Does this Have any end?

Reality programmes have become a part and parcel of television today. From the days of [V] Popstars which some claim to be the first “real” Reality programme, to today’s overtly real shows, this genre has made everyone sit up and take notice. There was a time when the long running series of Sa Re Ga Ma and Antakshari, were the predecessors of this genre of programming. Today reality television has totally taken over other genres on television. Channels like Colors, Real came into existence because of reality shows. Today these programmes are becoming more voyeuristic than ever.

If there were programmes like Kaun Banega some 7-8 years Crorepati (that in todays’ context will be an innocent programme) today it’s about someone getting married on television (read Rakhi Ka Swayamvar) or someone telling the truth on television (Sach Ka Saamna). And for the past few years’ programmes like Roadies have been the best show for youth. MTV, which produces programmes like Roadies, is the youth television of India with reality shows like Splitsville (a very pathetic programmes if I may add) which always manages to get top TRP’s and the recent started Stunt Mania.

With this seasons reality shows up on the block, our MP’s in Rajya Sabha have taken a stand and voiced how shows like “Sach Ka Samna” are against our culture and denies all tastes of decency and goodness that as Indians we are quite proud off. This has sparked a new controversy and the concerned channel has been sent a notice asking for a justification for doing such a show. It is high time that voice should be raised against these pathetic programmes. On the name of reality they portray anything. Bitching, backbiting, use of foul language have been made a part of our society now. Otherwise why would a show like “Splitsvilla” survive which makes a complete mockery of the concept of love or even why would everyone glue to their television sets to know who Rakhi Sawant is getting married to? Saying anything about “Sach Ka Samna” will require the use of words that would not be acceptable in a platform like this.

Interestingly, all these programmes are adaptations of concepts from other countries. This just goes to show that such concepts have universal appeal and can work anywhere. They also work because as social animals we like to know what is happening to others and get immense pleasure in their discomfort and sometimes also in their happiness. But it is the time to draw a line between what is pleasurable and what becomes obscene. It is time that the MP’s and even the common man speaks up and says that these things cannot be accepted anymore. The producers cannot bring out anything on the name of entertainment. This needs to be stopped somewhere and surely the time has come.

Living the European Dreams but still being an Indian

One can’t deny that the European countries are just awesome. Look at the spectacular, picturesque landscapes, waterscapes and even the people. Everything looks picture perfect, out of fairy tales, something that just does not belong to this world (atleast not the “world” we live in). As Indians we are one dirty community, spitting on the roads is just normal, finding no dustbins throwing things on the roads is just a way of life and lets not even mention the habits of the our men urinating on the streets.

As human beings we are good, successful. We know how to make a life for ourselves. Education has helped us further in improving ourselves. (Let me just clarify, here by “we” I primarily mean the middle class and the upper middle class. I am not even getting into the major section of the population who are poor and without education). But when it comes to social awareness or even responsibility we prefer ignoring and turning a deaf ear towards them. If we hadn’t would not we make an attempt to keep our surroundings clean, be hygienic in the way we behave on the roads?

India is a very beautiful country. Very few countries have the diversity that we Indians often boast of. We have the mountains, we have the hills, we have the desert and we also have the seas and oceans. Our lands are filled with jewels in the form of minerals, soil quality and yet we don’t want to take care of it. Is it that we are not proud of what we have and always long for what others have? It is true that the grass is always greener on the other side but our grass isn’t bad either!! If we all start taking a stand and make our small efforts we too can have a clean and beautiful country. It is time to stop blaming the government (yes, they are to be blamed) and move on and see how things can be changed if we try.

As I am writing this, a thought just came to my mind. While visiting the many malls in the city one thing that comes out is that they are very clean. They just don’t fit into the otherwise dirty surroundings. Sweepers are always on the toes cleaning and making the area spic and span. We on our parts are also conscious not to litter the area and show how “classy” we are. But as soon as we step outside our etiquette goes down the drain and we begin our littering spree. Are the malls the real India or are our streets real India? It is time we shed our hypocrisy and behave in a similar manner whether it is inside a mall or on the streets.

