The online saree war

After a whole decade or more, we have finally got a year that is unique and unprecedented. The last one might have been when India got its Independence in 1947 or helped Bangladesh get theirs in 1971. Sorry, I forgot the year 1999 when the Kargil war was fought. True that we have lost thousands of lives but never ever had any year been capable of bringing all the nations down on their knees, fight a war collectively, be empathetic towards its people and still hope for a miracle that everything will be ok soon.

While India is slowly going back to normalcy by keeping aside the monstrous virus and busy solving Bollywood conspiracies, I stumbled upon a very amusing online war which is quite similar to the Mahabharata plot of Draupadi's vastra haran.

A so-called Bengali celebrity(not too much of a celeb status) recently opened up her Facebook page of some curated world-class (as claimed by her) sarees with prices that clearly denotes her clientele can be anything but lower and middle class. And since her clients are fewer in numbers she started screaming out to others when they copy her designs and sell the same saree some thousand bucks lesser. She was rude enough to point out that since she is so creative she can think of designs like anything and the other boutiques will have to sit and think what to print. She doesnt like people texting her with "Pp" . Come on don't u have anything else to do other than only asking for the saree price? If u can't afford why ask? And mind your English, please. If you write wrong spellings that means u r not qualified enough to be her client. Day in and day out she would post pictures claiming which stores have copied her masterpieces and try to expose them only to be heavily trolled. 

The latest was the one where she shared which quality of tussar silk is original and how the shops sell low-quality fake tussar whose price never goes beyond 5000. I find the entire episodes very interesting to the fact that people do come up and raise their voice against her. The only time I supported trolling when I saw her rudely accusing people and putting them down for their status. The boutiques were adamant enough to nullify all her claims and openly challenge her. And the followers of her page were open enough to point out how rude she is and how she is using negative publicity to sell her goods. But wait there are so-called Bhakts too who would support her and the moment she threatens to close her shop do these bhakts appear. 

Social media has given us the liberty of being a hypocrite as and when we like. Most of them silently enjoy the entire war but at the same time mind their own business. Now how does it feel to be trolled? Why is a person so defiant that he/she can go to any extent to put others down? If your work is genuine u might not fall short of serious buyers. But again in this cut-throat competitive world, negative publicities do help.

Word and its power

On a fine morning as I was getting ready for going to office there arose a heated argument with a family member. It was over trivial things which later got sorted but left a scar behind. It had such deep an impact that even today as I remember them, a droplet of tear appears at the corner of my eye.

In the workplace when I get dumb people to supervise who dont understand even after repeated discussions , my angry words brought disappointment and tears to atleast 2 humble beings who were humble enough to cry and admit in front of me. But I said nothing personal. I was strict, maybe rude. That kept me wondering could I have handled it with some empathy? Now when you have a work to be done and all you get are dumb fools do you really care for empathy? May be I could have but at that moment I did not.

But then what is the difference between me and my relative? Both were rude. Both said things which hurt. But what was that hurt more? An opportunity to improve or a baseless statement made at your character without knowing you fully? A flaw pointed out and asked to be worked upon or simply branded as something which is far from truth.

The more irritating are those who out of nowhere disturb your inner peace by blurting out some sarcasm which they should have saved for later. 

Can we for a second stop and analyze how would we have felt had we been on the receiver’s side? What defines mannerism, polishness, politeness, well behaved, well educated? A grocery seller sells much more than his competitors just by behaving fantastically. A real estate agent sells more house than others just by his good behavior, gesture, empathy and most important choice of right words. A lot more examples can be cited. But my point remains the same. Choose the right words. Even if it is to rebuke someone stick only to the flaw and don’t go to the character. Words cut deeper than swords. And they leave marks. People might not remain but their words will. And just like an arrow sentences spoken with utmost rudeness can never be taken back no matter how much you apologize later.

An Independent Interview

The doorbell rang at sharp 8:00 am. The maid opened the door. 

"We are from AzadIndia TV channel. We have an apointment with Ms Aparna today" said a guy in early thirties wearing a light blue formal shirt and black trouser and a dark blue tie with an Indian badge . 

"Yes,please come in, I will inform Mam",the maid replied.

After about an hour the guy was sitting in the drawing room with a lady in her mid thirties wearing a white salwar kameez with blue dupatta.

The camera rolled and they went live.

"Hello everyone, good morning, this is Akash Srivastava reporting from AzadIndia TV. Today we are celebrating Indian Independence with the national award winning film director Ms Aparna Basu.

So Ms Basu how are you feeling right now after winning the national award?
Aparna: I am feeling more confident than ever.

Akash: What is the response from the team with whom you worked?
Aparna: Well this is a victory for all and not me alone. We work together and hence its our victory.

Akash: Ms Basu as India celebrates her 72nd Independence how would you motivate our viewers?
Aparna: Let me start by asking you a question Akash. Do you know who wrote the song "Saare Jahan se accha"?

Akash looked a little puzzled.  He scratched his head but couldnt get the answer. Smart as he is he replied wittily I dont remember that right now but I can sing the song if u ask.

Aparna smiled and continued : You see we have been independent since 71 years yet every year the media goes around the streets and colleges highlighting people who knows little about our history. We consider us to be free but are more happy to ridicule a person whose knowledge may be insufficient in terms of Indian history. 

I will tell you a story. I hail from a very proud Bengali family and my forefathers were involved in freedom movements.  While I was a fresher studying in the 1st year of my college some journalists came and asked us to sit for a quiz contest about India. I reluctantly sat and was handed a question paper and answer sheet. One of the questions asked "Who wrote Vande Mataram and Sare Jahan se Accha?" Being very young I did not recollect the names at that point of time. I was confused between Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. I will tell you at that time I haven't read much of their literary works . So even though I had some idea about Vande Mataram I had absolutely no clue who wrote Sare Jahan se accha. I reluctantly wrote Jawaharlal Nehru. Winning quiz competitions were not one of my likings. And similarly there were few more questions which I answered absolutely incorrect.

