Who stole my speech?

1989 - A writer was threatened for writing a novel. He spent major part of his life hiding from these religious fanatics but kept writing.

2011 - A magazine office in France was bombed for publishing a cartoon. It picked itself up, drew again, got attacked again in 2015; continues to draw.

2014 - An author was threatened by religious groups. He withdrew all his work and vowed never to write.

I don’t know which one of these is braver. The one who protects himself by hiding but keeps writing? The one who continues drawing with head held high? Or the one who kills the author in him? For me a writer who gives up writing is as brave as the one who continues doing it despite death lurking over his head. It takes strong will to let go off that very thing which has been a part of your being. It needs courage to just shrug. I can never imagine the turmoil of that writer who will never write again.

My next question is, who are these people who’re stealing our freedom of expression, our speech. Terrorists? Religious fanatics? Or those trolls who choose to abuse you instead of disagreeing politely?

As the world gets more opinionated our tolerance level for these opinions seems to be decreasing. I felt the brunt of it a few months ago when I reviewed a book here on the blog. My book and movie reviews have always been subjective while the restaurant reviews are more objective. While the review wasn't completely negative i did talk about those things too which I didn't like. I wasn't spared. A bunch of 'anonymous' readers ganged up against me and abused me. Of-course, you can do a lot when you're hiding behind that garb. 

It did disturb me for a while and lowered my will to write more. But do I have the courage to stop writing? No. So yes, I admire Perumal Murugan for taking that step but wish that he hadn't. For the rest of the world who want to shut the writers/artists up, all I can say is that, keep trying.

I refuse to be a victim!

So once again a brutal rape has left the country and its capital enraged. There are protest, marches and discussions in the assembly. And as I write this post I receive an e-mail which says, "Sign the petition to tell the President to stop rape NOW!"

Now, I am sure that the honorary President of India has never raped or even thought of doing something like that. So how do I tell him to stop something which he never started in the first place. I have signed many such petitions and to be honest I have never seen any change. A sign will not change the mindset of the rapist because he hasn't been a rapist all his life. It's that one moment of madness that turns him into an animal, at that very moment he forgets all the reason and logic. He forgets that the person in front of him is not just a walking talking vagina but in fact is a human. And if you keep that in mind every man is a potential rapist.

I know I will be called a feminist, a man hater for making this statement but I honestly believe that every man is a potential rapist. Some men have successfully suppressed the ferocious animal in them and some are still trying. Most of them haven't tried at all hence we hear about rapes so often. If you do not believe me try walking on a road full of men, out of 15 12 will stare at you or rather your boobs and at least 5 will walk close to you so that their hand brushes against some part of your body. And these are not uneducated, rowdy men, they are well dressed family guys working in a corporate house, raping you with just their eyes.

So how do we tell them to stop raping us? We sign petitions, hold protests, tweet incessantly about how sad this whole situation is and then we go back to our business as the news die down? No, we won't do the same old bullshit this time. This time we will decide to fight it on our own. We will carry our protection with us in a form of a sharp object. And we'll attack the oppressor where it'll hurt him the most. Yes, I mean physically.

Let's plan a direct attack where every woman protects herself. Let's stop rape. Let's refuse to be a victim!

Nothing

I am writing this note sitting beside a lake in Bhandardara, a sleepy Hamlet set in the midst of Sahyadri mountains in Maharashtra. It's so quiet in here that I can hear the sound of silence, the sound of wind passing through the branches, the sound of birds, the sound of oar (chappu) cutting through the water; I can hear all that. The continuous traffic snarls and construction sounds have not made my ears insensitive yet. I can listen to the sound of life.

I am sitting here away from the busy city, away from Bombay, away from the world of chaos, the world of FB and Twitter to make sure that somebody else's thoughts do not fog my mind.

I am sitting here listening to myself, listening to the sound of crickets, listening to the silence of the night.

I am sitting here looking at the single light bulb glowing in the distance, throwing its reflection on the shimmering lake.

I am sitting here in a boat in the middle of the lake, looking at the Sun rising behind a hill.

