Letter to MSD!

Hey Mahi Bhai,

I never really was a fan of you and I doubt if I will ever be. I am pretty much an old school cricket maniac who lives to watch those mentally soothing drives, making the ball touch every little blade of grass on its way to the boundary. You play your cricket exactly opposite to what I like to watch. For me, it’s either my way (textbook cricket) or the highway. While, MSD lives in a world where textbooks do not exist, there’s only one highway or shall I say, a helicopter service called, “The Mahi way!”

The Mahi way works exceptionally well in limited overs cricket and I’ll be doomed if I didn’t accept that you are the best finisher in the game right now. As a leader in the shorter version if not the best, you are one of the best that I have seen. I have my disagreements and disregards about a few decisions here and there but I have always been a cynic and like a billion people out there, even my opinions are irrelevant. To conclude about my liking regarding your style of cricket, I’ll start admiring the way you play your game when Rahul Dravid personally tells me that Mahi way is the perfect way to play the game of cricket.

On Monday afternoon, I was on the edge of my seat, paranoid about a batting collapse, while you were out there, saving a test match for us. An hour after the test match was drawn, I got the news that MSD retired from test cricket with immediate effect. Even though, I dislike watching you in test cricket, I was stunned for a brief period of time. That decision was totally out of the blue, then again, you made a living by jumping off the cliffs, people should be used to it by now.

It took a while for me to realize what happened and once I was back to my senses, I was more relieved than sad. I will hardly miss having you as a batsman in the test team and even if you’re the most successful Indian test captain of all time, you ain’t the best! So, I won’t miss MSD the test player. But, that one decision changed my entire perspective about you.

You never played for personal glory or personal records. All you cared about was the teams’ achievement and always did what you felt was right for the team. Then may it be playing Vijay consistently even when he was underperforming or backing Ishant, you did what you felt was right. Though you failed miserably in tests overseas, we didn’t have a choice, until, Virat Kohli stood up to the Aussies in his first test as captain. The entire world appreciated his performance and Virat didn’t stop there, he continued to give them a tough time single-handedly. You knew that you have found a successor. You knew your time was up.

And unlike, everybody else, you didn’t drag yourself to wait for another test match for passing the baton, you didn’t announce you’ll retire, you didn’t fancied a well-deserved farewell, you didn’t gave a chance to someone to carry yourself on their shoulder, but, after carrying the burden of some awful test defeats and disgraceful bowling performances, you walked into the sunset of 2014 like Gandalf-the Grey went down fighting with the demon and told Frodo to complete the quest without him. Hopefully, Virat destroys the evil ring of losses in the final test and revitalises the faith that we can win overseas.

We Indians are so fond of controversies that we refuse to accept that this was a selfless decision and that you were the bigger man in not continuing as a wk/batsman when you were just 10 test matches away from playing a 100 test matches for India. We don’t see that because we celebrate records instead of appreciating goodwill. And much like everyone, even I will have a hunch that something might have went sour in the dressing room. But, before that thought takes over my mind, I’ll like you to know that at this very moment, you’re the most respected cricketer on my list. From a small town to being an inspiration, if not your batting, MSD the man, have won my heart. And it will be a serious life lesson for me that, when it comes to the nation, gratitude and selflessness above all.

Gandalf-the grey is gone but pretty soon, Gandalf-the white should return and take his boy wonder -Frodo- on another quest to defend the World Cup. And hopefully Frodo will do all that it takes to give Gandalf his one last hurray!

All the best, MSD!

Thank you.

The MSD saga!!

Dear Cricket fans,

You're the world's greatest finisher in the game of cricket(probably of all time & not self proclaimed), batting on 25 odd runs off 14 balls... on strike.. 5 required of 2 balls..

On the non-strike.. a more technically sound, in-form batsman who is batting on 2 off 4.. just in..

You miss hit the ball and there's an opportunity to run... you chose not to!!! Anything wrong in backing yourself??

Plot Twist: "You're the captain of the team!!" Anything right in not backing your player???

You can't say Dhoni was wrong but he wasn't right either...

Probably he was standing right their in the Kurukshetra, much like 'Karna', looking up at God and wondering "Ye kis Dharamsankat mein fasa diya hai mujhe!!"

Let's end the debate.

In the end.. cricket is played with heart, Dhoni did what his heart told him to!!

Ciao!

Do you support Feminism?