The next day I featured in a supplement of an English daily as the results were declared. I featured among the Top Losers. That day was 15th August and my parents scolded me like anything. I was ridiculed by my seniors at college, friends and class mates, relatives and neighbors. I admit I must have known the answers but today I want to ask the media is ignorance a crime?

Just like you now dont recollect the author of Saare Jahan se accha to be Mohammad Iqbal, I believe you wont be terminated from your work, similarly there are thousands of us who are unaware of who the President of India is at present. And I dont think India will disown them either.

But what did you gain by ridiculing a young lady studying at college? When you print in your newspaper or show them in your channel not only they, their family members are ridiculed as well. And its not easy to remove such instances from peoples' memories. 

I dont see newspapers printing stories of how India has fared in the last 71 years and where we can improve.

We dont preach people about some of our glories like

• India has 29 states and 7 union territories
• We are a land with population of over 132 crores practicing  different religions
• We have 22  major languages with 13 different scripts and over 700 dialects.
• We have around 82237 newspapers printed in those languages
• India's economy rank to be 6th largest by nominal GDP and 3rd largest by purchasing power parity
• We have the 2nd largest army in the world
• India ranks 2nd world's nation where English is most spoken
• Our nuclear power is the 5th largest source of electricity. We have around 22 nuclear reactors operating in 7 nuclear power plants
• India ranks 3rd in nuclear power installations

to name a few of the many advancement we made in the last 71 years.

Yes we all must know about our roots and history but lets not teach our people through insult and mockery, lets enlighten them with our knowledge, lets instill hope and courage and encourage them to move ahead. Let us show the positivity amongst the negativities. Let the media behave more sensibly and responsibly and most important sympathetically towards our country. Then only we can truly cherish a free India. Jai Hind"

Book Review: One Part Woman

One Part Woman signifies the God who we call “Ardhnariswar” meaning half man and half woman. It signifies that the world is incomplete without the very existence of both man and woman. And without them the world cannot sustain. One Part Woman is a book written by Perumal Murugan depicting one of the biggest issues of modern day — Infertility. Its a story about a rural couple working as a farmer in Southern Part of India where the woman failed to conceive even after 12 years of nuptial bliss.

The book shows the very pain the couple goes through when they are taunted by almost everyone in the village starting from immediate family members to neighbors and friends to outcasting them in every auspicious occasions just because they failed to produce an heir.  If they retaliate people stop speaking to them. The taunts were provocative enough to cause grief to the already grieved. And they seem to be at fault if anything goes wrong. If the crops doesn’t yield good harvest it is because  a “barren” woman has planted them. Barren or “baaj” as we call in our local language applies to the woman who don’t have a child. The entire book deals with the humiliation and they innumerable offerings to temples to satisfy God and get his blessings. They leave no stone unturned in this process. The ending is not smooth neither does it ends in a happy or positive note.

Ponna and Kali were married for 12 years and from the first month of her marriage she is expecting not to menstruate but everytime she does and cries at the barn. Things doesn’t get change to the slightest even after repeated and numerous offerings to the temples.  And finally Ponna was made to sleep with another man just to see if the problem was with her or Kali. And that thing was considered sacred among the villagers as it was a part of monthly festival.

The book is a good read with a very captivating way of writing but the story loses its sheen at the end. The same humiliation spoken in different ways but doesn’t show any way out. Infertility is no doubt is as grave and as emotionally draining disease where human have absolutely less control. It definitely questions 2 persons their motives of existence. As if you were born to give birth and if you fail you are no human.

Apart from Inertility the book shows the importance of education. At least I believe it to be so. If they were educated they would have consulted a doctor. And not keep doing rounds of temples. Also the people around them would have been considerate on these matters. Lack of education,knowledge adds to their woes.

Personally saying I was disappointed at the end. The end wasn’t half as beautiful as the beginning, The author could have shown how the couple overcame their curse. The word “curse” was used in the book but in general Infertility is not a curse. Its same as Cancer, Heart problems where you can only try to keep things under control but not cure it completely. Probably the author wanted to show that not every couple have kids and that results in the breaking of marriage. The years of trust, love  breaks just because you don’t produce a child. Again would have loved had the couple showed strength of character and dealt with situation firmly and positively.

If I ever wish to rewind

Sitting idly Anita was getting restless. Its been months since she had moved to the city of Charlotte where her husband is now posted for an onsite opportunity. She wasnt working before and hence it wasnt an issue for her to relocate. Her husband is always busy with his office laptop both at office and home. The pressure of work at straight client’s office make him nervous.

All day boredom drove Anita to think everything under the Sun and Moon. She did household chores and occasionaly went out but most of the day she has nothing to do. She wasnt much eager to indulge in social media or internet. Slowly this turned to a little depression. And when her husband Anand returned in the evening and get busy with his laptop Anita would have a splurge of displeasure inside her. She initially thought of talking about this but it yielded no results. Hence started the inevitable argument. At one point it became so drastic that they both decided to part ways and Anita wished to return to India.

Anand, sandwiched between office and home couldnt make out what changed so dramatically in all these months. He simple couldnt understand why Anita would not find something for herself to keep her busy.

A collegue of Anand suggested that he take her to a psychiatric, may be that could ease a bit of situation. But as soon as Anita heard about that she refused thinking Anand thinks her to be mad.

One day Anand left for woark early that morning. They werent in talking terms last few days. There were important meetings scheduled that day and hence he became extra cautious. During lunch hour he sat lonely in a table at cafeteria thinking about how sour his life has turned when he heard a female voice. He looked up to find his client manager Ranjana standing with her plate.

“Hey Anand. Would you mind if I sit with you?” Ranjana smiled
“Yeah sure. Please.”
“You arent bringing your lunch for few days. Is it?”
“Yeah..I dont wish to bother my wife as I always had to leave early in the morning.”
“Oh I see. You must be having a beautiful married life as you both care so much for each other."

Anand smiled and said to himself “I wish.."

“So how long are you married?”
Anand replied “2 years and just after getting married I am posted here."

"But why do I see you spending too much time at office? I see you logging in to the system for more than 12 hours per day. Is there something wrong? We can discuss and sort them."

