Shouldn't that rapist live in fear? Why me?
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And it happened again. The news of the Delhi gangrape was all over and it was disturbing. The victim is now battling for her life in the hospital. And while all this happens, there is once again a round of advice that I hear for myself. While we read this news of the girl gangraped in a moving bus and then thrown out along with her male friend, a colleague asked why there was a need to take public transport at night. Well, I'm not as rich yet to afford myself a drive and hence the public transport. Then comes another question as to why I need to be out beyond say 9 pm. This question irritates and frustrates me. I get free from work in the evening, I have friends who work till 7 pm and even beyond. When do you expect me to meet them. And....
Rahul Dravid: From falling in love to respecting the man's game of cricket
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I was in my early teens when I got hooked to cricket. My father has been a cricket freak all his life and I somehow never liked him watching cricket all the time. But a gentleman got me fall in love with the game, respect the game, enjoy the game, so much so that today, I watch all formats of the game of cricket like just another cricket frenzy Indian. That gentleman was none other than Rahul Dravid. In my teens, I don't know if it was his game that grabbed my attention, or was it the gentleman that he was. Well, with a player as classic as Dravid, the list of things that grabbed one's attention may just be too long. I started watching cricket regularly. Not just that, I remember having three scrap books, all dedicated to 'The Wall', 'Jammy' and 'Mr Dependable' and the....
No Bryan Adams, no Metallica! Facing the music
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I am a disappointed music lover, rather a disappointed Delhiite. Yes, that's what I am. It was in the beginning of this year, when I had made full efforts to reach out and get myself a ticket to the Bryan Adams concert that was supposed to happen in the 'national capital' as we call it. The excitement level was at its peak. I was on 'Cloud number 9' and I was all dreamy about how really will it be to watch the legend Bryan Adams live in concert. My friends in Mumbai, who went for the concert there added to my excitement when they told me about how big a success the show was in the city. My summer of 2011 will be the one I'll always remember is what I thought. But all excitement, all expectation, all dreams, all the music became silent as the concert....
Jagjit Singh, the voice that soothes me
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At peace I feel, when I listen to the melody, 'Tere baare mein jab socha nahi tha' and so many such timeless pieces by ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh that always sooth me down. Such is the bliss in the voice of Jagjit Singh, the singer who made ghazals a favorite among all of us. Even when I was a child, Jagjit Singh's ghazal's were an easy flowing symphony that had no bounds. Today, at the news of his death, the first song that I could think of was 'Chitthi na koi sandesh, jaane vo kaun sa desh, jahaan tum chale gaye.' The song says the ghazal maestro has left us, but his songs still remain a must on my playlist. The calm and serene voice of Jagjit Singh will continue to be heard with the eternal melodies 'Wo kaagaz ki kashti', 'Tum itna jo muskura rahe....
Friendship Day: 10 categories of friends I have
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I have now experienced life for more than twenty years and in all these years, I have come across many people, who became friends, but, all of different kinds. I have travelled, shifted home, changed schools, passed college, changed work places, and so, there are a variety of friends that I made at every turn. On Friendship Day, I categorise the kind of people I have met in my friend list categories. Childhood Friends At an age, when innocence dominated my mannerisms, I made friends, when I did not even know the meaning of the word. I just knew that these were people I can play with, I can fight with, I can eat with and I can tell their names to people who kept asking me, "Do you have friends in school baby?" Today, many of those friends are nowhere in the picture, but then,....
DJ for a day: My playlist on World Music Day
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Being musical is always something one can handle with no stress, and it needs no care as music, however it is, whatever it is, it makes a melody and fills the silence.
Celebrating, World Music Day - June 21, I bring you my playlist from morning to the night, from home to the car, to the party venue.
Early morning, when I start from home to get to work, my playlist is soft, with nice, peaceful and easy flowing numbers.
So, while I'm on my way to office, here are some songs that I press the play button on:
- Annie's Song (You fill up my senses) by John Denver: John Denver's classic voice and the guitar being the only instrument I hear in the song, makes it a nice easy journey on the road.
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Lunar eclipse: a night of chants
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I have always been keen to be at a holy place at the time of special occasions like the full moon or the eclipse. Watching huge crowds gather at such places on these occasions and being surrounded by superstitions regarding an eclipse, I wanted to be among those chanting prayers while an eclipse is on. This time, on the lunar eclipse night, June 15, I decided to go at one such place - the Govardhan Dham parikrama, near Vrindavan. It is a 21 km parikrama where you walk chanting 'Radhe Radhe' around the Govardhan parvat, barefeet. June 15, 2011, was different at this place. The place that is crowded at a full moon night, witnessed more huge crowds, as people thronged Govardhan in hundreds and thousands, because this full moon night was the night of a lunar eclipse too. We planned to start our parikrama around 9:30....
Bad choppers, fake pilots: no Geronimo please
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The world watched as the biggest news of the year broke: the most wanted terrorist and Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is dead. US President Barack Obama proudly announced on world television that his country led the operation that killed Osama. The operation called Geronimo has caught the mind space of many people in India, who now want the Indian government to get their most wanted men, Dawood Ibrahim and Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, from Pakistan. My first thought is that the Indian government really cannot take a strong enough decision to carry out an operation like Geronimo. But if at all we decide to go for it, can we succeed with headlines like these staring at our faces: Arunachal Pradesh CM dies in a chopper crash Two days after the US announced the end of Osama and got Indians demanding their men, the....
Still in glory, thanks to Dhoni and his boys
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On Saturday, April 2, 2011, a new glorious page got added to the book of Indian history, or I'd rather say, a new book itself was added. The Indian cricket team, led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, won the ICC World Cup, beating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets at Mumbai's Wankhede stadium. The last ball of the match that Dhoni hit for a six, brought the biggest emotional highs, goosebumps, cheers, shouts, a huge wave of expressions among the countrymen. While I was at work, there was no stopping me as I jumped, shouted and sat on the floor teary-eyed, as all my colleagues could not hold on and did the same. After all, this victory came after 28 long years. And those in my generation, who had not witnessed the 1983 World Cup glory by Kapil Dev and his men, this win was all we were waiting for. ....
It's all about India winning it, Isn't it?
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On March 24 2011, the whole country was set for the big match - The India vs Australia World Cup quarter final. All the Indian players all chants all voices just wanted India's victory. The reasons were many - the revenge for the loss against the Aussies in the 2003 world cup, the urge to stop Australia from winning it again, the hundredth ton of the god of cricket Sachin Tendulkar, and the biggest of them all, the desire to reach the semi final and have a face off with THE rival Pakistan on the Indian soil in the world cup. In that match we all wanted India's victory anyhow. The country prayed, conducted havans, cheered and did all what they could to make India win. And India won. All prayers and those knocks by Yuvraj Singh, Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir paid off. ....
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