Why You Need The AAP To Do Well

By Sahil Mehta

The Election Commission has just announced the dates for the assembly elections in 5 states. Scheduled to be conducted from mid-November to early December, these elections will serve as an appetizer to gauge the mood of the nation before the impending General Elections. 

Rajasthan, Mizoram, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh are all set to go to polls. Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh should see the BJP successfully retain power. Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Raman Singh have both done reasonable well for their states.

Rajasthan has historically never voted for the party in power. We (Rajasthanis) have alternated parties for at least the last two decades. And while a few of  my friends currently living in Jaipur tell me that Ashok Gehlot has done some real vote-winning work by giving everything for free to the poor (Medicines, education, etc. etc.) I 'm still going for a BJP win.

Mizoram is all but a given win for the Congress with no real national party having much presence there.

There, then, remains the intriguing question about the assembly elections in Delhi. Sheila Dixit is the incumbent for the last 15 years, and the opinion, from the few Delhi people I know, is that she will remain as such for 5 more years. 

I for one do not believe a Congress sweep is hardly a given this time around. There has been some development in Delhi in terms of infrastructure. However the rising rate of crime against women (which is not really in the hands of the Delhi government, since Delhi police is not accountable to the CM), the rising electricity prices, a vicious opposition, and charges of graft against Mrs. Dixit all set the stage for a tumultuous election!

Throw into the mix a social activist turned politician by the name of Arvind Kejriwal, and a party that calls itself the Aam Aadmi Party, and we in the words of the revered Ravi Shastri, "are in for a firecracker of a contest"! To be perfectly honest, the BJP hasn't done much in these last 4 years or so to make Mrs. Dixit uncomfortable! Arvind Kejriwal and the AAP have taken the task on themselves. And they have made a nuisance out of themselves with such gusto! They have been in your face, attacking both the state and central ruling parties at the slightest whiff of a scandal.

Of course when you make too much noise, some people are bound to get pissed off. The question then is whether they made the right noises in the right places!

While only time will tell us that, here are a few reasons that you should hope that they do well! 

5. For the very first time, or at least first time in a long long time, there is a bunch of people who've come together to try and clean up our political system. While these are definitely not aam aadmis, coming from various spheres of social activism, they are as close to being educated middle class, (people like you and me) as politicians have ever been! They could be a beacon for hope for a generation which has repeatedly been told that you are the future and then shunted to the side!
 

4. The AAP is a well intention-ed party, fielding candidates on the basis of a procedure which tries to reward merit. They're trying to break the politics of identity and community. All those who complain about same caste marriage phenomenon should at least be thankful to these people. Think about it!

3. It can't get any worse! I mean come on, given how things have been going in the last few years, it is improbable that these people will do worse than our current or past leaders. Your worst case would be that things continue the way they have been over the last few years, which is to say getting worse rapidly! And frankly while everything they say may not be practical or sensible, some of the policies and issues the AAP talks about really do make sense. And we really could do with a less corrupt system! 2. They have balls! For Arvind Kejriwal to come out and say that he will contest in the constituency from which Sheila Dixit stands is bold, considering the fact that he will likely get crucified! But you have to appreciate the courage. What India needs today is men/women of steel who are willing to do things the right way rather than the easy way!  

1. Because even a decent result for the the AAP will strike fear into the hearts of other political parties and just might make them clean up their act a bit. There's nothing a politician loves more than the power that comes with his seat. If you take it away, he might actually take notice of public sentiment. 

It would be naive to think that the AAP will win the assembly elections in Delhi. But if they can snatch even 10-15 seats in the 70 seat legislative, it would be a real morale booster for us disparate people looking for hope!

A lot of people really don't like Kejriwal and hence the party. I heard him being called a lot of nasty things. There's a good chance you might be one of them. But what you need to realize is that there are more people than Kejriwal in this adventure.

And when you're caught between the devil and the deep sea, there are no right choices. The AAP is as good a bet as any if you want change!

I'm praying for a miracle in Delhi. May be you should too! 

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If You Weren’t Afraid

By Priya Singh

I came across this line while reading the book ‘Lean In: Women, Work, and The Will to Lead’. It says:

‘So please ask yourself: What would I do if I weren’t afraid? And then go do it.’

While it may mean different things to different people, it gives a common message to all.

“Confront your fears”.

Now the real deal: What would you do if you weren’t afraid?

I was reading about this on a Q&A site and could find all kind of answers, from falling off a big cliff somewhere, to selling everything.

For someone, it may mean sleeping alone at night, taking up swimming lessons, voicing yourself at your workplace, eating a complete meal with your parents, being quite for an entire hour, etc. etc.

It might sound silly but it means something entirely different to me.

What would I do if I weren’t afraid? Well, I’ll go on a road trip all alone to the most haunted places in the world. While you may make the mistake of thinking I am afraid of haunted sites, that’s actually not the case.

Instead of the places, I am afraid of the people. I am afraid of the people judging me. I am afraid of my safety in my own land. And most of all, I am afraid of those demotivators who are lined up, waiting eagerly for one reckless act of mine.

I have discussed my crazy intentions with quite a no. of friends, and it’s disappointing to not find a single one encouraging me to go ahead. Maybe they would have been more supportive if the world was actually a safer place for a lone female traveler.

They give me suggestions to start with Thailand or Bangkok, but India is a definite NO. But this enrages me. After all, this is my country I am talking about. Don’t I have the right to feel safe here, irrespective of the time and the place? If this is not true, we really need to think about this and we need to think hard.

This has to change. It’s high time now.

  

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"About the author"

I am an Indian female, have crossed a quarter of my life (assuming I am going to reach the maximum average age of humans without being consumed in the zombie apocalypse ) without knowing where am I heading and I have learnt the definitions of Geek and Nerd by heart.  Apart from that, I am a Software Developer by profession (Yes, I know every other person is…and I agree I am not contributing anything extraordinary to the humankind). I love to read and spend most of my salary on books (for which I have to face regular rantings from my parents). I have recently discovered that I love travelling (come on, its not like I am 50 and I just discovered I am single!) but I am still searching for some guidance  to fulfill my crazy travel ideas.

