Change Rules, Change Laws, Change the World; But First- CHANGE YOURSELF

The boy and his friends were walking.......

"Brr. It really is cold here!" said the tallest girl in the group.

"I have a doubt, which part of the country are we in right now?" asked the tall lanky bespectacled boy.

"It is the eastern part of the country. i think Sasu can explain better", a curly haired bespectacled boy informed from the right side of the boy.

The boy himself, it seemed, was walking along a wide road with his 6 friends, 4 girls and 2 boys apart from him. The place was foggy, as if it had not yet materialized, surroundings felt as if it had not yet solidified into a stable structure. And yet the place seemed oddly familiar. It was a cold winter morning, yet it felt warm and homely for the boy.

The pleasant, dreamy eyed, lanky girl on the immediate left of the boy looked at him, "So we are finally here. I'm very happy" She smiled. He smiled back.

"Yes Yes. Welcome to our home city!" the curly haired bespectacled boy announced.

"Thank you Rahul for bringing us here" said the cute faced, doe eyed, slightly dark complexioned girl.

"Yeah thanks Motu and Sasu" the cute, fair  complexioned girl chipped in.

And then the boy realized. Of course the place seemed familiar. It's his city. It's his birthplace. It's his home. Kolkata
As soon as this realization came the fog immediately started to clear up. They were walking along Fort William he concluded. He felt excited. He had wanted this to happen for a long time. His friends where here. He had seen their part of the country, now its their turn to see the place from which he dwells. They passed on to the Red Road, going along the Maidan (which is actually a huge playground of grass in the heart of the city, like that of Little Manhattan in New York ). His home wasn't too far from here, about 3-4kms. Wow! He would love to see the reaction of his family upon seeing all of them! He couldn't even resist to hold on to the excitement.
"Dekho Sasu, you didn't tell us it would this much cold. It's like we are in a hill station!" the tall girl complained.
"My god its freezing, in here" the doe eyed girl squealed.
"Haah Sasu! Will it snow?" the cute fair complexioned girl asked.
"Snow! My god! It snows here, yes?" the tall bespectacled boy asked excitedly
"Ha mujhe bhi bahut thand laag rahi hain (I too am feeling very cold)! I don't want snow, I'll catch cold!" the pleasant, dreamy eyed girl added.
"No No. No snow here. Its snow in the Darjeeling side. Not here." the curly haired boy informed.
The boy wanted to laugh, hearing them talk about Snowing in Kolkata of all places! Instead he heard himself speak for the first time- "yes actually I feel very cold as well! But probably that is because my blanket is out of position. I only need to adjust it, and it won't be cold."
As soon as he said it, he knew he had said something wrong. Something that did not fit the context. He realized all the other 6 were looking at him, smiling.. and just like that everything started to dissolve. Things became jumbled up. 
And his eyes opened. 
 His hands were clenched to the the thick blanket, with the back of the right shoulder bereft of the warmth of it. That must be what caused that sudden cold, he thought. It was 6am. Thankfully he can still sleep for an hour or so. But his sleep went away somewhere!
He was thinking of the dream. He knew he couldn't go back to it anymore. Stupid cold, he thought! But then again, winter was the reason he came back home for during the holidays. It was the one season that he waits with eager anticipation, to occur,  the 12 days that he cherished most than rest of the year (except probably Diwali). And he wasn't let down. It's the coldest Kolkata has ever been in the past 20 years.
He was thinking of the people in his dream. How great would it feel to have them in here. In his city, the city he loves, his hometown......... The city where the girls don't feel safe after 10 pm anymore. No this ain't New Delhi or even Bangalore. But even this city is full of those derogatory, sick and twisted minded vermins, supposedly wearing a mask of Human beings. 
Where is the Kolkata he knew? he thought and closed his eyes.........


Exactly a week ago I got on to the home bound train via stopover in Chennai. These past 5 days were quite erratic, with patches of excitement mixed with boredom. I had, however, a brilliant Christmas thanks to a splendid 'finger licking' Christmas lunch treat from my bro and sis-in-law. Rest everything has been a bit silent but peaceful even though topped by a terrific weather. The best wintry Kolkata I've had (in my life probably, as of yet that is). Probably the coldest of my 23 year old self!

