A #MeToo Affair

Social Media is such a powerful tool which gives the powerless an immense power to mold it to his/her benefit accordingly. It seems as if people are carrying an FIR system with them all the time. You just vent out all your harrowing experience and click 'submit'. The information spreads like wildfire getting instant 'Likes' and 'Share'. And if the victim is a woman, then the entire hardcore feminist group will blindly support the victim. I wonder did they ever bother to hear the other side of the story. The issue is extrapolated to such a level that the other person loses his ground and even if he/she tries to put forward his/her point, it is stashed in the backyard. Today I am going to share my personal opinion about the #MeToo series of allegations by our pretty ladies of #Bollywood on producers, directors and co-actors. The #MeToo fire was started by Tanushree Dutta who accused Nana Patekar of 'lurking' around on the sets of 'Horn Ok Please' some 10 years ago. Soon after Tanushree Dutta leaves the set and locks herself in her vanity van and then drives in her car. At that moment, a mob of around 50 people mainly from Media and some other group (which is yet to be ascertained) surrounded her car. Later police had to intervene and clear the way for her car. Now there are couple of questions which seek attention.

Here is a video clip of the incident by #IndiaToday.

https://www.indiatoday.in/programme/the-people-s-court/video/tanushree-dutta-nana-patekar-controversy-here-s-what-eyewitness-janice-sequeira-saw-1354313-2018-10-02

1. With the complete video footage available, why is it difficult to find out if Nana Patekar touched Tanushree Dutta with a wrong intention?

2. Why after 10 years, Tanushree Dutta has suddenly found courage to speak up?

3. Who were the people that created ruckus when Tanushree is in her car?

4. We have heard only one side of the story. We haven't heard anything from Nana Patakar yet? Why are we judging to conclusion?

5. What is the definition of sexual harassment? Is there a limit defined by law?

In the next few days the #MeToo movement finds our pretty ladies waking up from deep slumber and joining the sheepish ‘मैं मैं भेड़चाल’. Be it Alok Nath, Sajid Khan, Variamuthu, Sham Kaushal are just a few names. The list is unending and till now we hear a new name popping up. Surprisingly, all incidents had happened as old as 2 decades ago. That means women are more empowered to speak up today. Should we thank the present #Modi government for giving more power to women to speak up? Or can we say women are more safe in #NDA's tenure than in #UPA's tenure? To me, it seems a ‘Quid Pro Quo’ movement. What happened back then was acceptable because a career was at stake and now to steal the show, this #MeToo is proving handy.

As far as my personal opinion is concerned, it is difficult to say now and even after couple of months from now about who’s the real accused and who's the victim but one thing is sure that this #MeToo will definitely become a cause of breakdown of someone not guilty very soon. I pray no victim shall use this power for his/her selfish motives. In a country where we still don’t know who killed #Aarushi and #Jessica, how can you rather rely on the half baked story? The reel life actors get so much influenced by their unreal life that they don’t realize the right and wrong of their action. All they care about is getting back to limelight by pushing others behind.

 It’s high time our judiciary prepares a guideline on sexual harassment or physical abuse and a special cell to deal with such cases in this regard. Using hashtag #MeToo to report the story makes it look more scandalous and majority of the cases the sympathy of the masses is with women.

P.S. The intention is the post is not to hurt feminist brigade. I have shared an honest opinion. Do share your opinion about the #MeToo affair. 

Vaadi Herbals

Vaadi Herbals is proud of its knowledge of herbs and their uses, passed on by its parent company; involved in the business of manufacturing and supply of Ayurvedic pharmaceuticals since the last 150 years. Vaadi Herbals embarked upon its journey in the direction of herbal cosmetics and personal care products using an ideal blend of Ayurveda together with modern sciences and formulations.

Our company has its plants and warehouses based in Delhi, India since 2006 and started with its exports to several countries soon after. Currently we export to over 15 countries such as USA, New Zealand, Russia, South Africa, China, Norway, Hongkong, France, United Kingdom etc. and have received phenomenal response for most of the products that we offer.

