The Reporter

But what about equality?

noreply@blogger.com (Tanuj Lakhina) — Sun, 30 Apr 2017 22:10:00 +0000

AIt is around 1.30 PM in Delhi. The heat is at its peak and it is not even May yet. People have been waiting at the bus stop for quite a while. The bus - No 392 - to Noida doesn't operate as routinely or frequently it does in the morning or the evening. Maybe it is to do with fewer passengers in the day with most commuters already at work. Or, maybe it is to do with it being lunch time or the fact that many of these buses shift to being school buses in the afternoon. Irrespective, the wait isn't helped by the relentless sun.
Finally the bus arrives and plenty of people give up their seat at the stop and move, swiftly, in the direction of the low-floor vehicle. The bus doesn't wait for long after stopping momentarily quite a distance away from the designated stop - but that is how buses work in the capital. The vehicle doesn't stop near the curb for you to hop on, you have to run to get on. There are men and women all boarding the bus to head towards their desired destination. A woman of nearly 30 years old gets into the bus and makes her way towards the seats marked for 'women'. A sign above clearly says "mahilaye". A total of six seats are kept aside for women - despite the 25% reservation directive of the transportation authorities in 2013. That would make it nine seats for women considering 35 seats on the low-floor DTC buses.
The woman in question, sees a man sitting on the seat, gestures and points at the "mahilaye" sign above. The man, in his mid-20's, flings his backpack and gets up without a word. The woman takes the seat and the bus continues to move swiftly on the DND Bridge over the Yamuna.

--- ACROSS THE STATE LINE ---

Passengers disembark from the bus at Sector 16 stop and the woman is part of the queue. She gets off the bus in an orderly fashion - or what is the closest resemblance to order in a chaotic city. She takes one of the many battery operated rickshaws available and heads to her office. As she punches her ID card on the electronic machine to register her attendance for the day, it flashes her employee code on the screen. All good, the woman thinks in her head. She takes a quick look at her phone to check the entry time and notices a message from her boss to reach the conference room as soon as she is in. The woman knows what this is about. It is April, it is appraisal meetings month. She expects a good increase in pay for all the work she has put in over the past year.

The office AC is in full blast and the sweat pouring from her forehead starts to evaporate. She notices her boss in the room alongside the lady from Human Resources. All of them greet each other and exchange pleasantries including the mundane small talk. Finally the papers are out to discuss her performance over the past 12 months and she starts to beam with glowing numbers. The expectations get a jump with HR head also agreeing that she's been solid over the year. They shake hands and she makes way out of the room to allow one of her male colleagues to step in and discuss his performance.

She knows he's not had the best year gone by and hasn't achieved the targets as required. But he still remains upbeat to get some hike.

At the end of the day, the letters from the HR arrive and she can't hide her surprise that her raise isn't as much as she expected. On the other hand, her colleague has received a bigger hike than he deserved and even more than her. She can't help but think there is sexism and bias at play but she stops herself from approaching her boss or remonstrating among the team knowing full well how much she needs this job. She also understands any retribution would not resolve anything either. As she walks out of the third floor office, she can't hide her disappointment and the disgust with the gender discrimination at play.

--- Fact of the matter ---

Many women push for equality, rightfully so, without preaching it themselves. They are strong advocates for feminism, also rightfully so, without understanding it is about equality between both genders and not about women > men. The example of bus seats is a simple one that happens every day. Why should there be seats reserved for women? Understand that the idea is to ensure safety but why would a woman make a man get up in a fairly empty bus? Emptying the seat for pregnant ladies, reservation of seats or not, makes sense. Getting up for senior citizens and disabled is important and saving seats for them imperative.
To sum up, if you're a woman and marching up to a bus seat and making a man get up - your age or not - based on the regard that it "your" seat, you're being a hypocrite when you complain about no equality in the society.

Note: Anita Phalswal makes some interesting counter points to mine here that you might want to read too.

