India OR (Hindu)stan !!

Incredible India!! India which is known not for its beauty now-a-days but because of political and communal arguments and eccentricities. I happen to be in USA for a while and was astonished to see American's questions to me related to religious orientation of India. And in between they would ask "Why is it that the Hindu Muslim Confrontation has a long run in India?". Sorry, but I could not answer them because of my possibly limited political and religious knowledge.  However, my quest for the right answer is still going on...

Recently various stories have turned up seeking and provoking communal supports respectively from their communities. Be it Muzhaffarnagar accident or Delhi case or Sweta Prasad's case. Every one is so keen and tempted to give his/her quick expert comments on such vulnerable issues.

It is really appalling to see all these comments coming from such people who have been nominated or associated with socially and economically high profile status all over the world.  At times I wonder what do they do in their leisure time?? (probably going through all the accidents happening around in the world !!)

Coming to Sweta's case, I was surprised to see how unanimously people criticized Shetwa  choosing the prostitution as a mean to sustenance. Various news, public opinion, popular figure's criticism,etc are roaring like anything in the print media as well as on Television. If there had been many sting operations were being held to expose such practice, I wonder how many times they have shown the FACE of OTHER person ( or shall I say in filmy style "CUSTOMER" )...definitely she can not be charged to please herself by herself only !!

When I see people raising their voice in arguments to discuss Muzaffarnagar accident, I am bewildered to see how limited is their knowledge on the issue. People are trusting what media has shown and told to them.(Phew!!!). How far Media can be trusted with their own limited expressions and knowledge? Apart from few, more of media seems to do..."aao aao, mujhe dekho.....hum bataate hain chatpati masaaledaar khabr"

Its high time that people should be catered with genuine facts and figures before it gets spicy and unhealthy for general mass. 

All this distorted opinion expressed by me is not what exactly I want to paint rather I am curious to know if I am the only one who is left in such mess? Why a Hindu has to take immense care if he is surrounded by the group of Muslims and the vice versa? Why a Muslim can not expression his innocence towards 'Love Jihad' when his whole community is striving to get basic amenities like food and education? Why a girl is not safe within her "Family"? Why a talented girl is thrown to the punishment just because she is made vulnerable by so called elite-ness? 

Being a nonchalant claimer of burning rival issues, I assertively feel that the youngsters of India should define a line for themselves- a line comprising their priority and identity; Be an Indian or (Hindu)stani!! Are they going to take any crap being served to them or shall they read & stand for their own understanding of things.

Simple View Points: Haroun and the Sea Stories

Simple View Points: Haroun and the Sea Stories: "'What's the use of stories that aren't even true?'Taken from Salman Rushdie's award winning novel, 'Haroun and the Sea of Stories' is a roll..."

Simple View Points: “GIRL = DISCRMINATION”

Simple View Points: “GIRL = DISCRMINATION”: "Every day, in every part of the world, girls are shut out of school, bump off, snubbed, coerced to marry and being sexually harassed, so..."

“GIRL = DISCRMINATION”

Every day, in every part of the world, girls are shut out of school, bump off, snubbed, coerced to marry and being sexually harassed, sold as slaves, made to fight in wars and asked to sit silently while decisions are made for them - about them. Moreover, 60 million women and girls in the region are “missing”, victims of varied forms of violence namely the violence of armed conflict, domestic violence including honor killings, dowry deaths, female infanticide and sex selective abortion. Ironically, Governments are asking how they can work to stop this violence and discrimination against girls. This question cannot be resolved, they believe without Youth’s contribution as they know their issues best and have clear ideas about how to solve problems.

The girl-child is discriminated against from the earliest microscopic stage of life, through her childhood and into adulthood. In some areas of the world, men outnumber women by 5 in every 100. The reasons for this discrepancy include harmful attitudes and practices, such as female genital mutilation, son preference, early marriage, violence against women, sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, discrimination against girls in food allocation and other practices related to health and well-being. As a result, fewer girls than boys survive into adulthood. Also to a surprising end the girl-child has received insufficient national and international attention. The reason of persistence of violence costing imposed on the girl-child is due to the tapped and vulnerable position of women and children.