With over 300 stock keeping units, there is a huge variety in the categories of Hair, Skin, Body, Facial, Foot and Gifting kits. Our products are suitable for all hair and skin types, making them widely acceptable in International markets. (Source: https://www.vaadiherbals.com)

The Products are:

1. GMP Certified.

2. 100% Chemical Free.

3. 100% Organic Certified.

4. Ayurveda.

5. Paraben Free

Memoir

It all started four years ago. I was working as a software engineer in Bangalore. One fine Friday evening at Electronic City Phase-2, my roommate and I were ready to enter the trance state of Old Monk with homemade cooked desi chicken, my phone started ringing.

Shit!!! Dad calling. 

I rushed out in the open to feel a gasp of fresh air and answered the call in 5 rings.

Hello!

I am fine papa. How are you?

”Dinner हो गया बेटा ?”

I replied, ”हंजी, बस पाँच मिनिट में  करेंगे ”. I lied but they never know this 5 minute will be 500 minutes very soon once the party is on.

After dad, the control was passed to the high command: my mother. After the usual हाल-चाल टॉक, the moment came when my mother threw a bomb,” We have received a perfect match for you and now you need to plan your travel to Jammu and see the girl”. I said,”आपने देखी है तो ठीक ही होगी”. I pretended to be a सज्जन बेटा. But I had a parallel thought running in my mind,”यार एक बार लड़की की फोटो माँग ले. First level of check हो जाएगा”. I muster courage to ask but couldn’t. Meanwhile I remember Mr Old Monk waiting for me. I ended the call and joined back.

Back of my mind, I was still thinking if I get a picture of the lady right now, I can search the entire Google network to just have a glimpse of my ‘going to be’ bride. By the time I finished my first drink (just to let you all know I am a corporate drinker), my phone buzzed. Wow! My sister sent me the pic. That day my respect for SRK grew manifolds (जिस चीज़ को पूरी शिद्दत से चाहो तो पूरी कायनात जूट जाती है उससे पाने के लिए). Secretly I opened my Facebook and started my hunt. After spending 15 minutes endless search, I started to lose hope. All results were negative. Being on social media is as mandatory as having a Aadhar card. If you are not on Facebook, then you are seen with an eye of suspicion.

Why she is not on Facebook?

Has she deleted her account?

What made her delete the account? All sorts of futile questions started popping in my mind. Anyways I gulped down my 3^rd drink with great difficulty, had my dinner and went off to sleep. I swear on Gita, I had a sleepless night that day.

Next morning I planned my vacation to home on occasion of Rakhsbandhan. I reached Jammu a week in advance. Everything was planned by my parents. Our meeting with girl’s family was arranged 5 days before Rakshabandhan. We met, exchanged pleasantries and the first thing I clarified from the girl about why she is not on facebook? Ahh!!! Nothing to worry, I was needlessly worrying. Our engagement was fixed a day before Rakshabandhan. Thank God else I would have got into a different relationship. Finally my first real love story started.

Life has been so cruel to me. Right from my school days, I was a very shy and an introvert kind of boy when it came to interacting with friends of opposite gender. I had great difficulty having eye contact with girls. Many times I stood in front of the mirror and stared in my eyes and questioned my sexual orientation. I search on internet about how to verify your orientation. I decided to undergo few tests on myself. I started watching porn. Test OK (Do I need to explain how?)!!!

Test 2 was a bit difficult for me. I had to make contact (not physical contact) with my class mate. But how to execute? She must think I am a pervert. Anyways I was concerned about my orientation result. Next morning I asked for digital electronics notes from my class rep. While she handed the notes I managed to give a feathery touch. My God!!! That was electrifying. Must be 10000 Volts. Test 2 Pass!!!

It is not about orientation but ones individual nature. After my marriage, I have noticed either I have become extrovert or more open with girls or I am more handsome than before or I am now out of insecurity zone- now I have a life partner.

I hope you all enjoyed the journey with me so far. I will continue with ‘शादी के side effects’ in my next post very soon. Till then keep writing, keep dating until you are a bachelor and eat healthy, stay healthy.

S’ik’cular India.

