Mandir ya Masjid? – How about Neither?!

Tomorrow is a big day for a lot of ardent believers and just another intimidating day for the rest of the country, as what ever the verdict of the respectable court, the outcome for the common man will still remain to be a creepy day. I am an ardent non believer who believes in a free nation, that we supposedly live in. My family would tell me not to get out of home as it concerns my security in case of any unforeseen violent outburst as a result of a pro hindu or pro muslim or even a tareek pe tareek kind of verdict. To add to the already sad driving experience on the dug up express ways we have across the city, (makes one wonder why the word ‘express way’ was ever used in context of Indian roads) there’s going to be slow moving traffic, high level checking and so on, to slow the pace of our lives and to make us even more furious.

It all started on a not so fine day in the history of India, when a lot of fervent heartless (I don’t know if I can call them sense less, it might demean the word sense) people (I don’t want to tag them as hindus or what ever, they don’t deserve to be tagged or known as hindu’s as well, cos I believe Hinduism didn’t teach them to do what they did and moreover it might increase the stigma among the hindu’s which they are already feeling for years I guess) demolished a Mosque which was built decades ago by some ruler. No matter it would have been the birth place of lord Ram, does that mean there cannot be a mosque or a church in the same place? Did they know for sure about lord ram’s thoughts and attitude towards Islam or about the existence or inexistence of a mosque in lord ram’s life time at Ayodhya? What these crooks did that day to this mosque was not just demolition of a building, but in fact was a grave act of breaking the law of the land, in terms of going against the constitution of the country which clearly talks about democracy and other such noble things to keep the people of the country as a single unit rather than warriors of various armies.

The mistake has been done, at some point by these so called pro ram’s birth place warriors and ‘may be’ at some point by the other sect if I can call them ‘pro revenge warriors’ wanting to have their mosque back at the disputed site. Where were these pro ram’s birth place warriors when this mosque stood tall for more than 300 years, were they busy researching the dna of lord ram to find out if he was born on that land? Even if a mosque was built on that land by a mughal in ram’s land, who says that it was wrong? Will it be a sin if I go to Vatican and build a temple in the same city? Or is it not possible for us to have a mosque at/ around the famous vaishnao devi mountain? Will having a mosque back at the disputed site relieve the muslims or will having a ram temple at the site peace the hindus? Is there no other piece of land in the country that could serve as a place of worship? Have our religions, no matter which one we believe in taught us that, god lives in our heart?

If one of these ardent groups had given up their ego, the country would have got out of this state of fear and done a lot of better things to the land of Ayodhya which has been deprived of a lot of other basic amenities due to the never ending dispute and fear of violence over the years. Can they both not come to a compromise by deciding to neither have a mosque nor a temple at the disputed site as it affects their livelihood and raises questions mark at their lives itself at times, as an eye for an eye always leads to at least one blind man. The respectable court should give a verdict that is neither pro hindu nor pro muslim, as that would make neither of them sad, cos this fight is not much to do with the existence of a mosque or a temple as I see it, it is more of an ego fight, an ego that would establish one superior over the other. A pro temple verdict would mean a defeat for the muslim’s and a pro mosque verdict would seem like a defeat for the hindu’s, which in reality is not (a defeat or a victory) to the larger section of both of these religions, except for a few thousand crooks.

To my opinion a right verdict for the disputed land would be the construction of a world class government school that provides education to the children of Ayodhya, who otherwise have been deprived of a lot of other things in life, right from their childhood and have lived around a lot of wrong influences and talks all through their lives so far. Only a school can put back their lives into right perspective, as the school can teach them the teachings of the religion of humanity, the foundation of our country, its constitution and concepts such as democracy, unity in diversity, and their fundamental rights (a lot of which they have been deprived off for quite some time now). This school could also have evening classes for the old and withered people, who have spent a large chunk of their lives fighting for their so called rights to have a temple or a mosque depending on which religion they belonged to. It could also work as a meeting point for these people to get back in touch with each others and shrug off their differences (if they as a group had any, cos of external pressure obviously). I think if things work out as I assume them to, things will not only fall back into place in Ayodhya, but also on a national level where the equation of love – hate had changed over a period of time as a consequence of the happenings at Ayodhya.

