wtf – The Vidyarthi

Bahu Do Vote Lo!

March 16, 2014March 16, 2014 kvLeave a comment

(Image Courtesy : Khabarmantra)

I came across this bizarre article yesterday. While it is meant to be hilarious, it actually is woefully sad. It’s sad because it exposes the way people think. I mean you are going to vote for the candidates who gets a bride for you, your son or your brother while on the other hand you abet and practice female infanticide at such a frivolously huge rate that your sex ratio has reached 879. Its the height of hypocrisy. No one is ready to feed, educate and raise a girl but when your boy grows up to 25 you demand a beautiful girl for him to get hitched, and that too from politicians in return for your vote. Yes, I know the demand is a sarcastic one, but the truth of the scenario is that this problem is a very real one. The unfortunate and sad thinking that the girl child is burden is the major reason behind the rampant female infanticides and which in turn is the cause for this bleak number of 879 females per 1000 males.

I remember that when I was in college I watched the movie Matrubhoomi which simply rattled me and (I hope) so many others who watched it. At that time, I believed the situation depicted in the movie as extremely fictitious and far-fetched but (just read the news) now I think the days shown in Matrubhoomi aren’t far at all.

Female infanticide is rampant. Atrocities against women make the news everyday (and many more do not). Khap-panchayats and similar entities remain on a couple killing spree. While blaming women and their dressing sense for the monstrous number of rapes, people are still forgetting to teach their sons respect for women. How did the people who trace their origin to Adi Shakti (the supreme female deity) reach such a sad state of mind is an enigma. The most disturbing thing is that even the gentry and the so called ‘well-read’ people of India suffer from the same debilitating state of mind.

Something has to be done. Mr. Bhagwat will say that India has to return to its moral roots of Hinduism, while fake seers like Asaram will tell you to keep calling your assailant brother, but know this my sisters of India you are alone and will have to fend for yourself come what may. Its sad but I think its the truth of the situation until something changes drastically.

What do you think can be done by the common Indian?

If Only…

July 18, 2010July 19, 2010 kvLeave a comment

Things change so dramatically, sometimes in a blink of an eye, sometimes before even you could think a thing. Today its exactly a year hence and some change or another had to be there, but a change of this nature and this proportion was something that I never expected nor a thing that I ever imagined. And today, I feel so strange, so very strange.

Every year on the 18th of July, right from 2006 we went for a franctic search for a suitable gift for Chotu as his birthday would be at the brink…looked for it at so many places, so many shops, and then finally settled every time for a box of Ferrero Rocher and a book or a game CD (pirated of course!!). But it’s not the case today. This time there’s no box of Rocher, no book, no CD, no expectations of a great card, nothing at all. One single incident took away so many things from so many lives…God! Sometimes it feels like blasphemy even to think that it was the work of the almighty, ever kind, the Lord God of ours.

If things weren’t like what they are at present, i.e. if everything were normal i.e only if he had worn a helmet that day or perhaps crossed that place one minute earlier or later, he still wouldn’t have accompanied me to one of those annual frantic gift searches as he would have been basking in the summer of California at Google, but there would have been a satisfaction and conviction that he would call from halfway round the globe just to wish Chotu a Very Happy Birthday…That conviction is what I miss the most and so does Chotu and everyone else who knew you…

Sadness…

July 6, 2009September 24, 2009 kv2 Comments

Sometimes you try your level best and then too all that you end up with is sadness. Yeah you do get some thumbs-ups and well-dones but at the end of the day the feeling that remains in the heart of yours is sadness. It eats you alive. It makes you burn in the scorching fire of regret, the what-ifs and the what-if-nots. It drains all your strength if it is allowed to linger, but can well be one of the best teachers if looked upon in the correct manner. No no, its not that I have suffered some recent defeat or something…I felt this when I saw Andy Roddick cry after losing the Wimbledon Finals to Roger Federer.

Yes the Super-Server fought like a bull till the very end of the match and once even seemed to take the match for himself. He was sometimes magnificent and sometimes full of power…but in the end I think the perseverance of Federer was what undid the Roddick Dream! Yes Federer proved to the world that he is best player of Tennis that the world has ever seen. I mean not everyone wins 15 grand slams in one’s carreer and the way Federer has acheived this glory, with all the finesse and grace is something that will make him immortal in the annuls of World Tennis.

