Unanswered Questions

As a matter of fact, there have been many questions that I'd been asked as a writer, which I never really answered. Now awaiting my second book's launch, I want to tell you how I really feel about myself as a writer.

As an author of a book, the kind of book - a campus based love story - I feel a bit dejected that I couldn't launch myself as an author known for writing a masterpiece. Regarding my books, I consider them  interesting racy reads, targeting a special segment of people - the people who are looking to attain pleasure in the form of fun from the book. My books have no literary giveaway or social message. It's just a fast-paced love-story mixed with a comedy of errors, giving a good dose of entertainment to the reader, if he's in a receptive mood. For readers with a literary bent of mind or those who read for enrichment of their ideologies, my book will pass as an average or even an insipid read. As a matter of fact, I myself have completely stopped reading any such works, by young authors like me, since I get too judgmental and instead of enjoying the book, I waste my time in getting exasperated with the author.

But come here and look at the positive side - if I had waited to write the so-called 'outstanding' book before publishing, it would have taken me at least 4-5 years to evolve as a writer by reading, learning and exposing myself to the art to be able to churn out a masterpiece and in the meanwhile, I might have given up writing. Even if I'd continued, I would have missed 4-5 years of experience as an author and the assurance of getting published any day I wish, which happens to be the greatest push for me to experiment with my writing. Not only that, I would have missed around 1 lac loyal readers and I would have missed tens of thousands of mails and constructive criticisms to help me learn what a reader wants. And even if I wrote an outstanding book later on, I would have always repented of not having started earlier. Also, as a matter of fact, masterpieces don't sell - you would be surprised to know that my first book has sold more copies in India than Salman Rushdie's last book Enchantress of Florence.

So let it be. The first book - at the age of 18 - as just being the witness of my first big leap of faith to foray into something that was way beyond my wildest dreams and eventually getting published, consistently selling around 30k copies in 2 years, interacting with over two thousands readers from across the globe and then coming up with a sequel and currently working on the sequel to the sequel. It's much more than awesome. It's actually the best thing that happened to me, ever. I might have started my writing career with a cliched novel but it gives me immense faith and grit to paint my tomorrow as a serious fiction writer and look forward to become a full-time writer someday after I publish my masterpiece.

My first or second book aren't the books which my father could proudly present to his boss saying that his son has written it, they aren't the books which will win me awards, they aren't the books which will make me super rich, but they are the books - the little milestones in my writing life - that'll one day bring me all those things. And I'm really glad that it happened. Amen.

P.S. And guess what, it's paying my bills currently, as I'm immersed in full-time travel.

Two Sides of Feminism

India has been a witness to the grand scale women-empowerment drive that has been going on in the last few decades. Indeed, it's a great thing. This empowerment drive has given rise to many feminists, who champion the causes related to the women, be it openly defying gender-biased discrimination, to standing against the biases of the patriarchal society by questioning their validity and rationality. I respect them for that, not only for their firm stand, but also because even I can't tolerate anything that's derogatory to any gender.

But when it comes to benefit of their gender, I can often see a dual value associated in many so-called feminists, which is my primary concern, since I am having difficulty in understanding what's right and what's more right.

I would highlight this issue based on the attitude of two of my female friends, let us call them - A and B, in this article. Both of them are self-proclaimed hard-core feminists; they can't stand anything that's demeaning or disgracing to women, in any way whatsoever. Neither would I.

Friend A

She boards the Delhi Metro, where the seats are just full, with only about a dozen people standing hither and thither. To those of you, who have never been to Delhi Metro, let me tell you that there are specific seats reserved for ladies only, senior citizens and 'specially-abled' people.

Now, my friend A goes near the ladies seat and finds out that it is occupied by an unconcerned man-with-earphones. Without being vexed, she goes to the person and reminds him that he is sitting on a ladies seat(which he perhaps already knew, but didn't bother himself to rise until asked. Yes, men are shrewd!). He acts like he didn't even know and straightaway jumps up on his toes, finds a place to stand and offers my pretty friend 'A' his place courteously, flashing a prideful smile on his face on his random act of kindness(a perfect loser!); which nobody notices except me(writer instinct, you know). A tells me, 'See. Such rights of women, if not asked for, would most of the time be exploited by men. They hardly bother to give up any comfort ever until you ask them, even if their conscience is screaming out aloud that they're sitting on ladies seat while a lady is standing front of them.'