And to finally close my opinion box, I humbly plead and request all the political, religious and concerned parties, to save some ego for other issues and let the country get back into peace mode as we are already surrounded by larger than a temple-mosque ghost at a national level, in terms of naxals, terrorists and just to mention the CWG ghosts to be taken care of at the moment (I know I haven’t mentioned Kashmir, but that’s a different thing all together, again politically motivated, just like the Ayodhyan war).

Today’s Favorite Line(s) – Ram naam japna, paraya maal apna?!

                                     - I could never make it in politics... I spend too much of my own money.

Today’s Favorite Song – Allah ke bande (Kailash Kher)

P.S - This post hasn't been reviewed even once after writing, in a hurry to post it well before tomorrow's verdict, in case something is offending or not right as a fact, please ignore/forgive, I shall take a corrective action as soon as I can/ I am prompted!

With Best Compliments - Really?

Gifting is the one thing that we as humans have made a social habit, and of late it’s become more than just a habit. We tend to gift every possible person, on everyone other occasion and all kinds of things, irrespective of the fact that it makes any sense to the receiver or not.

It’s been quite some time since I have reduced (if not stopped) accepting gifts and  that, I have explicitly stated to those near and dear ones who care to go buy me a gift on some occasion or the other. This might sound a little sadistic but that’s how even I feel after I receive the gift and have to fake to the other person saying “Wow!!!! It’s awesome, exactly what I wanted!!” (Huh, each word was a lie there! more often than not). I got bad reactions from all the people whom I requested not to get me anything on my next birthday; they tried hard to persuade me to accept something, at least something just to make them feel good. But I fail to understand why something I don’t like accepting will make them feel good if I was important to them at the first place. For them it might be a formality or something but for me if I don’t like it or don’t want it, I mean it!

Now there might be a question in your mind, why would someone not like getting something from someone else, specially when it is given by a dear one and especially when it doesn’t cost anything (ha! It does matter ;)). The reason is simple or you can say obvious, over the years I have received tons of gifts from a wide range of people ranging from parents to cousins, friends to colleagues and complete strangers on various occasions. But more often than not I have not liked the gift I have received no matter how expensive or how good someone else must have thought it was. It could simply be because my choice is a little different than the buyer of that gift or because it really is not a good enough thing in someway or the other. It feels like such a burden to me at times that I feel like running away from such occasions or places where people bestow their wishes upon me with a gift that I am sure I might not like. It’s a burden in two ways, first that I have to accept the wonderful thing that the person has got for me and not use it ever as I never liked it, and next it’s a burden also cos now it would be my turn to get that someone something that might not disappoint him/her as it did me, cos I know I am bad at buying stuff according to others likes and I know that my choice is quite different from someone else’s choice to worsen my case.

I say all this without a percent of poignant feeling because it is what I feel, and who won’t feel this way when one receives only one of the few things consistently over the years. Things like coffee mug, photo frame, a set of headphones and the likes, not to mention clothes of size that don’t fit or color that doesn’t suit or books that I have already read or don’t like reading and the list can go on! If you were me, you would feel the same, what if you dint like to express it. At times to make the gift look better, they personalize the stuff to make it look special. One such instance was when a friend gifted a photo frame, with a photo in it that captured the two of us, now for heavens sake, I have a zillion photographs of mine with that friend and a lot of others both solo and in groups, if I wanna go in nostalgia its just a few clicks away, why waste a frame for it? I am not someone who’s gonna put up this frame on my study table or something for my family to pass a comment on it when ever they pass by it, I never put up a photo of them for that matter.

