Tag: India

Intolerance

I was watching a video podcast by Kunal Kamra about intolerance and the topics discussed were really eye-opening and made me think about some problems I have witnessed personally. So here it goes:

For a very long time, I have been apolitical. But no more.

We Indians have been proud for generations about being tolerant. But no more.

Its time to end the intolerancy being practiced by certain factions.

Its time to end the passivity about how we consume news.

This is yet another calm minded person losing it because he has seen enough.

The problem

Although there are various things that are wrong and can be made tolerable by slightest actions, I am going to talk about one.

The mob mentality that is taking us back to decades in terms of development and education levels.

mob intolerance
Image Credit: Sumaiya

It is no less dangerous as a person shouting against our country. A mob could be a cause and effect of it.

A mob has no mind, they work as a zombie that wants to break anything that comes infront of it. You & I are not safe when a mob breaks out. I need to go no farther than the person who got lynched by a mob, hired to raise awareness against the same mob mentality.

Why you should care?

There have been countless cases where mobs have lynched a wrong person that I don’t even need to go there.

Consider for a moment, you are standing in a big crowd in a state fair. You want to cross the road, but it is so overwhelming that you need to cut across of them if you want to reach to the other side. You wait for some time to find an opening to go through, but you find none, since it’s not a disciplined car stack. So, you decide to randomly cut across the crowd as you are out of patience. You put your hands ahead to cut the crowd and make your way forward. Suddenly, a man, who presumes that you are a molestor trying to get a feel of his wife, stops you. He gets hold of you and starts creating a scene and shouting about you being a sexual predator. You are alone and you do not have any defense, since it’s a gray area and balance can shift any way.

There could be a sensible person who may turn the tide in your favour, but there is this other horrendous possibility that there could be a person strong enough to incite a mob against you and get you beaten up. Your heart is racing, since it could go either way and put a huge dent on your personality forever. You say a few things in your defense but that doesn’t budge anything in your favour. The people watching have a choice to make now. They can get all the frustration collected inside of them and pour it on you, or they can let you go. You are totally on their mercy. You could be labelled all sorts of things that can stay with you for your whole life. Do you feel me? Isn’t that a situation that you wouldn’t never want to have a first hand experience.

I was in such a situation years back and it still is most haunting situation I have ever been in. I was lucky and I am really thankful to that crowd who gave me a chance and left me unscathed. But really I had no control over the situation.

If you felt the situation, you should also fear the on-growing count of such cases in the last few months, be it in the name of cow-killing, or child-trafficking, or rape-accusations. The trend is dangerous and deserves the same levels of sympathy as one would give to a rape victim.

Its really frightening to know one maniac person has the capability to incite a mob, using morphing these days and that should make us shudder since any of us can become a victim quite easily.

The other side

And this doesn’t go only for physical mobs, an online mob, a mob of haters can have a devastating effect as well. Take for example the cases of Kanhaiya Kumar and Sunil Kumar, a BJP MLA(just search Google with the term ‘sunil kumar bjp god’). Kanhaiya Kumar was hounded after the news broke out. But what happened with Sunil Kumar. There are two things that I found wrong:

  1. The obvious one, the contrast between actions taken against their quite seemingly similar impacting words.
  2. While researching about it, there was no news about what happened after the FIR was lodged against Sunil Kumar. I couldn’t find any news regarding this after it was reported about an FIR against him on Jan 24, 2018. Probably getting justice was too boring in the view of our vibrant media to report.

Now, Kanhaiya and Umar Khalid still are recipients of hate speech(online and offline) and the mob mentality that has already colored them as anti-nationals. They didn’t get a proper platform to discuss and remedy this, and might not lead a normal life now. I would include a link to the video where they do get to voice their opinions and you would realize how quickly there were judged by our online mob. Even if they were wrong, we judged them so quickly that chances of getting rid of that blot is seemingly impossible now.

