Repeat of "AND INDIA WINS!!!"

So I am thrilled that we won against the Aussies. There's something about a World Cup which just cannot be explained, understood or replicated. I LOVE it. And I genuinely wanted to write something about the win, about how I hope we beat Pakistan on Wednesday (pleaseeeeeeee God!), about cricket and Indians in general, maybe even my favourite cricket memories of all time. But I somehow lack the skill, at this point of time. So let me post an old piece, which I wrote circa 2007, when India beat Pakistan in the T20 World Cup finals. It's a match I can never ever forget, for the sheer enjoyment and warm fuzzy feelings that it generated. I hope I feel the same on Wednesday- I hope the heavens above are listening to this plea :)
(This piece might come across as the work of a hyperactive, high-on-drugs/alcohol type of person, but you HAVE to understand- I was very excited. Like VERY)

******
WHAT a match!!! rocking, brillant, spell binding, nerve wracking, nail biting- i just run out of adjectives...i dont remember the last time, i screamed and shouted and literally lived a match..the combination was absolutely lethal; hostel common room, around 30-40 mad crazy paranoid girls, india-pakistan cricket match, world cup final...there was no way this match could have been watched with sophistication. So gaalis flew casually and as each ball was bowled, there were screams and shouts. During the indian innings, each ball was followed by a "HIT IT!!! FOUR...SIX...maaaaarrrrrrooooooooooooooo", and during the pakistani innings, each ball was followed by a "PAKDOOOOOOOO....WICKEEETTTTT....DOT BALL!!"....(of course there were loads of other things, which absolutely cannot be mentioned here)

some of my favourite moments:

1) One of the girls came in halfway through the indian innings and india was really struggling at that point. So everyone forced her to go and change into her pink nightgown, which she had worn during the india-australia match and which proved 'lucky'. So after MUCH coercion, she did go and change...and the pink nightgown proved to be lucky once more! so needless to say, its going to be a permanent fixture during cricket matches now!

2) the run out; literally it came out of nowhere...and it was absolutely amazing!!! (Who was this? I have nooo idea now!)

3) shahid afridi's wicket; OH MY GOD! from the very beginning of the pakistani innings, everyone was damn scared and everyone kept on chanting "shahid afridi duck out...shahid afridi duck out" and the first ball was a wide. so joginder sharma was screamed and shouted and sweared at. and THEN came the magical 'going to be a six' shot which turned out to be a catch and THAT was a time, when half the girls jumped from their seats and just JUMPED around!!! (including yours truly)

4) bhajji's charitable sixes: SUICIDE!!! sheer suicide!!! god that man was screamed at and murdered a million times in those three balls and that was the time when everyone said "gone...gone gone gone" this followed by sreesanth's 2 sixes...depression took over the common room

5) mizbah's wicket: one of the girls hated mizbah from the time he came up to bat...every time he would bat she would say "out ho jaaa...ho jaaa naaaaa"...and everytime a pakistani wicket wud fall, she wud say "mizbah hai na? mizbah out ho gaya?" and would be utterly disappointed when told otherwise...and all of us were absolutely convinced that he wud NOT get out till the end...and when he hit that weirdest shot (it was absolutely so twisted), everyone's eyes were just fixed on the ball and everyone chanted "pakad le...pakad le" and THEN that glorious moment when sreesanth caught it- the common room positively erupted and hell broke lose! 40 girls running around, dancing, jumping around, hugging whoever they cud see...aaahhhhh! (I remember this- one of life's favourite moments)
it reminded me of the part in hp3 when gryffindor wins the quidditch cup and harry thinks "i wish there were dementors here right now, i could have conjured up the best patronus"

of course it was only after the match and the presentation ceremony that all the girls realized that dinner time was long gone and when we reached the mess it was closed...so we went to the guard to get the key and after much coercion, he gave it and the girls entered the mess in a line singing this random song which was apparently being played on the radio dhoni ke lambe lambe baal, dhoni ki sexy sexy chaal...dhoni dham dhama dham...ho dhoni dham dhama dham...you get the picture...

so my throat is completely gone, i was utterly exhausted from all the screaming, shouting and jumping around...but it was just sooooooooo totally worth it!!!

