“Jay bhai, tamul khaboloi 2000 toka diok, kaam hoi jabo,” slipped through the loan officer in the bank. He meant ‘Jay brother, give me 2000 bucks for betel-nut and your job will be done’!

My job is done. Yes I paid him 2000 bucks for an education loan that the government promised me for free. I paid him bribe to sanction my loan. I paid him so that I needn’t spend much of my effort in doing rounds of the bank. I paid for peace of mind. I did anything wrong? I am a journalist today and am writing against corruption. I am getting decent visits per day on my personal blog and above all, fellow commoners believe that I can change the system.

Cut to…

A few days back, someone asked in the newsroom: “Is it Eid today?” I started drooling! The taste of sewai, biryaani and the happy looking people hugging each other and yes! Yet another Salman Khan flick! Superb occasion to cheer about…

But, how can the question “Is Eid today” erupt in a sensitive and intellectual place like the newsroom, that too at 9pm? Thank God it was edited on the next day’s edition!

Cut to…

“Jay ji, I want to know about your place. What’s ‘so’ popular in Assam?” asked my Cabbie (he likes my company – maybe my broken Hindi or my inability to express properly). I said, “Apart from tea and handloom, the scenic beauty is the best about the place. The culture, traditions and intermixing of different ethnic tribes put a great picture of North East India. Here in Uttar Pradesh people are divided into Brahmins, Dalits, Muslims, Yadavs etc. But in general, they all speak the same language. But in the northeast, language isn’t the same…”

Before I could continue, Cabbie interrupted and asked, “What about China and I heard that they are nearby Guwahati? And ULFA?” I kept mum. I should have replied, explained. But at 2:15am, I was more confined and assuring to the tune of Papon singing ‘Jiye Kyu…’

Cut to…

‘Anna Hazare taking on the government and this time it seems some positive can come out…’, I overheard in the newsroom. Maybe it in itself was an over-rated statement, or maybe I am too skeptical, just like a billion other Indians to admit that change is possible.

Cut to…

A friend said, “I have some relatives in Pakistan and they keep calling me there.” To this, I said “You have relatives there?” and made a face, I regret thinking now. That was spontaneous and he may not have noticed, but I felt the different velocity at which blood was oozing out of my heart then. For a split second, I felt ‘this Muslim has relatives there too…’

In Between All These,

My head is banging. I am suffocating in this dual ME. I say politically correct lines when I am with colleagues and slightly deviates when I interact with friends, BUT I never take the pains to be the real me all the time. I am a cynic, I am skeptical about almost everything the government does or the politicians promise. I am a Hindu and I know I will marry a Hindu only – no matter she’s a wicked witch! I represent the ‘kuch nahi hoga’ generation and all I can do is write in my blog and expect that people like it and maybe click on a few ads so that I get some revenue too.

This is the real selfish me. This is the heart of billions of Indians.

Anna is doing something – at least trying to do. Maybe he is trying to hog the limelight before he dies and create a space in the history textbooks that will be read in the year 2051. But, he’s got that guts to create that space in the mindset of people which may tend the politicians to believe that the voters are not the same old fools. We will always be fools, but Anna created that doubt now which will make us intellectual fools – not just fools.

Lucknow has been a great place for my taste-buds. I love to have those Kabab platters and in recent times admitted it that when someone says Kakori, before Bhagat Singh and his heroics, Kakori Kababs come into my mind. It’s a place that a friend of mine explained as the meeting point of Muslims and Hindus. BUT, in this one year, all I can see here is that although intermixed, there’s a little bit of communal feeling in everyone’s mind here. That’s quite natural as both the religions are seen as two sides of a coin given the beliefs and sentiments are concerned. BUT, in between lies a few LEADERS who dilute the religion and bring in the COMMUNALISM. For vote bank, personal benefits or just for fun and gossip, these take a tailspin and ignite a misunderstanding that’s far from the real ME.

I am confused. The situations don’t excite me. I try to write sense, but I know that I got admission in that journalism college because I paid bribe for an education loan. I talk about changing people but fail to change the person who directly asks me ‘how are you finding in India?’ I now know there’s a difference in being politically correct, skeptical and cynicism. There’s a difference between the saying ‘Hindu-Muslims are brothers’ and accepting that not all terrorists are Muslims – Just like not all Pakistanis are terrorists. I now realize that more than an Indian, I am a professional who wants his salary account packed up first. BUT, I work for change… at least I dream of change!