The impact of online mob is as dangerous as a physical mob. The mob shielded behind social networking layers do penetrate the moral shell and can make or break society as well.

Aftermath

I really respect our Prime Minister for the positive policies that have been introduced in his term, but dear Prime Minister, we don’t need a mandir, when mandirs are nothing but a business place these days.

We don’t need a mandir, when our mann is not in our control and being controlled by whatsapp forwards.

We need a system that can incite fear in people so that they don’t join a mob just for fun.

A system where their actions being part of crowd are not condoned. The gau-rakshak team mostly made up of RSS factions, have no part in society and their fatal actions have resulted in a lot of fear. Government need to curb such self-righteous groups.

From our end, as citizens and netizens, we should be really discrete and mindful of what we are sharing online. Now that we have proof that social networks can be used to influence people’s behaviours, the height of which is individuals/parties winning elections.

Educating the person serving such forwards about what possible impact that news can have if its a fake one. People need to understand the fear of being on the receiving end of a mob. Then only we can expect a change for the better.

References:

 Interview with Kanhaiya and Umar Khalid.

 

MicroTale #32 : Subtlety

The Prestige

It is the next best thing, for the Champ of the Champs,
For those who bear through it all, bruises or cramps…
8 teams on offer, all set to fight,
For the coveted trophy, to a Fan’s delight !

The surreal English conditions, its picturesque grounds,
And excitement in the country doing its rounds…
Divided into groups of four, the hosts started well,
The others started in a mixed fashion as one could tell !

As the knockouts came closer, getting each point counted,
To reach the semi finals, the pressure surely mounted…
Rain played spoilsport, made the mighty Aussies fold,
And the Bangladeshis stunned the Kiwis, a chase worth gold !

India on the other hand, was in a do-or-die,
Against the mighty Proteas, it took more than just try,
However victory came India’s way coz it’s a born fighter,
And Pakistan trumped the Lankans in a nail-biter !

The semis came and the Asian giants were too hot to handle,
The Bangladeshi Tigers and English Lions did they easily dismantle…
And now as we stand, pitted against arch-rival,
It’s India vs Pakistan for one dream final !!

#ChampionsTrophy2017

A Pensieve in a Muggle world

It’s always a good time to give up your general indifference, get rid of recklessness in the name of independence and start feeling a little responsible once in a while. That said, you can only learn to be responsible towards others once you can solely and wholly feel responsible towards your own actions, accountable for your life decisions and answerable to your ever-confronting self doubts. While you can always benefit through your professional engagements to achieve this, there’s another non-methodical, relatively deeper plunge that you can dare to take. Travel .Travel across boundaries and horizons and languages and cultures.

The deal kicks off with the planning itself. You are already levelling up in your responsibility-meter as you chalk out an entire roadmap for the trip, book tickets and hotel rooms at the best price, pack in necessary medications for emergencies, prepare a checklist for all the cuisines to try and work out a line-up of all the locations sequentially. If you are doing this in your early twenties, do it more often. If you’re doing this in your mid or late-twenties, you are already running late. In hindsight, you’ll realize that you could have certainly started earlier.

Image Credit: Sumaiya

All things said and done, now you have taken charge. The dates are finalized, the place is fixed and your leave has been granted as well. But then there’s the glitch. To balance out anticipation, there must be a glitch. Do you have friends who get cold feet at the last moment? Too many rain-checks all of a sudden? Or colleagues whose schedules turn super busy as the time for booking the tickets approaches? Or family that takes up the longest time to make up their minds? And amidst all of this, you have to cancel out on your plan and on yourself? Don’t.

Here’s the amendment : Travel Solo.

