O2 - The fest!

No one likes to work all the time right?? Everyone needs a break every now and then...  And these days, the lives of college students are equally demanding with the level of competition in this lucid market... Such are the times, college festivals help.. It is a time, students take a break form their books and indulge in some fun n frolic...  Bhavans college too, has its own festival, called O2 - The Fest..

Many a times people may wonder, as to why is a college cultural fest have a peculiar name such as "O2". Well, the answer is quite simple. Just like O2 is the bare necessity for survival for any human being, a cultural festival is a similar necessity for a student to take a break from his academic rut, and unwind.. Hence the name O2 - The Fest. O2 is like oxygen to the students of Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan... They breathe through this fest... The tag line of the fest says it all... "Where Life Begins...."

O2 - The Fest, started 6 years back.. It has travelled a long way from initially being an intra-college affair to a multi-college youth festival. In these years, O2 - The Fest has set various lively n dynamic themes focusing on various aspects of society... After greenerzing the world last year, with its 'Go Green' theme, this year O2 - The Fest, aims to be even more promising, with 100+ colleges participating with their contingents... In wake of the popularity and impact of social networking around the world, the theme set for this year is 'Social Networking'. 


This year, being the 125th birth aniversary of Kulpati MM Munshi the honorable founder of this great institution, the organizing committee of the fest, makes a bold promise to the management to make this cultural festival one to remember.. O2 - The Fest saw an extraordinary footfall of 16000+ last year, and this year, the expected footfall is far greater, with the addition of unique never heard before events...

I for one, am definitely attending this carnival.... December 6th,7th, and 8th are the dates of the fest, do join in, and be a part of the epic affair... As Barney Stinson would say...Its gonna be LEGEN - wait for it - DARY......!!

Happy? Republic Day..! Really??

First of all, Happy Republic Day to all of you....

My god! 62 years of being declared as the largest democracy of the world.... We really do take pride in it, don't we? We boast of it... Many of us, even use this as a suffix, when they say India.. "India - The Largest Democracy of the world.."

But do we really have all the powers entrusted on us by the constitution that we adopted on this very day??

Let’s see on paper… It says “Fundamental Rights in India”

1. The Right to Equality

2. The Right to Freedom

3. The Right to Freedom from Exploitation

4. The Right to Freedom of Religion

5. Cultural and Educational Rights

6. The Right to Constitutional Remedies

7. The Right to Education

Holy Lord! It’s a serious mockery of those who shed their blood for all the above rights. It is lamentable.

How deplorable it is? We call it 64 years of Independence, we did not have a day of it. Only thing replaced was the person who treats us like slaves.

Many of you may wonder what I am saying, others might say 'oh! we are in a democratic country and we do have independence..' There are certain issues that exist, but I am independent… LOL… it’s the best way to fool one self…. I say look at the man in the glass, if you can say to him today morning when you get up the following sentences and mean them. I salute you then.

Just say the following

I, an Indian, on the Republic Day, declare that I have the right to equality. I am considered equivalent to a brother-citizen no matter which part of India I go. There ain’t any reservations and quotas in the colleges I get admitted too, Because 'EQUALITY' is above all. No matter who I am - Hindu, Muslim, Gujrati or Marathi, I am not preferred over anyone. Religion, tribal and regional quotas don’t really exist, cause the law hasn’t recognized them. That’s why I can go purely on my merit anywhere. To any university, to any company anywhere I want. So I say that I have my first right “Right to Equality”.

As for my “Right to Freedom” is concerned. I am an entirely free man. If I am doing anything which is not against the LAW. I face absolutely no problems when I abide by all the LAWS. I have to pay nothing extra, no bribes to get my work done. I don’t even face any delays to my work. No one can just sit over my file for months. I am a free man because the hard earned money I get, can be spent the way I want. I am never questioned by the government on why I spend like that. They TAX system is absolutely something that I understand, because 'the more I earn, the more I pay' is well practiced and there are no loop holes in the system that make it vice-versa. I am a 'FREE' man because I can meet the Prime Minister of the country when ever I want.

Coming to my third fundamental right that is 'Freedom from Exploitation'. It’s totally with me. No one in this free country has the power to detain me without a reason. There is no corruption here, so there is no exploitation. I take pride in saying that in Independent India, I have never been 'EXPLOITED' by the law. Be it the passport office, the Hospitals or the municipality. Keeping the police and the Court of Justice above all.

I am free from any exploitation or at least I can fight any in the Legal court knowing that it won’t go on for years.

