of dogs and raining cats and dogs

"aee dil, ye mushkil hai jeena yahan

jara hatke, jara bachke, ye hai bombay meri jaan"

Scene-1:
How true! Only the reason changes. Flashback…Last year i was fortunate to experience the incessant and heavy downpour which lashed Mumbai city and its Suburbs. i say fortunate because i have seldom come across an event in recent times to which i can associate hordes of adjectives at the same time. Awesome, Relief, Thrilling, Surprising, Chilling, Heart rending, Heart breaking, Sorrowful, Awful. And on that fateful day, emotions followed exactly the same order.

In 12 hours i experienced it all. After scorching heat and humidity, getting wet in the rains had never been so refreshing. New college, new friends, new course only eased the initial reluctance and pushed the crescendo to the next level. The atmosphere was eclectic. It seemed everybody was celebrating others birthday one-by-one on the same date in the naughtiest possible way and surprisingly getting bumps made one got more energetic. Friends started making others bakra in the quadrangle of the college and then after becoming one, the person joined the herd only to find other bakras. It was all fun and frolic. Then a chain of events takes place in the next 12 hours difficult to describe here. Next day the tide disappeared, the sea looked silent again but the Juhu beach, which was so beautiful just the other day, looked devastated with dead bodies of small and big animals scattered all around and the air filled with decaying smell.

3/7 /2005

26/7 /2006

26/7 got revisited today and whole Mumbai is in waters and tatters again. It was once in a life time opportunity to be present at the thick of the things last year, but it never occurred to me that it would happen so soon, within a year. Everybody is worried about the well-being of their near and dear ones. But has any one thought about the stray dogs on the streets.

Scene-2:
i admire Mumbai because it’s a place where we can see the Raja and Rank (Hindi phrase for king and minister) walking side-by-side sometimes arguing, sometimes helping each other, but seldom showing false egos or diffidence. i always believed that i possess the rare quality of knowing a person in the first meeting but soon found out in untested waters where it was required the most. It’s almost impossible to predict how a dog will behave, even after meeting the same again & again. This unassuming friend is the most mysterious, unpredictable terrestrial creatures with the potential of giving a 'girl' complex in this aspect.

Now some would say it’s not true with the domestic dogs. With due apologies to all the pet lovers, i beg to differ. The situation is more dangerous with them. Remember the last time you saw a “Beware of Dog” signboard and your body becoming the best conductor of electricity within a second. Even after you are guided inside you are left to the mercy of the pet-lover and you are no more your own-self and imagine all tricks to rush back to see the same signboard again. The point is you can’t arm yourself and the anxiety period only gets extended.

i have never seen so many dogs living in the one lane, (where my room is) and mind you all of them are stray dogs, in healthy conditions. This picture was in complete contrast to a documentary shown one year back on TV. The program said that the dogs in Mumbai are in awful condition and a young MBA donned the mantle of taking this as a full time job of caring them under some banner.

There are two kinds of charity one that is done as anonymous and one that is done for popularity, though it’s damn difficult to demystify the distinction between them in practical life.

This is the regular feature at six in the evening in the lane leading to my room.

All the dogs assemble at one place as if all of them had sensed a single cat, at the same time. Before i get a clue, a car stops, a complete family alights, and also some of their relatives come out. They have a number of bags of food, biscuits and milk-packs. They play with them while the dogs are enjoying the sumptous meal. Both the parties involved are busy while this unoccupied soul is trying to figure out the reason for this chemistry. Is it because of pure love for the dogs or just a show-off? If it’s the former, in that case why don’t they keep one or two or more dogs in their house? Also if the case is latter, then why not in their own colony as i am sure they come from some far off place. Or is it that they are already popular where they live in some other way and wanted to increase the domain of popularity. So discovered some new reason and fitting the examples in my colony to justify that reason. Hail Peter and his principles!!!

Before i can figure out mental peace, the car leaves and i am left to bear their high energy levels. Slowly i start taking my feet back but i am dead sure that they can’t do anything as it's still not 12 midnight. Yes, we Indians know the significance of 12 and how it affects whom in what way. But Brethren! this is no joke. If i return before 12 they give me a warm welcome by wagging their tails and making hissing sounds with gloomy eyes. i also reciprocate with confident steps towards my room. But if it’s after 12, then my reaction is completely contrast as they greet me in the most forgettable way and all of a sudden my room seems a long mile. And their love-hate relation with me had a bearing on other important things but as a good boy, i am neutral.