The thought of travelling alone morphed with the society’s forced categorization of unsafe places, a ‘proper’ age, the weaker sex and much more can be a little daunting initially but it has everything to give you the much needed push that you otherwise lack from sitting in your cubicle. You get to run your own show here. Want to go hiking? Go for it. Want to do Bungee jumping? Do it. It’s on you whether you want to cut some slack on your expenses or you want a satisfying budget trip. You can take take any number of detours, stop by as many halts as you want, wake up as early as you wish and start with the day. The perk of travelling alone is that you get to change your mind and your plan innumerable times without driving anyone crazy. Revel in this freedom. Always carry a book, a good playlist and lots of snacks to nibble on if you ever feel lonely. Run into familiar inhibitions in unfamiliar people and learn that you aren’t the only one fighting. Document your journey with good photography instead of check-ins. Avoid social media and phone calls except notifying your extremely anxious mom and terribly worked-up dad about your whereabouts from time to time. When you are on your own, you will realize that being responsible becomes liberating in itself.

Allow newer establishments to teach you about older civilizations. Pick up words from the local language, strike up conversations with strangers. Search for the place’s culinary identity, do your taste buds a little favour. Inform yourself about the rooted prejudices of the place. Find out how the system along with its people are trying to curb it. Travelling alone is one of the finest ways to increase your resourcefulness. Don’t think of it as a trip. Think of it as a process to grow independently.

If you’re in love, take the distance to see how far love travels and allow that to make powerful revelations to you. If you are heartbroken, let travelling help you find some respite and maybe, even closure with time. Now, if you are single and lucky, you might come across a little holiday romance too. If you are very lucky, it might materialize into something serious but the odds are very low and there’s a reason why it should be. The prospect of meeting new people, preferably among the likes of Juan Antonio, while travelling is always thrilling and you might even be swept off your feet by a sexy accent or a heavy voice but that is no prerequisite of love and by the time you realize that, it’s already late. So be seduced by it, just don’t fall for it. Use travelling to let go of your baggage, not take in some more. Try to strike a balance between your vulnerability and self-preservation during the trip. Know whom to let in. Know where to stop. If you don’t want anything rash, travel solo and eventually learn to say ‘No’. Take care of yourself in new cities at nights. Do a lot of bar-hopping but be watchful of your drinks. Keep an eye on your valuables. Your responsibility-meter is beaming right now.

Scream your lungs out at the top of a quiet hill. Seek solace at the heart of a new city. Travel alone to lose yourself once. Travel alone and find yourself again.

It’s always a good time to start. Travelling helps you do real-time adulting without the pointless philosophizing part. Give your mundane day a little structure and your frayed life a little hope. While you are coming out of a pub and captioning the night(that you are possibly not going to remember the next morning post-hangover) as #YOLO, there are people with their backpacks on who are literally making the most out of it. No trip is ephemeral on its memory count. You get to decide the ones you will bring back home. Keep a diary, upload the videos, make a scrapbook, start a travel blog. Do things to make sure your time-stamped photos live on forever and not just digitally. Get in there to share your experiences with people who will never be able to afford a trip . Make yourself heard. Write a book. Release your stories out. Let the universe create a cosmic ‘Pensieve‘ for you and others to have a full retrospect of the beautiful life you crafted out of small paychecks and larger than life goals.

Mumbai Diaries – Part 6(The One with the sisters)

Akriti and her sister were sitting on the couch, overlooking the rains through the windows.

A few moments before, they had this huge fight, over a phone call. Sukriti had informed Akriti about a phone call from a guy.

“I should never have taught you about changing voice on call in mobile phone.”, Akriti, still angry on her sister.

“But what difference does it make, you get calls like that every other day. Why is it any different.” Asked Sukriti.

That question left Akriti wondering for a bit. All her life, she had been avoiding getting close to anybody, because of her commitment issues and she should have been thankful to her sister.

But here she was, rebuking her sister. ‘Attraction works in mysterious ways’ she thought and proceeded to let go her anger or whatever it was.

Taking cue from her body language, Sukriti broke the ice.
“Do you know our college dance group is performing in a college fest, and I joined as well”, she informed Akriti.

“Ohh good, what are you performing on?” asked Akriti.