I see her argument. She's right. The sad part is many a times I'd been that man-with-earphones sitting on a ladies seat, until being kicked off by the fairer sex.

Friend B

She boards the Delhi Metro. The situation is same as before, where the seats are just full, with only about a dozen people standing hither and thither along the coaches.

We move around in search of seats. No vacant seats. We go to a corner, from where I take a peek at the whole situation. I see a cheesy lad wearing a yellow-embroidered shirt with earphones tucked in his ears sitting quite comfortably on a seat designated for only ladies. He gives B a top-to-down stare, seeing which I feel a bit nettled. I point out to B, 'See that ladies seat, that lousy fellow is sitting there. Come on, kick him off the place. He would hardly bother to offer you his seat, even if he already knows that it's a ladies only seat.'

B remains unconcerned, and explains with force in her voice, 'Well, I find these "seats reserved for ladies" the most heinous form of gender-discrimination I could ever encounter. I mean you could reserve seats for senior citizens, specially-abled or kids. But why on Earth do women need reserved seats? Aren't we strong enough to stand through the jerks and swings that the metro-ride offers? Well, this is highly condescending of women, but this is India. No matter how much you talk about gender inequality, you'll find that women, even some of the self-proclaimed feminists, encouraging these gender-disparaging symbols present in the society by either accepting it or in many dire cases, even fighting for these. How will you answer these issues when the patient is herself a catalyst for the disease? Women don't need support, because support never comes without pity in this society.'

I remain stunned. B is too different from A. But she's absolutely right.

Wait a minute. Even A was right. Who amongst them is more right? Can there be an absolute take on this issue of feminism? Your insightful opinions needed.

P.S. All those who read this, take a pledge with me to always mention the physically-challenged people as 'specially-abled'. Let us create a culture.

P.S. Women. Enigmatic, aren't they? ;)

Why blogging?

This is a question I want to answer to all my friends.

Regarding blogging, my friends have three views(the most common ones!) :

• Hey Harsh, is there anybody who reads your blog? Kyun time waste karta hai?
• Hey man, this blogging thing is great, nice hobby yaar. But I am too lazy to write and make my own blog!
• I can't understand why you people blog. I prefer writing stuffs in my personal diary. I don't want to make them public.
  

CASE 1 : If you regard blogging as a time-waste then buddy you are mistaken. You don't see the hidden aspect this blogging carry. You may not realize but if I elaborate, you will be shocked. On an average I learn five new words daily due to this blogging bug and what - this is an ongoing process for the last four months. So in the last quarter of year, I have learnt 600 words.

You may not realize where it is leading to? It is in short an ongoing preparation for GRE, TOEFL and CAT. After three years, I hope that I will know each and every word that would be asked in the Post-graduation aptitude tests. Besides, one learns presentation skills and writing is definitely one of the prerequisites in the compulsory soft skills for any career.

CASE 2 : If you are lazy to write, then it's fine. There is no problem at all. But suppose you were blind, and you wanted to realize how beautiful this world is? Nothing else than words could make you realize you about it. The joy of success, the taste of failure, the ecstasy of music, the beauty of nature when turned into words has the ability to make those moments immortal, their essence could be very well trapped into words. Plus it is always a fun to add spice to even the boring situation through your writings!

CASE 3 : Writing in any form is a great thing. It is good that people maintain a personal diary in these busy days. But if something beautiful is concealed from everyone, then how can its beauty be appreciated? If Vinci concealed his masterpiece 'Mona Lisa' from the world, then would its beauty be valued? I know not all of us can be Vinci, but atleast we can strive for!

This analysis never intends to push you towards blogging but it's simple point by point argumentation that blogging is not a waste of time.

Last month, I came across a book titled 'Of Course I love you' by Durjoy Dutta. Interestingly, that book was first published in his blog and then somebody read it and got very much touched. The father of that somebody owned a publishing house and he published it. Blogging is taking active writing nowadays. Celebrities also stay in touch with their fans and critics through their blogs, why should we lag behind?