PS: The writer has the tendency to use inappropriate words to make things look odd. Inconvenience caused is regretted!

It suggests the growth of the media; the interest generated by fake news. But, satire doesn’t mean it has to be fake. Its not just about reporting any shits cooked on lame facts. It is not actually saying “I love you”, even if you don’t. Satire is something like saying the beautiful three letter word in-front of your biggest enemy followed by a frosty nose stare. AND, that grin face should be very VISIBLE when you write the whole story. NOT that easy. Right?

It seems a Pakistani News Agency took the news-satire genre by heart and started mixing fake with real news confusing the Pakistani media all together. The Islamabad based news content providing agency, Online Agency, quoted WikiLeaks quoting a United States cable accusing Indian army of wrongdoings. The news was nothing but fake and as WikiLeaks is releasing too much of information, it is impossible to track down a message cable by an ordinary user. The news was carried by top four Newspapers of Pakistan as Page 1 lead! The Gurdian took to task and confirmed that no such cables were released by WikiLeaks.

In general, we can say WikiLeaks was misused by the Pakistani news agency to propagate hatred against India, but, but but, if we see the larger picture; one thing remains the same – What about making the online media more accountable?

The fake news websites that I mentioned above at least gives the disclaimer right at their Home page that they are fake, but what about the bundle of fake information floating on the internet? Social media is said to be more informal and human, but are they actually, given the number of fake profiles and online social media experts bumping up every next door?

The Times of India carried an article about First World War on Cyberspace, agreed. WikiLeaks is taking head-on with the diplomatic, politically correct fake world and the exposure puts immediate attention to the internet for information and ‘action’. Its so easy to hack into ones system and score off invaluable information.

I don’t think its necessary to mention how else the unethical hackers can hurt you! The need – again mentioning – is to make the internet more authentic. Watchdog, be it a WikiLeaks-inspired or US-inspired, is the need of the hour. Till then, keep guessing and enjoy headlines like Sarkozy files suit against ‘insulting’ Lux-Cozi ads!

People blame news reporters that their main motto is to shoot stories rather than news. The best effort is not put in the newsroom but in the editing desk so that the news can be spiced up! The same old formula (read new found IndiaTV inspired formula); arrange the news, get some bites – package ready! Enough, says all who wants journalism to take a few steps ahead in shaping up India-2020 dream.

But, we all fail to tame it! The discussion over chai doesn’t reach millions; although another million doing the same regularly. The television & print are the most monitored form of media – and the mess continues! So, what about cyber journalism?

Obama visited Afghanistan on Friday night (India time) and the news was taken by surprise as he was not slated to visit the terror-torn country. I got the information through Twitter as I ‘playing’ with tweets then. I tweeted “#Obama in Afghanistan; taken by surprise” and checked in Google, “Obama in Afghanistan?”. I was shocked to see the result! In the real-time news section, my tweet appeared!

!Its such easy to ‘spread’ news these days! The one thing that a search engine optimization expert suggest to note is the importance of headline. A headline is an advertisement to the story. Seems, the notion is taken to tough by the news websites.

The use of semi-fact headlines and unrelated thumbnails makes for the best advertisement of the news piece and website visiotrs do fall prey to such inquisitive tactics. But, is it ethical?

Indian news websites, be it of any ‘big’ media group, lacks hugely in reporting entertainment, fashion, health and sex related stories. The prime aim in these sections is to gather hits – the content? Rather uninformative and not matching with the headline for sure!

Maybe this is the reason that the country has seen some news satire websites coming up in recent times. They are generating good traffic. They are fake and they admit that! Faking News, News that Matters Not and The Scoop Times are a few from this genre.

The state of cyber security in India is very weak. We may boost of being a software giant or a nation of intellectual youths, but out cyber security is at mess. So there goes our cyber journalism. Its needed now that the Government come up with tough cyber laws, that can stop crimes. Its time now that before cyber world goes beyond control, lets have some set of rules…. till then enjoy all your Facebook & Orkut accounts in the name of Sita… Geeta…. Bobita….

