Kurbaan-A Special Message

Here is a special message for Hindi movie lovers especially for people who love thrillers. Kurbaan is the movie of the year. It’s a romantic thriller with great performances by all the lead actors as well as by actors who were there just for a cameo. The music is hum able, the camera work is great, the look; international. All in all a great film and a must watch without the preachy message and even with loopholes Kurbaan is a gripping film.

Here’s the Trailor for you:- Trailor

 

And here are 2 of my fav songs: Shuran Allah and the very seductive Rasiya

Thankyou Bangalore

Not in a mood for flowery words. Just want to document few more of my (bad) experiences in Bangalore.

1. My maid was on her way to Frazer Town for a checkup. She could not find an auto so she kept walking because of which she started feeling sick and threw up. She stopped another reluctant auto and requested to take her to clinic as she was feeling sick. But the auto wallah refused and went away.

2. My building security guard does everything but guard the building. They are just alcoholic showpieces. One of them would ask for money at the drop of a hat.

3. My maid stopped a man who was carrying a big stick. She wanted the stick as she had dropped something on the ground floor roof which needed to be picked up with the help of a stick. Once she got that thing the man started asking her for 50 bucks. She told that man that he should have asked for money at the time when she asked him to lend that stick she would have said no. Also, all the hard work of picking the thing from the roof was done by her so she should not be paying him any money. Lot of commotion happened, our security guard refused to intervene. Later another person asked her to go home and not entertain that greedy man.

4. Bharat Gas delivery man comes, most of the time without a bill. He would ask for 370/- and we would pay him. This time he came with a bill which had 322/- written on it which was inclusive of VAT. The man asked for 350/- I said the bill says 322/- he said its 326/- 20 Rupees is his deliver charges. I told him that makes a total of 340 not 350. He took the money and went away. In our absence he has been taking 370/- instead of 322/- Moreover gas deliver is free of charge. There are no deliver charges attached. But I still paid him as knowing that I am in a corrupt city, this delivery guy may decide not to deliver the gas on time. Once he took 20 days of pestering for delivering gas.

5. The guys at the cash counter of most of these so called departmental stores are dumb. They don’t understand simple queries. On asking for a plastic fridge bottle I was handed over a pearl pet jar.

6. Coconut shells which are supposed to be waste are sold for 10/- for a KG.

7. Tele marketing people call and ask, “Tell me madam” To which I have to yell at them. “You have called me, you tell me.”
8. Kaya skin clinic calls and asks for certain madam X. I tell them its not her number anymore, and I am asked, if the person has gone out of Bangalore. Now, what does Its not her number anymore mean anyway?
9. My baby sitter gets stalked. There is this guy who keeps calling me on my cell, just like that. There is no dirth of jobless men here.

10. People get run over by trains on the railway track near our house.  Still the authorities won’t block that railway track or make a bridge over it.

Some good, smart person might ask me now, “Why am I still here?” Simon go back.
My answer to that is, “I am stuck here for a reason else I would have gone back long ago.”

Rule of Anarchy

I think I live in a jungle, no I am sure I live in a jungle village. I have run out of cooking gas and its been 25 days Bharat Gas has been efficiently inefficient in not delivering gas but delivering false promises; Gas delivery happening today at 11 a.m. which becomes 2 p.m. after 12 noon and then 6 p.m. by the time its 4 p.m. and after 6 p.m. it becomes delivery happening next day. Apparently Bharat Gas is known for their ever delaying delivery in Bangalore. However their website has all the big talks on customer satisfaction and customer being the king. The days of the monarchy being over; customer being the king backfires everywhere in Bangalore, be it plumber, who will tell you that he will come for sure, and he does come after 15 days of chasing when he realizes that the next day is a dry day and he would need more money to buy alcohol in black. Autowalahs are the shining example of customer service and performing their duties of taking us helpless commuters to our destination when it rains and IT city roads are water logged, when open drains become death traps; They simply look at you top to bottom and do a quick mental calculation which depends on how drenched you are and how far do you stay because that is exactly proportionate to the amount of fleecing that they can do.

