Shake Your Legs and Swing Your Hips with a Flash mob

A customary shopper in Chennai mall, or a passenger who waited in CST Mumbai would have popped up his eyes wide open seeing the sudden upsurge of energy in one or two people standing near him, as they started dancing suddenly for some blaring music that came out of the blue.  Yes, even I did the same after watching the first Flash mob video, posted on YouTube. But taking people like me to more and more surprises, Flash mobs, the recent web sensation, are now becoming the talk of the country, inspiring more and more people perform Flash mobs in their cities.  I was literally astonished seeing the video, but couldn’t stop admiring the group who managed to perform in CST, one of the busiest railway stations in India. The next moment I was all set to ‘Google’ about Flash mobs in India to find out the brain behind this interesting rather energizing act.  I was surprised seeing 23 year old Shonan Kothari’s picture!  Is that right?  A 23yr old girl made Mumbai dance ‘Rang De Basanti’ in CST, and made the onlooker join them and dance to joy.  Kudos dear friend!  That was a worth appreciating act to make people know that there’s so much fun and enjoyment in aping the right part of western culture. Do you know why?  A little research that I did gave me quite a lot of information about Flash mobs.  They may be new to Indian community, but are very common among the westerners. Leaving the embarrassment of dancing all on a sudden at a public place, Flash mobs won’t do any harm, but entertain you and those few people around by infusing a lot of vigor and vitality. When Indians can dance to almost ‘anything’, why not dance oneself to happiness?

Flash mobs, even though are preplanned, would look like an impromptu public celebration for the people around, when one or two among a group would come out and start dancing to some foot tapping numbers from well known movies. This spontaneous public celebration actually has no weighty messages to convey, as it’s just to entertain people. Once started, it’s often seen that many people soon join the Flash mob dancers and become willing to shake their legs too. A dance, though not professional looking, that appears apparently out of nowhere with just 1 or 2 people, growing to hundreds, then quickly disappearing, Flash mobs will always give the public a joy out of surprise.  If rightly used, Flash mobs can raise a lot of public awareness about some of the important crises that the world is facing. When it’s done in an entertaining way, messages would definitely reach public more quickly rather than making fruitless efforts to give a serious speech, or distribute some pamphlets that contain hard-to digest descriptions and thoughts.  So I think we should ponder on this idea and make wise use of such energizing acts, to trigger immense joy and enthusiasm in us and people around, along with spreading some valuable information. Hoping to see a Flash mob someday!

Can we all move on now, please?

Hostels are stays with the least internalized understanding. This ticks me off the remotest chance of viewing the NEWS telecasted every day. Minty tinny shows of channels are the preference of lots and hence our TV blinks and flashes every moment in the very futile effort of multi channel viewing, with thousands of choices other than NEWS. The precious chances I get in the dry time is often spoilt by the off- late art of (hypo) critical discussions and analysis of topics by channels, which needs no relevance of their such video audio conferencing. It’s pitiful to see how media exploits certain incidents and use them for making cheap publicity. These horrid discussions at times force me switch off the TV at the very instant over a reflux.

Why is the media so obsessed? I would say discussing such incidents again and again, and showing those unpleasant footages repeatedly on the television would do more harm than creating awareness among the public. It would only aggravate things, when people sit in studio floors and keep on repeating how someone got killed/harassed, etc; describing each and every scene of that, as if they witnessed it.

I think I should rephrase and say exaggerating instead of describing because that’s actually what they do in front of the camera. Media has a kind of eccentric and shameful obsession for such cases, and the madness often break-off the all set limit when some of the public goes along with the ride, discussing these stories in buses, streets, parks and in every bit of stride.

One’s outlook is entirely different from another. A topic can take the meaning of his/her choice, be it right or wrong. But the media is now trying to make the viewers take, believe and swallow the interpretation of the topic by the discussing genius, who is left to travel only through a guided path that the higher-ups have set for him. This is brainwashing because the methods that the channels adopt are overt and the controlled environment is very obvious.

It is one's moral strength that informs and orders his power of reason; and without it the mind becomes little more than a recording machine waiting for imprints. This is what one looks like while watching the television discussions that happen these days.

The media now think that people have lost the ability to relate the images of their own brains, without television intervening to tell them what it means. Almost every comedy I see in these discussions is about people making all wrong choices and all the errors of judgment possible.

We have the right to make choices about what we should hear, where to look, how we want to feel about what's going on. But nowadays are left with little choices and are forced to listen to all these bizarre discussions for no sensible reason at all!

The print media too are madly in love with such stories. I really don’t understand what’s there in the mind of journalists while jotting down pages and pages of articles about those ghastly incidents related to these people that we the commoners want to forget and wipe-out from their lives. Don’t you think they all should move on and report something else; as there are a lot more things other than all these in our country and in this big world.

Are You Being Watched?

