Sick to the soul

Headlines ~ Shots fired, lakhs out on Lucknow streets
… The Asian Age

Lakhs of muslims – from eight-year-olds to 80-year-olds – turned out on the streets of Lucknow on Sunday to protest against offensive cartoons of Prophet Mohammed. Shouting slogans against those who had offended religious sentiments, the protesters burnt nearly 1,000 effigies and fired several rounds in the air to register their protest …
……….
Some youth turned violent when they broke the show-window panes of Café Coffee Day outlet and a Domino Pizza outlet …
…….
More here ~ “Shots fired, lakhs out on Lucknow streets -By Amita Verma ["This page can only be seen in IE" … Compatibility: Your web browser needs to support HTML4.01, CSS2 and JavaScript to correctly view this page.]

What I have to say about this ~

Well! These people are reacting now? And like this? What is the use of reacting like this anyways? What does eight year olds know about all this? Why drag our future generation into all this? How strong are the eighty year olds to protest? Why not let them live the remaining days of their life in peace?

I had read about this a long back on two or three blogs… An American blog, blog of a Muslim and another American blog and you will be surprised to know that these blogs spoke in favor of the other one. The American blog detested the offensive cartoons while the muslim persons’ blog loathed the attack on the twin towers on 11th September.

Yes! Offensive cartoons were really an insult. The attack on twin towers was an insult too. The bomb attack on London was an insult. It was an insult to print pictures of Hindu deities on bikinis and have picture of goddess on the advertisement hoarding of a bar, but truly speaking these all acts are a matter of shame for Humanity. I do not hate these guys who do such things, I hate the kind of mentality they have. It makes me sick to the stomach, liver, lungs, heart or whatever organ I can think of, or to be appropriate, it makes me sick to the soul. It is fine to protest against such deliberately done acts but to protest in such a manner at places where the offense has not happened in first place is really ridiculous. If you want to protest, do that in the appropriate manner. Is it of any use to break the show-window panes of Café Coffee Day and Domino Pizza outlets? Were they responsible for what happened? Had they participated in the act in any way? Were those people not common folks trying to earn their breads?

I feel that anger management program should be a must for everyone. Only when one knows how to control anger would there be end to such protests, which cause more harm than positive outcome.

I am not sure how many of you would agree to what I say but at least I would be able to sleep peacefully at night [if no one out of those who have read this article and disagree to my viewpoint throw stones on my house] because I voiced my opinion and stated that I am against such an insult of humanity. Sometimes I feel, someday someone who hates me for being so frank and does not agree with what I say may shoot me and I would die or may be die a natural death after many years BUT all this nonsense and bloodshed is not going to end.
Now please do not throw a bomb on my blog…

Arti D. Honrao 

What’s going on? ~ Ekta Kapoor ishtyle

There was some problem at Bloggers yesterday due to which I kept losing the comments for my post “It is all about money, honey”. But as I have email notification “ON” I got all the comments and I have reposted the comments. [Do check out]
Past few days there has been some serious discussion on my blog and hence an serious mood so here is something on the lighter side …

How would Ekta Kapoor present the Blogger server problem that I found out? Now, as Ekta Kapoor has not produced any English serial [as per my little knowledge] the rest of the post [dialogues] would be in Hindi.

Scene – Artis’ room
Time – 1:20 am [don't rub your eyes, you read it right ... am]

Arti is typing an article that has just popped out of her head… As she finishes typing she presses the publish icon in Msword. The article being published, now Arti logins at Blogger to do some editing. She uploads a banner designed by Janice and edits the template. She creates a link for her poem post ~ Appreciation and then republishes her blog, takes a back up and shuts down the pc and goes to bed.

Next scene – Typical Ekta Kapoor sunrise ~ birds chirping, two-three boats floating in water [obviously] and the sun [of course!] and then Artis’ room [which is actually very far from such an scenery]
Time – Long time after sunrise [won't tell the time, izzat ka sawaal hai... Ekta Kapoor ki nahi, meri]

After brushing her teeth [complete set] Arti comes to her room with a mug of coffee and sits on her desk [chair actually] and starts her pc and connects to net and opens her blog. She sees that there are two comments on her recent post. She opens the comment page and finds that there is only one comment. She opens Incredimail and finds that there is email notification of two comments. There is worried look on Artis’ face. Then Incredimail tells her that there is one more comment, she checks blog … Oh no! No comment seen! She puts both her hands on her cheeks and screams, “Hey Bhagwan! Yeh kya ho raha hai?“