Governments have made SOME recognition and protective action in response to the special needs of the girl-child, especially in the area of violence. However, the different platforms of action does not recognize that girls and young women fall into distinct age groupings each with their own set of problems and needs. Diversity in demographic characteristics has yet to be recognized, including differences in sexual orientation, race, marital status, indigenous identities, cultural and linguistic backgrounds, disability, refugee status, rural communities, and migrants. Also the distinction has to be made of internally preempted people and the impact of their political-socioeconomic status. Adding to this, no specific reference to young women has been made. Only a limited recognition has been given to the specific requirements of girls. This reinforces the exploited and susceptible position of young women and girls WORLD WIDE. Besides there is a lack of access to information, education and services as well as a lack of meaningful participation in the community at various levels of the decision making process. Such situation reinforces the exploited and vulnerable position of the girl child.

Abominably the Global economic drifts and policies in the Asia Pacific region have negatively impacted on girl children, as reflected in the increase in child prostitution and trafficking, child labor, child homelessness, and culturally sanctioned child marriages and sexual exploitation.

Haroun and the Sea Stories

"What's the use of stories that aren't even true?"Taken from Salman Rushdie's award winning novel, "Haroun and the Sea of Stories" is a rollicking rollercoaster of a journey through magical lands. It is fun jaunt in the company of some of the strangest characters which we could never hope to meet in our real life.Rushdie, as usual has put the ocean of his knowledge in the novel-Haroun and the Sea of Stories. No wonder it gives the impression of a magical, fancy story at the same time goes deep down to human psychology and relations. As a corollary ,it follows the celebration of imagination which is very common to Rushdie’s works. The kind of subject, theme, style, narrative technique he has wielded is just axiomatic.The novel simply enumerates Haroun, the young boy and his multifarious exciting ventures. His encounter with sudden uproar in family, unexpected poignant attack on his father, sudden exciting meeting with Butt and Iff, and landing on the wonderful city GUP where there is always light and the terrible land of CHUP where darkness prevails amazingly elevates the adventurous soul of the novel.In the country of Alifbay, a sad city, the saddest of cities, a city so ruinously sad that it had forgotten its name lived Rushid , the so-called Shah of Blah with his son Haroun . Shah of Blah with oceans of notion and the Gift of Gab whenever was asked for a story, it was always a new one. Not only one however but a non-stop series of fresh, beautiful and luscious stories, all of them juggled at once, complete with bits of sorcery and bits of love, princesses, wicked uncles and fat aunts, mustachioed gangsters in yellow check pants and half a dozen catchy tunes.But one day everything go devastatingly wrong as Rashid and Haroun is left by Soraya, Rashid’s wife. It proved to be a curse to Rashid as whenever he opens his mouth to tell a story, no story comes out but only a horrible barking sound “Ark Ark Ark...”.So, something bad happened to him. The Shah of Blah has lost his Gift of Gab and so with the well spring of all stories which has been contaminated horribly by Khattam-shud-the Prince of Silence. Moreover, the Prince of Silence and the Foe of Speech has set out to pollute the Sea of stories abstrusely. Here begins the real drama. Haroun determines to bring back his father’s gift when he really meets to a water genie-IFF, who in literal terms helped Haroun in his exciting ventures . The process of rescuing Rashid and at the same time the Sea of stories proves to be most interesting segments not excluding to understand P2C2E-Process Too Complicated To Explain.There is a strong resemblance with the characters found in 1001 Arabian Nights, from where Rushdie has drawn, and then he spins a yarn which also has contemporary technological elements from Western sources such as computers and scientific machinery which can control the movements of the moon, Kahani. In the common genre of stories, there is a Princess, a bad guy, and a good guy who rescues the Princess and lots of fighting with bad people along with mind woven planning in order to protect the Princess and country (which is, as usual, very obvious) .Here too we have the princess who is rescued, Good conquers Evil, light overcomes dark, and the obligatory happy ending is inevitable. The real fun is how the author takes us there- to the magical land, and there are numerous literary allusions that delight us intellectually.There is a sense of repressed intention or message lying deep beneath the happy ending of the novel. Also, Rushdie uses the literary element of allegory to create a world of fantasy that allows him to work out his conflicts with the world for his own real conflicts with the system.