Newspapers give some of the bizarre, yet though provoking stories these days.  I happened to see one such today morning in one of the leading dailies. It was about a thief, rather a stalker, who stole the mobile phone of a young girl in the city. He later called-up her dad saying he has some of the pictures of the girl in the mobile phone, allegedly threatening to post obscene morphed pictures in the cyberspace soon, if he is not given money. Even though the thief was later caught by the police, there is one question that’s coming up in my mind again and again. Why are people still getting threatened in the name of morphing when everyone knows that a person of average computer knowledge can easily morph anyone’s picture in minutes? And the worst part, why this happens only with women?  We hardly see a man threatened this way, or I should say no one is bothered when a man’s morphed photograph is published in the internet. But when it happens to a woman, a big hullabaloo is created or rather made unnecessarily . In most of the cases the victimized woman won’t even know that someone has taken her photograph and made a bad use of it. Still she is treated in a very bad way by the society and the public.

Have you ever notices something odd? Whether its website pictures or YouTube videos, you should be really lucky enough to see a page with morphed photographs of men, whether celebrities or commoners. In fact I have seen people going gaga saying ‘He is hot!’, when they see nude or semi nude men’s picture in websites. But try for a woman’s picture, the list that you get will be endless. I do agree that there are certain websites where models meant for such purpose do agree to be clicked. But what about some of those innocent victims whose pictures are getting posted unknowingly?

Off late I read an online article where it was said that a girl's morphed photograph was uploaded it on various porn websites along with her mobile phone number, when she rejected the proposal from a guy whom she met through a well-known social networking website. Soon-after she started some telephone calls from strangers who took her to be a prostitute. Upon enquiry, they told her that they her information through various porn and social networking websites. Finally she had to file a complaint and the guy was arrested.

You can see a lot of men in bus stops, parks, railway stations, inside trains, and restaurants who cunningly take pictures of women using mobile cameras. According to statistics, more than half of these photographs are getting morphed with nude pictures, later getting uploaded to various porn websites. No one even bothers to stop such rogues from doing this heinous crime , not even our so called ‘highly dedicated’ police officials. Had there been a vigilant watch on these nuisances happening around us, such pictures would not have filled-up the cyber space destroying the life of many innocent women!

Monsoon Musings

I haven’t updated my blog since April. To be frank I didn't get any interesting topic to write about. Plus I have had a handful of official assignments in the last couple of weeks.  They took a major share of my days and left me worn-out by the time I reach the hostel.

Even after buying a laptop I couldn't find an interesting topic to jot-down. And still I am thinking about what I should write and trying to figure-out the best topic from a bunch of thoughts that I am pondering over now.  But from the endless list if I am asked to choose one I prefer talking about rain. It is rainy season again!

Rain always brings out a mixture of emotions; some feel romantic, some others feel lonely, depressed and low, and certain others like me feel extremely happy watching rain or getting drenched. But rain does arouse human feelings, a lot of feelings.

The monsoon is never just one among those seasonal changes for me. It’s during this time I take time and enjoy even simple things. By simple things I mean the really simple ones like watching kids making paper boats and enjoying running around and playing in the rain, seeing the much serious mommies shouting from their houses ordering their kids to get back. Even now (that’s because I am 30, an age where I am supposed to have a serious life) I make paper boats and run out as soon as the rain stops to let them sail in the water.

Actually I love the pitter-patter kind of one than the heavy rain. Well, let me rephrase a little; when I am out on the streets I prefer the pitter-patter, but when I am near the window side I like watching both, sipping a hot coffee ( I know it’s the cliché again! But I am serious.) Make some coffee and yummilicious pakodas, take your favorite book, go and sit nearby your window enjoying the book, pakodas and the rain; you won’t get those blissful moments anywhere else I bet. Not even in your favorite holiday destination. We have a good balcony there in the hostel where we all gather for our post-dinner chit-chats. That’s the best place on earth to watch it raining outside.

Last week I had to attend the marriage of a colleague. The venue was about 40 Km from here and we all went in a bus that the company hired. I was the last one to get in to the bus and got the first seat, close by a window. It was a sunny day but rain started to pour out of nowhere right from the moment we started.  Rain drops on my windowpane!  I love drawing pictures on the window pane when it’s raining outside and during the trip I enjoyed good ample time drawing funny faces on the window pane.

It rains all the day now, but gets intense in the evening. All the traffic lines in my city get really longer during rain and I have to spend more time to reach my hostel. But I seriously don’t mind sitting in the city bus watching the pitter-patter outside. After getting down at our bus stop I have to walk for about five minutes to reach my hostel. With slower than the snail footsteps I take almost fifteen minutes to reach there when it rains and never tell my dear mom why I am late. Like any other caring mom, even my mom doesn’t like me walking around in rain. Sorry mom, but I love it! Sometimes I just wish I had a whole day to sit in my room and watch rain, and listen to the sound of raindrops as they hit my roof. Just the thought of it creates a peaceful sensation in my mind.

