At Their Crappy Best

Aloha folks! I started my day today with a wonderful piece of news…India is going to be placed on the global map. Isn’t that fascinating?! Yeah, it’s going to top the list of the worst man-made disaster in the history of the human race: as the host of the now-without-a-doubt doomed Commonwealth Games 2010. There are about 11 days to go for the games to begin, and the government is at its callous best. If I remember correctly, when there were 11 days to go for the IPL, the grounds were ready, the infrastructure was in place, and we had the top politicians of the country making the rounds of the teams, giving their crappy all-the-best speeches. In contrast, looking at the CWG, it looks like a political-social-technological- international disaster in the making. Let’s count: filthy living conditions for the athletes, infrastructure not being ready for the games, falling structures…hell, no one’s going to come even a close second. Moreover, athletes are pulling out of the event left, right, centre, and the sports heads and coaches of other countries are pointing out the pitfalls in the way the so-called preparation of the games are being conducted. And to top that, we have our government telling the people of the country that, I believe the exact words were: ‘These are ‘minor glitches’ that happen with every major event, and we are totally ready to host the games’.

Is it true? I don’t think so. The Commonwealth Games have been going on for a long time now, and whenever a country gets a chance to host them, it is a matter of immense pride. The Indian Government, too, accepted its role as a host with equal pride, but that’s that. It hasn’t assumed the responsibility of conducting the games in such a fashion that it might be a success. The callous nature of the government appalls me, as it does to every Indian I’m sure. When we, the people of the country say that the government isn’t doing anything concrete and corruption is deep-rooted, the government is probably used to hearing such comments. But when the international community is lashing out at a country about its unpreparedness to host an event of international importance, then HOW in god’s name can the government not take the issue seriously? How can a government sit on the sidelines and watch, or rather, hear such harsh statements and not bother? And the fact that they are all true is even sadder.

And, the saddest part is, all we can do is sit and wait for the brickbats galore when the games do start, (IF they start, of course) because it seems that not only has the government has gone deaf this time, it seems to have developed permanent amnesia. Because the next time a disaster-in-the-waiting happens in our country, the hell they will remember their past mistakes. Their statements would probably go like ‘Tch…see, talk about this situation now. Forget the CWG. It happened FOUR months back’.

It happens only in India

So India nears 60 years of being a republic. We Indians are hypocrites when it comes to our country. We complain so much about everything: dirty politics, equally dirty cities, prices of commodities, noisy neighbours, irritating songs, pollution, extreme weather, masala movies, recession..well, I could just go on. But there’s no doubt that we take certain pride when we speak or even hear about our country. We are still filled with pride. HT Brunch ran a very nice article about why we Indians still love our country so much. I pick my 10 topmost favourites:

1. Faith in God: Try telling someone over here that you don’t believe in god. You’ll probably find yourself arguing with every person you tell this to. That’s what we do: we believe. We have faith. In a country which has so many religions, castes and cultural and ethical diversity, we are bound by one string: the thread of faith in God.

2. Monsoon Mania: After staring at the sky all summer, when we even hear the thunder, we jump with joy. Monsoons are all about the fresh smell of the wet soil, the constant pitter-patter of raindrops on the ground, hot, spicy pakodas at a roadside stall, and what’s better than walking in the rain? And monsoons in Mumbai are pure magic. I remember when I started loving monsoons; it was in Std 10th when a group of 6-7 people (including me) walked home from school (instead of taking the regular school bus) and ended up having pakodas, coffee, chai etc..anything and everything that we could lay our hands on as kids. Today I don’t have to walk a lot as my college is 10 minutes away..which is why I always remember that walk.
Pure magic indeed.

3. Bargaining: How do you feel when you’re cheated? We’ll probably never know!! We’re the last people on earth who have to worry about that. Bargaining is not just about getting yourself things at the right prices..it’s also about the fun!! Sometimes we just want that rupee off our vegetables and fruits, that’s all.

4. Gandhigiri: With his heart in the right place, Rajkumar Hirani gave the nation the catchword of the century. All because of that one man who took on the entire British empire with non-violence and non-co-operation, and gave us the free India that we are today. And now, so many years after his death, the people of the nation are bringing him back to life. Bole toh Gandhigiri hai mamu!!

5. Pet names: In Bangkok, Tuk-tuk is the name of a rickshaw. In many, many parts of India, that’s probably a pet name. Here, children are called Sweety, Dolly, Happy, Fruity, Jolly, Pinky...(add Cutey, Tweety, Gifty etc, we could come up with an Indian story of Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs)

I mean, our parents take so much pain to legally name us and get those registered, and then by the time we’re twenty (before getting out of hand), we have twenty different nicknames.