Words: 870 words. Reading Time: Approximately 4 minutes 30 seconds

Democracy

noreply@blogger.com (Tanuj Lakhina) — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 21:48:00 +0000

Quick little quote:

Democracy is the most used and least understood word.

Hope

noreply@blogger.com (Tanuj Lakhina) — Wed, 22 Jul 2015 06:06:00 +0000

Hope keeps you going.
Hope keeps you motivated.
Hope makes you wish.
Hope makes you live.
But, hope, also hurts.
Hope stings you most.
Hope makes you vulnerable.
Hope makes you weak.
And, in the end, it's hope that kills you.

Over.

noreply@blogger.com (Tanuj Lakhina) — Fri, 10 Jul 2015 04:11:00 +0000

Early morning greetings. Over.
Good night messages. Over.
Random how's the day going. Over.
Daily phone calls. Over.
Annual visits. Over.
Kiss upon arrival. Over.
Obscure musings. Over.
Hand holding. Over.
Fingers locked. Over.
Goodbye kiss. Over.
I love you. Over.
You and Me. Over.

Quoteism

noreply@blogger.com (Tanuj Lakhina) — Thu, 21 May 2015 02:28:00 +0000

Behind every strong exterior is an insecurity filled interior.
Not everyone can see, not everyone deserves to see.

India does not deserve my vote

noreply@blogger.com (Tanuj Lakhina) — Tue, 28 Apr 2015 13:40:00 +0000

After Wednesday's 'incident' of a farmer committing suicide at the AAP rally, and the blame game that began, it's become clearer now more than ever that value of life in India matters little to none. It's worth gets reduced even further when put in the hands of the politicians.

Every four years, I enter a polling booth to cast my vote and pick one of the parties to lead my state/country. This choice is made entirely on the basis of my expectations of them and how much their public view points tally with mine. So basically I cast my vote in hope of seeing my life improve. To see the standard of living improve, education, services, and probably above everything - the society.

But what is the point of voting and expecting improvement in one's life when there is no life to speak of?

Now that man may have been a farmer or may not have been a farmer (as has been claimed) but the whole episode just reeks of complete disregard for human life. But what cannot be ignored is that a person lost his life for whatever reason - political or not.

We've become used to hearing old time stalwarts in BJP and Congress say utmost insensitive crap in the name of getting a few votes. Examples from this episode starting with Congress' Rahul Gandhi:

It is a very sad time. I just want to tell the farmers and labourers not to worry. We will help them… I had earlier said that the farmers are being punished by the Modi government. I had said that they only help industrialists. This is causing tremendous pain to the farmers of the country. This is sad. But we will do whatever we can for the farmers. We are going to fight the land ordinance.

And BJP wasn't too far away either with BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra quick to call a press conference after the farmer's death:

The whole thing was recorded by the media, but no leader from AAP got down from the stage. The speeches continued.

But when Delhites voted AAP in, in hope of seeing Arvind Kejriwal and his group become more sensitive to the people and be 'different', they became all the same. They, too, started to play the blame game and deflect from taking responsibility while someone died not more than 100 metres from the stage. Kejriwal said this immediately afterwards:

What upsets me most is that we kept asking the police to act, but they did nothing. We know that the Delhi Police is not in our control. But you must have some humanity. You must at least be under God’s control. The first thing I and Manish Sisodia will do is to go to the hospital.

Another AAP member Ashutosh went one better with this sarcastic jibe during a TV 'debate':

This was Arvind Kejriwal's mistake. He should have got down from the stage. He made a mistake. Next time I will tell Kejriwal to get down and climb the tree and save people.

To make matters worse, or waters dirtier, there are multiple images and videos of the person on the tree and even pictures snapped when he fell to his death. The media plays holier than thou attitude but in being mere bystanders and not doing anything to aid that man, they're equally guilty for his death.

Quoteism - 2

noreply@blogger.com (Tanuj Lakhina) — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 23:21:00 +0000

Keeping with the previous Quoteism, here is another.

Scepticism and pessimism, and not optimism, keeps one close to realism.