 

Karnataka, I think, is the only state where you need a ration card to get a new connection for cooking gas. No election card, no passport (which you used to travel to USA when 9/11  happened), no nothing doing, only ration card. So what do you do if you were stupid enough to think that driver’s license, passport, voters card, pan card are all government authenticated valid documents and missed out on making a ration card? The answer is simple, you buy gas in black and the vendors will happily sell you cooking gas illegally because the state itself promotes dishonesty by tying up your hands since you don’t have a ration card. How does one get a ration card? Well I don’t know, I don’t even want to know because I anyway won’t be going to a ration shop, stand in a queue to buy my share of dust filled, husk filled, stone laden grains.

 

Why do I get a feeling that it is more useful if you are either a poor or a rich kid in this country, or may be a dalit because general category people from middle class families can’t arm twist the government nor do they get anything from the government’s kitty because the government won’t get anything from the educated middle class. They can’t brain wash us by giving us saree or free TV sets, nor can they earn heavy revenue from us because we won’t be starting a infrastructural project in their state. Yes all we do is pay our taxes on time which helps them get their salaries and buy new cars with great shock absorbers after all in Bangalore you need great shock absorbers and huge asses to take all the bumpy rides. I am sure I must have broken a few small bones already in 2 years becuase I don’t have a huge cushy ass, but repetitive torture of bumps, pot holes, open drains, no footpaths, lot of traffic has already numbed my senses to feel any more pain.

 

I have already given an ultimatum to my husband to get out of this village before I lose my mental balance and he finds me in some city mental hospital.

 

Here’s my wish list (which no one is interested in but still):- I want gas delivered on time and not wait for 20-25 days every month, I want good and intelligent customer service from my credit card company especially Citibank which goes berserk every month precisely 10 days before my due date fearing I might runaway to Afghanistan, I want good customer service from Airtel which can not provide a simple service like call conferencing, where agents don’t understand the difference between call details and call charges, I want quick resolution of petty problems like fixing water pipes which took an entire day of pestering, no 1000 bucks grocery bill where the grocery list contains potato, onion, mango, orange, bread and milk, I want better roads where I can walk without a life or accident insurance, I want footpaths and not drain covers in the guise of footpath, I want honest autowallas. Ah! Me and my huge expectations.

 

Note:- Hate comments though not welcome, will anyway get them on my blog because that’s what people do, join on-line fight clubs and not address real issues.

Proud of Priti and Shivakumar

Today is a good day. Good day to feel proud. Came across the success stories of hard work and determination.

The 1st story is of Priti. Twenty-three-year-old Priti Maithil, the daughter of a daily wage labourer in Sehore in Madhya Pradesh has ranked 92nd in the UPSC examinations and it is no surprise that her family is bursting with pride. 

The 2nd story is of Shivakumar, a daily wage labourer to get 92% in SSLC exam.

Here is his entire story.

 

Like in many states, Karnataka’s SSLC examination results are out and the toppers have had their share of limelight locally. But one high-scorer stays unsung in his village, 52 km from Bangalore, uncertain of what the future holds for him.

 

He is the first boy in his entire village and school to score an impressive 92 per cent in the state SSLC exams. But when the results came out, 17-year-old Shivakumar was busy – breaking stones at a construction site. The daily wages of Rs 140 that he receives feeds him and his widowed mother. “I would tell him, I can’t buy any more kerosene for the lamp. My son would then go and study by the light of the temple,” says Narsamma, Shivakumar’s mother.

 

Saroja, a social worker who had rescued him 5 years ago from a hotel where he used to wash dishes sees him as a true motivation. “My mother has struggled all her life for me. I want to look after her well so that she doesn’t have to work again,” says Shivakumar.