All of a sudden there is a lightning [yes, inside the house, Ekta Kapoor is capable of doing that] and a figure dressed in dark brown [because I don't wear black] walks out of Artis’ body and stands on her left -

Original Arti <OA> – Tum? Kaun ho tum?
Bad Arti <BA> – [bad part of you always wear dark clothes according to Ekta kapoor] Main tumhari antaratma hu.
OA – Kya chahti ho tum?
BA – Jawab!
OA – Kaisa jawab?
BA – Kya karr diya tumne? Kisne kaha tha template se khilwad karne?
OA – [with tears in here eyes, thanks to glycerin] Parr maine to aisa kuch bhi nahi kiya. Template to hamesha edit karti hu, kuch nahi hota…
BA – [angry tone] Parr aaj hua na!

All of a sudden there is 2nd lightning [again inside the house] and another figure clad in white walks out of Arti [this is obviously the good one] and stands on her right side <GA>
GA 2 BA – Kyun daant rahi ho useh. Ismein uski koi galati nahi. Zaroor yeh kisiki saazish hai
BA 2 GA [laughing loudly] – Lo sunlo. Ek to isne galati ki aur tum hoke bahane bana rahi ho.
OA 2 both – Ek min, mere paas ek idea hai, saying so OA types Neetikas’ blog address and presses enter, then she leaves a comment to see whether it gets deleted too. No! It does not…
BA – Dekha! Neetika ka blog theek hai kyunki woh template se khilwad nahi karti [apt title for this play as it starts with k ~ "Kyunki woh template se khilwad nahi karti"]
GA – To ismein Arti ki kya galati hai? Isne dekho apna blog kitna accha banaya hai
BA – Aur ab sab vaat laga di hai
OA [screams] – Aaap dono chup karoge! Maine jo neetika ke blog pe comment kiya tha woh nahi raha, I mean delete ho gaya!
Both BA and GA look towards pc, stunned!
GA – Dekha! Maine kaha tha na, ismein Arti ki koi galati nahi! Blogger ki saazish hai
BA [biting her nails] – Mujhe ek kaam yaad aaya, main abhi aayi…
and she walks back inside OA. GA smiles at OA and walks inside too. Arti switches off her pc and walks out of her room.

The End.

Composed on cell at 2:45 am.
Arti D. Honrao

It is all about money, honey

Well! Let us leave the honey part and discuss the money part here. Producers of our Hindi film industry have spent [and gained too, that is different matter] a lot of Vitamin M [Money] to show us the importance of relationships in our lives. They have used the likes of Shahrukh Khan to tell us that it is not money that is important but relations that are important [it is a different story again that none of these “likes” would have done their part if Vitamin M was not infused into their veins]. Starting from movies like Avtaar, Santaan [I am sure no one must have heard about it Starring Jumping jack Jeetu uncle and Deepak Tijori (Khiladi fame)] the trend still continues with movies like K3G and Baghban. I agree that sometimes our industry people exaggerate things, but it depends on us to filter out the sensible matters from these films. On one hand when these films tend to be popular amongst the “parents” and “parent-loving” children on the other hand they are condemned by individuals who are of the opinion that these films in fact impinge on the minds of their parents that they are being ill-treated.

I am of the opinion that it is indeed a matter of shame that we have to depend or learn from these films how to treat our parents. Are we not capable enough to think for ourselves what is important for us ~ relationships or money? I am not trying to tell here that money is not important, it is. But earn money so that you can live but do not live to earn money.
Earn money to buy things that can be bought with money but then do not lose those things, which money cannot buy.

It is really heart wrenching to know that there are cases where parents have been murdered for the sake of money. No! This is not my mind game. I have not personally seen such cases but heard about them on news channels and as far as I know news channels give real life news and do not show any fiction. I agree, that these cases must be very rare happenings but it is a shame that they are happening around in the world we are living in. When we are trying to become westernized we are also picking up the negative points from the west and that is not good. During one of my mail conversations with Janice who is from Canada we discussed this important issue and she said Indian are far better than westerners are as far as respecting parents is concerned and there are a few things that we need to learn from them too [let us leave that for now]

It is seen that the concept of nuclear family is coming to the front on larger scale. It is not bad to have a nuclear family but how can one think of abandoning his parents and set up a completely new life? It is ok if you have a nuclear family still managing to keep in touch with your parents and fulfilling their needs. If they have done so much for us is it not our responsibility to do something for them? Many of us are of the opinion that parents did what was their duty as parents but then they tend to ignore that fact that it their duty to take care of their parents. How justified it is to expect someone else to be there for you when you need them and not be there for them when they need you?