Views on 'India's Daughter' documentary

noreply@blogger.com (Tanuj Lakhina) — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 23:20:00 +0000

Just finished watching the BBC documentary ‘India’s Daughter’. Observations (and some opinions):

Bold, powerful and thought provoking. Covers all angles that a documentary should - rapists/convicted, law makers, psychiatrists, members of the society and friends/family of those associated.
My understanding of why the Information & Broadcasting Ministry had a ban on Indian airing is because of the rapists brazen comments in reference to women, rape and criminal activities. Reason why it escalated is because there is no sense of remorse whatsoever which is disappointing, shocking and unnerving.
Further problems added by the defence lawyers who in a way justify the act with their comments. While I would say that it is their job to say such things in order to keep the case alive as it is still undergoing after appeal. Their statements reek of disrespect towards women and highlight that they find men superior than women.
It is worth noting that the police and/or the government tried their very best to prevent the movement and the agitation after the brutal rape. This raises questions of how independent we really are.
Chance now for the new government - both at the centre and at the state - to make a change. If they really want to that is without this greed for votes blinding them.
Lastly, as mentioned in the documentary, the solution isn’t just in the hanging of four or five rapists, or of amendments in Juvenile Justice Act, but in education. In women realising their self worth and men realising the importance of women from the get go.
If by banning the documentary, the government wants to prevent itself from being shown in a bad light then it is time for a self reflection and understanding that there is a problem that needs fixing. Living in a problem and shutting things from happening is not the answer. Calling India a free democracy is a blatant lie. Calling Delhi safe for women is furthest from the truth. Calling a girl child equal to a male child is laughable.

Life goes on

noreply@blogger.com (Tanuj Lakhina) — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 13:00:00 +0000

For quite some time, I used to wish that if/when I were to die, things would come to a standstill. Not in a time will stand still kind of metaphorical basis but in a people's lives will come to a grinding halt kind of basis.

Yes that is selfish but isn't that what we are? We yarn to make a change in the world, on people around us - for better or for worse. And this is yet another selfish desire, last desire so to speak.

But I've come to the realisation that it doesn't happen. However much we want for it to happen - it doesn't. Yes people will shed bucketload amount of tears, there will be sadness, there will be that air of uncomfortableness but at the end of the day, it's just temporary. There will be the customs and traditions being followed and done with but after that, everyone goes home and sleeps it off.

I've tried to understand why is it that I want people's lives to stop; for their daily activities to be affected. And the answer, I think, is that everyone wants different things when it comes to 'end of life'. Some seek immortality, some a good life after death but I think I don't want either. I don't think my life, my work or my deeds will make any impact in the world and that is something everyone wants to do - atheist or religious. So, in a terribly absurd way, I hope people's lives are 'stopped' when I die. Now I understand the paradox that this is. How can someone stop living their lives when you've not made a dent in it? And that is a question I can't answer. Or can't figure out. Just yet.

Baggage

noreply@blogger.com (Tanuj Lakhina) — Mon, 26 Jan 2015 22:44:00 +0000

It is difficult to define 'baggage' in human feelings terms. Maybe it's not so much difficult to 'define' but difficult to narrow down.
To most, baggage is the negative feelings or vibes you carry from previous romantic relationships to your life forward or to your next relationship(s). But why is it reduced to just romantic relationships I wonder?
Why not other form of relationships too? Friends for example and what they've done (or not done), can be baggage too. Friends probably matter more than a significant other does to some people. Friends can have a more damaging and more long lasting impact that a relationship might not.
Solution? Cut them loose. Break up. It stings and it's difficult but it's got to be done when there is no solution. Not everything works out - same applies to a friendship. You can try to keep it going but at some point you just realise it's not going to work out. You're putting in more effort in keeping it going than in enjoying it. So, leave. Let it go. Move on.