 

Shivakumar wants to be a teacher of Mathematics, a subject he says that many village students fail in. This shy bookworm hopes to remove that fear factor. Who would imagine that a boy living in such poverty, in a rented hut with barely anything to eat would clear the boards with such distinction? If more people come forward to support, there.

 

Source:- http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/an_extraordinary_spirit_of_a_stone_breaker.php

http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/labourers_daughter_makes_it_to_ias.php

Pingu G.K.

Things that I did not know about Pingu. {Source:- Wikipedia}

 

Pingu is the main character of the series. He commonly uses the “megaphone-like beak” gesture and “NUG, NUG!” sound to indicate anger, happiness, frustration or to get attention.

 Pingu can also chanmself into many shapes at will, such as a ball. Pingu is also very accident-prone, much to his parents annoyance.

Pinga(called ramblanc in the early version of the lost baby) is Pingu’s little sister. She first appeared in the episode Pinga is Born. In all of the series 1 and early 2 episodes she appears to be about 18 months old. In the further episodes she is 3. Although she is seen attending kindergarten in one episode, Pingu gets jealous when she has to stay home while he has to go to school.

 

Mother and Father. Pingu’s father is a postman, who smokes a pipe. He has a motorised sledge to deliver the mail. Pingu’s mother spends most of her time at home in the igloo. Mother and Father share a lot of the work in the home (e.g. knitting, cooking and ironing). Mother sometimes gets help from Pingu & Pinga, but in the episode Pingu Refuses to Help, the kids decide not to help her. They helped her again in Pingu’s Pancakes, the worst thing he did to her was tease her in Noise.

 

 Grandpa is Pingu’s grandfather. He’s an expert accordionist, and a former weight lifter from the 1930s.

 

Robby(called Seymour the baby seal in the audiobooks) the seal is Pingu’s best friend. His name is a pun; ‘Robbe’ is German for ‘Seal’. He first appeared in in the episode Pingu Goes Fishing.

 

Pingi is Pingu’s girlfriend. She first appeared in in the episode Pingu’s Admirer.

 

Pingo is a friend of Pingu. He has a long beak, essentially flat at the bottom but slightly rounded on the top, which is slightly shorter than that of Pingg, also his head is wider and taller. He usually tries to get Pingu to do wild and silly things.

 

Pingg is a friend of Pingu. He is shorter than Pingo, his head is also shorter and his beak is slightly longer and more pointed than that of Pingo.

 

Pongi is a friend of Pingu. He wears glasses.

 

Punki is another of Pingu’s friends. He has tufts on the top of his head and wears striped trousers.

 

Bajoo is also one of Pingu’s friends. He is revealed by hit entertainment as a ’strange newcomer to the antartic in the appearance of an abominable snowman!’ He is actually an abominable snowman who recently appeared on the Pingu episode Pingu and the Abominable Snowman. He also appeared in the music video and in the pingu show(this is a broadcasting device and not an episode by itself).

Lead us to Light

The Mangalore attack has left most of us speechless. There is this man going about saying anything under the sun in the name of “Indian Culture” and there is no one to shut him up. Least of all the Karnataka CM who clearly said that there is no question of banning Ram Sene. They go about molesting unsuspecting girls, issue them threats and warning them of dire consequences in case they wear noodle strap and tight jeans, then their God Father Mr. Muthalik turn into a father figure declaring that all dating couples will be married off on the spot on Valentine’s day. All for what; Indian Culture.

I don’t understand why do they even use the word “Culture” when it is an ever evolving phenomenon. They should say, “Indian Tradition which we will twist to suits us” that would be the appropriate way of putting it.  “In the name of Indian Culture which we will twist to suit us, we won’t let women wear certain clothes because that makes us horny and since we can’t keep our libido under control we would rather ask the women to be in covers”.  “In the name of Indian culture which we will twist to suits us, we won’t let women inside pubs because if they get drunk then who will cook our dinner and procreate to bear good sons”.  All this in the name of Tradition which They want to hold on to.