In short, you are lonely despite having a blog, despite a 400 odd friend list in facebook and 1000 followers in twitter! In between all that, you drop multi zero cheques as your mobile bill and a mini-trip back home. But, that doesn’t help either! It only prolongs your loneliness!

News reports find that there is an upsurge in suicides during Christmas-New Year as loneliness turns into depression for those without friends or family to share the festive season with.  It isn’t all about killing yourself out of frustration and not just a rage of split second. It’s a situation that curves in for months and maybe years. The social media doesn’t let you to socialize in reality and the “hip-hop” way of playing with literature (oh! It’s just English not literature at all) and commenting at your friends’ wall proves to be fatal.

If we look into suicide cases and the facebook account maintained by them, it can be seen that the victim mostly tries to voice out their loneliness, but – that’s an important but – they fail to get serious attention as the ‘friends’ in search of some ‘hip-hop’ lines make fun of the incident with loads of smileys being the common ones!

In short, the social media lets you feel disgusted and does the most anti-social act for you, and your ‘social friends’ let you down ultimately.

Some time back, feeling lonely was associated with retired people who miss their hey-days and feels the absence of friends. But now, the virtual world and the necessity to move places in search of work has led the younger generation gripped into loneliness. The emerging numbers of video games, personal gadgets make things worse. The absence of interaction with family members and personalized talks with the office chaps is a major cause of depression and sense of isolation. “Who moved those files? Can you re-do that work?” can definitely include the question, “Why are you upset today, you fine?” – It rather should.

When I was in Class IV, I got to read Robinson Crusoe. I loved the way he lived, all alone in an island and even wished myself to be likewise! That feeling sucks now!

A nice observation by the Times of India Crest, and the sentence says, “Had video games not been invented, who knows, a growing bunch of addicts may not have deserted Planet Earth, a Chinese man wouldn’t have fatally collapsed during a weeklong spree and a Korean couple wouldn’t have nurtured a virtual child while starving to death their real baby….” That’s a modern virtual life!

Till someone realize, it’s yet again; Lonely November despite 400 Facebook friends!

Last one month has been a very eventful one. Lady Gaga was seen in a dress made of meat, someone imposed himself as the biological father of Michel Jackson’s son and… and Iran president Ahmedinajad called Obama a “terrorist” and even has set up a committee to prove that September 11, 2001 attacks were “sponsored” by the US only!

In the Indian frontier, the media got so much of page 1 “meat” (paneer is you are a veggie) that the editors really had to think, “What should be the appropriate headline today. Last day’s one matches better!”

Scrolling back, I celebrated my birthday on 14^th of September with the headline focusing on the Delhi Games. Bashing, dhobi-wash, punching, kicking… rather “alphabetically murdering” Suresh Kalmadi for the mess! The negative cloud and with that the satire bubble came in to haunt the Games. The government washed hands with new committees only to find that the Games Village, that was promised to be the best in the history of the Games, really looked like a Chappra* district village.

Mess continued and with the broken flyovers and footbridges; hopes, emotions and promises and the self pride took a beating. Some uncles and aunties changed their quotas from cattle class to business class and the Swiss bank manager’s phone call came in, “Sir, please update your pass-book. We are sorry to say that you should come in person to get a new pass-book. We require 5 more books to completely print your transaction. You are doing huge! Thank you for banking with us!”

Media got more fodder as the beds found broken and the infamous sting operation – the foreign media too knows how to do a sting operation in India! Local bodies came up – to support the Games. Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere became the battleground.

Come October 3rd, all the myths got cleared; not just because the opening ceremony was a spectacular show; but because the Delhities and the people of India in general showed the ultimate class. We might travel cattle class, but we are more human than most human – yes we are.

Pakistan got the loudest of the cheer, just after Indian contingent and that calls for a “Thank You India”… No anchor, no announcer had to plead, ‘please get up it’s the national anthem playing’. None had to say that, so, “Thank You India” for all the love that you have shown. Even people stood up when Kenyan Anthem was played twice during the prize distribution of marathon on the final day.

A website/blog that I have been reading for some time now, The Scoop Times, it pleaded people before the Games not to indulge in criminal activities and target the foreigners as sex ‘materials’. I must say, “Thank You India” as none such incident were reported.