But it sure was heartbreaking to see Roddick crestfallen, although he ought to be proud of himself. But thats the point that I am trying to make…regret always makes way into your mind when you fail…even if you fought real hard to win. So, all Roddick needs is perseverance. I know its easy to say than to actually do so, but I know the Super-Server will do it.

Go Roddick Go!

Several things….

June 18, 2009June 18, 2009 kv8 Comments

Yet again loads of time has passed since my last post and i really don’t have any other excuse but sheer laziness for it…and you know what I am not even a little ashamed, why? Well I suppose even I don’t know about that much. Well lets leave it at that…better late than never isn’t it? Several things is the name of my post because I need to share several thing s with you all….and here I go…

Thing 1:

I would like to begin this post with something which I like very much : Books!! Well this summer I have let myself down..how? Well till now, I have read only 3 books (The Story Of Edgar Sawtelle, The Digital Fortress and The Other Hand) in comparison to the massice 31 that I read during my last summer vacation! Even though I bought two others from the New Delhoi airport, I have made no progress towards reaching anywhere near that huge number of 31, as I havent even read a single one of them! Anyways, on the brighter side, due to coming of my iPod, I discovered the pleasure of Audiobooks. I listened to the audio version of Twilight by Stephanie Meyer and you know what I simply loved the whole experience…the feeling that the audiobooks impart..as if some one is reading you a story is what is the most appealing thing about them! I am now going to listen to the the remaining parts of the Twilight series too and am quite sure I will like them too!

Thing 2:

Now comes a totally unrelated topic. LeT(Lashkar-e-Taiba) is making its base down here in the jungles of Jharkhand and Bihar…what the hell. Yeah as if the threats posed by the naxals (the MCC, the PWG etc.) wasn’t enough, now even these bast***s from across the border are trying to establish their say out here. I mean what do these sadistic vampires get out of killing innnocent people for no reason whatsoever. Why have they misplaced their minds so easily in the hands of some mullahs , who have only one thing in theor mind…how to hurt India, and how to hurt the non-Muslims. I mean, if there is God he is only one, Ram or Allah or Jesus what does it matter? I just can’t understand this… Coming back to the Jharkhand LeT, this news simply has sent shivers down in the hearts of the already under-fire police department and the state’s governor Syed Sibte Razi (as the state is currently under the President’s rule, Razi is the all in all of the state). Now it needs to be seen, what do these people do inorder to tackle this sudden and immense problem.

Thing 3:

Any of you who has seen me will be knowing that the most striking feature of me is my girth!! Yeah, bluntlyI am quite fat. Now these summer vacations always bring with them loads of delicious food (with the tongue watering Magoes and Lichis all around) and also accompany very lethargic routine meaning no exercises and hence meaning those very very irritating extra kilos that I very painstakingly manage to lose durin the time college is open!! 😦 I have started doing some Yoga but I dont think that’ll work and cutting down on the food isn’t my forte thats for sure, so what to do?? Yes I am going to run…from tomorrow sure shot (but Tomorrow Never Dies…or does it??)

Thing 4:

Now that I enter the 4th and final year of my B.E. its finally the time of reckoning. As I have a call for further studies so its essential that I start preparing for the GRE (naah no Ties and Lies for me!) from immediate effect. Yeah I’ve bought all the necessary books and all…what is required now is some peace of mind to start over. I think I will begin it in earnest from tomorrow too. Moreover the coming semester will also bring with it the placements…well its not going to be easy, the next sem even though it has a lot to offer too!

Last Thing but certainly not the Least Thing:

Now speaking so much and yet not mentioning the T-20 World Cup will be something I won’t be excused for. Yeah every one around is leaving no expletives while ostracizing Dhoni, the Indian Captain, yes, I agree he made some mistakes and that his batting form isn’t that purple anymore, but comeon people what else were you expecting? He isn’t some God, after all he is a human too and as the saying gose To err is human, so lets take this loss in the spirit of the game and lets hope Team India wins the next time. Now all my hopes lie with South Africa, Go Proteas Go (and No Pakistan No!!!)