Date A Girl Who Loves Food (version 2)

Anonymous

While you wait for your plate of Chaat at your regular road side eatery, do you see a girl in front of you who’s telling the Bandi wala exactly how to make her Chaat? See the way she asks him to put in a little more Chili powder and not to put in the curd? She will almost jump when he’s about to put curd in it. You will get impatient because she’s taking a real long time doing that. And you’re hungry. You will never know what she has been up to till you taste what’s in her platter.

If you have the courage, go ahead and ask her out. After she’s done eating. Before that, she won’t realize you exist, and are talking to her. If she obliges, let her choose the place because you won’t be disappointed. If you are new to the city, and she likes you, she will probably take you to one of her favorite joints. She won’t take a look at the Menu , she knows what’s served best at that joint. If she asks you to try something, do it. You will be glad. Observe a pattern at all her favorite eateries. They won’t seem like great places where you could go to, regularly. But there’s a lot to it than what meets the eye.

She’s the kind of girl who’d make you walk a mile through by lanes on a pleasant Saturday evening to get a bowl of ice cream. Or make you drive for 40 kilo meters for a cup of Irani Tea. She’ll say it’s worth it, because the place really serves good ice cream or tea. The under lying fact that you don’t realize is, she wants to be with you during the whole time. She’s making a memory every time she takes you out to a new joint you’ve never heard of in spite of living in the same city as her since years.

She’s a peoples’ person. She has A LOT of friends, everywhere. Don’t be surprised if you’ll are eating at that road side eatery where you’ll first met, and she asks the Bandi Wala how his kids are doing. She knows every manager who has worked at her favorite restaurant. She knows their family and she addresses the waiters by their first name.  She exudes a genuine love for people and that comes from her love for food.  You don’t have to bother about reserving a table at that swank new fine dining place. An old friend of hers whom she has probably met twice has already done it for her. You will realize it’s easy to fall in love with her.

She’s not the kind who’d get into fits of arguments and fights. When you come back home and are yelling at her for no reason, she won’t say a word. She’d silently get into the kitchen and make coffee. She’ll accidentally put in more whipped cream into one of the mugs. She’ll let you have that, not because you’ve had a bad day, or she loves you. It’s because she’ll immediately label herself selfish if she doesn’t do that. She’ll take you to the terrace, wait till you finish your Coffee, and then gently ask if something went wrong at Work. You won’t remember what had happened, but will be left with pangs of guilt for having yelled at her in the first place.

Hold her hand when you are with your friends. She won’t think twice before she kisses you in front of them. It will take your boys precisely ten minutes before they start treating her like their kid sister. Don’t be worried, they will gang up against you. Play along. Know for a fact, people fall in love with her fast. Don’t let her cook while you throw a party. She will get riled up and ask you a million times if the food tastes okay. For her, every meal is a reason for a celebration. She believes Life is too short to eat bad food.

Visit her on a hot Sunday. She’ll scoop out some tasteless vanilla ice cream , put honey and roasted nuts in it while you watch 27 Dresses cuddled together. She’s happy with her bowl of vanilla with strawberry syrup. You’d be overwhelmed when she falls asleep in your arms. When she wakes up, tell her you kissed her. It will make her blush. After a while, she’ll kiss you back gingerly, only after she has stolen a spoonful of ice cream from your bowl. That’s because she knows strawberry and honey isn’t a good combination.

See how she savors a glass of water like a man in a desert? She’s thanking God for that drink of water when she closes her eyes. See that glint in her eyes when she has her chocolate. It will look like the best darn thing in the world. You will eventually fall in love with everything she loves. Oh, she has peculiar tastes when it comes to food. Have you heard of a Mars Bar Sandwich? She’ll make you one on a jobless day.

When you get serious, take her to meet your parents. You will be appalled to see how she bonds with your Mom. You will never know what they’re up to. Understand that you are the subject of their talk. She’ll find out what you like to eat and your memories as a child through teenage. Somewhere at the back of her mind, she knows all your favorite dishes. When the time’s right, on a special occasion, she will cook them for you. That smile on your face is the one she’ll never forget for the rest of her life. Oh and your Dad? He will never stop raving about those sugarless cookies she made for him.

On a dance night out, she will have the audacity to tell the bar tender to season his nuts well when she doesn’t like their taste. If she gets too impatient, she will go to the other side herself and teach him a trick or two in exchange for a cool flair trick. Dance with her. Music is another one of her passions. She will not have a care in the world when she’s dancing with you. She’ll steal a glance at the bar later during the night. More people are nibbling at the nuts, now. She is content. On a cloudy day, take her out on a drive with her favorite brand of Belgian Dark Chocolate. Make sure you drive slowly over puddles when it begins to rain. Splashing people with dirty water will only make her frown. That is the last thing you want on a day like this. Let her lick the melted chocolate off your fingers. It’ll make her giggle like a child. At that moment, you know you’ve found yourself your woman.

When you are out of town on a work trip, the number of times she says “What did you eat?” will surpass the number of times she says she loves you. If she knows the place you’re in well, she won’t hesitate to talk to local friends there and ask them to take you to some place even they didn’t know existed. She finds beauty in small things. She’ll relish her Crème Brule exactly the way she loves her Kulfi. Feel lucky when she tells you you’ll have covered all her favorite joints in the city. Wait for another surprise. She will be full of them.

Notice that she’ll take more time mixing a morsel of rice than she takes to make her hair. Don’t bother waiting up for her to feed you. You will remain hungry while she’s trying to mix the curry to perfection. If you are patient enough, you will experience bliss, all of it on your taste buds. Your girl knows exactly what you need. Food, or otherwise. Years later, you will realize the extra whipped cream in your cuppa was deliberate, every single time . With her, there are no accidents. Because a girl who knows her food knows her life.

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Date A Girl Who Loves Food

By Sahil Mehta

Walk up to that pretty girl. Ask her out for a cup of coffee. Let her order first. If she can’t up make up her mind or goes for the first thing on the menu, then she’s probably not the one.