Quoteism

noreply@blogger.com (Tanuj Lakhina) — Sun, 11 Jan 2015 22:39:00 +0000

I like quotes. Sometimes more than stories or poems. Although one could argue that they can and do interject. Though for now, let's not go that way. A few quotes I just made up:

One is taught to go for the stars,
Go for the unimaginable,
Dream or aim big,
But life doesn't feel that way.
Some dreams,
Some stars,
Some targets,
Are impossible.

Bad experiences leave scars,
Scars leave a cynic.

---

Takeaways: Before Sunset

noreply@blogger.com (Tanuj Lakhina) — Fri, 28 Jun 2013 11:25:00 +0000

I was watching Before Sunset and I came across the following exchange which immediately struck a chord with me, my thought process and my life.

I mean, I always feel like a freak

because I'm never able to move on like...







...this! You know.







People just have an affaire, or

even... entire relationships...







They break up and they forget!







They move on like they would

have changed a brand of Cereals!









I feel I was never able to forget

anyone I've been with.







Because each person have...







you know,







specific qualities.







You can never replace anyone.







What is lost is lost.







Each relationship, when it ends,

really damages me.







I haven't fully recovered.







That's why I'm very careful with

getting involved, because...









It hurts too much!







Even getting laid!







I actually don't do that...







I will miss of the person

the most mundane things.







Like I'm obsessed with little things.

(Script source)

This immediately reminded of all of them. How there is one little thing that I remember about everyone. Be it positive or negative, something that I can associate with each one of them.

Worst was when X moved on "like changing a brand of cereal".

Smitten

noreply@blogger.com (Tanuj Lakhina) — Fri, 24 May 2013 21:31:00 +0000

"Wow"

That was my first thought when I saw you enter the room wearing that elegant navy blue dress coming down to your knees and perfectly complementing your figure as everyone around tried to be downstairs in time for the party. Your brunette hair, done very neatly, flowed smoothly behind your back as you looked for your shoes in the messy and chaotic room. Your eyeliner perfect as always. You scrambled for more cosmetic products while I wondered if they were even necessary. It was probably the first time I had seen you in a dress and I wondered why you didn't wear it that often? While you always look pretty, it highlighted even more that night. It may have been due to the fact that I was a sucker for girls in dresses.

Worst part was I couldn't complement you. Why? To save myself the embarrassment and jokes later. To save myself from getting even more smitten than I already was. To save myself from getting into this mess even further. Mostly to save myself from you. It confused me why others didn't compliment you out loud. Were they bloody blind?

All characters appearing in the above work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

I tried my hand at creative writing after poetry. I clearly need practice.

A new feeling

noreply@blogger.com (Tanuj Lakhina) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 21:41:00 +0000

So much to say,
so little can be said.

So much to ask,
so little can be asked.

So much to know,
so little can be known.

So much to share,
so little can be shared.

Between here and there,
I don't know where I stand.

I know where you stand,
I know it's not with me.

A new feeling,
A feeling I've never had.

P.S. I am back with poetry. Obscure poetry I might add.

P.P.S. I am bad at poetry. This is a poor attempt I have to admit.

P.P.P.S. Does anyone even read this?

Fantastically funny videoS!

noreply@blogger.com (Tanuj Lakhina) — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 16:44:00 +0000

I found this super awesome video on Youtube last week. So thought I'd share it with everyone.

The girl is SOO Cute!

And a response was mentioned in the comments which is equally cute!

Indian mobile network providers should work on VAS

noreply@blogger.com (Tanuj Lakhina) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:21:00 +0000

India's mobile networks have been buzzing with low charges on calls and more recently on messages as well. From very high calling rates in the initial years we have now reached the stage where we are probably the cheapest nation in terms of call charges. Call rates trickled from pulse (3minutes) to a minute and now paying by the second. In the same breath, messages also have started being charged on the basis of characters used rather than a whole 160 character message.

With this whole reduction in prices of calls and messages, one thing has gone missing and thats value added services. Sure, caller tunes have been in operation since quite some time to replace the boring tring-tring but other than that there has been nothing to offer to the customer. One service which I have been using for quite some time has been GPRS/Mobile Internet and haven't seen any improvements in this regard over the period that I've used. The speeds are awfully low and loading of pages takes an eternity.