Right to live = Right to die?

Aruna Shaunbag was 24 years old. She was in an honourable profession- nursing. She was due to be married in a month. Life would have been normal, ordinary- just like it has been for many women before her, and will be for many women for centuries to come.
Except some sick man decided to ruin all that. He strangled her with a dog chain and sodomized her. And her life paused. Not ended- but paused.
The man who did this horrid act, was freed after 7 years. Because none of the doctors confirmed that there was sexual assault. 7 years was the price he paid for a crime he committed. 37 years of lying in a vegetative state is the price Shaunbag paid (and continues to pay), for no fault of hers.

The SC announced its verdict on a petition filed by author/activist Pinki Virani (who incidentally has written "Bitter Chocolate"- a book which tore my heart and soul apart when I read it as a 19 year old). They rejected her petition which sought to end Shanbaug's life so that she may not suffer the indignity of the life she's been leading.

Euthanasia is a sensitive topic world over. Out of the almost 200 countries in the world, a handful have legalized it, including only three states in the USA. Multiple debates, arguements, pros and cons have been discussed and analyzed over and over again. But nothing seems to have come out of it...and in all probability, nothing will. Because it is not about an aspect of life- like gay marriages. It is about life itself.
Personally, I don't have an opinion about mercy killing. It is way too complex and layered for me to form a judgement or a definite perspective about it. But one thing I am certain about- it should never ever be legalized in India. In a country where integrity is cheaper than luxury cars and designer clothes, euthanasia will for certain be misused. The best thing the Supreme Court can ever do for this country is never to make mercy killing 'ok'.
I also don't have an opinion about the SC's verdict. One part of me feels they could have taken some pity on the woman and just ordered the doctors to 'passively' kill her. Yet on another level, I think it was completely fair, and they did the best they could.

But there is something so incredibly sad about the whole case. I was pretty neutral about the whole situation and gave it no more than 10 minutes of my time each day while reading the newspaper, till the day I saw that she was 24 when the incident happened. And something about that fact, made me look at the case in a whole new light. It hit me, that no matter what the verdict is, or could have been or should have been, at the end of the day- that 24 year old is lost forever. Her dreams, her aspirations, her goals, her future, will forever remain unknown. An entire life has been wasted.

Maybe it's because I just turned 24, and most of my friends/acquaintances are around that age.
Maybe it's because I am a girl, and this case is a reminder of just how vulnerable a woman is, regardless of who she is, or where she is.
Maybe it's because I suddenly feel the need to value every second of my existence, and pray that nothing remotely close to this ever happens to anyone, ever again.

But I hope Aruna Shaunbag gets her justice. In some way or the other. It's the least life owes to her.

Of the two movies I have loved

For someone who is a self-confessed movie buff, I have been really terrible at seeing movies for the past so many months. The last movies i saw were inception (awesome!) and i hate luv storys (ummm...extremely blah, but i guess it was ok). Which is just sad if you think about it.

So breaking this self imposed strike-on-movies, i saw two movies within the last ten days. Both, I had wanted to see desperately since i had heard about them. Both, I had heard were FAB. and both i was extremely anxious about disliking, since i had such immense expectations.

You know what? I absolutely LOVED both of them- they have practically nothing in common except the fact that they are both movies! but one thing, which i really enjoyed about both, is that they were so relatable- in very different ways of course.