The girl you’re looking for will be choosy. She’ll take her time ordering just the thing to suit her mood. Be patient. If she’s out with you, she must like something about you. Or she wouldn't have chosen you. Don’t try and help her, don’t rush her. Enjoy that moment. See her eyes make a rainbow of expressions as she debates with herself. Take in those surroundings, that moment. It might be the start of something special.

At the end of it, when the bill comes, insist to pay. Let her know you like her.

Ask her if you may take her out to dinner sometime. And if you haven’t screwed up completely, she’ll probably say yes, if only for the meal. Here’s your second chance.

Take a risk here. Suggest someplace small, quiet and not necessarily popular. Watch her face. If it reflects disappointment, then let her see yours. She probably expected to be taken somewhere grand and lavished with attention. That’s not the girl you want to be with.

The girl you’re looking for will be excited. Excited at trying somewhere new, with someone new. She’ll appreciate your thoughtfulness at not taking her somewhere so expensive where she can’t pay and spend the night feeling guilty. She’s also testing you, your judgment. She’s trusted you enough to lead her. Remember that. She’s trusted you, and you must not break that trust.

When you get there, let her make the first move. If she reaches for the menu and goes off on her own, then it’s not working out. For she doesn’t completely trust you, and probably never will. When it comes to those moments of uncertainty that all couples eventually face, she’ll think about herself before she thinks about the two of you.

Your girl will hand over the menu to you, and let you call the shots. Just for today. She’s an independent young woman but she’s letting you show her a good time. She’ll expect you to trust her the same way as she takes you on trips to her favorite places and try her favorite dishes. Return that trust and she’ll fall for you.

When the bill comes, see if she makes a move for it. If she does, let her pay half. A relationship is between equals. If she doesn't, then its money well spent to know that she’s not what you’re looking for.  

This is a girl who’ll stick with you through the thick and thin of it. She doesn't crave attention, she doesn't need the expensive flashy things. She’s happy with just the essentials. Good food, and someone to share it with, everyday single day.

Take her somewhere for dessert. Take a walk, share a banana split, and fall in love.  

You’re nearly there. Go out a few more times with her. Let her take you to all her joints. If you listen carefully, you’ll hear what she’s saying to you. She’s making you a part of her life. She’s adding you to her favorite memories. Each of those places has a special significance for her; all of them have a story, and now she’s given your part in those stories. Ask her those stories over your meal, and get a glimpse into her life. Tell her your stories.

Date that girl. Date that girl who loves food. Date her, because after that honeymoon period ends, when the realization starts to dawn that you aren't nearly as similar as you thought initially, you still have something in common. A love for good food.

Date her because when you two fight, over silly insecurities, all you need to cheer her up is call her over for dinner and cook her a meal. It doesn't matter if you can’t cook. It doesn't matter if you botch it up. She’ll know that you care. And she'll stay back to help you with the dishes, because she cares about you just as much.

Date a girl who loves food because when she’s upset about something and about to go into her super binge mode, she’ll call you to join her. She won’t cut you out from life. She'll eat and rant away to glory at the same time, and you'll know exactly what she's thinking.

Date that girl cause when you’re feeling down or tense or stressed, she’ll know not to ask questions. She’ll put a hot a plate of your favorite curry in front of you and watch you eat in silence. And you’ll feel your worries ease off.

And that’s only for the hard times.

Date a girl who loves food, because when you’re super happy and excited, and want to celebrate, she’ll be equally enthusiastic. Date her, because she won’t dampen your spirits by complaining about calories and weight.  

Date her because she enjoys the different flavors of life, just as she enjoys them in food. She’ll be game for something new, always. There’ll be a spontaneity to her. And she’ll make sure that every moment counts.  

Date her because you’ll figure out she’s feeling particularly intimate tonight just by the amount of spice in the food. Date her ‘cause  even when she wants to be pampered, all she’ll want is that exotic flavor of ice cream, that she can share with you.

And date her, because even though you might be miles apart in everything else, at the end of the day you still both need to eat. And she knows that nothing makes a meal quite as enjoyable as the company of someone you love.

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I've been meaning to write this for almost 6 months and you can attribute some of the rawness and abruptness of the article to my anxiety to finally get it out. This article along the lines of a series of articles on the net titled "Date A Girl Who..." . Ever since I came across these, I wondered what would be that one thing in a person that would really matter to me. Books, music, traveling are all great but at the end of the day, food is what makes it for me. 

Of Stories And Their Importance

by Hamsini

We write to make ourselves heard. We write to comfort ourselves and write down the thoughts that swirl in our heads. That’s all well and good. We need those happy-go-lucky stories that amount to nothingness they keep us sane and safe.

There are so many books in the market right now that are filled with stories; stories that mean nothing. They’re filled with stories about BITS boys falling for IIT girls, engineering colleges, women who can’t make up their minds; bad English and slaughtered grammar. Most of these authors wish to pen down the best days of their lives: their college days.

But the people who need to write their stories, they don’t. The people who have faced suffering, loss, grief and pain—real emotions—they don’t or can’t write. But their stories are the ones that need to be told; they are the ones that people need to hear about and learn from.

I heard this quote recently: Those who forget history are condemned to relive it. Instead of amalgamating a style similar to that of the west, we need to talk about the essence that is India. We need to bring out the real stories that people live in everyday. We need to tell everyone these stories because that’s the only way we will not repeat our mistakes. The good books, the good stories; they live through and through, and people don’t need to know the alphabets to know of them.

This is not to say that books about urban chick-lit timelines are not good. Essentially all stories are the same and they all serve the same purpose. That makes sense, yes. But are some stories more important than the others? How do we rank their importance? How can we prioritize them and say that one is better than the other? Who has the right to say that one is better than the other?

We all grow up with our own, unique frames of reference; essentially, we’re all screwed up and we have our own baggage. And we hear and assimilate stories that we relate to, that somehow touch us for reasons unbeknown. But only when we go beyond our own frames of reference and move on to other issues—new territories of which we know nothing about—we grow as people.