I am sitting here looking at the village slowly waking up and rising while I do nothing

I am sitting here in a tiny village thinking, why can't we take some time out from our daily life and do nothing. No site seeing, no games, no TV and no books; just nothing.

I am sitting here, thinking, scribbling on my notepad and doing nothing.

Yeh qutiyapa kyun?

For the past few days I am reading/listening about all the shit being vomited out by worthless  ministers or members of this self proclaimed Goverment called Khap. And everytime I read about it my head starts questioning...yeh kya qutiyapa hai? (yes, I am trying to replace a bad word with a more popular similar sounding word so that my post does not get censored).

I want to get inside the brains of the people who get ideas like "chowmein causes rape" or "women shouldn't be allowed mobile phones". They are God's wonderful creations and should be assessed thoroughly. But on a serious note I really want to find out their motive behind these statements. Are they so afraid of women empowerment? Women getting out of the house and demanding an equal position makes them so insecure that they use the only tool they can on them? Their penises, however small or peanut sized they are? I guess the answer to that would be a unanimous yes. So what will happen if women will stand equal to men? If they decide how the world, the society works?

I recently watched a French film and would like to quote a dialogue from it, "God created this world and wanted to share it with someone hence he created Eve. God and Eve had a son Adam. God forbade him to come close to Eve but caught them red handed one day. That day his trust from humanity ended and he abandoned them. So, woman was God's original creation, the first being. Man was just an accident." Yes, we have been hearing the twisted version of the story which men have modified to suit their needs. The need to be superior, the need to rule the world.

Now coming back to my previous question, if women decide how society will work, the world will be a much better place. Less egos, less wars and lesser problems which I am sure we'll be able to solve without much blood shed. I expect a lot of sexist jokes as comment but I am open to them.

So if the world can be a better place toh yeh qutiyapa kyun?

Wanna make franship??

I could never really decipher the meaning of this message whenever I saw it on my Orkut scrapbook or FB inbox. Was it an indecent proposal hidden under the wraps of 'franship' or just a simple request by someone who lost his way through English?

No offense to anyone but I seriously wonder whether these messages get any response. Like this one "Preety smile, wanna be friends?". I mean c'mon dude, you wannna be friends because of smile? or just cos I have 'preety' smile I am obligated to be your friend?

I also don't understand the meaning of those love/friendship messages that look like a flower or a heart or worse...a guitar...yuck! And trust me I've got it from people I hardly know or haven't spoken to in years. Is writing a simple 'hey, how r u doin' that hard?

I have also observed few traits of people who are habitual of sending such messages. Here they are;

1. These guys never have their real picture on their profile. They have mostly pictures of bikes, flowers, Salman Khan, John Abraham or that weird tattooed guy from that serial 'Dil Mil Gaye'. Girls mostly opt for teddy bears, chocolates and Katrina Kaif.

2. Their 'about me' section has lots of words but still you can't make out who or what they really are like 'I am a very emotional guy who's looking for nice frenship...blah..blah...blah' or like this one...:D



3. Some also like to throw a bit of attitude once you visit their profile eg.
'About Me - and why exactly should I tell you?'.....(bitch)

4. And some are just plain dumb eg.
'About Me - You tell me no' :-|

5. Some are just too busy or lazy to write anything so they choose to showcase all possible emoticons there are... :) :P :D ;) :( 8) :-| :-/

To all such people; Guys, its not that hard to be yourself and real...just try.

If I have hurt any feelings through this blog...well, I am not sorry for that. :P

And for the last time, NO...I don't wanna make franship.

The missing link

27 Jun 2011 – A rave party in the Raigad district near Mumbai was busted by the police late on Sunday night where about 300 people were rounded up. 

5 July 2011 - 31 fined for 'indecent' dancing in Mumbai nightclub after police raid 

13 July 2011 - 3 serial blasts rocked Mumbai in the busy hours. 

Do these news when put together make any sense to you? If not them let me elaborate.

A semi-harmless rave party is raided by cops and some very harmless Dirty Dancers are fined, by cops of-course. But a very harmfull bomb blast is neither stopped nor the people behind it fined, caught or as much as traced.