Irrespective of innumerable requests, people still tend to be so obsessed with the idea of gifting that they tend to ignore the importance of the person who is making a kind request for the benefit of both of them. If they are scared that I wont gift them back on their occasion cos I am not taking one, please don’t worry, I still will gift you in case you are interested, else I would be the first person to boycott this useless (if not at all times, at least in routine cases) ritual.

This might sound like a very strange kind of attitude but it’s the result of years of detest built up year over year by being at the wrong end of receiving. And in case you have ever gifted me before and figure one of those things you did gift in the above list, please don’t take it to your heart (instead take it to your head and please stop, at least now). Hope that’s the worst I can get at being rude on a large scale in a public forum about this (non) issue.

Today’s Favorite Line – They said ‘success is relative’, I asked ‘whose?’.

Today’s Favorite Song – Way back into love (Hugh Grant & Haley Bennett)

Cricket in the subcontinent lately

Cricket has been quite depressing lately both on and off the field.

Be it India losing to the Srilankan minnows playing without the mighty Murali but still being able to bundle out the long battling line up of India in no time (if the new kid in the block Mithun could hit a score close to 50, the batting line up could be called long I guess).

Or be it the most disappointing moment for a billion cricket followers (especially Sehwag followers), when Sehwag was denied of a century that he actually completed with all honesty (not to mention about the dishonest Suraj aka run and Dive into the sea bowler).

Or the spot fixing scam that has hit the already deep in trouble Pakistan cricket.

And of course I am not getting into the post IPL fights and controversies going on between the Governing council and the ‘main hoon Don’ Modi. Cos the moment one starts talking about the IPL fiasco the debate could go on for years (just like modi sent a 15000 page reply! that can’t be read in a decade I guess) without any result.

First things first, though India reached the finals of the tri series (with newzeland and srilanka), each one of us was very sure that India did not deserve the place in the finals but luck I shall call it, that it did make it to the final but as it was supposed to end, it did! India lost shamefully. The batting performance of the team was not just below par, it was plain simple pathetic. Except for ‘THE’ Sehwag who after quite some time has come into form in ODI’s, the rest of the team seemed to be playing cricket in their colonies, playing lousy shots trying to while away time with nothing else to do. There’s no doubt that we had the best team on field that we could have had (I know we can keep arguing on whom we could have included or excluded) as each member in the playing eleven had a considerable experience playing international cricket, so no doubt about their abilities but execution was something that looked alien to them. I don’t deem it important to comment much on the Indian bowling as that has never been something as interesting to talk about, it always has been the weakest area of the Indian team in the last few years (once a bowler does well in a series, the next thing that happens to him is injury and we don’t see him for months together or he just loses his natural good skill as he’s too flattered with the hype and money he gets to his share).

As I see it, cricket in India may soon lose its charm in the near future as team India continues to perform miserably, accusing the board of tight schedules at times and other things at other times, never getting to the core  problem which is inconsistency and lack of focus. With the world cup coming up, a first round exit would be the first of these shockers that we may have to face apart from the retirement of the Master Blaster and probably two other maestros of Indian batting The Wall and Mr. Elegance (VVS if u dint get it at once). The lesser I speak about the fall of Indian cricket at this moment; the better it would be for me! ;)

It’s not a bit exciting to even think of the condition Pakistan cricket is in today. They can’t play the game against any cricketing country on their own field (I doubt if they get to do it themselves at all?) That’s just the tiniest of the problems for them at this moment. Not to forget the recent banning of ‘a lot’ of senior players for various periods in different cases and then revoking the ban on some of them and getting them back to the team instantly and just to mention, the drug abuse of two leading bowlers a few years back was like just not enough. Pakistan cricket looks nothing more than a comedy show on the television, every day you switch the television on, it reaches a new high in getting into trouble. The spot fixing report is told to be just a mole in the mountain.

