Christmas and New Years

Two things all over the place are 1.) Christmas and 2.) New Year, so how can I not have an opinion about it and not write about it? Starting with Christmas, I must say I love the entire Christmas feeling – the cold I always seem to catch during the season, the Christmas carols that I can tweak in a funny way and laugh my guts out, the Santa Claus delusion, the red color tacky decor everywhere and the holiday from office. Ha!

Let’s go one by one, what is with the cold and flu? No matter how much caution I show I ALWAYS end up with a red nose and sore throat. Crazy. And Santa Claus? I mean I like the man and all that, but it is not funny how much people are deluded by him. He is arguably the most suspicious character I’ve known. Ever wondered how his name ‘Santa’ is so similar to ‘Satan’? hehe. Anyway, my favorite is the RED theme all over the place – malls and shops and even offices. I love the color! And the office off – just made my day :D And before I move on to the next topic of the post, may I ask why some people insist on calling it ‘X-Mas’? I never understood this name, seriously. I mean c’mon people, Christmas is celebrated because ‘Christ’ was born on this day, not someone called ‘X’. Or are they people who are fans of the ‘X-Men’ series? Whatever.

Okay, so my last year’s carol was very popular (I would like to believe it, at least). Did I forget my Christmas carol version this year? Here goes:

Joy to the world,
the mall burned down
And all the dresses died
And all the shoes
are big time doomed
And poor people like me sing
And poor people like me sing
And poor, and people, like me sing


Joy to the world,
the mall burned down
And all the lingerie’s gone
And the bags that stare
and perfumes that glare
Are no more there to fear
Are no more there to fear
No more, no more for me to fear


Sing it, it is fucking amazing. Genius, me. (proud smile)

Moving on. New Year. 5 days from today. I’m almost done with the final draft of my New Year resolution which came down to 2 points from 119 points in 2 days. I still have to rethink on these 2 points. Hehe. Anyway, I have to flaunt that I am off to Goa tomorrow for my new year celebration (why do you think I included ‘New Year’ in this post then?). Totally cool, isn’t it? Well, actually it was a last minute plan and I blew all my money in the air fare and the beach parties have all been canceled but what the hell, this is my 1st time in Goa and I think I’ll have fun. Oh please now, dont you start with the Goa-is-on-a-high-alert stuff and go ahead and be jealous of me. :) Wishing a happy new year to all of you and a great fun filled peaceful colorful year ahead.
Love, Aditi.

Terrorism: Why India, and other questions

Unclear and confused post alert!

I know it’s a bit late to have a post dedicated on Mumbai Terror attacks - but I want you to know that I wanted to write something sooner, but I didn’t want another arbitrary-unstructured-emotional dump of words kind of a rant like I did for the Delhi Blasts a few months back. The Mumbai terror attacks looked like a perfect sport – a trained team that’s highly motivated and skilled. It broke my heart. I was hurt when it was Delhi and now, when it was Mumbai – something inside me died. I wanted to do something and like last time – actually like many last times - I didn’t know what to do. So for the lack of thoughts/reactions/actions, I watched the television 24x7. But joy to the world, a frenzied Barkha Dutt was all over the place. I changed channels to escape the old hag’s insensitive coverage, thinking that may be it’s only me who is biased against the ‘Jahnsi ki raani’ of Kargil, until plenty of comments started pouring on the Brakha Dutt and Blogging post of mine which made it clear that some other people also share the same opinion. The woman is insane.

Off the records, I’ve joined the ‘Take Barkha Dutt Off Air’ group on FaceBook :D

Anyway, with Barkha Dutt answering the allegations made on media (read ‘her’), with media (otherwise) behaving a bit sensibly post the attacks, with Obama supporting India, with politicians showing their true colors and then with people uniting and lighting candles, it looks like there will no more of the ‘undying spirit of India’ cliché. Had enough already.

That’s that. What I am wondering is why is India such a soft target for terrorism? Spineless Politics? Maybe. Maybe not. After all we chose these leaders. Democracy, remember? Then is it the inadequate governance? Could be. Because the people who were standing by the ‘respectable governance’ of the Congress till 2 days back (arguing that no matter what happens inside the country, our diplomatic connections have improved, which –mind you- matter the most in the long run, and our economy is the safest. Ha!), are backing of with Pakistan denying any help and the economic meltdown hitting India harder than expected. Is it Pakistan then? But is anything in Pakistan’s control anymore? It’s like inviting your big-bully cousin to camp in your room for a few days in order to boss on other kids temporarily, until you realize that the bad cousin has taken over your room, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Hehe. Silly comparison, I know, but what the hell. While we, Indians, are working in big IT companies, making lots of money, watching block buster movies, educating our children and believing the next-super-power-India dream, there are poor families in towns like Faridkot in Pakistan with 5/6 children and nothing to eat, where one of the boys sell ‘pakoras’ to feed the family, who one day shows up with AK 47s and like in a PS2 game, kills whoever he sees. On the name of what? Religion? Yes, but is it only Islam against Hinduism? What about Hinduism against Christianity in Orissa and also when I was in a convent school in Rajasthan and a priest from another convent school was beaten up by RSS gang? What about what happened in Gujrat? There is no answer. No certain solution - not immediately atleast. With these international talks and threats happening, does any of us really believe anything better will come up? I read it somewhere a whie ago and ironically now I myself think we should drop all talks about handing over a list of terrorists and stuff, and just open India as a sort of Disneyland for terrorists- with attractions like Mumbai (local trains loaded with unimportant people, 5 star hotels with dignified celebrities, cafes with ready-to-kill people having coffee in the mean time, etc), Delhi (The parliament, Local markets buzzing with shoppers, gol gappa/aalo tikki eaters, people driving autos, etc), Jaipur, Bangalore and loads of other places, and let them have fun. It is almost like one anyway.

Even as I write this, not knowing if I have made any sense in the last 4 paras, there is an unusual fear in me. The fear that settled in me the night I heard the Taj news and is refusing to go since then. I guess, the only way to know what to do with this fear and whom to direct it toward is to watch 45 news channels and to listen to what our elected leaders have to say. And also, till the time it continues, we will have to sacrifice our individuality, privacy, trust and your general mental well-being. Can’t think of anything for the immediate future. All I’ll do for now is never wish someone ‘Have a blast!’