“I am just a raven here, delivering this letter written by my dearest friend and my advisor, "Shraddha Inamdar". Feminism has been discussed and scrutinized throughout the nation, but what does women think of it? My friend tells you her perceptions about it. I hope she touches your hearts.”

Dear modern society,

If you’re an adult you must be aware of the national affairs of our nation because all that you watch on your big LED television set are the news channels which tells you exactly what the nation wants to know; you certainly open the sports page first while reading the newspaper if you’re a sports enthusiast in your prime twenties; you must be collecting all the fashion magazines to follow the latest trends and be the trend-setter girl in your college; But while doing so, I would like to believe that you have come across the incidents and accidents that happen with women in our country.

While articles on women empowerment take a look at our rich heritage and enlightened societies of the past where, women were treated as equals and worshiped as goddesses. But the TRUTH is that in modern India, which has come far away from the women-no-less-than-men belief, a woman has always been a second grade citizen, no matter what its esteemed leaders have said or done. It is very hard to fathom how slow moving the cultural exchange of the world is when you find out that there are several places across the country where even today a baby girl is killed or abandoned the moment she is born or a new bride is tortured and killed just because her family wasn’t able to give her groom a bigger car or a house.

It is difficult to understand and digest that even in this 21^st century, harmful customs of the ancient world coexist with modern appliances and thought. However, that may come as hardly any surprise to anyone who has lived in India – the contradicting thoughts of the society is something that can only be explained by a refrain from an old Bollywood song: “It happens only in India!”

Yes, it is only in India where goddess Lakshmi is worshiped and yet the new bride (who is considered as goddess Lakshmi in Hindu culture) is tortured for dowry, where goddess Saraswati is worshiped and yet little girls are not allowed to go to school, where that glaring and brutal gang rapes occur frequently in a state that was once headed by a woman Chief Minister, where ministers who dare watch porn videos in the parliament are pardoned with no serious harm but a rape victim is considered as a ‘kalank’.

Gender discrimination is the least of worries for women in India, which is now known otherwise as the fourth most dangerous country in the world for women. Instances of violence against women doesn’t end with this but has an astonishing and grim variety to it – with acid throwing (attacks), domestic violence stemming out of dowry, rape, harassment and an assortment of others.

Our generation is always been eager and very adaptive towards the western culture which brings hobbies like drinking, partying, western clothes and language, sometimes, even with their accents. These hobbies are acceptable or over looked when a boy does it by casually saying, “He is a boy” and criticized and cursed when a girl does it. It just shows we are still incapable of accepting the fact that even a girl is capable of having any of those hobbies or simply have their own wishes, likes or dislikes. The only question that comes to my mind is why only us?

Why is it that only when a girl dresses in shorts or wears low waist jeans, she is considered as shameless and called a slut, whereas when a guy wears low waist jeans/ trousers or shots or leaves couple of buttons of his shirt open, is considered cool? Can’t a girl have her own likes and ways to get dressed?

Why is it that people of this country, on hearing unfortunate news of rape, questions what the girl was wearing instead of wondering what she might be going through? Why is it that they blame the victim for wearing “provoking” clothes? Girls wearing either a short dress or a sari, in India, gets sexually harassed. So does the dress still matter? NO. Women in the US or UK wear short dresses, does crimes against women (especially sexual assaults and harassments) there are more than they are in India? NO. So does what dress a girl is wearing a reason for her to be a victim of such unfortunate crime? NO, absolutely not.

Why is it that girls are not allowed to stay out late? Why is it that only they have to be home by 7pm? When a girl asks such questions to her family the only answer she gets is “It is not safe outside”.  Is it her fault that there are some psychos going around the city who can’t keep their hands to themselves?

Why is it that a girl is expected to be a housewife and make it her only priority? Why is it that before getting married, bride to be is asked if she can cook, make coffee or tea? Is she a kitchen appliance or a human being? If she works and makes her career her priority, she is considered self-centred or if she doesn't know how to cook it makes her manner-less? Why can’t we accept that a girl also can be ambitious and may not be able to cook? Why is it compulsory for only a girl to know how to cook or keep her ambitions second priority? Can’t she just be ambitious and independent, like a guy?

Why is it that a bride’s family have to pay dowry to the groom? Are they doing any favor by marrying us? No, not at all! Then why is it that a bride is tortured to death just because her family wasn’t able to afford expensive car or furniture or house? People argue with this saying it is a tradition followed since centuries. But that’s not true. Centuries back the bride’s family gave gifts to the newly-weds to wish them good luck for their new life together. It wasn’t a compulsion, they gave as much as they can afford, but today it is made a compulsion, a forceful act. So is it still the tradition?