India got its name from Indus valley civilisation (3300 – 1300 BC), probably one of the well known and developed civilisations. Based on the historical facts available on internet, we find that the people of Indus valley preached 3 religions – Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. To support the argument, archaeologists have unearthed artefacts such as stone portraits of mother goddess (see pic), a father god who we consider as synonymous to Lord Shiva acting as a progenitor of the race. Further evidences pertaining to worshipping of Pipal or Acasia tree by the locals to guard them against evil forces. They followed the ritual of criminating the dead along with some offerings and last but not the least, the Great Bath of Mohenjo-Daro can be thought of as a sacred tank which we find today in various temples and sacred places of worship where people take bath and purify their soul and body.

On the contrary, the first evidence of Islam in India can be traced back to 7^th century AD.  Cheraman Juma Masjid in Kerala is thought to be the first mosque in India, built in 629 AD by Malik lbn Dinar. Islam arrived in North India in the 12th century via the Turkic invasions and has since become a part of India's religious and cultural heritage. We have heard about mass conversions of Hindus to adopt Islam by Muslim rulers. Comparing 2011 and 1951 census data, Hindus have dwindled to 79.8% from 84.1% and Muslims have gone up to 14.23% from 9.8%.

We call our country as Bharat and Hindustan. The root word of Hindustan is ‘Hindu’ and ‘Bharat’ is also a word from Devanagri. So technically our country is of Hindu origin and Muslims are our guest or mehman as they landed on our motherland much later. Despite this fact we have treated them with great honour by offering them citizenship, fundamental rights and even subsidies in the name of minority quota. Even after giving them such luxuries, when we hear certain news about ‘intolerance’, ‘award vaapsi’ ‘we want freedom’, the blood of patriotic and nationalist citizen boils at 500 ℃. Why cannot we live at peace with each other? Who do you blame for this ongoing ‘Anti-India ‘campaign across various Indian universities? Why is #ISIS finding its roots so easily in India? All these thoughts traverse in the back of my mind and keep asking the same question time and again, “Are we really secular”?   

The dictionary meaning of Secular is - not connected with religious or spiritual matters or of clergy) not subject to or bound by religious rule; not belonging to or living in a monastic or other order. By this definition it is clear that our country cannot be secular in any way. We have people from different faiths and religions and are engaged in a constant hate war with each other to prove the worthiness of each religion. We have witnessed lot of intolerance debate recently. My viewpoint on this issue is that one should remain tolerant only when his/her belief is not shaken. Once that point of reached, Newton’s 3^rd law applies and you are authorized to reply back in a wise manner. Getting physical is not a solution but holds “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind” to be true.

It is high time we realize that there are certain black sheep amongst us who are playing cheap politics to continue burning the fire for their vested interests. But as they say, “.No one can escape Karma. Karma comes back and comes back strongly because Karma is a Bitch”.

Lastly I want to quote Bhagvadgita, chapter 4, verse 11,

All who in whatever way surrender unto me, I reward them accordingly. All mankind follows my path, O Arjuna, in all respects.

On the contrary taking a cue from Holy Quran,

Clearly, both religious scriptures promote love and brotherhood but there is a catch. Both preach their own path. I would leave it unto you to decide what is right and wrong. I have chosen my religion and it is ~ Humanity. 

Space War

#ColgateMagicalStories

It is a bright sunny Sunday morning and Raghu as usual is insisting to play his favorite game – ‘Alien Attack’. After an hour of his stubbornness, his mother gave in and told him to go but warned him to be back before dark. Kids as usual don’t pay heed to parent’s advice. He called Ram to join his bandwagon. Soon after Raghu, Ram and Alia went to nearby park with their mission kit to play Alien attack. In the meantime they were discussing about their playing strategy, Alia’s got distracted by a sharp reflection of white light. She got curious and followed the reflection. In a couple of minutes, she shouted and her other two companions joined her. A big oval shaped thing was lying before them with a glass window on top. Suddenly the window opened and they could see three chairs in it. All of them stepped inside and took their respective seats. The window top closed. The mysterious machine started beeping loudly. The trio got scared. Soon after a message in bold red appeared on a LCD screen in front of them,” Wear seat belt. It is for your own safety”. They swung into action and tied themselves firmly. The machine made a loud sound and lifted itself from the ground and started revolving in clockwise motion. It was like spin cycle of automatic washing has begun. In a flash of a minute they were in dark sky, surrounded by big huge circular planets staring angrily at them as if they were questioning the entry of intruders in their area. The spaceship flew at never imagined speed and reached a land full of snow. The LCD display outside showed -150 degree Celsius. Three warm suits dropped from above their seats and a harsh male voice commanded them to wear the suits. Then they were asked to follow the glowing pathway lights up to a distant castle.

