...blood-red skies

"You won't break me
You won't make me
You won't take me,
Under blood red skies

You won't break me
You won't take me
I'll fight you under
Blood red skies"

Blood Red Skies
(Judas Priest)

A 15 minute spiel on the purpose of life

No one knows what the true purpose of life is. We are born, we age, and we die- from the cradle to the grave, in a matter of years. But why do we age, why do we do the things we do, why do make the decisions we make, why do we live the life we live? Is there a reason behind our actions, apart from our own spontaneous decisions? Is there truly something called destiny? If so, then are we masters of our own destiny? Is there a God? Does He determine what we do or will do in our life? When we love, is that pre-decided? When we kill, is that pre-decided? Of course then, our death is pre-determined too. If we had lived our lives differently, chosen a small job over higher education, chosen a salad over a burger, a diet coke over a normal one; would've our lives been better? Would've we been happier? If we don’t know the answers, then why do we worry about consequences? We will never know the answers.

So what is the purpose of life? Are we part of “The Plan”? Perhaps everybody has a purpose without knowing it. Perhaps humans are born workers and not leaders, working in their own ways to uphold peace in the world or waiting to seize every opportunity to destroy it. But I know what I want to do in life. I want to be a good person, an honest citizen. I want to be rich enough to feed and support my family, and poor enough to make them realize that money doesn’t grow on trees. That is the purpose of my life. I don’t know whether God agrees with that or not.

Note: I wrote this as part of an exercise for my Writing course last semester (In which I got 82! Yoohoo!!!)

Sad But True

A 'gentle' reminder to my friends as to why we should cover this song...

To all Indians who hate Air India...

On a different but related note, I have this to say about Air India and especially the Indians who fly Air India. Now most of you would go 'phaaahh', 'eughhh', and so on at the mere mention of the name "Air India". I've also had first hand experience of people cursing their 'bad luck' at having to fly Air-India. Also, a LOT of second hand experience (from stories narrated by Dad) of how people tend to behave when flying their National Carrier.

It really is a shame. I'm not saying this because my Dad works for that company. I'm saying this because it IS a shame. You'll see people screaming at the top of their voices at the staff sitting at the counters, if the flight is delayed or postponed. (Do things happen smoothly at YOUR workplace ALL THE TIME?) You'll hear of people writing letters to Station Managers, you'll hear an aunty narrating stories at a high-society party of how tight the seatbelt was, how insufficient the leg-space was, or how salty the food was, and how shabby the staff were. You'll hear people telling their friends how 'foreign' airlines are way better.

People are always complaining how BAD Air India is. Next time do everyone a favour and spend a few extra bucks to fly another airline eh? No? Aaaahh....see that is the problem. You want to fly at the cheapest rates, still you complain....I should not be one to judge...but oh you poor bast*rds. You'd run out of stories to tell your friends na?

People actually used to steal the silver cutlery that was given in each and every Class, a few years back. Now of course they've stopped using silver cutlery in the Economy Class. SHAME on YOU. My Dad often narrates stories of that Economy Class hero who wants to be upgraded to First Class. For no reason at all, of course. That same person would in most likelihood cook up some amazing story of the torrid time he had with Air India, and narrate it among his friends, who would shake their heads at the state of the airline. Yet after a few months, you'll probably see at least one among that group flying with...you guessed it...Air India. Money talks, my friends.

So next time, keep your stories to yourself. And since I've travelled on other airlines as well, I can tell you that the warmth that you get (there are of course a few exceptions even I have encountered, no doubt) on your National Airline is not there anywhere else. Oh by the way, people who scream at an Indian at the Air India counter, will probably "Sir" a gora at the British Airways counter. I ask why? Absolutely baffling....!

Next time you see a screaming man at the Airport, know that it's an Indian travelling on Air India. Appreciate what you have, people. And stop cribbing. Someone once said "It's not who you are underneath, it's what you do that defines you." Very true. Very true indeed.

P.S. The views expressed by me in the above post are, well, entirely mine and I really hope that at least one of these haters reads it and leaves a comment.

Travel Plans....and why I don't make any

Hello everyone. Hope each and every one of you (who read my blog; and that would be 4, maybe 5 people) is doing just great! I certainly am. Have just been really really busy...umm sorry...lazy(the two words rhyme, ironically). Excuse my poor sense of humour (still with a 'u'; not turned Canadian yet) which is getting poorer by the day. I know I'm going to annoy a LOT of people when I visit home. Which by the way is probably going to happen sometime in July. Hopefully. I never tell anyone that I'm coming on so-and-so date, especially when its a question of going to another city. I tell them that I have arrived, when I ARRIVE. Want to know why? My family has a history of last minute travel problems, cancellations, etc. etc. etc. Here's how one story goes...

