3 Latest Musketeers

So what all this fuss about marriage as soon as you cross 26. Okay ya, even I thought that my parents are super cool until 22nd July, last year. Someone told me marriage is full of restrictions. You either die young or married else see yourself becoming old and grumpy all alone. But no one tells you the story of what happens until you die. Lets assume I know three people. Bittu Banwari, who is not going to live for more than, say;3 years. Second one, Bhanu Chudasama is of course married, because her family wanted her to die a slow death and the third is my friendly neighborhood, The Grandpa, living next door.

Now Banwari is a guy who live in slums of India originating from Patna. My non-Indian folks can go and watch Slumdog Millionaire to know more about Slums. Banwari has this fantasy of going to Bangkok and banging chicks there before he gets banged by life. Hot girls in Bangkok is what he keeps hearing from his friends all the time. Apparently, he is saving money for this purpose. What he does for a living? No, he does not sell movie tickets in black. That will be stereotyping him. He also does not happens to be a small time smuggler. Perhaps, he sells pan masala at a bus stop. Why only chicks of Bangkok? Well may be as they say; one life, make it large.

On other hand Bhaanu is an underrated, over hyped IT professional apart from being a Gujju girl, married to Jiten Chudasama. Her only aim in life was to get married apart from being an independent girl. She achieved it. What she is doing in this story? Well that's the next part. How I know her? She buys smoke and condoms from Banwari's shop apart from the pan masala. What to say, Banwari keeps it all. The fantasy of her life, which is on the verge of having say no to sex, is to get a divorce from Jiten and live a separate life. Date men, boys, girls, women, drink, puke, sky dive, bungee jump, climb mountains and bang every one along the way. She thinks she can do this all but the stand alone factor that keeps her at the rim is the society. The paradox is the way society keeps faith in you to allow your life being ruined by another jerk who can do the same to you, without being even noticed or bothered. 

The Grandpa living nearby is another classic example of what to do and what not to do in life. He got it all from life. A successful business, five bungalows, and four wives, (God! The last one was a hot girl of tinsel town). No wonder he had a marvelous life. He is 84 now. Living in a 1 BHK apartment in New Delhi, all alone. As he says and I quote,"Yes, I had all the fun I wanted but what I miss more is the essence of true love my first wife had for me." I could sense the fun he misses and the fun he missed. At 84, he lives it all, parties, boozes, eat everything he wants, go places he wants, with just that one regret of doing this all alone.

Asking myself what I want from life, what I am going to have from it, I am clueless. Lives of Banwari, Mrs. Chudasama and Grandpa have nothing in common but that flavor of love that was always missing. As far as I am concerned, after being dumped in the last weekend of 2010, I am going to propose this awesome girl tomorrow morning. I hope she says. And yeah, I am the guy who gets his hand down on weed with all these three.

Fools are my theme

Ah... It feels so fresh to be here after months of distractions and all the so called liabilities. Coming back here is as cool as the morning breeze that I have always desired for. Well, when demand soars, supply has to be revamped. So here I am with some distorted and unquenchable thoughts.

Looking back into a not so distant past, I find lot of happenings over tea parties, inside Republican parties, outside political parties (there is nothing really fascinating to tell about political parties’ inside story, especially Indian), the Summit’s which are far from “good for us”, the border tussles, India’s rejection of stiff gender law and Ishant Sharma’s terrific performance spree. I mean I just don’t know whether I got lucky to be bubbled up with so many heart warming stints for me or this era is doomed; well this was bit harsher on Ishant Sharma though. Finally, I pick my topic up and move forward.

When I was 10; okay may be not that small. So when I was 15, marriage was an exciting affair or rather event for me. Girls and ladies giggling around, male friends and cousins trying for the best catch, the dancing and the romancing; everything under one roof, a typical Indian wedding, marvelous.  I used to enjoy every moment of that. Then I entered 24, about to finish my under graduation; I know a bit late to finish your undergrads but still. Marriage was no more an exciting event for me but rather, conspiracy by parents and relatives; of course I skipped the time when I was in love. So what I intend to say here is that marry only when you have your basics right. That’s what my coach and teacher told me, not for marriage but for Cricket and Mathematics; for marriage, its basics of life and people. Apparently, one gets this by age and experience. But baby Shano’s dad’s thoughts were otherwise, just like the Republican parties thoughts on Obamacare. He personally appealed to the Dr. MMS, India’s sick Prime Minister (he is not keeping well these days you see) on behalf of all the sick morons- literally, an adult with an age of 8 or 12- of India to keep himself and India away from signing the first-ever global resolution on early and forced marriage of children led by the UN. This resolution was one of the agendas of the UN Human Rights Council to provide a better social status to girls and women, globally.

