Snehreal’s Weblog

Ever wondered how songs express emotions that you wish to convey but are unable to? I have. With me there are times when I feel that no matter what I say the emotion will not be expressed as deeply. There will be no right way to put the state of the mind and that is when I turn to music. Some songs just fit the situation and make me feel…aah! This is what I wanted to say.

The last time this happened to was the morning after the Jaipur blasts. How do you feel for those lost in a heinous act of terrorism and grieve for their families? Is there a right way to just say I am with you? I don’t know. I can’t explain but this song from Rang de Basanti does just that.

Luka Chuppi bahut huyi saamne aa ja naa
Kahan kahan dhoondha tujhe
thak gayi hai ab teri maa

I am confused. I don’t understand why environmental laws exist in India. No one cares about complying with them and every politician bends them to suit their individual needs.

Take for instance the second airport issue. The government finally decided to build the much-awaited second international airport in Panvel, just outside the city. But the area is covered with mangroves and any construction was forbidden. So what does the state government do? It just changes the law and construction is possible. Problem solved. End of discussion.

Why do we take the environment so lightly? Do we actually believe that we can abuse it all we want and nature will let us get away? Global warming is a natural phenomenon but what is alarming is its speed. The end result will be a regular occurrence of storms, droughts, famines and floods. India cannot escape it.

Neither can Mumbai. Let us not forget that we are a coastal city. If the ocean turns against us we will have nowhere to hide. Rising temperatures will increase sea levels and in a few years it may be virtually impossible inhabit Mumbai. Can we take such a chance?

A lot of countries including India are under the misconception that when the time comes they will deal with the environment. My advise to them is…please do watch the movie ‘The Day After Tomorrow.’ In the end there will be nothing left to be done except sit on the sidelines and watch millions meet their end in water and/or food wars. The time to act is now or the future will be lost.

Let us not forget that we are just custodians to the planet we inherited from our forefathers. The earth belongs to our future generations and we must do all we can to ensure that they inherit a better future than we did.

Just read one of the saddest comments. I am too disgusted to even think straight. Berry, the Rajasthan Royals team manager has given the following quote in Macquarie National News, “Cricket has been good to me, but I have a wife and three kids back in Melbourne and they are less than impressed with the part of the world I am in.”

This is in regards to the Jaipur blasts. It seems that Warne, Watson and Smith are all considering leaving India and the IPL as their families are worried about the safety situation in the country. While it is perfectly acceptable to be concerned for your own life, why do you need to say ‘they are less than impressed with the part of the world I am in.’ It’s derogatory not only to the country but also to those affected by the blasts. Come on, who are you kidding? You are given world-class security, the central government has promised better security for the matches and have your own personal security guards. How can you complain?

It’s an insult to the city that has just felt the full impact of terrorism for the first time. Also, according to Berry, the entire country is in a lockdown mode. Does he think he is in Iraq? Or is he living in this fantasy world in which Australia will forever escape terrorism? Australia may have never experienced a terror attack on their soil but a lot of Australians have lost their lives in the terror attacks in Bali.

So all I want to say is if you want to leave just leave. But there are other people in this country who have just lost their loved ones. Show some respect to their sentiments and next year please do not come back. Stay in the safety cocoon of your country. The people of Jaipur and the IPL can both do without you. And Mr. Lalit Modi, do wish them a bon voyage home on my behalf.

I am reading Black Friday. It’s a book that talks about the ’93 blasts and the riots that preceded it. Mumbai has since not reached inflammable levels. The formation of the mohalla committees has served its purpose and both communities have eventually realized that it is in no one’s interest to kill. I am just sorry that this realisation has come at such a high price.

My friend, some days ago, was telling me that she didn’t understand why such a hue and cry is made about the ‘Spirit of Mumbai’. She is from Chennai and it escaped her understanding why only Mumbai is credited for its ability to move on. Every city does the same thing, she explained to me.

My response to it is that no other city in the country has any many scars from terror attacks as Mumbai. Terrorists have taken away each and every safety blanket that exists. They have targeted buses, trains, cabs, buildings, and offices, leaving nothing to the imagination. The only thing left untouched is they city’s character, resilience and ability to move on.

Another thing I explained was that no Mumbaikar boasts of the Mumbai Spirit. How can we? It makes us look like machines that have no emotions. That we don’t care about what happens around us. It’s just that life is tough here and even without these tragic events each day is a struggle for survival for most Mumbaikars. So when any untoward incident occurs, they help and then retreat into their own worlds to get on with their lives.

Also, we don’t like news channels harping about Mumbai’s spirit. They don’t know what they are talking about most of the times, sitting in their cozy offices in Delhi and should just let sensationalism be.

While on the topic, is it necessary to ask doctors and government officials the number of casualties as the first question? It is really insensitive and serves no purpose apart from creating more panic than necessary.