6. Diverse Scenery: From the rustic scenery of Rajasthan to the dry planes of Ladakh, from the blue waters of Kerela to the dark-green forests of the North-East, from seas, mountains, valleys, rivers, deserts, forests, jungles, waterfalls..we have the whole planet here. Why would anyone want to go anywhere else?

7. Nothing is beyond repair: If the computer knocks off, you’ll probably call the engineer. If he says that it won’t work anymore, you won’t believe him and will go all over the place looking for someone who will finally tell you how to remodel it and use it in some other way. This is India. Nothing is ever so broken that it can’t be used again.

8. The riot of activity in every household every morning: Its chaos till 10 am, even if there are only two people in the house. So we have people quesing up outside the bathroom, eating breakfast hurriedly while wearing socks, and the best of all: the domestic help switching off fans and shouting at you to keep your legs up. It happens only in India.

9. Indian English: Do I really need to elaborate? Move out of the way everybody..hinglish is here!

10. Just because: We don’t need 60 reasons to love india. We love it because we love it.

Happy Republic Day everyone!

The End of an Era (Closing time (Semisonic) on repeat)

All right, so you guys may find me getting a little emotional over here, what with graduation getting over and all (sniff), but the last 3 years have been one hell of a roller coaster ride. As Rachel tells Monica in Friends, It’s the end of an era!! Oh, but what a glorious era! Every one of the crazy times, the field trips, last minute assignments, get-togethers, orientations, farewells, presentations, and the freaking out was, well, kickass! And the credit goes to each of the 60 (at present 55) antiques that make up this class. Proud of the fact that our class is an optimal mix of people (where things like collective IQ and common sense balance out), from the lesser known geeks to the beauties, from the soft-spoken to the outspoken, from catfights to making-ups (yes, something coined by our class, going by the number of making-ups we’ve had), from tears to wacky craziness, this class has seen it all.

The past three years have given me something so precious that I’m going to treasure it all my life: great friends. Words fall short when I’m asked to describe what I feel after these 3 years with this class, because it just can’t be described. So I have people who’ve improved my ‘fashion sense’, some have changed my opinions, some taught me to look beyond boundaries, and some just made me laugh. And I’ve loved every one of them. Not at those moments when they were giving me ‘gyaan’, but now I don’t resent the fact that they told me what they did. So cheers to a great class, a great group, where I made great friends, and lived my life how I wanted to.

This goes out to the rest of the 54 antiques.

Nostalgia

Looking back in time, on rewind
Bittersweet memories clouding my mind
My thoughts wistfully tagging along
My heart singing a melancholy song

Remembering those days, remembering that time
Remembering our days of prime
Remembering happiness, remembering pain
Waiting for us to be the same again

Looks like another time, another day
Another era slipping away
Another wave of happiness fleeing
A spasm of sadness enveloping my being

Looking back in time, on rewind
Bittersweet thoughts clouding my mind
I wait for another summer, another rain
I wait for us to be like this again

Another world..another time

I wish I was a crystal of sand
Shining away in resplendent glory
Lying on the earth of a forgotten civilization
In the middle of some desert land

I wish I was a little leaf
Dark green, wavy-edged and smooth
Wet by the sweet smelling water of a white waterfall
And then blown away by the gust of the wind
Over the vast expanse of the landscape

I wish I was a droplet of dew
Resting on the soft petals of a delicate yellow rose
On a sleepy Friday morning

I wish I was the wind
Floating over grey pebbles and rocks
Of a brittle, rocky desert
Stretching away for miles

I wish I was the stillness of the atmosphere
Sitting in the depths of a dark green rainforest
With the sweet smell of the wet soil to accompany my loneliness

I wish I was a deep valley
With golden yellow rocks on either side
Glowing in the deep-red of the setting sun

I wish I were a snowflake
Resting amongst thousands of others
On the needle leaves of an isolated fir tree
In the middle of a snow-white landscape

I wish I was a little stream in the mountainside
With the clear blue water rushing through me, enveloping my whole being
Wetting the plants as I merrily hopped by

I wish I could stay out all night
Watching a cloudless, star-lit sky
Seeing the heavens as they opened up
Wishing for things that come and just go by

Today, bitter-sweet thoughts live beyond their time
When I stand, kicking the dust at my feet
As I survive, shaken in my wake
When I see my dreams and reality meet



Today I live another day
Watching the misty hills kindle my imagination
The dead leaves being blown away
The air rent with noises of the civilization
A sea of humanity stretched to as far as I can see
The dark grey sky looming overhead
With the slow realization dawning on me
That I’m living with the things I got instead

I see myself walking down a dark boulevard
With the tall, thick trees looming beside
But when I close my eyes I know
That my heart is where all my dreams reside