So first up: THE SOCIAL NETWORK- its about facebook- and being the fb junkie that i am, i think I am morally obliged to love it :) The whole process of how he came up with the concept, and the way the entire journey was chronicled- sheer awesomeness! To think, the movie is about the making of a website- and how interesting was it! The characterizations were so brilliant, and as my cousin said "you actually feel bad for the so called bad guys". So many scenes were just sooo cool- how zuckerberg comes up with the relationship status thing, how his friend's girlfriend fights with him over the status- "do you really expect me to believe that the cofounder of facebook doesnt know how to change his relationship status?" hahahahaha! one of my favourite scenes was the one where zuckerberg is 'interviewing' candidates- i don't know how faithful that was to reality, but such a cool scene! It was an absolutely riveting movie, and one which touches you, amazes you...and perhaps makes you love that thing called facebook so much more :)

Now comes the movie, the mere mention of which brings a huge grin on my face: BAND BAAJA BAARAT- i hereby pronounce it as my favouritest movie since Jab We Met (yes it's THAT good!) it is the very reason which people watch movies- it makes you laugh, touches your heart, makes you identify with the characters...and has you rooting for all that the movie is about. But above all, its very honest. It's a word i have perhaps never used for any movie till date, but thats what it is. I loved the way Delhi was captured in the city- I think it's the best portrayal of the city EVER. BBB doesn't show the Delhi of Khan market, Select city walk, CCDs, Baristas, five star hotels or page 3 parties or horse races (as Aisha did...ughhhh!) No, BBB doesn't show the "chic" part of Delhi (well, not much anyway!) It shows the Delhi of Janakpuri, of the red brick buildings of DU colleges, of U-specials, of weddings which have the same punjabi songs (irrespective of the community to which the people actually belong), of jhintak-ness, of bread pakoras and chai, of people who use words like "bhukkad", of boys who cant speak english to save their lives and ladaku girls, who are ready to take over the world. The sheer Delhi-ness of the movie is so endearing, so relatable, that its hard not to fall in love with every bit of BBB. Ranveer Singh was such a star...stole the show completely- its impossible to believe that this guy is not from saharanpur, or that he doesnt talk in broken english in real life. Anushka was incredibly natural, and looked so pretty, despite the glam quotient being so low. In fact, every single character is so well etched, so finely portrayed- it makes you feel that perhaps, you have met them somewhere. I saw the movie twice in a span of 3 days, and it was soooo much fun the second time around...i suspect its all im going to be seeing for a while ;)

So despite this fantabulous movie watching experiences, I am going to steer clear of movies for a while. After all, anything I might see for a while now, has to compete with the brilliance of Social Network and BBB- and that is a tough act to follow ;)

Swades

I had full plans to write one of those "mera bharat mahaan", steeped-in-patriotism type of post for the republic day. And i just might some day...but today is not it. And here is why.
On the occasion of our nation's 62nd republic day, the family decided to go to the nearby temple town of vrindavan. Religious sentiments to be evoked, you would think, NOT patriotic ones. Keep reading.

The outskirts or the entry of vrindavan could pass off as the outskirts of any big city in the country. the roads are wide, there are new apartment buildings, with a whole small town kind of ambience. Very earthy, in a sense. There is the ISKCON temple right at the entry, which as anyone who has ever visited an ISKCON temple would tell you, is a very well maintained, "oozing of money" place and overall a very pretty looking complex. The fragrance of roses is overpowering (in a nice way) and the temple is such that it invites you inside.
We went to the Rang ji temple first, in a fatfati type auto. The temple was old, and wouldn't get brownie points for maintenance of the temple structure, but the complex was nice and huge and nothing really alarmed the senses. All was well up till now.
Then came the reason why I was inspired to write this post- the Banke Bihari temple. The auto dropped us at the end of a seemingly endless maze of small galis and we were instructed to walk through those to get the main temple. And walk we did. I don't think I am going to forget those 10 minutes of walking down to the temple, in a looooong time. The reason, in one word- filthy.
Now, I am not really much of a "cleanliness" freak or 'snob' when it comes to travelling. As in, of course i like perfectly clean and hygienic conditions, and all that...but i think im pretty ok with adjusting to not so clean environments. And having travelled quite a bit in India, i would say i have seen a wide variety of conditions, so nothing can really affect me too much. Or so i thought.
The route to the banke bihari mandir was easily, by far, the filthiest condition i have EVER seen. For the past one week since I got back, I have been trying to explain to people the exact vision, and no words have been able to justify that experience. There were pigs, there were people doing their "business", there were food stalls and the garbage was all over the place- all in a short distance of 200-300 metres. After that hell-ish walk, we reached the temple, practically got killed in a stampede (the topic of another post perhaps), and walked back through the same route to our auto. It was a relief to see normal roads, and 'civilization' again. But i couldn't get over those streets. And melodramatic as it may sound, it haunts me. Not the dirt, or the fact that a place of religion and faith was located amongst such filth- although that did bother me tremendously.

