Don't strip the stripes from our world

1411. Fourteen Hundred Eleven. Quite a huge number, isn't it?
Of Panthera Tigris, the national animal of India. Now the numbers seem strikingly alarming?
Quite a shame, isn't it?
Our national animal has been driven out of its own homeland. India has reached the last mark in breeding population of tigers. The “last” mark - that now if it ceases, our orange and black striped pride could become extinct with absolutely no fault of its own.
We sure can bow our heads in shame, but that sure wouldn’t help.

Create awareness. Maybe that could help.

Save our tigers.

Where is the justice?

A four year old raped and murdered. On the most auspicious day of the year for the killer, victim and the country they reside in. And, where they consider being the most holiest and sacred of places – a mosque? Two months later, the killer is sentenced to death. Is that justice? For a family who has lost their little one, this cannot be justice. Though this is the most a court can hand down as verdict, it makes me want to ask is there a way to punish a person by more than one very painful death?

Why does Marketing exist?

Not that I have a problem if it generally exists. But, it kind of gets on my nerves when it interferes in my life that too when it comes with a huge (read: enormously huge) package for a teacher I have who knows no word of it more than us. Probably not even as much.
Philip Kotler teaches us more than she does. She takes his name more than anything else in our classes. I discovered this on one of my sessions to class after I got my mid sem reports which had in red block letter 22% attendance, and my HOD warned me that anything less than 80% and I wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the examination hall! So, basically I was threatened to sit in the class. And, all I heard what Kotler, Kotler, Kotler and more Kotler. I felt like I was in an election rally for Kotler’s presidency. I wanted to be the opposition and scream the same way she did, but some stupid laws state that I shouldn’t because I'm a student. BLAH!

On her way to become hard boiled ...

In India, everyone HAS to get married. If you’re not married, then you’re not mature enough to do anything else in life. Everything you do ends up with marriage at the end of the day.

“I want to get a degree in blah blah”
Parent – “Yes, beta, you’ll get a good, healthy (read: fat) and rich girl, so go ahead”

“I want to work”
Parent – “Yes, beta, you’ll get a good, healthy (this time read: very fat), rich and a girl from a good khandaan to get married.”

These are some of the typical conversations in every household in India. I don’t want to stereotype, but legend says this is true. And, the reason for this post is that my best friend is doing the same. On her way to become a hard boiled egg from the group of a lot of semi boiled and a few raw ones! So, congratulations to her and I bow down to her courage! I know I sound like she’s going out to a battlefield, but that idea kind of freaks me out, so it’s the same!

Love today, gone tomorrow

Alone. Left at a corner, no one to mend and no one to break. Many of them relationships go down the drain and I despise the syllable ‘love’ and anything to do with them.
“Love makes the world go round” they say. And I shake the people , who say that, by their shoulders and hear myself say “Gravity does”. Not truly understanding why I said that I sigh and console myself, “People talk … So let them”
Ironically, a wee bit later, I yet again reach at the street where everyone falls on the ice and hits their head ‘plonk’ on the pavement, get dizzily mesmerized and butterflies in the stomach. Nope, this time I cannot blame these feelings on chocolate. True, that love and chocolate give the same feeling. Only, this time, the former won.

And, I group into the people who talk … Yet again.

Today or yesterday?

The world’s biggest killing machine, they said. Of Stalin and Hitler.
Wipe out the entire generation. Say the present.
Keeps me wondering, who wins more fear? The past or the present?
All I can say is in the past; at least their main targets weren’t infants to teenagers. Nor their mothers.

Entire generation? Of whom? Of a land which is very much their own hadn’t they themselves created a wire fence “generations” ago.
Might take them long to realize. A generation is getting wiped out trying to wipe out another.
End of it, all that is left of the land will be to bury all of them. And wailing mothers. Orphaned children. Homeless aged. And the traumatized rest – Zombies?!

Rest in peace.
Together.

Victim.

Killer.


All…

Projekt Gaza

A rose. A letter. Gunshots. Blood.
The Day of Judgement?

The thought of the victim who gave the former two and received the latter.

The sky is splitting. Absolute sign of the last Day.

If only he knew, it was his head that had been opened up.
Small, smaller, smallest. In Age. Next, to be slaughtered….

This kept me thinking. Is this what Moses, Jesus or Mohammed preached?
No. Nay. Nada. Maybe Lucifer.
Maybe, his form of revenge before the fallen angel becomes one of the nonexistent ones.

And then a day will come when ....

A rose. A letter. Peace. Harmony.


I bow down in prostration to the God Almighty for the thousands of small lives lost a few hundred miles from where we are breathing luxury.

Incredible India!

Not much of similarities in any of these, is there? That's what's thoroughly amazing about India. So diverse, yet one.
These are weaves/embroideries of different parts of India that I managed to find in Dilli Haat :

Dharm

Swami Vivekananda said, "By the study of different RELIGIONS we find that in essence they are one."

I found this idol of Ganesh very interesting. The fact that Ganesh whose usually with his Modak and a chooha is in Natraj's shoes got me throughly puzzled!


He loves playing dress up.

And again.


