Live-in CHILD

Supreme Court will change the Indian social landscape. Steven and Stephen illustrated in their book Freakonomics, Michigan (or some other state) has less number of crimes because of the legalization of abortion for teenagers in 1970s (due to which there were less number of orphans). Our politicians will keep mud slinging on each other, over women reservations, dalits, temples, mosques, elephants, parks, names to be dedicated, without trying to look at the social fabric and taking the nation away from its old parochial systems.

Picture: (Maybe John and Bipasha are the icons of live-in relationship)

Supreme Court was loud and clear in the case of actress Khushboo. Article 21 of Constitution gives Right to Life, Fundamental Right. Two adults can stay together under one roof without any (registered) relationship, as they wish to. The Court’s lambasted the system for taking complaints against the actress, for her remarks on pre-marital relationship. We are not talking about morality or principles. It’s an individual’s choice, whether to marry or live-in. “Lord Krishna and Radha lived together”, the Court stated.

The Law needs to incorporate these changes and perhaps move a step forward towards registration of live-in relationships. Long live-in relationships as good as marriage was ruled in another ruling. Of course, this path was taken when the relationship lead to reproduction. But now, the case of reproduction has taken us to the next level. Why is it that a man and a woman require a stamp to prove their relationship? Perhaps for the following.

A man is denying his alleged relationship with his live-in partner with whom after living for years together and a baby, he denies any role in reproduction of the baby. What is the fault of the little angel for the choices, two individuals make in their life? Or perhaps realizes he was born by mistake. The female wants compensation from her man for the upkeep of the child. I hope Supreme Court will more likely rule in the lady’s favour.

Shouldn’t such men be ostracized from the society?

Women have choices under such circumstances. Whether to dump the man or accept him?

What Priety Zinta portrayed in movie, Kya Kehna in early 2000 is seeking society’s acceptance and demands not be banished but to be appreciated.

In my teens, after watching movie, I repeated the movie promotions to everybody, “kya app sochte hai, priya (Priety’s protagonist in the movie) ne jo kiya, woh theek kiya” (You believe what Priyadid was right). Most of the people wore an astonished expression. And then would smile/laugh at the stupid question of the youngster. But the question is there and we should have an answer for the question, whether we get or do not get into such kind of situation?

When our economy is growing, our society should also grow, to result in overall Development of the Nation.

The answer, do watch the movie?

As for the case, asking and taking the compensation is the most important aspect. Whether or not to use the money is the woman’s choice.

I am living my dream

How many of us get to say, “I am living my dream” in our lifetime. Sachin Tendulkar quoted in one of his recent numerous press meets, after hitting the score of 200 in an ODI. This IPL season is further adding to his already impeccable and unachievable records. There are hardly any records left in international Cricket which he has not scaled, when it comes to batting. Nobody talks about his 150 odd wickets, which are not a mean achievement. There are hardly any bowlers in our current Indian cricket team with 150 wickets under their cap (may be Bhajji or Zaheer).

“I wanted to play cricket whole-heartedly for the country. I am living my dream and have played with two-three generations. I wanted to be a special member of the team and I have done it,” Sachin.

Its no mean achievement to scale the heights which Tendulkar has reached. ICC has announced World Cricket Day as the day when Sachin Tendulkar was born. This is one thing, I wish to achieve in my lifetime, some road, gully, nukkad, street, award to be named after my name. I hope, I wish, I am able to. Every road, street, gully, nukkad, nullah is named after some person or perhaps the characteristic of the place. But most of them are named after the dead, Sachin has achieved it, when he is alive and kicking.

Now he is waiting for his triple century in Test cricket or perhaps may hit 100 in 20-20 even, looking at his current form. The best part of Sachin and the irony of his profession, as you grow old, gain experience, you ability to deliver starts declining after a particular stage. But he is perpetually in growth stage. A decade in International cricket means you have lived your lifetime. But this man, he has already crossed two.

In the past two months, he has been compared to every possible conceivable cricketing great or legend in the world history. But comparisons are frivolous, every era has its own heroes with its own style and achievements. Earlier they were fiery bowlers like Marshall, Walsh, Ambrose, who were always looking for prey. Now, cricket is more of a batsman’s game with little meat for bowlers. No harm to Sachin, Sachin would have been exceptional under other circumstances too.

