A Tale Of Two Cities

A city rejoiced...a city wept.Thousands of people went berserk with glee while thousands others suffered in mute agony.Two cities.Separated by a few hundred kilometres.And yet,a world apart tonight.
It was about seven thirty in the evening when I switched on the television and was horrified,albeit for a minute,at the gruesome deaths caused due to the serial blasts in Jaipur.The news channels reported in sickening unison and enthusiasm that there had been a stampede in the walled city area and an "unknown" number of people were dead.The macabre images showed pools of blood on the streets,mangled bodies heaped up on the sides and crushed vehicles and debris of shops....a normal evening when something had gone horribly,horribly wrong.

I didn't however,have time to watch the coverage or express anguish,if only to myself...I had finer things to do.I had to cheer on SRK's Knight Riders as they took on a highly fancied side at the Eden Gardens...ironic name!It was "my" city playing against "their" city.And we were baying for blood.The match was touted as the "clash of the titans" and there wasn't a soul in this bustling metropolis who wasn't shouting their heart out.The match,as the commentators said,was a matter of "life and death"!

For the whole 4 hours of the match,I sat glued to the television,not for one moment thinking about catching the news about the victims of the dastardly attack.Saurav's spell or Shoaib's speed was way more important....Kolkata won the duel.We all were elated...The city rejoiced.Kolkata had won..."Our"city had won...We partied,we danced,some of us even drank to the victory.

That didn't bother me...what bothered me,although in hindsight,was my response.I had chanced a glance at the news bar that proclaimed that 50 were dead in the attacks..and I had instantly thought.."Oh well,it isn't a major attack,so few are killed...we'll catch it later".What bothered me was every one's response...The people at Eden,to be fair,were in the dark.But had they known,would it have mattered?After all,most news channels seemed more intent on knowing whether Jaipur would host the next IPL match,keeping in view,the crucial standings on the league table...
What bothered me was my exasperation at seeing every channel covering the attacks and not one praising my Saurav.I was frankly vexed...

But I needn't have worried.India is far too smart to get entwined in emotional matters for too long...withing an hour of the attack,channels broadcasting out of Calcutta had switched over to Eden and the national channels followed suit after another hour.Jaipur was reduced to just a footnote....Celebration attracted much more TRPs than weeping grandmothers lamenting the death of their only grandson.
Bombay in 1993 was different.We were shocked then.we are indifferent now.The fact that people used bombs to kill others and mutilate their own brethren was nauseating to us.Now,the fact that so "few" people were killed amazes us.As one correspondent said,it was another pearl in a string of terrorist strikes...we have grown so thick skinned and insensitive that the loss of human life doesn't bother us anymore...it is more of a statistic."Oh,only 10000 killed in China?That is less than Myanmar,isn't it?"we judge tragedies by the number of casualties.And we excel in forgetting the victims,leaving them on the way,helpless and smartly moving on.

The New India has arrived,ladies and gentlemen.And so have the new Indians.Where one city's devastation is second hand news in another...Where deaths do not qualify for attention over celebrities...where our lives can do without these sombre moments of sorrow.As I had said earlier,one city rejoiced while one wept...and the sad thing is that the nation rejoiced with the city of joy and told Jaipur to weep alone.

Cat

There was a cat today,

lying across the road...

there was a dead cat today,

who had left this mortal abode!

There was a cat today,

run over by a car,

none to look,none to care;

as it lay dead on the busy throughfare.

Someone had to reach office early today,

Someone was getting late on their way,

Someone had spent an extra hour in bed,

And that was why the cat lay dead...

People looked back at it in disgust,

blood splashed all over the clean roadway,

"Darn cat!Has ruined our roads",

was all that we could say!

"Thank God it wasn't a man!",they said,

As if they'd care if it were,

As if it would matter to anyone,

If a man lay dead there!

But thank god there wasn't a rally,

Or a protest march with beautiful candles lit,

Or a big T.V crew who had better things to do,

The dead cat got what was deemed fit!

"THANK GOD" cuz the cat didn't cause a jam,

Thank cuz you could drive over it just fine,

"THANK GOD" the man in the car wan't late for work,

"THANK GOD" he didn't lose a minute of his time!

And the dead cat just lay there,

Befouling our great city's roadway,

Before the moping trucks came

And washed the blood away the next day....