Then came this day. Its 12 midnight and its dark everywhere because of the power cut. Its raining cats and dogs from the morning and cats are safer than the dogs. Everywhere there is knee deep water. Even being stranded in my room for whole day feels a better position to be in when i see these moist friends strolling here and there to find a dry place. i m returning with an umbrella in my hand after buying pav and eggs. When i am closing the compound gates, in the torchlight i see this wet friend looking at me wagging his tail and looking straight into my eyes with the gloomy eyes. i m a little surprised to see this reaction? Had his body clock failed!! i open the gates and guide him in the car shade which is still dry. And smile sheepishly,

Har kutte ka din aata hai!
Someone said " Rain is a great equaliser" How true!

phobia weds mania

Although its close to two months that i started blogging but i wasn't able to measure my love for it. To me this was very important as i am still to figure out the rationale behind writing blog. But the Indian government helped me in this endeavor, albiet unknowingly, when it blocked the blog sites, after the Bombay serial blast in local trains. i am still at sea to understand the wisdom behind this step of the government and i don’t think this would help in any way to achieve the objective it intended to.

But it has helped me in two ways. Now i know why the feeling of just visiting my blog is so irresistible. That i was deriving some kind of cardinal pleasure which was absent when i was not able to see my own blog. Someone has rightly said that the essence of something dear to you is realised when u loose it.

Let’s see the two faces of the government decision of the ban on blogs.

Negatives:

We may have the apprehension that some of the culprits behind the blast are still hiding in Mumbai. Given the situation, a silly but easiest decision would be to nuke Bombay to destroy the hidden terrorist? Even the side-effect would be a boon as it would give us the excuse of opening the floodgates towards our neighbour. But isn’t this adventure no more than child’s play. Do we see here some kind of parallelism behind this fiction and the government decision of banning blogs? We are fully aware who are targeted behind the ban, but the argument is does this step affect them. Do blogs really make difference to these fanatics??

Now some would argue that it will save the good soul from bad reading. But just by seeing a blog article won’t change an innocent and well meaning guy into a terrorist. Will it?? If i come across an article expressing anti-India stand will it change my conscience and i start planting bombs in local trains or destroying public places?? The only people who are inspired by these writings are those who already believe what the post was saying. The blog can certainly make their dormant thoughts active but unless we are willing to take out all means of communication we can’t ensure the objective yet.

Even if we assume the extreme case, that by blocking all internet access (like shutting down all ISP), is the communication going to be truly hampered? Can we assume that in the days before the internet/blogs no one was ever to send messages to his fellow terrorist or express anti-national sentiments? The answer is obvious. Or is the GOI is planning to take down all forms of communication? Ban newspapers, disrupt phone-lines, stop postal services, perhaps even call the military to shoot down flying pigeons because some of them might be carrying anti-national messages tied to their legs across the border.

It’s human tendency to deal with fear through contact with others. So, in this sense as a society we are not only vulnerable but also weaker. Isolate us in a crisis situation and we become more vulnerable. The first decision that the Government took after the blast was blocking the phone lines and this proved to be a blunder as it threw people in chaos. Many things have been written about the great work done right after the serial blasts by the folks at Mumbai. That’s just one example of how communication makes us stronger in crisis. The only people who are not going to be affected by them are the terrorist, who after sowing the seed of terror, have already planned in advance for any such eventuality. So the decision smacks logic and only aids in pressing the panic button, as situation is rife for rumours causing more fear. That’s exactly the government should be trying to avoid in such situations.

Also do i see a trend building here after a chain of events occurring in recent times. It started with Fanaa being banned in Gujarat, lawyers not able to defend the accused, Da Vinci code wasn’t released in some parts of the country. And now this blogophobia. I know I am exaggerating things and our democracy is full-proof as the events underlining the opposite ideas are also happening side-by-side. But it surely doesn’t do good to our image outside where most see things with bespectacled eyes.

Positives:

i am definitely affected by this irresponsible step of the government but the reason is very different than how it has affected others. But does it really matter as longs as the outcome is same. i say this because unlike others i don’t have many readers and hence technically it didn’t affect me like others, who have large following. But i am not that monkey who will throw the cap back if wearing it makes me famous. On the contrary i feel blessed that the government considers me somebody so important that they want to block my blog from being read. This is really exciting. After living a life of a coward all these years, i am finally dangerous. Suddenly i am the most wanted as government considers me an anti-India radical, a public enemy. Look at me everyone, I'm BAD. So no more being shoved aside in the local trains, no more stammering in panic before breaking a civic law. Watch out people- i may not look like much, but i'll have you know that the world’s largest democracy is scared of me. That’s right; hot-shot one billion people are all scared of me for what i write in my blog. So now i can freely move at 2 am on the road without feeling insecure, no one would dare to take the fist on my face. The possibilities are endless. All those beautiful bees who rejected me thinking as a chocolate-boy, too harmless and good for nothing might be kicking themselves badly now.

ifs, buts and headbutts

The World Cup is over and it lived up to its fanfare, with the best in the business not able to predict the unpredictable and still the cup was able to throw up mouth-watering contests throughout the knock-out stage. But nothing is well that doesn’t end well, and Zidane's head butt was fitting tribute to the Cup and his career.