As an Indian I hope the day comes when seeing India on television I can boast of clean roads, sparkling buildings, clear skies. Let them not fade away into a dream never to come true.

A small dream comes true…

We often dream of many things, some quite impossible, some though within reach does not really come true. When I was younger, I had many such dreams, many have come true some haven’t. but today a little dream did come true. I visited Lady Sri Ram College. Well let me share this story.

When I was in my +2 much of my time was devoted in collecting information about institutions and one place that kept coming on and off was Delhi University. It was the place to be and it still is. Every time there was any information about graduation, the list started with the colleges in DU. As I was interested in pursuing History honours, LSR was always said to be the best college for that. Slowly that became my dream. I just wanted to go there and that was it. I knew that was a big dream and it would be really tough to fulfill it. But I just wanted to do that. The cut-offs were terrific (they still are) and for a mediocre student under the state board quite unreachable. But I kept dreaming. When finally the time came for me to apply, I could not even fill in the forms, as my results were not declared. And all my dreams were dashed immediately. I later took up something completely different and history as a career became a history.

Back from this flashback now its time to relate how the dream came true four years later. Well I entered LSR- the great college, the place that was supposed to be my destiny but didn’t eventually become. But my niece is there now doing the same thing I wanted to do. She is in LSR doing history honours. I went to meet her and than I also got a chance to enter the place. To be honest, I felt strange. I have moved on so much in life that the dream of going to LSR has been buried somewhere deep within me. Today it emerged, but I did not feel really bad. I have quite happy doing what I am doing. No real regrets. As a friend often tells me, if I had gone to LSR, I would not get to know some of the best people I call friends now and then today I am what I am for my graduation days.

But yes a small dream of entering LSR did come true.

The Big 'Technology' Fight

Even since man took his fist step on the planet he has fought for supremacy. He started fighting the animals for food and then fought with other man over sharing of food. Slowly man evolved and fought for kingdoms and then for countries. But with the industrial revolution man fought over technology. The biggest, the longest and the fastest became the world wars. In the era of information technology Google and Microsoft have wedged a battle ever since Google came into the picture in the late 90s

The battle began with full force when Google on its official blog announced that by the end of 2010, they would be introducing their own Operating System- Google Chrome OS. This was seen as an open challenge to Microsoft, the biggest players in the market when it comes to OS. Nearly 90% of the users around the world use Microsoft OS. Google claims to build an OS that will be “the thing” to use for people who use the computer mostly to connect to the World Wide Web. “Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS”, so says the official blog of Google. They want to make it as user-friendly as possible (keeping their trademark on user friendly applications).

Now Microsoft, in a counter-attack, has announced that it will make its Office application free for the web. This is in reply to Google Docs, launched about three years back. About two months back Microsoft had also launched Bing, a re-launch of sorts of Microsoft Live again to compete Google’s search engine.

When Google entered the internet market MSN had the lion's share of the market along with Yahoo Inc but the California based company revolutionized the way people searched on the net. Google no longer remained a search engine it became a verb as far as internet search is concerned. Both the computer giants are venturing into each others terrains and trying to topple the other. Google is now an established firm when it comes to the World Wide Web. Today almost everyone “Google’s out information”. Googling is on. It will be very difficult to remove Google from its area. Similarly, Microsoft has been the Big Daddy since its start about three decades ago. It captured the market and home-users, businesses preferred (and still does) using their OS and other softwares like Office, Media Player. But when it came to internet, it always had difficultly. Though it managed to take over Mosiacs market in the Internet Browser market, soon it had to bow to Netscape Navigator and Mozilla Firefox.

This is just the beginning of the war and it will surely continue and get fiercer in the coming days. With new promises and launches from both the stables, who wins this battle only time can tell. Till then, we the users can happily be taking the advantages of both the companies!!!

A lil’ of Bengal in Dilli…

Of the famous colonies of Delhi, one cannot miss the name Chittaranjan Park. A visit three years back has just become a memory of visiting relatives. But yesterday, my visit there will be engraved in my memory as a nice and livening experience. I saw a little bit of Bengal in the Hindi-populated streets of Delhi.

