kalyan). They were the people I hanged out with most, outside of the school and we were all Badminton-Cricket buddies too. Intermediate definitely was my best time, cause I only had fun. There was very little that I did outside of it. And my best buddies then were (K)RAANKSS (Kinnera, Rajeev, Amit, Amar, Nikhil, Kishore, Santosh and Siddharth).

IIT was a special place. During those 4 years, everyone lived life like one big family. Difficult to even mention so many names here but some of the closest of the closest family members were: H2MC2KT (Harish, Harsha, Manu, Chandu, Chinny, Kailash, TP). If I wasn't in my room, which was generally the case, I was at one of their rooms. And there have been numerous times when I would stay 24 hrs straight in one of their rooms even though mine was just next door. And IIT life wouldn't have been worth it if it wasn't for TRANSC-TV (Tapasya, Raj, Akon, Nalgonda, Singla, Chinny, TP, Vamsy). Not to forget the online "chat" friends - SAM (Sonal, Aisha and Madhu).

While all these years are only blurred in my mind, I remember the last one year, very clearly. It was so wonderful, I have already written a post about it. First 6 months could only be spelled as MANGPART-V (Madan, Amita, Nikhil, Golu, Pigy, Athni, Rahul, Tassu, Vamsi) and the next 3 months as TRTP (Tassu, Rachna, Tajji, Pratibha). In all my life, I have never felt as lonely as I felt April to June when I changed my priorities and placed Work before Life. It didn't take long for my company to tell me it was a bad choice. And all this time, I can't remember of anyone whom I spoke to regularly except P (Pratibha).

So except for a couple of friends, I can't really say I'm in touch with anyone I met more than an year ago. And since July, I have been more in the Party mood. So, I have met a lot of new people but am yet to see how many would become my close friends.