Every other person, appealed in the press for Bharat Ratna Award for Sachin Tendulkar. Whether he gets the award or not, he is truly the Bharat Ratna. But most of all, a man who is living his dream.

Sweet Nothingness of Life

Last Sunday, when I visited home, my father and one of his old friend were happy and content with the life they have led. I always believe, we should be seeking contentment and not happiness, happiness is one of the emotion that we feel from a range of emotions across different stages and periods of our life. If you run after happiness, you will never get it; in fact, it will keep running away from you. Happiness or being happy lies in the moment. Thinking ahead, will I able to achieve the same level of gratification from my life when I grow old like my father. I am doubtful. Our lifestyle gives us barely the time for ourselves. Boss, office, clients, colleagues and if something is left, cellphone eats that time and a little time for that special person (girlfriend, wife, whosoever).

Coming back, our parents don’t approve of the express life their children are leading. But then they can only complain? As my father says, “I always tried to teach you good values and the education you wanted. Now it’s your choice, how you make the best use of them?” I am extremely thankful to my father for all the beautiful things and experiences (even distasteful experiences were necessary (like to know the sweetness, we must understand bitter first) for the process of growing up). Majorly, he didn’t force me to become doctor. Like living in a Govt. colony amongst doctors, every person is obsessed with their children becoming doctors. At the same time, I’d say, my father may not feel proud for his son, especially for the fact when I have broken almost all the values that he had taught. Somehow or the other, I have always landed up in the soup of things and experienced all the legal, not so legal and illegal things in my life, which any sane person may not testify.

No I don’t want to thank my mum or my dad. We cannot thank our parents, which is too selfish from our end. Instead we should nurture our relationship further with our parents by caring and try to love them back as much as they did when we were tiny tots.

Flamboyance at its BEST

Vijay Mallya is known for his flamboyance and style. If you have got money, you gotta enjoy life and flaunt it, exploit people. So true, I am completely gasped by this man and his style and would never condemn any of the practices that he follows. So much so, Vijay Mallya is the generalized term of flamboyance and style, for the way he lives and parties. Many can only aspire to live that kind of lifestyle.

If you feel and think, Vijay Mallya is, think for a moment again and the other name which comes is Mayawati. MAYAWATI……!!!!!!! #$%%^&*@? ?????
Yes, our very own Behanji, didi and mata for many homeless, destitute, lower class people of Uttar Pradesh. OK, well not in the same manner. Or some may say, the parallel drawn is not too interesting. We are talking about flamboyance.

Mayawati surely gives Mr. Vijay Mallya, a huge competition for turning his position in flamboyance. She is extremely flamboyant and classy when it comes to honoring dates of her party (Elephant, Bahujan Samaj Party) and the dead people of her party and herself. Mayawati’s birthday, her party’s founding, winning, losing day (God knows which all days are celebrated), Kanshi Ram’s birthday, death day, AMbedkar’s birthday or whichever way she feels.

Every time, the Opposition raises hue and cry over her flamboyance, which they say is unacceptable. Because she celebrates on public money. Everybody can splurge with his/her money, but to do it in style with the State exchequer is the highlighting factor of Mayawati.

Better part is not the celebrations, but the unveiling of new standing monuments of Elephants, Ambedkar, Kanshi Ram, Mayawati. Mayawati’s birth date is celebrated as Swabhimaan (Self-respect) diwas for the sake of all oppressed classes. How much self respect they have achieved ever since Mayawati has been in power? Or better I’d say the Oppressed are still the Opressed under the Oppressed. Oppressed has no relation to the economic status but to the tag they carry of their DALIT caste.

The whole State machinery is moved back and forth for her celebrations. We have heard it all, the statues of Ambedkar, Maya and Elephants, the parks for them, ladoos (which consume enough raw material to feed the entire India for a day), PWD officials working overtime, stage, Mughal-e-Azam sets, her penchant for diamonds, Developmental money coming in trunks, 25,000, 50,000 or 1,00,000 odd people celebrating for the occasion.

This time, it was above it all, I was surprised to look at the elegant and beautiful shape of flowers of her garland, which when opened can wrap the whole of Uttar Pradesh or the money spent on garland can help in constructing 100 elephants (on the conservative side). You look carefully and the garland has been made from 1000 Rupee Notes. Clearly hats off to Mayawati, in the times, when people are thinking about making love to save condom costs and the Govt. is preaching austerity (of course Govt. and Mayawati are in Opposition), but who cares.