On IPL and some more…

March 23, 2009 kv6 Comments

Well the Indian Premier League is all set to become International Premier League and will be held most probably in South Africa this year. Amidst all the protests from players and fans alike, the BCCI is very indifferently moving towards accomplishing this dubious act! I mean its like cheating all the fans out here who were waiting with all their hearts and all the gears to go for an all-out support for their respective favourites! Chennai Super Kings will have their home city as Durban and Kolkata Knight Riders perhaps in Johannesburg…what the heck!

I know, we are going to have the general elections coming at the same time as the IPL, but still…its so unfair! I know, the franchisees have agreed too, and the reason is obviously the money factor. Security isn’t much of a problem as most of the states agreed that they were capable of holding the matches wthout many problems, but the ever money mongering BCCI isn;t gonna listen even a single thing…and the worst thing is that the political parties have already started politicalizing this. The opposition has already started blaming the government and criticising it for it’s inability to provide proper security, saying “its as if we are talking about Pakistan”…comeon guys at least leave sports apart from politics!

For the time, as fans all we can do is wait and watch as the story develops further….

The some more that I wanted to share about is a recent article that I came across in the papers. The one about a fund being started to locate the remnants of the Mughal dynasty and help them survive. This again is so very uncalled for. I mean, why do you need to start a fund for someone just because their ancestors once ruled the nation, and now they are selling tea for their living?

Their are so many other people in the country who need such funds more that them. I mean, what is the point of starting some fund for a group of people just because they turned to paupers from princes? This surely shouldn’t be a criterion for helping people…why single out them to be alleviated when their are so many other people dying hungry and without proper clothing…i just can’t understand…can somebody please make me understand?

In the Terrace in the Night

March 9, 2009 kv10 Comments

Just now, feeling so very hot (due to the weather) and so very uneasy I went up to terrace of my hostel to find some relief in the cool night air. Relief, yes I did get some, but along with the coolness of the breeze and the darkness of the sky came suddenly rushing a tumult of gushing difficult questions. Many what-ifs, many whys, many why nots, many whats and many what nots, and when I enquired myself about the answers, well I knew none.

The questions kept on coming and I couldn’t answer a single one satisfactorily if at all! Bored of it, my mind wandered into strange realms of thoughts. like what is a thought? Why do we think? What would be a world without any thoughts? or a life without any feelings and emotions? Thankfully I knew the answer to this one : It won’t be a world worth living in, it won’t be a life worth fighting for or even worth caring about!

It has always been the case with me, whenever I am happy my mind suddenly starts remembering the sad moments and whenever I am sad, it wrenches out all the happy moments of my life infront of my eyes. Its as if life doesn’t want me to be too happy or too sad, jus balanced, just in between!Thats what it has been always like. Thats what it always will be like!

Then suddenly I thought about today and remembered that it was International Women’s Day. Well I for one am strictly against it. I mean if men and women are equals (you bet they are) then why the hell is this kind of day still there? It is these kinds of thnigs that create inequality amongst us. Its the medieval mindset of people that needs to change and merely delaring a day as women’s day isn’t gonna change anything – thats for sure!

So much said and so much thought, the flashback of my life then started in front of my eyes , which troubled me (as I associate this flashback with the end, the full stop), but reliving those moments of joy and laughter, of sorrow and tears, of friendship and love really cheered me up instead of saddening me, as I realised :

Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost! and when the movie upto this point was so damn good, the second half has to be good too!

Time to wake up…

February 23, 2009February 23, 2009 kv6 Comments

Yahoo! A.R. Rahman bagged two Oscars, and Slumdog won 8. That’s one hell of an achievement for the Indian Music and Film Industry. Finally, we made a mark in the world, in the genre of music and entertainment.

While lavishing all the praise on this success, suddenly my brother’s words crept up in my mind : What if Slumdog Millionaire were a Bollywood production? And the thing that came up to my mind the next instant was the article by the Management Guru Arindam Chaudhary : Don’t See “Slumdog Millionaire”. It sucks. With people like him around one thing is sure, that the bollywood Slumdog wouldn’t even have made the Filmfares let aside Oscars.

The way many people see this movie as something that describes India in a very poor light is something I find very inexplicable. I mean what the hell do you people want ? India isn’t a country of Gods anymore, that’s a fact. Be it the problem of extreme poverty, or the stigma of child prostitution or be it the beggary problem, its all very real and what wrong did Danny Boyle do if he showed the world the darker side of our country?

