RAIN RAIN, GO AWAY…

Rain rain go away, come again another day, little Johny wants to play…I never thought a rhyme that I learnt in nursery would sadly prove to be so true twenty years down the line.

There was a time when the monsoon season was celebrated. It was a time to rejoice.

The ‘sorrow’ of reopening of schools in July would be pacified by the rains. Lovebirds would throng India gate to savour a softy. The elderly would form cliques in the neighbourhood park while discussing everything from politics to saas-bahu sagas.

It was a perfect time to go on long drives. An excuse to venture out and get away from the monotonous life or just sit in the balcony and relish the shimmering foliage while gorging on hot pakoras, jalebees and tea.

The numerous songs on rains and the heroines’ in bright coloured sarees immediately breaking into a jig, the moment drops of rain fell on her body, even our movies had a special place for the season.

In a country where the scorching sun dominates the year and temperatures reach 50 degree celsius, this favouritism is absolutely justified.

So, why are Delhiites getting panic attacks these days, the minute it starts to rain?

That is because this year monsoon has brought along waterlogging and long jams. The desperation for the rains has been followed by exasperation.

Thanks to the incessant digging across the city for the Commonwealth Games the rubble lying on the roadside gets washed away into the sewers resulting in the waterlogging and hence, jams.

There is no coordination between the government and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

Construction to improve the infrastructure for the games is justified and digging is a part of it, agreed. But it could have been more organized and systematic.

Both, the government and MCD are corrupt. Even the Anti-Corruption department shares the same view as far as latter is concerned.

If it rains heavily for a couple of hours the whole city comes to a halt. Last week it took me four hours to reach Gurgaon from Central Delhi.

That is the same time it takes to travel to Haridwar! Moreover, there is no point in enjoying the rain while you are stuck in bumper to bumper traffic and there is chaos everywhere.

The digging and waterlogging together are also wreaking havoc on those who travel by two-wheelers. Everytime it pours, the roads and streets get submerged making it impossible to watch out for any open manhole. Further, the dug up dirt when mixes with water becomes slippery, resulting in tragic accidents.

Last month a friend of mine met with an accident when he drove his bike over the slippery sand near a construction site in Laxmi Nagar. He broke his thigh bone and is bed ridden for the next 3 months.

So, after going through a harrowing experience due to the jams, when you finally reach home, there is neither any stamina nor any will to indulge in those pakoras and jalebees.

The couple who had started for India Gate ends up cuddling in an auto; without a softy. And the elderly have to wait at home as they have to look after the grandkids because their parents are stuck in a jam.

The authorities have definitely taken the fun out of monsoon.

A DEMOCRACY OF HYPOCRISY

In the last sixty years our society has been slowly but surely evolving. Many evils have been eradicated and a lot of positive things have become a part of our culture, knowingly or otherwise.

But the one thing that has remained stagnant is our level of hypocrisy.

Indians just love to judge, pass comments and stereotype people. We have an opinion on everything, be it sex or sensex.

We are free advisors to anybody and everybody and we will continue to preach and nag them even if they are not interested.

But the sad reality is that no matter how or what advice we give; we fail to apply it on ourselves.

We do not have the guts to judge ourselves. Simply put, it is our typical attribute.

For instance, a guy will immediately declare a girl “character less” (I am using a much milder phrase) if she sleeps around with men, but if the guy himself beds girls frequently, he will be looked upon as a “Casanova.”

Further, if someone offers prayers to god five times a day, he is a respected and an “honest” person. It does not matter then if he cheats on his wife and is a pathetic father.

The society would not mind him being a male chauvinist who beats his children and wife for no particular reason. People will look the other way if he marries off his 17 year old daughter because she is a “Bojh” on his shoulders.

All these things do not build our opinion, what matters to us is that he is a “Shareef Aadmi.”

Our society especially the elders, still relate consuming liquor and smoking to evil. They frown upon these things even today. If a young boy takes to it he will be swiftly declared a "Spolit" boy. I specifically said BOY because girls cannot booze or fag even in their wildest of dreams. It is just unacceptable.

Interestingly, the 'opposers' are the same people who had themselves indulged in such things at school or college time. But now they are grown ups which in India means a license to preach, have the right to judge others.

Another social evil which defines hypocrisy is Dowry. I have witnessed cases where families were harassed and troubled for dowry when they wanted to get their daughter married.

The suffering they endured was traumatic. But again, in a surprising turn of events when it was time for their own son to get married, they were worse than their tormentors.