Who preaches and who listens? As a famous researcher once said, “God exists, you arrive in UP/Bihar and you realize, yes certainly God does exist”.
As for our didi, she is guided by the Constitution of India, written by Ambedkar,
to the people,
for the people and
by the people.

F1 - do watch - IPL

“Manoranjan Ka Baap” is back in town! The carnival of cricket begins today. So get ready to drench in streams of fours and sixes for next 44 days. Such grand openings are generally observed for World Cup’s (any sport) but not on annual events. Akon, UB 40, Lionel Richie, Deepika Padukone will be performing for the event. No event ever (be it any other sport, politics, green earth, rape, murder, Bollywood, even other forms of cricket – ODI, Test Cricket) in India has been showered with such publicity or broadcasted across such wide range of medium.

Everybody knows that cricket’s most popular event is as much about entertainment and marketing as the sport itself, if not more. The eight IPL team captains will take an oath to respect their opponents, their teams and their umpires and sign a globe made of recyclable material to demonstrate their commitment to reduce the tournament's carbon footprint as a part of IPL’s association with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). UN will also cover IPL. And there will be brands, more than a hundred, fighting for consumer’s attention through different media, from television to the Internet to even live streaming in multiplexes.

Official IPL broadcaster SET Max is expected to take away more than 30% of the total TV ad spends in March and April when advertisers are estimated to spend around Rs 1,600 crore. SET Max will be laughing its way to the bank with all their costs and expenditure for the entire year will be recovered in 44 days, beginning March 12^th till April 25^th 2010.

“The kind of innovation in branding and sponsorship deals that have taken place this season has almost doubled the brand equity of IPL,” says Indranil Das Blah, former vice-president, Globosport India. The Google deal for live streaming of matches on YouTube, Indiagames as IPL gaming partner, Karbonn Mobiles' association as official mobile phone & title sponsor for parties post matches, ‘IPL Nights’ on MTV, special IPL shows on Colors and merchandising deal with Swiss watchmaker Bandelier are a few examples of the new branding initiatives.

In addition all the franchises are jumping in with their merchandise, t-shirts, caps, bandanas, head bands, bracelets, cricket merchandise, logos, broaches, chains, lockets and what not. The clubs are being built and soon there will be restaurant’s and pubs from franchise owners. In Europe, the organizers ran the promotional campaign. Don’t buy things manufactured during the season. They are all faulty as everybody is busy watching football. The same level of phenomena, will perhaps be witnessed. Bollywood celebrities are generally without work in IPL season and will be seen waving flags for different franchises. There are hardly any movie releases during the season. I guess, there’ll be more Bollywood celebrities than players on the venue. This time, even multiplexes will be showcasing matches, who would presume a movie.

Yes, it’s a bonanza for cricket lovers. Vijay Mallya is the happiest, the consumption of beer shoots during the IPL season. All said and done, I’d say skip the IPL match on Sunday and do watch the Bahrain GP, one of the challenging races in F1 circuit since past 15 years. Perhaps till next year or may be a year after that, F1 remains one of the costliest sports on this planet.

There have been rare or none occasions in the past when there were four teams neck to neck fighting for the title. With each posing the equal risk to the other. Closing 90’s and opening 2000’s, all the walls were painted with red colour by one name, “Michael Schumacher”. Even if somebody did succeed in posing some challenge to Schumi (as Michael is dotingly referred to), there would be a race between two.

Now after renouncing his world, Michael Schumacher is back after three year long hiatus on racing circuit under Mercedes with silver dress shedding his trademark red colour of Ferrari. Ferrari is pitching Massa and Alonso (thought to be best F1 driver these days), who had posed some serious challenge to Schumacher in his recent races. Hamilton is the man to watch from McLaren and the dashing duo of Red Bulls will be vouching for the title.

To add to the excitement, the change in rules forbid the fuel refilling for pole position holders. To add to the persistence, patience, technique, knowledge, understanding, cool head, the restraint of resources has been brought in this race. The diversity of their experience, of their age groups adds to the adrenaline rush. Alonso and Hamilton have worked as teamed together in their earlier races. But now the roles, the sides, the conditions have changed. Lets see who holds the forte on 14^th of March 2010. Do hold your seatbelts and drop your bats?

Reserved for whom?