P.Chidambaram a year back asked the Delhities to be better behaved. Seems it worked. Delhi is warm – not just the temperature (it’s hot actually) and the lovely ladies (hotter!) but the emotions as well. Delhi Games were organized as a perfect Indian wedding – hotchpotch till the end! But the warmth shown by Delhi will definitely be missed in Glasgow or even further. Delhi did it in style, India did it in style. The “kuch nahi hoga iss desh ka” types common man and “ho jayega dheere dheere” politicians were proved wrong – no not by Suresh Kalmadi and nor by Sheila Dikshit and nor even by Rahul Gandhi, Manmohan Singh or Sonia Gandhi or Laloo Prashad! It’s the optimist medal winners, it’s the sportspersons and it’s the Indian faith that did the wonders. It’s time to bask at the glory… Thank You the Indian Attitude, you won! Thank You the Indian love, emotions, drama and the warmth!

* Chaapprra district comment was uncalled for, but it’s the Indian mentality (Nitish Kumar has promised to change that) that we tend to compare every bad with Bihar and Chappra in particular! I hope it doesn’t hurt anyone’s sentiments and rather he/she should work on to make his place synonymous to peace and prosperity.

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 15; the fifteenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

The waiting game continues… I don’t know from where, but the clouds just got darker. The old British aged station was calling me for decades, I was not been able to get back.

“I..  I am Neha Rai from Madhya Pradesh, ” that way, I stammered past some of the seniors’ anxiety to “know” me. Its 3rd August 1999, I landed up at this place – a hostel at the Alston colony in Durgapur. To that, one senior, who later introduced himself as Jay sir, said, “MP is not a small place, better name the particular place from where you are. I belong to Namsai, Arunachal Pradesh. I say so because at least the other person will realize that theres a place called Namsai in Arunachal Pradesh!” “Agreed sir, I belong to Goharganj in MP.”

That way Neha Rai learned the first lesson at NSHM. The next three years were too great to be clubbed into a piece of paper or even a long article for me. I am no any Chetan Bhagat or Tushar Raheja that I write a book on my stay at NSHM. But in just one word, I describe the endless saga as ‘awesome’ that left a deep impression in my hearts of heart. Same happens to everyone, the below comments (that you will make) will prove me right 110%.

Let me be back to this day, 11 years down the line and 8 years after leaving NSHM and Durgapur in general, I am back! With a smile and a pinch of insecureness – I don’t want my place to change a bit! “Mamesaheeb, Bag ta dhoro. Train’er somoy hoe gacchi (Ma’m hold the bag, the train is about to leave),” the old coolie said. Maybe he remains the same – Enough Neha! I don’t know him!

The charm at the station is there; its in me and reflecting everywhere. BUT, in a matter of time, it died down. Durgapur don’t know NEHA RAI by a bit even! Once I was all over the place.. the giggles could be heard everywhere.. the rickshaw puller looked familiar… NOW, don’t know…

Anyway, lets get back to a hotel, pump up and meet the old ‘friends’. A few hours after, after I went to see the Bank Colony pani puri-wala, the Evelyn restaurant, the 89 cinemas, the hostel warden, the college faculty and the secenic Durgapur, I am back at my hotel room, shell shocked and a glump that ceases to die down.

Eight years into professional life and every year just one single thought, I should get back once to the old place where I enjoyed life the most, AND this experience – sitting inside a hotel room, with almost nothing to do. Typing on the laptop, reading the same newspaper that has a edition there at Delhi too (I work in Delhi). And PLANNING what presentation I will have to give after I get back to work.

The moment I realized, Life is just one big illusion, and the best you can do is to preserve the shades in Sepia tone… in greyscale or whatever. And one more, without friends & family even your own house doesn’t becomes your home! The professional official life sucking me in, I want to come out… I came… but, without friends, its just the same…

Life, one big illusion….

Thanks to JD for lending me some space here in his blog so that my heart spells out to you all.

Anu is fun loving, bubbly, cute looking, and everyone’s darling. I am my favorite, like Geet, and I am best tempted with eatables (whatever the refrigerator has in store), teddy bears and life!

No, the snows don’t only fascinate me, the cool breeze and my family too. I am weird na? Yes I am! I take life as a one-step-to-freedom, a feeling that at every moment, there’s something which can curve my life into a beautiful fairy-tale! Oops! Did I really say that! But that doesn’t mean I am living in a virtual world – a painted ship upon a painted ocean types!