The thing which haunts me is that vrindavan, in its entirety, represented precisely what was wrong with this country we call motherland. We pay so much attention to the outer appearances of our cities and towns, but give a damn to what they really are on the inside. We build high rises, and fancy residential areas, and swanky malls filled with all the brands known to mankind. But that's not us! That is just us, trying hard to be like the rich nations, trying to ignore our real issues, our real problems. The Delhi government built state-of-the-art beautiful stadiums during the CWG, but hid the slums and the makeshift houses of construction workers by planting HUGE billboards in front of them. And then promptly removed them once the 'guests' were gone. And this is right in the capital of the largest democracy of the world, a so-called developing nation. To use an extremely superficial analogy, its like a fat person trying to hide their weight by dressing in the right colours and fits. It would work to give a thin appearance for a while, but eventually, the weight will show.

People in the cities would look at all the world rankings of poverty, human development, and wonder why we rank so low. Why, despite "sooooo much of economic growth and blah blah" do we fall lower in all these indices, year after year? It is because our policy makers, lack a collective integrity. Rather, as a society we lack a sense of integrity, a sense of duty. Things like corruption, "adjust kar le yaar", "manage ho jaayega", "koi farak nahin padta"...they are part of our DNA.
And unless we change our DNA, unless we do something drastic, the cities will keep getting richer, and more posh. But the streets of small town India would remain the same.

The last one of the year

I have been meaning to do a year end post for a while, and was putting it off till the last day (i.e. today the 31st) just in case...you know, if something happened at the last minute which would completely change the way I see the whole of this past year. Nothing of that sort happened...thank god :) It's extremely uncool that i was supremely busy the entire day and thus cant do total justice to this post. But i shall try my best.

2010- WOW! it has been, i think, one of the BESTEST years of my life in totality. Not only did supremely cool and awesome things happen- coming 2nd in JNU twice, the NET-JRF, driving (I drive absolutely kickass now btw...the post on driving came a bit too soon!), the awesome love story (which I admit I am partial to because I knew all the possible details!)- but it was also a year, where nothing horrible happened. I think the combination of the two just makes this the best year ever.

It was a year of many many family reunions, of strengthening old friendships and forming some new ones. It was a year of many successes and of feeling pride in my own existence. It was a year of travel, of discovering and rediscovering some places. It was a year of much joy and of a million memories. It has been a year which I will always look back at fondly, and feel proud of.

For the first time ever, I don't want a year to end. It feels like everything of the past year will be wiped clean, and I am extremely nervous about what kind of a year 2011 will be. It promises to be an eventful year- people very close to me are getting married, career-related decisions which could prove to be instrumental in shaping who 'I' become eventually, and I am sure many more things will crop up. I hope 2011 carries with it, some of the happiness, and some of the goodness from this year...and I sincerely hope and pray that it betters 2010 in every which way.

As the twin once said "May astrology, numerology and psychology work in our favour this year!" Happy new year everyone!

Kismat Connection

They call it "Lady Luck".

