Freedom of Speech or Confused State of Mind ?

So it’s been almost a year since I penned down my thoughts and shared with you all through this blog. I think there wasn’t any topic motivating enough, which would force me to make use of this writing space. But now I do have something to write about, something to ponder, and something to conclude from the current freedom of speech and expression debate going on in the country. I am writing this as I think that this is the right time to exercise my right for freedom of speech. (FoS) J

But hey, before I start let us first understand what is FoS. Here you go, FoS is the concept of inherent human right to voice out your opinions or views or thoughts publicly without any fear of censorship or punishment. What a powerful right which constitution of India has provided us. But we all know that with great power comes great responsibility, that’s why every sensible individual likes to first think through what he wants to speak before opening his/her mouth in a public gathering. To simplify, it means tol mol ke bol.

You would have guessed what I am trying to say. The students at JNU held a cultural event where anti-India sloganeering was caught over the camera and most of them were seen paying tribute to the man involved in the attack on Indian Parliament House. We can debate on who did wrong and who was right but the point is how can one raise anti-India slogans being a citizen of India? One can voice his/her dissent over certain issues with Government of India, but how can one justify raising slogans for the destruction of India. We can also understand terror groups calling for destruction of India as they belong to other countries, but students in JNU calling for destruction of India, practically means destroying JNU itself.

 

Ok may be they do not have any subject on logical reasoning in their course curriculum, but what about slogans like Go back India? Now this is hilarious! It is not a British raj where people used to shout slogans like Go back Simon or Go back Britishers. These slogans helped sending back Simon or the British army to their own country, but how does this apply in the context of India. India is not a person or group of people who can go back to where they have come from. Also India has been always under the Himalayas and over the Indian Ocean, where the hell will it go now? Now this is not even related to logical reasoning, these are grammatically incorrect slogans.

And yes they lead to the charges of sedition. Sedition? Ok let’s again understand first what is sedition. As the Google baba says, sedition is a conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of a state or monarch. So whoever does so is liable to be arrested on the charges of sedition. One may escape by saying that few people in the mob were shouting slogans and they had nothing to do with it, but their mere presence creates a doubt about their integrity.

Anyway coming to AG’s execution, he was given a fair trial by Indian Judiciary and was eventually hanged. Yes I agree that he was hanged in complete secrecy to avoid any social disturbance and to maintain communal harmony and one might criticize the then government in handling it that way. May be that’s why RaGa went to JNU and showed solidarity towards the cause. But wait a min!!  Seems like RaGa opposed the move of his own UPA Government. In soccer, that’s called a self-goal J  . Also the JNU students who were citing the death penalty as judicial killing were seen telling media that they have full faith in Indian judiciary after being taken into custody. I believe it can’t get funnier than this.

And that is why I really don’t feel that it is an issue of freedom of speech or expression. This actually is a case of utter foolishness or a confused state of minds, which few of the students are experiencing and are forcing the same mindsets over others. They rather need to put their energies into studies and constructive criticism to improve the education system of India. JNU being one of the renowned universities of India needs to live up to its name and do the necessary amendments soon, before it’s too late.

For people who are supporting this kind of freedom of expression, I would just say ki democracy hai bhai, sabko bolne ki aazadi hai. It’s just that when it’s about India, we should learn to differentiate clearly between black and white. We cannot hide behind certain grey areas or point fingers at each other for our personal benefits. If some are unable to criticize government’s functioning, they need not stoop down to the levels of abusing the nation to create an atmosphere of imbalance in the country. You can criticize the Government, but not the country, as that would actually mean criticizing your own self. You just need to understand the difference between dissent and treason, if you don’t then stop blaming the Government !!

The Great Indian Fan !

The defending champs, Team India, has been knocked out of the ICC World Cup 2015. They had a great run in the tournament with 7 straight victories and just one loss, but in the semi-finals. Still I would say I was delighted by team India’s performance. I never thought they would make it so far in the cup because of their dismal show in the tri-series just a couple of months back. In fact when I first saw the #WeWontGiveItBack campaign on TV, like most of the Indian fans, I too burst into laughter and thought of why they were making a mockery of Indian cricket. I am sure even the actors in that ad were not convinced about India’s long run the World cup, forget about winning it.

