Q: Favorite show ?
A: Roadies.
Q: Aim in life ?
A: To be a Roadie.
Q: Ideal ?
A: Raghu sir.
Q: What are you up to these days ?
A: Sir, preparing for this season of roadies.
Q: Is this your first time ?
A: No. 5th time sir.
Q: If we don’t select you ?
A: Will come next year again sir.
WOW !
We are in Delhi, attending a Sufi music festival and a singer abc from some xyz country is singing Bulle Shah’s poetry “tere ishq nachaya kar ke thaiya thaiya”.
Some hooligans get on to the stage and start raising anti xyz country slogans and obviously the performance is disrupted and the scene is totally different now.
Who could do such a stupid act at a Sufi music festival ?
.
.
.
.
.
I think most of you would have guessed the country by now. Let me tell you the event and singer’s name: Sanam Marvi singing at Sufi Sindhi festival. And those murdabaad torch bearers were Shiv Sainiks. (Here is the link to the piece of news in Hindu)
They are well known for all such things but I seriously don’t understand the point of disturbing a singer’s performance even if she happens to be from the country which we don’t have a very good relations with. Personally there are things from Pakistan that disappoint me but those policies and all are governed by establishment not singers.
Honestly to my surprise she started singing again once they were driven off the stage by the event crew folks. Earlier she was sitting but now she was standing and sung few songs. The performance lasted for an hour or little more but obviously they had spoiled the scene !
What crap !
But I do have a suggestion that I posted on FB last night:
“Our govt must create a new regiment in the army where only Shiv Sena walas will be allowed to join. And then that regiment should guard our international borders with Pakistan and China.
Lets use this blood that boils so much !”
So here I am sitting at Paris Airport for the second day waiting for my flight to Madrid…
I had to fly from Delhi to Madrid and there were no direct flights. So I booked the one via Paris. It was my first experience with a connecting flight as I always try to take direct flights and haven’t had even the experience of a domestic connecting flight (where the things obviously are less crazy than an international one). All was well till I landed in Paris to find that the connecting flight has been cancelled 
. There was another colleague of mine who has to come from China and board the same flight to Madrid. She reached well before me and had already done the research and asked the Air France guys to put us on some other flight. It was snowing like heck in Paris and so many flights were cancelled. Almost everything was messed up. Long queues at all the desks, people running around to get their flights changed etc. Finally that guy put us on another flight that was 2 hours later but it was departing from the other airport (Orly). And as we were boarding a different flight so we needed to collect the luggage manually and check in again. When the time is bad everything you touch goes wrong. We followed the process to claim the luggage manually and got the luggage ticket. We went to the corresponding Air France desk (after asking 3 or 4 guys) and the reply we got was ! “We have got too much of luggage collected over here, we aren’t handing over any luggage. So you need to tell us the address where the luggage has to be sent.” . In the mean time a lot of time was wasted and there were not much chances of catching the flight in which they put us. So both the luggage and the flight got missed !
While running around, one guy had told us that there was an evening flight to Madrid and he could put us in that. So after missing this morning flight we went back to ask him to put us in the evening flight. oh boy ! all the flights leaving in the evening were full. damn !!!
So now back to another Air France desk. That kind lady took around 30 mins or so and said that I can put you in an Iberian flight that leaves in the evening from Orly. What could be better than that. We said yes. There was a plenty of time so we thought of grabbing something to eat and then leave for Orly (by bus). At this moment I swallowed some amount of chocolate also 
(People who know me can understand what that means).
So we started looking for the bus stop and found that due to snow all the buses have been cancelled ! Other options were to catch the train to half the way and then get a taxi or get a taxi from here itself. But people here said that taxi is really expensive. They charge some 90 Euros. Moreover due to weather it was really difficult to find a taxi and also it may take long time to reach.
So we chose the train option, went to the train station and with the help of someone got the tickets. Boarded the train with a map in the hand to match what all stations were on the way. One, two, three, four stations passed but we cant find the names of the map. Something is crappy again man ! Then a dude told that the stations on the map were yet to come on the way forward on this route. well finally the next station was there on the map. We DIDN’T board the wrong train ! 
We got off at the station where we were told to and started looking for taxi. It again was a struggle but anyway after some 30 mins we got a taxi and reached the Orly airport…to find that the Iberian flight in which they put us has also been cancelled ! We queued in the line at the Iberian desk for 1 hour or more to get the answer “we cant do anything”.