So the next time you pick up a book, pause and look around to see if you want something new. You don’t know what you might be missing out on.

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Be Safe

by Sahil Mehta

To put everything into context, it is twenty one minutes past midnight on a Wednesday night, or a Thursday morning. I have to leave home at 8:30 a.m. in the morning for work, and I really should be asleep. I feel sleepy too. I’m tired and I want to sleep. But I can’t. 

I can’t sleep because I’m scared. I’m scared of the nightmares that may come when I do actually close my eyes. You see, a female friend of mine was due to travel alone late at night today. And despite my telling her to message to let me know she had reached safely she hasn’t. And right now, I’ve got no fricking clue whether she’s safe or not. 

Or course, I shouldn’t really worry. She’s a bright, sensible and independent girl who’s probably done this before. My anxiety should not be taken as a reflection of her being careless or immature, because she isn’t. 

But I am worried. And I’m scared. Because, deep down, I know what can happen, and what does happen in this country. I wake every morning to headlines of rapes and gang-rapes. I look at these articles in despair and anger. I wonder what kind of animals would do this. And I berate the authorities and government for not preventing these hideous crimes. 

Today I’m feeling another emotion, something that the newspaper stories don’t me feel. I’m feeling the fear that thousands and thousands of Indian women and their families feel every day. And frankly I’m terrified. 

But it’s not just fear. It’s helplessness. I’m sitting here and typing this in the clear knowledge that if anything untoward does happen, I won’t be able to do anything. And perhaps no one else will even bother. 

It’s not one incident. A couple of days back my mom had a work dinner. She told me in the morning before work. As it would happen, the driver was on leave as well. She told me, and I completely forgot by the time I got back home at 8 p.m. Now, I’m used to mom working late. And I don’t usually worry because she’s in the office and the car and driver are right there. 

This particular day she wasn’t in the office, and there was no driver or car. So after a couple of hours I got kind of concerned. So I called her up. And her phone was switched off. I called, a little stupidly perhaps, repeatedly. And the phone was still off. 

I’m not going to get into details, but when she did return home I unloaded on her like I’ve never done before. It wasn’t her fault. But I still did. And while I apologized for it, if something like this happens again, I probably would do it again. If not for any other reason than simply because, there’s nothing else I could have done. 

I can’t really describe how worried I got then. But after today’s instance, when I look back at things, I’m a little amazed. I shouldn’t have to fell scared if people I know are not at their home or their offices. No one should have to live in the fear that some tragedy might befall their dear ones just because they aren’t in the confines of familiar surroundings. 

I, we, live in the world’s largest democracy. We shouldn’t feel like prisoners in our own homes. 

If you think I’m making this up, you’re wrong. If you think I’m overreacting, then wait until you have to go through this same thing, though I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. 

And then there is this one final thought. Why am I so helpless? I’m 23 years old. I’m reasonably smart, and passably strong. More than anything else, I’m educated with morals and values. I should be doing something. I shouldn’t let this environment of terror prevail! 

I’m pro harsher rape laws. I’m all for death sentences for extreme cases. But that’s not making me feel any less concerned about the safety of my friend and mother right now. If something were to happen to them, then I’d probably go into a mad killing rage anyway without regard for the law. But nothing I could do then would change what happened. And that thought sickens me.

I can’t go out patrolling the streets every night like a vigilante. I can’t be present at the scene every time a woman is harassed in this country. But perhaps collectively we can make a difference. 

And perhaps we can start by being more sensitive to women in general and stop saying inappropriate things. If you know someone going home alone, drop her! Wait till she’s inside if you’re dropping her. And for god’s sake, stop making a pass at every girl you see! 

I’m at a loss now. I’m not naïve enough to suggest that government should educate people about this. A. They don’t have the capacity. B. I don’t think people need to be taught how to act as humans, or atleast they shouldn’t. 

But till we can fix this disease in the society, I just want all the ladies reading this to be safe. And please do carry a pepper spray. It might feel like nothing to you, but it makes me sleep easier at night. 

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Welcome To The 20s

by Dharna Chauhan

Did you just turn 20? Here’s some wisdom for you.

Now when you step into your twenties, you’re suddenly out of your teenage and are looked upon as a mature adult; fully capable of taking your own decisions, all of which are expected to be correct and solely your responsibility. Yes, it is a lot of pressure. But that is not the hard part. You will be able to take a lot of decisions - some pretty good ones, some downright filthy. But all of them will be scrutinized under the most painfully alert eyes; because while you may be blissfully unaware, someone, somewhere is just waiting for you to screw up, and they’re as confident as you are that you WILL screw up.

There are a few things you are going to realize once you turn 20. You won’t realize them all at once, but I am pretty sure by the time you’d turn 25, we’d have covered most of it.

People around you will be falling in love, meeting their soul-mates and you would in all probability be in the midst of a heart-break or would not have experienced love at all. Please, relax! You’re just in your early twenties. There are lots of people still out there, waiting to love and be loved. Desperation is not going to be your most striking quality; refrain from it.

Suddenly, the things that annoy you become invariably large in number. Kids you once thought were cool and breezy would now be nothing more than retards and imbeciles, waiting for a mouthful, wishfully from you. People will cease to impress you by being merely “hot” with the IQ of a bottle. (Oh, wait. Are you a guy? I’m sorry; this one thing is not going to change.)

You should prepare yourself for a lot of pain (emotional, mostly). Although you are past your teens, your hormones have only grown with you. They will confuse you on a whole new level. You’ll realize that a sandcastle being washed off by the waves was not in fact the most painful thing to watch. You will witness great losses—friends, pets, lovers, fictional heroes—a lot of them are going to leave you, and you may then realize what they meant when they said they were “writhing in agony”. At least that is what you’d THINK.

A part of you will understand that small talk is not for everybody. All you eventually care for will be a “what’s up!” without even waiting for the answer. Hasn’t happened yet? Give it time.

The sibling you had been wishing was dead for years, will suddenly feel like the most fun, honest, and wonderful friend you’ve had. All these years growing up, when you felt you could easily kill him and now you realize that a part of you resides in them. 