We respect our culture and no one needs to preach us on that. Our parents have done a good job in letting us know how a good Indian should be, a good human being should be.  But only if they had some trust in our parents who are more aged, gray and wrinkled than Mr. Muthalik probably is. We have gone to good schools where our teachers have taught us to be culturally and morally responsible citizens but only if Mr. Muthalik had some faith in the Indian education system. Our constitution has given us some basic rights irrespective of our gender but only if Mr. Muthalik had some faith in the leadership of our country and in the country’s constitution.

My question is why do we even need to hold on to traditions? I mean it is good to know the tradition of one’s ethnicity but not every tradition is practical these days.  There are things which are good to know but may not be good enough to be followed anymore.  And if you still want to pass these on  in the name of “Culture” then Cricket, Hockey, Football also is western, we should ban these sports too and patronize Gilli Danda, we should stop Modern Medical Science and stick to Ayurveda, stop all institutions of Modern Technology and Modern Education because they are not a part of Indian Culture. We should stop widow remarriages and open more ashrams for widows where they can lead an ugly life of white saree, shaved head and plain, bland food. After all that’s what we have been practicing till today in Benaras. We should revive Devdasi culture, we should also reintroduce Sati and child marriage should be made legal. They all have been part of our glorified Culture at one point of time. Why just target few things? Let there be a revolution of Indian Culture.

And why just target girls in jeans, let’s all discard men’s underwear and get back to good old days of langoti. I am sure your Ram Seniks would feel more comfortable in langotis. Lets’ go back to the days of bullock carts because cars and automobiles are also western, cell phones are western, computers are western too.

 What culture are we talking about when we talk about Indian Culture,?  India has been a land where different cultures have amalgamated from time immemorial. Harappa and Mohenjodaro was also our culture, the culture of Mughals and British had also influenced our culture, Mauryan culture, where women did not even wear a blouse, was also our culture, the naked Indian aboriginals, who still exist in many parts of India, are also our culture. Gandharva vivah, Kamasutra, Swayamvar, endogenous marriage all have been a part of our Indian culture. So which part of the culture are we so forcefully trying to impose?

Now I know how much difficult it must have been for a Dayanand Saraswati or a Raja Ram Mohan Roy to go against the so called Muthaliks of their times yet they won and did a great favor to all of us. I wish if Karnataka’s CM could show at least 5 percent of the guts these great men had and do something about Ram Sene and Muthalik.  The appeal is not favor of going to pubs or celebrate Valentines day. The appeal is to make sure that every citizen feels safe, can wear anything they want, can go anywhere they want.  We don’t need people to preach us on Morality.  Morality to these moral brigades is a synonym for Sex; Immorality means a lot of Sex and Moral means the absence of it before and after procreation.  These are people are as confused with the concept of Indian Culture as they are with the definition of morality.

What we need is leaders, mentors and social reformers who will make sure that today’s youth does not get involved in substance abuse, gets a good education and learns to respect every individual, every living being and the environment. We need leaders who we can look up to and not feel scared and run away.  That’s what we need.

This 14th Feb would be a great day to declare a day of  free hugs where everyone will hug each other and carry placards saying, “Public Display of Violence is against Indian Culture.”

Life’s Forgotten Lessons

What happened this morning was very trivial but it made me think something very important that I was taught as a child and probably had forgotten.

 

In the morning rush hour when I was frantically getting ready, my 2 dogs in their usual style were continuously fiddling with my things. Pondi was busy chewing my quilt and Alleppey was busy sniffing around the side table where I keep my phone, books and bottles. With her continuous inquisitive investigation of the table I knew she was soon going to drop something from the table and “thud!” goes my expensive phone. Luckily nothing happened to my phone but in that sudden impulse I called her a “stupid dog”. Hurt, she left the room but in that moment I realized that for her the expensive phone is just another plastic toy.