The road gleamed just as brightly as before-

And the cars raced back and forth through night and day,

And all of us waited with bated breath...

We waited for our next prey!

Of Rock music and more

For the past 9 months,I have been witnessing something...a phenomenon...rather a cultural revolution which seems to find its footing in the denizens of the bustling metropolises but is,slowly but surely,finding a toehold amongst the youth of the smaller mofussil towns.I still am untouched by this rapid infection but am in constant danger of contamination...

The disease....or rather,a godsend boon for some..."Rock culture"-the new brand of music that is sweeping an entire generation into its fold.Though I speak of a very tiny cross- sectional demographic of the society,it is nevertheless intriguing because so many of my peers,my juniors and my seniors seem so very addicted to it!

Rock as a genre has never quite flourished in India and the phenomena that I am talking about has got nothing to do with the emergence of authentic Indian rock...on the contrary,the Indian music scene is still dominated by "Indipop" and "Film music"...However,I am awestruck by the burgeoning fan base of people like Kurt Cobain,Jim Morrison,Billie Joe Armstrong;bands like Nirvana,Green day,Foo Fighters....People my age go crazy over songs that are sung thousands of miles away by people who perhaps never heard of Hindustan!

I am not a fan of rock music...it makes my head ache.So you can be rest assured this post is not going to be about how great rock music is ,how Kurt Cobain is "gawd" and how rock music has captured the imagination of the youth the world over.

This post is about my own personal troubles in my own little myopic world where I am much too smug to look out for other people's point of view.

I have a friend who stands out in a crowd due to his rock-devotion.He will strike up a altercation if he feels his rock-idols are getting slighted.I admire him for wearing his heart on his sleeve.

But from this point,let me enumerate my troubles.

Most of my friends who are rock fan(atic)s cannot tolerate any bit of criticism from their peers about their idols...for them,Green Day represents the pinnacle of musical achievement and nothing can ever surpass that.They are extremely touchy about anybody criticising the rock genre...god forbid if you tell them you can't stand the ear-splitting racket.They'll tell you how ignorant you are when it comes to deciphering guitar techniques or obscure lyrics that have got drowned in the electronic cacophony.

Rock claims to be non-conformist...it doesn't bow to the wishes of the conventional society,or so it says!Another point of clash.Most of my friends tend to slight pop music because it caters mainly to the populist tastes of the society.Rock,they say,is different!I sincerely don't find the difference..at the end of the day,both aim at selling the maximum number of records!It might be that rock stars belt out a different theme of music but how it becomes better than other genres is beyond my comprehension.

I used to like rock...soft rock that is!Until rock decided to move over to a heavy metal genre and attracted a worldwide fan base!Now,my friends,who are mad after Cobain don't wish to listen to such whimpers!

The point that I am trying to make is that I despise the arrogance rock fans tend to portray..at least some of them!They behave as if they're gonna change the world and hence the advent of the nonsensical "I am what I am " tag line...Its cool to be a rock fan.It isn't cool to listen to country music.It is cool to say that Cobain,Morrison died to "move on"..it is easy to glorify their suicides;cuz the whole world is doing so!~

I am afraid that in the midst of all the hullabaloo,the soul of rock has been lost.It was said that they'll never cater to popular taste..they'll do what they want,but is that what is happening now?I don't think rock is the best genre in the world...actually I don't care about genre as long as the song is good...So what right do the rock fans have to tell me that I shouldn't speak badly about Cobain?Yes,I might not know anything about marijuana or rock culture,in fact I am afraid I have portrayed my severe lack of knowledge in this post...but again,I wish to remain free...I don't want to be told that rock is the only genuine genre...all others are studio-mixes...rock is one too!Just see the back covers.

My friends say rock music is great cuz its straight from the heart...socially conscious,great lyrics and the songwriters are the singers!Celine is rubbish cuz she can't write..In the same vein,Cobain is rubbish cuz he can't sing!I have a problem with music that is dark,unnecessarily depressing,where human emotions have no value...Where idols are more notorious than "Jack,the ripper"..where genres are decided based on drug usage and where entire generations are blindly led by a desire to conform to a non-conformist trend!

I wish to be left alone with my Celine Dion..and I want to say out loud that she is way better than Cobain...and I want to have the freedom to say that Dido is better than Morrison because she has the courage to live.I do not wish to be scorned when I listen to the Spice Girls instead of Carnival of Rust.I do not wish to be told day in and day out that I am missing something great...