The market where I went, is one of the largest in C.R Park and has a completely ‘Bengali’ atmosphere. There were the typical Bengali Babus in their adda (and I am told this will be found only in this place in Delhi). We (that is my brother and I) entered the fish market first. It was quite a sight!! I felt I was suddenly uplifted from the crowds of the capital to the heart of Bengal. The shopkeepers were Bengali, everyone was talking in Bangla and it just seemed that a part of Kolkata was lifted and placed in here. The screams, the bargains, the men in kurta all were not part of delhi.

Coming out of that place, I heard tits and bits of some conversation. There were the older generations vividly talking about politics and the events of the day while the second generation young Bengalis were having their share of adda in Hindi. My brother later explained that these second generation Bengalis in Delhi have become a curious mixture of Hindi-wallas and Bengalis. There language just shows that.

Though I was there for a very little time, it was heart-warming to find that there were people from my place who had managed to build their own space that no other community has managed to do in Delhi yet.

What's so special about Special Days??

You think you are getting bored and don’t know how to make your day special? Simple, log on to the internet and find out what special day it is today and there you can go celebrating it. There are many days that have been termed as being special, unusual, bizarre simply because they are unique and sometimes even hilarious. For instance, if you like chocolates, then there is a special chocolate day celebrated on July 7th. There is however another website which says that the same day is celebrated during the Valentine Week.

If you like something else there will indefinitely be some other day to celebrate your liking. In a similar manner everyday in the calendar is some special day. Sometimes these are just absurd while at other times the name of these days will make you laugh out loud. While there can be these hilarious days like Sugar Cookie Day, Swimming Pool Day, Monkey Day, Ice Cream Cone Day and many others, there are also on the other hand some meaningful days like Environment Day, Earth Day, World Aids Day etc. Though most of these special days just pass by, there are more famous ones that we are aware of and like celebrating. These are the very popular Valentine’s Day, Friendship’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and a score others. Interestingly the last Sunday of July is Parent’s Day.

If you happen to visit one of the e-card websites, a part of the website will be dedicated to the various “special days” of the month. Each e-card website have their own set of days, sometimes they match while at other times they do not. In a way these card companies specially the e-card companies have popularized these days. Though these “special days” are created on a lighter vein, there are many such days that are of national importance and have been recognized by the government.

In India we have the very common Independence Day, Republic Day, Teacher’s Day, Children’s Day. In the western countries, celebrating days are of much more significance. In the US there have been movements and campaigns for making a day known and special. In the early part of the last century, there were movements and mass awareness on establishing days of national importance for Mothers and Fathers. This ultimately gave way to Mother’s Day, Father’s Day celebrated on the second Sunday of May and third Sunday of June respectively.

As always people do have contradictory views on the importance of these days. Some opine that they are nothing but marketing gimmicks only to boost up sales and loot the customers. On the other hand there are also staunch believers in these days specially the ones when they get to salute relationships. One person says, “It gives me a chance to tell my relatives or friends that they are special”. Another college going girl says that though she does not believe in all these days at the same time they give her a chance to avail many offers like discounts on food, shopping which she rather enjoys.

There may be many reasons to celebrate and surely these sometimes absurd-sounding names can make us laugh.

the first moments....

At the start of a new week, I thought it was perfect to also start my new blog, Passing Moments. Over the past fortnight, my experience in a new city has been interesting. One thing I have realized is that if you can observe the world around you, there are many things you can learn. At a later stage they can be used as good anecdotes too.

Traveling on the bus everyday to office has been fun. Now people will say, how can that be? Sweating it out, fighting to find a place to even put a foot on the already over-loaded bus cannot be fun!!! But I don’t know, I am having some time observing people, seeing them and listening to their conversations (this part is not easy in a bus where every one talks at the same time). The one voice that rules over others in the bus is surely that of the conductor. “oh bhai, aage jao”, “India Gate walo niklo”, “bhai ticket”….and the likes continue. The patience with which they have to handle so many people at a time is simply wonderful. Had I been in the place, I wouldn’t have survived an hour.