“We are depicting 8 songs on 8 different emotions with 8 different songs in 8 different languages.”

“Ohh thats….nice. Tell me one thing, does it also suck in 8 different ways?” Akriti joked.

“You wouldn’t even be able to do one step from it. You need flexible muscles for that”

“Atleast my funny bone will tickle while watching your dance.” said Akriti sarcasticly to end the topic so that she can talk about what she had in mind.

“Listen, the guy that you talked to; his name is Atush. Last week, he came into the video parlour to play Laser tag and…”

“What is that?” Sukriti said interrupting her.

“What is what?”

“Lasertag”

“You should really care atleast a little about what I do. It’s a game played among 2 teams, they each have a gun and they have to shoot their opponents to collect points”, Akriti explained.

“Okay got it….move ahead!” Sukriti said getting interested.

“So he has been my closest competitor so far, I thought I would lose to him, but somehow I won.”, continued.

“You are talking like you have never lost a game.”

“No, I haven’t and that is why I like my job”

“Don’t you think you are too obsessed with gaming? I am surprised you didn’t start to play that Pokemon Go game.”

“I would play it, but then I would have to go retard first. But anyways, I am not obsessed that much about gaming. I just like them a normal amount.”

“Oh yeah? Last night you were chanting ‘Go Go Go’ while you were asleep”

“Wow, that was a nice dream, I killed so many counter terrorists in my favourite map De Dust2.”

“Uff! Sometimes, I feel like I live with a boy.”

“I know you wish it sissy, but that is not happening in my flat.”

Sukriti shifts a little uncomfortably. But continues fighting with her.

“What’s wrong in bringing friends over?”

“Sissy, I fought with Papa to get you out of our small city, so that you can make a life here in Mumbai, and not ‘make a life’ here in Mumbai” Akriti joked.

“I love him, but I am not stupid. And I told you hundred times, that these talks make me uncomfortable.”

“Yes and that is why you can go live-in with ‘Whats his name’, but just don’t bring him in here. It creeps me out as well.” Akriti replied.

“His name is Rohan and yes, let me get a job and I will move out soon.” Sukriti said decidedly.

Both looked each other in the eye. They had nothing but respect for each other.

 

Karan’s place

Karan was playing FIFA in his laptop, when the phone rang. It was his dad. Karan immediately paused the game and started thinking about all the bad things he had done in the last week, that could come back to haunt him.

Surprisingly, we found nothing. So, he turned his thoughts to some bad news. After contemplating a lot, he heard from a distant corner of his brain, ‘Dude, it’s just Dad’s monthly call. Pick up!’

He picked up the phone.

“Hey! Hello Dad!” Karan started first.

“Hello Beta! How are you?”

“I am fine, dad! How about you?”

“I am also good. So, what’s new?”

“Nothing much!”

“Hmm…okay”

“What’s new in our city?”

“Well, nothing much. Same old things in same old city.”

“…”

“…”

Awkward silence was reaching its height, when a silver lining came to Karan.

“What is mom doing?”, Karan leapt for it.

“Yeah, mom is right here. Wait! Let me give her the phone.”, Dad also breathed a sigh of relief. He gave the phone to mom and went to see the TV.

“Haan beta, How are you?.”

“I am good mom. I was just playing football in my laptop.”

“Still playing games. Should’t you be studying for CAT exams?” she asked.

“Oh mom! I am not a kid anymore. I know my priorities.”

“Yeah that’s true, now you have a job, you don’t need to listen to your mom.”

“Emotional blackmail? That came very early today in our conversation. Tell me what happened.”

“Nothing.”

“Mom”

“We found a girl for you.” Mom said happily.

“No No No” Karan managed to say, before getting in shock; a shock that every child has to go through once in his lifetime, at some stage.

To Be Continued…

Click Here for the next part.

