Who is to blame?

In recent turn of events, when people swamped streets in protest against violence against women, has taken nation and media by storm. Govt as usual remains unfazed by whatever people want. It took 7 days, 2 more days after Rahul Gandhi made an appearance (still looking for answer to the question, WHY HIM?), for our esteemed head of state to feel the pain after strongly condemning the issue. Yes this time a little more strongly than previous, I am sure potential molesters are shivering with fear somewhere. Delhi CM repeated, in tears this time, she has no control over police or public. No one seemed to know the answer to where was all that water coming from in middle of water deprived national capital.  Oh yes, govt were truly protecting your right to protest. They started by shutting down metro station, applying sec 144 and then using tear gases. Till the time of writing, people in power had no clue as to who ordered these decisions.

 Even our national journalist Darkha but(t) felt the pain deeply and raised questions about victim’s and women’s condition in oh-so-madern national capital (counting only the total square feet area occupied by malls and multiplexes in Gurgaon and Noida and discounting everything else). Although she had her doubts weather these protests were secular or not. Please feel free to reply to her on twitter when you find an answer. Police were brave and quick in action against people who were trying to get to president to come out and talk to them. still confused if we still follow normal voting procedure in electing govt or does present house runs on self sustained power and whose money is it that they are getting salaries with? But I might not be secular enough to ask these questions so never mind me.

 Let me clarify by saying I didn’t go to protests because of office commitments, also because I am depressed with, I repeat DEPRESSED with the present govt and don’t expect anything good to come out of their decision. but these people were those who still had hope that govt will listen. Kudos to men and women who braved the cold, water cannons, tear gases and deaf govt to make their point visible.

  But talking about the reasons, and I am probably going to take a lot of flak for this, shouldn’t we be looking at ourselves instead of blaming the police or govt for not policing us properly? Aren’t WE the problem? Who are these people passing comments, whistling, groping women in public places? How do they do it despite knowing they will return to face their mother/sister or daughter? Although there are good men who won’t touch a woman without her permission, those who offend are certainly among us. I personally know some men who think it’s manly to stare, follow women. Just because they are standing outside a disco means there character needs judging. Won’t allow their sisters to even talk to other guys but it’s ok when they are flirting with random women. Have opinions on weather a woman should work after marriage or not. And the moment any logical discussion is about to start, we start shoving tradition, culture and values in the face of counter point of view.

  So maybe, just maybe, the problem lies inside us and deep rooted in the way of life, which tells us its ok to treat women as second-class citizen whose every decision in life should be ideally governed by ‘what society will say’. What good is a culture if it prevents us from celebrating the act of giving life? YES I AM TALKING ABOUT SEX. Let me say that again SEX. SEX. Uncomfortable? Made you turn in your place? Precisely my point. If we teach our son’s to respect women and ask before touching or invading their privacy, maybe we wont need to remove tinted glasses from cars and shutdown pubs/kill nightlife in a city. And rape is NOT about pleasure, it is more about exercising power because a person dared to question your point of view.

  But that’s just me. People are justified in their anger against govt for not acting, and trust me I share your anger in more ways than one, but as far as women are concerned, somehow introspection is more required than pelting stones at rajpath. Mothers, talk to your kids. They know more than you think they do. Tell them, it’s not ok to touch a woman without her permission. As a society, we owe this to women. There is a reason men cant produce life, women are empowered with it. respect it.

  Agree/disagree? Feel free to comment \m/oO\m/

Things not to say while in Delhi

*It poured here and I am too happy (read lazy) to write anything, so sharing an old draft*

After having lived in Delhi for almost 2 years, I have successfully concluded that people here can take a joke like no other Indian city (conditions apply). People can laugh at the strangest of things here which is a rare sight in rest of India. Maybe it’s because of the cultural khichdi that the capital has become, I cant put a finger on it. However there are certain things which can get you laughed at, punched or even killed. dont tell me i didn't warn you, here goes:

1.   Metro station and railway station are two DIFFERENT things?

2. NO I DON’T KNOW WHO YOUR DAD IS, YOU TRIED ASKING YOUR MOM?

3.   Oh yes, Aakar patel and me are childhood buddies. Nice fellow that.

4. What exactly does ‘tumhaare maa ki aankh’ means?

5. Where do I find ‘phecho’?

6. Pakistani team has better players this time, they might win.

7. All Punjabi’s are sardaar’s no?

8. Since 1800, its being called ‘nayi sadak’ only?

9. Why are you people doing bale balle all the time?

10. You know Kerala has highest literacy rate in India.

11. Suggest a nice place to have dosa no?

12. Oh my god, you don’t know who your dad is?

13. This Kareem’s fellow is a big con man. I have had better kebabs.

14. You are lying, it’s not possible that you are from Delhi.

15. Ye road tere baap ki hai kya?

16. But you know I kind of agree with the madrasan.

17. You mean this qutub guy died while building this tower? What a fool.

18. Akon is way better than Honey singh.

19. Whats with you people and butter?

So now you have a fair idea why people get into fights here? Because they cant stop saying these sentences to each other. Also, there might be some of them I missed so don’t push your luck too much while visiting Delhi for the first time.
(some friends came to visit Delhi for the first time is what inspired this post) \m/oO\m/

Happy budday dilli: shine on you crazy diamond!

