Delhi protest: Rear view mirror

Over the last few days we witnessed massive protests across the country, especially Delhi over the rape incident. There were violent interactions between police and Aam Janta. All news channels did an in depth coverage of this incident.  Water jets were being used on the protesters. People were getting injured due to the lathi charge.

As the drama unfolded on TV, different sections of media spoke at lengths about police atrocity and anti-social elements becoming a part of this protest. Each individual had a different opinion and version of this story. However, there are many versions which did not come out in the open.

There are stories running in the secret corners of political circles. As per one individual who refused to be named, the order to use water canons came from very highly placed authorities. This decision was taken after a high level meeting involving politicians and experts from all Government departments. Most of them had to be recalled from official foreign tours to Thailand, Singapore, Maldives and Gulf along with their family and friends. The summary of this meeting as below.

Winters can be very cruel on us. It's so cold early in the morning with temperature dipping each year. Delhi specially is known to have temperatures in single digits. It is not a weather in which one would be motivated to take bath. Research has proved that the sale of deodorants is higher during winters, significantly higher than summer sales. Common sense would make us think otherwise. The ones who cannot afford deodorants are walking odour sources. Individually, this may not cause any social issues. However, collectively it could have a massive impact. 
When people started collecting in huge numbers, body odour levels started going up. Permissible odour limit in Delhi is quite low considering high VIP presence. As the crowd started moving towards Rashtrapathi bhavan, security apparatus picked up approaching high levels of body odour. As more and more people joined the protest, body odour levels kept increasing and touched first warning level. Higher officials were intimated and triggered police deployment.  Special masks imported from Russia were provided to police. This specially fragranced masks helped police stand in between the stench of body odour.

Media coverage, facebook and SMS helped bring in more and more crowd.  Soon odour level crossed danger mark and all dignitaries had to be evacuated to safe zones. Levels crossed the capacity of the masks and many policemen were found losing consciousness. Higher ups were reached out and the entire police machinery hit a panic button.  An emergency meeting was held with experts of all departments and the all-important politicians. Special screening of English movie 'Independence day' was organised to help deal with national emergencies like these. After viewing the movie, it was decided that the only way to get rid of this odour challenge was by giving washing these individuals.  

 

This was a unanimous decision. Easiest source of water as always is Cauvery water. Special tribunal was advised to order release Cauvery water. Special containers were airlifted to KRS dam. These were filled with water and these containers were rushed to back to Delhi. The water was fragranced with Sandal oil to bring in faster results. This fragranced water was sprayed on all those who participated in the protest. Odour levels were periodically monitored during this entire process. Those who refused to take bath were lathi charged till they agreed. Water canons were continued till odour levels dropped way below warning levels.

This high secret operation was code name “Operation Axe Effect”.  It is likely to become one of the best kept secrets of Indian history unless Wiki leaks it.

Cubbon Park: From Lover's park to Love Park

Sunday afternoon is a perfect time for a lazy dependence on television. Brain stops working and nothing on TV seems sensible. Hands get tired of torturing the remote control by continuously holding the channel change button. Finally, we accept defeat and surrender to the mercy of some channel. Having accepted defeat, our mind tries to find logic in the crazy stuff that we end up watching.

One such lazy Sunday afternoon, my stomach was full and no part of my body was willing to move. I lay on the bed having accepted defeat to a Kannada music channel. I was not sure if the terrible looking anchor was talking more or shaking more. My eyes refused to move much but he kept swinging and swaying. My lazy mind tried to tell this guy to stop shaking as it could not focus on the crap he seemed to be talking. He went on and on; after shaking and barking for a long time, there was sudden silence. Apparently, he had stopped making the noise that he was making. It was song time; finally the music channel was playing a song instead of showing us a shaky, noisy, terrible looking VJ, who I believe was trying to make a joke (probably of himself).

