I live in a developing country.

I live in a country belonging to some of the richest people in the world. Billionaires, to be precise. At the same time the Human Development Index (HDI) list has the same country is ranked at 134th among 182 countries.

I live in a country where the media is so fair in their reporting that two actors getting married makes up as content for 24*7 news channels and the HDI reports are given just a mention in the papers.

I live in a country where the per capita income is more than Rs. 33,000 but the poor in the city live at less than Rs. 20 a day.

I live in a country whose GDP is around 8% and is still struggling to fulfill the basic needs of a person to live a healthy life.

I live in a country that hosts two fashion weeks in a year displaying the creativity in designing fabric to the world. Around the same time, there are cotton farmers committing suicides in the villages. The former get 24*7 coverage and the latter has to be brought into notice again and again by only one journalist in the country and then the nation turns it's eyes to it.

I live in a country where rich people living in Delhi get media coverage if they are abused but four adivasi girls raped by policemen in a remote district of Chattisgarh are not even mentioned in the mainstream media.

I live in a country which has the longest written Constitution in the world and has one of the best democratic systems. But at the same time it lets go of the most unconstitutional behavior by it's political parties.

I live in a country that announces 49.5% reservations in institutes for the SC/STs and OBCs and then displaces the same people from their natural surroundings to set up industries.

I live in a country where children are taught all the time in the school that it is secular. But they grow up seeing the minorities being attacked all the time.

I live in a country where a celebrity is treated like god but if they speak any thing that is against the ideology of the political party that is more powerful than the party in power, then they can be accused of not being patriotic.

I live in a country which wants to be a part of the trend of globalization and have cultural exchanges with other countries but will have strong objections against the youth celebrating a day of love because it's something not in our culture.

I live in a country of Gandhi, where the government is constantly lying to it's people that it is developing.

My question is --is my country developing? If yes, then in what sense??

Not happening at all

My heart ached, broke and bled, when I saw the new version of Mile Sur Mera Tumhara --Phir Mile Sur. Really. I mean the whole emotion of the original song was lost somewhere. Rather there was no emotion at all. There were only actors and actresses.

The musicians, all, tried to do a good compositions in their own style and they did a good job of it. I liked the A.R. Rehman, S.E.L.'s, Louis Banks, Anoushka Shankar and some others. And I understand that India's no work is completed without having Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan vouching for it. But why do we have people like Deepika Padukone, Ranvir Kapoor, Mahesh Babu, Shaimak Davar, Shahid Kapoor?

Shahid Kapoor is my favourite. But after seeing him in it and doing a Bakhuda once more looked aweful. I hated to accept that he actually did it. I don't know but somehow I won't have the same perception of him again. Deepika Padukone?? What has she done for India? And there she is standing in some lake with a one-piece and such a seductive expression on her face as if she is all set to charm the whole of India with that look or rather the whole India comes toghether with her look. God damn it, she didn't even bother to wear a sari. And why do we need Ranvir Kapoor in it?

All the actors were, as if, playing there own roles once again in a short 16 minute multi-starrer film re-made for National Integration. How does Aamir Khan doing a Bum Bum Bole, Shahid doing a Bakhuda, Ranvir doing a Khuda Jaane, and Shah Rukh Khan doing a Kal Ho Naa Ho, bring India toghether? Such big actors coming toghether for a cause is good, is very good. But the way of doing it is bad. This way is very bad. How can they not know that this will not work towards it's actual message, and that they are spoiling the original one. Each one has tried to emote their feelings in the best manner possible but it never comes out. Be it Shahid singing in full passion, or SRK spreading his arms wide open, or Salman with the kids, you just don't feel what are they trying to say. Same with Aishwarya.

It seems like the Production House approached them all and they all did what they were best at. Now the whole thing put toghether just doesn't bring in that feeling which the original one does. In fact, you tend to go to You Tube and look for the original one. There are no common people shown in the whole video as if the whole country is made up of only such celebrities. The sportspersons come in for such a small duration. Some states are just shown in passing, for the sake of showing it.

May be it will be a hit with the youth who haven't seen the original one. But for the ones who have seen it, it will never create an impact. May be it's targetted at them only.  May be they should have come up with a different lyrics all toghether and a different composition so that there was not so much of comparison made. May be...

Individual parts seen in itself are very nice but the whole thing put toghether is bad. It's really bad. When the whole composition looks disintegrated, how can you spread the message of integration to the whole country? The different surs really don't come out as one.