Oh.. and Yes.. My Right to Freedom of Religion is respected throughout the nation. If I choose to be a Muslim. The Bajrang Dal, VHP or RSS does not come knocking at my door to beat the shit out of me and my family or I will never be slaughtered alive in Gujarat, atleast the Chief Minister won’t let it happen. If I choose to be a Sikh, there really won’t be any Jagdish Tytler backed as a member of parliament in the ruling party of the country. If 'I choose to be a Hindu', I won’t have to buy a VIP or a regular pass to get into a temple. They treat us all equal. As a Hindu, I feel I am safe in this country and not a soft target of Indian Mujahideen (IM), because the government is synonym to Justice, when they catch terrorist alive like Ajmal Kasab and Afzal Guru their execution is not delayed for political gains, but the moment one is proven guilty they are punished all in the duration mentioned by the Law books it self. So I really have faith in the government and face no problems showing my passport and telling my name at the airport. I was never picked up and scrutinized because My name is Khan.

The political parties in the country here really respect my cultural and educational rights. Because I am free to do my Chatt Pooja at Juhu Beach without any confrontation with Raj Thakery. As a North Indian, I can work any where in Maharashtra even in or with the BMC. If I choose not to learn Gujrathi in Gujrat and Marathi in Maharashtra, the Education board does not have any problems. It is not a compulsory subject! No matter where in India I go, the government officers are never racist. They never delay my work because I am from a particular state or I speak a particular language. Even in the Court of Justice, when I demand a copy of my Charge-sheet in my mother language, I get it at no cost.

Rights to Constitutional Remedies is one thing I craved for. I have that now. The media is regulated so well by the government of my country that if I have a case in the Court of Justice to be held. The media will wait for the Judgement and not just defame my image before the judgement. The lawyers are so co-operative that they don’t really think that they are doing a favor to me. They fight for Justice and not play with words in court to mock the system. I can go till the Supreme Court and I am assured I will get justice before the person responsible for the crime dies. I am proud of the fact that Justice is above all in my country and laws are not manipulated by the corporates to acquire land and wealth of the poor for absolute nothing.

And the much spoken Right to Education is a really affordable right. My country’s great. It sponsors education. I give no donation to any institute in spite of having a good merit score. It’s my right. There ain’t any quotas in colleges for acquiring education. Money doesn’t really play a big role in my country when it comes to getting knowledge - that’s cause it is my fundamental right.

I could face the man in the glass. I said it with out even a pause. I am independent and so I proudly celebrate my Fundamental Rights today.

What about the premorse of Kashmir? - Oh.. Who cares?

What about Palestinians? – What Should I do about it? It’s not even in India.

If you have realized the TRUTH. If you have realized what I am trying to convey.

Don’t let the sacrifice of more than a million people go waste. They did not fight to replace rulers.

They fought for liberty. We still don’t have the liberty!

The struggle is not yet over. We, the youth of India have to face this truth. The sooner we do. The faster we can commit to actions and happiness can be pursued. It’s time to revolt. It’s time to wake up. It’s time to fight for the very fundamental right mentioned above. It’s time we fight corruption at it’s root level. It’s time we have leader in the honest spirit of liberty and freedom. It’s NOW or Never. It’s DO or Die.

Sitting 4000 Kilometers away from the Financial Capital of India….

Trying to wake India today to the truth. WILL NOT HELP! – I know.

If you agree to what I say. Let’s do something today.

Something that shakes the government to the roots.

Something that will give us freedom in all senses.

Call it a Political Movement… It will be suppressed – I Know.

But all tyrants have oppressed and people have had sleepless nights

The same man who walked kilometers to Dandi for liberty said

“Be the change you wish to see”

Let’s be the change, till the last breath of oxygen and last drop of blood.

And it’s not for India, Not for Palestine, Nor for Kashmir or any other disputed land…

It’s for the Independence of Humans. It’s for Humanity.

Let’s have a flag for Humanity raised today.

By the way, I love this world more than one particular region here…. and having said that I am more attached to India as anyone would love ones motherland... Jai Hind!

The Ideal Relationship

A boy’s love is expressed differently from that of a girl.. and no I am not talking about just the dubbed love-love relationship between a boy and a girl.. This is bigger.. This is about the love and affection between friends.. between best friends…

If girls could really grasp this fact, relationships all over the world would improve. What happens in most cases is that the girls show they love in warm, mushy ways. They talk…, they share everything (or at least as much as the boy will tolerate listening to), they provide nurture and support. But boys are very different and you know this already.

The problem is the female species have spent centuries judging the males for love instead of receiving it as the display of love it is. So when the boy gets past the courting phase, becomes solidly committed to the relationship, and the display of affection or compliments begin to fade, then the girls join the legion of sisters who complain either with humor or bitterly about how he just doesn’t measure up to the ideal of what their real boy is…

Let me tell you, at this point the relationship is in danger of ending and it ain’t the boy’s fault! To explain my claims let me share how the real boy loves and see if you can’t begin to look at him through a kinder lens and a heart warmed by just how very much he actually does let you know he loves you.