“Oh no nothing. Its just that I wish to return late at home so that my wife shouldnt be too bothered about dinner. She can sleep peacefully while I can arrange on my own and give her a relief” Anand lied.

Ranjana said “You know its been years since I last saw my husband. We got married 10 years back and soon after marriage I thought I could do a bit more of my studies. I always wanted to study much but marriage came in between. I cracked the GMAT exam and almost fought with my in laws to come to US. My husband was neutral. I came here and started studying. Once I completed I got an excellent offer at a company in California. Few years later my husband came to US on an onsite opportunity. He wanted to shift to my apartment. But I was too busy with my own world and hardly had time for anyting, let alone him. The quest to earn money and more money and most importantly to be very very important cost me my marriage. We used to quarrel a lot just because we never had enough time for each other. Or to say I never had time for him. He left with a heavy heart and we both parted ways.

From then I went to different cities in America doing work and more work but today I realise I have no one when I return home. I wish to leave early but I have no one to talk to , to make dinner for, to go out for movies. I have lots of friends but not life partner. The day I realised his importance it was too late. I wanted to return back but was shocked to see him remarrying. I never again thought of getting married to anyone just out of this guilt.

I am sorry to share all this with you. Actually I got to hear that you and your wife are getting divorced. I wont disclose from where I got the news but just thought of giving you a piece of advice now since I know you for almost a couple of years. Anand we together can make out the priorities of work and complete them on time. I would ask the management to allow additional resources if u need so. But please go home on time and make your marriage work. If there is anything I wish to rewind in my life it is the time I got my huband here. I could now leave everything for him—my job,my money, my position. But he is not there anymore, waiting for me. So please dont repeat my foolishness. She deserves your time,love and respect. Give her that. Atleast give your marriage 1 more chance.

Ranjana was in tears and hurriedly got up and left. Anand knew too well that Ranjana would soon change her mood the moment she arrives back at her desk. But what she told him was simply unexpected.

2 hrs later

Anita was busy surfing the internet and finding out information about divorce filing when the doorbell rang. She went up thinking who the hell has arrived in the afternoon. As she opened the door she found Anand standing there. She left the door open and returned back to her room and started working on the laptop as before. Anand slowly sat beside her and asked “Anita are you sure you will leave me?"

Anita looked up, surprised by what she heard just now. Anand continued “I am sorry for all the things Anita. Can we not give it 1 last try? From now onwards I will return home early and I am thinking of returning to India. We can have our old life back Anita and we can again be happy. For now lets rewind our good old days and forget what went wrong. Please forgive me."

They both hugged each other while tears rolled down their cheeks.

At night Anand messaged Ranjana saying “Thanks Ranjana.Today we rewound our good old days and hence saved the marriage from breaking. I will always be grateful to you for that."

Moral Policing

It was supposed to be a normal day at work. Amidst work I have a habbit of surfing the net and search for either news or do online shopping. Nothing new we all do that thanks to our very convinient smart phones and cheap mobile data. 1 news caught my sight and that was really alarming. A couple was thrashed outside a metro for behaving indecently. And they were thrashed by few old men. Now what the actual scenario was, nobody knows. All that came out was that the couple was hugging and kissing each other which was objectionable to the elderly and hence the assault. The news was circulated in social media and news channels and people took no time to raise an uproar. Facebook site was flooded with people’s views and everyone including celebrities joined them. Facebook,Instagram and twitter became the platform for protest. And there comes the cons. The ignorance of the entire episode led to few people take advantage and release the videos that the couple were almost practising coitus. The elderly objecting them lead to a heated argument and resulted in assault. We dont know whom to believe. There were surveys taken by RJs’ about peoples’ reactions. And everyone condemned the assult. The next day one of my collegues named few cities where people are thrashed with sticks for displaying affction in public. We all laughed at his comments but again as I searched the internet there was only 1 question lurking. Why do you not protest when a girl is raped or murdered? Why do not protest when people pee openly? Why do you not protest when people spit on the streets? Where are those moral polices then? Was it absolutely necessary to thrash a young couple for hugging and kissing (even if they went beyond that). And apart from all these unanswered questions I would like to add few questions to the young couples. Was it absolutely necessary to display your personal life in public? What did you gain by showing this? How do you think people would react if they see you like this? Is it not natural that people can and will protest? If we wish to dawn the hat of a morl police we better do it for the right cause. Or else such things will gain importance and will become a practice.

Smile, doctor :)

I was casually surfing facebook when I came across a photo of a school friend of mine who posed with her husband for their 1st anniversary. Dressed in a green sari she looked the same plump ,short heighted but sweet and her husband look all the more serious with a grey suit. I happened to recollect a photo of her parents on her wedding day where both looked extremely proud and serious. They all are doctors rather renowned doctors.

My friend( who was the 1st girl of our school) praises her husband to always make her smile and how creative he was as he had designed their anniversary cake beautifully. I was delighted to see her writeup and wondered how is this serious looking guy contains so much humor. Well as it says sochne mein kya jaata hain I committed a big crime in commenting at her photo that I am glad that doctors do make people smile. As for my recent experience with my doctor who is grumpy and speaks nothing more than he ought to and his serious looks make me frightened, I made this light hearted comment without intending any insult to anyone.

I would say commenting in social media is a crime nowadays as people expect nothing to hear other than praises. No, no no we wont hear any of ur slightest sarcasm. We will pounce on you then. As was in my case 2 of my doctor friends(both my classmates) took my joke to their heart and argued seriously that doctors are human too and they can be funny very much.

I will sum up the long serious argument ( where I kept on saying my intention was just simple and not to insult any person or the noble profession) to be like this - the doctors are very much human but patients sometimes think them to be money laundering people, patients dont trust their doctors and in the days of google patients try to counter doctors and most importantly they complain about the fees. All these culminates to make a doctor grumpy.

We somehow ended the conversation on a bitter feeling, she thinking I have hurt her sentiments and I thinking why is she making a mountain out of a mole hill.

Later at night I was laughing at the entire episode and the fact that we seriously tried to prove that doctors are in general very funny guy but due to some unacceptable patient behavior they are forced to remain grumpy. And the dentist friend laughs and smiles at her patients which is natural because none of her patient would be in laughable condition. They would smile back once she has treated them but as she pointed out, the patients wont pay correct fees so it seemed when the patients would smile she would become grumpy again. What a cycle. Smile, dont smile and then again smile.