Now I was hoping speeds would improve with a better handset and I had a BlackBerry in consideration. (Yeah I know, I don't get that many mails and I'm not a businessman or whatever but the BlackBerry's look so cool!) I was thinking of getting a BlackBerry 8250 Curve.

So I went about checking Vodafone's website for charges for data connection and that's where my dreams were shattered. So the Vodafone Delhi people who probably have yet to come to terms with 2009 have the following data charges :

Rs 299 (monthly rental) - you can use the E-mail services and download as many attachments as you want without any problems. You can use messengers such as Yahoo, GTalk, BlackBerry Messenger etc etc but no web browsing and usage of third party applications. So yeah you can't use Facebook application, or Twitter or hundreds of other cool applications.
Rs 499 (monthly rental) - This being the most shocking one and the most ridiculous of all the plans on offer. So here you can use applications, E-mail, browser, messengers etc etc. So what does it make a stupid plan? It comes with a 500KB free data limit. Usage beyond this is 1 paisa per KB. Yeah so if you use 100KB then you're spending a rupee. A meager 100KB! Free data limit of 500KB? Gee, thanks for the generosity! Now Vodafone people, come back to 2009 when you're done playing with your pagers. Good.
Rs 899 (monthly rental) - Its a corporate plan so all of us who are not being helped by our company to use this fantastic mobile phone can move on to the next one.
Rs 1099 (monthly rental) - Yeah so now fellas who have use the BlackBerry themselves and are not salvaged by their company to pay their expenses will have to shell out Rs 1K+ for just data connection. Oh did I tell you I pay Rs 1000 for my 384KBPS connection on my laptop. Would the speed be the same you ask? Are you stupid is all I can say!

Yeah so until and unless you're ready to shell out at least 400 bucks more from your pocket every month then you're good. If not, then I suggest getting another mobile phone. I think even iPhone charges for data connection are Rs.99/month and unlimited usage. Vodafone seriously what age are you in!

Video : Fabulously created safe sex video

noreply@blogger.com (Tanuj Lakhina) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:24:00 +0000

Its been ages I've blogged here as I've been busy working on my two football blogs and also been working so it's hard to get the time to manage three blogs at one go.

So am back with a video which shows how safe sex is important. Its light hearted and its in the form of a cartoon but makes an impact. I really liked how simple it is kept. Hope all the idiots who go for unprotected sex learn something from this.

Remember usage of protection reduces the chances of AIDS spreading and of contracting sexually transmitting diseases and also removes the chances of pregnancy.

Confusing thing about people and love

noreply@blogger.com (Tanuj Lakhina) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:17:00 +0000

I have been putting off this post for quite some time and I think its time I should write it and publish it as well.

Everyone of us wants someone who pays attention, is caring, concerned, won't be a jerk and really really likes us in the beginning. This applies truly to either sexes, guys might want to prove how macho they are and how these are all just nonsense things which they don't care about. Even they want these things and probably more than what other girls/guys do.

The relationships in the past have had a bearing in the mindset that you don't really trust anyone and find it extremely difficult to get over your ex. Everyone goes through these things. Getting over an ex, especially when the relationship has been long is hard to do. Takes time, a lot of it.

Despite, all this I fail to understand why some people don't realise that another person has these qualities that they require. They would give you proper attention, care for you, love you, help you always, be there for you no matter what happens, would feel sorry even when not at fault etc. They have all these feelings towards you which you desire. They like you from a long time and its unlikely to change anytime soon. You know how strongly they feel about you and you still go about ignoring the best thing that could possibly happen to you. Weird reasoning are not justified for not going ahead with the relationship, being scared of it turning bad isn't going to help either. Take a risk, maybe it works out for the best.

Note : This post is dedicated to S, N and P.