Now the thing is that as a fan we feel it’s our birthright to criticize the team’s selection, performance, decisions etc. etc. I am fine with that, but as a modern day cricket fan we should also keep some rationale behind our expectations and we need not become greedy as soon as most of them are met. Fans also need to stick to what they believe in, we can’t keep changing sides according to the tide.

So when the cup started, I assume not even 1 % of fans believed in, India winning it. Then why there is so much of hue and cry when actually we should be celebrating India’s performance, after all they performed better than expected, isn't it ? I remember everyone treating the India Pakistan match on 15^th Feb like a World Cup final and hence social media was flooded with Pak bashing messages, which as an Indian you really enjoy. But I am just thinking that how we may react if India ever loses to Pak in a WC match? I am afraid that Indian players would be treated much badly with bag full of abuses and their homes pelted with stones.

But over here we were quite happy and content with a win over Pak. As Team India started winning more matches, the Indian fan started expecting them to win the World Cup. Now that is like embarking on an unknown journey and thinking we would never fail. It doesn’t happen, you will fail some or the other day, only important thing is that you need to learn how well the failure can be handled.

I think that one’s expectation should be directly proportional to the impact of failure he/she is capable of handling. But most of the cases the latter is lower, hence leading to frustration, anxiety etc. In this case, it was in the form of social media trolling, distasteful jokes over WhatsApp, breaking television sets and burning effigies of players who were your heroes just a day before. Now to go a bit further, fans sometimes also think the presence of a player’s spouse is a bad omen due to which they fail miserably on the ground. Ahh… Come on, it’s like saying that you goofed up in one of the annual day presentations at office because your spouse was sitting somewhere in the audience. How can that be linked? Till today I believed that having someone from your family in the audience only boosts your performance on stage or in any other arena. How can they be blamed if you were not able to give your best shot? Plus, do you think a player gets distracted by the presence of a single person in a crowd of 50-60 thousand people? I really don't think so. And to make it a bit more unfair, we sympathize with players of other countries on their failures, but abuse our own heroes.

Anyways the point which I want to make is that a great fan is the one who stands by the team through thick and thin. Either you don’t root for their success, or if you do, then be ready to accept their failures. Indian fan is famous across countries for being most enthusiastic and energetic, but that doesn't mean that we also need to top the list of most intolerant fans.

As I am about to submit this post, I can see Kiwis losing the WC final to Aussies. I am sure that their fans would not be abusing them or blaming their girlfriends for the loss, rather they would heartily welcome them back. Such thinking comes when you start accepting the things the way they are and that comes naturally to you as you grow up. But has the Indian fan grown up? remains still a question!

Congratulations !! Aussies the World Champ !! #YouTookItBack

Singham Returns with a Roar !

So I watched 'Singham Returns' today and the movie prompted me to write a post on it. As an avid Bollywood movie lover, I have been watching Hindi action movies for long in theaters to experience the sheer energy and the thrill which you get by watching them on the big silver screen.

In last couple of years, there have been some small budget movies which leave an impact with their solid story, crisp direction and class act. And then there have been good romcom movies for which generally the beautiful locations and melodious music makes the cut. But when we think about an action movie with biggies like Salman, Aamir, Akshay or Ajay, the expectations soar high and there are always comparisons with past.

Somehow I felt that the kind of masala action movie trend which started with likes of ‘Ghajini’ , ‘Wanted’ and continued with ‘Dabangg’ , ‘Rowdy Rathore’, ‘Singham’ etc. was diminishing from the celluloid in past couple of years. Yes, there have been big money minting action movies like ‘Dhoom-3’, ‘Krishh-3’, ‘Holiday’ and ‘Kick’ recently, which have crossed 150-200 crore mark at box office, mainly due to the star power and high ticket prices. But I believe that they have completely failed in generating the single screen buzz in multiplexes with their not so rustic dialogues and the westernized action sequences.

