Yo hai Jila GajiyaBaad!!!

The Place is really as rustic as it sounds by the title of this post, and the irony is that we tend to picture it as this new up and coming hip city because of the other, very suave title it is associated with - National Capital Region(NCR).

Yes Ghaziabad is indeed very close to Delhi, and gets special attention from all corners because of that. The Industrialists come here to setup factories, builders build large colonies, with lines and lines of residential towers that are inhabited by the salaried middle class, that works for the industrialists or large corporations, and barely scrapes through after paying the high rents of these apartments. The same builders build posh malls and multiplexes that are crowded by the same middle class at the same exorbitant prices. And the common man contents himself by repeatedly telling himself that he is living in NCR, and the cost of living is ought to be this high when you live in a place of such importance. But, is it really?? And if it is, do the authorities do enough to justify the feeling.

Why does an 18 year old girl suffer after taking an auto at 8 pm in the evening, no she is not taking an auto from some secluded part of the city with no one around, she is taking from the gates of the poshest mall in the city with at least 500 people around her if not more. And this is not the middle of the night, all the shops are still open, people are hustling and bustling from here to there. She has taken a sharing auto yes, but what is wrong in that? was that her only mistake that night? it seems it was. Because she didn't know that it was a stolen auto and the 3 or 4 guys sitting in it were the thieves themselves along with the driver.
She was taken to the fields of the nearby village and gang-raped and left there crying for help, 3 or 4 hours before she could get any. I don't claim to present the exact facts here, I am no journalist covering this story, all this I have known from the news and local rumor mills. And its horrifying. For a common man living here, returning from work every evening, you look back at every corner you turned, you drive fast so you can get home early, you keep in touch with your loved ones so they know you are safe, the moment you reach home you call them and tell them everything is fine and you have reached the safe confines of your house.

Commuting after sunset has become a daily battle in our lives, and its not just because of this one gang-rape incident, its also because of the numerous other ones, like when they rob you of your 30k phone by just showing a knife, or they snatch a women's chain and drag her behind their bike just because she won't let go, when she does, she is left crying on the road with  a bloodied neck, or when they show you a gun, take your atm card, ask you the pin, one of them goes to the atm and gets the money and the other one stays with you, only when he has got the money and has come back does he let you go. There are numerous such stories that go unreported and the rest of the world doesn't even know about them, but we do get to know, because the victim is always someone related to some friend of a friend who is telling you the story. And we always get the feeling, are we next???

All this tells me that the Ghaziabad of NCR is still living in the shadows of Ghaziabad of UP, where lawlessness and crime is the order of the day, I am not saying that Delhi is a very safe place, but Ghaziabad is a little less. Maybe because of its close proximity to a major crime center of UP- Meerut. Or maybe because amidst all the glitter and pomp, the malls and the towers, the majority of the city's original inhabitants are still impoverished and live in slums, or temporary homes made out of the construction sites for Software technology parks, how ironic is that.

Well, the same city also inhabits the super rich, the wealthy farm-lords, who never pay taxes, because essentially they are farmers, but the inherited wealth is so much that you see BMWs and Audis parked in the muddy gullies of the suburban villages of the city.

Doesn't it paint a scary picture of the city, the super-rich in prosperity, the struggling middle class, and the frustrated lower class that's quickly turning towards crime. And a government that doesn't give a damn,(yes I have not said anything about the authorities here because I didn't want to make this sound like another government-bashing post, but really, they don't give a damn)
A perfect recipe for doom. Have we seen this picture somewhere before? wait a minute, this is the story of India, isn't it?

This doom can be prevented only if the authorities become proactive and take some hard steps, will they? or will they not?? I don't know. Maybe the Delhi Govt. should also take up some responsibility, this is NCR after all, we don't know if anything will ever happen, all we can do is hope, so here's hoping that Ghaziabad doesn't always remain Delhi's underprivileged half-brother, instead, gets some of his own share of the pie.