“Welcome to the land of Pluto”.

I am the king of this land,”BigMac”.

Raghu asked the king,”My lord, why we have been brought here?”

The king gestured towards his left. A meek fellow with white hair, big black spectacles stood and began to speak. I am Dr Morpan, researcher at Pluto. We have found that people from Earth are constantly trying to intrude our land by sending in rockets and astronauts. You people are so much power hungry that you fight your own people for land, food, money and now you are making our lives miserable. Then he showed them a movie over the past 10 years how mankind has really polluted their atmosphere and their ill effects on them. At the end of the movie, Dr Morepan said,” We have kidnapped you and we want to negotiate with your people to leave our land or else you have to die”. A big monstrous laugh leaves them stunned.

Meanwhile on Earth, Raghu’s mother got worried when he didn’t turn up before dark. It was 08:00 PM now. She searched the entire society, checked with security if Raghu went outside the gate. When nothing worked out, she went to police station to register an FIR. On the other hand, ISRO received an extra terrestrial message saying, “We have Raghu, Ram, and Alia. Leave Pluto, we leave them”. There was a emergency alert sounded in entire country. Home minister ordered to attack Pluto and bring back the kids safe and sound. ISRO planned a nuclear warfare and planted MISSLE1990 targeting Pluto. Minutes before the launch, they sent a warning message to Pluto asking them to surrender and handover the kids. Dr Morepan analyzed the missile power and advised the King to surrender else they will meet their end. The king got terrified and asked his council to send a message of ceasefire to Earth.

Raghu, Alia and Ram were back in their park. When asked where they went, all they could recall was nothing about their extra terrestrial trip. 

“I’m blogging my #ColgateMagicalstories at BlogAdda in association with Colgate.

6 Degrees: Game of Blogs review

I must appreciate #Blogadda for conceptualizing the idea of collaborating different bloggers and bring them on a common platform to think and write a story. I would like to congratulate all the 30 bloggers who worked passionately day in and day out to create this piece crafted with precision. What I liked most about the book is that the characters in all the three stories are the same and the reader doesn’t get lost as he/she progresses towards the end. #Blogadda has given a nice platform for the creative bloggers to come forward and pen down their creations in the form of a book and let the world know about it. I truly enjoyed reading the book and being a book critic this time, I would love to be a part of the writing team whenever #Blogadda is launching the second edition. I will review each story one by one. The first story is ‘The Awakening’ is a sci-fi story of the aliens planning to attack the Earth and take it under its control and on the other hand there are good aliens who want to thwart their attack by trying to awaken their long lost noble alien Clariota. The story is beautifully crafted with an apt pace which grips the reader and doesn’t allow him/her to close the book until the story is over. The second story is about a murder mystery. The reader is on his/her toes until the very last when the clouds of suspicion are scattered and the real killer is revealed. The story ‘Missing’ I find it to be apt title for a movie. And the last story is on a very delicate subject especially in a conservative society like India. A young man who turns out to be homosexual is raped by his seniors at college. He couldn’t tell his family due to the fear of rejection; he decides to pursue his dream of casting a movie with Amitabh Bachhan and heads out to Mumbai. In Mumbai confusion prevails when a little girl Roohi goes missing and her parents thought she has been kidnapped by Cyrus. The story is neatly written with a lot of twists and turns. The writer has left the story open ended for the reader to create a chain of thoughts what could have happened next which I like the most. Apart from the good things there are few grammatical mistakes in the book here and there. But in the last story the I noticed a unusual thing that chapter 18 appeared immediately after chapter 8. Another thing in all the three stories which I found amusing is that the writers have shown a role reversal for the man and the wife. I wonder if they are pointing to a gen-next era. That is the food for thought left by the writer for the reader to ponder over. Overall I would recommend this book to everyone who is looking for a material which is sweet, short and simple. Go for it folks. 