And all these enlightenment happened for the sake of 1 sarcastic yet harmless comment from me. Well I got my previous assumption to be more solid is what I could infer from this.

On a usual Wednesday

I was sitting in an auditorium at office waiting for the company bigheads to make some announcements or share some latest updates of what is going around the office this time. Well these type of lectures though boring yet helped me fight off the afternoon doze  just after lunch. So I was seated happily with my fellow colleagues who were busy surfing facebook and clicking selfies. To many new joiners these account updates means too little and to most of the people like me it means  " if the company is doing so good why cant you raise our salary and give promotions?"

Soon Lina my colleague turned to me "what is this going around in news these days about a school girl of 4 years old who is sexually assaulted? what is the story?" I told her all that I knew from social media and newspapers. And we both were in agreement beyond doubt that strictest action must be taken. But I raised another question to her "do you think the actions will stop the culprits from committing these types of crimes again? I do support punishment to the strictest level but can we stop this?" And as a proof to my question I did find similar examples printed on newspaper the next day and following days in multiple states. Nevertheless we didnt know the answers. But both of us agreed that as a negative side effect to this the student-teacher bonding will take a back seat as both parents and students will now be scared too much if they get a small rebuke from teacher. Teachers will definitely turn villain. So for some psychopaths we will have the entire fraternity face the heat.

Our conversation was cut short as we say a very fat lady accompanied by fat men walking towards the podium. I have not seen my center delivery head before hence was awed to see how with big round belly which clearly gives an indication of at least 6 months pregnancy (which she is not) , she could manage to wear a shirt and jeans and not caring what anyone else thinks. She called out to all her direct reportees which include several senior managers,associate directors as she couldnt find the auditorium hall to be full. And all of them had to rusk the remaining team members who were stuck in important deliverables or calls, to come for at least half an hour. After few minutes the lady gabbar (thats what I thought of her) started her speech which was neither encouraging nor interesting. Who cares how many dollar profits you have made? What do we gain in return? And she wanted this to be an informal discussion hence kept on asking people if they have any questions,issues,challenges. And mind you it was a mandatory thing. You have to ask questions to the leadership no matter how much disinterested you are. So she forcefully thrusted the mike to the senior folks who unwillingly shared few issues which they have probably shared with her before. 

Lady gabbar soon realised that others are waiting in queue to speak and hence made room for her immediate below rank director with whom I presumed she has a professional rivalry. Both of them joined together and the lady got up the ladder a bit quickly. 

And the man started. At an age of around 45 he is pretty cool and maintains his physique  well. He just spoke for 5 minutes and congratulated everyone for their hard work and achievements. He appreciated that it is for them that today they are moving to the pinnacle of success and have been successful in their business. He inspired people to perform more and much more and of course made himself available for any kind of issues any one would like to report without their immediate supervisor consent (though these were hard core lies as stuffs like these dont happen). And with that he ended followed by a room full of applause from even the most sleepy person sitting there. Needless to say the lady gabbar was gritting her teeth because she didnt get any similar response. 

What amused me was the reaction of other leadership members but what amazed me was that how cool and approachable can a person make himself so that people would try to be comfortable in their zones and deliver more. The importance of positive speaking and friendly behavior is what makes him popular. He is strict at places where is needed but I havent seen him saying anything without logic. A person who has in depth knowledge about sports, business and economic times with most glizt and glamour outside but a devil from inside is what people who have dealt with him reported. Nevertheless outward appearance matters first and I posted a praise for him in my twitter quickly while the lady gabbar resumed again.

Late confession

It was raining heavily when Akash entered his house. He has got bail after the court couldnt find substantial proof of his crime. He hated his house now that his mother is no longer alive and with his father he has hardly spoken since birth.

Akash slowly entered the drawing room and was utterly pained to see a big garland on the picture of his mother hanging on the wall. It was hard to believe that she still awaits his son's homecoming just as before but this time it is her picture and not the real person. Akash loved his mom too dearly and she was the only source of love. Never in his life has he got that love and care from anyone. He had been teased and taunted by all and specially by the girl Rupali. It enraged him to such extent that he had to commit the crime. The crime was done on one but it was as if he was answering everyone. He didnot feel any remorse for that because he felt it to be worth his sufferings. He wanted people to know that he too can be dangerous if not treated properly. His actions will now instil fear in people's heart and they would at least let him live in peace. And thus the crime was committed. He was clever enough to leave no evidences and thus prove himself innocent in front of the court. It was easy to cook up a story saying the duo were in love and whatever happened was on mutual consent. Akash's mother who was present on the trial knew the very truth and couldnt bear his son's actions. She committed suicide. Thats where Akash felt he has lost again.

Akash was thinking all when suddenly a sound from the other room disturbed his tranquillity. He slowly walked towards the room only to find his dad sitting by the window side and crying. He had never seen his father drop a single tear in all his life and now this old man was shedding tears and that too for whom? He didnt have a healthy relationship with his mother. Both hardly talked, hardly socialised together and hardly slept with each other. But somehow Akash's heart melt at the scene. After all he was his father.

Akash sat beside him and slowly asked "dad, are you ok?" His father looked towards him with moist eyes. He heaved a sigh and said " I wish beta I had been convicted then your mother would have been alive today. All these years we have been together, I never needed her presence and now when she is gone I am dying to get her back. I wish to bring her back at least for 1 day, for few hours. I have so much to tell her. I have to apologise for everything- for her, for you, for us" and he cried again.