All these questions and thoughts are not just for the guys but also for the girls to think and act upon. Today, we as a nation, have come so far, living in the 21^st century, still why our thoughts are stuck to our old customs. I am not against following our traditions but just the ones that affect people.

Guys, we see, based on many surveys conducted by different media channels, that there are very few people in the crowd who will come to rescue a girl (or anyone for that matter) if she is being a victim of any crime. The only request I do, being a girl, is imagine your friend or sister as the victim, what will you do? Just watch? Or will you interfere and find some help? By your one interference and help you might end up gifting someone their life.

Girls, we Indians worship quite a lot of goddesses and it is believed that every girl is a goddess. Do remember that there is a Maha Kaali in you who will give you the strength to do and achieve what you want or destroy any rakshas who tries to harm you. Take your safety in your own hands, keep a pepper spray or take a couple of self-defence classes. Have faith in yourself, be independent and strong, we are no less than anyone.

In the simplest of words let’s try to create an environment where women can make independent decisions on their personal development as well as shine as equals in society and most importantly feel safe.

Feel free, be safe!

An Independent Indian girl.

TOW F.R.I.E.N.D.S

Dear F.R.I.E.N.D.S,

About three months ago, a friend of mine freaked out because I had not watched the marvellous television series ‘FRIENDS’. Also, many of my friends would keep talking about the show, relating stuff happening around with the one’s that transpired in the show. As a result, I decided it’s time to get on the bandwagon and watch the show once and for all.

After two months and watching ‘Ten years of Friends’, here I am, graced from head to toe with the fabulous story of six friends and writing to them, riding the same bandwagon which annoyed me at times.

Rachel Green, Monica Geller, Phoebe Buffay, Joey Tribbiani, Chandler Bing and Ross Geller, you six guys add colour to our life, not just any colour, you inundate our life in such a way that we feel like we are the seventh colour of your rainbow of friendship.

Now that I am done watching the show, I can relate all of you guys with my group of friends. As a matter of fact, every group of friend can be related to you.

Monica- the one annoying person in the group, talks like her throat is on fire, but the most annoying part, she is always right. I have a Monica-esque friend in every sub-category of the ‘People I Know’ category.

Ross- the smartest of the lot, grammar Nazi, takes forever to get a single sentence out of his mouth, tends to bore with his wisdom, probably the most sensitive of the lot. Do I have a Ross in my group? *coughs*It’s me!*coughs*

Rachel- the hot blonde, the damsel in distress, the one you just can’t hate, no matter how many guys this woman takes down with her shear presence, she has this aura that attracts guys towards her. My world is full with such Rachel’s but none of my friends can ever come this close to being Jennifer Aniston. She’ll be the prettiest Rachel forever.

Joey- the tube-light of the group, you can say dumb to an extent but it would be ‘girls-like-the-dumb’ kind of dumb, and JOEY DOESN’T SHARE FOOD, eats like the government is going to put a ban on eating any moment. I know many such Tribbiani’s and trust me, they are the sweetest kinds of friend.

Phoebe- the weird hipster, the one who defines crazy, inexplicably smart and witty. Some of my friends claims to be crazy, I guess I can relate them to her.

Chandler- the sarcastic one, you want to share a good laugh or want to have a fun time and he is your guy. In this modern day and age, everyone has an ounce of Chandler in them. Sarcasm is the essence of friendship.

What amuses me the most about you guys is the bond between yourselves! I can’t even imagine staying in touch with my friends without whatsapp and you didn’t have a phone at first but still managed to hang-out every day, sharing stuff with each other. The fact that you could ask each other to have a word in private did not raised eyebrows or the rest of your groupies giving you looks like you have stolen a brownie from a little child’s hand, speaks enormously about the difference in two millenniums. People have grown whinier than ever and that line between personal and social life has grown a lot thinner. So much so that people sit on that line and peep in your lives.

You guys were fortunate to be together for so many years, it may practically not be feasible in this era. People have to travel around the world for education, for securing a dream job or for making a name for themselves. And in this race for making it to the top of the ladder, they have to compromise on the social life. It is hard to quit a job which pays you exceedingly well just because you cannot be with your friends for Christmas, but Chandler, you did it. Some give up love for their career. Not everyone gets off the plane which would take you to new career heights like Rachel did. Having a career was important to you guys but being together was even more important. Today, it might be the exact opposite.