Heard of “Shravan” who used to carry his parents on his shoulders everyday? How did this vaporize so easily out of the minds of those people for whom money tends to be important than parents?
There is one more story I heard when I was a child and I want to share it with you. The story might seem to be stupid but there is a big lesson in it. Many of you must have even heard of it in one of Amitabh Bacchans’ films

There was a guy who loved his mother a lot but after marriage he became closer to his wife. Slowly, over a period of time, he started to drift away from his mother. One night when his mother was sleeping his wife asked him to kill his mother and bring her the womans’ heart. As per his wifes’ request he walked to his mothers’ room with a knife and killed her and took out her heart. As he was returning to his room he tripped over something and fell down and he heard a voice coming from his mothers’ heart, “Did you get hurt my son?”

That is all I can say.
Arti D. Honrao

Love thy parents

“Love thy parents for no matter how they treated you on this earth, in the kingdom of God their soul would plead only for your happiness”

I wrote this quote when I was preparing my coffee. Strange but true this time my mind is not hibernating. First, something that I saw triggered my thinking process and I wrote ~ “Waiting to be taken home”. Then the comments tickled my little brain again and I mentioned in my reply to comments from readers that I would write in detail about my views in the next post and also try to explain why I do not believe in applying the rule “You reap what you sow” when we are talking of abandoning parents. But I am not going to do any explaining here as such and sound like a prophet because I am not one. Every individual has his/her own opinion and has the right to agree on or disagree with anything. I just want to express my feelings about my parents …

I have never ever understood how can one abandon their parents. I agree with Anil when he says ~ the most disgusting is, that how can someone desert his parents. I mean, those ppl who have brought light to your life, been there with you, loved you, took you to school, got you married, and helped you till you stand on your own. How can you abandon them, you need a heart of a devil to do this. I have fights with my parents, but there is never a grudge against them.
I know that “You reap what you sow” makes sense but I cannot apply it when it comes to abandoning ones parents because you are still with your parents means that they have not abandoned you because if were abandoned by your parents you would be not in the position to abandon them at a later stage. So in this case both cannot be culprits. It has to be one of you…
Even I have fights with my parents, sometimes I even feel that I am not loved the way I want them to love me. But that does not mean that they do not love me. I still remember a funny incident that took place 12 years ago. It was funny to see dad behave like this but then, his actions conveyed a deeper meaning.

We were in Essel world and were walking from one ride to the other. I was walking few steps ahead of the rest of the family members and a guy walked too close to me and purposely touched me. I stopped and turned around and I saw my dad walking completely out of his line to push that guy on purpose. It was a funny scene but the guy got the message and a silent commitment from dads’ side was registered in my heart, engraved in bold letters that my dad would be there when I need him even if I do not give him the call.
Today, even after so many years when I think of that episode all my frustration I have due to current circumstances vaporize in thin air.

Twenty five years ago, the three year old me had cried, screamed, shaking hell, earth and heaven when my mother had climbed into the train and had let go my hand when the train started moving, leaving me on the platform but today I am alive because she thought of doing so.
Today whenever I feel that my mother does not care for me the way I want her to, I think of this incidence and then I say to myself, I am complaining because I am alive and I am alive because she reacted spontaneously and then all my frustration changes into a feeling of gratitude.
I leave you all with the quote mentioned at the beginning of the post and a poem, to contemplate…
What Is A Family (2)

What is a family?
Is it only you or me?
Is it your duty
Or my responsibility?

Family is beyond what we can see
Family is you AND me
When we all stop thinking of the “me”
Then we would stand together as family

The lips that say I care
The heart that says I am here to share
The eyes that show love that lasts forever
The hands that would leave you never
This is what is being part of the family
Forgetting the differences, if any

A pillow to soak the silent tears
Strength to enable to face the worst fears
Shoulders to lean on when tired
A hope that encourages to get what heart desired
This is not your duty or my responsibility
Family means to share everything evenly.

Arti D. Honrao

Waiting to be taken home

It is strange how a human brain functions [at least mine].
We never know what may trigger our thinking process [at least mine]
After finishing the story I knew my mind would be recuperating from the assault of continuous thinking but the speed at which it recovered amazed me. Not that I go completely blank after finishing one project it is just that the after-effect stays a little longer. I feel psychologically drained out and refrain myself from writing anything fresh. Most of the time I recharge myself by spending some silent moments at the seashore. This time I could not do any of these two.