It was about 111 minutes into the grand finale, the midfield maestro playing last match of his career, got into a little contretemps with an Italian player Materazzi, a verbal scuffle, a bit of unpleasant repartee, and decided to, as they say in France, open up a can of whup-ass on the lad. Since then lots of stories are going around why he went into uncontrollable mode, what would have been the result of the match had he not got sucked into the issue etc. The way the media especially electronic media has hyped this incident, it seems that he did not headbutt once but went into headbutting mode and stopped only when he was red-carded. At least this would seem to be true for a person who did not see the live-telecast of the match and later on saw the footage.

i think Zidane was just the right person present at the right time and right place. Incidence like this inspires writers like Shiv Khera to come up with infamous "Winners dont do different things, they do it differently". Zidane surely didn't prove the statement wrong, since he did different thing (mind you not things), instead of doing it differently, as he ended up in the loosing side. But, he still went on to become hero of the Cup with the golden-ball, for the best player award in his kitty. He was very innovative. How can one find a more sensible way to end one’s glorious career, guiding the team in the run up to the finals and leaving them in the dying minutes having played the part in the final game? The team definitely needed to prove that they can win without Zidane. Of course it wasn't planned, but if it deserved the Cup, this was needed. What was planned was the headbutt. It’s a win-win situation for both. Now Zidane could be remembered for a long time like Maradona’s hand of God goal and some day Materazzi may make tons of money by writing autobiography or telling a reporter what exactly he said to Zidane.

I am not very surprised by the head butt incident per se, but what surprises me is the reaction of the people both inside and outside France. The French are defending Zidane tooth and nail and believe that he was provoked. They are also speculating what would have happened only if he lasted till full time. Also how Materazzi was wrong in provoking him with the racial words. Materazzi has a well-earned reputation as nasty player in Italy's tough Series A, and his role in the ugly drama was nowhere near as surprising as Zidane's. Whatever they say doesn’t absolve the behavior shown on the field by a player of Zidane’s stature. He is respected for his skill world wide and so many children emulate him. If they really try out his extra-curricular ‘headbutt’ skills, it would be termed as a "childish" skill in the true sense of the word.

Also it’s difficult to understand how he could have won the cup for the Les Blues even if he lasted till the final hooter. i mean the only difference between victory and defeat was the penalty kick of Trezeguet and his shot was similar to what Zidane took in the same match earlier. Just Zidane got lucky and Trezeguet wasn’t. The incidence only gave to the French, a golden excuse on a platter. Outside France the comments are basically divided equally some people approving and some not. But mostly they are not speculating on the outcome of the match with different sets of inputs.

Also we don't know what exactly was said by Materazzi to Zidane. Of course Zidane can come up with his comment on the episode but that doesn’t force us to believe him and if yes we need to give Materazzi equal chance for his side on the issue. The argument is, outside Shiv Sean head quarters, inside the boxing ring and Sunny Deol movies, this behavior looks completely offcolour. The argument applies as much to Zidane as it does to the rioters protesting against Danish cartoons and desecration of Mrs. Thackeray statue. The only other incidence in sports that comes close to this was Tyson biting off a piece of Holyfield's ear. But we can’t equate the two as both the players have different image and the rules of the two games are poles apart.

Now i am tempted to relate the incident to Indians and cricket. Only David Shepherd could have saved the face of FIFA had they appointed him as the official as he could see the coming Nelson. Take Rooney's case, after he was red-carded, English fans went berserk and the coach himslef had to make a statement to prevent spoiling career of their poster-boy. Similar incident happened with David Beckham in the last edition of the tournament. Now Britishers invaded India and imparted some of the bad qualities too (not denying the fact that good qualities outnumbered the bad ones by a big margin) and certainly this is one among them. How else can one explain the crowd booing their God in its own den at the Wankhede Stadium at Mumbai, when Tendulkar failed to perform. But it amazes me how a player enjoying similar stature (nickname Zizou means a person close to heart) gets a different treatment. It only tells the underlying influence of the culture, also how two European countries behave differently when faced with similar situation.

Now only thing left to be explored is why only head butt and no other butt when so many parts are protruded from the human body. Is it also related in any way to cultural? Has it got to do anything with the culture of France or the culture of Algeria from where he comes? We know why Lance Klusenor could hit such powerful sixes as he played some tribal sports before playing cricket. Before i delve into history what seems logical now is, Zidane knew very well not to use his hand as Italians would have appealed even before he could raise it, and leg wouldn’t have given the force to put a giant like Materazzi on ground. So Zidane was actually very sensible in his head to put it into multitasking.

Adieu World Cup 2006!

***

Some one has said "The head contains the brain, in most people" And most athletes, who believe this, wear helmets to protect the precious and vulnerable part.

Couldn't the sentence be corrected to "In women, the head contains the brain; physical placement in men varies. Regardless, men apparently have removable brains, and frequently leave them at home on the dresser when dealing with women or sports."

Just somehow seems more accurate that way.