I love to just sit and watch rain but many of my friends don’t understand why I enjoy rain so much. I don’t think I can ever explain the magical and ecstatic feel that rain gives me. It brings in a lot of good memories that hug me tight making me feel that I have a lot of things to be happy about, to be proud about.

PS – I don’t see the samosa chaat walas these days. Seems the city officials have put a strict ban on street vendors. Or else the spicy and flavorsome chats would have increased the joy of watching rain! :(

Confessions of a vegetable pan roll addict

Why is that bakery so close to my bus stop, making me literally salivate over those luscious pan rolls?

This is the question I have been my asking myself ever since I saw the bakery and started having their lip-smacking, ‘seductive’ vegetable pan roll. Once or twice in a week was my so called self-allotted ration in the beginning, but it slowly started increasing alarmingly because of my uncontrollable craving for pan rolls and rose so high to a level where I started having one pan roll every evening! Can you imagine? Almost 25- 30 pan rolls per month! Oh! I should not miss the amount of profit that they made out of my craving for pan rolls; almost 350 rupees per month. The pan rolls were so yum making me want them more and more that I hardly started bothering about money, the amount of unnecessary calories, the additives and preservatives getting in to my body. All that I could see from the bus stop was the spicy and scrumptious pan rolls dragging me towards them in minutes. Relishing those pan rolls thus started becoming a part of my day today life; draining my health and my pocket simultaneously. Sort of compulsive eating I should say! Or I should rephrase it as the result of sorrows of a foodie living in a hostel. Well, you all know how hostel food is! So pan rolls brought a lot of happiness for the foodie in me.

But within a short time the pan roll eating disorder slowly started showing its hidden monstrous face. I started getting stomach problems on a regular basis due to the higher amount of spicy content in them, which started upsetting my dad who never knew about my ‘pan roll addiction’. Thank god!

I somehow wanted to stop my pan roll addiction and obviously the only remedy was to stop buying it, but this wasn’t very practical in the beginning. Although I had made up my mind, there had been many moments in the initial stage when a particular trigger used to bring back my pan roll addiction and I used to unknowingly walk towards the bakery , buy pan rolls and have it. A distraction from this was really necessary and it was then I had to finally start taking a different route to my hostel, much way from the premises of the bakery so that I don’t even get a glance of the delectable pan rolls. I also started having fruits in the evening to lessen and slowly overcome my urge for pan rolls, to put an end to the kind of gluttony I had. It took time for things to settle down. Now it has been almost 4-5 months, and I won’t say that I completely stopped having pan rolls. Yea, I have it once in two weeks or so, but the glutton is no more alive.

Enroute to days without pan rolls!

Women's Day Or Women’s Inequality Day?

Here comes another Women’s Day! I was just trying to rewind my memories to the college days, when we used to conduct seminars and discussions on Women’s Day. My thoughts about this day never used to go beyond those seminars and discussions; or rather I never took pains to know more. Like any other college student, that was just another day to escape from sleep inducing lectures. As any other student I too loved when a public holiday sneaked up.

To be frank even now I don’t like the way we take-in this day; the way we go gaga over Women’s Right and do absolutely nothing for it. It sucks at times. You know why? No one really bother to make any changes in the society.I was reading news paper in the morning and found tons of write-ups about Women’s Day. When women can’t even walk safely why bother to write all these for formality or eye wash?

Let me take a step back and tell you something more. Less than a month before, an innocent girl was brutally raped and killed by a fellow passenger in a local train. As usual no one was bothered until the girl surrendered to death. The hullabaloo of political parties or their pre-election gimmicks too lasted only till her cremation and I bet no one will bother to go-over the issue again, until another one gets raped and killed. When women are not safe even in broad day light, what message are we trying to convey by these seminars and discussions?

Physical, mental and sexual harassments against women; I really feel men have taken them as their privilege now. Harassments happen everywhere; homes, offices, markets, malls, streets; literally everywhere! Many women even leave their jobs because of such intolerable harassments; be it from her colleague, boss or subordinate, the only resort for her is to leave the job.

I wonder why they can’t spare us while we travel. I have heard many of my colleagues saying about men who find fun in displaying their genitals in public places. People always look at the cops, expecting them to take action against such people and sadly most of them don’t do it. I travel every weekend to my hometown and meet a lot people during my journey. I have seen many women silently bearing anger and frustration when men purposefully press their pelvises against women’s body in crammed public bus and enjoy it. Even the fellow passengers will keep their mouths shut and won’t speak out that a woman is getting sexually harassed. The same happens when bus conductors find pleasure standing close to the seats of women passengers with their wicked eyes peeping in to women’s blouses. How brutal! And the ‘footboard romeos’, especially in private buses, I can’t forget them, another set of bloody f*****s.

How sarcastic it is to see the pompous Women's Day celebrations; when women cannot walk around the city without carrying pepper sprays in their bags!

Let me conclude with a news paper report.

In a country where fathers rape daughters brutally to death, why the hell should we celebrate Women’s Day?