A lot is being said and written about women, women who fought terrorists, who escaped domestic violence, who saved a toddler, who are businesswoman, making style statement, powerful woman. The idea of secular, republic and democratic India is taking shape for the first time since independence. Irrespective of sex, caste, creed, religion. We are yet to start baby steps in the other three, but firstly the sex seems to be gaining some importance. Especially after all the ballyhoo on 33% reservation for women, when we are preaching equality, the Women’s Reservation Bill on International Woman’s Day.

I know it is difficult for any man to understand what it takes to be a woman. Does it solve our issues or helps in abstaining our responsibilities by dedicating and celebrating one day in the name of woman? Pillars, symbols, parades, day’s definitely help in some way or the other. Though every day is woman’s day. A woman commands and must get respect in her home, workplaces and wherever she decides to go. The day is not far when men will be struggling for their rights.

Now getting back to the whole drama of getting the Woman’s Reservation Bill across the river. Putting things into ink and accepting it in spirit is a different ball game altogether. But then it should not be the reason for not inking in future. The whole script which ran during the process has taught many lessons.

Women from all parties joined hands after their feat on 9^th March 2010. The whole fracas is not for women’s reservation. But the battle is the build up for the War. Guess, we could comprehend, and hope it is for the better. In India, when Parliamentarians lock their horns, it is never over an issue, it is for something which serves their own/personal (can be read as party or staying in power) larger interests (read as of no use to so

ciety).

Ten/twenty years down the line, I hope I may not be running for getting my children a fake certificate under some privileged (read reserved like SC/ST. OBC, minority) category because over a period of time, we would realize there are hardly any seats left for general category. I may carry fear revealing my GENERAL category status.

But still, the optimistic will say, the structure of Reservations is changing and may undergo a complete overhaul in the coming decade. But it is here to stay. Yes, we have to not only live but die with it. All the politicians can fight for is percentage and not for abolishment of five years scheme from Nehru and Gandhi.

The perpetrators carrying the flame of under privileged categories are concerned that woman’s reservation will skew the proportion of Reservation of Dalits, OBCs. It is indeed a nice thought. Woman’s reservation will definitely eat the share from Dalits, OBCs and they hope to preserve the loss from Dalits to female Dalits. The point Yadav’s (Sharad – Lalu - Mulayam) made and over which they ransacked the Chair of Rajya Sabha (aka Vice President of India). 2-4% members aggressive gesture stalled the proceedings of the House. But the good part was the consensus of the House to 85 – 90%, fifteen years after the idea of Women’s Reservation was first raised in the Legislature. The Reserved Category is already addressing the needs/problems of SC, STs, OBCs (the most important and the biggest), Muslims, other minorities, freedom fighter, sports, North-East region, Jammu & Kashmir Category, Armed Forces, Border Forces, Underprivileged (destitutes, lost limbs), etc. etc. Of course, all of them are not found in all the reservations but yes then for different examinations, nominations, elections, selections, all such kinds of reservations are taken into consideration. However, the woman’s reservation only talks about this in legislature; Lok Sabha, State Assemblies, district bodies, local and civic bodies and Panchayats.

The Woman’s reservation is commitment from a foreign lady towards the Indian people. Congress did prove its mantle and they are capable of handling and making tough decisions, which previously they lacked and were always blackmailed by its political allies. This time, they said, Yes, we will talk about numbers but first the issue. The issue or the numbers, whichever comes first, the second loses the importance by the time, its turn comes.

But the way Yadav’s are suggesting the Bill to be drafted and desgined, it will become extremely difficult to segregate, allocate seats, issues. But may bring clarity at the same time.

To give a broad idea about the whole structure, currently out of 543 seats in Lok Sabha, 181 will be allocated for women. Out of this 181, 37.5% will go to SC/ST, OBCs woman candidates, 9.5% for Muslim woman candidates, 4% for some other type of woman candidates and hopefully 50% of it will be preserved for general category woman candidates. Quota within quota?

Until then, we can continuously shout the slogan with Mamta-di (Chief and Railway Minister) and Trinamool Congress members, were seen singing the famous song -- "We shall overcome some day".