What followed was a pure melody, an Ilayaraja creation for Mani Ratnam’s debut movie; “Naguva Nayana Madhura Mouna” from the movie “Pallavi Anu Pallavi”. This Anil Kapoor starrer had some excellent music and the movie was way ahead of its time. It’s pure ManiRatnam magic.


Coming back to the song, this melodious number has been shot against the backdrop of CUBBON PARK. For a Bangalorean like me who always complains on the disintegration of Bangalore but never does anything regarding that, this is a treat to watch. The colourful background of the lush green trees with blooming flowers brings back memories of the excellent city this used to be.

My complaining apart, the lazy brain of mine starting doing what it does best.. Brooding!! Cubbon park was the perfect location for a family weekend get together. Come Sunday and the place would be filled with children playing, adults gossiping while hogging the pot luck lunch. It was an excellent setting for almost everyone in the family. But it was even better for the lovers back then. This was easily the lover’s paradise. Couples could come spend some quite time with each other, take off for a walk hand in hand while listening to the birds chirping. Perfect setting for “old world romance” as it used to be.

Today, Cubbon Park still attracts crowd. With changing times, it has transformed itself from a “LOVER’S PARADISE” to “LOVE PARADISE”. We at Bangalore are gifted to multiple access road right cutting through Cubbon Park. As we pass through this wonderful stretch of greenery, while emitting poisonous gases from our polluting vehicles, we get to see all sorts of couples. Different combinations of all the 3 sexes, Male/Female/others could be found in various stages of pleasure.

Gone are the days when people when to Cubbon Park to watch birds. Today Cubbon Park is more famous for watching BIRDS, you know what I mean!!!

9th Wonder of the world: Misunderstood statues of Maya

Facebook has changed the social fabric of our country. There is a revolution of sorts happening in India. It’s a mandatory requirement for everyone to have a Facebook account. Everyone from housewife to a corporate honcho has a Facebook account to flaunt. “Don’t you have a Facebook account?” is the dreaded question everyone wants to avoid. Grandmothers are learning to use Facebook from their grandkids, while parents do not want to be left behind. 

The only other revolution of this sort was when television became popular in the country. It initially started off as the thing to have. Everyone wanted to have television. As the television sales increased, not having a television became an insult. Everyone had to have a TV in their house.

Facebook has been naïve not to have a “Do it yourself” kind of courses. Everyone seems to be learning Facebook usage by looking at others’ pages. “If X does it then I guess it must be a trend or 

THE thing to do, so I better do it” seems to be the mantra.

The easiest way one can make a Facebook profile look strong is to fill it up with pictures. You are sitting in an auto with/without a friend, click a picture and upload it on FB. Out for a lunch/dinner, click a picture and upload it on FB. Sitting up late in the night, click pictures for a good profile picture. Even a stray dog on the street is not spared, click a picture standing next to it and there it goes into FB. Some even upload their honeymoon pictures (the ones with clothes on).  Now it’s become a trend to scan those old black and white pictures from the dusty albums and upload them.

You just cannot venture out without a camera, be it a mobile phone camera or a point & shoot one. You never know when a photo opportunity strikes.  Putting up pictures on a public domain has become a really pleasurable activity. So much so, that soon FB would have to multiply its server count.  

Not everyone in India is lucky enough to have access to computers. Even if they do have computers they may not have the technical know-how. Some may not have a guiding soul. How do these individuals cope with the need to show the happenings of their life to public?

A certain Behenji from the wild Uthar Pradesh thought out of the box and came up with a brilliant plan. She installed statues of herself and her close ones across the state.

When we upload photos on FB, we use the server space of FB. In the same lines, Behenji used public space and public funds to install the statues. It’s hard to figure out why the country is making such a huge fuss about these statues.

Election commission has gone a step further and has asked these statues to be kept covered till elections get over. We do not come across any such measures against the crores of pictures being uploaded on FB every day.

When there is no restriction on the pictures which can be uploaded (as long as they don’t have leaders of congress party), it would be wrong to target the statues of Mayawathi. These are after all her FACE BOOKed in marble.