 What, a better social status for girls and women of India globally, seriously?

P.S.: We do not provide social status to women in India, forget about on a Global level. It is against our formulated constitution of myths by the legends. 

Eventually an SMS was sent from Dr. MMS to the UN guys.” India’s stand remains firm on the women issue. No social status, only rapes, abuses and her freedom. Our woman matures at a faster rate than the woman of rest of the world for marriage. It’s like Sachin XI Vs World XI, no match.”

Well UN, you people don’t get it straight. India is a competitive market. We all learn this in our childhood and follow that until we die. Right now India is facing tough competition from Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sierra Leone, Chad, Guatemala, Honduras and Yemen in terms of women’s social status and we stand firm just above Yemen. Readers please. Dare not speak about the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) Council; it is for the economy market which has nothing to do with our women, so why to lose the cut throat competition.  

Well this is not sad; we have women in our political parties too doing other odd, err... I mean important jobs. Just the other day a teenaged boy was caught while doing that eve tease thing on a woman leader of some national party. Later people found he was trying to spit the gutka out. (For my non Indian sub-continent readers, gutka is one of our traditional edibles, an inclination to look elegant).  Nevertheless, baby Shano is now happily married to a man of her town. He is 35. A man, mature enough to take up his social responsibility; haven’t you heard, women mature faster than men.

Gaurav, a friend of mine came back from Zurich last Sunday, after 4 years. He said he was ashamed of being known as an Indian, back in Zurich. I don’t know whether he was right or wrong, but people in other countries have now started identifying India not as a land of Rama or Krishna or of Murgh musallam, Chicken Curry or Paneer Masala but as a land of licentious and cold-blooded people. It’s on us, and will always be on us to choose who we want to be. The good we make our today, the better shall be our tomorrow.  When wounded, you don’t leave the wound on time and people around you to heal it. You know what you do. Do the same to your society. Don't let the bamboozle capture you because once you give him the power to control you, you will never get it back. Apparently, taught in our Civics classes back in school; Democracy is for the people and by the people. make use of that.

There is an old saying in the jungle; We always do have a Choice.

Life .. As we see it!

I see love wherever I go. Mommy's love, Papa's love, best friend's love, love of soul-mates. Then I feel like saying," Oh dear God, it's a beautiful place down here". Our lives share a strong network with people we know and with those whom we know not. It may happen that someone unknown, unknowingly teaches us the way to live life. It could be a stranger passing by road or a new student in class or a small chirping bird. Even sunrise gives enough. Because all these elements when work to set things right for us, they shower nothing but love, in their own way which restrains itself from being visible to them and to us. All that one needs, is love.

                                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Edward Jones, a retired clerk of Mumbai telephone exchange; lead his whole life searching bliss. Now, he is old. He is 78. Once he thought he would never require anybody to make his life better. But here he is, sitting outside his house on chair thinking about his lost love, wasted life, his son - who would never return and his own house that is under the hammer of auctioneer. He wants to sit and talk about everything happened so far but the later is missing. He thinks; when we are young life is too short to do big things and when we grow old, suddenly life seems big. Big enough to grant you your share of happiness, your wishes and big enough to engulf it all.

                                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seema Bhandari, a young ardent painter from Mumbai. She always felt that the colors she puts on the canvas so aesthetically are like life, vibrant. Her dream art was to put life onto that leather canvas of her's. Painting and admiring beauty of life was the only thing she knew. Putting in other words, life was her perfect dream.
Now what she dreams about is that horrible night when her love for life, the passion for people and enthusiasm was ravished. The violators may have got the deserved judgement after four painful years, but she finds no reason to paint, smile or giggle or laugh.
Life has suddenly become a burden on her which was once a beautiful aspiration of an artist. Outside that big window of her room, the world seems so small to her. She is not able to find a place where she can go and get back that same smile on her face, that enthusiasm and that life.

                                                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chotu alias Aashrit, an eleven year old child who knew only football and cricket. He never knew what life was. A bliss or a curse, a burden or a companion but thought it to be limited to cricket and football. He never knew that many aren't blessed with a caring father and a loving mother. He was scared of only one thing, home works. But now, he knows everything. That what and how it is like without a caring father and a loving mother. He has realized at such a young age that the world is much bigger and unfair outside the football ground. It's not that his Papa and Mommy are dead or they have left him. It's just that after that Sunday when he went to play football, he could not see the next day with his dear ones. When he woke up, he found himself at a  construction site. Then he was traded to a restaurateur.
It has been eight months now since then and he has no where to go other than the small tea stall, his work place. Now, he is afraid of nothing. What he hopes and prays now is nothing but for monsoon. He feels no connection with god until it rains.