 

 

 

 

Mumbai Diaries – Part 5(The One where Nauman can’t talk)

“Are you using the m-indicator app that I provided, while travelling around Mumbai.” Nauman asked Jaya.
“Why would I roam around Mumbai? I hate travelling….” Jaya replied.
Jaya and Nauman met for a coffee date. The rains were expected in a few days and as always happened, every Mumbaikar was pretty excited about the coming rains. The rains brought with it, the comfort and relief, and accompanied by sun dresses, it was the most awaited event after the scorching summers.
This was the time when Mumbaikars, took time off and went on weekend trips to nearby locations. Some went to Lonavla, some to Matheran, some to Mahabaleshwar, while some planned and planned and eventually failed, cursing their group.
“….I just love to spend my weekends reading and cuddling my bed.” Jaya continued.
“Wow, you are a weirdo, stuck in a city like Mumbai”
“I don’t see it that way. Anyways do you know we have a place in Pune called Bhosari. I heard a joke about it, but couldn’t understand it.”
Nauman listened to the joke wide eyed, and he knew he had to change the topic.
“Hah, you don’t need to go far for silly names. Have you ever heard of Chembur?”
“Yeah, I hear about Chembur and my mind goes straight to Harry Potter and Chembur of secrets.”
“Harry Potter….more like the boy who was born in Mumbai. What would the first part be? Harry Potter and Santracruz to Sion?
“Lame.”
“I have a good one for Order of Phoenix…..Harry Potter and Order from Panvel.” Jaya continued.
“How about ‘Patient of Alzheimer’s’ for ‘Prisoner of Azkaban’?”
“That will work” Jaya said a little more awkwardly than she always does.
“What about ‘Goblet of Fire’?”
“It should be ‘Ghatkopar ki aag’?”
“This looks even lamer than RGV ki aag.”
“Haha, it certainly is.”
“Wow, this is awesome. We just made the whole franchise Mumbai based. They should put our conversation in the textbooks of Marathi children. They will learn about their city.”
 
“Give me credit as well, when producers line up at your doorstep.”
“Haha…sure. Anyways I should leave now, as I have an important meeting after this.”
Nauman was going to meet Gaurav to talk about the situation. Neither Gaurav nor Jaya was aware of the special situation that was brewing between them. Day after day, the guilt was getting heavy to carry for Nauman and so he had decided to talk with Gaurav first.
(1.5 hours and 2 local travels later)
 
Gaurav’s home
 
Gaurav was sitting at his home when Nauman comes in.
Nauman sits beside Gaurav somewhat awkwardly.
Gaurav was thinking something before Nauman had rang the doorbell. He tried recollecting but couldn’t.
Nauman knew that nobody would be there at home, so he thought it was good opportunity to talk to Gaurav. Though Gaurav was a localite of Mumbai, he used to live in a rented house, so as to be closer to workplace. It was a pretty common thing in Mumbai, for youngsters to live closer to workplace, for the obvious reasons, plus this also gave them the independence to enjoy night life of Mumbai.
“Bro, I need to talk to you” started Nauman.
“Yeah tell me.”
“Have you ever felt something inside you burning and you have to get it out before it eats you alive?”
Gaurav suddenly remembers what he was thinking.
“Oh yes, what a great coincidence. I was also thinking of similar lines before you came in.”
“Eh?”
“Yeah, you know you feel like that when you are about to puke”
“No I didn’t mean it like that. I mean…like when you have something to say but you don’t how to say”
“Are you in love bro? Because that shit happens only when this kind of shit happens”
“Kind of! Not exactly love…”
“Wow that will work as well. What a great coincidence, I was thinking for a reason to party, and now we have one.”
“You don’t understand what I am going through”
“We are gonna have whiskey today”
“Its such a big fear that is eating up my brain.”
“No beers today, only whiskeys.”
“I can’t seem to understand whether should I tell you or not?”
“Why tell me, go tell her. You know what I have been struggling with my drinking problem too much now. You don’t see me crying about it.”
“This is serious dude. This concerns you as well.”
“I am pretty sure you are concerned for me, but leaving it altogether is not a solution I fancy.”
Nauman understood that nothing is going to work today. So he decided to just roll with the flow.
“Yeah bro, we are concerned, please find something or someone worth leaving this hobby for. I would suggest Breezer, but looking at your current status, I think you would finish the drink along with the bottle.”
“I might.”
“Anyways, I should leave now. Thanks for the talk.” Nauman said sarcastically.
“Anytime mate!”, said Gaurav raising his bottle.
Nauman starts to leave, when Gaurav remembers something and calls Nauman.
“Do you know my sister?”
Nauman freezes to death. It was as if Gaurav was waiting for all the conversation to finish so that he can ask this question.

