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Sunday, December 27, 2009

Have we REALLY moved on?

“Such small things happen in big towns”!!! This reckless statement from a highly ‘ir’responsible state functionary, seems to be the underlying mantra, which keeps the city alive. Maybe deep within, this is what the Peoples’ sentiments are, sentiments which bestow surreal powers enabling us to get up and attend office the very next day even as half the world remains frozen, having witnessed such sanguine terror strikes.

Instead of extra security and better infrastructure as ex-gratia, the Government lauds us for taking things in our stride and for moving on so soon, helping the entire voter community forget the grave lapses committed… But, whom to blame for making Ravi an orphan? Or Katherine a widow? Or simply destroying the elderly Khan couple’s support? Isn’t it ‘I’ who should be chastised for letting ‘Us’ down? Did ‘I’ do anything other than laying bouquets and lighting candles – a symbol of pathos-ridden yet modern hypocrisy? The entire city depends on ‘I’. The government runs on ‘I’. The terrorists are also ‘I’s although from the other side of the fence. But where is this godforsaken ‘I’? Running behind ever-rushing buses, avoiding falling from overcrowded trains, climbing office stairs to avoid waiting for the elevator, reaching home on time to be with family… ‘I’ is surely moved on and so is the city. For what is the city made of, but for the incessantly increasing ‘I’s? It now seems ‘I’ cannot spare time to even think about his security. And if that is the case, then who will worry for the City?

Time is the most crucial element in Mumbai as the age-old adage, ‘time is money’ is vociferously on display. So much that even the city has taken lessons therefrom. And if the city does not care, why should ‘I’? Apparently, Security comes after Money, Food, Property, Shares, Gold, Bollywood and so on! But ‘I’ never felt safe here ab initio. Making the place safe was a function of physical measures and healing psychologically. What needs to be appreciated (or cursed) is that once the mind is blanked by a soothing curtain, the physical aspects don’t matter much. So year after year (and not just one year) the story continues, much like the never-ending tele-sagas! But do we have a choice? Well, certainly yes if ‘I’, instead of lighting candles, chooses to spread the light of awareness, which only will awaken a Nation!

RAPPORT!!!

Podar began with RAPPORT,
Exactly five years ago,
when I bid adieu to seniors,
made friends across all classes,
friends who have kept me company in Podar,
Exactly since five years,
we cried when RAPPORT ended then,
we cried when RAPPORT ended now,
the difference - the five year old beginning ended suddenly,
the college didn't ask us to leave,
but we knew deep in our minds we might not meet again,
we might not get to bunk lectures again,
we might not sit in the canteen once again together,
five years back we knew we still had four years more,
but those four years have slyly slipped away,
deep into eternity,
never will they let me forget Podar,
never will I want to forget RAPPORT,
RAPPORT has made me what I am now,
it helps Podar welcome you in a different way,
but why did RAPPORT have to end?
why did I have to say bye to everyone?
a sudden void, a sudden vacuum,
what will I do to fill in that gap?
all my friends will move ahead with life...
only RAPPORT will keep us together
Podar will keep us together!!!