Moving on, my friend became a proud uncle of a baby boy last month. When he came to my place with a box of “Rasgullas” he proudly declared that how he with his family had gone on a pilgrimage to “Vaishno Devi” and had prayed for a baby boy. “Mata ka Prasaad hain” (referring to the baby boy) the fool said smugly.

People chant “Jai MATA Di” but want a son. We worship and wash little girls feet on the festival of “Kanjake” but at the same time we do not want our wives or daughter-in-laws to give birth to a daughter.

A lady will fast on “Karwa Chauth” to prove her dedication and love for her husband and at the same time convinces him to leave his aged parents alone by emotionally blackmailing him.

If an earning, elder male member (father) of a family expires suddenly and god forbid there is no male successor in the family all hell breaks loose.

It is the “duty” of all the distant family members to give tips on how the poor mother should take care of her kids especially DAUGHTERS.

Instead of filling the shoes of the deceased, the relatives act as if the family is now depended on them for everything and suddenly they develop a superiority complex which is obviously fueled by economics.

If any of the daughters dares to befriend a male, an immediate judgment is passed, “Ye haath se nikal gayi hain, naak katwaayegi sabki”.

There will be unnecessary taunts like; “Dhyaan rakhna, kahi hawa na lag jaaye.”

They act as if till now the girls were growing up on their own and none of the parents cared to impart values in them. There will be advices form chacha, bua, foofa, taaya, mama and every possible corner.

These taunts are carefully laced with a pretence of care. Interestingly, these advisors themselves do not have even a vague idea of their own kids’ activities or should I say antics. They assume that because they have a normal family and the household has its “Male” ALL IZ WELL.

Finally, many talk at lengths about how casteism and regionalism has divided India and its adverse effects. But, the minute we meet a person who belongs to our native place, is of the same religion or speaks our language, we expect favours from them.

Efforts are made instantly and shamelessly to bond with that person. We start talking to him/her in our language and to hell with the people sitting around who evidently do not understand a word.

Simply put, we take pride in building relationships on the basis of caste, religion, language and so on.


Long live our democracy but down with hypocrisy.

‘CHUCK’ DE INDIA!

Yesterday, after a long space of time I met my school friends. We were playing cards when out of nowhere, hockey came up. All of them were happily lambasting the game and collectively agreed on how cricket is the best thing that has happened to India after independence.

So, just out of curiosity, I asked them the venue for the next Hockey World Cup. None knew! ” New Delhi”, I said. They were surprised. “Aren’t you talking about the Commonwealth games”? Asked one of them. I was really taken aback.

So this was the perfect time to write an article on our “National Game”. Wondering why I emphasized on national game? Simply because it’s high time we scrapped this title.

Cricket has always dominated hockey, but now that Delhi is hosting the 12^th Hockey World Cup next month, it has once again been overshadowed, this time by the Commonwealth Games. Bad luck, some will say, but I beg to differ.

For as long as I can remember hockey as a sport has lost its sheen and charm. Gone are the days when hockey was looked upon as a glorious sport and Major Dhyanchand as a sporting icon.

Over the years we have become a cricketing nation and hockey has gone from bad to worse. To put it simply, hockey is a poor cousin of cricket here and we leave no opportunity to make hockey realize this.

It isn’t that we are doing well in other sports. How many times have you seen debates and discussions on India’s dismal performance in Kabaddi? We are equally poor in shooting, wrestling, boxing and many other games.

Winning a medal at an event, in a gap of five to six years is no big achievement. So why is hockey always in the limelight? Just because of the ‘national game’ tag attached to it.

Now let’s be frank, it hasn’t lived up to its title because of reasons galore. Some say they don’t have the required amenities others blame the coach and the management. Whatever may be the reason, but it is a fact that the last time India won the World Cup was in 1975. The latest disgrace being that it couldn’t even qualify for the next Olympics!

Its ironic how the most celebrated title of a ‘national game’ any sport could have in any country can turn into its own nemesis. Many people will be against this argument, but then these will be the very people who are afraid to face the reality-that is, we are poor at hockey and there are no signs of improving as of now.

We should all pledge not to discourage them if we can’t encourage them. There’s no point burdening hockey’s shoulders with the weighty title of “National game”. It’s doing more harm than good.

This step may not help improve the game but it will definitely release the unnecessary pressure and burden. Therefore, it’s time that we give the game a much needed break.