She is the only one who knew how you were when you were young; that’s precious. You love her now, more than so many of your friends.

There will be some people around you who you’re sure you don’t give a damn about! But the moment they say something about you, it affects you more than you’d ever imagined possible. This is the point at which it strikes you that no matter how many times you say that you don’t give a dead rat’s ass to what Mr. X said, anything ANYONE has to say about you affects you! You may not understand why, but it does.

If you are lucky, you will fall in love with a pretty quirky person. Your friends would try to talk you out of it; they won’t understand what you see in that person. And you won’t understand how they could NOT see it in them! Well, only until a few years. Yes, growing up is an unending process. We can only hope to be the adults we think we are.

One thing that is going to hit you really, really hard is that not all (none, actually) twenty-somethings are anything like Rachel, Joey or Monica! Falling in an out of love isn’t as easy. You’re not going to have as many sexual partners. And no, you are not going to be friends with anyone like Chandler Bing! Sitting around in the coffee house, gossiping with your ex-boyfriend is not how you make a living. You have to go to actual jobs, work crazy hours, and earn a meager amount you’d call “salary”.

You girls, at one point, you will realize that the V-word is actually a big deal! You are going to understand how important first times are, and how the first time happens only once. You thought your hormones went crazy when you turned 17? Lady, you have no idea! Now more than the guy, you are going to miss just having a guy. One advice: Be wise, be picky, and be safe.

You will soon realize your best friends may not stick up for you at all times; they’ll be still your friends, just not as “reachable” or “agreeable”. You’ll still be really close to them, talk to them every day, then every two days, every week, then every month… which would, at best, change to every birthday. But this would also make you understand, that even though you may not be in constant touch with them, they mean a lot to you. You will hold on to whatever’s left.

You’re going to become more realistic or even more absurd about your plans for the future. Some of you will realize that selling lemonade along the foothills of Himalayas could be a cool, very cool dream-job, but not as profitable. Others would still wonder why there are no lemonade stalls along the Himalayas. Either way, it’ll change your idea of being.

You would choose your bridesmaid/best-man and the godparents for your future-children. You would think these are the people that are going to stick with you through thick and thin and are going to be the pillar of support you can always lean to. You’d be right. The person you can see mentoring your child is definitely someone you can depend on. Hold on to them.

You will start getting an idea about how some of the things your parents said were true and sensible, and you would in all likelihood, be able to understand a portion of them. You will, however, still be rebellious, and confused between your own love and resentment for the two people who, you’re not sure why, haven’t written you off yet. You will love them, again, but in the unhealthiest way.

At some moments in your life, while you are in your early twenties, you are going to be sad. A lot! Your mood swings would range from ecstatic to downright depressed. At times you would want to shower your love on people, while there would be moments when you would want to kill the next person you see. You will find yourself turn mean to the levels you had never imagined; also, you will surprise yourself with the occasional silent acts of compassion. You will lie a lot. You will judge a lot. You will hate a lot, and you sure will love a lot. You’re going to offend certain people, belittle your own self, magnify your problems, loathe your friends and family, and not even know why. Because no matter where you are, what you do, there is always going to be someone out there who is smarter than you, prettier than you, richer than you, more fulfilled than you; and there would be pretty much nothing you would be able to do about it.

All you can do is enjoying the growing up and learn what you can, about life, about others, and most of all, about yourself. The twenties may be not be the best that life has to offer, but it has its own perks and attractions. Welcome aboard, my friend, welcome to the twenties. 

It pretty much sucks; you’re gonna love it and oh-so-much miss it when it’s gone!

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Age of Consent & Anti-Rape Bill

By Abhay Gupta

There’s an old saying that I made up a few minutes ago about carrots and sticks. If you can’t make the
carrots any juicier, line the stick with barbed wire so it hurts more. And that’s presently what the government is in the process of doing with the remodeling of the current laws regarding rape and age of consent. By now, I’m sure everyone’s familiar with the infamous incident where a 23-year old woman was brutally gang-raped and tossed out of a moving bus in New Delhi on the 16th of December, 2012. The public demanded that the government do something in response to such a horrifying tragedy and, well, they’re doing something. They’re sharpening the stick. The carrot isn’t going to taste any different, after all. What, were you expecting the government to start doling out gift baskets and badges of merit for all the rapes you DIDN’T commit today?

What is the government doing about this, though? Have we really questioned whether the government’s actually taking the right steps towards curbing the number of incidents of rape and sexual brutality committed in our country every day? Let’s start with the restructuring of the laws regarding age of consent. As of this week, it’s still 18. There was a lot of commotion regarding the proposal to lower it down to 16 and all I could wonder was – How does that affect anything? Do sex offenders really ask for age proof before sexually violating someone? 

The age of consent is basically the youngest one can be before they can lose their virginity. Anyone who takes the virginity of someone below the age of consent is guilty of committing ‘statutory rape’, regardless of whether consent is given or not, and is entitled to a free trip to prison, all expenses covered.  The idea of changing the age of consent was to effectively curb the sexual exploitation of minors. There is some genuine legitimacy to this issue but it’s a huge waste of time if our primary agenda is to eliminate rape. What kind of statement is the government making when its solution to stopping rapists and sexual fiends is to lock up pedophiles and horny young people? If you have tigers loose in the city, you don’t solve this problem by hunting down stray dogs in the hopes that this will discourage the tigers from eating your children. You find yourself a hunter who knows the difference between a tiger and an aalsi kutta.

And don’t let that be the only thing that should bother you about the government’s Anti-Rape bill. There’s also stalking and voyeurism that’s under debate. First time offenders could face 1-3 years for voyeurism and up to three years for stalking. I’m not opposed to this. There are some really creepy people roaming our city streets and the last thing anyone wants is for any of these creeps to enact out my deepest, darkest fantasies. Umm, I meant theirs. Obviously.