I was watering my little plant and I saw a small kid in school uniform standing at the side of the road. We have a private school in one wing of our premises and he was definitely waiting for someone to come and take him home. It is a usual sight near any school, kids waiting to be taken home. But still, the look on that little kids’ face triggered my thinking and I remembered how even I used to wait for my maidservant. The kid stood there for a long time, looking left and right and then finally hanging his water bottle and little bag around his neck he sat on a stone nearby. I felt really sorry for that kid. How could his parents not be there on time to pick him up? Or at least arrange for someone to take him home. Well! The kid was finally taken home, so what if a little late. But there are so many children who have no home to return to. There are kids who stay in an orphanage [and orphanages can never be called as homes] worst than these kids there are so many kids who sleep on the roads, kids who are abandoned by their parents.
There are kids who stay in a house but still in their hearts are waiting to be taken home. Recently I saw a case of child abuse being shown in news. The 4 year old was brutally beaten up by her stepmother, so much that the girl had a fractured arm. Just few days back as I was browsing various recently published blogs I came across a blog where I found this picture and was deeply touched. It says a lot…

It is not only kids who wait to be taken home. There are elders staying in elders home too who wait to be taken home. The same day when I saw this news about the 4 yr old, on another news channel I saw an old couple been cheated out of their home by their own son. This couple had gone out for few days and when they returned the watchman of their building did not allow them inside. They learned later on that their son and daughter in law had cheated them and taken possession of their flat. They sat there … waiting to be taken home.

Not only orphans, or abandoned children or parents living in elders home [I just could not use the term “abandoned parents”. How can anyone ever abandon his / her own parents, is what I have never understood], wait to be taken home, even children and elders staying in a house wait to be taken home. Wait to be understood, to be cared for, to be loved.

Arti D. Honrao

She wanted it that way – 6

She wanted it that way – 5
She wanted it that way – 4
She wanted it that way – 3
She wanted it that way – 2
She wanted it that way – 1

Continued…

The same night when Vishaal returned home he found a note on his desk. He picked it up and read -

Sneha Dikshit
B.com graduate, working as accountant
Only daughter taking care of her mother, father expired
Middle class family like ours, five stars – Unmarried

A smiley was drawn at the end of the note, which was the confirmation that no one else but his own sister was the detective.
Vishaal smiled as he folded the paper and put it in his shirt pocket. That night Vishaal slept peacefully.

The next day after her college Vidya happened to visit Janhavi when there was no one at her residence, what a bad luck! Or was it really? After some time she pressed the doorbell of the neighbors residence. Sneha opened the door and let her in after she mentioned that she was Janhavis’ friend. The time Vidya spent waiting for Janhavi was well utilized in sharing of information.
“I saw you yesterday at the stores… remember … I was with my Da. I mean my elder brother Vishaal da. He has done his M.com and is looking for a decent job.”
In spite of herself Sneha realized that she was smiling.
“Do you want something to eat?”
“No thanks. My Da is the best person I have ever known. Apart from one or two bad qualities, he is a real gem.”
“You think very high of your brother, Vidya”
“Yes. He deserves it. Well! Da was telling me …” before Vidya could complete her sentence the doorbell rang. It was Janhavi who was supposed to come anyways, but her timing seemed to be a bit wrong. Making faces at Janhavi, Vidya walked out of the door but she made it a point to forget her book at Snehas’ residence and the book just happened to fall where it could be spotted only when Vidya was safe home.

Because of the embarrassing scene at the stores Vishaal made it a point not to come face to face with Sneha for a day or two. Instead he spent time at his favorite hangout amidst the nature and intensified his search on the computer for his job.
Next day when Vishaal was getting ready to go out the doorbell rang. There was no one at home except him as Vidya had left early because she had to go to a friends’ place before college and Vishaals’ parents had gone out of town.
Vishaal was buttoning his shirt when the doorbell rang. When he opened the door he was shocked to see who it was. For some time he kept staring at the visitor and then buttoned his shirt immediately as he welcomed the guest. Sneha walked inside the house
“Hi. Vidya forgot her book at my place yesterday when she was waiting for Janhavi” said Sneha handing over the book to Vishaal.
Both of them were silent for some time unable to decide what to speak and who should speak. When the silence became awkward Sneha turned to go. “Please sit, I will get some water for you.” Vishaal said immediately.
Sneha turned around and walked towards the sofa. Vishaal went inside the kitchen and brought a glass of water for her.
“Your sister is a sweet girl”
Vishaal smiled
“And she is very talkative”
Vishaal laughed
“She thinks very high of you…”
Vishaal could not believe that he was blushing.
Keeping the glass of water on the side-table Sneha got up to go.
“Nice meeting you Vishaal” saying so she left the house.