I take life by my instincts and open up to being sensitive. Yes, the packet can’t determine what’s inside always. Even pizzas and phenols are packed in cartoons made of same pulp!

Most of the times I don’t preach, but take it from me, Life gonna be supercool if instincts are followed… When I choose Linc Smart over Parker Pen to write in my 6^th class test this year, I knew I will pass… I did! (I don’t have any other example). I follow my instincts that guide me to the destination… and it will always be, no matter what the outer world visualizes me to be…

I am what I am… mein apni favorite hun…! (giggle giggle.. wink.. wink…)

Thanks JD…

What does this mean? Well, for starters,

-       Mail, Contacts and Tasks have now been moved to the top left of Gmail.

-       Compose Mail is now a button instead of a tatty link.

-       Keyboard shortcuts now work in Contacts too

-       Selecting and grouping contacts is much easier

-       You can now Sort contacts by last name. (Look under More actions for this option)

-       Use custom labels for phone numbers and other fields

-       Manual and bulk contact merge. You can now merge contacts from the More actions menu. Just select the contacts you’d like to merge and select Merge contacts from under the More actions menu. Or, to get a list of suggestions for contacts to merge, select Find and merge duplicates.

These are a few of the things that I really liked about the recent changes and about time I d say. This is nothing revolutionary though, just an evolution of the product to better suit the users needs. So, before all the Google smurfs and fanboys start the ‘I Like’ campaign on FaceBook, Twitter or the dead people’s network, Orkut, yeah, let us know what you think about the new look Gmail.

Although, the system need to absorb it in a better way so that the “valuables” stored in the numerous e-mails accounts doesn’t went to a black hole! The server is shown to be unstable for the moment as it is reported that users are unable to access attachments.

Delhi to Lucknow takes 12 hours by bus; thanks to the sexy Volvo that ply between the cities. Also, Guwahati to Tinsukia takes the same 12 hours; thanks to Assam State Transport Corporation run B7R VOLVO (how they charge Rs 390 for 550Kms, I don’t know – quite cheap) , here too! Down south, Chennai to Banglore takes nearly 8 hours!

Now imagine, a similar distance, but the terrains are ‘a’ bit different. Even the “police” on the way are in a different set of mindset! “Does they exist actually,” asked a fellow passenger. News from this part of the world only gets Page 1 coverage, as anything that doesn’t find that space, misses the whole paper, thereby the news sense!

Welcome to Manipur – a state, like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and others in India (should I write “of India”?) Manipur gets a special mention here at Life’sPurple because Life there is not that Purple these days; rather months. When rice is sold at Rs 150 a Kg and petrol nowhere to be seen, the royal life definitely takes a beating. It’s not that these stuff are of no use there – it’s the result of the “economic blockage”, a mere term for many.

The Times of India reads, “United Naga Council began its 20-day economic blockade on national highways 39 and 53 in restive Manipur from Wednesday (4^th August, 2010), compounding the woes of the people, who recently faced shortage of essential commodities owing to a similar stir. Supported by UNC, which is spearheading the Naga integration campaign, the All Naga Students’ Association, Manipur (Ansam), had imposed a 68-day economic blockade on the two highways that ended on June 18. Ansam demanded nullification of the Autonomous District Council (ADC) Amendment Act 2008, saying it deprives the tribals of their rights.”

Can this be possible in a sovereign country like India? Can a similar situation be faced by a state like Bihar or Karnataka? I agree Manipur is landlocked and there remain differences everywhere – in principle and in politics; but why the natives, the locals and the people serving the society had to suffer? Is is not the insensitivity of the Indian government that such contrasting relations can be seen even between two neighbor states of the country – which at some point of time were one? The divide can be seen everywhere – Bihar Vs Gujarat, Bihar Vs Maharashtra, Assam Vs Bihar, Karnataka Vs Tamil Nadu and vice-versa in every aspect.

Is the caste-based politics a reason for that? And what about reservations? To make matter worse, the General Census 2011 (the largest non-sample based survey in the world) will be counting heads according to caste as well! I don’t know ‘what’ caste I belong to; does it mean I should write “outcaste”?

God save the country…

Image courtesy: manipur.org