50 THINGS TO BE REMEMBERED.....

Here are 50 things that I"ll always remember about The Year That Was -2009:

1. My surprise birthday cake by my best friend, Rachel and her brother and a pacifier that my roommate gifted me!
2. Aaloo dum dahi bada after the roll call and the look that I got when i asked for a little more teekha!
3. Mehek - the sweet little girl outside the hostel and the way she called me out- Additti didi!
4. Me actually fainting under the hot sun.
5. Paying for a poor boy's chuski as i had no other company that day.
6. Friends that i made in the two hostels that i lived this year.
7. Neeharika Sahoo- never talked to her for four months in the hostel and made friends with her after leaving the hostel!
8. I lied to mummy and went to meet a special friend.
9. Complimenting a ticket checker on train. He was really good-looking and dashing guys...
10. On the same journey i made my second train friend- Karteek Narumanchi.
11. Train journey fron Lucknow to Mumbai on a waiting ticket for giving the entrance of Sophia's.
12. Boarding the local from Santacruz to Bandra with Shruti without ticket and the same day police had to ask us if we had a ticket.
13. Travelling in the local train for the first time alone at peak hours and the abuses that i got i marathi which i didn't understand!
14. Jeroo saying, "Aditi Sarda, you are in." (Sophia's)
15. Getting a girl inside the hostel by just talking and patoing the watchmen at a windy and bad night with two gals shouting in my room, "We will be fucked up."
16. Toward the end one of the gals getting really friendly to me..!!
    
17. Jerry's first class of four hours and creating a laughter riot!
18. I cried when Jeroo asked two of us to shift groups.
19. My interview with Gaurav Khanna.
20. Candida and all the days when I would shout at her and wake her up in the morning (that includes almost all the days by the way!)
21. When a special friend came all the way to meet me in Mumbai.
22. Kanika Rajani - for all the reasons coz of which she is Kanika Rajani!
23. Garima Goyal - for all her courage and spirit.
24. The night when we were stuck in rain at Marine Drive and i bet that i would walk out of the cab and still reach befor this cab makes it to the hostel.
25. Mani Iyer - the day i met him and the day he told me he his Shankar Mahadevan's elder brother!
26. The coffee that Candida made me when i really needed it.
27. The cake and cookies that Candida brought for me - that was the only good thing taht would happen to me after Jeroo's practicals every Wednesday.
28. The number of times people told me that i speak fast.
29. For the first time in life i experinced Monday Blues. 
30. Jeroo saying me, "Oh my sweet little Aditi, you are so cute. A bunny is a small little rabbit." (When it actuallly stood for the Playboy) and later publicizing it to the whole class.
31. On the bike with Tarang at almost 100 km/hr.
32. Anuj Kanodia - coz my friends would not stop teasing me about him. I dunno why. (Thank god it's stopped now)
33. The video on Lifeline Express which got deleted for all the good reasons (i made a much better one after that!)
34. The night long editing for the one minute A.V.
35. The evening when i was missing my Ex as hell and Ashoomi paid for me and forced me to attend Astad Deboo's dance performance with street children which made me much more cheerful than my boyfriend ever made me...
36. All the bus rides in Uttaranchal ki vadiyon mein....
37. Fanas (Farhad) and all the times i got into argument with him.
38. Camping in Sattal.
39. River crossing and Mountain rappling in Sattal
40. All the trekking that i did.
41. The night at Kausani, with Kanika Rajani!!
42. The momos that i enjoyed eating and ordered another plate without realising they had muttom it them. oopss
43. The hitchhiking at Jim Corbett - the boy driving was really cute!!
44. My two week long stressful period when i really cried at the weekends - once in Garima's arms and the next time called up Karteek for a change of mood.
45. Secret Santa and my sweet Chris Kid!
46. I got a laptop and lost my four month old pen drive!
47. The things that i learned about Bhopal Gas Tragedy.
48. My craze for Shahid and Hrithik at an all time high, dunno why??
49. The last train journey of the year on 23rd December when i decide that i would not shout (that means i"ll try my best not to)
50. For all the good and bad things that happened which will make me what i become tomorrow.
    

I controlled myself from crying....

This week was a very hectic in the sense that every evening we had to do some or the other thing after attending classes for nine hours! Anyway, yesterday we went to an old age home under a Christmas Outreach program organised by our Polytechnic. And I will remember that day for the rest of my life.

There were around 14 old women in the Home. The Old Age Home was very big and clean. They all had one room each to themselves. Some of them had a nurse looking after them 24 hours. They all were very much educated and had held respected positions in their time-- one was the Dean of a college in Mumbai, one was the principal of a school, one lady was related to Late Feroze Gandhi, so an and so forth. When we went there, it was a surprise for them. And a good one too, they said later on. We had a talk with them, we danced and sang carols for them, cut a Christmas cake for them and played Antakshari with them.  And we also gave them a small gift of French mugs.