Now why I feel that ‘Singham Returns’ scores above all among the recent action movies in entertaining the Bollywood audiences to the core. First of all, the movie highly banks upon its first installment ‘Singham’ which was loved by the audience and appreciated by critics too, just like ‘Dabangg-2’which completely rode on the success of ‘Dabangg’. The protagonist Bajirao Singham takes his journey of bravery and machoism to another level as he has already become a household name with his hugely popular dialogues like ‘Atah maajhi satakli’ and ‘Aaali re aali atah tujhi baari aali’ ! I am sure some of the dialogues of this one would also become popular but imagine what happens when you create the similar face-off situations between the hero and villain, play the same Singham track in background and put the same popular dialogues in the scene ……..the audience just shout them loudly in chorus with the hero. And I guess that’s where the connect happens! But on dialogue front, the icing on the cake is when the corrupt politician runs to save his life from thousands of policemen, and locks himself in a house with the emphasis given on shutting of door. As soon as Singham reaches the door and inspects it before saying anything, the timing completely makes you shout on top of your voice – Daya Darwaza tod do!  The very next moment it happens and you just enjoy that fun and thrill it brings to the theatre.

Rest is taken care by the Rohit Shetty, Ajay Devgan specialized style of action. The well timed entry of hero in each fight sequence, the fighting moves, the blazing guns, everything just adds to this super action experience for the audiences. There is also a flavor of beauty and comedy, both mixed in Kareena’s character, who being a seasoned actress, delivers that perfectly with few ‘whistle blowing’ dialogues.

Now the point is where the movie lags. Honestly speaking, I felt that some of the action and the confrontation scenes were repetitive. Also one of the objectives of focusing on the plight of cops who sacrifice their personal lives over national duty, was not handled well as compared to ‘Singham’. And last but not the least, I really missed the lovable villain Prakash Raj.

Besides these, some might say the story isn’t that great as compared to the first or there are some superhero stunt sequences which are far far away from reality, not to forget the Shetty’s trademark style of blowing the vehicles high in air. I would just advise them to buy the DVDs of recent blockbuster movies which I mentioned in the beginning of this post and try finding out some story or logic in them. And if even after watching all, they rate them above Singham Returns, then as an Ajay Devgan fan I would just tell them…. Attah Maajhi Satakli !

कौन हो तुम !

इस मुखौटे के पीछे न जाने राज़ हैं कितने
कैसे सुलझा पाउँगा सवालात मैं इतने

सभी ने तेरी बस एक झलक ही पायी है
कहते हैं ज़मीं पर तू आसमां से उतर आई है

तेरी आँखों की गहराई माप जाऊं यह मेरे बस में नहीं
पर तेरे आंसू भी न पोंछ पाऊं इतना भी बेबस मैं नहीं

कोशिश मैं करता रहूँगा इस पहेली को बूझने की
अब तो आदत सी है मुझको उलझनों से जूझने की

तेरी तस्वीर को ज़हन में उतार के अब तुझे होने ना दूंगा गुम
परदे बेपर्दा करता रहूँगा जब तक जानूंगा ना कौन हो तुम ! कौन हो तुम!

Happy Friendship Day !!

Teri bachpan ki har aadat , chhoti moti sari shararat, mein sath woh deta hai, 
Aur kabhi tujhe fasakar , headmaster se pitwakar, chain ki neend woh sota hai !
Phir agle hi din tera homework karke, bilkul udhaas hoke, tujhe hi sorry kehta hai,
Isi liye toh dosti ka bond hamesha ke liye rehta hai!

Tere kisi bhi jhagde mein , be matlab ke lafde mein , bin soche samjhe wo kood jata hai, 
Tujhe pitne se bacha toh nahi pata , lekin tujhse zyada maar zaroor khata hai !
Phir bhi apni marham-patti se pehle dava woh tujhe hi lagata hai,
Isi liye toh dosti ka bond itna strong kehlata hai !

Teri har chhoti picnic ya badi trip, jiske bina complete nahi ho pati ,
Pocket money ke tere issues ho to uski taraf se sponsorship hai aa jati !
Teri pehli setting karne mein usika sabse bada contribution hota hai,
Isi liye toh dosti ka bond sabse best relation hota hai !

Yeh baatein to bahut kam hai , sab kehne mein toh ek arsa beet jayega , 
Phir bhi dost ki di hui saari khushiyon ka hisaab nahi lag payega ! 
so I just tried to pen down few memories and have nothing much to say, 
To everyone out there... Wish u a very HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY !

IPL : Indian Problem League

It is one of the darkest days in the history of Indian cricket. A billion fans have been taken for a ride. They have been cheated or I may say, a nation has been cheated. Cricketing fans at the stadiums feel their money has been wasted. Today every cricket fan is sad , disgusted and angry.