No Tomorrow

(the year 2012)

As everyone waited for the specified time, I was swiftly going through the news channels, they all said the same thing, our worst fears had come true, and as the clock ticked over to 5 pm IST, I turned to my favorite and most trusted news channel

 

There on the screen I, along with my whole family could see the president of the USA, BARAK OBAMA, the most powerful man on earth, deliver the most depressing speech of his life, of my life, of everyone else’s lives, the most depressing monologue ever said by any leader of any country, state or tribe, in the history of the earth.

 

He confirmed what many of us believed would never happen, and what many of us used to scare their contemporaries with. But this was no threat message, nor a warning, it was an admission, a submission to the mysteries of nature and how un-unravel able they actually are, it showed how even the most powerful species on earth could be humbled by mother nature.

 

He concluded his 10-minute succinct speech with the following lines “I know the situation is graver than ever before and even with all our scientific research and technological advancement we are left helpless, I know our current predicament is as bad as it can get and there is no way of coming out of it, I know the meteor that’s approaching us can take away everything that we have on this mother earth, including our precious lives, but one thing that it cannot take away is our right to remain happy, to enjoy our last bits of life, to forget all the differences that exist between us, be it caste, creed, religion, state or country and love each other, lets not spend the last few hours of our lives in hatred or remorse, or worse still, in agony of what we couldn’t achieve and what we could have achieved, lets eat drink and make merry, lets spread love and happiness all around, lets live today, because there’s no tomorrow, say with me for one last time YES,WE CAN”

 

As he ended his speech the channel started a report on how the NASA had found out about the danger and what all steps they had taken to avoid the fatal meteor but failed, and what all the other space agencies around the world had tried, all in vain. Doomsday had finally arrived.

As the report ended it was 6 in the evening and the channel had started showing scenes of places from around the world, how people were reacting to the situation, their comments, their final wishes and what they were doing to fulfill them

I was too depressed and stressed out because of all this; I decided to take a walk around in the neighborhood.

As I went out on the street I could see other people coming out as well, I could see people going out for long drives, people going to their favorite eating joints, some praying for mercy, some for heaven after death. As I moved in my favorite restaurant, it was overcrowded, the music was on and people were singing and dancing on the dance floor.

Some were writing, some reading, others watching movies, most spending the left over time with their loved ones, with their children, their parents grand parents, husbands, wives, friends, girlfriends, boyfriends, some were trying to meet their favorite actors and actresses, others ending rifts between old friends and getting back together with them

 Stage shows were scheduled around the world for artists to perform before the public for one last time, everyone seemed so purposeful and full of life, so enjoyable and ambitious, so loveable and so happy, and yet so sad deep down within

 

Watching all this I thought, this day should perhaps go down in history as one of the happiest days on earth, but then I thought, what a pity we had lived the other days of our lives so meaninglessly and without peace and harmony. How we had spoilt our own lives through wars and battles, fights and quarrels, envy and hatred. It almost seemed fitting that nature should take matter in its own hands and end all our lives together, because it couldn’t have meant our lives to be such when our race had started.

I wondered what a pity we could never live like this all through our lives, what a pity our lives were so lifeless after all, if only we had always lived as if there was NO TOMORROW

A SUICIDE NOTE(with a difference!!!!!!!!)

the first murder i committed was the girl i loved....yes,its true,i killed Ruchi,its been almost a year now,it was her birthday,we had known each other for over a year and i had fallen for her in the course of time....i didnt know her side of the story but she did admire me a lot.On her birthday,she took me to a beautiful dam in our city,she said i was the closest friend she ever had,i saw positive signs,i thought this was the right time to say it,then......i proposed,i said i loved her,but in reply she said she had thought of me always as a friend and that she loved someone else and had already found the true love of her life.......a cold rage took over me,i couldnt control myself,i felt betrayed,cheated upon,i was angry,i slowly moved closer to her,in rage i hit her,then i held her dupatta around her neck,i strangled her to death,she was choking in front of my eyes,and i was smiling,in a few minutes as i cooled down,i realized the gravity of my mistake,i sw the time,it was 12:03 0n my watch,lunch break had just started in college,i quickly got on my bike and left the spot unnoticed,i took the dupatta with me,i starightway went to my hostel mess and started eating,i thanked god that no one had seen me or known that i was with her the last,or else i could have got caught,i was safe,i should have felt the guilt atleast,but i didnt feel any remorse on killing her,i felt she got what she deserved.

