harsh in kinesphere

At a first glance he’s just a normal individual- simply boring. But he is just like everyone else, only less weird probably coz no one snorts as loud as him while laughing. He is on his way home, heading to the bus stop at Borivali station and suddenly he is caught unawares by this guy who’s selling what looks like an electric racquet.

Being abnormally patient he is, he listening to what the hawker has to say and show but in his mind he has already bought the contraption. He clutches it as he is thinking about the cheapest source of entertainment he’s bought himself, he just can’t help but smile while the overcrowded bus strains itself as it makes its way along its route.

Weeks have gone by. And almost everyone can hear the zapping from flat no.302. This is the place where the humble, docile looking guy is transformed into a monster by medieval standards. His alter ego takes over the moment he sees a mosquito, going for the electric swatter like a rajput going for his sword. Don’t know why but he feels happy when he sees the mosquitoes being burnt alive, 2000V being delivered through their bodies.

He’s definitely lost himself to the dark side; he can’t help the compulsion to ‘patrol’ his house in search of new prey……….

………..And somewhere far far away a conspiracy theorist is going through his work. He never trusted the government, ‘these swatters are illegal ‘he says to himself, as he reads a report about people becoming sadists after their obsession to see insects being zapped by the swatters took a whole new meaning.

Animal rights? ……eh??

India with its ever growing billions is probably the last place on earth for animal rights activism coz traveling in a local train is a possible human rights violation by global standards. But thanks to honorable Mrs. Maneka Gandhi, who opposes any government’s decision for dealing with stray dogs is what Peta and Animal rights has been reduced to.

When anyone is asked if they love animals, majority of the times “yes I love animals and I make it a point to feed strays whenever I can” is the reply. Enter 21^st century India, with its ‘instant’ lifestyle where an Instant good deed is the newest fad. They are practically everywhere, one stays in my building and generously gathers about 15 strays from the locality and feeds them every single day ( one may wonder why he is still single, now that’s a tough one)

Its just one of those days when u can think of million places where you can be, that day of the week, which in the history of most boring days is at the top of the list(as yet). The entire space surrounding you is supersaturated with boredom. The entire batch is dead ( atleast they wish they were) resembling the zombies from resident evil movies, even the teacher’s pets who appeared to be interested have thrown in the towel and stopped asking stupid questions.

There is an eerie silence in the room (except for the humming of the air conditioners who make it the best place to catch the zzzs) , which normally any professors would long for, broken by the professors occasional infuriating comment like, “It doesn’t require this much time” and everybody in the lab divert their blank gazes away from the computer screens, looking at the son of Satan (S.O.S) for the blasphemy. As even the he knows that nothing worthwhile can be acquired from the bunch at this time of the day. At his table he is secretly looking at the watch himself, wishing the hands could turn a bit faster. Its days like these that make him regret his decision of taking up lecturing as a profession.

Not knowing what to do and not having any interest to do anything brings us to this situation. Top it up with the professor who is delivering nothing but lullabies, despite of his apparent attempts to do his best. Forget talking during the practicals, even looking at your friends computer screen unleashes the wrath of the S.O.S accompanied with taunts like- “how did u ever get in BE?? This was already done in the lower semesters” and you just sit there, so desperate that you will even try jumping out of the lab window just to get the hell out. You are mindlessly exploring the network, not because you are searching something, but you can’t bear to do what he says anymore. You come across a folder titled ‘flash’, opening it is just a reflex. Suddenly you are happy.. You must be smiling; an entire folder of flash games seems like a sign. The guy upstairs is watching and can’t bear to see you like this. Time just flies away.

The bell rings, the entire batch has been given the kiss of life, its over.

Everyone is rushing for their bags. Wanting to escape from the torture chamber, everybody is in a hurry. Just as everyone is making their way out, he calmly says “we will continue next time” , there is nothing you can do, you just remember the computer you were at.

Yes, we all know that orkut is probably the biggest thing that happened to youngsters in India since… I don’t know….. porn!!!! But this craze has given rise to peculiar problem of its own. I don’t know why people are sooo excited and enthusiastic about adorning their profiles with freaky one liners like ‘U may rock, but I always rule!’ and ‘Friendship is my life’ (aaargh) may be it’s the realization of being totally inhibited and getting away with it.. what’s more annoying is that these people have a separate grammar and spellings, customized to suit their needs.

I genuinely have to sit back and think for a minute or two when some guy writes ‘Yo maan ,… wazzap??’, apart from the confusion of why that person is reenacting the newest Mortein commercial online and ‘is this the same guy I know from somewhere’ I try to be as normal as possible while replying to such scraps while the part of me is screaming to just cut the crap out!!!! What’s even more surprising is that the same guy would probably say “ I am a Cancerian’ when asked if he was a virgin.

The internet is like that, it is an arena for not being inhibited and showing off how ‘cool’ u really are, it’s a place where people brag about themselves or try to be the next Soparrkar . but the least those guys can do not listen to the voices in their head while typing and have mercy.

The political arena probably has a mouthful to chew-on, maybe because it’s the first time in history when a ‘insignificant’ political party has managed to gain nationwide attention. Such is the magnitude of the furore, that if you want to be beaten-up, just wear a MNS flag bearing shirt, and that will be it!

The commoner UPite was mercilessly thrashed, by a mob( lets not get into who they were , for a moment). The SP leaders are somewhat responsible for the cabbies’ plight but no one would have predicted that things would take a violent turn. The SP leaders did give some derogatory remarks hinting how they play politics in their homeland.