I may not be "man" enough to listen to Nirvana and there might be people who gawk when they hear I like female singers,but I do not care...I choose Britney Spears and I choose Andrea Corr and that is my choice...I choose to stay out of the line!

The Great Hockey Drama

For the past few days all that I can see around me is this great hullabaloo raised by the media and the common public in unison because the Indian Hockey team faltered at the final hurdle..the finals of the qualifying tournament for the Beijing Olympics 2008...The news anchors have been shouting themselves hoarse at the great "ignominy" of not being able to compete in the Olympics.I have been enlightened on the national "shame" and the great damage this "deplorable" loss has caused to the "Indian national pride".

People have been baying for blood....The hockey player's blood that is!I heard one senior journalist say that the golden era of hockey was just a matter of the past....Its time to move on and crown cricket as our national game.The popular mood seems to soundly propound this view too.The S.M.S polls resonated with general indignation at the pathetic performance of our team...especially at a time when the the cricket team has made the nation proud with its "epoch making feats".

Don't get me wrong.I'm no connoisseur of hockey.In fact,I have never ever seen a game of hockey in my life.But I still get the feeling that the mood resonated across the nation reeks of dichotomy and blatant hypocrisy.Its tough being a sportsman in this country if you're not a cricketer...Ishant Sharma gets more news coverage about his atrocious hair than the master Vishwanathan Anand...News people regularly raise a hue and cry about the burgeoning burden of expectations on the shoulders of cricketers;not a word about the apathy meted out to other sports.
We slander the team for losing in the finals...did we ever care when they thrashed other teams en-route to the finals?Did we ever cheer for them?Did the government care?
When India loses a cricket match...we say people are being unreasonable and the team played well nonetheless...we are lectured on how a team can't win every time!But heaven forbid if that same reasoning is applied to hockey.NO NO!They have to keep winning...don't bother to provide sponsorship,proper coaching,a transparent governing body or international exposure!Whenever a bunch of underfed,unnoticed,uncelebrated youngsters go out on the international arena,they have to perform like Dhyan Chand.Never mind that we are looking the other way most of the time!

I am sure the players are themselves downcast about their performance...and surely it is a sign of the downward spiral or the tailspin in which Indian hockey has entwined itself.But should we not have cried foul when the government slashed their funds?Or when a certain Sikh was declared president of the IHF for life?Should we not fret about the complete lack of transparency in the governing body????
We choose to take the easy way out.Blame the players,they are unprivileged and illiterate anyway,take our ire out on them.Glorify cricket,a sport that more than half of the globe has not even heard about!We cheer when the cricket team wins 3 matches against the same opposition,in a game that doesn't matter to 3/4 Th's of the world.We choose to compete in a sport that doesn't even have enough teams to organize a decent tournament.We beat 2 nations in Australia and went gaga over it.Does anyone even care to know how many nations we beat at the qualifying round of the Olympics?

We regularly complain that India performs terribly at international sporting arenas...But it is to be expected.After all,Dhoni's boys get 10 million every time they win against a crappy team...while the allowance we provide to Indians who play in truly International sports wouldn't buy me a bag of chips.And we expect Olympic gold.

In a way I think the sports journalist was right.Maybe cricket should be crowned the national game.We don't deserve better.We don't deserve to succeed in international sports...Making cricket the national passion has a great plus side too...We wouldn't have to worry about Olympic qualification anymore...There simply aren't enough countries~~!!

The 11th commandment

A few weeks back,me and my friends were travelling by the Delhi Metro...we were 3 guys and fortunately all of us had managed to get seats;the train was getting very crowded and I was smug in my seat.Hardcore Kolkatans that we are,it was quite a change,and a refreshing one for me, to see that there were no seats reserved for women.In kolkata,seats are reserved for "ladies" everywhere!!On the bus,on the metro,on trains.............
However,one of my friends took great offence at the fact that "a lady" was standing in front of us while we all sat.He got up to offer his seat...A man rushed over and sat down in a flash.He then forced our other friend to do the same.The same outcome,again!
Now the only seat left for the "lady" to take was mine...there was only a slight hitch-I refused to get up.My pal tried to convince me on grounds of morality and "the right thing to do" with insightful arguments like "Dhrubo,a lady is standing..how can you sit?"...He tried every trick in the book to compel me to get up,but me,prude that I am,never did...the lady got off the train at the next station.