June 6th, monsoon has come as early as humans allowed it to. Well, I guess everything has got it's constraints.

                                                                                                       
The very first drop gave the feeling of freedom, happiness, peace and that bliss which they all searched for. Unlike Chotu, Edward and Seema couldn't feel God but certainly love touched them. A sense of joy ran through their spines. As of Chotu, this was his happy moment. May be their problems won't get solved, but this moment belongs to them which no one can take away.
That's how life is. It never gives solution for our problems, but it definitely gives ample to rejoice for.
And guess what? I found love between raindrops and those three musketeers. 

Fun is funny .. now & then!

           Not much but 6 years earlier, we never had any list of friends. Best friend concept was momentary. Exchanges of "Hi" or "wassup dude?" happened only when friends met. But today, when I sit at my desk in a state of nostalgia writing this article; 4 friend requests of friend's friend, 3 out of 7 messages of my ex flames and 12 notifications due to the shit I've been doing up this whole day on facebook, are pending. I have a friend's list, well some may be referred to as acquaintances. Talking of acquaintances, Bablooo, my roommate is an alien kind of creature who has some similar thoughts for his roommates. He was never socially very active as I guess, he couldn't find people of same wavelength around him.. ammm, OK! on the contrary, people felt the same for him. Nevertheless, those people are now in his friend's list as all share a common interest, "FACEBOOK", unlike previous times when there was nothing in common. 

            Apparently, internet has it's adverse effects. Earlier the tea shop guy, banana vendor and people like Srimadaddankithirumalavaraahavenkatathaa Ayyapaswamy (No, I bet this is not the longest name in the world, but definitely among those mighty South Indian names), Bablooo's boss, always waved at him expecting some benefits for that single hi. But sooner they were quite insistent that he adds them in his facebook account as friends [acquaintances]. He was out of options. Perhaps, now he has around 1326 friends/acquaintances. Most of his friends in online world are from sites such as www.youareanass.com, www.screwmebaby.com and other pointless internet argument forums. He has started maintaining groups so as to keep them categorized. The smallest group being " ". Well yes, he almost went for everything on the internet. He had few friends whom he didn't meet after his lower secondary school or people who stopped meeting or contacting him because .... but now they are friends on facebook. He keeps them under the group "". Well past cannot be referred to as from historical backgrounds, as we still don't have that technology. But suppose, for instance if we had, then what! Nothing much, Lord Buddha would have updated a comment, "Thinking to start a new religion!"; Jesus Christ, Muhammad, Dalai Lama and 1,445,544,555,773,033 people would like this with Lord Krishna's comment, "Thank GOD, nw I'll have sum personal tym :)". 

            His final group of acquaintances are of females, "Famme Fatale". They are sub-divided into minor groups like "My Fantasies", "Hot and Committed" and "Unbearable". Not surprising, but this group is the most attached one to him. This lad spends hours in browsing his female acquaintance's profiles, checking their pictures and relationship status. For one thing is sure that there is nothing more interesting to find hot women who recently broke up. Well of course this is sad, but then who would like to miss a chance of consoling a good, charming, sweet, astonishing, outrageous,seductive, hot wench. 

             Well, internet is indeed a source of unlimited ecstasies for most of the people around us definitely not unlike Babloo. Perhaps, I am sure of one thing. If social networking and Bablooo would not have existed, then there was still a lot for me to browse and research for. Like Megan Fox, Tim Kardashian, Sunny Leone, Blake Lively etc. Lolz .. :)


www.vodafone.in/fun

Journey of childhood ..

                 So much is there to say, we are quiet. So much is there to showcase, we hide all. It is all happening in front of our eyes. No, I am definitely not going to write about any political fiasco or historical movement. On the contrary, I am trying to throw some light on one of the darkest side of this human race. We all are born free. We live our whole life searching for that particular halcyon moment. Few get, others mourn for it! 

                 A child comes to this beautiful world. At the age of five, he realizes that he’s an orphan. He lands into the hands of a ruthless man who happens to be a contractor. Predictions can't be based upon factitious arguments. But tis true Michelangelo, thy world outside is barbarous. What the contractor will do to that child? That, is not my question. And this is not about only those children who are orphan or posthumous. It's about all of them, the divine gifts. 

Before a child's birth, we want to know the gender. Is it so important? For some unreasonable people, it is. Then follows infant killing. Our inhuman behaviour does not stop here. Wish of a healthy child leads a couple to either kill or discard the one who is physically disabled. The child is not deformed, but such acts are. Why such deformity in our thinking? Apparently, the problem with our society is, we still find it difficult to accept such children who need special attention.

