Friday, March 24, 2006

7 Things that you Learn while watching a Cricket match at Wankhede stadium…

1.Swearing and making obscene gestures at anybody and everybody is considered cool

2.When there’s a drink break or lunch break, a spectator (Indian spectator ) should not waste time. Instead they should single out a firang (foreigner) and start using swear words.

3.When a beautiful foreign girl with minimal clothing walks past you, one should start yelling in chorus “Item” “Item” “Item” !!!!

4....And when the foreigners cannot take it any longer and start leaving that particular stand, the spectators in that stand should say together “Sorry, Sorry” !!! (...only so that the foreigners stay so that after a while they can be abused again)

5.Yuvraj Singh drops most catches at the boundary because he’s usually listening to what the crowd has to say about him and Kim Sharma.

6.When any fielder drops a catch or there is a mis-field or if an Indian batsman gets out for a duck, the spectators should start yelling in chorus “We want Saurav” (as if he is the panacea to the Indian cricket team’s problems)

7.When Sehwag or Sreesanth come near the boundary line, first the spectators should shout out their names in chorus.....and then after a while they should point fingers at the player and yell “Loser, loser” I’m still wondering what triggers this paradoxical behaviour !??! Puzzling, isn’t it ???

Well, my experience watching a cricket match in a stadium for the first time was a bit of a shock really. I still wonder what satisfaction the crowd derives out of using foul language and abusing some foreigner whom you don’t even know. It gives such a bad impression about India. Most of the slogans were not to encourage India. But were mainly to demean someone who has absolutely nothing to do with the match. I for one was thoroughly disgusted.

The one thing I enjoyed was the Mexican waves.....that was funnn !!!! And besides that the company for Preeti, Shruti, Anuj and Giri.

Anyway, I just hope that if you’re reading this and if you were one of those obscene and extremely rude idiots in the stadium, then maybe you should think about overcoming you sense of insecurity, rectifying some major flaws in your personality and above all showing some respect to both - the teams and other spectators !!!!

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Losing Faith...

I have absolutely no faith in the judicial system anymore… The Jessica Lal case is alarming and very very disturbing. After 7 years of dragging this case on, the court finally acquits the 9 accused ....what kind of justice is that ??? The evidences have been manipulated and have been tampered with. Even the prosecution hasn’t done its job well. When asked in court why the prosecution was targeting Manu Sharma as the prime accused, the public prosecutor only said that “I was ordered to do so”. I’m disgusted by the way in which the glitterati has responded… There were hundreds of people present at that party and no one but Malini Ramani testified…I wonder how their families would feel if they were shot in the head and nobody did anything about it… People like Manu Sharma should not be let off scot-free just because they come from rich and influential families.
Sabrina Lal has all my support and I believe she should not lose hope despite all her personal losses during these 7 years. This is where I think public opinion can play a very strong role by forcing the courts to order a re-trial.
The problem is, the law does not permit the victim or the victim’s family to re-appeal. The state court has the right to appeal and I wonder why they are still tight-lipped on this issue. I believe the law must have provisions through which the victim or the victim’s family is given the right to appeal in a higher court of justice. I have already signed a petition to be sent to the President requesting him to make possible the re-trial of this case, which should come to a conclusion within a fixed time frame, so that Jessica’s family wouldn’t have to go through 7 more harrowing years of waiting for nothing. I hope this grief translates into hope – not just for Jessica’s family, but also for the several other families whom justice has eluded.
Since this is a high-profiled case, it is getting the much needed public attention and sympathy...I believe that the accused should be proven guilty and put behind bars or even sentenced to death...... and justice should trickle-down to even those cases which are not as high-profiled as this one. Glamourization of justice should stop.

Friday, February 17, 2006

Stop the Madness !!!

The situation on the cartoon issue is going way out of hand...... I think the Islamic community is reacting in a very unreasonable manner. I don’t know if the rumours are true....but I think a prize money of Rs.51 crore has been announced to whoever kills the cartoon artist.....Why can’t the government focus on more constructive matters ???? The progress in states like UP is so sluggish that sometimes I wonder where they get so much energy from when they’re burning effigies and staging unnecessary protests.

No one even complained when cartoons of Lord Buddha were released. Islam in no way advocates violence to prove a point. However, by protesting in such a violent manner, the Islamic community is only proving their lack of tolerance and narrow-mindedness. The cartoons should have been taken in a light vein. The western world is already prejudiced against the Islamic community since 9/11. Such extreme reactions now only reinforce this kind of prejudice, not just by the west but also by other communities worldwide. Please put a stop to all the madness and focus all that energy into more meaningful activities.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

What a Day !!!

Well....today has been an amazing day !!!!!!!! To begin with a very Happy Republic Day to all my fellow Indians.....I didn’t attend any flag hoisting ceremony today coz I was busy remembering my speech for the finals of the A.D.Shroff Memorial Inter-collegiate Elocution contest.....something I’ve been nervous about since September ever since I was selected to represent our college..... Anyway, the good news is....I stood second…and I was awarded a cash prize of 5000 rupees (can u believe that !?!?!? ) and the biographies of Mr. A.D Shroff and Mr. Nani Palkhivala........God, its been a crazy month....just 20 days earlier, during the eliminations, I thought I wouldn’t even stand a chance coz the speakers were sooooooo good....and now I’m elated.....coz believe it or not, out of the 500 odd speakers in my age group in Mumbai, I’m second best !!!!! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy !!!!! It’s a wonderful feeling !!!!!

I really really have to thank a lot of people for this actually..... firstly my dad, for making his silly predictions every now and then, my mom who never understood the humour in my speech and yet she told me to go ahead with it just bcoz I thought it was funny (luckily a lot of people laughed while I said it...phew).....Anuj, you have to take back your words now, My sense of humour is not non-existent !!!!! It’s just dormant !!!!!

I cant forget to mention Preeti and Shruti who must have heard my 5-minute speech an endless number of times trying to help me perfect it in every possible way.....same goes for Ena, Rakhi and Aaraatrika as well !!!! And yes Kartik and Vinay who’ve been sooooo sweet all this while....sending me best wishes and listening to all my gibberish while I was all worked up....Geeta kept saying “you have to win”....god, all the pressure....!!!
And yes, Rajam maam of course..... for giving me proper points and having so much of faith !!!


Wow....ok.....so after that was done, Shruti, Preeti, Sanjana and I decided to watch the movie ‘Just Like Heaven’...It's been ages since I watched a movie and today I just couldn’t say No.....I loved the movie.....its one of those romantic and mushy movies that you can keep on watching and u can dream about it later as well....I bet Shruti will :):):)

Then we went to enjoy the Mumbai Festival and walked till the Gateway of India, saw a dance show...it was sooooooo nice....there were palmists, artists, open-air buses, vendors and everything that one can imagine.

I don’t think people can quite understand the spirit of Mumbai unless they live there for a long time. You see, for me, Mumbai is not just a multi-cultural city....it’s a Lifestyle....something you just cant get enough of....I’ll post more on this later on.... For now, I just want to enjoy a good nights sleep, which I’m sure I’ll be denied next week………Thanks once again guys !!!!