Some more research and we were back to Air France desk (some other desk dealing with all such crap that we faced). They told us that no more flights for Madrid were there so the only option was to fly the next day. She arranged accommodation and taxi for us and put us in one of the morning flights. I said when time is bad…there were two hotels with the same name and the taxi guy dropped us at the wrong hotel !!! Again walked in snow for 25-30 mins and finally found the actual hotel.
It was a nice hotel and stay there was good too.
In the morning we left for the airport to catch the flight to Madrid. Here we reached and that one was also CANCELLED !!!
Back to the Air France crap dealing department and after a lot of struggle they put us on another flight that leaves an hour or so later.
So here we are waiting for that flight. Lets hope for the best !
Oh yes and the baggage status says “received at the airport”. God knows it is Paris or Madrid airport ?
Lets hope for the best 
.
I remember writing a similar post exactly 1 year ago.
Today again I will just wish for the same.
May the sufferings and pains of this world end.
May it be a more peaceful place.
But we need to do a lot before we reach there. In the words of Faiz sahab
humne maana jung kari hai sar footenge, khoon bahega,
khoon mein gham bhi beh jayenge…
Aameen !
Quite literally everything…I repeat every damn thing is wrong in this country !
The defunct law and order system: In general system the law and order system is totally defunct. The criminals are no longer scared of what their fate is gonna be after the crime ? One can easily get away after committing a heinous crimes like murder or rape.
The police: The police no longer works for the common man or the sufferer. I have a personal experience of dealing with Delhi Police (in the capital of India…you hear ?) while trying to get an FIR registered for a theft. No one is ready to listen to you; NO ONE. The misery and helplessness you are made to feel at police stations is beyond the expression in words. In such a scenario where one can go for help ? There is no need to mention how the police will behave in case someone from an influential background is involved in the crime.
Judiciary: Judiciary has turned out to be the absolute disappointment. Lakhs of cases are pending in the courts. Judges, lawyers, eye witnesses everyone can be bought for money and in such a scenario you can hardly hope for any justice. Even one manages to file a case, the trial goes on for years resulting in even more suffering. Remember Surjit Patar’s words ?
Es adalat ‘ch bande birakh ho gaye,
Faisle sundeyan sundeyan suk gaye
Aakho enha nu ujjade gharin jaan hun
Eh kado teek ethe khade rehange
Such is the state of our judicial system.
Today’s generation: We do talk a lot about helping someone if he/she is in trouble. But reality tells a different bit. You see something happening on the road and try to get involved in that. There are pretty much chances that you yourself are going to be injured, killed or something like that. We have already seen cases where someone challenged few youngsters who were eve teasing a girl and that poor man has to pay with his life. Such shameful and horrible incidents set a different tone and everybody tries to walk away even if he sees something happening around.
The sick mentality of this society: One of the most important points is the sick mentality of the society especially MEN. I don’t want to write much on this topic. That saying “All Men are dogs” explains it all.
Women’s portrait in the media: Our media, newspapers, magazines, movies have left no stone unturned to portrait woman as a bodily object of pleasure that can be used as man wants and then thrown away. That is what most of the movies and music videos present. Result of all that is that we are at this stage !
So my friends this is where we stand today ! I can just hope that we head towards betterment. Nothing more to say. If the scenario remains the same, you already know what the future is gonna be like 
.
I shuddered with horror after reading what this poor girl has to go through. She was a brave girl and fought very bravely. But today she lost the fight and is no more with us.
We all are responsible for your death girl. We are all ashamed of
being part of this society,
being mute spectators of the injustice happening around us,
being part of this impotent system,
choosing this impotent government that can’t protect us.
May your soul rest in peace !
And I am not sure where “God” is at this moment ? As Nasir Kazmi said
oh mere masroof khuda,
apni dunia dekh zara
The popularity of Pakistani singers in India is a very well known thing. But the other thing I have always wanted to know is which Indian singers are heard in Pakistan.So thought of writing a blog post to know little more. Of course there is no hidden agenda 
. Just out of curiosity wanted to know this.
It will be great if you could write the name of the singer in the comments. It will be even more awesome if you could few lines as well.
Please note that Bollywood playback singers don’t qualify as an answer.
Hoping to hear from Pakistani friends !