My dad works in the airline industry. With Air India. So we get FREE TICKETS....Yipppeee!!! Limited of course, but free all the same. To anywhere that Air-India flies, we can fly! Hehe. But...there's a catch. Our seats are always "Subject To Availability". 1 phrase that decides our holiday fate. Sigh. If the flight is full, we can't fly. Period. You got it right?

So what happened once was, Mom and I were flying from Kolkata to Ahmedabad to visit Dad. He had been posted there a few months back- a permanent posting, but he'd decided to brave it all alone because I was in Grade Xth and my Brother was preparing for the dreaded CAT. And since we weren't a joint family or anything, Mom had to stay back with us. So that was going to be my first visit to Ahmedabad; a city which would later become my home for 5 years.

Anyways, so we reached the Airport on time, checked in our baggage and all, and waited for the plane to board. Now since the flight was tight (I'm a born poet; see how everything rhymes!), we were asked to wait until all the passengers had arrived and the check-in counters were closed. Luckily there were 2-3 seats left when the counters were finally closed, so we got on board. The air-hostesses brought candy and juice like they always do. And I enjoyed my share like I always do. C'mon I was just 17!

Well for some reason, the flight wouldn't take off. 15 minutes past the take-off time, a flight pursor came upto us and told my Mom that they would not be able to accomodate us on that flight! Why? Some hot-shot people from the Aviation Ministry or the Board or something had arrived at the last possible minute, so....

Aaaahh.....who cares? Like I say to this day..."Main juice peene aeroplane chhadaa tha..." LOL. ROTFL. LMAO. Laugh as much as you want. But I wonder if anyone has had to suffer the embarrassment of being escorted OUT of a plane. Sigh. And there in a short but not-so-sweet story is one of the reasons why I don't like to tell people that I'm coming. Oh come on people, grow up!

P.S. The airline however wasn't Air India. I think it was Jet....

Headbangers' Ball!!!

Swastika at Tradin' Licks [December 2004, Ahmedabad]

I Wonder...

Yes. I really do. Why we fight. Is it a case of natural instinct which betrays our pretentious masks to reveal cleverly disguised hate? Or is it a case of incitement on the part of the state? I really have grown tired of arguments. Who did it? Was it the Hindus who started it? Was it the Muslims who pelted first? Hindus? Muslims? Hindus. Muslims. Who was it again? Did we hear you say a name? The questions unfortunately remain unanswered, but the truth is that after 4 years, history is threatening to repeat itself.

After the past few days' events I repeatedly ask myself one question which I'm sure almost every sane person must have already thought about: What kind of an a** of a government does it take to order the demolition of religious monuments (which are "encroachments on the road and hamper traffic"- what about the cows?) in a state which was marred by violence and mass riots just 4 years ago? Did they think everyone had forgotten 2002?

I don't know exactly who it was, but someone from the Supreme court was on TV today, talking about the demolition issue. He made an interesting point: It is wrong to say that a 200 year-old monument is encroaching upon the road. If it is 200 years old, and if at all there is an issue of encroachment, clearly the road is encroaching upon the monument's space!

As you might already know, the Supreme Court has stayed the Gujarat High Court order. Seems like TOI (Ahmedabad) might be in a soup as well. Read here (the middle of the article). Of course, the Times website mentions nothing about any notice being given to them by the SC. But anyways, I don't know who to trust and who not to. The media are definitely to blame too. This is what a very well known reporter on a very well known news channel asked the brother of the man who was burnt alive: "Aapko kya lagta hai...iske liye kaun zimmedaar hai?" I was like "What the f***?" How, and why, do you even ask a question like that?

Justice is a joke anyways, and absolute peace will never be restored. I know its a cliche, but some scars are too deep to heal. A compromised peace is what we can hope for at the most. It's upto the people. But then I ask myself, do we, the people, really want this?(like a well known news channel put it: we are "Divided by religion; United in grief") Who wants this? Do you want to die on the streets? Either we, the people, are barbarians, or its the state. Conspiracy theories are here to stay, but someone is to blame for sure. Don't pretend that everything is a misunderstanding. And do not blame the religion, for God's sake. Quite literally.

I don't want to blame anyone in particular in absence of concrete evidence(and I wonder whether there will be any). It is a bit eerie however, that the Police Control Room allegedly failed to respond to the situation in time. Reminds me of...
Well come now, how does it matter anyways? Its just one man who was burnt alive. And some others who were stabbed, etc. Lets put our masks and smiling faces back on, and pretend everything is alright. After a few years when they call up the Control Room again, we'll just tell them to go to Pakistan. Like we've always done.

United We Failed.
Divided We Stand.

R.I.P.