Despicably dipsomaniac

Recently I was with few friends at a tea point when we overheard a couple talking, the girl asked the guy why he smokes so many cigarettes every day and his reply was overwhelming.

“What’s there in life if there is no cigarette, alcohol and women?”

I do not know about the girl sitting with him but I was literally shaken to hear that there is nothing in life beyond the three things he mentioned. For the moment let’s forget about the last thing and talk about the first two things in the list. 

Smoking is a habit, good or bad, taken up by youth as a style quotient and according to some surveys the average age group when people are starting to smoke is 14-16 years. From such tender age they smoke few cigarettes a day and this FEW will keep on increasing in number incrementally going to few number of packets a day and in extreme cases also resorting to drugs like marijuana. It is undeniably true that people smoking are spoiling not only their lungs but also of the people around them, women and children usually being most vulnerable. This is my trump card I’d play, when people argue that I oppose it as I have never taken a puff, to say that Cigarette has only worse things associated with it and have to be shunned.

Legally speaking, some countries like Norway have totally banned smoking in public places including bars and restaurants, while in other countries like India we have a ban on “Smoking in public places” but the implementation of the law is not so impressive. According to WHO (World Health Organization) estimates tobacco killed 100 million persons in 20th century, more than the two world wars combined and this war against tobacco is going on without much success to its credit.

Next in the list is alcohol which any layman can say is the most popular drink among present youth (to larger extent among men) in the world, surprisingly even in arid and semi-arid regions of India too this liquid flows so incessantly that I wonder what makes people so much captivated to it. Some regions boast some unique features and events in this regards, like in Chennai people decently follow a long queue in front of the liquor shops every evening to buy liquor, in certain towns of Andhra Pradesh there were protests organised by local men demanding more liquor shops be opened in their localities (one needs a licence to open a liquor shop in India), in weddings of Punjab and few other states more whisky flows than water and last but not least, in Tamilnadu the state run TASMAC shops selling alcohol continue to be a major source of income for the state exchequer.

A liquor shop scene in Chennai.

The non-teetotallers argue that, unlike smoking, drinking alcohol is not harmful to the people around and also there are medical proofs that limited intake of alcohol has some good effect on health. FAIR point. Also the government is getting large revenue which it can utilise for the betterment of the society certainly but what upsets me most is that this revenue is generated because several poor men are spending large part of their income on alcohol consumption which is pulling their families back into sheer poverty. In a country like India where millions of people find it hard to make their ends meet, to what extent is it fair on the part of government to make people prone to alcoholic addiction.

Now in case of middle class and rich class lads who find no trouble to spend a few thousands for parties with friends and ENJOY smoking and drinking, I would say government can hardly be blamed. In fact here even the alcoholics are not to be blamed but pitied with, because they are the spenders & sufferers too and at the end of the day what they get is nothing but hangover.

Let me explain, the guys and girls enjoy PARTY with friends, send few pegs down the throat and after being high they dance, scream, fight, beat & do several things which in normal circumstances they will never do as they are usually very timid and blame the alcohol for all their stupid acts done. The ice on the cake is, they don’t remember anything done while the teetotallers make fun of all the silly drama unfolded by alcoholics. Now who has more entertainment here? So if any of your friends are also turning too much to alcohol, please help them to face the world without any fears and make them more confident so that they can do all they want to without asking alcohol to do it.

Life is fun I agree, but it should not be at the cost of life itself…

A Visit to Nizam's palace

For a long time, I was planning to visit the Nizam's palaces in Hyderabad (India) and finally my friend Pavan and I decided to visit the Chowmahalla Palace.

We reached Charminar first, as always the streets were full of people and the shopping spree is an unending sequence here. But anytime Charminar looks as pleasant as anything can.

Charminar with bustling crowd

After asking for directions from few people, we managed to find the entrance of Chowmahalla Palace. From outside it hardly looks like a palace, but believe me this place will not disappoint you.
The clock tower entrance (closed now) is a grand structure standing tall.