But seriously, anyone could be a voyeur if poor judgment is applied. If you’re attractive enough, you may just have to get used to a flurry of ogling fans checking you out. There are some obvious boundaries one is allowed to have and too much staring is definitely creepy but if you’re going to enforce a law on it, you should damned well know how far a line you want to draw. I’ve known people who get into trouble with cops for driving after having a single glass of beer and that’s just made it clear to me that our government has a tendency to overcorrect an issue to a dangerous extreme when it can’t find an optimum solution.

On that note, have you ever considered what constitutes stalking? No, checking someone’s Facebook profile isn’t real stalking. But, hey, maybe it will be soon. We won’t know for sure until the government makes up its mind on how much stalking is too much stalking and when the persistent pursuit of a love interest crosses over from ‘endearing’ to ‘holy shit, get a restraining order’. Janata Dal’s Sharad Yadav, for example, suggests that this bill could ‘kill romance’ since it’s his belief that a man must ‘follow a woman’ till she notices him and reciprocates. Uh-huh. 

Still, what amount of persistence is stalking? Could I send a woman to jail because she called me a hundred odd times over the course of a week? If I’m walking towards a certain destination and a woman’s walking the same way, some distance in front of me, should I overtake her or stop for a smoke break to avoid the possibility of going to jail over some misguided paranoia? Does that, effectively, make me just as paranoid? Thanks, government. We all feel much safer now.

The task at hand is a complicated, difficult one to solve, and the classic approach of introducing more terrifying penalties seems to have done little to deter close to a dozen men from brutally violating a woman to the point where her consequent death was a small mercy. It’s a grave problem that cannot be fixed simply by discouraging a handful of promiscuous teenagers and everyday voyeurs. If you feel, as I do, that our government can do more, don’t let the Anti-Rape bill circulate around such insignificant factors. Don’t let the December atrocity blow up into another sensation that got swept away underneath a rug of hollow solutions and helpless scapegoats. Remember – the next victim could very easily be you or someone you know.

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The Vindication Of An Idea

A Farewell To LTGTR

I have been drafting this in my head for nearly three years, as long as we’ve existed. Drafting and re-drafting to make it grand, like the final flourish of an actor on stage who knows that he will be remembered by that one final act of his, as he is lost in the fading spotlight, while the curtains come down on his part. 

But as I sit here actually typing it out, I would happily trade all of that grandeur and elegance for clarity, as I struggle to pick out that one single strand of thought, from the multitudes that coarse through my mind, like a dam broken, battered and worn by the essence of time.  

We were destined to fail. Of that I have no doubt. I’m simply incredulous about the fact that we defied a certain fate for as long as we did. And even within that incredulity is a sense of pride at what we, and I, have achieved. And a deep sense of gratitude for all those who helped carry us until they could no more. 

There is a reason why all the things must end. And in essence, they can be broken down into one of two; a) a body that has no strength and a will which can no longer push the broken body; b) its existence was an abnormality, a mistake that should never have come about. 

It is, I believe, true for all things – people and ideas, for those are all that matter to me.  

When LTGTR was first conceived, its end was already marked down in the annals of its history, that shall soon be wiped out as footprints are, in a tidal wave. What remained then, was simply to determine the brevity of its existence, and the cause for its failure. 

I started out LTGTR as hopelessly foolish idealist, who perhaps like Romeo blinded in love, refused to accept the declining prowess of the written word. I believed that like the young revolutionaries who preceded us in eras bygone, we, the offsprings of a confused marriage of technology and tradition, could do the same. I was full of big dreams and thoughts that would never come to fruition in 100 years. I was never high on hope. 

And so we began our quest like all young dreamers do, clueless about the path ahead and thick-skulled enough to not care. We began our quest, with only the stars to guide us. And our first obstacle was not the resistance from others, or the fury of nature, but the moral dilemmas that waylay all young travelers and test their strength, will and belief. Not all of us made it through. Those that did were stronger for the better. 

To those wondering about this seemingly pointless meandering, I have this to say. Patience. And that is what we did whenever it dawned on us that we had started out a quest doomed for failure like all foolhardy men do. And we pulled through. Somehow helping each other like those tiny ants do. 

We crossed the desert and sailed into the sea, with the wind at our backs and a handy crew. And we rejoiced in the turn of fortunes and lived recklessly. And then the wind stopped. And then we despaired. And in that despair our own albatross appeared. And we sailed for a while again, before we shot it. And again we despaired. And again it came. And again we shot it. This continued for many turns till finally we reached the promised land. 

We paid our price too though. We reached somewhere, and then we couldn’t move further. The will of men is not enough to build ships that travel unexplored waters. It is only enough, and not always, to reach the safety of the mainland from a few miles in the sea. 

Stuck there, with nowhere to go, the shoulders began to droop and heads began to fall, until finally bodies rolled off and men began to disappear. And those remaining, while certain of their fate, despaired at the thought of a lost legacy and of the taint of being called fools for the rest of their afterlives. With one final push, they built a monument as a sign of their achievement, a testament to the fact that they were not wrong. 

This letter is that monument. 

And that is the story of LTGTR. We found the right path, the right idea, but the journey’s taken its toll. And while our strength has failed us, our intentions were right. We made a small place for ourselves in this world. An acceptance from our readers. And a recognition from people, for what we tried to do. 

The journey of LTGTR ends here. And at the end of it, is the vindication of an idea. 

An idea that everybody has a right to express themselves, and that others will accept them for it. An idea that well written articles still have a place in a world of sarcastic and satirical Tweets and statuses. And that writing and literature can still inspire and ignite the souls of people, and - using them as agents - bring down the tyranny of antiquated thought that still prevails. 

So it is, at this august evening of March, that we bid thee farewell with the hope that we’ve touched your lives and made them better in our own small little way.

And as the Scorpions said 

“If you feel that all your life

Is packed with complications

And almost everything you try

Ends up in new frustrations

If you feel that life’s passing by, passing by

Catch the train of better times

Rock tonight

Hard times go

As soon as the good times roll

Hard times go

As soon as the good times roll”

Cheers and keep the good times rolling! 

- Sahil Mehta

Why I Miss Old Bollywood

By Daneshwari Mirji

Movies! What comes to your mind, when I say this?