A lot of people like me are proud to be born in the 90’s. Calling ourselves a 90’s kid is a cool thing for some valid reasons. But now, after watching you guys having fun together, I wish I was born in the late 70’s, because being a 90’s adult was much cooler.

I just envy you for being such a wonderful group of friends. But, I know for a fact that even though if my friends and I go separate ways and are far away from each other, we have some wonderful memories which will make us comeback to each other one more time. And I want to let you guys know that you have taught me a lot of things about friendship and hopefully, that will help me to be a better friend.

Thank you for being there for me!

Your friend,

I’ll be there for you.

Letter to fellow netizens!

Hello Socialites,

Alia Bhatt, a beautiful young lady, sweet and fabulous, enough to make a guy like me, drool. Some would say she was born with a silver spoon and for a brief period of time I believed the same. But it would be too stupid to try and take away credit from her after seeing that incredible performance in her latest movies (Highway). It's just not the silver spoon, the girl is really talented and we all should appreciate it.

Sarthak Agarwal, another young boy. A class XII CBSE board topper with 99.6% marks. Man that is something out of this world. It takes immense amount of dedication and hardwork to study that much. Scoring that much is surely not a cakewalk.

Both, Alia and Sarthak have nothing common with each other. Nothing. Yet, no matter how huge this world is, it is round, and their fate finally found something common in them. Alia Bhatt and Sarthak Agarwal have both become internet sensations in no time. And no, not for what they have achieved, well, actually for that, but not for good, for bad.

I am talking about those memes or trolls or whatever you call it these days. They are NOT funny anymore. Alright, I get it, she made a mistake on a prime time tv show, a mistake that a celebrity like her shouldn't do. Not knowing your leader, your minister, is certainly not a good thing, but hey, not everybody knows everything and she certainly didn't commit an unforgivable sin. So judging somebodies IQ based on that one remark and claiming her to be dumb does not make you any less dumb. And you make jokes and trolls about a guy scoring more grades than you could possibly imagine, how and why is that justifiable? 

No. I am not a Saint. I for once, don't wear a white hat and i have shared one, well whom am I kidding, many of those jokes and trolls and I plead guilty. When I gave it a thought, I understood, we are poking fun at a person’s expense. And making fun of someone over the internet, belittling someone, it's easy. Trying doing this to their face, try calling Alia Bhatt dumb to her face and you'll understand what dumb really stands for.

All this trolls, all this jokes might even have bad effect on a person. Imagine you're Alia or Sarthak, you go online and the first thing you see is a joke made on you, belittling you. How do you feel? How well do you take a joke made on your IQ level? How do you feel when someone make fun of your achievements? Don't you start vilifying the person who does that? Don't you feel like knocking their teeth down their throat? Or are you the sweetest person in the world? Imagine how helpless Alia and Sarthak are, they can't really rip apart a million tongues but you surely can knock out that one person who makes fun of you.

Well, this ugly things are not limited to just them, it varies to a wide variety of people. From our ex-PM to Mr. Kejriwal, from Ishant Sharma to Virat Kohli, from SRK to Big B. Nobody has escaped from such hypocrisies. No matter how respected the person might be, he is despised for one thing or other.

And the reason I'm writing this is not out of a sudden enlightenment but out of pity. I pity what this world has become. A bunch of sick sadistic human beings make fun of a certain celebrity filing a case for molestation and the rest of the world just share and retweet it? Is this what Indian culture is all about? Have we lost respect for our fellow citizens? Have we become so shallow and foul hearted that we strive on somebody else's personal matters to make jokes and have fun? Where-o-where are our morals?

As predicted based on the Mayans calendar, 2012 was supposed to be the end of the world, well, it's 2014 and we all are alive, but when you think about it, the world truly ended. This God's green earth, it lived on humanity and with the evolution of social media, humanity rests in peace!

 It's my humble request to all the social media user, from Twitter to Facebook, please stop pleasing yourself and the world at someone’s expense. Stop belittling a person.

It's okay to make trolls about a fictional character, it is okay to make a troll about Batman and Joker but when you make fun of Christian Bale and Ledger, it is personal and morally not right.

I hope I convey my thought quiet clearly. So, next time you create or share a troll, before you click that button, think!

Spread a smile by your deeds not trolls.

Your Fellow Netizen,

A guilty troller.

Letter to fellow Mumbaikars!