Akash was bewildered. "What is he talking about? Is he mad or drunk?" His father continued "You know beta years ago when I met your mother in our village, she was one of the prettiest girl I have seen. I instantly fall for her. But she rejected me. I couldnt take that and couldnt bear her to be someone else's wife. I committed the same crime as you did today. Her parents quickly got us married in fear of shame. She gave birth to you. But we were never in talking terms. She had done all her duty and raised you with all her might. She shielded you from me, from anyone who tried to harm you. She wanted you to be different, to be successful in life. The one person who ever could make her smile and forget everything was you. She kept  no relations with her parents, sisters. She never believed in our marriage and I couldnt force her anymore. All these years I thought I have done the right thing as I have got the girl I wanted. How could she say no to me when I loved her so much? How could she be so audacious? But in reality I never got her. Her soul, her spirit was beyond my touch. And on the day she found out that you have repeated the history she couldnt take it anymore. The next morning I found her hanging. I recovered her diary where she had written that she has failed in life as a daughter, as a wife and now as a mother. You turned out to be me - the person whom she had hated all her life. You know beta today I want to tell her that it wasnt she, it was me who is the failure. I failed as a person, as a man, as a husband, as a father. I failed to give her respect, love . I failed to love you, teach you how to be a worthy man. I know beta what you did was out of anguish. And that was because of me. Before I die I wish to confess my crime to your mother and take the punishment whatever she grants. I want her back" and he kept crying inconsolably.

Akash was aghast. It was as if someone has pulled off the ground from underneath. Never even in his wildest dream could he imagine his mother to be such. He had seen her pain, her gloomy face but she never ever told him the reason.

The next morning Akash was found dead in his bedroom, sleeping peacefully clutching his mother's picture. On the suicide note it was written " Dad, I am going to meet mother and tell her about your apology. Dont worry she will forgive you and we can unite again in heaven. I dont want Rupali to be like mother. I am convicting myself guilty of the crime and thus leaving this earth for good."

My take on unusual love stories

The idea about liking an unusual love story was brewing in my mind for few days. Reason for the same can be funny. I happened to watch a local tv serial few years ago which was based on a couple's love hate relationship. The serial was a huge success and needless to say was a sort of a dream for many.

I started watching it recently on hotstar and instantly fell in love with the story and characters. (Yeah I kinda love dwelling in my utopia and dream about these fantasies) . The story involved around a business tycoon who was arrogant as well as rude and a simple middle class girl who was fun loving and full of life. They do not match each other in terms of education,societal status but somewhere their nature strikes the cord and they fall in love with each other. It starts with hate which at the same time starts culminating to love. Nothing unheard of. Instead I have seen these love hate relationship in real life as well. So now the question is what was there in the story that hooked me so much?

The answer was pain and sympathy. As you see the girl was always a victim of something or the other and the guy would always shout and blame her only to regret things later and sort them out. I kept on thinking isnt pain a thing which we love more? I mean if we shed tears and think our life to be miserable, hopeless and then suddenly something good happens or someone happens to show care towards us, isnt that what we silently crave for? Pain as said can be beautiful as it challenges you to push yourself beyond limit and also keeps your feet firmly on ground. But a relationship where you know you have feeling for a person but you cant express at the same time you are not ready to accept the person's tantrums isnt one of the lovely relationships? (Probably yes only if you know that at the end it will bear fruit and that too a very sweet one). Yes every relationship should have mutual respect , trust etc etc but if the start of it is rather unusual such that it forces you to be absolutely sure before you give in to cupid's arrow is worth living and worth having.

Coming to reality yes these things dont happen. Nobody would pester around rude people and neither the rouge will be kind enough to tolerate you further. But who says fairy tales cant be true? Where's the harm in dreaming? If it happens then good else its just another good feeling to be happy with. We can smile and dream about that life and be more happy inside rather than thinking all negatives and stressing ourselves.

Bahubali 2 movie review

The biggest blockbuster of Indian Cinema which have mesmerized thousands and holds a revenue of around 12k is none other than Bahubali 2. Almost every person I am meeting has seen Bahubali at least once whether they have liked it or not. 

I myself had not seen Bahubali Part 1 and had no idea what the story was about. It was after the 2nd part got released and all friends thought of going out for a movie did I get along to see the mythological fiction. The movie starts from just where the Part 1 has ended. We enter into the kingdom of Mahismathi where the leading lady of the family Sivagami was carrying a bowl of fire over her head with which the demon should be killed (similar to dussehra where Ravan is being burnt). And of course the walk should be continuous. There comes some obstraction and thus enters Amarendra Bahubali to help his mother complete the journey and remove the obstacle from her path. I started to think why of all the films did I chose to see a fantasy movie.

My thoughts were soon proved wrong. The next part dealt with Amarendra Bahubali, a fierce warrior , a great prince and a human being who is now asked to travel across kingdoms to get a glimpse of the state of common man before he is crowned as a king. Thus he set of with Katappa, the slave and army general of Mahismathi to different regions and finally landed in Kuntala kingdom. He is awestruck by her brave princess Devasena and immediately falls in love. To get her approval he did not reveal his identity at first but eventually the princess did come to know about him and his extreme talents. In the meanwhile Bahubali's brother Bhallaldeva proposed to marry Devasena and Sivagami thought her to be the perfect match. However Devasena refused to the proposal and went back to Mahismathi along with Amarendra without knowing whose proposal it was actually. And all the hell broke lose after the duo arrived at Mahismathi. Amarendra was made army general and Bhallaladeva was crowned as prince. Then Bhalladeva struggled to get him out of the palace and royal life and asked Katappa to kill him. This was the answer to the question "why did katappa killed Bahubali?" He was duty bound and could not disobey the King. 

Then comes Mahendra Bahubali to avenge all the wrong done and regain the kingdom of Mahismathi.

The film is entertaining since beginning. The Amarendra Devasena love saga is the most beautiful part of it. The most funniest part was that the trees were extremely flexible and could bend at whichever angle you pull it. Amarendra Bahubali was a skilled civil and mechanical engineer and also finds out innovative ways to automate manual process (he should have been to IT industry :) ) The son Mahendra bahubali lacks his father's charm and is more of a shadow of him . Prabhas has played a marvellous role and needless to say our villian Bhallaladeva is equally competent and praise worthy for his actions and acting.Overall a must watch movie. You will not get bored at all.

Whatsapp guys?