Friendship, love, romance, family, fiction, horror, action, comedy, science- technology, adventure and what not?

People always say, “You want to enjoy? Forget your worries? Go for a movie!”

Want to laugh your heart loud?

Go for a movie!

But I say - Want your heal your own pain? Need to know the real meaning of words; Family, friendship, love, tragedy, feelings, etc.?

Then go for an Old movie!

Yes! If you ask me to mention 10 of my favorite movies, 9 of 10 would be the old ones! Initially & frankly speaking, I am person who is too emotional, sensitive & nostalgic! A person who loves romance!

Now the question is, Why I love Old Bollywood?

The yesteryear stars of Bollywood have been replaced with money-hungry, silicone filled & toothpick actress. Gone are the old days of sensible hugging, where even a kiss on a cheek or forehead would be so passionate, a single drop of tear in lovers eyes would make you shed a tear too! Nowadays, even the lip-locks aren’t so passionate! Those shimmery dresses, covering a girl from top to bottom that would give a gorgeous feminine look! That glamour is still classy!! 

How can you ever forget those breath-taking movies? From Sholay, Ek Duje Ke Liye, Mother India coming to Veer-Zara, Dil, DDLJ!

Some of my favorite dialogues:

K3G - "Zindagi main agar kuch bana ho kuch hassel karna ho tu hamesha apne dil ke suno or agar dil bhi jawab ne de to ane aankhen bhand karke apne maa or bapa ka naam lo, phir dekhna har mushkil assan ho jayage, jeet tumhare hoge, sirf tumhare"

KKHH - "Hum ek bar jitne hain, ek bar marte hain, shadi bbhi ek bar hoti hain, aur pyar... ek hi baar hota hain"

Have you ever seen the movie ‘Anand’?

The most inspiring, motivating one I have ever seen. Ultimate comedy, that makes you laugh until you cry, & sometimes tears just roll down leaving you emotional. Describing about the man, who looked future with positive attitude, when he knows his life is too short then.

Mother India, a nationalistic, tale of human flaws, which touches your soul, ultimately making your eyes moist.

DDLJ, the most romantic movie by Yash Chopra, it’s not only a love story, but tells you about our Indian culture, tradition & patriotism.

Amar-Akbar-Anthony: Describing about the ultimate family-love! Making eyes wet, even of the people who didn’t sob even once in movies.

Must watch movies, at least once in your life, I say!

Not forgetting, the very old Hollywood movie: ‘The Wizard Of Oz’

The quote by Judy Garland:

“For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart.

For it was not my lips you kissed, but my soul!”

Still brings me goose bumps, whenever I hear or read it!

Stunning & evergreen lines!

Yes! The Old Bollywood, I don’t know, How many hearts it touched! How many souls it healed!

Made you smile, when you are in tears;

Made you cry, when you were smiling!

Also made you laugh, with tears in your eyes!

Forgive Me Father For I Have Sinned

By Anonymous

Confession #666 (at least in a perfect universe)

Well, you got me. This is most definitely my first (and hopefully last confession), but keeping in mind that I hope to be the next Ashish Shakya (and by next I mean better looking and richer), it’s safe to assume that I’m a devout man who talks to God every night before I go to bed.

I get it, writing exams are a painful process. And when you’re an engineering student in a premier institute of the country, you’ve got nothing much to look forward to apart from a 9-to-8 IT job. A job which might pay a ton of money but is still useless since you probably can’t even approach the hot girl at the bar to buy her a drink. Stress busters are important. No, I don’t mean the perfectly innocent looking 50GBfolder marked Miscellaneous Foreign Studies. 

Lo and behold! The Facebook “Confessions” pages come to your rescue. Take your pick, there are over a gazillion confession pages for the IIT’s , NIT’s, BITS and other forgettable institutes filled with completely believable and infallible truths about pranks, sexual escapades and romantic feelings for one’s roommate/roommate’s girlfriend. Honestly, I’ve been glued to the pages myself, leading me to realize that I’m probably no better than the moronic jackasses I call my wing mates who almost drool when they came across posts like , “I was having kinky sex with my boyfriend behind the library”. Personally, I don’t believe it’s true, but kudos to aforementioned boyfriend otherwise. But true or false, we’ve once again hit upon the secret that Chetan Bhagat has so exquisitely exploited. Literotica sells, and every horny college student’s buying. Nobody really cares about the validity, but everyone’s got an opinion, and everyone’s hooked. We all want to know who’s cheating on whom, who got completely sloshed and peed all over the professor’s door and who cheated on a test.

But sometimes, more engaging than the event itself, are the discussions that follow-

Newspaper Journalist, (and believer in the one true higher power, Arindham Choudhary) – “*insert premier college name* students are changing the way we think and revolutionizing social media!”

Professor #1- “These students are a disgrace to our college and are bad mouthing this great institute where we tirelessly teach and care about our students!”

Student #1- “Screw everybody! FREEDOM OF SPEECH!! INQILAB ZINDABAD! This is the power of the youth! We shall do and say what we feel like, and shove wickets up the Australian’s asses in the next test.”

Professor #2 - “We will find these cheating rascals and rusticate them immediately! No mercy should be shown!”

Student #2 - “Anyone want to meet behind the library tonight?”

One point everyone does seem to agree on is that this occurrence is just a one-off, and people will completely forget about it soon enough. That’s about as truthful as Pawan Bansal’s assertion that the Railway Budget was made keeping in mind the needs of the common man. As long as the confessions keep coming, we’re going to open that Facebook page and look at it, because deep down, we all want them to be true. We want to believe that we’ve got the potential to be as sexually deviant as the bored individuals on the campuses trying to ‘confess’ their sins away.

The world is going to try to get back to its previous state soon. We’ll be back to bashing Dhoni for being a horrible player despite his statistics in front of us; spokespersons will tell us that India-Pakistan relations need to be mended, and hopefully the next Madrid –Man Utd match will end a lot better than the previous one did. But one thing is certain, while the number of people liking the confessions pages everyday will drop soon enough; no one is going to forget that the pages exist. For the sole reason that they are addictive, especially the week before the exams.