A few months later one of my friends told me he was in love,and the girl had also fallen for him....rajesh told me this after we had celebrated his birthday in his hostel room at midnight.I went to my room after the celebration,i didnt sleep the whole night,i was again feeling the same rage towards my friend that i had felt towards ruchi,the similarities were too annoying to me,both had found true love,both shared there truest feelings with me.I have been a bit of a maths freak all my life,so i also figured out the similarity that both used spectacles of power 0.5...i felt he had to meet the same fate,so ragefully i got up from my bed and went to his room,the time must have been around 4.30 in the morning,no one was there in the corridor,everything was quite,i entered his room through the already open door,he woke up when i closed the door behind me,he asked me the reason to come to his room this late at night,i confessed my previous murder to him,i showed him the dupatta,then i put it around his neck and choked him to death after a brief struggle.He was strong,but no match for me.i looked at my watch,it said 4:56,I quickly went to my room and straight to my bed,making sure no one saw me,leaving no traces behind.This time again,instead of guilt,i felt a sense of accomplishment,i felt proud o f myself.i thought logically both the people i had killed were deerving what they got,and both served no purpose to the earth in their lives,so better dead.

after killing my freind and escaping succesfully i started looking for more victims,it felt as if this was the soul purpose of my existence,6 months later i found my next target.My maths teacher in college told me that he was very fond of me,and my love for maths reminded him of his own days.college gossip told me that his was a love marriage and a very happy one at that....he was slowly fulfilling the criterion to be my next victim.one day after class,we were having a chat,just out of he blue i asked him the power of his reading glasses,he said it was 0.5,but asked me why?i didnt give him the real reason,then i asked him his birthday,he said it was just round the corner,it was the coming sunday and invited me to his place...

that sunday i went to his house first thing in the morning at around 6:30,he was startled at seeing me that early,but still invited me inside,he told me he was alone because his wife was out of staion for a few days,i quickly grasped my oppurunity,put the dupatta around his neck and strangled him after a bit of struggle...within a few minutes i could see raghu sir lying on his couch upside down,helplessly dead.another one of my accomplishments,another good for nothing person dead.i looked at my watch,it was 7:08,exactly the time i had wanted.i left his house immediately and went to my hostel unnoticed once agian,i was starting to like this......infact i was loving it.......

soon my search for my next victim started,and i found her in my own house.Rajeshwari ahuja was my mother.a single mother at that,she always told me stories of my wonderful father and how much he loved her and me,who died in an accident when i was very young.It was the last day of my semester break,it was her birthday,the power of her glasses was 0.5,she loved me,but i was under rage,she fulfilled all the conditions,she had got true love,her case was too similar to ruchi's,i had to kill her.so in the morning of her birthday,i went into her room with the dupatta,told her everything and did my job,it was only logical that i kill her,i made sure the time to be exact 9:00..then i reached the station,took my train and came back to my college,starting off a new semester.

In the days that followed,i constantly thought about my next target,but couldnt find one...until one day my head started aching while doing my maths sums,i went to an eye specialist the next day,he told me i would need spectacles,power 0.5...i said,now i didnt need them,my birthday was coming up in a few days,i pondered over the possibilty for a long time....

this was perhaps a fitting end,i too had after all found love from all around me,although i killed those people,my eyes were also with the same power now,i too,after all,was good for nothing on this earth,and logic had left me just one moment in time to do my job,it had to be 0:00,yes,zero,where it all begins,and logically where it all should end....