I had almost forgotten about the incident till "Quaint Murmur" aroused my memory...and I must say that though I love my city,I despise situations where people get advantage because of the way they are born.It was about 7 years ago that I realized that chauvinism works both ways and while my psycho-therapist(yes,I am a nut-case!)doesn't think so,the "chauvinist pigs" come in both genders!
All my life I have been puzzled by the visible lack of uniforming in matters of public sphere when it comes to men and women.Men are always expected to give up stuff so that the women can get an easy ride.And what surprises me is the fact that so many women take the advantage,nay,grab it with both hands and behave as if it was their god gifted right.No one ever questions why,on a bus,men have a greater duty to remain standing while women are predisposed to relax.
Maybe I am exuding the perception of being a misogynist and some sort of an "anti-feminist" but that is not the case...I stand up for issues where I think people are getting discriminated against but what about situations where people talk about discrimination to actually discriminate against others?
I am not a feminist.I don't think men should take over the world either.I just am of the opinion that this social compulsion of men having to be "chivalrous" towards women is redundant.Let the era of men offering small bits of favour to women be banished now.Let the world where a condescending attitude of "they need it,helpless souls" ,hid under a garb of nobility,is not tolerated any longer.
I do not dream of a perfect world...I just wish that we live in a world where there was a little less dichotomy...where people are allowed opportunities when they deserve it.

The day I love to hate

I am supposed to study now...but it is very evident that I am not!I am much too euphoric and not because of the reasons an adoloscent guy is usually happy on the night of Valentine.I am happy cuz I have survived another year without falling into the dating quagmire...Does it seem cynical?Well,it is!!

I don't know from where I picked up this unrelenting cynicism about the present concept of dating but then as far and as long as I can remember,it has been this way.I havealways hated books which talk about the next step after people become friends...books which place flings at an emotional scale higher than friendship and bonding.For that simple reason,I find myself at odds with celebrated pieces of literature like "Five Point Someone".But it is not as if I am against love.I am not a misogynist.I am a sucker for "Romance "movies.I even like films like "Shakespeare in love" or saccharine sweet "Notting Hill"....

Contradiction?I used to think so too....

Not anymore though.Its the society which is hypocritical,not me...atleast I think so.Yes,I have got a problem with people hooking up just because its the "in" thing.But I have a greater problem with the society which accepts and actively promotes such kind of behaviour under the garb of tomfoolery like "guys will be guys" and "there is no place for love".

I have a problem with people who rave and rant about the piety of love and the divinity of the affair and then go buy Archies cards to profess their "divine" life.Who are so enamoured with the notion of "Hindi film romance" that they talk of lynching their lives just because someone has decided to move on with their life.I have a problem with a society which behaves with sickening morality when it comes to accepting homosexuality but bends over backwards in order to accomodate Greeting Card Day!A society which bars two men from looking at each other but has no problem with lewdness as long as it is perpetrated by a guy and a girl.

I might not fall in love.Not today.Not tomorrow.Maybe never.But if love exists in the form that I see it all around me...I am glad to be alone.It isn't love that I have a problem with,its what we have made out of it!!

Round the bend

Walking down the road with a friend,
I suddenly come across a bend...
I turn and don't find him there-
Searched for him everywhere,nowhere could I find;
Was he true,did he pretend...
Leaving me stranded on that bend?

We were so happy chatting.
Walking among the leaves cheerfully-
Perhaps life's like this,
The person you want the most
is the one you miss!

Maybe its a big journey,
You walk over and over again...
Be it shine or rain,
smiles or pain-

Every morning a new destiny,
YOU walk the stretch alone,
Yes you'll find friends...
Who'll disappear round the bend!

Smiles and memories,
The good time and the tears,
Yes,you'll share...
But you will leave it with the dust and walk ahead!

Tomorrow is a new day-
A different way!
A new pal to take you away...
To soar,to fly.....to spread yuour wings in the bright blue sky!!

And that is all I learnt,
while I stood stranded on bend...
Waiting for my new best friend!