Yeah we have the Taj Mahal , one of the seven wonders of the world, the symbol of eternal love. But we also have the so called moral police (the likes of Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal and Ram Sene to name a few) who thrash and insult all the starry eyed couples on Valentines Day, and run campaigns like ‘Tie or Die‘ : Its a reality! Yes we were the earliest nation to give voting rights to women, and yet we only are the people who burn brides for dowry, who kill them after branding them witches, who thrash them publicly just because they were having a drink in the local pub. Its a reality my friends!

Yeah we have a culture thats as old as civilization itself, the sacred culture of the Aryans. And yet most of the politicians out here, the so called leaders of the world’s largest democracy exhibit their talent of amassing illegal fortunes through all kinds of scams, be it the Hawala Scam or the famous Fodder Scam! Where did the culture go? Where did it go? Isn’t this a reality?

The problem of beggary isn’t hidden from any of us. The cruelty with which innocent children have their limbs and fingers hacked, or their eyes taken out of their sockets to make them ‘eligible’ to beg is a reality that no Indian can escape from. Same is the case with child prostitution. However hard you may try to deny it, it happens and is as real as you or me.

It isn’t at all that I don’t love my country. I assure you that I am a haughty patriot and I love my country as hard as any of you do, but still I am not someone who will turn his eyes away from the weaknesses and concentrate only on the purple patches that we have out here. I am not one who will praise only the goodness, and turn a blind eye to all the defects that is present out here in India.

Its time that we appreciate that yes these evils have burned themselves in the clothing of our country. Its time to change the nations attire and not the time to spit venom on movies like this which depict whats true and whats bad.Its time we grew up. Its time we wake up.

Confessions!

February 8, 2009 kv2 Comments

Well its again a pretty long time since I blogged and this is becoming a habit, a bad bad habit. I have become lazy, I agree and apart from that whatever free time I get these days, I spend it on DOTA. Now that I think of it, I have been wasting even my study hours on this stupid computerised running around with a sword in the hand looking for fellow heroes to kill or rather PWN!

I mean there is a lot to life apart from DOTA, and that is the truth that no Jazbaman can deny! I even have tried my hands (rather legs) on football and you know what the amount of physical exercise it gives makes me feel light (though I am a heavy dude!) and even makes me feel DOTA repellant. Finally, I have found an antidote I guess!

Now, coming back to the original problem of laziness, I have tried to blog not once more than ten times lst week, failing each time due to DOTA, a kinda Writers Block, Naruto etc.

Its time now that I come back strong and hard on to the field of blogging! Believe it!

No Pain No Gain!

December 19, 2008 kv2 Comments

I switched on the television this morning to have a look at the on-going India-England match. When I switched the Tata-Sky set top box on, the home channel was playing the Making of Aamir Khan’s body for Ghajini. I thought lets watch on.

And then I was left spell-bound. Heck that man worked hard man! Working daily for more than a year he succeeded in getting a body worth of Mr. India (if not better) and those much hyped about 8-packed abs!

Daily 4 hours non-stop without any off-day for 13 months Aamir sweated it out , sometimes shrieking with pain while doing crunches and pull-ups, but he didn’t give up, and the result is in front of everyone to look at. This ultimate dedication to one’s work is very difficult to come by these days.

This sudden transformation in the physique of my favourite actor has inspired me to get in shape too( yeah I am pretty out of shape!). I will do it, Believe it!

Out of will!

December 9, 2008December 9, 2008 kvLeave a comment

You must have heard people saying – ” I am Out of Money/Luck/Energy “and so on.. but I am quite sure that the term “Out of Will” is new for all of you. Well I am Out of Will.

By will I dont mean the will that a man makes to distribute his property etc. after his death, I mean the will that forces a man to carry on with life and do the things which he finds uninteresting but which are important or rather essential for him to survive. My will power failed me not once or twice but more than a dozen times this semester. I willed myself not to think about it, yet it was the only thing I thought about. I willed myself not to be weak, but weak is what I was!

What happened to the will power I used to be proud of? I really am feeling bad, as it was a trait that defined me right from the very beginning.

I guess I will have to recultivate it – Yeah will can be cultivated, quite like crops and tobacco and I intend to be a good farmer, who sows waters and reaps well!

May it all go well!