कुछ इच्छाए बारिश की बूंदोंकी तरह होती है
जिन को छूनेकी ख्वाईश में हथेलिया तो गीली हो जाती है
पर हाथ हमेशा खाली रहते है

Only Parathas

Parathas are not on my list of favorite food items. But then I was tired of the same old South Indian and Chinese fare dished out here, there and everywhere. So I decided to try out "Only Parathas". The Chaat section on the menu had all the usual suspects so I chose Papadi Chaat. The Paratha section was, predictably, long enough to cover distance between Mumbai and Kashmir twice over. It started with simple parathas and went on to more complex stuffed ones. Since I didn't know what the difference between 'single-layered' and 'double-layered' parathas was - though I could guess it - I ordered single-layered aaloo parathas.

The order was served quickly enough. Papadi Chaat was everything a Chaat should be - light, refreshing and perfectly seasoned. The paratha, however, was a huge disappointment. The crispy covering was so thick that I could hardly taste any potato filling inside. It was accompanied with Black Daal which I have never been able to develop a taste for and the chhole were utterly tasteless.

I stepped out wishing that I had ordered more Chaat instead.

Lately I have been watching one show on Travel Trendz channel - Bharat Express. It gives good information on tourist destinations across the country. Today's episode was on Amritsar. Apart from the well-known places like the Golden Temple (with its langar), Jalianwala Baug and Wagah Border, it featured a place called Haveli - which is sort of a Punjabi version of Chokhi Daani - a Punjabi village set up for tourists with magicians, weavers, potters, shopping, song and dance and at the end of it, a huge Punjabi Thali.

I am tired of Meredith Grey. More tired than perhaps Derek Shepherd. Granted, her mom was an ambitious lady. Granted too, that her mom was all broken up over a love affair that went wrong. Meredith has abandonement issues. She has inferiority complex. She has trouble trusting people. But isn't it time she stopped citing these excuses for her erratic behavior and concentrated on her career instead - just once in her life? (Oh, I know the season being aired on Star World is the 4th one - and not the latest!)

I admire Yang despite her apparent lack of anything close to a human emotion. She is singularly focussed on her career and wants to be the best at what she is doing. No wonder she was mad at Grey for going on and on and on about whether she wants Derek to move in with her or not. And I agree with Yang's assessment that it won't work out between Derek and Meredith. He would have been better off getting back with Addison.

But then the show isn't called 'Addison's Anatomy', right?

"Hang me" says one of the perpetrators of the Delhi gang-rape case. Or so the newspapers tell us. My first reaction was - yes, hang them all, in public and in such a way that they die a very long, slow and painful death. And then hang their corpses in the city square so that passers-by can flog their dead bodies. And then refuse to cremate or bury their corpses anywhere in India. Human rights be damned!

But I think this would be like letting them go easy because once they are dead, they are past all this. So castrate them all instead with the most painful method available - and without any anesthesia. Plaster their photos all over the cities - so that their faces are imprinted on people's minds. Parade them across cities so that people can heap abuse on them. And then put them behind bars where they will be forced to live the rest of their miserable, sorry lives in solitude.

We all should aim to stop the hideous, shameless exhibition of female bodies in movies, magazines and fashion ads - in print, on TV and hoardings. The Censor should not allow songs with provocative banal lyrics. If it takes us to the so-called Dark Ages, so be it. We also need to make more efforts to educate Indian men - perhaps right from childhood - that their gender alone does not make them in any way superior to women. Like charity, this should begin at home, all across India. Mothers, grandmothers and sisters have to do it - even if it means standing up to the men of the family in this patriarchal society of ours.

That said, I am unable to shake off my anger at the stupidity of the victim in question. Didn't she think even once before boarding a private bus at night? This is not Ram-Rajya for heaven's sake.

I wish I could say that women everywhere would have wizened up after this incident. Sadly, that is not true. It was just yesterday that I was waiting at the bus stop when a girl asked me if I was going to a certain destination. When I replied in the negative, she went to a guy standing nearby, he nodded and then both of them left in a rickshaw.

When are we going to learn that personal safety should be given priority over absolutely everything?

अर्ज है

उम्रभर ग़ालिब यही भूल करता रहा
धूल चेहेरे पर थी और आईना साफ़ करता रहा

'I am bored to death with this routine' complained my friend, a colleague, over a cup of afternoon tea. Normally, I would have agreed, or at least sympathized with her. But this time her comment reminded me of an article - about the plight of Christians in Iraq - that I read in the latest issue of the GEO magazine. Living in a country torn apart by war must not be easy. I am aware that this is an understatement. Many people of my generation can only recollect the Kargil war and that didn't throw the life of most of the civilians out of kilter by any means. However, what most of the Indians will be able to identify with is the misery that a communal strife brings to everyday life. When this strife breaks out in a country ravaged by war, the misery gets intensified manifold.

That's what those people are going through. Every day of their life.

They are living in the shadow of death.

And we, who are blessed to have a "normal" routine life, are "bored to death" by it.

Most of the times I don't bother reading Print ads. But the picture of a broken window caught my attention. It was an ad for Tata Capital Home Loan. The text accompanying the picture was a short piece about how a kid had to leave behind a broken window that was an important part of his childhood because his family had to shift from that rented place. It was so beautifully written that I couldn't help but cut out that ad. It's kept in pages of a favorite book.

I know that someday in future when I open the book to read it, that ad will tumble down from its pages. And I will get to enjoy reading it once again :-)

I have always wondered at the human mind's ability to fish out memories that you didn't even know you had. It happened again with me today morning. I got into a bus and the conductor gave me ticket. As usual, I kept it in the front pocket of my backpack. Sometime later, I opened the pocket again to take out my mobile. The ticket almost fell out.

And that, somehow, triggered a memory from my school days. A friend and I had boarded a bus and got tickets. We were so busy chatting that she absent-mindedly chucked the ticket out the window (I used to be less bothered about civic sense back then!). Then she realized what she had done and was horrified at the thought of the Ticket Collector catching her without ticket. In fact, she had been so rattled that she had promptly got another ticket.

I smiled as I thought back on it and pushed the ticket back inside. I don't know where that friend is now. I know that in this age of Facebook and LinkedIn, I can track her down if I make some effort. But then, I guess some friendships do have an expiry date. When you haven't seen each other for years, there is simply so much to catch up on that it's probably best not to.

I wonder though, if my friend remembers that incident anymore.

Spark The Rise

Be the change you wish to see in the world

That's what Mahatma Gandhi had said. Guess we will have to be a lot of things if we decide to follow this advice. However, there is always that first step. And if you wish to take it, do check out Spark The Rise website.