Is it really so ? Is it really a national issue ? Do you really feel cheated ? I am a cricket fan too but I somehow do not echo the same sentiments. I mean I don't think that a spot fixing in a franchise based cricket tournament should be made up a national issue when there are already many open GATES leading to the huge palace of corruption (coal-gate, rail-gate, chopper-gate , never ending etc.)

IPL is meant for entertaining people. When you go to watch an IPL match , it is not cricket , but the electrifying atmosphere which you enjoy the most. It is the great IPL experience which you take back home. And after getting back if you get to know that one of the overs was fixed , do you really care ? Most of us would say that why the hell there was any need to fix that bowler when he anyways would have given a plenty of runs :) Just recall how many times you have said to yourself or discussed among your friends about a match being fixed due to a totally unexpected turnaround of events. Catches being dropped by the best fielders , no balls being bowled at crucial phases or batsmen just throwing away their wicket when they are close to a win. After all such instances, being a supporter of losing team, you would have said..yaar fix hai sab :)

Yes , the guilty should be punished, but will banning them for life help ? I mean life ban would mean actually a ban of just 5-6 years for a player who is already in his 30s. There needs to be a stricter punishment. Having said that, I also don't agree to put them behind bars for 5-7 years. A country whose super rich cash league is being run by underworld kingpins via 1000s of agents, couldn't catch the real culprits and finally put their own cricketers behind bars. How can you justify that ? I agree that it is up to the players to stand up and refuse such offers. But what about cracking the whole nexus ? What are you doing to avoid such things in future?

As a process analyst , here I feel like taking a cue from the ITIL framework established for IT service management..haiinn ?? ITIL?? Is this guy  mad??? :) I know you must be wondering how it suddenly shifted from cricket to IT.:) But in ITIL , there are two very important concepts of incident management and problem management. Incident management deals with fixing a particular disruption or issue in the system. But it does not stop it from recurring in future. For removing the root cause of the incident, one has to apply problem management.

What Delhi police or the BCCI has done or is doing from past is actually an incident management. These match fixing issues arise just like a huge incident and police fix it by nabbing few of them involved. The system continues to run again without analyzing the underlying root cause. They need to analyze why these things are happening repeatedly. What I understand from the latest reports in media is that a huge amount of money from underworld is being pumped in IPL. The betting centers in India are being run from foreign lands. It is not clear how actually the players get their payment. Players are also seen with many shady characters who suddenly appear from nowhere and then vanish into the crowd. 

These things create an environment which leads to some suspicion and they can be called as the potential root causes which leads to such sad events.  Delhi police have done a great job in nabbing those involved in spot fixing , but to solve the overall Problem they need to eliminate the root cause. Which unfortunately is not and never was in their control. And a sincere request to Media...Please show some news on LBT issue, coz currently that is something which is affecting my daily life and has become a national issue at my home..:(:(

Syaahi !

कुछ लिखता हूँ तो ग़म के मारे अलफ़ाज़ ही निकलते हैं,

खुश-हाल जिंदा-दिल शायरी अब लिखी नहीं जाती !

लिख लिख के ज़िन्दगी के पन्ने भरते जा रहा हूँ,

कमबख्त ये रंज-ओ-ग़म की स्याही ख़तम हो नहीं पाती !!

और तो इस स्याही का रंग भी काला है,

इक दफा लग जाए तो छुडाये नहीं छूटती !

जाने क्या खता हो गयी जो थाम लिया मैंने इसे,

वरना ये ज़िन्दगी मुझसे कभी युहीं नहीं रूठती !!

अब तो कलम तोड़ कर भी कोई फायदा नहीं,

यह स्याही खून बनकर मेरी रगों में दौड़ने लगी है !

मेरे दिल के अन्दर इक जद्द-ओ-जेहद सी जारी है,

जिस में इसे ख़तम करने की उम्मीद अभी तक जगी है !!

पर लगता है स्याही नहीं मेरे ही अन्दर का वो खून है,

जो मांगता सिर्फ क़ुरबानी है !

शायद इन रगों का कट जाना ही मुनासिब होगा,

गर मुझे इससे निजाद पानी है !!

यह खून बना था उस हारी हुई सोच से ,

जो दिमाग से होकर ज़हन में घर है कर जाती !

काश यह मैंने पहले ही समझ लिया होता,

तो ये स्याही भी उसी पल खत्म हो जाती…उसी पल खत्म हो जाती !!