#NaMo or #RaGa - Part 1

On the onset, let me be straight forward in telling you that this post does not present any statistical data to prove someone's worthiness / unworthiness to accede as the next Prime Minister of the Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic of India.

These are my views only but I do take the liberty here to generalize my views as those of a young Indian professional working in any industry in any city of the nation.
Pardon me if my thoughts are not in resonance with yours.

What prompted me to write on this topic is the recent interview I watched of Rahul Gandhi with Arnab Goswami (of The 'NewsHour Debate fame'). (To be frank, I need not have put those words in parentheses, as I feel Arnab Goswami does not need a reference point to establish his credentials).

Let's not sway from the topic though.

RaGa,needless to say, you indeed made a mockery of yourself on national television. As a matter of fact, I was indeed surprised at how Arnab was able to hold his temperament and not lash out on you for giving such vague, meaningless, pointless answers.

Yes, we all know the importance of Women Empowerment, Rural Development, etc, etc. These are the part and parcel of every political party's manifesto. That's not something which makes you or party stand out.
After the accolades you received for your speech at the CWC meeting and the country finally seeing a little glimpse of a potential Prime Ministerial candidate in you, the interview with Arnab provided you with a platform to seize this opportunity and change the tides in your favour.

But, Alas! Not only did you miss this opportunity, you took no qualms in ruining it.

To me, Rahul Gandhi has always come out as a person bearing the grunt of his Gandhi name. He never seemed to belong here. To not let the name down, he seems to be carrying out the task without any passion what so ever.

You don't have to shout at rallies or come out with crafted slogans to show your passion for the prime job.
Our educated citizens are very much aware of such tactics and identify an impersonator the minute they see it. Instead, what we wanted from you was a sheer acceptance of the follies your party men have committed for almost a decade now. And guess what, this honesty would have landed you some votes.
We are Indians after all, forgiveness is blended in our genes.

Rahul Gandhi (a.k.a Congress), we heard, has hired a PR agency to improve its image. I wonder where all the Party workers are. Probably, they have too much on their plates to deal with right now fighting all those corruption and bribery cases in the courts.

To be continued..

Just a thought..

Of late, I have realized that the level of my writing in terms of creativity, content and flow of expression has suffered a notch. To be honest, I feel this might have been due to the fact that I had kept myself away from creative writing for quite some time.
Before these feelings take over and I start indulging in thoughts of drowning myself in sea of remorse, the blog that follows is a sincere attempt from my side to reclaim what I consider a forte for myself and for anyone else for that matter – Creative Writing.

The feeling of expressing yourself creatively and precisely, with only words, is something to rejoice. This is the kind of feeling that never gets old. Every time you read a good piece of writing done by you, a sense of self-satisfaction descends upon you. You come to believe that others who have read it as well might have been impressed or in the least bit intrigued / entertained by your point of view.

Don’t misinterpret this as the trait of a show-off. Hell No!! I have some 3 odd followers of my blog posts (one of them including myself). So, there’s no one to show-off to actually.

Let’s not get into this mood, but, instead let’s put on a thinking cap and write something worth reading.

The Orphanage

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 20; the twentieth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Trudging on the fine line of distinction between innocence and indifference, 5-year old Vaidehi, sitting quietly on the backseat of the white Toyota Camry looked out of the window. On the front seat were her new parents, 35-year old Natasha and her husband.
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The rain outside was relentless, as if the sky was crying its heart out. Vaidehi could hardly see anything on the outside as she tried to clear the mist off the window with her fumbling hands.
At the porch of the distant small house, she could see little hands waving in the air bidding her goodbye. She could not make out their faces but she sure will remember their names....forever. Ad-mist the waving children stood her 'Amma' waving with one hand and wiping off her tears with the other.
Vaidehi could not see her face either but she sure will remember that pink-sari, one of the only two, that her Amma ever had.
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Clutching on to her only doll, she hesitantly mumbled out.'Will you bring me back to this place when I am a little older and ask you to?'
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This was the first time Vaidehi had spoken in a non monosyllable. Ever since her talks of adoption had begun, all Natasha ever heard from her was a 'yes' or a 'no'.
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Natasha,too,overflowing with emotions could not stop herself and in that twilight of joy and tears, tried to console Vaidehi with a 'yes' with all the sincerity in her voice she could muster.
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But, how Natasha wished she never has to..how she wished she never has to bring Vaidehi 'back to this place'. How she feared..how she feared for those questions that will creep up in her 'daughter's' mind then..then..when she will not be naive anymore..
The Questions..the Answers to which only time can give or rather heal..
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She turned her face away from Vaidehi and looked straight, noticing those raindrops falling on the windshield of the car and how they were swept away by the wiper in one quick motion.
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How Natasha wished that the raindrops of Vaidehi's bitter past would also get wiped away in time by time.
How she wished the season of rain would leave Vaidehi's life only never to return.
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'The Ernakulum Orphanage' faded among those raindrops as the Camry drove into the rain towards the station..

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Credits

Image - Window Rain Drops by Eric Alder
Courtesy - www.deviantart.com via www.blogaton.in

FIFA

The football spectacle finally concluded with Iniesta's winning goal on which he had to say this:'When I struck it,it just had to go in'..by 'it',he meant the ball only btw..