I've never really concentrated on writing on Current affairs because I believe the best way someone can know about what's going on around the world is by watching the news or reading the newspaper. And if you want to express your views directly you can either call the news channels or write to their website in the feedback section and write to the letters to the editor section in case of newspaper. However the recent events of past 1 week, that has happened and are happening in New Delhi has stirred even the most current-affairs-illiterate persons! Well I am not going to write about why our government is not creating new criminal policies on rape cases; I am not going to write about why our constitutional laws doesn't include capital punishment or at least severe punishment to rapists; And I am not going to write about why the current government should hang the human swines who raped the 23 year old Nirbhaya. Lot has been said about these three specific points and lot of protestations have been showcased by the protestors in the capital and also around the big metro cities. So my repeating of the same things would only add to the already piled up protests, which no one in the Parliament seems to respond to , albeit pretending to listen to.
You know if i had written this post 2 days ago I might have emphasized upon these exact things, about what our government lacks and how are politicians are incapable of reacting according to the situations. But to tell the truth, our Government has been like that all through.  Not only this current Government but all the previous ones as well. They have screwed up in some way or the other. I am not bringing this discussion from any political point of view. My view is completely from a social aspect. As my anger in this issue ebbed down, after 2 days, it subsequently got filled by something else- Sadness.  
This wasn't the first rape case that surfaced, was it? And goddammit its not the last one either! But this one got all the attention because of the severity of the outcome of the poor girl. Fact that she has to fight against survival instead of society (as is the case normally) tells us/me what has become the state of mentality of modern day society. Men in particular! Heck, being a male myself I know most men are not like that. About 90% of the population of men in big cities are not like that. But the fact that 10% of these Sick, twisted bustards exists is something to be alarmed of. There are some individuals who may not be rapists in its literal sense, but their sick mentalities make them as worse as one in actual sense. Few days ago there was a cry of foul from few sections of men. It went something like this- "these days women of young generation don't have any regard for the clothes they wear, so naturally they get raped." What the hell! So is that a punishment that is being handed out to these girls for choosing to wear what they feel like wearing?? So is Rape a social punishment inflicted on girls for choosing to express their freedom, which is too much to handle for some sexually frustrated, mentally sick nincompoops! You know what if that is so I think people who think that way should be the first ones to get hanged or given worst punishments (if at all such punishments are even amended by the court of law) rather than the actual rapists. This is similar to the Facebook post, which goes something like-
 "You raped her, because her clothes provoked you,  
   I should break your nose, your stupidity provokes me".

I should tell about a personal experience that happened to me last week after this rape incident surfaced last Wednesday. I came back from the college at the usual timings, and at around 7.30pm I saw a status update from a boy in our college, even though I am not very close to him as a person I regularly talk to him whenever we see each other. The status update from him was something like this- "Another rape case. Horrible. But we should first enquire what the girl was wearing! ;)". I should tell you one thing, it took me greatest of strength to control my anger at that particular moment. Even greater strength when I saw him the next day laughing and dancing at the back of the crowd. (we had Marine Fest next day) Some part of me really wanted to break his nose. He doesn't read my blog. But i know some of my readers know him. They would be shocked if they hear who this guy is.
But I realised one thing that day, people like him are in surplus in our society. And you really cant realize who has what on his mind just by seeing them or talking a few words every day. Is this what the today's thinking of men has gone down to? 
One day we are gonna get get married, have a family, have a daughter may be, god forbid, what if something similar happens to your daughter or are u gonna lock your daughter in your house in the fear of getting raped? Cage her? Deny her her rights? Or would you let her live on her own terms, her own life. Because to be honest it's not her own fault. It never is and it shouldn't be. 

Someone said to me that time for words are gone, its time for actually doing something. No, I wont completely agree. It's time to change ourselves first. Changing our mentalities first. Then changing the society and then influencing the Government and the old grandads who occupy the seats in parliaments, our respected politicians, to change the punishment laws!
Kolkata unfortunately ranks 5th in the total number of rape cases in the big cities in the country, behind New Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderbad and Bangalore! Not something to be proud of for me. 

But I am not an idealist. I am a realist who would like to have a viewpoint an optimist on this. Things will get better, if we want to make it better. And I am optimistic that my dream that I saw, distant it may be, improbable it might be, may still happen some day and...
.....and they would end up exploring the entire city in the haze of the winter morning, laughing, smiling and enjoying..........

That may be the 7 people in the fog in the dream with the backdrop of Downtown Kolkata!

 P.S.- Did you find out who was the boy in that story at the beginning? If you have, keep it to yourself. If you haven't, then keep thinking.. It wasn't made up. It happened, but only in dream. My dream!

 

So What's Your Hobby??

This may not be my last post of this year, but is surely the last post of the year, from Kerala. I'd be leaving for Kolkata tomorrow 20th December, for two weeks in home, amidst the unusually merry atmosphere of winter! But then again I wont be reaching before morning of 22nd! For a pessimistic and ignorant mind this will be a tragic factor!! Why?? Well isn't it obvious?! Because somewhere in between 20th and 22nd comes 21st! 21st December, the end of the world! The day that most of us have been waiting for! No not for death, but for a laugh! I was reading a report in the papers that 21st December should be declared as the "New Generation's Fools Day", removing the age old concept of 1st April! So are we gonna die?? Oh yes everyone has to die at some point, but I don't think 21st December would cause us any harm on the front of World's End! "No it's not the world's end!!" It would however continue to be the 'shortest day of the year,' which is quite good enough! And on personal level it's the birthday of my good friend Arnab! However for those of us who are quite regular in social networking sites like Facebook, 21st is going to be a nightmare that we all have to endure, with all sorts of stupid posts and poor jokes about that day! :( So in a way I'm glad that I'd be in train on that day! :)