To Be Continued…

Click Here for the next part.
 

 

Mumbai Diaries – Part 4(The One in the Office)

Nauman and Gaurav walked into the office to see Karan and Atush already taking coffee in the pantry area.

“Dude, I told you to wait for us”, Gaurav complained.

“Sorry bro, I have a call to attend, so had to rush early.” Atush explained.

“And you?” Nauman asked pointing to Karan.

“Nothing, I have a KT call to attend to, so that means I am free as a bird. I will join you too. Grab your mugs.” Karan replied winking.

“So, you are not liking your new project?”, Gaurav inquired.

“I must say its incredibly boring. I feel like starting MBA preparations again.”

“Well, as they say, ‘Life is what happens, when you are busy making plans’, I think instead of thinking, you better start doing something.” Gaurav said.

Karan folds his hands in a praying motion. “Please spare me the lecture, and go get your mugs”

Nauman and Gaurav went to get their mugs. Atush also joins them to attend his call. Nauman and Gaurav worked in the same project. While Atush was gaining momentum in his projects working on proposals, Karan had recently joined this office and project. He was taking knowledge transfer(KT) sessions from individuals in his projects to familiarize himself with the work.

Karan started thinking about what Gaurav had said and started searching for inspirations in his mind. A lot of people came; Gates, Jobs, Elon etc. He had to stop his chain of thoughts when Mia also came to his mind.

Meanwhile, Nauman and Gaurav came back.

Then they saw Atush coming with his coffee mug again. Apparently his call got cancelled due to a mild earthquake in Kolkata region. The recurring earthquakes in east India, were making Atush’s life difficult as the workload came to him in absence of the kolkata team. But this time, it returned to give Atush some much needed relief, that heightened his mood.

“Dude, I just saw two HR arm-wrestling over a holiday home.” Atush came running into the pantry area.

“What? Seriously?”, everyone asked puzzled.

“Nah re, just kidding. They were beat-boxing.”

“Oh please shut up and lets talk about something real.” Nauman said.

“Like?” Atush asked.

“Like” said Karan still thinking, “Did you call Akriti yet?”

“No bro, I don’t want to seem so eager. You all saw how different she is. I won’t be doing any standard thing here”

“This is why you should call her soon. Waiting for 3 days to call is the stereotype these days”

“But I don’t want to look needy.”

“Okay, making whole office think you and boss are a Romeo and Romero OR shattering those rumours by calling the girl?”

“I better call her.” He proceeds to dial her number. “By the way, Romero? Really? Is that all you could think of?”

“Go get your gamer Juliet, who kicks your ass.” Nauman was nearly shouting as Atush moves to a more private place to call.

Gaurav turns to Karan
“So, when is your MBA truck moving from thinking stage to doing stage?”

“The driver of the truck has abandoned the truck because of bad

Image Courtesy: Google Images

road conditions.”

“Don’t worry dude, ache din are coming. Your roads would be fine soon”

“Abe what can Modi do, when the truck is shit and….” Karan had to stop as Atush had returned.

He looked distraught and consternated.

Everyone asked him what had happened.

“Some boy answered the phone and said the number doesn’t belong to any Akriti.”

To Be Continued…

Click Here for the next part.