I was watching tv and enjoying my leisure time when suddenly I saw around 10 or more notifications of my family whatsapp group(the group has family members including all my aunts,uncles,cousins) and all there concern was who were missed at a family function. To elaborate there was a family occasion whose pictures were doing rounds in our group and subsequently eating up my memory space. Those who couldnt make it kept on posting "Oh what a beautiful picture, we missed it". To that somebody else replied "yes, we missed you too." And subsequently somebody else commented "was I not missed?" and so on and so forth.

To make things better a cousin posted that we missed everyone in the family who couldnt be present for their obvious reasons. To that the eldest one commented that she felt glad someone has truly missed her and mentioned her name. Now my temper was slightly rising and I started feeling irritated. I typed "didi please stop all this. You couldnt make it for ur unavoidable conditions but there are other occasions lined up and we will surely meet." And needless to say the person got furious on me and blurted out all her frustrations. I politely retaliated because being younger it might not look nice if I give her fitting replies. I took it casually.

Immediately my dad called me up asking me not to speak to her anymore. He is agitated but did not pitch in though. My mom gave me gyan as to why on earth did I write anything in group. I was amazed as to what wrong have I done. I just couldnt take all the dramas and asked them to be practical. And that being a whatsapp group what is wrong if I commented. But no I got all the wrath from everyone.

Discussing this with my husband, he commented that it is very natural to take any other meaning as whatsapp being virtual , you always fail to gauge in what manner anything is being said.

The things did rounds as all my relatives silently supported me but no one dared to do the same at front.And on the next occasion when we did all meet, the eldest person had forgotten it and was busy pulling my legs over other matters.(Being the youngest has its own share of pros and cons)

Needless to say I found all the drama entirely illogical. First , nobody actually misses you anywhere. Second, why do you need people to mention that you are missed? Why is that recognition required?Third, what is harm if you can write your opinion to the people whom u have seen since birth? Fourth why is social media becoming such a place where you are expected to say only nice things and not anything slightest "not nice".

And in facebook everyday do I get updates from relatives in horrible english sentence and spellings. The height being a "tie and die" saree. Another aunt of mine once posted that she wants to become a diamond and only she needs a weapon to help her becoming so. I was so amused that I commented "do u mean a diamond polisher or cutter as weapons dont make diamond".

Others commented "will you give me gold once u become a diamond?" "What weapon do u want AK-47/56"
But the aunt politely messaged me asking not to insult her like this as that message was meant for her business group which runs on the social media. And I was like "WTF" . I replied her back that it wasnt an insult and if u had meant it for others please put a disclaimer and we will refrain from liking or commenting.

Uff too much drama this social media has. So please refrain from commenting even if u find things funny or utter stupid. Give a like or a smiley at the least and move on.

Dreams

I once read a passage by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam "Dreams are not what you see with your eyes closed. Dreams are what do not let you sleep" but the fact is I am a full time dreamer. I dream with open eyes,closed eyes -- I love to dwell there. With open eyes I dream about something I desperately want and with closed eyes they are all sort of rubbish.

One dream that I frequently see is that of exam. I used to get nervous the night before any exam but I dont remember myself to have examphobia. I often dream that there is an exam today or may be next week and I havent studied a single chapter. Why the hell was I wasting time? As the bell rang I started writing answers only to discover that I know nothing about that topic. Its when I wake up do I realize that I have left the student life well behind me and have moved on. I fail to understand what is that it is trying to depict...my anxiousness of not getting things done at the right time or something like that. I dust it off like a nonsense and carry on with the day.

People try to decode many of their dreams and try to find out if any peril is coming. Dreams do signal that. Its interesting to know that your mind plays the scene which your heart fears and cant ignore the possibility. The subconscious mind takes full responsibility of the same. However as I said there are stupid dreams and of course some like my above dream which I dont understand why it haunts me till date. 

One Indian Girl - Book Review

To begin I should say I am not a die hard fan of Chetan Bhagat but yes I have read almost all of his fictions. I started with his Five point Someone and One night at call centre and loved them. I equally disliked his following books except 2 states. His 2nd last release Half Girlfriend was beyond what I could call terrible. Hence this time I was a bit sceptical whether I should buy his books further or save that money. I got mixed reviews in Amazon with negatives predominating. I just thought of giving it a try and judge myself.

In one sentence this book has no practical storyline, it is as filmy as his other books were. But there is some magic in Mr Bhagat's writing which will hook you to his books. It will make you laugh and take your life a lil less serious. This is a story about a young , independent , smart, good looking and "padhaku" girl named Radhika Mehta who completed her MBA from IIM-A and was placed in Goldman Sachs in New York. All through her student life she was a nerd and did not get a single boyfriend not even a 'boy' friend. All of a sudden in New York a man named Debashish Sen in short Debu met her at a party of common friends and liked her. They started hanging out as Radhika had never found a single so interested in her.And she has an utmost urge to get into bed. Never mind Chetan Bhagat finds it his most interesting topic to get into the minute details and explain. And then they started having a live-in relationship. But as luck would have have it the guy started having problem with the girl earning millions of dollars. A typical guy who at the beginning was a feminist and believed women should be more independent and follow their dreams suddenly changed to a mediocre loser who found it difficult to digest that his girlfriends earns more than him.  I am not surprised as in many cases this is the story. The relationship ended with Debu moving out of it and Radhika forced to take a transfer to Hong Kong. Well she did drop her papers and wanted to move out of the job yet she is so irreplaceable that the company cannot function without her ( I wonder how many of us would die to be like her).

Scene 2 she moves to Hong Kong and then again gets tangled with her boss's boss. The man is above 40 but want to retain his youth. He is married , father of 2 and since he and his wife dont strike a cord together he preferred to get involved with a younger girl half her age and never mind going to bed. I felt like Radhika is obsessed with sex. As if it is something she has never got and never wants to leave and obviously cant live without.Again there was an ego problem as Radhika wanted a family and this man was happy to have her as a mistress. With lil of her remaining self respect Radhika now moved out herself and again got transferred to London even after putting her papers.

Scene 3 Radhika's mom arrives in London and starts to find a guy for her. Many of them were rejected by Radhika. Some rejected her because of her huge salary and finally they stuck to a facebook guy.

