World Survives, but humanity cremated.

The world might have survived but humanity was certainly cremated on 21stDec,2012. We are back to the uncivilized, barbaric era.

What happened to the 23year old med student on the night of Sunday was a painful kick in the groin of humanity. What has the world come to?
Not only the economy but even our morality is undergoing a steep recession.

Now, I have read innumerous editorials and heard scores of politicians who have ‘expressed grief’ and ‘condemned the act’, but  to tell you the truth they don’t give a damn or even if they do, it doesn’t mold into the action, we elect them for.
What else? Oh, yeah…India is the country where we worship goddesses…et al…. CRAP !! When it comes to criminals or likeminded…these words don’t click.  A devil fears another devil but never the God, and besides who knows…they could be atheists.

So what about justice?
The criminals have blatantly admitted that they committed the horrific crime. One of them has also pleaded to be hanged for his actions. Ram Singh, the prime accused- has finally broken down and admitted that he went berserk after the girl resisted and bit him. What else did he expect? The girl did whatever she could do to salvage her dignity.
They did not only strip her out of her clothes and dignity but also wounded her intentionally, so bad that the doctors had to remove her intestines. Attempt to murder, right?
Since, no kith and kin of politician is behind the bars we can expect justice, but the point is would lifetime sentence be appropriate for such heinous crime?
We all have our own opinions, but the two options that echo the most are -1) Hang till death and 2) castration. Though we all know, let me just remind you what we were taught in class 7^th Civics – Inida is a secular, democratic and sovereign country. That one line in the constitution has strangled justice and made it blind.
Fastrack courts are extraordinary idea but then in India ‘fast’ is a very relative term.
Even when the whole nation is outpouring their hatred, the Delhi police are trying hard to gain a few pats for their extraordinary agility. The politicians are framing pearls of words to fall into the right sentence.
When a New Zealand reporter called Sheila Dixit – ‘Dick Shit’, a prompt action was taken across borders. BJP's youth and women's wings took out a morcha and demanded an apology from Nirupam for his remarks against Smriti Irani, who is also a Member of Parliament. A comment and such furore. I wish they had done the same demanding justice for the one whose dignity has not been defamed but mutilated, but all they can do is -- express grief.

In Naseerudin Shah’s words from the movie ‘A Wednesday’ – I am just a common man, but I demand from the people who are not common, who are either state elected-good-for-nothings or glitzy superstars, why can’t they take up a cause and stir the nation.
Salman Khan- the brand ambassador of ‘Being Human’- could have at least cancelled a press-conference for promotion of Dabangg2 and focused on getting the nation motivated for a change.
Aamir Khan, cashed on the TRPs of ‘Satyameva Jayate’ and the whole India went teary-eyed, but when it comes to actually doing something…he is in lost in his ‘talaash’ .

Of course, we all want a change but no matter how bitter we feel, we have to do our day jobs. We all have responsibilities. We cannot be guarding our mothers, daughters, sisters and wives all the time. That’s why we have the police, we have the courts.
Some people have been preaching the ‘Sharia law’. I respect all religions but for people who know just an excerpt from the law, you need to read this: http://www.islamreview.com/articles/WOMEN_ARE_RESPONSIBLE.shtml

So, what conclusion do we come to? Hard to say…
 I know these people don’t deserve a quick, sudden death but in this demon friendly country, that is the only way. Castration is beyond question but hang till death is not. Maybe they can leak a video of the execution and we can make it viral through our PDAs and handhelds. That would instill some fear, and fear is what they need. This ain’t no Gotham and and there ain’t no Batman.

So for all those people participating in the candle light vigils and posting on their blogs and SNS, I request, please don’t let this agitation recede with time. Keep pushing, keep posting and get the law reformed till the day everyone can breathe free when his/her child/mom/daughter/sister/wife or even friend goes out of their sight.

Let’s stop this perpetual paranoia.
Amen !!

KRP DAM -Karnataka, Krishnagiri

The most beautiful places in the world lie not in the beckoning of the media and hullabaloo of the travel Sites. It lies in the serene calmness of solitude and distance from paparazzi.

The picture is that of a calm and undisturbed evening in KRP Dam-7kms from Krishnagiri- midway between Bangalore and Chennai.

Lack of conveyance, language barriers, risky after-dark- be prepared for these obvious hazards, but otherwise this place is a marvel to watch and a treasure to capture—of course with your lens !!

Enjoy madhi !! :)

Amateur Tabs : O Meri Jaan (Tum Mile)

Hairan hai, hum hue kyun, tum gairon se
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Kaisa hai gam bolo na tum honton se
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Na tum ho bewafaa, na mai bhi hun
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Fir bhi hain hun judaa, mai kya kahoon
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Na jane waqt ki marzi hai kya
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Kyun hai mili, yeh dooriyan
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O meri jaan
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Dusk or dawn ? (Mahaballipuram, Tamil Nadu)

Dusk or dawn ?, a photo by ro9ty on Flickr.
 

Cupid's arrow

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What else do you feel about love?
-A marauding sin, a palpable lie..
It think it is a cocoon filled with life,

and not a single should die. 

Ebbing waves, wash away the names

we strongly etch in line

Dark clouds, guard the twinkling beads

but they--don't lose their shine. 

It might be just a pencil sketch,

or an epitome in the whitest lime.

 but, love is not all that's written and read

but something that needs no sign. 

Some say it is an idyllic dream,

some call it a horrendous crime 

coz, cupid's arrow gives the only wound:

that seldom heals in a lifetime. !!

A mute nightingale

A leaf with drops of dew,

And the sky was a crimson hue,

The croaking of the toads,

The Clean and bright roads.



