Cast off Caste

I was talking to my flatmate yesterday. We had a small argument about intercaste marriage. He will not do intercaste marriage due to his family and community background. Thats, ok reply for me. Then, I fired next shell on him, " What about your daughter in the future?". He replied that he will go for intracaste marriage if the girl does not opt for the love marriage (consider it against his wish). I was astonished by his reply and blaming his impotency to stand on this issue on his family and community. I can imagine the upbringing of the girl (daughter) in that environment very easily. So full of prejudice and what more to say..

Most of the people who support intercaste marriage openly, they are not going to do that. They said that just to show people their pseudo open mindness. At the juncture point, they don't have guts to do that. And latter justify that he/she can't marry intercaste girl/boy because of there parents and relatives, community. The neutral accent of these people derail reforms more than brutal atrocities done by caste prejudices.

Rigid Stand of most people against inter caste marriage pisses me off and then on argument, they give bullshit theories of tradition, caste superiority and then fear of society. I believe them as the same people who suffer from white man syndrome. I was giving previous example from daily life to show you that educational degree does not reflect mindset of an individual . Its the broad mindset to accept and judge things rationaly on the basis of merit rather tradition or style which matters most in our life.

From 5 years, I am learning about new India and Indians strangely hidden by mass media from us. I am pretty sure that only few people reading this blog will be aware of the name of Martin Luther King Jr. and Civil Rights movement in America. Strangely, But I am damn sure that none of my friends (Read: Hindutva follower) will be knowing about Self-Respect Movement started by Periyar in Tamilnadu a century above. Getting the youth involved is crucial in the process of social change against caste discrimnation. The root of this prejudice lies deep in our histories, but its impact is felt every day.

Will be updating more on this issue....

"It is not God that is worshipped but the group or authority that claims to speak in His name. Sin becomes disobedience to authority not violation of integrity." - S Radhakrishnan.

Fight against Hunger

I have never written anything for the sake of publicity or public lobbying in this blog. Today, I am breaking this rule. Please read all the posts (atleast this news article only) of this blog for the awareness campaign run by a single man against the whole system. It is a fight to ensure most basic right of existence of an individual: Right of food.

Core area of the discussion here is about food, agriculture and hunger.

Ground Realities : by Devinder Sharma

Music, Mango and Samosa

Music:
Indians are exposed to a lot of rural folk, bollywood music, pop albums and bhakti songs. Few of us also ventures into Indian classical and Carnatic music also. The unique amalgam of traditional music and popular cinema sounds, being performed by musicians on stages and arenas, depicting the cultural lifestyle of Indian. I am here giving you links of street music of Indian. You may have heard thousand of western classical, rock, jazz and blues but I insist for giving attention to our own musical heritage: Street Music of India.

Samosa:
Kanpurites has good sense of business sense and one of the example is here.Its a story of branding and marketing Samosa in recent times of Lokshabha election.

"The sweet shop in focus is Satya Sweet House's one-rupee 'samosa' and rightly naming it as 'Nano Samosa'. It is the current hot favourite with the political workers of the various political parties. To ensure the smooth sale of samosas to field workers of political parties the shop has made some special arrangements. The shop has set a target to sell 6,000-7,000 samosas daily. It is supplying 1,000 samosas daily to district Congress party headquarter at Tilak Hall alone, while BJP office is trailing with a consumption 600-700 samosas per day." [As read in India Today]

Mango:
I am not great fan of Mango like Mirza Ghalib but really missing the diverse mango varieties in Hyderabad. I have never eaten Malda and Aamrpali (Bihar region), but now wants to taste these varieties. Before that, rolling again back to the Kanpur memories, a reproduction from local news of Kanpur..

"There is hardly anything tempting about summers but for the succulent mangoes. As the sun beats down mercilessly,the only good thing is arrival of aam in the city. Kanpurites wait till the end of May to dig into their favourite varieties -- Langda, Chausa and Dussehri. Before that, they have to settle for the more readily available Alphonso, Badaam-Safeda, Totapari and Gulab Khaas.

And if mango is the king of fruits then Alphonso is the king of mangoes. Alphonso mangoes are known for their superior quality and their sweet taste. The northern belt, especially UP, is known not only for its varieties of mango but also for the legends associated with it. Legend has it that the Nawabs of Awadh and people in Bihar planted thousands of mango saplings in their area and hence, the maximum number and variety of mangoes are from this region. People of this region have also experimented with methods of hybridisation and grafting to produce new varieties. Another legend associated with this variety of the fruit says that the famous Langda variety of mango was a result of a chance seeding near Benaras." [Times of India]

Kanpur- Pigs, Vikrams & Gutkha.

Once upon a time, Kanpur was called the land of swine and auto-rickshaws, speaking in English: pigs and Vikram auto only. It was a popular idiom among citizens that beware while driving Vikram and the pigs. They can stop, run and take unpredictable turns on the road. And in fighting, you can't win from their masters.

Kanpur is without a doubt one of the most polluted and chaotic cities. Today the world is hit by swine flu, I recall the old days when private pig farms proliferated in the city without any monitoring. Kanpur was the center of bristle trade for the whole of India under colonialism mainly done by Khatiks. After the decline of the bristle trade, the Khatik switched over to public pig rearing which became a menace to the whole of Kanpur.
The brief rides on the “Vikrams” for roaming in the city can invariably be left an outsider tired, irritable, and generally sick. Still, People prefer Vikrams to crammed buses for their mobility and fast service inside the jammed road of Kanpur. But I loved them for their talkative drivers and mithun da-type sidekicks hanging outside autorickshaws. The image down there is of an old autorickshaw which was the master of the road in starting '90s. Pretty fun to ride in them, now they are replaced by better ones. Still, a crazy drive in Vikram having a seat beside the driver is a must part of all Kanpur trips.
Now the number of pigs is significantly reduced by the action of ex-mayor Anil Kumar Sharma. And CNG buses considerably reduces the workload of transportation and outing of old vehicles (15 years old) reducing emission considerably.

One more deserving mention about the specialties of Kanpur is Gutkha. Wikipedia defines Gutkha (also spelled gutka, guttkha, guthka) as a super kick a** version of Skoal tobacco. Spitting paan masala is so common that even your white shirt is saved from blackening due to pollution, a journey on the local bus will surely make it damp with a red mark. Pan Parag, Kamla Pasand, Talab, Rajshree, Natraj, and Wah are the name of the popularized brands here.
While the decision to ban gutkha is well received by and large, it is seen as a big blow to some five-lakh people who are employed in this sector and the revenue loss to the state government is immense. Over fifty different Paan Masala and gutkha industries will not be the only losers, even the itra (perfume) industry of Kannauj fall into this trap. Ninety percent of the perfume here is used by the Paan Masala and Gutkha industries in Kanpur.

I am not uttering a single word about the dying roads having valleys and plateaus on them. On every single Billboard and wall, there is the name of the Member of the parliament of this city Mr. Sriprakash Jaiswal who also happens to be a cabinet minister and that too home minister (state). I wonder if he ever visits his constituency or makes cunning speeches!!

Here only, I saw filth all around and myself experienced this, now I call it a ‘Human Jam’. What a city, what a mess. Kanpur Series goes on....

Truly, Wah Kanpur, Ahh Kanpur!!!..........

13 Screen Divas

5 Actress I Like:

Waheeda Rahman
Shabana Azmi
Meryl Streep
Cate Blanchett
Kate Winslet

8 Heroines I Like:

Madhubala
Salma Hayek
Meg Ryan
Monica Bellucci
Priety Zinta

Drew Barrymore
Scarlett Johansson
Ayesha Takia