AAP ka PAAP

I had been toying with writing and then scribbling and then putting down my pen ( yes ,I do write the old fashioned way ) but then the innate intuition got the better of me! AAP has one of the most powerful initials - a word that invokes old age respect , manners, a vintage style that immediately brings to your mind ' tehzeeb' . It also stands for in this day and age for the Aam Admi Party.  India , is an interesting country and on this Republic Day's unity in diversity this party brings together all sorts of diverse people from different sections of the society who have united to fight the problems that matter!

It is a party , that in its infancy has upstaged and has changed the game plan of Indian politics ( I am not going to get into a history lesson , every citizen of India has two Gods Cricket and politics , enough said !)

AAp comprises of you , me ,the common man of India , the Nikkis, Bittus , Ramus , chottus and also the common middle class along with the idealists who have been awakened to do good and to change the face of India. We were given a glimpse of the change, the ' badlaav' they eloquently speak of , by voting themselves into power in Delhi.

But , Ladies and Gentlemen, we should never forget that the Gods we put on pedestals have feet of clay ! And, that is apparent from what is transpiring in Delhi. he calls himself , an anarchist , a revolutionary , a common man ,who wants to change and give power to the common man. Popular gimmickry is what he is resorting to, inaugarations by rickshaw wallahs, sleeping in the open , speaking  crudely ..
Why ? The system supported you , made you what you are ... Why this revolt? Why are you in such a hurry to prove us wrong? Why are you making it into the biggest war of the classes ? Why are you against progress ?
Sir, your muffler clad ,topi wearing iconic caricature is lovable, but Sir , please don't become a symbol of a lost misguided hope for the youth , for whom you have raised hope given them a beacon but are taking it back like a spoilt child in the playground when his lollipop is taken away !
Dont play with our emotions too.. We also hurt , and are the other aam admi of this country .


Sorry , if the post head sounds like a B- grade Bollywood movie ! Couldnt help it .

The Lost Indian

The Lost Indian

Society today has moved to a certain unexplainable, undefined plateau, which keeps on changing moving, to a level of decadence that reminds me of Roman orgies. It seems the level of voyeurism, corruption and greed are reaching its zenith. Before you all label me as a true blue Akali, or a congress wali bandi, or an AAP supporter, a Modi basher (bet that made you smile), I am a lost Indian. I seriously wonder who I am, a lost tribe of the Amazon. Sadly, the Amazon does not run in my country, the Ganga does and she is way too polluted by the moral degradation of the times, the corruption of the moral fiber of the society, the lack of basic amenities for every citizen. Or, am I the woman of the 22^nd century who is trying to fight, claw her way to reach the next destination, pulled down by every step, every turn, very corner just because God decided she should be anatomically different then the rest of the population. Just because of this, I am killed; raped, maimed, acid is thrown just because I have the temerity to say No. Why was I taught No, in the first place? All the incarnations of Shakti, Maa are lost in the idol worship that adorns the homes of the 1.2 billion of my country.

Am I the Indian who lives her life through a smart phone? Worried more about connectivity, status update, whatsapp and a false bubble of virtuality. Or Am I the struggling Indian who lives with hyperinflation, costs so high that change and dive at the mercy of the Lok Sabha elections? Just because, a senior heir apparent wishes the subsidy increases. I am at the mercy of the political heavy weights that are at a tussle to fool us, for maximum votes. Then I am torn apart just because I belong to a religion, I am given a quota.

Do I need to be given a quota? Why?

I need a quota, the lost Indian. The Indian whose psyche, the zameer is buried. I need one to revive the lost patriotism, loyalty and all those old-fashioned morals values that I grew up n. I need a quota for the fresh air, food, water I signed up for. My country deserves it. We need to give back to the country, not because we ought to, but because she deserves it. We owe it to her. Not by anarchy or with a revolution or by the systematic division by religion or by caste or by the listing of systematic wrongs that have been slighted upon communities just because we were fooled by slick smooth operators who needed the votes to win and loot the country.

I want all of us to reclaim ourselves , otherwise we might just go extinct like the dodo ; to be excavated in the future like the Jurassic park Of India.

Death and I

I had gone to attend a Kriya of my Vice Principal’s daughter who had passed away. All deaths are unfortunate, no one wants to face the reality and the certainty of Death but it is the one and only truth. I went there, shocked, shamed that I had not been in touch with my teacher who had taught me a lot of core values plus math. Mr. Bakshi with his dark jet-black flick hair and his bent finger was always on the look out for the backbenchers that tried to evade his questions. I cannot here debate his teaching or whether he played favorites…

I just remember him as a towering imposing disciplinarian who struck fear in our hearts. And today I saw this man, broken a mere shadow of his previous self. His only child had lost her battle and had passed on.

What shocked me was the absence of students who should have come to pay their respects or homage or give support to him. It was a weekday, some said. Some said they had visited him personally at home. I was just taken aback.

Am I being sanctimonious? Was I being overly correct just because I had gone there and the others hadn’t? Why have we lost our humane self ? It is as if all has been replaced by an equation that just translates into money and materialism.

I just realized one eternal truth, when I die no one will be there. All these platitudes of being friends and being there for life and till you die are false. When one dies, who has turned and got up form the grave and marked attendance and said, well so many are present. Good, Now I can die!

Life indeed is cruel and it teaches one at every step.

For me, I am a sentimental fool and these incidents make me lose my faith in humanity and I know no one will be there to cry at my bier.

Punjabi Fashion!

Every year, Punjab suffers from marriage mania. It can be summed up by a mathematical equation, strange it is applicable to us but sometimes we do follow a pattern. It is like this, as the temperature drops, the women start wearing skimpier clothes. This is the time when the temperatures plummet, weddings are planned and women because of fashion start wearing shorter tighter, skimpier clothes. What to do? If they covered themselves in shawls, and wore the ugly sweaters which heaven forbid might give them warmth, how would they show off their clothes, the designs, and most important the OTT jewelry?

Her diamonds, the polkis she wears and the shawl she carries so strategically placed on her shoulder do not know by her intellect but a woman, in Punjab. It is definitely a marvel, I have seen women place them in balance with the duppatta, jewelry and she walks so straight in those pencil heels, and I wonder how it happens. Its like the delicate balance of war we have with the China.

Last Sunday, I was decked in all my finery as much as I could and I was off for a wedding with my husband and as we came out of our house, we saw a sight that was earlier limited to stories and the ever famous Amar Chitra Katha.

I saw a couple sitting in front of our famous old as time, Peepal tree. And they had tied a red thread around it. They were going round and round it.

 When I asked a passer by they said first they had married the girl around the tree so that the would be groom would not die after marriage. This was done in accordance with the kundli. I was stumped.

The world is progressing to inter net weddings, weddings under water, on the balloon, destination weddings and relationships are planned, thought of under planned circumstances and we even have pre nuptials to prevent anything and everything. But, these rituals do exist, when I said it was all superstition and nothing like this prevented a death, as all was predestined.

The old lady stumped by saying, this too was predestined and written by the stars. Sometimes, the old ways are better; at least they were done with full clothes on.

However, do not dismiss me as a prude, I too am partially guilty of fashion!