For some time Vishaal could not believe that Sneha had come home and then he spent time thinking how stupid he had acted in front of her and how he should have or should have not behaved.
Meanwhile, as Sneha walked out of Vishaals’ building she was smiling. The first time when she had seen Vishaal she had disliked him. But the next time when she had seen him hurriedly extinguish his cigarette she thought he was a gentleman in bad company and the last time when she had seen him with Vidya she thought he was funny.
Now after being to his house and seeing his etiquettes she knew that she was right about everything and also she found him attractive.

… Part seven

Arti D. Honrao

She wanted it that way – 5

She wanted it that way – 4
She wanted it that way – 3
She wanted it that way – 2
She wanted it that way – 1

Continued…

Vishaal wandered around the society hoping that somewhere he would come across her. But she was not seen anywhere. He walked back home and entered his room closing the door behind him before anyone could see him and ask him the reason for returning early. He knew that once inside the room no one would bother him. He picked up the packet of cigarette from the waste paper basket and put it back in his jeans pocket. He stayed back in his room for rest of the day. His folks, including Vidya knew it was best not to disturb him when he locked himself in the room.
At night, he quietly sneaked out of the house and walked to the girls’ building hoping to see her in the balcony but the door to the balcony was closed. He waited there for some time and then returned home. He quietly entered the house and walked to his room but failed to see that the table lamp in Vidyas room was glowing. After some time Vidya switched off the lamp and slept.

For the next few days Vishaal did not see her anywhere. Not even at her balcony and he started getting worried. He had tried his best to quit smoking, but in vain. The person for whom he had attempted doing that was not seen anywhere. Also, his restlessness prevented him from not smoking for long.
One day when he was standing at his regular hangout with his friends, he pulled out the cigarette packet from his pocket and placed one cigarette on his lips. He had just lit the cigarette when he saw the girl walking towards him. He immediately threw the cigarette on the road and extinguished it. Though Vishaal reacted spontaneously the girl had seen him do that because she had been watching him as she took the turn to the road at the end of which Vishaal was patiently waiting for her. When she walked past Vishaal thought he had seen her smile.
But before he could think anything further on these lines he heard a familiar voice calling, “Vishaal da…” He spotted Vidya standing across the street. He crossed the road and walked to her
“Da, can you please come with me. Mamma wants me to buy some groceries”
“So! What I have got to do anything about it? I have never come with you before”
“Da, actually there’s a guy who teases me when I go there”
“Come lets go”
If anything could make Vishaal go buying groceries, it was his possessiveness for his sister and Vidya knew it too well.
“Da, I wanted to talk to you. There is no guy harassing me”
“I know. I know you better than this. You would have not told me if there was some guy. So what is it that you want to talk to me about?”
“Da, I heard papa talk to someone on the phone. He was talking something on the lines of your marriage saying that if you get married then may be you would become responsible” Vidya said stepping into the stores
But Vishaal was not listening as his eyes were fixed on someone and his mind was somewhere else. “Da are you listening?” saying so Vidya looked at Vishaal and then followed his gaze.
“Da! Is this the girl?” Vidya asked enthusiastically.
“Yes.” said Vishaal without moving his eyes from the girl. As if knowing that she is the topic of discussion she looked towards them. Immediately Vishaal looked away and holding Vidyas’ arm made her walk deeper into the stores.
“Da! I know this girl” “What?” everyone turned their heads towards Vishaal because in his excitement he had been a little loud.
Feeling awkward, both of them finished their work in the stores and hurried out. As both of them were at a safe distance i.e. away from the girl Vishaal asked, “How do you know her?”
“I mean I do not know her personally, but she is my friend Janhavis’ new neighbor”
“Oh” that is all Vishaal could say.
But in her mind Vidya had already started playing her cards because she knew she had to do this for her Da. She had made up her mind when she had seen him return home dejected. At that time she did not have any idea how she could help him, but now … she knew.”

… Part six

Arti D. Honrao