Bad news. Terrorists have struck the beautiful pink city of Jaipur, India. Latest reports put the number of dead at 80 while the injured are expected to be around 100.

I am not superstitious by nature but sometimes life is a sequence of coincidences that can’t be ignore. In retrospect, they seem like natural fallouts. Fate set in motion, just without our knowledge. For me, it all began with the Myanmar cyclone. The dark clouds had started building up.

Next, the earthquake strikes China. I remember sitting at Worli sea face and looking at the clouds gathering above me. I was thinking subconsciously…are we next? Trouble seemed to be heading closer and closer home. Then yesterday, at the library, I picked up Black Friday. It is a book that describes the ’93 Mumbai blasts. I had just begun reading the first chapter, which relayed the sequence of the blasts. With a sinking feeling in my heart, I read the stories of victims when my mother called out… “There have been serial bomb blasts in Jaipur.” 

We never come out of this time warp. Terror strikes when we least expect it. Everyday is a struggle against fate and time. We live in the moment savouring each day of our existence. This was put into perspective by my dad. While I was hell-bent on watching the news to hear about the victims, he wanted to watch the IPL match. I asked how could he be so insensitive to another’s misery? His answer, life goes on.

While we grieve for the dead, we cannot stop our existence. When the blasts took place on the Mumbai locals, life came to a standstill for about an hour in Mumbai. There was panic in the air and tension all around. Then everyone pulled up their sleeves and set to work. Some by helping victims and coordinating rescues, others by simply heading home. This was best explained by the example set by the WR and CR officials. By late night, they had cleared the stations and had begun train services yet again.

In a few days, everything was back to normal. This morning, I get the same feeling of déjà vu. Life will go on for the people of Jaipur. Their toughest hour has passed and in the face of terror, they have shown the deepest courage… the courage to live on.

The day has started off rather depressingly. All the headlines are screaming about the China earthquake. Turns out there are atleast 20,000 people feared dead. I remember reading about this story yesterday morning. It was reported that there were no reported casualties yet so I figured that it was a minor event. Now, they fear 900 students are buried alive under their school building. God give their parents strength in these trying times.

The entire Asian continent is jinxed. First the Myanmar cyclone, now this earthquake. Feels like nature is hitting back with a vengeance. I wonder when people will realise that our time on this planet is limited and we live as custodians to the property we inherit as long as we live here. The earth doesn’t belong to us to abuse it as we want.

To top it all, most of these countries are refusing aid for the fear of foreigners entering their country. I fail to understand how you can refuse help when you need it the most. Why is it that rulers think only about themselves rather than the victims of tragedy? I remember something Bush said after the World Trade Centre collapse. When asked how many people had perished in the attack, he replied, “I don’t know the numbers but I do know know that they will be much more than we can bear.”

As much as I dislike American government policies, I have to admit they have their priorities in place when it comes to human life. One may argue about the lack of urgency after Katrina or 9/11, my reply better late than never as will be the case with the cyclone victims. Those who have survived the cyclone will perish due to lack of food, medicines, fresh water and treatment. Why? Just because their government doesn’t trust aid workers and aid workers don’t trust their government with the supplies.

The end result is that we will never know the full extent of the damage or the actual number of victims. Life will go on for us. For the survivors stuck in a time warp, the future is long story of struggle for survival. May God give them hope and courage on this arduous journey.

Yesterday was Mothers Day. No, I didn’t celebrate it. I used to earlier till my mom told me that she’d rather have my love and respect all 365 days of the year rather than on every second Sunday in May.

Anyway, I had spent the earlier day discussing with a friend the insecurities that must come with being parents these days. Earlier, the perils of bringing up a child were far and few in between. My grandmother, in fact, told me that she never even went to drop her children to their centers in their twelfth and graduation. But when I complained about how my mom still did it, she explained that she would have done the same thing had her kids been young today.

Why? Simply because the pressures of growing up are huge these days. Exams are the yardsticks of judging people and almost every child goes through a range of emotions during exams. Also, suicides on failing were unheard of then. So it’s better to be careful than sorry.

That got me thinking. Aren’t we too harsh on our parents? I mean the rules of parenting are evolving rapidly and our poor parents are forever racing to keep up. What don’t they have to deal with these days? Drugs, alcoholism, smoking, sex are just a small drop in the sea of worries. These they can deal with having grown up themselves facing such peer pressures.

But what about the internet stalking, chatting, online pedophiles? Or for that matter rave parties or just plain driving at 120 mph with friends? They are the ones who want us to succeed in life but they are unsure of how much to push us to get there. Suicides, depressions, addictions, heartbreaks, relationships, and multiple career choices…the list is endless. How do they keep up? Do they act like parents and discipline or do they become our friends and just listen? Is there a right answer?