Road to Shaadi

When I was a kid, everybody asked me, “what do you want to become in life?” I’d reply flashing my teeth, “papa”. Like every child, whose role models are his parents, I was way too flattered and excited at the authority my father commanded at home and in his professional life. Now 20 years hence -

Turning 25, 26 or 27 or perhaps 28, 29, 30, for those who are left out, is a vulnerable stage of your life, every single person you meet asks the same question, “SHAADI”. I sheepishly smile and question, “kiski”. The other person laughs and replies, “aapki”. I really enjoy such conversations wherein we turn the sides of the tables. Luckily I have a genuine excuse to evade such sorry queries, my elder brother is yet to get married, and I still have some time on my side. Why can’t we begin our conversations, with are you enjoying your life, your job, or are you trying to do something else in life? After marriage, the practical transition of question will be, “kids”, we do discuss and we do talk about it with our friends, relatives, colleagues, but I feel certain awkwardness about the same. Why can’t we let the other do, what he/she wants in life and when he/she wants? We need not force everybody through the same organic process of human existence. Actually, when everybody questions the same thing about your life, you are compelled, forced and pushed to the corner?

Now getting back to the whole Shaadi affair, our generation is sitting at crossroads and stuck between the older and the next generation of societal rules, rules which are broken but not shattered and rules which are yet in conception stage. Either we should be forced to marry with the boy/girl of our parents’ choice (like our parents did) or be allowed to decide the path of life on our own, wherein we hope to find somebody with whom we can share our life. Shaadi should be sharing our lives and not spending our lives. Don’t you feel, spending sounds burdensome?

While talking about the shaadi affair? If somebody says YES, I am in the process, then the next question, “How many?” Most of my friends have run through a dozen proposals. If the friend is a female, then it is two dozen or closer. Perhaps for the betterment of the society, men are facing more rejections these days than women.

To find a suitable person, those who feel, that yes we are in love and ready to respect and accept the responsibility of marriage, things are pretty easier for them, even convincing parents, if they are dead against the fact? This was hard part for Mr. Bhagat, but that is history.

Our parents are searching for a girl, who is educated (masters even if the son is matriculate), good looking (fair in complexion), knows cooking (dal, roti), wears jeans (rarely) and Indian wear with élan, and we are looking somebody who is smart (does not mean to be fair), intelligent (education helps but not the pre-requisite), working (maybe a diploma in fashion designing) or maybe wear a skirt, at times. Expectation mismatch from one person, how do we expect so much from a female? Ask the guy and his family, what are you willing to bring on the table.

If they are seeking a groom, he should be well educated (bachelors means highly educated), earning well (legal or illegal means), good looking (which is defined by his earnings), with strong values (no drinking or smoking) and the girl expects better educated than her, decent earning (respectable), handsome (this is controversial), good values (social drinking is fine). Again the definitions for the same person go for a toss.

The best part is parents’ like to seek their children’s consent for the same. It’s difficult to find the parents’ and children’s on the same plank or rather almost seems impossible to bring on the same plank. So that is why, things start working/moving after crossing the minimum number of 12/24 or whatever.

Here comes the harder part, young, single, independent, have been through flings, strings, affairs or maybe heart breaks, it is the same for both sexes. We all have been through our share, every person whom we meet adds to us as a human being, as a person. As we move ahead, we keep on adding the items to the ‘YES’ and ‘NO’ list for our marriage/life partner. Particularly in case of women, they have a very clear list of “NOT’s”. The hard part is always along the way, we fall in and out of love and then hunt for the same love, which is the recipe for disaster and the whole range of invariable human emotions that comes with this process of finding the right person.

I’d still say, enjoy the process with the hope, we are destined for the best.

Till then, “IN THE PROCESS” status may help.

'Semi Boyfriend' or DTR

Reproduced from www.timesofindia.com
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life/relationships/man-woman/Semi-boyfriend-DTR-/articleshow/5568943.cms

It's that time of the year. Love is in the air, on the cards, in your face, everywhere. Except where it's meant to be. Going by the lingo that's popular these days, that crazy lil' thing called love is all set to be e-dumped ...

IT'S COMPLICATED

When butterflies flutter in two stomachs and even friendly high fives send electric shocks to the heart, how does one explain the status when there is no official acknowledgement or exchange of the L-word ?

The creators of Facebook should be given a medal for pioneering a clever answer to this perplexing question: It's Complicated. The best part is that it's open-ended and can take any meaning you'd like it to take. In fact, it's probably more versatile than Naseeruddin Shah. Not only can it articulate the ambiguous state between friendship and being in a relationship, it can also be used to indicate that a relationship is in the gutter. For some pathetic relationship addicts, it's a perfect cover when they're afraid of being called single.