In Islam, we believe in One divine power, One God. In Hinduism, they believe in One God again, but worship different manifestations/avatars/roops of the same. In Christianity, they too believe in one supreme energy. I'm concentrating on these three religions because I'm a little ignorant and my surroundings which I was brought up in had only people from these three religious backgrounds in it. So, as I was saying, if all the religions are concentrating on one subject, then, WHY THE HATE, people? WHY?!




Was a tad bit too weird to pray (Islamic way!) in a Puja room with Ganesh, Shiva, Krishna and Radha staring at you from head to toe wondering what the hell you're upto. Well, I guess they should know, they've been here far more time than I was. And, also seen all of our little world's great wars on religious matters. Those wars should have done the world some good at least by ways of enlightenment!


Jai Santoshi Maa! : )

Only in India, Sirjee!

Day started quite late around 11:00am. Had our Laal Batti Gaadi waiting for us!



India amazes me! For a hell lot of reasons, but then this is one of the them which tops the list! Anywhere they think appropriate and any place they feel is even remotely holy (still haven't found out for what reason), there is bound to be flowers (prasad) and an idol (Murti)!

Shahpur Jat is famous for footwear. Nope, they don't have many stores there. But, they have cobblers there who make any designer footwear for you, in any material at very cheap rates. Sad fact - I went there on their day off so couldn't get any! Though I did enjoy my freedom and explored the place while the banking facilities in India took up their freedom to annoy my aunt and keep her there for hours!


What did I say about India being a holy place? They wouldn't even spare an electric box?!


Found some very fashionable young crowd there! Ed Hardy? Damn, I thought it was too expensive and a leather jacket over Churidhar? Even better, I think us fashion designers need to go trend-spotting to Delhi next after Paris!




Commonwealth Chief Engineer? Thought I'd go and have a word with him and ask him what's happening with our Games which are supposedly going to held in October. Doesn't seem like that's happening, well, at least the city doesn't look geared up for it yet.

On our way to Karol bagh, we came across this street which could well be awarded as the most random street in the world, I really doubt if this is possible anywhere else except maybe for China. Haven't been there so can't decide. This street which had the width of an auto (probably a few centimetres more than that) had the most varied things ever. For instance, one store with mannequins and the next with bathroom equipment, a store selling paan and the next with lamp shades. And, another amazing thing, in that small a lane, our driver managed to cross the auto with our laal baati ambassador gaadi!


Our guava bhai saab!


Indian boys behind the gori chicks! I wish I could add a audio clip here of them shouting back at the Indian boys in their anglicized Hindi!



Our paltan of policemen who accompanied us to our trip to Chandni Chowk! Everyone around us thought that that might be a bright idea but it left us completely embarrassed.


Kinari Bajaar! It had all the accessories that you need in a wedding from turbans to talwars to money maalas!







The gurudwara at Chandni Chowk from where I got my kripaan!


What?!



Jama Masjid. Reminded me of Masakali!






A goat in a scooter!


Chandni Chowk = Food from Kareem's
Nobody should leave behind Kareem's Mughlai Khaana if they come to Delhi. Aah! The food made me wonder if heaven would have meat dishes because if it doesn't have Kareem's then it's far too big a loss for heaven as there ever could be!








Lajpat Nagar - Jhoothi store


Brocades toppled over!


This cake was lying in our room for more than a day, we didn't bother eating it. Only after that did we realize that it was bought from a store in Khan Market, after that the cake vanished! We are such label - w****s!


This is plain heaven! A book to read, warm chai, a heater (which kind of made me smell like Chicken Tikka) and just the fact that I was in DELHI!

Dilli

10:25 am: Police commissioner of Delhi (some area, I don't know): Bloody cold. Well, 10 degrees might not be very cold for people from a major part of the world, but I'm from Dubai and I have absolutely no immunity to that kind of weather. A very smart me decided that wet hair would be a great idea. Made me regret that decision the second water touched my head.
Indira Gandhi International Airport at 5:00 am in five degrees, but at that time the weather didn't matter. Was way too happy to reach India. Reached home at 6:00am and slept. And, from 11:30am started the most fun filled, longest, tiring and not to forget, expensive four days of my life.



Drove till Connaught place, realization hits quite early that it was Christmas, which means its a public holiday. Ah! Then, JANPATH!





Dilli Haat at 1:00pm: Reality hits us that there's no other place in this world with cultures so diverse, yet so similar. Everything, from fabrics to embroideries to colours, just mindblowing!




Went to Nehru Place and the two stores that I visited made me realize that they had enough fabric to dress the whole of UAE and still have more fabrics than there ever was all of Meena Bazaar!
Next destination: Malviya Nagar. This place is famous among fashion designers to get embroideries done perfectly and inexpensively. We walked and walked and walked till we decided we need new feet. Still couldn't find our embroidery shops. Later, saw it tucked away inside a long gully in between a vegetable market and a lot of steel utensil selling shops. Still have no clue what the connection is with all the three.
Pet Puja time!

The breakfast at 11am, a Mountain Dew and a coffee didn't keep my tummy happy that too in a place which is teeming with Mughlai Food!

Off to Khan Market to Khan Chacha's! A very heartbroken and hungry me found that the shop didn't exist anymore. Walked further and realized they just shifted to a new location with a new ultimately ridiculous name: Aap Ki Khatir(?!)
Happy stomach, happy me. Now, off to sleep!