In the last one year or so they have had at least 4 captains representing the national team in different tournaments and formats, with infighting being one of the major reasons of the teams’ problems. No one now wants to play cricket with them, English players in someway or the other are showing their disinterest in playing any further cricket against them in the near future at least (not to forget the world cup is just a few months away!). And as a result of the recent spot fixing allegations, a few player sponsors have immediately indicated their fear of not being in a position to sponsor these players anymore keeping in mind their own brand values. A situation where all the major sponsors call off their sponsorship deals with Pakistan cricket is not a very callous prediction to make I believe. If that happens, I don’t see Pakistan cricket getting back on its feet on the cricket field, not to forget there might be much more that could still happen to Pakistan cricket in the coming days keeping in mind how PCB is dealing with ICC lately.

Nothing is exciting talking about cricket in the Indian subcontinent at the moment, just hoping that the Champions League brings some excitement back to the otherwise gloomy outlook towards cricket.

Today’s Favorite Line – Only those who seek shall find

Today’s Favorite Song – Man Lafanga (Lafangey Parindey)

Common Wealth Games – India bula liya

The most upsetting coverage on all forms of media in the last 6 months has been on the preparation levels of India for the Common Wealth Games (CWG). The negative marketing of the CWG has gone down to an extent that a huge chunk of the population has started to believe that India should never have taken up the responsibility of conducting such a gigantic event when we knew we don’t have any experience or expertise to do the same. In fact a lot of experts and amateurs have gone down to say that CWG is nothing but a quick way of wasting thousands of crores of public money, that would do no good to the population at large, in no ways except for may be a few desperately made unfit stadiums (called ‘world class’ by them selves to give it that feeling at least for name sake) and more damage of infrastructure and chaos in daily life for ‘delhiites’ for close to half a decade now in the name of development which is yet to be seen in shape.

Now I guess its time we did some damage control and focused on certain face saving events rather than reporting and promoting the other not so happening things about the games(though the fact would remain that a lot of things are not right, agreed!! But they will never be at least for these games). Now this is a genuinely concerned citizen’s appeal that instead of beating the trumpets against our own people and events, lets try and stick to the fact that this event is some thing that may either bring the country laurels or might shatter the chances of the country having any image with regard to conducting any major event (not specific to sports alone) ever again.

No matter how bad the progress of the infrastructure development projects is, no matter how ugly the organizing committee and other contractors have gotten in the process of making the CWG happen (both in terms of corruption and bureaucracy), no matter how much money has already been wasted, no matter how good or bad our own athletes are, no matter how miserable life for a delhiite has become, no matter how good you expected the theme song to be and how Rahman may have disappointed the country at that Cost. Let’s just understand one thing; this is an event that our country has promised the world that it would host & conduct to the best of its abilities by making available all kinds of world class facilities both for the athletes and for the spectators who’ll be visiting our country to witness the mega event.

So let’s just stick to this particular thought and support the cause for the country in whatever fair way that we can. If that requires us to be spectators on television or on field as per our convenience, or if that requires us to stop reporting/promoting all the shortcomings till the games are over and done with, let’s make sure we don’t do it till the closing ceremony. Now, when I say that we should not promote or report the shortcomings during the course of the preparation and conducting of events, I mean it to be paused for a while and not for ever. Do all the accusing and pinpointing the day after the games are over.

Once the games are done and completed successfully (at least to say so), open up all the files of shortcomings and corruption and catch each of the culprits by their collar and take them to task, no one is going to stop you or the care takers of law. But until that time, just keep a track of everything, so that you can open the Pandora of complaints when it won’t hurt the country’s image. It does not make sense to take them to task now, as these are the people who know the event and the plans of its conducting in and out, if they are taken to task now, the progress of the preparation for the event and its smooth conducting will fall in to jeopardy. So let the goons make merry while we worry about the country’s reputation. Once the country’s obligation is taken care of, then we can reward these goons aptly. Till then lets just follow the lyrics of the theme song of CWG ‘rukna rukna rukna nahi, harna harna harna harna, harna nahi’. Because, ‘O yaaron. Ye India bula liya!’

Today’s Favorite Line – Have faith, when you have nothing else!!

Today’s Favorite Song – Lehrein (Aisha)