I watched the game live!!!

Yes, I watched the game live. The finals of the 2006 Soccer world cup was etched into my memory. This is the fourth soccer world cup I'm blessed to watch and without a doubt the best finals. '94 was a damp squib, remembered more for Baggio's mistake. '98 was another damp squib known this time for Ronaldo's mystery illness. '02 was a one-sided match.

When the matches started a month ago, I was rooting for Argentina to win. After the first round, I was more than confident that this would be the world cup where I would be able to see my favorite team lifting the cup. But, as luck would have it, they got knocked out in the quarters. I almost immediately lost interest,but for one team....ITALY. Gone are the days when the Italian team is considered a boring team. They still maintain that traditional strong back four, but the forwards have evolved over time. This world cup saw the Italians playing swiftly and aesthetically.

This world cup is not about a single team. More often than not, the world cups are known to throw one better team which went on to win. But this world cup had more than one good team. France, Germany, Argentina...who would forget the grittiness of the Aussies or the stubborn Ivorians. True, this world cup recorded lesser number of goals, but entertainment wise I rate this the best since '90.

We had one disgraced match (20 cards featuring The Netherlands and Portugal) and some ugly moments (Zidane's head-butt, Rooney's send-off fiasco) but which world cup doesn't? After all, they are humans and emotions tend to fly around. For a whole month I forgot Cricket, Tennis , movies everything. I risked coming late to the office this month... afterall, not every year is the Soccer world cup year.

In this moment of joy, one thought still burns me. When can I proudly say that India is playing the soccer world cup? My friend teases me saying even my grand children will carry the same feeling. I pray not...

Women abuse

How often do you find women abuse in and around you? Quite often, isn’t it? At home, at work; wherever you go you find it. Why only women?

Interestingly, this has its roots in the Vedas. Manu, greatly regarded as the architect of Hinduism, has spelt how women should be. This inherently worked in favor of all those who wanted to shackle women. Not only Hinduism, every religion has spelt out one or the other method of tying them up. The systems of Purdah, Sati, Child marriages only increased the male domination. All these helped the male chauvinists to keep women at home and behave as they like.

Another interesting development in this sequence is the advent of Devdasis. This system promoted prostitution in the society, again another form of abuse. Those were the times when women were treated as objects of entertainment and nothing more.

Then came the times, when some great women of substance revolutionized the society. A Rudramadevi, a Durgabai Deshmukh showed everyone what women are capable of. But, on the domestic front nothing changed; the same old treatment towards women and the same old abuse. But, there was a change in the way women started thinking. This was the time when they gave a serious thought of breaking the shackles. Reformists like Kandukuri helped to transform the way women are treated by this male-dominant society.

And there was a slow but sure change in the thinking of women. They began to realize their true potential. What drastically changed their thinking is the iron woman of India, Indira Gandhi. She epitomized a common Indian woman. She showed that women can do anything they want to. The modern day Kalpana Chawlas and Sushmita Sens only embody their spirit and strength. But, we still see a Jessica Lal. We still witness women undergoing trials and tribulations.
Why do we still witness women abuse? Women, more often than not enjoy the success of their counterparts as much as theirs. But, the same can’t be said of the darker sex. How many men can sincerely say that they enjoy their spouses’ success like theirs? You hardly find one. Having faced the trauma for so many a generations now, it’s not a surprise that women of these days prefer to be single. It’s time everyone recognizes the women power, else a day will come when it will be too late, too little

Weird dreams!!

I usually get weird dreams. Something like - 'I'm in the office in the midst of work just to discover that I've not worn my shirt. I move around desks asking people for a spare shirt'.

This is just one of so many weird dreams I get. I forget things and that's why I maintain spares. I've a spare bok, pen and even a hand kerchief in my bag. After this dream, I was left wondering if I should maintain a dress too in the bag! Who knows, it could be useful to someone like me, if not for me.

Amma...avakaya..

Staying under parental guidance was the best thing to have happened to me. I never cared of anything and was enjoying life. 22 years, that's till my graduation, was the exact time I lived like this. Always got whatever I wanted, be it food, clothes or anything. Maa ka haath ka khana was what I always liked. Once in a while I used to crib. "What's this amma? You did the same curry yesterday." "C'mon amma. Why don't you do something tasty?". Though I got the best of freedom, I always craved for more. I always thought that I could stay even away from home. Alas, this was not to be.