6 Degrees is India's first book published through collaborative blogging, written completely by bloggers for the Game of Blogs activity at BlogAdda. Know more about Game of Blogs here. You can buy 6 Degrees: Game of Blogs if you liked the review.

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for IndianBloggers. Participate now to get free books.

P.S. Do comment in the below box with your view or suggestions for further improvement. Namaste!!!

The seat beside her was empty…

Travelling so much fun and the enjoyment is dwindled when you travel in any of the public transport. I have been using  public transport services from past 16 years and whenever  I am travelling alone, I had always desire my co-passenger to be a young beautiful lady. But life has been so cruel to me. 

Until recently I have decided to dump the famous line by SRK,"जिस चीज़ को जितना चाहो ,पुरी क़ायनात लग जाती है उसे पाने के लिए" when the fateful day happened which changed my life forever. It was onset of winter in early November when I was on vacation and travelling to Jammu from Bangalore. I was excited to celebrate Diwali with my parents after 3 long years. I planned my travel in short term and thus I had no other option but to travel by train. Unfortunately I didn't get a confirmed ticket and had to travel on RAC ticket from SBC to NDLS in 3-tier coach of Rajdhani express. I was determined to go and one good thing was that I had got atleast half the seat. I only prayed to God to send some lady as my sharing partner- कम से कम सफ़र में मुझे Suffer नहीं करना पड़ेगा . Yes, I was being selfish :)

As a practice, IRCTC doesn't allot RAC seat to persons of opposite gender but as a luck by chance I was lucky to find a young lady in her late 20s already occupying the berth. WoW! Thank God.  I checked the berth no and placed my luggage beneath  the berth and greeted the lady,"Hello maam". With a great effort I politely asked her to make some space for me to sit. In fact I wanted her to rest her legs on me (I was being courteous as my long desire was fulfilled).  By her accent and skin texture, I was 100% sure, she was from Delhi. She has untied her long curly black hair and a small strand of her hair was disturbing her left eye and she was using her left hand to place it behind her ear. But the stubborn hair kept falling again and again. She was wearing a sleeveless kurti and a off white legging. She was looking damn beautiful and it became difficult to move my eyes away from her and everytime I saw her, I started  loving her even more. After our dinner, it was past 10'o clock and she started yawning. I started the conversation and told her to sleep comfortably and I just need some space to sit. Reality was that I just wanted to observe her forever.  खूबसूरत है जो इतना सहा नहींजाता , the song kept reverberating in my mind. She shook me out of my reverie and said,"We can sleep on same berth."

I said to myself,"If she doesn't have any problem, then why should I worry.

After all she is a Delhi girl and Delhi girls are too extrovert and flirtatious". We spread our bed-sheet and slept on the same berth under the same blanket. After sometime she was snoring loudly and I was not getting any sleep as I was just on the edge of the berth and any moment I could fall. I pushed myself a little and moved my leg over her and hugged her with my right arm. I hugged him so tightly that I could feel her chest and my virgin organ was touching her ass. She didn't wake up and started moaning. Suddenly she turned around and started kissing  me. I reached my climax and was about to burst. Suddenly I came back to my senses to see me all drenched in sweat and breathing heavily in the chill of 3-tier AC compartment.

The lady was staring at me with a question in her mind and she asked,"Are you okay?"

I said," Yes but I need some fresh air and I went outside, opened the door to let the air brush my hair and face".

I came back and told her to sleep until 03:00 AM when I will take my turn to sleep. This way we took turns sleeping and passed the night. The whole episode of my dreams  was in my mind and I couldn't make eye contact with her as I was feeling guilty. The next night also we did the same and early morning we reached New Delhi station. I picked my luggage and said 'Goodbye' to the lady of my fantasy world and left the station as quickly as I can.

I realized that in the journey of 35 hours we didn't even introduced ourselves and I just committed a heinous crime of fantasizing with her. I asked for forgiveness from God and wished not to ask for a lady co-passenger again in future.

‘This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.’