                  There can be no reasons to support our sin. Child abuse is no new to this society. It's a disease spread by social animals to satisfy the sexual instinct inside them. Child abuse include asking or pressuring a child to engage in horrendous activities. Research has shown that traumatic stress, including stress caused by all sorts of physical abuse, causes notable changes in brain functioning and development. Various studies have suggested that severe child sexual abuse may have a deleterious effect on brain development. Children getting exposed to such violent streaks suffer neurological damage. 

Incest between a child or adolescent and a related adult has been identified as the most widespread form of child abuse with a huge capacity for damage to a child. According to a research, more than 70% of abusers are immediate family members or someone very close to the family. Another researcher stated that about 30% of all perpetrators of sexual abuse are related to their victim, 60% of the perpetrators are family acquaintances, like a neighbor, babysitter or friend and 10% of the perpetrators in child sexual abuse cases are strangers. The idea is not to just put figures and facts, but is to help some shut eyes open wide. 

                  It was reported in 2010 that Thailand and Brazil were considered to have the worst child trafficking records. Trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children can take many forms and include forcing a child into prostitution or other forms of sexual activity or child pornography. Child exploitation can also include forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude, the removal of organs, illicit international adoption, trafficking for early marriage, recruitment as child soldiers, for use in begging or for recruitment for cults. Trafficking in children often involves exploitation of the parents' extreme poverty. Parents may sell children to traffickers in order to pay off debts or gain income, or they may be deceived concerning the prospects of training and a better life for their children. They may sell their children for labor, sex trafficking, or illegal adoptions.

                  We have no definite mechanism to fight this deformity of our society. I take no privilege or pride in stating myself a human. I have never seen God, but I do believe in blessings. Raising a child is an opportunity to see the real person inside you. Children are indeed, a blessing in disguise.

Elizabeth Lawrence once said, "There is a garden in every childhood, an enchanted place where colours are brighter, the air softer, and the morning more fragrant than ever again". Our karma is to look after the garden. Preserve their essence and innocence. A child needs a role model more than an abuser or a mere critic. All of us have moments that test our courage and will to stand humane. Taking child into a house with a white carpet is one of them. Brace yourself and embrace the innocent.

It must stop now!

Democracy, Freedom, Sovereignty. On the platforms of such agendas, social activist turned politicians have always managed to be in the limelight. Are these words meant to be a tool of hypocrite reformers? I write this draft not be in the limelight but to unveil the assassins

of humanity. 

The society is actually going through turbulences. Turbulences due to some untold truth. Each day, in and around the city, across the streets, outside the window, human right is violated. Modern human slavery, sex trafficking, child labour, forced labour; that's what our developed, urbanised and educated society comprises of!

Commercialisation of organised crime has formed an ugly face. Its not a worry only for India and it's subcontinents, but is a global concern. Huge amount of human consignments are exported everyday especially in Europe and Asia. In fact female trafficking is not illegal in countries like Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia. 80% of transnational victims are women and girls. It is a lucrative industry where investment is too low as compared to the profit margin. Apparently, trade of arms and drugs has been combined to give more profit percentage. Generally, women and children are trafficked by giving them job offers in city. Poor goes to the city and falls as prey in the trafficker's hand. It's not that trafficking is done only for cheap labour but for commercial sex too. 

Small children are forced to work on cheap wages. They are either smuggled from orphanages or kidnapped. Even sold to military. The military use of children takes three distinct forms: children can take direct part in hostilities (child soldiers), or they can be used in support roles such as porters, spies, messengers, look outs, and sexual slaves; or they can be used for political advantage either as human shields or in propaganda. Ironically, children are the future. 

Women are bought to work as slaves and the same are sexually exploited. The main types of work offered are in the catering and hotel industry, in bars and clubs or modelling contracts. Poor economic conditions and social problems create a climate which is favourable to trafficking. The sorrow of such women is way beyond imagination. Trafficking victims are also exposed to different psychological problems. They suffer social alienation. Due to the addiction of drugs, their comfort zone gets affected. Mentioning about the rescued victims; even they don't, most of the times, recover from the trauma. In many cases traffickers initially offer ‘legitimate’ work or the promise of an opportunity to study. 

Although the good and effective work done by the governments have shown results, but yet the commoners are still unaware of the wretched crime happening in the society. This is due to ignorance. How much blame shall we post on the government until we are not donating our part of action? They are solely not responsible for the sufferings. As a matter of fact, we play a larger role by staying immune to such atrocities. Perhaps, truth is stranger than fiction.

Lets join hands and raise together against the assassins of humanity. Put some effort to make this a better place for all. As quoted in Gita, "To bring the change, be the change".