It's a common concept that the time after the exams is the most boring time for a student, when things stop moving, the pace of life becomes slow, and you end up battling against absolute stagnation for the next 1 month at least. I have to say I always look forward to these times. It's the best time to keep up with your hobbies. So even though I would agree past 20 days have been slow moving, they have however not been uninteresting, especially if you have so many hobbies like I have! And some how it's hard associating the word slow when you live in a boys hostel. There's always something or the other happening.
I guess herein lies the importance of  keeping hobbies.. Okay there is no necessity of multiple hobbies for one person, just one to two hobbies at a time is enough. Having said that wasting precious hours in Facebook or else Chatting for the most of the times in your mobile phones or on yahoo and gtalk, can't qualify as a hobby! Unfortunately about 30% of youngsters comprising of late teens and young adults of up to the age of 24 are absorbed in these two activities most of the time, and consider any other activity (how much creative they may be) as a waste of time.. There was an article a few days back in The Indian Express by someone (don't remember who) explaining the negative effect the three C's have on the mental growth of Indian teenagers. He claimed these three C's to be- ''Cricket", "Computer" and "Cinema"! Bit of a sensationalist claim isn't it? Look the fact is too much of all the 3 C's is harmful, which is true enough! But how much harmful are they in controlled quantity? Computer has had probably the most effect on the teenagers of the above three. Mainly after the rise of internet. But I'm not gonna lecture or talk about the perils of Internet using. Its already a hot topic and I don't need to emphasis on that. More established people than me probably can enlighten us about it! :p

My point is, Its good to have a hobby, its good to have a creative extra-curricular activity that leads to positive brain development. It can be anything, and as simple from a cricket card collection to remembering the capital of various countries, to listening to music (which by the way is the most common hobby in the world), cooking, reading various books, writing, to playing various sports. It may change with people and with age. I had a friend who had a strange hobby of collecting the caps of  cold drinks! It however ended after he reached a certain age. My cousin on the other hand had an unique hobby of collecting matchbox logos of various matchboxes found in the different places. This again changed when he started growing up, when he became interested in stamp collecting, and at somepoint was even interested in becoming a Philatelist! One of my Best friend has Photography as a hobby. Some people have a strange hobby of "studying and meeting various different people", while some others are outdoor bugs and like travelling, trekking and explore the adventurous corners of the world to feed their curious mind..
At some point hobbies may become passion, when you want more than only to feed your curious mind, when you are so passionate about your hobby you want it to define your life. But for most people hobbies are always there as a stress buster, to use your free time to something which you like doing (provided its creative :p)

On a personal note, honestly speaking, I have always struggled to keep up with my hobbies. In my case the problem is a bit different. I have too many hobbies! Its a problem of plenty! When I was young my (less than 10 years old) only hobby was playing! Till i entered my teens things stayed pretty much to that. When I was 12 I took up the hobby of reading (English Novels mainly) to go along with Cricket. (My knowledge and interests in sports still remains quite high. one of my present hobby is watching European football and cheering for my Childhood club Manchester United!) I was briefly interested in stamp collecting as well (in which case the interest went away as fast as it had come). Then came basketball which stayed till I passed out of Standard 10th! While I was 14 years old I got introduced to the world of English Classic Rock. I have to say for about a year it the music seemed only noise and the lyrics only too much shouting to me and nothing else till of course I could differentiate between the various sounds. This started my genuine interest in music, which still stays as one of my best hobbies. I took up learning guitar as a hobby in my college days, which i still do, as it is not easy to learn to play everything in guitar, which in the words of my Guitar Teacher is-
"Guitar is like an ocean. Like the universe, it is limitless. Each day and everyday a new tune can be made and is made out of it. New music is created. There is no ending to learning to play guitar. Even I am only a student, even though I know a lot, but in greater sense my knowledge is not even a quarter of what there is to learn, rhythms to follow, tunes to play and melodies to create!"
Travelling is another activity I had been quite keen on developing as a hobby but I never quite found the time to do that. While I was in School life I started the habit of writing stuffs. Mostly poems. However very few of them were completed. I had the same problem with writing stories, they always had an incomplete ending. It's like those famous words "He who knows the art to begin, should also know the art to end." Nonetheless I still write sometimes! Probably my best hobby is "simply sitting and doing nothing!" :-)

The thing is its better to have 2-3 hobbies rather than to have plenty of them and ultimately struggle to juggle them altogether. But people should have at least two.
There are some people though who don't have any hobby at all. They have a nice excuse for that as well. "We have friends! Who needs a hobby!?" Friendship is important, the most important may be. But sometimes its good to give ourselves some time as well. We owe that to us at least!!

So what's your hobby?

MUSIC IS THE MOST COMMON HOBBY IN THE WORLD ,  ACCOUNTING  FOR OVER 70%  OF WORLD POPULATION WHO HAVE A HOBBY

P.S- This may well be my last post before Christmas.. So I wish all of you a "MERRY CHRISTMAS". :-)
(with a touch of creativity) -

TOO MANY WORDS, TOO LITTLE SPACE
MERRY CHRISTMAS!