Scene 4 Radhika's marriage event happened at JW Marriot Goa where she wanted to have a destination wedding. And there first popped in Mr Debu to get her back. Radhika being indecisive went on to be friendly with her fiance  knowing pretty well that she has other plans in mind. As the event progresses pop up her second lover Mr Neil Gupta leaving Radhika totally confused. At the end she decided to throw those men out of her life and also cancel her wedding as she herself was not sure where she is leading.

As I mentioned earlier the story is highly filmy , far from being practical. Yet it was Mr Bhagat's writing that kept me going through. His language and story telling is too cool. His witty lines and few truths about our society which he tries to point out makes you think. If you are looking forward to relax yourself after a tiring day, this book can be taken. It will make you think, laugh and wonder all at the same time. At least I have found his book somewhat refreshing, funny and light read. Chetan has improved a lot from his last work and this time I appreciate. Better judge the book yourself than getting the essence from others. You may like or not like but definitely you will not keep it down. Mr Bhagat makes sure of that . 

One Indian Girl - Book Review

To begin I should say I am not a die hard fan of Chetan Bhagat but yes I have read almost all of his fictions. I started with his Five point Someone and One night at call centre and loved them. I equally disliked his following books except 2 states. His 2nd last release Half Girlfriend was beyond what I could call terrible. Hence this time I was a bit sceptical whether I should buy his books further or save that money. I got mixed reviews in Amazon with negatives predominating. I just thought of giving it a try and judge myself.

In one sentence this book has no practical storyline, it is as filmy as his other books were. But there is some magic in Mr Bhagat's writing which will hook you to his books. It will make you laugh and take your life a lil less serious. This is a story about a young , independent , smart, good looking and "padhaku" girl named Radhika Mehta who completed her MBA from IIM-A and was placed in Goldman Sachs in New York. All through her student life she was a nerd and did not get a single boyfriend not even a 'boy' friend. All of a sudden in New York a man named Debashish Sen in short Debu met her at a party of common friends and liked her. They started hanging out as Radhika had never found a single so interested in her.And she has an utmost urge to get into bed. Never mind Chetan Bhagat finds it his most interesting topic to get into the minute details and explain. And then they started having a live-in relationship. But as luck would have have it the guy started having problem with the girl earning millions of dollars. A typical guy who at the beginning was a feminist and believed women should be more independent and follow their dreams suddenly changed to a mediocre loser who found it difficult to digest that his girlfriends earns more than him.  I am not surprised as in many cases this is the story. The relationship ended with Debu moving out of it and Radhika forced to take a transfer to Hong Kong. Well she did drop her papers and wanted to move out of the job yet she is so irreplaceable that the company cannot function without her ( I wonder how many of us would die to be like her).

Scene 2 she moves to Hong Kong and then again gets tangled with her boss's boss. The man is above 40 but want to retain his youth. He is married , father of 2 and since he and his wife dont strike a cord together he preferred to get involved with a younger girl half her age and never mind going to bed. I felt like Radhika is obsessed with sex. As if it is something she has never got and never wants to leave and obviously cant live without.Again there was an ego problem as Radhika wanted a family and this man was happy to have her as a mistress. With lil of her remaining self respect Radhika now moved out herself and again got transferred to London even after putting her papers.

Scene 3 Radhika's mom arrives in London and starts to find a guy for her. Many of them were rejected by Radhika. Some rejected her because of her huge salary and finally they stuck to a facebook guy.

Scene 4 Radhika's marriage event happened at JW Marriot Goa where she wanted to have a destination wedding. And there first popped in Mr Debu to get her back. Radhika being indecisive went on to be friendly with her fiance  knowing pretty well that she has other plans in mind. As the event progresses pop up her second lover Mr Neil Gupta leaving Radhika totally confused. At the end she decided to throw those men out of her life and also cancel her wedding as she herself was not sure where she is leading.

As I mentioned earlier the story is highly filmy , far from being practical. Yet it was Mr Bhagat's writing that kept me going through. His language and story telling is too cool. His witty lines and few truths about our society which he tries to point out makes you think. If you are looking forward to relax yourself after a tiring day, this book can be taken. It will make you think, laugh and wonder all at the same time. At least I have found his book somewhat refreshing, funny and light read. Chetan has improved a lot from his last work and this time I appreciate. Better judge the book yourself than getting the essence from others. You may like or not like but definitely you will not keep it down. Mr Bhagat makes sure of that . 

Intellectual me?

For the past few days I am trying hard to be somewhat intellectual, absorbing everything that came my way. As a somewhat book worm I am constantly scanning Amazon site for all the new book releases and then doing the same at Crossword or Starmark. With almost a lot of books in my 'to-be-read' list I am trying to absorb the character and words written as I find it pleasurable than my boring office work. With my office eating up almost 70% of my day's time I somehow try to fit in everything in the remaining 30% but being sleep deprived and having a lot of headache due to it I can hardly succeed. Hence my kindle is my companion in the early morning when I travel to office and the book if interesting enough will take me to an utopia from where I had to reluctantly return as soon as the bus arrives at the office gate.

Recently India is united with only one discussion and that is Modi and Demonetization. Nevertheless I get around 500 whatsapp msgs everyday where people are debating in the group and also my office cubicle is not exempted. I try to participate but due to lack of political knowledge I am more of a listener. However I feel myself to be somewhat intellectual if I do happen to say something in bits and pieces and is approved by others. I ruffle the newspaper or twitter, the next day only to add few more points to the same topic.

Now what defines intellectuality? Someone who is knowledgeable, confident, witty or someone who considers himself " i-know-it-all"? Mostly I get the second type of persons across the world. And people nowadays are confident enough to state that whatever he/she thinks is only correct, others are all fools. Facebook is flooding with wall posts of people proving this. I am amazed at common people who have voice to support or revolt against demonetization but can do very little about it. Love or hate Modi , he has made u stand in front of ATMs and Banks. The rule is a rule and u have to follow. So why all these things then? Yes, yes the famous "freedom of speech". My eyes sometimes roll up and down when I see posts like "God please impart some wisdom to these fools who consider demonetization as a boon." I wonder if God is confused about whom to impart this wisdom. No I am not supporting/ promoting or going against the govt , I am just amazed at the way it was stated.