 

No matter how many thousands of rupees we must have spent on our furniture, music systems, other valuables, at the end of the day they hold no value to them. They are just there for them to sit and chew and break. What really matters to them is “us”. They adore us, we are their mom and dad. Every evening they wait for us to come home to play with them, every night they need to be wished goodnight with a kiss on their wet noses else they would keep whining the whole night. Every morning they need to come rushing to our bed to give us our 1st morning lick and these are the things which hold utmost importance in their lives.

 

As a child I also learnt the value of family, friends and love and how to cherish them. But as I grew up and got busy with my job and pay cheque, inflation and grocery bills somehow my expensive cell phone took priority over my life rather than the phone calls from loved ones for which I have the phone in the 1st place. I say this because I sometimes don’t even bother to answer my phone when I don’t feel like talking but if I leave my phone at home by mistake I would probably go all the way back to my home to pick it up. As if I were really bothered about the missed calls. I mean who am I fooling.

 

As a soon to be mother I need to remember the value of human emotions because that is what I would want my child to remember too. These little nuances of life like what happened today morning teach you so many forgotten things. Like our dogs teach us everyday how important we are to them than any other thing in the living room.

Fear and Gender

 

 

Vinayak has been very busy with his work as a curator for a photo exhibition on Fear and Gender at 1 Shanti Road in collaboration with Shrishti School of Design. Endless discussions with him over our morning cup of tea opened my eyes to views of so many men I hang out with or men I see all around me. Opinions like a girl in jeans can’t be taken home, a respectable girl should not go to a pub, essentially a local wine shop which is frequented by men from all sections of society.

The objective of this event was to showcase and create awareness about places which are off limit to women because there is a fear element attached to it. Places like deserted roads, alleys, paan shops, wine shops, meat shops, places where women in particular will not feel safe.

This event is on till 2nd Feb at 1 Shanti Road, Bangalore and I happened to go there yesterday. What really caught my attention were these strips of fabric on which comments from the “aam janta” were scribbled and to which some paper pieces with drawings also hung. The scribbles were hilarious to apathetic. 1 read, “Aurat itni sundar hai ki uski izzat nahi kar sakte hai.” “Women are so pretty that one cant respect them.” For most men the idea of an ideal woman was their mother and then I quipped, “if all women became mother figures would there be no rapes any more?”  I guess the answer will still be “NO” . There would still be rapes because rape, molestation is not where lust leads you to.  Rape is a sport for thrill and vengeance seekers. Its like a hunting sport where you hunt a tiger for thrill and machismo and not for its meat.

Anyway, coming back to the event, as I was talking about the scribbles; most of which were written by men who we see everyday. According to them they were ok with a saree clad woman but they can’t bring a girl home who wore a jeans, another one read, “they would want to teach lessons to woman who disrespect the culture”. Now this brings me to another question, “What is culture?” I read in my days of learning Sociology that culture includes everything that surrounds a human, from the food he eats to the electronic gadgets that he uses. But I guess for most of us culture is synonymous to Morality. Makeup, western clothes, freedom of choice and movement perhaps are all immoral acts that is why the Mangalore incident happened and will keep happening. I don’t know if men feel threatened when they see girls moving about freely without fearing their presence. Most of the Indian men have been accused of sexual deprivation which is why their sexual maturity is that of an adolescent. But the question is why is it such a taboo. On one hand we talk about mother being the ideal woman for most men and on the other hand they cant keep their eyes off a girl who is skimpily dressed. Its like they dream of biting into a succulent chicken leg while they are chewing a drumstick in their sambhar.

I guess fear is a means to control. Fear of being raped, being groped, fear of being called a bad woman are all tools to make sure that woman remain in the confines of what is accepted by the social norms as set by people to suit their convenience.