There are three ways a boy clearly and definitively shows his love and affection. The first thing the boy does when he knows he loves you and is ready to commit to the relationship is he professes who you are in his life. He calls you as someone who he posses really close to himself…He calls you in a special way….with his words and with his body language. You can see it in the eyes and body language of the folks in his world you are introduced to. You see that spark of recognition that you are different from the other girls he has introduced his friends too… His claim on you is obvious.

The second thing the boy does when he knows he loves you and is ready to commit to the relationship is he provides for you. Now, not every man has the  means to buy you expensive things, but to the degree he is able, he will provide for you. One simple example is if you have trouble and ask him for help, he will do everything within his power to assist you in getting it fixed. The boy might be able to resolve the problem entirely… while the other might be able to fix a few things… But nevertheless you should know that the real boy in love wants to provide for you by all his ability and means… Everyday might not produce a perfect conversation or outing, but in any way he sees he can provide for you and is able, he will.

The third thing a real boy does when he is head over heals in love is he protects. No one is allowed to hurt, insult, or disrespect the girl. He will not be able to tolerate her life or her spirit being in danger. and In my own experience, I have observed two important things about a man’s desire to protect his woman. The first is that he will attempt to protect her from herself. This is why a man can become infuriated with some of the choices the woman makes because, as a man with his logical thinking, he could have told her this or that choice would be a big mistake. How could she have put the woman he loves most in the whole world (herself) in harm’s way? 

The other thing I have observed is that a real man in love will sacrifice himself to protect you from himself, if you require it. If you cannot abide him being who he is, expressing himself as a man, he will shrink inside, becoming less effective as a lover and as a partner as he attempts to protect you in the way you say you must be protected. He will not do this indefinitely. At some point, the pressure to express himself as a man will pop and you will lose him. One way or another you will lose him. However, if you find you are no longer invested in exploring the marvelous mystery he is, you might take a look at whether or not you really love him. Because asking him to stifle his masculinity is the beginning of the end….

Shiva Trilogy 2: The Secret of the Nagas (Book Review)

The  success of Immortals of Meluha, by a first time writer Amish Tripathi, took the world by storm! His unorthodox and never-heard-of description of Shiva as a middle age, barbarian junkie was quite intriguing..! Owing to this outrageous success, riding on the back of great expectations, released the sequel.. "The Secret of the Nagas"

So, the story continues... but, the excitement of reading a sequel is short lived.. The book was very predictable and formulaic.. I am not saying, it is not a good read, but, i was expecting the second book to be better than the first one in some way at least, but quite frankly, it isn't..

How Amish managed to construct a whole sequel, with a such a flimsy basic premise, is beyond me.. And the liberties he took with the plot and the myth is  not easy to forgive..The entire book, essentially boils down to one mythological point, the Shiva-Ganesha showdown..! The entire story is an elaborate construct to lead to that which was quite a drag actually and eventually, it was quite disappointing, because, that too never happens, after all the build up throughout the book..! And the biggest eye wash was the name of the book.."The Secret of the Nagas" I was actually waiting for the secret throughout the book and the author finally, reveals the secret in  the last line of the last page of the book! 

I think the name of the book was absolutely out of context to the main plot that the author maintains.. The Secret is, "there is no secret" like he says in Kung Fu Panda..! And the author gives an impression that the gods of India who are sybolically given different forms are actually mutants/deformed nagas who were defied later.. This was too much for me to digest, even if, we play along and accept his version of the Shiva myth..!

Amish wrote using simple sentences. His characters were interesting and spoke in modern, everyday English, which actually gave them an air of easy credibility rather than sounding jarring. The Immortals of Meluha sought to tell a story that made you interested in finding out what happens next. In The Secret of the Nagas, there’s little suspense and by the end, one feels little curios about the finale. 


It seems that while writing The Secret of the Nagas, much of Amish’s attention was upon language. There are obvious and woefully inept attempts at literary flair that make the novel a tiresome read. The book suffers from a rash of exclamation marks and unnecessary italics. Sentences have been sliced to create weak, dangling fragments (“Parashuram charged. Followed by his vicious horde.”). Instead of simply talking, people bellow, scream, whisper and fall silent. They are flabbergasted, they pirouette in the middle of a fight, and use words like “exponentially”, “garagantuan” and “plethora” in their speech. The net result is text that is laboured, trite and awkward. 


Amish’s attempts at philosophy are as half-baked as the characters and plot. For example, he suggests thoughts are radio waves that could be communicated by temples, which were actually powerful transmitters (see pages 111 & 112). Unlike Bappiraj, who is clearly an attempt at humour, the temple-transmitter theory is elaborated upon in all seriousness. Now, thanks to Amish, we’re seeing the temples of India as the Facebook for ancient priests.

 Glibly written, without much attention to the nuances of mythology or known historical facts, the book still manages to be good light read.. And, please don't go by the cover of the book, for there is no serpentine element in the book..!