Raj Thakrey’s cause is not fiction, the localite of maharashtra does face a lot of hardship from the lobbyists when venturing into a ‘non-marathi’ sector. But targeting solely the UPites and the Biharis is wrong. The Marathi population in Mumbai has virtually downsized to 30%, its not playing with the statistics but a hard fact. The ‘Marathi manoos’ is finding it difficult to find a foothold and call the place his own. The Mumbaikar is being driven out of Mumbai. Say this and they will slap the same old clause from the Indian constitution about ’Freedom of movement’, but not on the expense of localites, that’s what the sub-clause states. Looking at the current scenario, the infrastructure etc that can be offered by the BMC for Mumbai is definitely insufficient, since everyday Mumbai is flooded with ‘outsiders’ (very inflammatory term, yet openly used) by the train-full. What is the NCP, Sena doing?? The point is a valid one, and its time the Marathi population forget that they are maharashtrians and stand together as one. Everyone is in a fix whether to grant support and be termed as spoilt sports who play dirty politics (but that’s what goes on during the election in other states- my caste vs yours scenario) or simply shoot down the entire issue as baseless. Some type of monitoring is necessary or else we better start finding a place for the Hutatma chowk part2.

The MNS did succeed in polarizing the entire population of Mumbai to the extent that people got down to counting the North-indian vs Marathi voter population. Many do suspect that the chain of events are meant to lay a foundation on which the portfolio will be built for the distant elections. MNS did get political mileage as now it is seen as a potent political party which CAN make a difference. It may be a stunt no one knows other than the man himself.

Has the feeling of being an Indian lost????

Is this is what the jawans at the border fighting for?

Maybe we ought to look above for answers.

Politics evolves, that’s what some people say. I started believing it too, especially after reading some of the events in the papers or the ‘merchants of death’ remark by some party during the Gujarat elections. The series of events, the debates that raged on weeks and the entire speculation was very … entertaining yet thought provoking to say the least.

Thought provoking because both the parties involved had something to say about the opponent’s statement. No one, not even the media bothered to highlight that everyone was just busy fighting over the remark (lets not get into whether it was made or not!!). The portfolio was literally thrown out of the window. Nobody wanted to know what work the candidates were going to do if they were elected.

Perhaps there was nothing to be offered! May be Gujarat is at the pinnacle of development and there is nothing the politicians can do to stop its progress! Or may be the state is lying in a abyss and they don’t know from where to begin! Whatever the case, the option chosen by the politicos is definitely admirable. Whoever thought of using ‘merchants of death’ as the keyword of the elections is a sheer genius! He must have gauged the situation, ‘since the public is already bored with the politicos promising blab la…, the only way to spice up the situation is using something the opposition said!’

Nonetheless, it was the feast for the news channels, people ought to be jumping with joy in their offices as they finally had something to chew on.

This is what politics had evolved into, Diversion tactics!

Remember the ‘bhoomi putra’ campaign that was started by the Shiv-sena some years back? What happened to that? Sure some guys were beaten-up and I even remember that when it was doing the rounds there were people/parties that suggesting amendments in the constitution! Or reservation for locals!

These topics are seasonal. It’s only a matter of time when some Bangladeshis get beaten this time!

If there was a manual that taught how to go about in politics; the following sentence would be written in bold in case there is an emergency

Just divert the public eye away from the grey areas to something made-up or of utmost importance, caution: plan may backfires!

The same old urban story…. couples go out to a New Year bash, party till late night, have a good time, head home after the party is over. But that’s not it!!

You know what I am talking about; if not then u r too happy in your own little world, so don’t bother!

The stories have been doing rounds of almost all the media available. On every channel the horrendous acts are repeatedly shown through the photographs taken by couple of reporters who were near by. Sure the photos do account for evidence, but the television channels should do more than blurring the faces of the victims and reporting the ire of the cops who refused to lodge a complaint because ‘the victims had to catch a flight back home’. I am not going to say, ‘oh how shameful!!’ or ‘mumbai is not what it used to be anymore!!’ coz I believe that we should already be past the mourning phase after infamous marine drive rape case. The news channels should stop restating the time, date, occasion and god know what trivial details of such cases. They should also stop bombarding their reporters (who fan out in all the directions possible to get a new ‘angle’ in the case) with questions like ‘jab ye ghatana hui tab aap udhar hi the. To kya aap bata sakte hai ki kya ho raha tha??)……they focus more on the act and the statistics rather than the course of action taken by the authorities. Simply interviewing the victim’s friends and asking them again and again ‘what happened?’ and ‘what do they feel?’ all this is victim centered. The victims deserve more secrecy and protection. So just flashing the graphic images of the barbarous act and just describing what happened to them after that is not enough.

They need to handle such cases very carefully; they ought to pressure the government that is certainly not very difficult, courtesy the nationwide coverage. Also public opinion is a sure shot way of getting things done from the government. Ask the people what needs to be done to curb such crimes, make a television guidebook, and showcase some defensive measures that could be taken.

Ask for public opinions I’d say, but they’d rather ask ‘who are you going to vote for in the nach baliye3 finals ???!!!’

Is any one listening?

Ps: everybody knows that I’ll be a matter of days till the steam runs out and news channels find something else.. .. but doesn’t everyone deserve a follow-up???