Then we went to the main palace building, which (it was written there) is said be a replica of Shah's palace in Iran.

It looked pretty average from outside but we were surprised by the beauty of the palace once we went inside and walked the place viewing everything in awe.
Some of the wonderful things are captured (not so wonderfully) as below.

The main hall with number of chandeliers

Intricate designs on ceiling and side walls

Another building behind the main palace, with a well maintained fountains in the front yard, this place also boasts of lush greenery and a lot of pigeons do visit  here.

Pavan infront of a large window with intricate carvings

Another attraction was the long hallway with multiple doors in a straight line, don't know why so many rooms were built with connecting doors.

Door after Door

The palace has collection of several vintage cars, including Rolls Royce, Buick etc., and surprisingly all cars are well as well maintained as the rest of the palace structures.
If you are interested in visiting historical places, good palaces of Indian kings, this place is a must visit in Hyderebad, so this time you visit Charminar, take another couple of hours to visit palace which is very near to Charminar, and I assure you will not regret you decision.

Details of Palace:
Timings : 10am -5pm (Closed on Fridays and National Holidays) 
Tickets   : Indian Visitor - Rs. 40 
                 International Visitor - Rs. 150 (Approx. $3)

[Arts] Birdman Of India

This time I tried to draw a portrait again, and I chose an interesting man – Dr.Salim Ali, famous Ornithologist and naturalist, popularly known as “Birdman of India”.
I hope you all like it.

Time taken  : 3 hours
Material Used  : HB, 10B and  2H Pencils on A4 paper.

[Arts] Misty Morning

A natural scenery but unlike usual mornings of rising sun, I tried to depict the misty morning at dawn. It was very tough to get the misty look, not completely satisfied with the output I got here.
Time taken  : 3 hours
Material Used  : HB, 10B, 2H Pencils and a cotton cloth (for shading) on A4 paper

 I hope you all like it. Please let me know your feedback.

[Movie Review] Madras Cafe

“Criticizing national politics does not make you anti-national”, says the British war correspondent in SriLanka - Jaya Sahni, played by Nargis Fakhri, to the protagonist Vikram (played by John Abraham) an Indian army special officer, giving a hint to audience that this is not a movie made to praise army or blame politicians but to show the bitter truths of war. We rarely get to see any filmmaker in Bollywood making a political thriller, this film definitely stands out as its been inspired from all real incidents that brought India and SriLanka on tenterhooks, how Indian politics suddenly took a sharp turn and it paid price in form of assassination of its former Prime Minister. Interestingly director does not take sides, as he makes the conspiracy clear to the end that when two nations are confronting it is not just two forces but there are lot of other external forces acting from behind in their vested interests and how such interventions can change the world history.

The story is mainly based on SriLankan Civil war during 1980s which was never touched upon by Bollywood earlier. The movie begins with the disturbing scenes of war crimes and deaths in Jaffna area in the northern part of SriLanka. Then director unfolds the historic events of Indian Peace Keeping forces going to SriLanka, drives us through the political mistakes and military misunderstandings, the conspiracy woven by few foreign powers and how India fell in trap that LTF (a rebel group, inspired from LTTE) which was actually supported by India all of a sudden became its staunch enemy and started operating against Indian peace keeping forces. The LTF leader Anna Bhaskaran (inspired from LTTE Prabhakaran) is only concerned about Srilankan Tamils and he will fight till they obtain freedom, but can India afford it?

Vikram is an Indian Army officer who is chosen by RAW for a covert operation in Jaffna where the situation was going out of control. Vikram gets a team and given a mission but after going to Jaffna he realises the enemy in not outside but he may need to fight within. He meets Jaya, the British journalist, who helps him understand that the fight is not confined to few people but there are some influential people involved in the conspiracy. As Vikram tries to unravel the conspiracy of so called West, he finds about assassination plan of Indian former Prime Minister. Can he save the Prime Minister?