all my murders were commited at a times with progression(12.03,4.56,7.08,9.00),and so,its 5 minutes to midnight(0.00)tommorow is my birthday,with the same dupatta around my neck,i hereby confess to all the above mentioned murders,and also my own murder,its not a suicide,its a logical murder,a progression,a fitting end to my life...

signing off

RAJ(yes,my name too begins with an 'r' like all the others')

GUJJARS-A SOCIAL ISSUE

RESERVATION-as many young and progressing individuals in our country would term it as THE MAIN problem in our country today,talk to them about the gujjar agitation and they get pissed off about the issue,saying that such politics is ruining our nation today........hmmmm........i tend to disagree on some points...........
lets see,when our country got independence 60 years ago the meena community got the ST status,the gujjars who were less in number but equally backward got the OBC status(i dont knw why!!!!!) you see, the benefits enjoyed by the STs in out country are different than those by the OBCs,so in the last 60 years the meenas,in a way,prospered due to reservation and today we see meenas working in so many government offices right across the country..............not the gujjars,but the gujjars were contented with what they had,not satisfied,but contented and were always asking for the ST status.........

now,in the last general elections in rajasthan,the BJP promissed the gujjars a ST status if they cam in power,which they did.so now they wanted what had been promissed to them,by hook or by crook,they had seen the progress the meenas had done thru the same reservation and now they wanted it as well..........and so the agitation..........

now,in the last 6o years this small community of rajasthan has given our country only soldiers and dacoits(yes DAKUS of chambal),they consider both the professions very dignified,and regard such people with great respect............but in todays age of globalisation and progression in the country,they feel a bit left behind,today they also want to be doctors,engineers,IASs,IPSs.......they want to be a part of the change that india is going through today,they dream of watching their children grow up with a better life than what they have lived till now,do they dream wrong???????

i refuse to believe that this is a political issue in any way,i think its a social issue that has been politicised.i feel,this community has got the RIGHT to be called a SCHEDULED TRIBE,you can take away the benefits of a community if it doesnt deserve it,but you cannot take away its rights.

maybe my friends would still disagree with me,yes reservation is an evil in our society,but in some cases,while in other cases it can be boon for some needy people........
the government needs to look into te matter from a social front and not from the political front(i wonder they've got the guts to do it)

RAFT MERI JAAN

it was 24th may 2008,the car had taken us from our guest house(dharamshala rather)to a place called SHIVPURI,from where our adventure was to begin.as we reached there a large rubber raft was shown to us.we were going to row that thing for a lenght of 18kms in the chilling waters of the ganges.add to that,our giude made us sign an agreement that complete rsponsibilty of our lives rested upon us,and if anything happens to us during the adventure,the authoriteis would hold no responsiblity,it felt like i was signing my suicide note.

after a 10 point lecture by our guide,we mounted our raft,there were 10 people in all,1 guide and 9 tourists,apart from 5 of us there were 2 couples from delhi.the guide had chosen me and a delhi guy to sit in the front-row(i dont know why)rest sat in subsequent rows of 2,with the guide in the centre at the back.we had paddles(chappu)in our hands,to row the raft.and we were supposed to do so at te guides instructions.

in a rivers course in the mountains there come areas where due to the rocks and banks,the flow of water gets very violent and turbulent(and dangerous),these areas are called RIFTS.and in rafting the rifts are the most fun thing(and dangerous again).the guide had warned us to be extra cautious during the rifts,and specially me being the first one to face them.

during the first rift,just as things had got more turbulent and i had started enjoying,i suddenly heard all my companions shouting,and before i colud realiose what they were saying i saw a girl in the water just next to me,i thought i had seen this girl somewher,shit,she was the one from my own raft and had fallen in the water,just next to me.instintively i held her from the collar of her life jacket pulled her up,just as we had been told to do,but it was not as easy as it seemed,it took me atleast 3 tries to pull her back to safety(maybe she was a bit heavy),so as the rift passed she was told to be extra-cautious from next time and hold tight,(in between all this i had a lot of fun during the rift) .a few more rifts passed,some dangerous,some easy,exactly in the middle of the journey we reached a place called CLIFF JUMP by the locals,as the name suggests there was a cliff about 20-25 feet high and we could see people jumping into the waters as if they were jumping in there swimming pools.(and i wanted to do it)

so.......as i reached the top of the cliff in a line of many(pandey and ashay had already dived).for 2 seconds i shut my mind and hauled myself in mid air.....................