When we were doing all this there were some who were in their respective rooms and did not come out, or rather they could not come out. One aunty had an extremely weak back. She had problems sitting up straight and was trembling to the extent that she couldn't speak coherently. She asked us to sing her favourite carols for her and though I couldn't understand what she was saying, I could see that she was singing them too with us. She wanted to sit up straight and have a talk with us but constantly apologising to us for not being able to do that. She got very happy with the gift though she said that we shouldn't have brought them coz we are younger to them and it's them who should give us and not vice-versa. She showed us a picture of Jesus which was her favourite and a ballerina's poster on the wall. I just controlled myself and my tears. She was diabetic and had problems chewing the cake but she did not deny the cake that we brought for her. And when we said sorry to her she said that she wanted to have the cake and it's okie. She was waiting for one of her friends who had promised to come over and meet her and was upset about it. We all just wished that the friend could come asap...

Another aunty had some problems in moving so she was in her room too...she too smiled at us all the time and was really happy to see us. One another was an asthma patient and had her oxygen mask on her so couldn't talk to us then....

One of them was a SRK fan and another aunty had a small pillow with a picture of Madhuri Dixit on it's cushion. One of them liked singing and one of them assisted the cardiac specialist of one of the most famous hospitals of the city ( she actually did a nine to six job with him and believe me, she was over 75).

Later we got to know that each one of them or actually each one's children had paid 17lacs to keep them there plus they had to pay for the food too. They all were from so-called-affluent families. Some one's son/daughter lived in the most posh area of Mumbai but in their big sea-view homes they didn't have place for their own parents; in their foreign bank accounts they did have 17lacs every year to pay to keep them in an old age home but not pay their medical bills and get them food from home everyday. Not only sons, the daughters on the same level in this matter. Four daughters-- three of them abroad-- but their mother in an Old Age home. One of my friends commented on this, " Hey you don't know na...their husbands might not be allowing them to keep them. They will put their marriage in problem kya?" What do you mean by allowing? Who is he to allow me to let my parents live with me in their old age? I would rather not marry such a man who doesn't allow me. And when the girl is so rich as to settle for ever in Australia, she can very well keep her mother with her. And if she can't then in my eyes she is the most ungrateful human on this earth.

I became numb after coming out of the place. I was just thinking as to why they are here? Not because they are poor or their children can't afford to keep them. They were there coz they didn't have any patience to talk to them, no time from their busy social life to take care of them, themselves, no gratitude in their hearts to at least return back to their mothers who had surely done a lot of things for them.

This was my first visit ever to a place like this. I had always heard about them but one can only understand what it means to be in an Old Age Home by at least going there. Before leaving one of them said, "If you really love us you will surely come back." And then and there I promised myself to keep going there.....I controlled myself from crying.

An inspiration to all of us

Very often we postpone things that we can easily do at that particular moment. Very often we make lame excuses just because we are not in a "mood" to do it. Very often we underestimate ourselves. Very often we just don't try doing it.

You might be thinking why am I worrying over it. The reason behind it is that there is a small fest going on just on the ground floor of the building where I live and study. The fest is organized by the S.P.J. Sadhana School. Right from the papdi-chat that I ate there just now or the chuski that my friends ate or the chocolate moose that I tasted from a friend's cup, was all made by the students. From the bookmarks that I bought or the penstand or a small stitched pouch for my phone, everything was made by them. Apart from that there were saris, jwellery, other accesories-- all handmade by someone whom we in our common language term "mentally challenged".

If they can do so many things, how are they challenged? I would rather say that I am challenged that I at the age of 20, going on 21 next month, don't have half the abilities of what they have. Really, I mean, how much do we take ourselves granted for. There is no limit to it. Sometimes I think why do we do this with our ownselves when we would not like anyone take us for granted. We all would like to be acknowledged and appreciated. But this seems to be really difficult considering the fact that we don't acknowledge our ownselves.

Another source of inspiration these days for me is my one of my classmates who ia Visually Impaired-- Garima Goyal. And believe you me, she is one of the best, rather the best student in the class-- a medias class where every thursday we are supossed to watch a new film, analyse it and write answers about it in the exams. She clicks pictures and takes the maximum notes in the class on her laptop. When we went on a trip to Uttarakhand this November, she went for almost all the treks that were organised and went River Crossing too.

Now this is what you call determination and a longing to LIVE life. When you believe in Yourself, people will automatically come to your help. So when the children come up with a fest like this, you will surely go and get yourself something not only to help them but also to remind your ownself. Similarly, when there is a film screening, one of us sit beside Garima and describe her the visuals. It's very rightly said -- God helps them, who helps themselves.