Oh yes dilli completes 100 years(loud cheers) and mind you it managed the feat before sachin. For the uninitiated please read up dilli’s history here and stop abusing it by calling deh-li , delly, del-hi (not applicable for south delli chaps)

Let me clarify here that I am nat fram Delhi in fact its been only a year and 7 days that I ve lived in this city (I landed on 5^th Dec 2010) and it is a love affair ever since.

I have lived in various parts of the country before this (major part being south India) but the warmth this city has, the faces, and the people is just amazing. Since my dad has a transferrable govt job, we never stayed in 1 city for long and I kept changing schools. So every time some1 asks me where I am from, I get really confused. But this city made me feel belonged, wanted. It welcomed me with open arms. I feel like I ve been living here for ages within days. No one asked me if I lived in this city or not or why I could not speak Punjabi or where am I from or why have I come to their place and took their jobs or all that crap.

There is a saying in dilli ‘yahan ka koi nahin nahin hai jee, bas log aate gaye aur dilli ke ho ke reh gaye’(no one is actually from Delhi, people kept coming and never went back) and that is what gives delhi its unique flavor. The shops in janpath, the ice cream at India gate, parathe at parathe wali gali and moolchand, the kamla nagar troll on rickshaw, the red fort, the metro ride, walk at Connaught place and the people. Guess mr lutyens saw it before anyone in India could see it. This city has history written all over it. Invaders, attackers, kingdoms, empires came and got mixed with dilli. I did not expect such a warm welcome. Name the cuisine and its here (with a dilli twist of course). Want to see how things co-exist , have a walk in purani dilli(chandani chowk, nayi sadak, chawri bazaar) on an afternoon, and you will know what I am talking about. Contrary to popular belief, you have not had the typical dilli flavor if you haven’t been to purani dilli. And this city turns absolutely amazing in winters. Want to feel proud about the democracy in the country, go and stand near the parliament or take a walk in Mughal gardens in the month of February. Or go for a troll in the lutyen’s area of delhi to marvel at the fusion of Mughal and victorian architecture

But somewhere in the process of calling it del-hi , deh-li, dally or what not, we robbed dilli of its dil. It got the tag of being the crime capital of india because of all the hideous things ppl do to each other. My question: is dilli responsible for people killing each other? I remember a sarcastic comment somewhere about it which said

“blaming Delhi for the crime rate is like blaming Mumbai for the bad films Bollywood makes” I am not defending the acts, I am just saying it’s the people and not dilli.

But all said and done, if you haven’t seen dilli, you are missing something. Come see it once. It’s beautiful! and maybe you ll fall in love too.

Have you had an experience in dilli? do share

note: the author lives in gurgaon(haryana) and its a SHITHOLE

\m/oO\m/

An open letter to Metallica from a Delhi guy

Dear Metallica,

I am the guy who was standing for 4 hours outside the concert venue who didn’t get to see you, didn’t break anything and now feels insulted by the talks of the full amount refund.

But here’s the catch:

I DON’T want a refund, I wanted to see you and that’s what I want. If I wanted my money I wouldn’t have bothered with the ticket and contrary to what the organizers told you, most the people who turned up for the concert were college going kids or working professionals who have saved up the money, taken leave, boarded flights, trains just to see you in flesh and blood.

They are disappointed, really disappointed. Don’t you think you owe us an apology?

And please, don’t give us the security shit. You have performed at THE Woodstock. This crowd didn’t even come close to that. And lest you forget these are your fans, YOUR fan. You know they can never harm you. Don’t judge us for the organizer’s fault.

'here i am, on the road again'

Was it my fault that the organizers didn’t arrange for enough security for the crowd? Were they expecting toddlers to turn up for a metal concert?

They could have organized a ‘ghazal concert’ of they wanted ‘well-behaved’ crowd. And trust me the crowd I was part of wasn’t angry at all. They kept saying to each other ‘they have come to play and they will’

I feel cheated because no one had the guts to speak what was happening. You guys LIED. I don’t want my money,i want to see you. Please come back if you can and give us an experience we will cherish.

If only 1 of you guys would have taken the mike and tried to explain, instead of some jerk calling your fans ‘BUTTHEADS’, I am sure things would have been better.

'behind the doors, should i open it for you, or are you unforgiven too?'

A disappointed yet still, a FAN from Delhi who does not give a rat's ass about F1

\m/oO\m/