Anyway..the point here is the 2010 Football WC will be remembered not only for the matches but for many things more..the vuvuzelas,Paul the octopus,the Jabulani,the verbal sparring b/w Maradona and Pele n more..but before all that WAKA WAKA...Yes!..This Time for Africa..the Africa renaissance agenda finally seeing some light of the day..''The moment when Africa stood tall and resolutely turned the tide on centuries of poverty and conflict"(said the South African President)..and yes SA did stand tall..suppressing any waves of xenophobic violence..

Moving on..how can we forget 'the buzz' emanating from our television sets as we set out to watch the matches...the vuvuzelas indeed..With the greats of Messi and the like complaining about it saying it made them deaf and impossble to communicate on the field..
To them I ve to say this..Visit a packed cricket stadium in India and you'll never complain again:)

And then the Jabulani got embroiled in a serious controversy..the goalkeepers panicking and complaining about its erratic behaviour,the manufacurers on the other side claim it was technologically more advanced than any of the previous balls...
But then if the goalkeepers were to design the ball,they would give us an iron ball that sits at the centre of the field..
The perennial rivalry between Maradona and Pele reached new heights..With Maradona stating that Pele belonged to the museum..Pele should ask Maradona as to who should go to the museum now..

We also witnessed some horrific refereeing howlers..making the referee the most hated man in the 24-hour news cycle of the 'justice denied' nations..

To end the note what better than talk of an oracle..Paul the Octopus...After predicting Germany's loss in the semis,the 2-year old poor lil thing had to bear the brunt of angst of millions of German fans..to the extent that a German daily said:'Paul should be fried, barbequed or turned into a seafood salad or paella.'Guess its time for Paul to set its tentacles into motion and swim its way to Spain..

Well..The sound of the vuvuzelas may have been silenced for now but it will not be far when the Brazilian cornetas will start trumpeting for the next world cup..

To All the WWE Fans..

Jabroni, check yourself, you don't know me Jabroni, go back to the gym, you're too bony..So you want a piece of The Rock? Make you crumble In these Wrestlemanias, kid, we Royal Rumble Telling us that Raw is War, what the hell you think we came for?Just to play with these whips and chainsaws? And sharp glass I'll shine them up real nice, turn them sideways,and shove them up your candy ass

The jargons still echo in the corridors of the mind..the signature moves still reverberate with pounding intensity..the fireworks still galore..the divas still catwalk the ramp of fantasy..the fans still swarm the stands with placards..the detritus of ladders,chairs and tables still decorate the floors..the steel cages still try to tame the warriors inside..those let loose sweat it out in a no-holds barred..the drama still unfolds..

The kaleidoscope of action, drama ,comedy and pain..professional wrestling with a tinge of entertainment..World Wrestling Entertainment or WWE..Previously known as World Wrestling Federation(WWF).. (they had to change the name due to a lawsuit in 2000 from British organisation World Wildlife Fund)



Disclaimer: WWE would like to remind you that its Superstars are trained professional athletes. You should never try to emulate what they do in and out of the ring
:-D
That never stopped us from trying one of those moves on one of our off guard friends..the days started with the talks of the Rattle Snake giving a stunner to Vince Mc Mohan..all the way from the bus to the class..we never had enough..

A real life sporting event at home..pillows piled up one upon the other..we would attempt one of those elbow drops..or even jump off an elevated platform launching into a wide open swan dive..a forward flip and onto the bed..head locking each other on to the ground until someone started crying or yelled mercy..And then came those nukkad fights where we got to unleash the animal within..way in and way out..when nothing on earth seemed to stop us..

..filling those scrapbooks with the ambition of becoming a WWF superstar..

1!

2!

3!

One would then rise up as the victor and imagine a referee holding one arm high up in he air..

Designing body graffiti with those Linc sketch pens or even making one of our very own World Heavyweight Championship belts..mimicking catch phrases and modulating our voices to sound like one of those cool superstars..Our worlds ran much in synchromism with the WWE Universe..
**********SIGH*********

Many people fail to appreciate the art and business of this craft..not much has been written about it because of the secrecy of the business..

Whenever one sat down in front on the TV to watch a match..one was sure that something spectacular is bound to happen between those two guys in the ring..the faith was never shaken..those larger than life personalities..

To end it on a positive note..I hope one day professional wrestling would replace the Olympic wrestling..

Women in Social Networking

A recent survey that suggests it is the women who rule the social media or the social networking sites, has been harrowing,to say the least..

No more are the sites like Facebook,Twitter and blogs mere fundraising platforms,their powers have grown in a manner unheard or unspoken of before.The era of radio,tv and newspaper is gone..left to be choking in their own dust..
The legion of social web is here and it is the chicks who own and run this battlefield.
To most of us,it may seem that social networking sites are things meant for kids..that its a waste of time to tweet or to blog..but its the finer sex who truly understood its power..But the question is 'how?'

To begin with,the women are the social bees of our society.Its in their genetic make up to interact.They enjoy being socially active and keeping up with friends,family and relatives.And to meet this end,now they dont have to move out of their homes or take appointments.Simple messages,notifications and updates do the plentiful.To be precise,the time convenience factor.

One other thing inherent in their genes is the intimidation.They find it easier to meet new faces online than in person,making disagreements and rejections less painful.

Even the news organisations were fast to harness social media to connect better with the female users.Many companies advertise their products on these sites and encourage them to try them and share their findings.
For instance,the Pond's Age Miracle moisturiser in China became a hit after Unilever adopted this strategy.

Even the so-called applications on these social sites now cater to wider range of interests for women-career,politics,finance besides the shopping and fashion monologue.

The ripples of the finer sex's presence is felt on our social media and soon they will be limning the web.