I had to move out looking for jobs. This was about 18 months back and I landed in Hyderabad. Took a small apartment with 4 more friends. What about food? Well...a 'good' mess in the localty was where we used to go. First week was awesome. "Wah..life ho toh aisi. Cool work, masti with friends and good food in the mess. What else do you need?". Well, things change rapidly like a One-day international.

The mess proved to be a damp squib. Repition of the menu and deterioration of quality made us look for a better alternative. But, is it a problem with the mess? No. It's the same as it was in the beginning. I liked it at first because I was looking for a change. Change from what I get at home. But, once I got used to it, it's the same old story. This is where I really miss maa ka haath ka khana. Put simply it's like this... Home made food is good more often than not. You will enjoy outside food only if it's once in a while.

May be, this is the way life taught me...You never admire the beauty of things when you possess them. You feel the greatness only in the absence.

Is it fair to our heroes?

If you ask a 10 year kid in India, "Who is Sachin?", the answer you get will have all the details about him. If you ask him "Who's Shahrukh Khan?", you will a quick reply of all his bio-data. But, if you ask him, "Who's Satyendra Dubey?", you will have a blank face.

Leave alone the child, how many of you seriously know who Satyendra Dubey is. He was the same whistle blower who gave away his life fighting the corruption in Bihar projects. Satyendra was an IIT graduate. When every other IIT alumni was looking towards the greener pastures of the west, Satyendra decided to stay and serve his motherland.

Satyendra got himself a job with the roads authority in Bihar. That was the time when A.B.Vajpayee's dream project "Golden Quadrilateral" was undertaken. Satyendra was working in Bihar on the same project. After a couple of months he found out that the whole system is corrupted. The dealers and brokers are making merry at the cost of our own money.

Satyendra had enough of this and wrote to the Prime Minister office indicating everything and asking them to keep this in secret. Alas, that was not to be. No action was taken to prevent the brokers and on the other hand Satyendra's name was revealed. And one night Satyendra was brutally murdered.

Did he deserve this? He refused all the hefty offers from the west and tried to serve our country. He tried to bring the corruption in the most barbaric state of our country. What did he ask in return? Secrecy. And what did we give. Permanent rest to one of the most talented and dedicated engineers of our country.

The newspapers raised a hullabaloo for, you guessed it right, the first couple of weeks. A bollywood film maker went ahead and said that he'll bring Satyendra's life in a film. All the protests fizzed out in the second week. Neither the central government nor the Bihar government took confidence building measures. The result??? India lost more and more Satyendras.

If this is the case, can you persuade a highly educated Indian leaving for the west, to stay in India? What will you show him to make him work for the country? It's a pity that even now we are in dark about the murderers of Satyendra.

It happens only in INDIA

We have a minister who shuffles his time between visiting Courts and presenting budgets...

We have a movie star who is remanded for hunting down endangered species but has the backing of the whole industry...

We still have criminals who are at large. We still have the Dawoods and the Rajans. We still have corrupt police men...This is to bring the facts about one such cruelty that was left unpunished...

I was surprised to read this -- "Jessica Lal murderers set free"

I, for a moment, thought to be dreaming. For me, this was an open and shut case. The police, for a change have proven their keenness to punish the culprits. Alas, that was not to be.

The rich and spoilt brat of a former minister, Siddharth Vashist alias Manu Sharma, shot a former model Jessica Lal for refusing him a drink in a party. There were high profile witnesses to this incident. One among them was the owner of the bar, Bina Ramani, a high profile socialite in Delhi.

The witnesses vouched to have seen the culprit asking Jessica for a drink. Some of them even recognized Manu. But most of them turned hostile in the court. Most of them, including the eye witness Shayaan Munshi, have told the court that they were either not at the scene or just left the party.

The Court had no choice, but to release the high profile culprit. Reasons being, not enough evidences and inability to establish the sequence of events. The question now is, is this the right verdict??

There will certainly be views and counter views. But, the thing everyone has to agree is that the Indian judiciary is still not giving enough due to circumstantial evidence. This is another case of the rich getting away with the law even with so much evidence stacked against him.

There may be stray incidents where the high profile culprits are punished. There's a Laloo or a Jaya here and there. But the fact is, no high profile culprit has ever completed his jail term. Be it Laloo or be it Jaya. They all have managed to get bails and rule the roost. This leaves me with a despairing thought --- "It happens only in INDIA..."