The whistle of the kettle,

As the darkness gradually settles,

Joggers on the ground,

And muscles pumping the pounds



A misty cool breeze,

That in a while would cease,

The first brush of the morning rays,

And they gradually seep through the maze.



The honk of the school bus,

At groceries the maddening rush,

the prowl of the healthy dogs

as the masters behind the reins slog.



I ambled in my trance,

not every day you get a chance,

the usual grind so high on scale

That I became a mute nightingale


no reminiscence of the dawn

I was busy plucking the thorns

as the rose dried and weathered away
Priorities we state
or leave it on our fate
but tomorrow can never be today.

serendipity !

The sun was descending behind that tall minaret. Two beautiful eyes were settled on the faintly visible moon. Her kerchief was stained with mascara.

The icing on the cake was yet to be done. A bottle of jacob’s creek lay idle in the center table beside the unlit candles.

She wanted to buy something exquisite for the evening and drove all the way to banjara hills to buy this svelte black dress. She could feel a pair of glares staring at her from far. It was nothing new, but very familiar. She quickened her steps to avoid the scorching sun, but could not avoid the doom ahead.


A swift turn and lo!


Adnan !!!


No, it could not be. This could not be him.


After so many years, lost in her blissful life, she had almost forgotten him, except the face and the few lines from the poems he had dedicated her.


The situation would not have worsened if only she walked away, but like a ship in a whirlpool, she got entrapped in the vortex. They carried the brief meeting to an adjacent coffee shop. He still liked his coffee-black, and how come he started wearing blue. He never liked it.


She was impressed on hearing that he had secured a job with a leading financial consultancy. He was always good with economics in school, she remembered. She was sad to know about his father’s death.


Her eyes sauntered carelessly on his frame and stopped at his belly. A slight paunch!! His physique had changed as much as his psyche. From predictable to subtlety, from drab to finesse, from wearisome to witty, he had certainly transformed.


All the while, something was pounding within. Was it her conscience or just the throbbing heart? ..But why?


Just then she noticed, her right palm was masking those carefully clasped fingers. Did she deliberately try to conceal that ring?


An uneasy feeling gripped her. Were the old flames growing? Were passions being rekindled? She glanced at her watch and excused herself on pretense of office. God only knows where this conversation would have advanced to, if she had not stopped it. Why didn’t she tell him the real cause?


He focused his steely eyes on hers, as if asking the pertinent questions or was he trying to answer hers?


She wore her glares, but his eyes could still penetrate those dark glasses and he mustered enough courage to ask the question that jolted and shook her to the core


“Do you still love me?”


She wanted to look him in the eye and give the answer she had long rehearsed in her lonely nights. The nights she had incessantly wept and tried to retain him through copious messages and futile phone calls. A million apologies cannot bring her back those vital years. It cannot erase the embarrassment and pain it had caused, and here he was demanding an answer, unapologetic.


She paused for a moment. The words were reverberating in her mind, but something more powerful held her gaze and she left with a chapter unclosed. A faint smile crossed his face. Maybe he got his answer.


Emotions are stupid, unresponsive to logic.


Till yesterday, her life was such a bounty. A prosperous career, a caring college sweetheart, an elucidated mind and marriage on the cards, yet today on the anniversary of her engagement she had to face such an emotional turmoil. That one question had shattered her peace. She was sill trying to figure out an answer.


In a few hours, Akshat would come with a bunch of red roses apt for the occasion, but didn’t she tell him she liked daisies more. He would take her to dine in the 5-star lounge, he planned last week, but doesn’t he know she would have liked it as a surprise. He would praise her svelte dress, apt for the required dress-code but she hated wearing western outfits and at night he would love her passionately and kiss her a hundred times unaware of the turmoil she was going through.


She was chagrined momentarily. Why was she complaining today after six long years? She knew Akshat just wanted her to be happy. He would never want her to do anything she did not like, if only he knew.


She closed her eyes and a blob of salty water washed her mascara again and she wiped it with the kerchief. She tried to imagine Akshat in all those days he had loved and supported her. She had liked the way he had accepted her troubled past and comforted her in his arms. He had given her the security and affection that every girl desires. She pressed her eyes harder to find that charming face in the stark darkness, but all she could see were a pair of steely eyes demanding an answer.


Suddenly, a blaring honk brought her back to reality. She glanced at her watch. Impossible, how could it be 9 so soon? How long had she been thinking about him? She glinted at the dimly lit room. It was unprepared for the celebrations. Akshat would understand at first look that something was wrong, and then he would not stop until he comforted her. Wouldn’t he understand that tonight she wanted to be left alone? So what if it was their anniversary?


After three knocks, she opened the door. There he was in his best pin-striped suit, those bunches of unwanted flowers and that once attractive broad grin. He embraced her in his muscular arms and she responded to his pout, but the kiss was brief and her response was cold.


She looked at the face that she had admired for six long years, those lips that she had kissed all this while and those arms that held her in the most difficult times. She observed him closely. Those beautiful eyes fixated as if trying to find an answer to something. Was she comparing the two A’s of her life?


Emotions are seriously unresponsive to logic.


Akshat could not spot the dilemma on her face. He mistook it to be her inexplicable admiration for him. He was so elated. He flung the flowers on the table and bosomed her to his chest .With quivering lips he uttered the three words he had said exactly six years from today, the three words that bonded them for a lifetime, or so he thought.


She closed her eyes. Those steely, demanding eyes were still staring at her. She gazed deep into it. A sudden rush of emotions washed away all sense of guilt and the golden words sprung from her lips “I love you too “. A tiny glob of tear washed her mascara again.


She just found the answer !