Then comes the commuters. There are so many kinds of people to be found on the bus that it truly shows the myriad colours of India. Truly a nation with diversity. Sharing seats side by side, it is a common sight to find two women, one in chic clothes, hair nicely done, sunglasses tucked on the hair and an air of confidence in the way she sits while right beside her will be the quintessential Indian women in a sari loosely draped around her body, with bangles dangling on her hands, boisterous mannerisms and an attitude to survive yet another day. Both seem to mingle with the rest of the crowd seamlessly as if they are not really from different worlds but actually co-exist in the same place.

I thank the mobile companies for bringing out such new technologies to us that has given us a companion even when we are alone. Most of the commuters can be seen with the earphones on and smiles on their face. But at the same time I thank my father for not letting me indulge in such devices because if I had done so, I wouldn’t have got the fun I have been getting watching the people around me.

Today an interesting thing happened while I was coming to work. There are “ladies seat” reserved for the women and usually finding them empty, they are occupied by the men. Similar was the case when I boarded the bus. Seeing one such “gentleman” (I purposely quote the word) I told him that he was sitting in the ladies seat. Much to my surprise he looked blankly at me and continued sitting. I tried another time without any result. Not wanting any arguments I gave up. What I want to basically say is that he seemed to be a well-educated “gentleman”, who purposely wanted to ignore my request, in a very gentle manner. Usually this does not happen and people easily oblige to the request, but today was different so wanted to share the experience.

Right now, it’s just the start of the day and I yet have another trip in the bus left for the day.

At the start of a new week, I thought it was perfect to also start my new blog, Passing Moments. Over the past fortnight, my experience in a new city has been interesting. One thing I have realized is that if you can observe the world around you, there are many things you can learn. At a later stage they can be used as good anecdotes too.

Traveling on the bus everyday to office has been fun. Now people will say, how can that be? Sweating it out, fighting to find a place to even put a foot on the already over-loaded bus cannot be fun!!! But I don’t know, I am having some time observing people, seeing them and listening to their conversations (this part is not easy in a bus where every one talks at the same time). The one voice that rules over others in the bus is surely that of the conductor. “oh bhai, aage jao”, “India Gate walo niklo”, “bhai ticket”….and the likes continue. The patience with which they have to handle so many people at a time is simply wonderful. Had I been in the place, I wouldn’t have survived an hour.

Then comes the commuters. There are so many kinds of people to be found on the bus that it truly shows the myriad colours of India. Truly a nation with diversity. Sharing seats side by side, it is a common sight to find two women, one in chic clothes, hair nicely done, sunglasses tucked on the hair and an air of confidence in the way she sits while right beside her will be the quintessential Indian women in a sari loosely draped around her body, with bangles dangling on her hands, boisterous mannerisms and an attitude to survive yet another day. Both seem to mingle with the rest of the crowd seamlessly as if they are not really from different worlds but actually co-exist in the same place.

I thank the mobile companies for bringing out such new technologies to us that has given us a companion even when we are alone. Most of the commuters can be seen with the earphones on and smiles on their face. But at the same time I thank my father for not letting me indulge in such devices because if I had done so, I wouldn’t have got the fun I have been getting watching the people around me.

Today an interesting thing happened while I was coming to work. There are “ladies seat” reserved for the women and usually finding them empty, they are occupied by the men. Similar was the case when I boarded the bus. Seeing one such “gentleman” (I purposely quote the word) I told him that he was sitting in the ladies seat. Much to my surprise he looked blankly at me and continued sitting. I tried another time without any result. Not wanting any arguments I gave up. What I want to basically say is that he seemed to be a well-educated “gentleman”, who purposely wanted to ignore my request, in a very gentle manner. Usually this does not happen and people easily oblige to the request, but today was different so wanted to share the experience.

Right now, it’s just the start of the day and I yet have another trip in the bus left for the day.