there are some feelings in life which cannot be expressed merely in words,this was one of them.

we all have studied WEIGHTLESSNESS in std. 9 physics,but i bet very few have actually felt it. it felt as if

all my 8o kilos had vaniished somehow,for 2 seconds i cudnt feel any pull on my body,and then i hit the chilling waters of the ganges,it was fun,really the feeling was awesome!!!!!!!!!!

some more rifts,a few dives in the water,swimming in the ganges,wow,it was cool,truly this was an expereince of a lifetime,a must do for eveyone in college,kya pata kal ho na ho????

the train mishap

it was 23rd may 08,my sem. had just got over,we had planned to go for a 2 day vacation to rishikesh,the tickets were booked,though not confirmed.myself,nagu and pandey were supposed to tkae the train from bhopal at 10 in the mrng.,ashay and gangwal were SUPPOSED to join us on the same train at 3.30,and pranav was SUPPOSED to take the same train from agra at 5.30,everything was planned very nicely,just the one hitch-wait listed tickets,but we were ready for it.
when i reached the station wid my 2 frnds at 9.30,the train was late,it finally left the station at 11 o clock.it was really hot and humid,v had sumhow managed to get seats to sit atleast till night time.
the trn was going to reach gwl at 4.30,i was to inform ashay when the trn passes dabra,as it is at 15 min distance from gwl,i did that,10 mins later ashay called me back and asked me my coach,i said s6,he said he is in s5 and cannot come to s6 as the way is blocked,i cudnt comprehend what he was saying as the trn hadnt reached gwl yet,then hw cud he be on the trn,tht too in the next bogie.
it took 2 mins of useless and baseless debate for us to realize that he had boarded the wrong train,sum train ahead of our train.then i called gangwal,as ashay had said tht he too was on tht train,but in sum other bogie,gangwal said,he did board the wrong trn,and also told ashay to do the same on the fone,by pulling the chain,but realized his mistake and jumped off it just as it was going to leave the platform.so as it turned out,ashay alone was on the wrong train,and i had his ticket,gangwal joined us in the correct train,as we finally, ACTUALLY, reached gwl.
now we talked to the TC in our train and explained him the situation,he said ashay could get on the correct train at agra stn, as both trns haulted there,and we had a sigh of relief,agra was 2 hrs away,it was our only ray of hope
wht followed was a number of SMSs and fone calls between us and ashay,and ashays parents and us,and ashays parents and ashay.........................
and thru these fone calls we realized tht our train had overtaken ashays train at a small station,we were in fear o f losing him completely for the trip.........
we were all at a loss,we cudnt digest what was happening,how were we going to get him on the trn..........we were still discussing the options we had when the trn reached agra(in between:pranav was down wid fever,so had dropped the idea of the tour,he was to meet us at agra stn,)
ashays trn was still behind ours,and we didnt knw how long it wud take to reach agra,and how long our train wud hault at the stn.,we had decided to pull the chain of our trn as soon as it moved,to get sum tym.........
and as luck wud have it,as soon as our train moved,ashays trn arrived right at the opposite platform,nagu and gangwal were ther to recieve him,me and pandey enterd our train and as soon as it moved,and i pulled the chain,we got down from the other bogie,pranav was there to meet us,and i finally saw ashay-jumping from the opposite trn,running wid nagu to our train and eventually boarding it................
we then spread a bed sheet near the basin of the bogie,and sat on the floor,played cards there,planned our trip,ate together,and celebrated,as finally we were together............
IT WAS FUN......i know what happened was not desirable or planned,and i wont advise anyone reading this to get into such a situation,but we had a lot of fun that day,in between all the misery,and finally i wud just say-ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.

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