I have a friend who has opinion about everything -- I mean everything. And if I happen to speak one or 2 things he is the first to point out , hey u r wrong which makes me feel like "Grrrr....who the hell are u to say this?"
I am generally attracted to people who have broader outlook and a lot of knowledge. It increases my knowledge manifold. But alas I mostly get Mr/Ms "Know-it-all" . Hence I my recent endeavour is to become someone whom I really like. That is to gather as much knowledge my little brain can hold and speak with utmost data points to counter debates and impress or somewhat enrage people. But as it takes a lot to succeed , I always end up saying something stupid and confronted by others. Blimey!

I,me, myself

I,me,myself is the thought that crosses my mind when I relax after a day of hard work reflecting back on the lessons I have learnt so far. It is absolutely true that no one knows me better than myself. No one can understand my pain better than me. So when people become judgemental about me I tend to retrace step backwards coiling into my shell thus avoiding to share anything more.

I read many articles and blogs where I found people have written that we ask our mirror, we dress to get noticed because we dont know who we are. No, we want to be appreciated. Thats our inherent desire. We dress good to look good, to feel good and if someone appreciates  bingo! thats exactly we want. If thats not the case why would we spring to our defense if someone says anything negative about the same dress? Do we gladly accept and say yes, it is horrible? No.

Till few months back I was in search of few wise men/women who would tell me how I am. What my character is? Do I make a good human being? A good friend? It was like I needed an approval to be me. But from bits and pieces of opinions that I gathered from people around me , my ego immediately gave a disapproval. Hence I concluded that they have not faced situations as I have or since we are different human beings our stimuli responds differently. Thus there is no such wise man/woman whom I am searching. Even if I get them I wont believe them. It is me who can answer all the questions I have.

To describe me in 1 sentence - " a stupid common woman who keeps on faltering and learning"

Love vs Freedom

It took me  a while to understand the topic for Indispire and realise its meaning . Love and Freedom are 2 completely different words with different meanings and should never be mixed with each other. Incase it should be mixed , it depends on the type of relation we are considering. A parent would be strict in the matter of freedom as it may hamper the child's growth. That doesnt mean the love is less in any way.

I have seen during college days my room mates used to give up dressing the way they want because their boyfriends didnot approve it. Thats something which even they found weird but followed because their love surpassed logic. Their freedom of dressing, freedom of mixing with other guys were restricted because their so called boyfriends were simply jealous.

Coming to freedom of speech nowadays people are more open to say anything they want. Gone are those days when people used to be tolerant. Now with the increasing rate of divorces we are proving that we are anything but tolerant. I have seen a girl who used stay with me in Chennai, misuses her independence. She was very soft spoken and always kept to herself. But from her life stories I gathered that she was brought up in strictness and once she is away from her home, she used her freedom the way she liked as if in protest to all the misdeeds happened.

It is unquestionable that people will always choose freedom above everything else. We were born free , we live free and die free. We might give into people's wish thinking that there is love but we cant sustain that.If people are not allowed to express freely they are sure to burst out one day. That has got no linking with love. It is stemming from other emotions like self worth, dignity etc. Imposing restrictions on meaningless matters harm a relation much more.If there is love there should be understanding and the other person should understand your restriction well enough to not consider it one. That will pave way for a happy relation.

Are you happy with your life?

It is a tough question when I ask people whether they are happy with what life had offered or is offering now. Many have answered I would like to undo many of my mistakes, avoid all the troubles that I had to face.

Well given a choice wouldnt we all want to lead a life full of only happiness? We would have luxury as our top priority and forget all the pain staking work that we do to earn our living. The negativities wouldnt have existed. But think for a minute. What good would it have done to us? We are because of our decisions- be it good or bad. If it was good we are happy, if it was bad we are humble. How boring would life had been had it not for the obstacles that come our way.

Looking back at life I do feel some unnecessary decisions should have been avoided. Some childish attitude should have been curbed. But as they say with time you become more wise, I realised that they were not to be repeated. The uncertainty of life is what makes it so sweet. You keep on planning for a future you know not. Had it been  your choice of life, I bet no one would have ever liked the word "Challenge". Life would have been dull. So you need negativity to remain firm with positive belief.You need obstacles to test your skills, your patience.

I dont want to alter my life. Whatever gone is gone. Maybe for good. What is upfront I know not. Still I am hopeful to deal with every situation with utmost maturity and yes a cool mind. If success can make a man King overnight, tragedy will make him humble. All our greatest poets, musicians,painters had to go through immense pain to come out unscathed and ever shining as a diamond.

At the end before I breathe my last I would like to say that I lived life on my own terms no matter how good or bad the situation was. I am responsible for what I am today and may Almighty forgive me for something I didnt do right.

A day for peace

I was travelling by bus with my whatsapp on and chatting with my teacher about one of her researches she is currently doing on human behavior. The answer that I got from her was full of positive vibes. She did acknowledge problems yet she never stopped making an effort to turn the situation positive.

Back home I was talking to my mother about the various problems that I was dealing with. She gave me an idea to meditate. Now thats something I never considered. As nowadays we have so much to do who would spend rather waste time meditating? I discussed this with my husband. But he insisted that we should at one point of time focus on the positives we have, calm our mind from the raging storm and let peace reign. Meditation can give you that peace.

I was about to retire for the day and just before that I switched on my Kindle as my daily custom. I was going through a book "change your habits, change your life" where the author states that it is always our choices , our limiting minds that restrict our ways to success. I dont want to delve deep into gyans as I find them boring. What I deciphered from it is if we have to dedicate a day to celebrate something lets celebrate happiness,peace and positivity. Lets forget our tensions for a day and concentrate on what we have, count our blessings and free our mind from fear.

I must say I am amazed at how my mother , mother-in-law or my teacher never stops to impart some positivity at the end of every problems so as to keep our focus intact. They may not deal with the situation the same way but they will never fail to look at the positive side too.

So lets meditate for a few minutes in a day, specially when your mind is racing. Just say "Calm down boss, life is not that difficult. This too shall pass."