SEMI-BOYFRIEND /GIRLFRIEND

This relationship status is based on Newton's first law of inertia. It is usually used to denote a potential girlfriend or boyfriend. The potential could have risen from one-sided love and, in some cases, two-sided lust. The semi-boyfriend / girlfriend could be a great friend who you care about, but are not horribly attracted to. It's not unimaginable to see yourself with the semi-boyfriend /girlfriend. It's a stage defined by contemplation, where you're constantly in two minds. "He's a lovely person but might not be the one, she's a great girl but I might look better with someone hotter." Experts say that if this stage exceeds its trial period, there is danger of it never ending.

DTR (DEFINE THE RELATIONSHIP)

DTR is the dream of every smitten semiboyfriend /girlfriend. It's when cuddly movies and cosy dinners are interrupted by 'the conversation' . It's usually a loaded exercise of compartmentalisation. Are we friends? Are we friends with benefits? Or are we seeing each other? The idea is to provide clarity on the relationship status and especially on the issue of monogamy. DTR could sneak up on you anywhere: in the parking lot, in a packed party and even a movie theatre. Experts say that the highest number of instances have been recorded at sit-down dinners. There's nothing romantic about it, it's pure negotiation.

GOING UNSTEADY

Back in the 1990s, 'going steady' was a wideeyed expression to suggest that two people were seeing each other. The fact that the college stud mostly rode a bike gave it all the more legitimacy. Some mummies and aunties still love to sprinkle gossip with 'going steady' .

But we are now in 2010 and you're more likely to hear 'Going Unsteady' . It's the logical opposite of 'going steady' , and translates into a relationship being on the rocks and is usually the sequel to 'It's Complicated' . It's an announcement of the possibility of opening up to other options to make sure that the exboyfriend and ex-girlfriend are on their toes.

SHE'S HYPHENATED

How does one tell whether a woman is single or married? No need to rudely stare at her chest in search of a mangalsutra or grab her hand to check if she's wearing a ring. Just ask her name. Gitanjali Shah-Chopra ? Dude, she's hyphenated. Time to make a run for the nearest door. More and more married women today love to add a double barrel in their names: name, maiden surname-husband's surname. The noble cause behind the widespread hyper hyphenation is to not lose one's maiden individuality, but it's also doubling up as a handy tool for ring detection.

NEAR-SIGHTED DATE

When the search for a soulmate went virtual, the erstwhile blind date was elbowed out by the nearsighted date. Now prospective lovers would rather spend time enlarging thumbnail display pictures than rely on imagination and God's grace. When two people who have been flirting online finally meet face to face, the guy doesn't need to be wearing a red tie to be spotted in the crowd and the girl can also leave her red dress at home. But even if the intention is to induce the love bug, several near-sighted daters have reported that it could lead to disappointment because of misleading documentation. In one case, the profile picture of a near-sighter was three years younger, 10 kg less and five hair colours old.

E-DUMP

This new-age phenomenon usually follows a nearsighted date gone wrong. Flirting is brought to an abrupt halt, suddenly the exnear-sighter is repulsive. That's when one ping is employed to pull the flush on the relationship. Sometimes, e-dump can also be expanded to include text messages.

Those who have been e-dumped say that this is the worst kind of dumping and e-dumpers don't have the courage to dump face-to-face and are afraid of confrontation. But several e-dumpers say that it's the simplest way to pull the plug on an unwanted relationship because it's simple, quick and doesn't involve tears.

ATTENTION WHORE

The Attention Whore is like the plague, can often spread through exposure to a contaminated person. Symptoms include being uncomfortable in situations where one is not the centre of attention, inappropriate sexual behaviour, bipolar display of emotions, self-dramatisation , animated expressions and considering relationships to be more intimate than they actually are.

In the online world, the status message is an important weapon of mass destruction and in the offline world, tools like physical intrusions into parallel conversations are commonly employed. Beware! The Attention Whore steps her game up in the run-up to Valentine's Day.

ENRAGEMENT RING

The enragement ring is a piece of jewellery, typically a ring, that is purchased for a girlfriend in an effort to make her happy after an ugly fight. It's whipped out when animosity is at its peak. It's produced when sweet gestures have been scoffed at and phone calls rudely cut. It's used when the only hope to salvage the situation is the enragement ring. Sometimes the enragement ring is embossed with a witty or snappy personal message. Enragement ring addicts swear that it works like a charm but the key is to not use it too often.