Casting has been chosen cleverly to make the characters look real as many were new faces or not so known except John Abraham, who carries the whole weight on him as story rotates between Jaffna, Kerala, Delhi, and Bangkok. Nargis Fakhri looks convincing as a British war correspondent, speaking only English in British accent. Other actors gave decent performances, two of them stand out – one is Rashi Khanna as Vikram’s wife Ruby who impresses both with her innocent looks and acting, other is Kannada stage actor Prakash Belawadi as Bala, Major Vikram Singh's superior in Jaffna who succeeded to make an impression in the minds of audience in a peculiar character role.

The director Shoojit Sircar’s research gets reflected on screen in unfolding history. Movie lacks any twists or Bollywood style action sequences but still keeps you hooked with a fast paced narration. Apart from being a spy thriller, the movie makes one to ponder on how politics are actually played in international sphere that life of even national heads come at stake. Surprisingly, not just India lost its former Prime Minister but it lost the trust of its neighbour too and till now India-Srilanka relations have become no better. Though director claimed it as a work of fiction, it is known and commendable to make a movie on troublesome events of history which India would prefer to forget.

Police Police..

“Madam Speaker,” the Home Minister was addressing the Speaker and the eminent Members of the Parliament in Parliamentary session, “this Police reforms are being done to enhance the accountability and efficiency of the Police department in maintaining law and order in a responsible and transparent manner…”

Jammu and Kashmir:

Two days before, there was a violation of Cease-fire at LOC, two Indian soldiers were severely injured in the cross firing. Next day an Indian Army Commander gave a statement to reporters, “We caught few suspected terrorists in Srinagar, we have information that these terrorists are planning attacks in India, there is remarkable evidence of some cross border authorities in this, our investigation is in progress”.

One reporter asked “Sir, we came to know that you have arrested only 2 terrorists while 9 guys were shot dead at the spot?”

“They were killed in cross-firing, we could arrest the wounded”, commander said.

Reporter – “Are you sure the people who died are all terrorists, as there is a woman and a 10 year child in those 9 members who died. There are also allegations that mostly innocent people are dying in the war against terrorism. What is your comment?”

“No comments” the Commander left saying that.

Next day, there was a proposal in Kashmir Assembly to reform Police as per Model Act, to empower Police department with more powers, however the people of the State are in no position to trust the State and are strongly opposing any such act.

Chhattisgarh:

They were 11 soldiers travelling in that military truck to Dantewada. “I don’t like being here, seriously, what Army is doing in these jungles, we should be protecting the borders instead or fighting in the war” said one of them.

“That’s right man, it feels great when we return after killing few bunch of terrorists and receive award, but not for killing our own people who are fighting for their rights, who have been exploited by rich landlords. Now these poor men are rebels against the Government, a system which forgot to do anything to these people other than exploiting their land and homes. If you think again, you may find these Naxals are more right than us” said another. Just then a few Naxals attacked the truck in the middle of that Jungle road.

“Naxals attack Army truck in Chhattisgarh: 9 soldiers killed, 2 severely injured”were the headlines in all newspapers and news channels.

Manipur:

On 2 November 2000, in Malom, a town in the Imphal Valley, it was a sunny day; people were standing in the shade in that bus stop, waiting for the bus. Suddenly an Assam Rifles van came there; soldiers got down in split of a second and started firing indiscriminately on the people in the bus stop, 10 people died in this incident.

Later, Military said they had information about some notorious insurgents present among those people so they have opened fire. Sadly, among the killed were a 62 year old woman and an 18 year old boy named Sinam Chandramani who is 1998 National Child Bravery Award Winner. As AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Power Act) gives special powers to Army in North East States and Jammu & Kashmir, there was no case registered for these killings.

Irom Sharmila was moved by this incident and started an indefinite fast for a sole demand to repeal AFSPA, it’s been more than 12 years of her fast still nothing happened, and the worse is, she’s being charged of attempt Suicide case.(Read here) In this country some hard core criminals are becoming MLA’s and MP’s and ruling us, while some souls like Irom Sharmila who are fighting for justice are being dragged to court, what a pity!!

Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh:

Feb 21, 2013, as always it was a busy day in Hyderabad, couple of traffic police were controlling traffic in that busy center of Dilsukhnagar. One of them stopped a biker who was coming from wrong side and asked for license.

“Sorry sir, I just want to pick up a friend who’s standing in that corner, sir pls..”, man was pleading.

The traffic police was not listening to him till then but somehow the man settled him away and went the same wrong way to “Anand Tiffins” where another sat on back seat and they left the place immediately.

“What happened, is everything going as planned?” asked the biker

“It’s done, you’ll hear the hues and cries in few minutes” replied the other guy sitting.

Around 7pm, two bombs exploded killing 15 people and injuring hundreds.

“.. and Madam Speaker, it’s a privilege to say that after these reforms, Police department will be ever efficient equipped with latest technological advancements and the best human resources, to curb any kind of attack on the nation, to maintain peace and law n order.”, the Home Minister’s speech ended with thumping applause from his party members while the opposition remained dissatisfied.

P.S:- This is a work of fiction, though few are inspired from some real incidents I read or witnessed in life.

P.P.S:- When there is an attack in any city, whole media criticizes Intelligence and Police for their failure, but sadly never does any newspaper or electronic media thanked anyone for the sleepless nights Police and Intelligence department spends to keep the nation secure. I dedicate this post to all such sincere Police officials.

women MpowerMENt

“All are equal before LAW, no discrimination shall be made on the basis of caste, creed, sex, and place of birth”, this is a common sentence we read long back in our school, it’s inscribed in our Indian Constitution, the lengthiest Constitution in the world. I’m sure that if a foreigner gets to read this he’ll perceive India as a modern and rational country but in reality we see that sadly the modernity of India is confined only to books and Indian society is still widely orthodox and even moronic.

Women empowerment has been included as the foremost criteria, by the then Government, when India got freedom from colonial rule and even after 65 years of independence we still say “Women empowerment stands first in our goals to achieve” and I doubt when India will be able to achieve this goal and how many more innocent women will have to sacrifice their lives to this men dominated society.

Over the past few decades women rights are proliferated and we see a lot of women coming out of their houses, working at par with men in this competitive world, making it look like an unbiased place but is it really unbiased? When we see the heinous crimes on women in metros, like the recent Gang Rape case of Delhi, we are forced to reconsider what is amiss here that we are unable to curb the atrocities on women even after making strict laws against such crimes. Both the houses of Parliament stalled asking for change in laws and make it as death penalty for crimes like Rape, which seems to be a fair demand to curb the violence on women but will it really suffice to ensure safety of women remains to be answered.

By asking for death penalty for criminals, we are actually going for reformative measures than asking for preventive measures, it’s common in India that we are more concerned with the medicine of disease than taking preventive measures to avoid the disease. Until we don’t go to the root cause of this Superiority complex of men and make every one realize “Equality of women and men” is the essence of any society, we will not be able to arrest such crimes happening on women. So question comes as where does this problem begun? As we dig deep into Indian conservative society, we encounter a lot of shocking rituals like Sati, Purdah system etc. which depict the social inequality rooted in the society. With the efforts of great social reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy and few others such rituals are eradicated but the deep rooted conservativeness to view women as inferior and burden is what we need to uproot right away.

Government alone cannot face and resolve this issue but whole society should realize as its moral responsibility to bring awareness among every individual to treat women with respect and value their individuality. Parents must stop treating their daughters as inferior to sons and provide equal opportunities in every aspect, make the boy feel a sense of equality so that he does not feel in anyway superior to his female counterparts. Same needs to be maintained in our educational institutions, teach the children sense of equality, young men and women can get involved in schools and communities to advocate them about women’s equality rights.

All this stuff seem to be too far fetching, idealistic and unreal but there’s no other way to ensure at least in our future generation women will be really feel a sense of equality and Women empowerment won’t be still a goal to achieve. However these preventive measures will not help in any way to save the women of present day so there can be harsher laws against such crimes, however only time can answer how much such laws will help for the cause of women.