Dear Mumbaikars,

Hello fellow citizens, how are you doing? Not so great, I know! BEST is on strike, well apparently they say,” We are not on strike, the workers choose not to show up on work!”; I don’t know the exact difference but, either way not the best of the news to wake up to. We Mumbaikars live with simple plans and a normal day to day life. Wake up in the morning, go to work/school/college, come back home, spent some time chilling out and then get back to sleep. Eat. Sleep. Work. Repeat.

The public transport provided by our corporation plays an important role in our daily routine. May it be the local trains, or may it be the BEST buses, we can’t survive without them. The day when the locals stop functioning, it’s hell on earth in Mumbai. Till today, I thought the BEST buses were of less importance, but they are as important as the local trains. They go on strike and I take an unofficial holiday from college.

Every organization which provides public transport had been on strike before, from rickshaws to locals and from cabs to buses, everyone called it off for some reason or the other. The difference being, we were aware of it being happening before hand, unlike today. Today, we got doomed. It’s April fool’s day and the beginning of the financial year and we are trolled. They decided to stand for themselves against the Canadian work format and we are screwed for nothing. Like each time, nobody gives a damn about the consequences we will have to face. Bankers, students who are giving their final exams, the ones who have a job interview, the ones running late for an important meeting and many others face the wrath of all this without any reason.

Within all this mess, there comes a ray of hope, the Mumbaikars, well known for their ‘never back down’ spirit, stood up again. After deciding not to go to college, I visited the microblogging heartthrob website of this city, ‘Twitter!’ While going through it, I discovered this thing trending in Mumbai, “#LetsShareCommute”; for a second, I was confused, I thought it might be a twitter contest or something but after reading the tweets, I figured out what it exactly is and was amazed by it.

#LetsShareCommute was trending because fellow Mumbaikars were tweeting their route of transport and the mode of transport with the number of seats available in their vehicle so that they could share it with someone on the way to the same destination. Not only the people taking public transports and the people involved in car-pooling regularly but the people from upper middle-class who own a car were tweeting about it.  The one who came up with that idea, should be praised by all possible means. It was like taking the concept of car-pooling to a whole new level. We are aware of shared cabs and car-pooling, today they combined both these concepts using a social networking website.

This is the thing we should really be proud about. We, the Mumbaikars unite like it’s a fight for independence whenever a problem arises. May it be the 26^th July floods or may it be the 9/11 attacks, we stand united. We whine, moan and get pissed with the politicians and their wrong doings, but when it comes to helping our fellow citizens, we do not wait for them to help us, no, we get out there and do it ourselves. And for this very reason, I feel safe and at home, no matter in which part of the city I am. People are eager to help you out, wherever you are.

This ‘never back down’ spirit of ours is the real jewel of Mumbai and it will be cherished forever. Keep doing the good work and choose the right people to rule you, so that you will face less problems, not that we can’t face them, but ‘Prevention is always better than cure!’

Take care. Please vote. Implement your right.

Yours Faithfully,

A Proud Mumbaikar.



.S: The initiative was carried out by a Twitter handle @TrafflineMUM. This guys are doing a wonderful job by updating us about the traffic in Mumbai. Do follow them.

Letter to the Facebook CEO!

Hello Mark,

  First up, congratulations on the latest deal with Whatsapp Inc. Owning something which the world is crazy for is just as incredible as anything in this world. And when you buy it for a whopping 19 billion dollars makes a statement. Some people may say that you are crazy. But then, every unique person that breathed on the face of this planet was crazy. I just can't wait to see what you will do with Whatsapp. I know you won't disappoint, you never have and never will.

   The other day, I was surfing on the internet when I came across a news that mentioned your work in the field of philanthropy. You have donated about $900 billion of Facebook shares for some noble cause. That is amazing. I personally love people who do such wonderful gestures for the betterment of the society and make this world a better place. Hats off to you!

  With that being said, I want you to start focussing in the field of education. And by that, I don't mean that you fund a university or start some internship programme. No. I mean, it's time that Facebook starts it's very own university. Most probably the one which runs over the internet. With you being the ayatollah of innovation,  it is beyond my imagination what kind of a system you'll develop.

  Not everyone in this world can afford to drop out of school and create facebook.com! It is an impossible task for some people. The quality of education at Harvard is a lot more different than what I and millions of students around the world get. It's important for someone like you to explore the field of  information technology and put it in a format that is easily accessible for those interested and they really will learn to create a software rather than documenting one.

  A web university is a stupendous task to implement,  but, for Mark Zuckerberg it is easier than learning Greek poetries! Graduating from Facebook University is what people will appreciate more than anything, won't they?

Your disciple!