I couldn't agree more. Luck has to be a woman. It is erratic, weird, moody, temperamental, spontaneous, surprising and unexpected in a way, which the male species can never ever comprehend, let alone be.

My faith in luck and its twin, destiny, has always been pretty solid. Even at a young age, bogged down by life in general, I knew instinctively, that there has to be a greater plan for my life; a plan which went beyond the minute and seemingly irrelevant details of daily life. As time went on, and I grew up (dont i sound old?) lady luck's ways began to amaze me. There have been people, whose presence I couldn't comprehend at that time, or perhaps never even paid attention to, who have shaped my life in ways which I never thought was possible. Split second decisions which have at times turned out to be the best, and at times the worst, decisions of my life- ultimately shaping the person I am today.
Not to discount the power of human agency- one can overcome many an adversity by sheer willpower, and motivation. But thats just it- what decides where that willpower should be put to use? what decides when hard work will yield the results it is supposed to?
Our choices determine to a large extent who we are, what we become, and how we deal with the world- but what determines which choices works for us, and which doesnt? All this is way too complex to just leave to the word "co-incidence".

Why this sudden discourse on the relevance of luck and destiny? Well, I have recently been an e-witness to one of the best love stories which one can possibly hear, one which has got everything which a rom-com/chick flick aims to have- there's a childhood element, facebook and gtalk (my absolute favourites!), and love which is going to culminate in marriage soon. But most importantly, this love story, is rooted so deeply in destiny, that one cant help but say "its like...it was meant to be!" Love stories are awesome to hear, especially real life ones, but ones like this make you believe, reaffirm your faith in humanity and the powers to be, and everything nice and happy.

Any more justifications on why luck has to be a woman?

***I would like to dedicate this post to all those lovely people who have been pestering me to blog. Please comment so that i know you have read it! And also a special mention to the hero and the heroine of the love story- i have no idea whether you guys will read it (i will try to bully you into it though!)- you guys have made a cynic believe, and i love you for that!***

The many facets of personal space

I knew a person, not long ago, who always made a big deal out of getting personal space- "don't call me for a week, I'll contact you when I need to speak to you" type of behaviour. Before knowing this person, and facing certain life experiences, I never really thought much about this whole concept in a serious way.

Personal space is supremely important...I think we all need time in our lives to think about ourselves, and the world...and life in general. There are times when we're super bugged with humanity in general and just want to be. And we need this sometimes within the privacy and comfort of our own homes. I know of friends who stay in joint families, and I can understand just how difficult it is to be surrounded by people like all the time. I myself live in a semi-joint family type set up, so on a certain level, I relate to those issues. Family is supremely important, and I love mine to death- but there are times, when you just want to be by yourself, think about past/present/future, obsess about your day by yourself, deal with your little successes and failures on your own terms...just hang out with your own soul. We all need that.

I lived in a hostel for 2 years, and trust me when I say this, that nothing teaches you more about this whole notion of personal space than communal living. You literally live 24/7 with people who you are not related to, and who are not in any way obliged to love and tolerate you unconditionally. There is a constant struggle to find space and time for yourself amidst all the noise and commotion, and all those intermingled lives...its insane.
One thing which I learnt in those two years, was that its not just a challenge to get your own personal space in such situations, its also a herculean task to give it to others, especially those who you feel close to. It is very easy to prod and bug and question incessantly about what X did, why do you do this Y...its very easy to nag and invade privacy. What is difficult, is to give the other person time to figure out what he/she wants to share, while showing that you, at the end of the day, care about that person. Its a tightrope, with a risk of being labelled indifferent on one hand, and interfering on the other. There is also the whole deal of knowing when to ignore people's pleas of "Leave me alone!" when you know better- that leaving them alone would just lead to more problems; as opposed to actually leaving them alone when they ask (or sometimes don't ask) for it. In fact, it is at times easier to deal with people who you really don't care much for; you don't need to know what they did, and they don't need to know what you did...and life's good.

As if life wasn't complicated enough!