So unless you’re really bored and want to read about what most college students want to achieve in four years, go try and do something more important with your time. I suggest running around the streets in a white undershirt screaming “Yippi kay yay MotherF***er”, because John McClane has returned.

Cooking Life with Salt, Pepper & Sugar

By Shruti Sen

It was time for dinner and I rushed to the kitchen, asking mom if the food was ready. I was more impatient than ever. Why wouldn’t I be? I had asked mom to make my favorite dish, Chicken Masala. Once the chicken enters her territory (read kitchen), that culinary art subdued within her is triggered. She begins with washing the chicken, skillfully assorting the varied spices, mixing them well in the correct proportion and providing the ideal amount of heat to it. As I see it coming my way, the smell itself is enough to give me a high. It’s now being served and the eyes solicit me to devour it while the mouth is busy anticipating its taste. Finally, a piece goes in and I all that I can utter in that state of rapture is, “Ah! What a delight”.

Now imagine if we could cook life as flawlessly as my mom cooked that chicken. If we could somehow find those secret ingredients, mix them in the accurate proportion using the most ideal conditions; won’t the result be equivalent to that of savoring a delicious treat? Yes indeed, only more powerful and finely tuned I assume. The mystery lies in finding those ingredients that would make life palatable for each one of us. It’s simple. Just like in the world of cooking, I figured, life also has three main elements that is Salt, Pepper & Sugar. All you need to do is put on an apron, a chef’s hat and place life in a hot pan filled with those mixed ingredients. The tricky part is to find this trio and make its best use. Salt, Pepper and Sugar here is the presence of those three significant people whom each one of us needs to cook a great life.

We all know that a dish without salt is like a pen without ink. It obviously is the most fundamental element. When it comes to life, Salt is the person who has to keep showing up so that you survive all the way till the end. That person is your absolute necessity. Each one of us radiates unique frequencies. There is always an antenna available in your surrounding that catches and records it. Salt is the one that carries the antenna. When you talk to them, you are amazed at the level of connection that is sparked in the air between you two. Late at 4am, when terrible thoughts hover above you and pour rain, this is the one ingredient which protects you. They listen to you patiently; provide you the warmth of support and you don’t need to fear about judgment too. That intense level of understanding leaves no scope for conflict. You either keep coming back to them or they keep showing up. Salt might not be able to teach you many values as you both have almost the same ideologies, their role is just to keep mending you each time you are in pieces. They make you an extension of their own self and would easily push boundaries in order to protect you from those who intimidate. Without Salt, it would be awfully difficult to find those precious moments of peace in this increasingly complex world. But take note that you refrain from sprinkling too much of it because then it loses its charm, leading to a life that is built only on one perspective. Like they say, add salt according to taste.

Be it at our home dining table or an eatery, you will always find pepper standing next to salt. But how many of us actually use it? Not many, I reckon. Not adding pepper doesn’t make food any less appetizing but when we do sprinkle it, the flavor reaches to a new level of culinary delight. In other words, it acts as a catalyst. Similarly, in life too we find Pepper doing that same job. This is the person that holds the mirror in front of you, unlike Salt that holds the antenna. Instead of connection, admiration is the end result here. Both of you stand at the edge of two extremes and keep bombarding each other with your own perspectives. They consume you and fill you simultaneously by shattering your little predefined world. This may sound disastrous, but actually it’s not. It’s a catalyst which binds you both together despite the prominent differences. So what they smash your belief, make you highly vulnerable and open the locked doors of addiction but on the other hand, Pepper gives you a new outlook towards life. They keep knocking you down and picking you up until the day you’ve learnt to stand up on your own. When you break down and look for support, they might not successfully comfort you but instead they’ll show you the difficult path that holds the destination of permanent healing. It is not for your survival that you need Pepper; you’re required to keep them around in order to undergo transformation and experience revelation. Yes, at times there is a strong urge to toss a stone at the mirror they hold before you, but no sooner you pick up the stone, you accidently gaze at your own reflection, wonder and accept the fact that you need to transform. Therefore, you are neither able to destroy the mirror nor painfully keep gazing at it forever. You both rejoice in being stuck until you are finally reinvented. So, unlike the oblivious people who choose to sprinkle only traditional salt over their feast, pick up pepper too and make it even more thrilling.

Doesn’t the slight sugary taste in a spicy dish add an edge to its complete flavor? It is the surprise element that rejuvenates your taste buds and pumps pleasure in your veins. It’s not hard to guess who would be termed as Sugar when it comes to life. We all know one person who remains happy no matter how hard the situation gets for you or them. If not for real, they are shockingly good pretenders of leading a fulfilled life. That is Sugar. They are a bundle of joy that brightens up your frame of mind with every interaction. It doesn’t matter if years have passed without any sort of contact. Once you are around them, everything is vivid, dynamic and enthralling in the world. There are so many exciting layers to their life that you stay active and entertained all throughout. Surprising you with their mantras of happiness and eventually pulling you inside the world that lives ‘for the moment’ are their favorite tricks. You might not be around them but only their thought in the dark gloominess sparks your soul and manages to draw a huge grin on your face. That is how vibrant and charming they are. Their intentions are neither to provide you continuous support like Salt nor to show you the path of transformation like Pepper. All that they are there for is to blow some glitter on your face so that you are surprised at their audacity to stay happy. Of course you can’t consume sugar everyday as it has its own hazards. Just when you need to break free from the customary Salt and Pepper, use Sugar once in a while as it’s enough to keep you energized for a pretty long time.

In the kitchen of life, we all have our own personalized jars of Salt, Pepper & Sugar. It’s time to bring them out, realize their potential and figure out the right proportion. Once you’ve done that, the fluctuating heat of circumstances will blend them together suitably and put Life served hot on your plate to dig in and relish. 

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About the writer: I'm a writer(sometimes a photographer) who weaves her lifestyle around curiosities of all sorts. That natural affinity towards creativity, music, advertising, abstractions & globalization is what keeps me going.