Vinayak suggested that more interventions are needed at these off limit places so that girl don’t fear these places anymore. My take is; girls should start frequenting all such so called No No places so that men become used to seeing them everywhere. Getting used to something acts as a great immune booster. Its like homeopathy treatment. Use the same poison to kill the poison.
The above painting was made by me as my interpretation of this concept of Fear and Gender. The painting is semi abstract and metaphorical in nature. Acrylic on Canvas. With a woman’s womb on the left and a man’s penis on the right with fangs all ready to bite. There are hands all over which are like the people of the social realm that we live in.  I have used different colours on the hand to show different classes of people. The black outline is a symbol of the strong demarcation that society has, the clear rules of do’s and don’ts. The eyes on the hand all facing the woman are like vigilant moral policing to make sure women don’t deviate from their set path. The snake and the apples are like biblical interpretation of the same idea. Religion also plays its role in making sure woman are made to follow rules. It is blamed on the woman to lure the man with the apple but I feel the apples which I have depicted as breast would have lured men nevertheless because a woman does not need to lure a man with anything she is born with it. To be blamed for every wrong that a man does to her.

J.L.T.

Sometimes in life strange things happen and you can not actually do anything about it. There are times when everything appears to be normal and then suddenly you realize that things are not the same anymore as they used to be.  You feel confused and interrogate yourself and try to pacify yourself by saying that you are simply being paranoid and your fears are baseless. You blame it on your emotional hyperactivity because as a woman your hormones take a toll on you most of your time and life. You justify your acts and dismiss your feelings as baseless fears. But then you keep meeting with those events in life which re-establishes your fear.

 

I am at a stage right now where something does not feel right. I have this very bad and strong vibe about something going terribly wrong and all I can do is wish that my fears are baseless.

 

Is it normal at this point in time, I don’t know but who ever knows about it also is of the opinion that things don’t look so normal as they should have been.

 

You feel hurt the most when the person closest to you hurt you and you can’t do anything about it. You sulk, you brood and try to re-think why did this happen. No amount of apology works then. You decide to keep a check so that you are relived but then you realize that all roads are blocked and there’s no way you can keep a check but to trust when your trust is shaken.

 

 

26-Nov-08-Mumbai-India-21:40 IST and on…

I am deeply saddened by the state of things which Mumbai is going through rather my country is going through.

While we slept on our cozy beds, more than 100 people died, about 350 injured and so many are still held hostage.

The commandoes and paramilitary forces are fighting non stop for 36 hours now to save all that is there and counter the terrorists and to add to their burden, PM, Sonia Gandhi, Advani and Narendra Modi who can not move around without a Z security, have planned a visit to the city. What are they trying to prove I simply fail to understand but one thing that we all know is that they are going to add to the pressure of the local police who are already burdened and now they will have  to make sure that the asses of these politicians are safe while they visit Mumbai.

Another person who is missing from the scene is Mr. Raj Thackery. I wonder where are his troops this time when HIS Mumbai is burning and the Marathi manoos needs to be saved. I wonder if the Mumbai police and the commandoes, many of whom are from the north are selectively saving the Marathas and letting the north Indian hostages perish.

Thank fully Shiv Sena did not call for a Mumbai Bandh  against ATS in support of a suspected terrorist Madam Pragya  because it would have back fired at time of up coming elections. In fact they should now never call for a bandh against ATS after what ATS has done to counter terrorism but only if they have some prudence left inside their thick brains and hollow skulls.

Reports says that the terrorists must have come via sea route in a boat and then dispersed in smaller groups to carry out the attacks. The boat has come from the Pakistani waters. Is it an intelligence failure? May be it is as we failed to learn our lessons from the recent Marriot Hotel case in Pakistan and a similar modes operandi at the time of Akshardham Carnage or the Parliament Attack.

This time I don’t want to see the spirit of Mumbai where people fail to retaliate and limp back to their daily lives which is limited to earning 2 square meals a day. This time I want everyone to take this head on and not glorify the spirit of Mumbai because we don’t need spirit no more what we need is aggressive methodologies to deal with such crisis.

I say NO to getting used to “Terrorism”  like we have got used to our political system, the poverty, the illiteracy, the regionalism, the communalism, the language debates, the deaths and the population explosion.