I should have written long ago...indeed I have been planning to write for the past one month.But there was one thing which always stood in the way.The fact that I am terribly lazy.But not today!The giant has woken from his slumber to bore you people again.
I wanted to respond to Sinjini's tag long long ago but couldn't....
I am not much of a bibliophile but here goes...

Total number of books I own:

I am not really sure since they lie all around me and I never tidy them up but there must be more than twenty of them,I think.

Last book I bought:
Collected Short Stories of Chekhov

I am currently reading:
The Picture Of Dorian Gray(It was a Titash inspiration and I want to read it forever)
Note To Self:Should really get started on some of those course books.

3 books I started reading but never completed:
I am really ashamed for this...
Dostoevsky's Crime And Punishment
Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse
And lastly,a huge chemistry book that my mum had bought for me with the misplaced hope that I would be interested.


One book which I gave to somebody else, but never got back:
I don't generally give away books to such hopeless people so that has never happened.Or maybe it has and I have forgotten everything about it.

Total number of E-books I own:
I am afraid,none.I do read on the net occasionally but I do not like the experience.My eyes water and my neck hurts.Moral:Reading on the net isn't good for elephants.


My most treasured books:

Mrs. Dalloway...Virginia Woolf
The Harry Potter collection(They cost a fortune!)
Pride and Prejudice....Jane Austen
and every book in my home that I haven't read.


Who am I going to tag?
Quaint Murmur...I just hope she doesn't take as much time as me to respond!

PS-Titash...was that interesting?

The signal

stopping by a red signal,
i rolled down the windows of my mind,
and was startled to find,


a girl, on the threshold of adulthood,
on the pavement, by the road where my car stood-
all her clothes had gone astray,
and her hair was tinted with premature grey...
she stumbled on step by step,knocking over people in tow...
didn't look behind at the mess she had left-

her eyes were hollowand kind of mad....
meeting my eyes,she gave a short little bow-
stopped for a second,over a coin she did bend,
tossed it and as it came down,
encased it in her gown....

she leaned by a lamp-post,
seemed to steady her resolve,
took out a phone and perhaps called here mum...
the sun shone overheadbut clouds gathered over her....

and as the signal turned green,
and the cars revved up to add to the din-
she resolutely stepped onto the roadway,
before a speeding truck heading for the bay.

it seemed the day ended that moment,
and as over the dead girl they bent-
i couldn't but remember,

the last glimpse of a face sad,
with tears streaming but with a smile....
maybe all those grieved ,grieved in vain,
maybe the truck ended all her pain....

and i couldn't but wish,
that she might have a better day,
that she is set free-
as i started my car and drove away...

The Trip Back Home

As I sat on the speeding train,
I couldn't wait to reach home,
After 12 years I had finally realized,
I'd rather be here than Paris or Rome...

The photos lay in front of me,
As we raced through the lush green countryside,
The memories caught in those snaps seemed a touch away....
And I couldn't help breaking into smiles wide!

I had broken away from my nest to fly,
To take my place amidst the clouds in the bright blue sky,
Though success lay in my palm,inside I had died,
Missed those streets and those days gone by.

I craned my neck and caught the faint outline of the station,
I just couldn't wait,cuz my best friend is coming too...
Its been 4 years since we've even talked on the phone,
Life made us go separate ways,both me and you!

As I stepped onto the familiar ground and breathed in,
the air still seemed to smell of times gone by...
I spent all my mornings wandering in the bylanes again,
exploring the place where you could get the best apple pie!

It was at a cafe that I saw him.
Suited,smart,suave...shook hands with me,
We sat down and started talking about the wather,
Both a little awkward as we pretended to chat over tea.

Went down to the old school after a mighty long time,
Played in the sands,climbed the old hill overlooking the town...
But somewhere inside the man beside me,my pal was lost,
And I couldn't find him even as the sun went down.

Time it was for us then to part ways once again,
Awkward goodbyes and mute heartburn,
But as we looked into the other's eyes as the trains steamed away,
Spoke more than any words could have done.

And as I raced back to the bleak canvas of my life,
I realized I missed my pal now that he was gone,
He had changed a lot,but so had I,
That was why,the homecoming had felt so wrong...

The town hadn't changed,the change was in me,
In my haste to grow up,I didn't realize this happened when,
And now,so old and different..I didn't miss him,I missed those happy days,
I missed the wonderful people we were back then.