Humiliation Down Under!

After the humiliating defeat from the hands of their colonial cousins, India set foot in the land of their arch rivals, Australia.. One too many pundits of the game thought, this was India's best shot at winning a test series in Australia, with, many of the star players in their side, injured.. (C'mon! Who are we kidding here?! India and the favorites to win a test series in Aus..! If wishes were horses, beggars would ride..!) Maybe, after a horrific series in England, everyone thought, we, can't fall any lower, I guess, our players proved the world wrong, and showed everyone, the art of losing, and finding deeper pits to fall...

The ongoing series in Australia, was supposed  to be a redemption series.. A chance to redeem thier respect and reputation, after an all out insult in England... The series was talked about a lot, and hyped up by the media as usual..A semi-depleated Australian side v/s a full fledged Indian line up busrting with vengence, after 4 months of torture in England.. The series promised a mouth watering, edge-of-the-seat thriller!!

The first match of the series was on boxing day, in the iconic MCG, all eyes on Sachin, the world waiting to see the man score the ton of tons..! But that was not to be, maybe the little master has to wait another series for it... The match was quite in balance for the first 3 days, but eventually, Australia went on to win it without breaking a sweat..! 

The second match was at Sydney.. The same place where the infamous Monkey gate controversy happened 2yrs back.. well, maybe the ghost of the past kept haunting the Indians..We fell like a pack of cards, The Great Wall of India, finding a brick or two missing maybe, for he was out bowled in both the innings.. The margin of defeat increased by the end of the match, and it looked like the repeat of the England series..! 2 down, 2 to go??

Next destination was the fiery pitch at Perth! A perfect spot for a massacre! Both teams going in with 4 pacers, well, atleast, Aus going in with 4 pacers, and India with 3 pacers and Vinay Kumar..! More like 3 and a half pacers..! India put into bat, and as usual, bowled out cheaply, with no resilience what so ever..! Then started the real movie, "Friday, the 13th", David Warner productions..! The talismatic young batsman walked to the crease like a thug in anger and destroyed the Indian bowlers... David Warner treated Vinay Kumar like someone who has dated his sister twice and dumped her when she refused to put out...! He was ruthless and showed no mercy, he went on to slam the fastest ton by an opener in test cricket..!

The test seies, sure is heating it up 'down under' for the Indians..! The great Indian batting line up, is looking like the "the great Indian Tamasha.." 6 straight defeats overseas for India, looks good, for a 8-0.. What record is India chasing? Trying to beat Undertaker's wrestlemania record of 15-0 maybe..! 

Shiva Trilogy 1: The Immortals of Meluha (Book Review)

Shiva! The Mahadev! The God of Gods! Destroyer of Evil. Passionate Lover. Fierce Warrior. Consummate dancer. Charismatic Leader. All-powerful, yet incorruptible. Quick wit, accompanied  by an equally quick and fearsome temper...

This is the opening lines explaining the trilogy.. These opening lines by the author, developed an exitement in me to know more about Shiva! The trilogy is all but a tribute to the lord himself.. The Immortals of Meluha, is the story of a man, whose karma re-cast him as a Legend..! The plot is set in the early 19th century, where there existed a clan of people know as the Suryavanshis, who resided in the heaven like city created by Lord Ram many centuries ago called Meluha.. 

The near perfect empire is however facing a grave danger.. The constant terrorist attacks by arch rivals, the chandravanshi tribe is bringing up an unavoidable war, or a 'Dharmayudh" The Chandravanshis have a deadly  alliance with the Nagas.. Nagas are a tribe of outcasted and sinister race of deformed humans with astonishing martial skills..

The Suryavanshis are banking on a single ray of hope for the survival of their empire.. The Belief in a Legend.. "when evil reaches epic proportions, when all seems lost, when it appears that your enemies have triumped, a hero will emerge"

Is this tribe unmarked barbarian really a hero? Will he accept his Destiny? Will he stay true to his Karma? Will  Shiva lead the Suryavanshi vengence and destroy evil?

The 1/3 of the Shiva Trilogy: Immortals of Meluha is a must read, for it is a gripping entertainer and gives you a fair insight into the life and times of Lord Shiva..!

 

I was always facinated to learn more about Shiva, and this book does a fair job in doing so..  The author Amish Tripathi, has done a decent job for his first book, and deserves all the appreciation coming his way.. The writing on one hand is quite simple, at the same time, it takes you to those times and makes you visualize the life at times during his era.. The book started off quite well, but as i progressed, the plot was pretty week in the middle parts, where he talks about the love life, which is a slight drag and not very interesting... But he manages to hold it back with some gruesome battle sequnces.. Overall, it is a good read, and you surely would not be disappointed.. On a scale of 5, i would rate it 3.5/5..