I would like to know that while our police force is busy busting and fining the defenseless youth who's going to take charge of the constant bombings the city is going through? Why is everyone (read cops and politicians) trying to stop something that could happen over something that is actually happening.

The drinking age in Maharashtra is 25 because if you drink before that you might drive irresponsibly and die. What the hell? You'll anyway die, in a bomb blast or a terrorist attack. Why doesn't the police of this country forget about the culture and morals and do some real policing for once.

What the hell are we fighting for?

Of all kinds of writing I do, travelogues are something that I have always enjoyed. I love sharing those small but memorable incidents happened on the journey. I believe they always stay with you, more than the place itself.

One such incident happened while I was on the train from Mumbai to Gorakhpur (my home town). I was traveling with my husband, my sister and sister's husband. There was a couple in our compartment with their two kids. With their language and dialect they pretty much looked North Indians. More than the husband, the wife looked from north because of her sing-song tone. After a while we noticed her speaking in Marathi with her kids. The obvious guess was that she must've picked up the language in all these years she stayed in Mumbai.

After a lot of guessing and assumptions we finally decided to ask her whether she was a Maharashtriyan or a North Indian. Her reply came to us as a surprise. She was a Marathi and had picked up the accent from her husband who was a North Indian. Trust me, her accent, dialect whatever you call it was way better than any UPite or Bihari and the husband had a very Mumbaiya tone.

The whole incident made me think. Does a common man really care about people migrating from one city to other for work? Does aam junta appreciate the mas pooja conducted by Laloo Yadav or beatings of North Indians by MNS? I guess not. This is a country that unites for a Marathi cricketer who plays under a Bihari captain. So I think that the politicians should leave the language and let it be just a tool to communicate.

Don't 'buy' love this V Day

So, its that time of the year when everything from flowers to food (even the air) suddenly turns pink. People in love, running around to find gifts for their partners. People out of love or never been in love, envying people in love. And not to forget, people not able to find love all their lives, thrashing people in love (by now we are so used to it that we don't give a damn).
In the midst of all this there is one more kind of people.... people selling love. Sounds odd?..... no its not. They are all around us, luring us with all kinds of V day special sales, Valentine special strawberry cake for your lover, diamond jewellery for that special someone..... You know, those 'Do you love him/her, tell him/her in style' types. All these marketing gimmicks makes us ask ourselves 'do we love them enough if we don't buy them these expensive gifts'? Come on.... since when love started coming with a price tag. We don't need that expensive platinum ring or lavish dinner in 5 Star to know that we are loved, at the same time they (men) don't need that Tommy Hilfiger wallet or a useless diamond cuff ling to know that they are important to us.
Love is too big a flash in itself to need all this flashy stuff to prove itself. All it needs is a quiet walk, nice talk, a red rose and a pani puri treat. Or if you wanna spend more then maybe a McDonald's burger or a pizza (totally depending on her waistline though).
Well, don't take me wrong. I am not one of those anti V Day ones'. I am pretty romantic myself. It's the whole commercializing thing that agitates me. The time we spend looking out for the gifts, why can't we spend that time with them?

Have a happy, marketing free Valentine's Day....

The 'S' word

Standing in the midst of The Meenakshi Temple in Madurai, I was wondering, is this the same country I live in? Is this the same India or Bharat or Hindustan? whatever you call it.

The same country where walls of ancient temples are carved with nude Gods and Godesses, where one can see cave paintings depicting humans indulging the sacred act of reproduction i.e SEX. Why has this 3 letter word wrecked such a havoc in this country?


In India where population goes around 1.2 billion, we can't even utter the 'S' word.

Is it the same place where the famous Kamasutra was written? where people so openly worship the Shivalingam (for those who don't know, Shivalingam represents the male and female reproductive organs). So why is it that a filmmaker has to struggle forever to get a kissing scene passed through the censor board? why does a painter gets thrashed for painting nudes?

Do we have any idea where all this hypocrisy leads to? A confused generation. Can't we just accept the fact that people have sex in our country, before marriage or after marriage and then educate the younger generation rather than keeping it under covers and letting them explore it on their own. Be it the right way or wrong way?