BUSINESS SHOWER

When you're married, employed and late for work, take a shower with your partner. This is not a recipe to get fired but just another byproduct in the age of DINKs. The business shower is about saving time (and water) and is entirely devoid of any sexual connotation. Two people zip into the bathroom, do their deal and zip out with equal ease and casualness. Romance can be kept on hold because a man's got to do what a man's got to do and a working woman's got to do the same.

Made in India/Sent from India

Japanese invent a wire, which is visible when zoomed by thousand million times under a microscope. Japanese sends the wire to Russians; Russians punched two holes into the wire. Americans received the wire from Russians and put screws into the holes and dispatched the wire to India. India after thinking hard over it, figured out, “let’s put the stamp of Made in India”.

Here we are talking about a joke, depicting the creative and scientific prolific levels of India and its public. India has been a land of superachievers, dreamers, sleepers, brainers, inventors, discoverers with the caveat. Yet we never try to harness our potential and instead trying to figure out the eventualities of sticking the Made in India label. Do we need to tell the world about Made in India or be shunned like China and forced to label, Assembled in China.

India is traditionally a conservative nation and economy. That’s why we can count our superachievers on fingers. Its not a magical figure or much boasting about our Indian brains and upbringing. A billion people considered to be richer in glory, history, culture, brain have little to show than the Made in India tag. Yes, we do know that in itself is an achievement.

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan was the winner of Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009. He was humble and able to acknowledge his alma mater in India and his Indian upbringing. But the fact is he was part of the brain drain, as we prefer to refer it. The brain drain process enabled him to win a Nobel Prize. Har Gobind Khorana (won Nobel Prize in 1968) openly digressed his Indian roots and would talk about his frustration of not being allowed to perform experiments as Professor in Chandigarh. V.S. Naipaul is awarded Nobel Prize, he is PIO (People of Indian Origin) and given a dual citizenship after achieving the laurels globally.

Do we recognize talent only after the world applauds? Do we possess the sensibility to stick Made in India label is a question to be asked? At the same time, when we have dreamers, achievers, we are shunning them. Salman Rushdie (a Booker Prize Winner) exiled in America. It was another question in his case, as to prove the secularism and the solidarity of Hindus towards Muslims, it was thought in best interests to ostracize Rushdie, himself a Muslim for his views on Muslims.

Now India has proved to the world its secular culture and democratic attitude. So why has M F Hussain been living in exile in Middle East and embraced the citizenship of Qatar. Why India as a nation fails to provide protection, ironical, when it likes to take all the names Indian, who have made India proud by their hardworking and dedicated attitude working/researching abroad?

Our very own Indian Picasso is living in exile in Qatar and has now embraced the citizenship of Qatar. Isn’t apathy on our end that our Picasso, in his nonagenarian stage of his life, is fighting for an identity? Some say countries are highly technical lines drawn on paper. I say, why don’t we talk about nations. A nation is a process, a thought process, an ideology, a sense and style of living. Some people say an artist knows no boundaries. Here we have trapped our secular mindset and unable to provide protection to an artist. A Govt. reserves the Right to perhaps BAN the work of an artist for hurting and inciting the community beliefs and sentiments. But then shunning them away, aren’t we encouraging Talibanization of our freedom and secularism.

The only consolation that we Indians can provide to Hussain is protection to his ART after his dies. I am anticipating something of this will happen after he dies. Like Hussain says, forget providing protection to me, they can’t even protect my art. A road, a by-lane, a memorial, an art gallery will be named after him after he dies. That is how we refer to the process of making of a nation and the label, “MADE IN INDIA” or “SENT FROM INDIA”.

One of the Controversial paintings of M.F. Hussain.
A nude woman spread over the map of India (in red colour)
Perhaps he wishes to say, India is on fire and bleeding and we have a nude woman guarding us. Do we need protection from this nude woman, who is herself looking for cover?
It may mean something derogatory as protestors had anticipated.

The real issue erupted due to the above painting or I’d say the label. We have Khajuraho, we have Kama Sutra, our Gods and Goddesses, married, remarried, as they said sambhog is the most essential element for the existence of a human being. Nudity is not about good or bad, it’s just these days; we have such lovely and wonderful clothes/accessories, that nudity is being referred to as a taboo. In Stone Age, Aryan or whatever, our Gods only had animal skins or some metal objects to cover their bodies.