Link : Today's news channels!

noreply@blogger.com (Tanuj Lakhina) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:31:00 +0000

Found this hilarious piece after my blog hopping spree. I'm certain you all would have heard the nursery rhyme "Jack and Jill"? Yeah. So how would the news channels in India report it? NDTV is used here as an example but it does apply to nearly all the channels. Enjoy!

India - travels in my nightie: Two persons hurt in climbing mishap

My least favourite word is...

noreply@blogger.com (Tanuj Lakhina) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:05:00 +0000

...WHATEVER, which many of you are aware irks me beyond limits. So much so, people found it amusing for it to be used around me just to get a reaction from me. And its not that its used in only one context of "end of topic" but also as a method to dismiss a question asked.

Now I realised last week that am not the only one who finds the word annoying. Apparently, 47% Americans surveyed do too. Its weird in two respects :

1. My view point is shared with Americans too! I wonder if I should feel offended :p
2. The source is a college telephone poll so having them agree with what I feel is somewhat absurd for me.

The other words which made it to the most annoying list are "You know" , "It is what it is" , "Anyway" and "At the end of the day". Why would anyone be annoyed with "At the end of the day" ?! Oh I have another one "my bad" , whatever happened to a simple "SORRY"!?

[Source : Times of India]

Mumbai please vote this time!

noreply@blogger.com (Tanuj Lakhina) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 10:13:00 +0000

Maharashtra goes for Assembly Elections on 13th October which would determine who governs the state post 22nd October when the results would be declared. Post 26/11 Mumbai has had the Lok Sabha elections to show their need of "change" but sadly a dismal turnout of 43% turnout reflected the indifference that existed in the Mumbaikars attitude.

Hopefully things improve this time around and people go out to vote this time. There is a one day bandh as well so you can't complain about work commitments. Spotted an image courtesy The Comic Project and Arun Raveen.

Poem : Real Me

noreply@blogger.com (Tanuj Lakhina) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:44:00 +0000

Its been sometime since I wrote a poem and expressed what I felt. The feeling has changed so the genre of my poem has changed too. Its not a rhythm kind of a poem, just linking what I felt. Here it goes.

There is emptiness inside me,
There is hollowness inside me.

Feelings are just few and far between,
One being love, the other being sorrow .

You moved on, but I couldn't,
You lost the love, but I didn't.

You want me to move on, I can't,
You want me to not care, I can't.

You don't seem to care,
I wish I could do the same.

Must Read : Karan Johar is raped by MNS

noreply@blogger.com (Tanuj Lakhina) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 11:45:00 +0000

Karan Johar produced, Wake Up Sid, hit the theaters yesterday but as with many other big movies in the past, it was caught in a controversy. Controversy called petty politics. Raj Thackeray run MNS created a furore with the movie mentioning Mumbai as Bombay. (Yeah that's the reason!) So much so KJ had to apologise to the politician in person and make a politically correct statement of how it could have hurt people's sentiments.

Hansal Mehta, a director himself wrote an account of what happened to him when his misinterpreted dialogue got him into a world of trouble. Read it here, Passion for Cinema.

The comments section led me to a very interesting post by Ratnakar Sadasyula, where Rabindranath Tagore's legendary poem titled "Where the mind is without fear" is shown to have relevance even today. Read it here, Sleepless in Cyberia.

Hope you enjoy both the posts and spread it along with commenting it. It doesn't take much time to express what you think and even lesser time in spreading it. Those stupid and senseless quizzes on Facebook can be played later. Thanks.

5 songs of the week

noreply@blogger.com (Tanuj Lakhina) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:17:00 +0000

These are the five songs that I've been hooked to over the week :

• Enrique - Somebody's Me
• Unkle Bob - Swans
• P. Diddy - Everything I do
• Grant Lee Philips - Mona Lisa
• Massari - Real Love

Video : Motley Crue - If I die tomorrow

noreply@blogger.com (Tanuj Lakhina) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:47:00 +0000

I've gotten fond of this song for some days now. Relate to the words and feel combination with rock makes it great to hear.

Hope ya'll like it too.