Blogging is growing daily and it is going to take over the whole domain of active writing in the coming years!!!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P.S. There is a song in the movie Lakshya called 'Kitni Baatein'. It's beautiful.
P.S. A trick to disturb any stranger(elder) : domain oWhen you cross that person, greet him/her, "Namaste Uncle/Aunty". That person will waste the next fifteen minutes trying to decipher who you were?
P.S. If you want to know the link of the blog of any of your favorite celebrity then do ask me, I have got all their blog-links(if they have a blog!).

It's an Animal's World

4th October : It's animal's day, infact World Animal's Day. That's why I could see hundreds of dogs and cows smiling all around the city. Other than RJ's mimicing dogs and cats, there was no other thing I could hear in the capital.

I can't understand why these guys hold these kinds of days? They too know that they don't need to distribute blankets nor they need to build school for these animals then what the hell is the intention behind holding these days. Idle people who had no other jobs other than gaining respect from the society by doing some humanitarian work(sorry, 'Animalitarian' work) made this day.

C'mon, let us strain our brains a little about what can we extract from this day. This day, what can we do to make animal's life interesting. Let us analyze :

• We can make sudoku puzzles for them to improve their mathematical abilities : Naa, they are too dumb for it.
• How about creating websites to provide them free e-mail, chat and "Bark-ut"(dog's version for orkut) for social networking : Designing special keyboard for animals would be a mind-boggling task.
• How about involving some parrots in a reality shows - singing competitions such as "Tota Title" or "Murga Recital" : Even if these are telecasted, a serious question is who will watch these programs...
• How about making magazines like Playdog(an animal version of the Playboy) considering their physical needs : Naa, this will be economically not viable as there are very few earning dogs(studs like that Hutch wala kutta are very few in number).
• Having an Olympics for the animals called "Animalyimpics": This seems a cool option, so go and start searching for sponsors for it. You are most probable to return empty handed.

Now hear what I have done to celebrate this auspicious day. I had two leg-pieces and one fish fry as lunch and dinner respectively. That's something to be proud of and even make my friends jealous(courtesy to the unpalatable food of hostel). My tummy protruding out of my shirt owes itself to the yummy animal protein as well as fat, which made my day fruitful today.

Ironically, in reality, it was I who really celebrated this so called red-lettered day called "World Animal's Day", because I am grateful to that chicken which tasted so yum and satiated my hunger completely for hours. I will remember its taste forever(this remembrance brings saliva into my mouth even now). People of PETA or or any other NGO related to animals must have done some social works or had seminars or even had nude models walking for them for this special day, but they could not counter the pleasure of the two leg pieces I had on this special day. I am excluding the pleasure of the people who had been with a nude model, as ofcourse that would have 'tasted' better. In fact, it is only me who really felt the importance of animals in my life. How plain and awful this life would have been if there were no chickens and fishes?

Organizations like PETA are doing their BEST to promote ethical treatment of animals by emphasizing that someone else's flesh is more lucrative than that of animal's flesh. Their campaign seems to have a great effect amongst the general population as people tend to be more unethical to animals to get to see more and more infinitesimally clad women. I wish, I were in US!...[:(]

Talking about this day, neither can we make this day an official holiday for animals because they really don't do anything, nor can we make this day off for the butchers and the slaughterers, as people would not turn their hunger for flesh down. So why not celebrate this day paying gratitude to the animals for the wonderful taste of their flesh and relishing them with all kinds of recipes. So the conclusion is World Animal's Day is nothing but a day to party with kababs and biryani ornamenting the dining hall. What else can we do? Hmmm? Almost nothing...Isn't it? Can this 'almost' provide us any ray of hope??

There are people amongst us for whom nearly every day is World Animal's Day, and what a pleasure, I also used to be amongst one of them, but from NOW on I choose to become a vegetarian as I love doing things which are challenging and different from what the rest of the world does!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P.S. It's sarcasm, if you have not got it.
P.S. Happy "World Animal's Day"
P.S. The NOW in the last paragraph came at just that moment of writing and I am going to stick to that.
P.S. It is not an article about vegetarianism, it is just an inspiration - "If you are not happy about something, you need to act NOW. Be the change you want to see in this world."