Nothing specific to write. Just a random post.
Was watching TV and the corruption sagas getting unfolded. How common man is being looted by the corrupt politicians and he can’t do much. The so called democracy looks more like dictatorship.
Thoughts of the large fraction of people are shaped by the “biased” media. So a big number doesn’t even understand what is good and what is bad for them ?
Move outside the country and in the neighborhood a 14 year old girl was shot in head for promoting education for women. What ? EDUCATION !
Move little more and you see a country that has been at war since so many years. As many as i can remember i think.
Have a look at the world map and countries are fighting with each other. Reasons ? either one wants to become more powerful or wants to have access to some natural resource that other country have in plenty.
The financial imbalance is increasing like anything. There are people who don’t know how much wealth they have and on the other side there are millions who don’t know whether they will get a meal before sleeping or not ?
Newspapers are full of news about rapes, murders, killings, corruption.
People are fighting over religions. Or are being killed in the name of religions.
Such a sad world we live in !
I am not sure if there is some God watching all this. Did he want the earth to be like this ? If NO then why doesn’t he do something ? After all it is he who is running everything. No ?
The kind of materialistic and violent world we live in it is normal to get disappointed thinking that where exactly this world is heading. But then you come across something that brings hope like Sun brings rays of light in the morning.
Malala Yousafzai is a young girl from Swat region of Pakistan who has been advocating for right to education for women. She was 11 years old when Taliban imposed a ban for education on women in the region and she felt the need to raise a voice against it.
Yesterday few gunmen attacked her school bus and she was critically injured. She is being treated at a hospital in Peshawar and reported to be out of danger.
What to say of a sick mind that thinks that some purpose can be achieved by attacking a 14 years old child. And what about his belief system that feels threatened by voice of a child who is merely 14 years old ?
While going through related news I came across one documentary titled Class Dismissed made by a journalist from NY Times. You yourself should watch the video to see the courage and confidence in her. She was merely 11 years old when this documentary was shot in 2009. An 11 year old child, living in such troubled area where you daily hear the sounds of bomb blasts and gun shots…so fearless and determined for a noble cause of education. Such confidence, the ideas to excel and do so much for the society. To be honest watching this whole video was so emotionally draining for me that I felt like writing something as a mark of respect of this young and brave soul. For most of the kids the childhood is all about playing and having fun and this girl at the age of 11 was thinking about getting the right of education for the girls of her area. She is a blessed and a special child. She is just half my age and I can compare the thoughts that run into my mind with what she talks about. It is an inspiration to be better, do better and do something for others. Here is another video of her and her father from Morning with Farah which will throw more light on her life and childhood.
She is a blessed and brave child and gonna be all right. Our prayers are with her. This world needs more Malala’s who can bring more hope to this troubled planet.
God bless you child !
Bollywood music is not something that even deserves a blog post but when there is some really really big confusion being spread about some of the legendary symbols of folk, it needs to be talked about.
There is a new song stupidly, wrongly, absurdly titled Challa from the movie Jab Tak Hai Jaan. Lyrics are by Gulzar and the music has been composed by none other than awein hi overrated A R Rahman sahab.
Now the problem with this song is that it has been titled Challa whereas the word he has pronounced (and probably Gulzar has written) is Jhalla. These two are totally different words and have different meanings. Gulzar & Rabbi both are Punjabis and they very well understand the difference. There has been some mess up somewhere in between and it is a big one.
Impact ? Some experts have declared that Challa & Jhalla mean almost the same thing. I am writing this post to address this stupidity. Please…these are two different words and mean absolutely different things. And of course a song Jhalla shouldn’t be titled Challa.
Challa literally means ring…a token of love exchanged between lovers. A girl whose lover is away from her…talks to Challa and tells her pain. In Punjabi folk it is a metaphor which has been used in this kind of context. Later there were other versions written by some other people. But the original one finds its roots in the regions of Sandal Bar (in the present day Pakistan). It developed there as a folk few hundred years ago. Here is a post explaining the meaning of the complete song.
Jhalla on the other hand literally means manaic or foolish. But in Punjabi this word is (mostly) not used in this context. It is used for someone who is passionately in love with someone or someone who is in pain due to separation from his/her loved one. Someone who is so impacted by the pain that he appears like a mad to the rest of the world.
Now tell me how these two words mean the same thing ?