I really don’t know how they manage it. They are on unchartered territories and maybe, just maybe are as scared as we are that they may end up screwing our lives with one wrong decision. I don’t know what’s the solution but if I grow up just about normal, my parents sure deserve a lot of credit for it. So hats off to parents around the world for doing such a difficult job…making us the people we are.

Ok this idea just struck me. Why don’t I keep a diary about my New Year resolutions? Before that as a brief history, I will tell you what my resolution was. This year I figured that I would do something different. So this is what I decided.

I would for one month give up an item/ commodity/luxury that I loved. Okay seems easy enough. The first task was to identify what was on my loved list. Well, I wanted to start off with something relatively easy so non-veg food was the first item I chose to drop in the month of January.

January: ideally I would have lied to start off on 31^st December night but there had been a party at my place and the kebabs left over had to be eaten. So I started off on Jan 4. the first few days were relatively easy but then by day 10 the cravings hit and I could think only fish and chicken. But by the time it was 20 days up I was ready to give it up for real. In fact, at one point I had reached a thought of giving up non-veg completely towards the end. Surprisingly, my mother was against this and asked me to cut down rather than stop completely. I finished this deal on the feb 4 and as a celebration on that day had really nice prawns and pomfret with dad. The next day I had chicken with Shakti. My current thinking process though is to reduce the amount of non-veg I eat restricting it to only twice a week.

February: Ok for this month I wanted to try something more difficult. So I have decided to give up chatting. Now if you know me you will know that I am really into chatting. In fact, there are times that I come on the comp only to chat and I can very happily wile away 3-4 hours just chatting. Doing this also required more determination as the thing is that unlike food cravings that hit me only after 10 days or so the chat craving hit me on day one. I think I am addicted so I was suffering from withdrawal symptoms. Also the thing is that the food cravings happen only during lunch/ dinner, chat cravings happen all the time. 24/7. But I must admit, that after the initial five days things got a lot more bearable. In fact, I no longer itch to hit the chat mode. On the up-side, I have finished 5 books in these days and I am currently reading three at one go. On the down side, my phone bill has hit 1000 after the cheaper mode of chatting was removed and I now have to rely only on my cell phone to keep in touch with the outside world. Parents are going to have a fit.

Well, that’s when I lost all enthusiasm and gave up the whole New Year resolution idea. Moral of the story…don’t start something impossible to finish. Cheers!!

Just saw Baabul. For most who won’t remember, it’s the movie with Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee dealing with widow remarriage. The movie didn’t work at the box- office or with me, but the concept clicked.

I am lucky. In my immediate and extended family I haven’t seen death strike anyone at a really young age. Touch wood. So the concept of widow remarriage is one that I am still in the dark about. I don’t believe on standing on a pedestal and saying that I am pro or anti anything. Until you experience it, how can you understand it? That’s the beauty of the journey of life. No one is dealt the same cards.

Coming back to the topic, is society these days any better than the past on the issue of widow remarriage? Forgive me for my ignorance on this issue but I don’t read much about it in the papers. I mean, yes, I have read about sad stories that emanate from remote villages from the country but most of the times I attribute this to lack of education and poverty. But watching the movie, I am questioning if such situations also take place in the Mumbai?

Does life for a woman really end if her husband dies young? Do the educated still believe that a widow is a badhaa in any joyous occasion? Excuse my naivety but I always believed that education enlightened the soul. Do others feel so? I am clueless and in search of the truth. Can anyone out there enlighten me?

I was watching the kids play in my colony yesterday. Well, not exactly playing. They were listening to ipods while discussing some movie. Later at night, there was a huge fight amongst them and one kid actually called another a nigger causing the intervention of parents to sort the matter.

What has happened to the good old days, I wondered. When I was a kid, and it wasn’t that long ago, summer vacations means full dhamaal. We used to play from about 10 in the morning to 1 or so in the afternoon and then return at 5 to play till 9.30 in the night. Plus the games we played really ensured that all our physical energy was well spent. Now before anyone even mention loss of space, I would like to say that my colony still has the same space as when we played. So that’s really not the issue.

Also, one of our favourite activities as kids was inter-colony catch and cook. The game was very easy. Small walls that can be mounted on, if you try, segregate all our buildings from one another. The gist was that if you are willing to put in the effort and climb walls, you can escape easily. So we all indulged. Scrapes on hands and knees were an everyday occurrence and one of our parents ever got involved in our fights.

Another summer extravaganza was a camp that we used to set-up. For a minimal sum of Rs 5 or 10, two of us used to set up a camp behind one of the buildings. Everyone was handed a list of what to bring that included blankets to build tents, food that everyone shared and music cassettes. Games were organized and prizes were bought with the admission fees. Parents knew where we were and never interfered. Sigh…those were the days!

 Now, I wonder what the kids do? Most of the time they play video games or hangout talking downstairs. But the strong bonds that I cherish with all my colony friends do not exist between them. How can they? They don’t share a history of experiences that we do. Cheers!!