You think plastic is useless, don’t you?

My new flat looks grand. With a promising fresh breeze flooding in from large windows that covers the breadth of the whole wall and with excellent ventilation, I almost marvel at my luck when I landed on this tenth floor flat. The ceiling has been artistically done, with a large green (yes green! My landlord has bad colour taste) POP slab ejecting out with hidden lights in them.

Sometimes I sit all by myself at the window sill, and sip my morning tea. That’s when I spotted the maze of blue plastic and rusted black corrugated roofs blocking my view. When one looks straight ahead from my window, one can get a glimpse of bunched haphazard buildings and dark outline of hills at the horizon. However when the gaze shifts downwards, a contrast presents itself- a huge stretch of slum, the roofs of which, as I see now, is adorned with thick blue plastic and discarded pieces of unevenly fixed aluminum sheets (‘patra’ as the locals call it).

The contrast is rigid. And it gets even more rigid during Monsoons.

While I fret over rains pouring and me getting wet, my maid, who lives in a small one room hatchment in the same slum, worries over water spilling inside her tiny cubicle, wetting her lone sets of furniture- a bed and a TV table. Once, she rapidly explained how horrendous her task was to pour water mug-by-mug from inside her house.

“This is the story of every monsoon. Water accumulates after one splash of heavy rain. But we cover our roofs with plastic so at least the leakage reduces,” she confides.

I, for one, have always considered plastic as a ‘hopeless’ commodity. It increases environmental pollution, is non-biodegradable and can be replaced easily with paper bags. However, what I absolutely missed was the irreplaceable use it offers to the poorest of poor people. It acts like a ceiling for them, like cement does for us. These huge plastic sheets serve the purpose of raincoat for them like umbrella does for us.

For slum-dwellers plastic is cheap and efficient. A meter sheet cost them anywhere between 350 to 400 bucks, while a roof made of cement or bricks can easily escalate to thousand of rupees.

A normal raincoat or umbrella starts from 100-150 bucks, but a thin plastic film merely costs 5-10 rupees. Why would they go for a more costly option such as umbrella when they can easily wrap a piece of plastic around them during rains? Their choice is limited-- plastic.

In India, environmentalists protest to ban plastic, with cities like Nainital already banning its use. However, for the lower-income group, environment has no place to stand in the ‘issue-list’ when heavy downpour threatens to float their furniture sets and a long list of monsoon diseases- typhoid, dengue, malaria, cholera, hepatitis, leptospirosis and gastroenteritis- lurk round the corner for two long months.

A quick Google search told me that according to All India Plastics Manufacturers' Association (AIPMA), domestic consumption of plastic has been growing at 10-12% CAGR over the last decade. The plastic processing industry is expected to touch Rs 1.3 trillion (18.9 million tones) by 2015 and increase employment to an estimated 7 million by 2015 from the current 3.5 million-plus people.

So, as futile as this commodity is considered to be, it is one indispensable unit in our country. In 2012, India was the third largest consumer of plastic in the world, that says a lot, isn’t it?

https://tabassumb.jux.com/abagfullofmusings

Just a Random thought!

Mumbai. 8 months. Tough life.

‘Mumbai jitni sakht hai utni hi mazedaar bhi hai’, this catchy phrase from super-hit movies(can’t remember which!) invariably enticed me towards the city. I craved to live independently here, roam about the city, and take time to pamper myself. But when I landed here, all I did was worry—worry about assignments, deadlines, classes, hectic schedule, lack of personal space and absence of mummy-made food. I started disliking the very reasons for which I was here. That stopped me from actually breathing in my moments of freedom. Silly issues engrossed me and it became easier to maintain a straight face rather than just smile.

Indore, my home town, is a quite and lazy city. I wanted action, and Mumbai promised me just that. But when I achieved what I wanted, its value declined considerably. I wanted to go back to the luxurious home, to the caring laps of my mother and the spendthrift arms of my father, but here I was, stuck as ever.

Eight months flew by, and I realize now, I have wasted so much time! My course at Xaviers is coming to a closure and I have no masala fun-filled incidents to flaunt! I want to go back, relive each moment, stroll on Marine Drive, kiss the bright sky, experience the sweaty weather. Alas! Too late!

But, I’m not completely at loss. Mumbai has toughened up the easily maneuvered nature of mine. It has converted me into a stronger shell, difficult to break or manipulate. I lived in a cushioned life with my parents, and Mumbai snatched away all those layers and exposed me to a harsher world. A world where no one bothers to turn around and give you a second look, a world with a mad race and no destination, a world where loneliness can threaten to devour you, but also a world which teaches you to value the minute happy moments in life.

I know now, I can survive anywhere and smile despite facing all the odds. These eight months have taught me the importance of many things, specially the value of my close ones. This was one hell-lot of an experience, but it was all worth it!

Also Check www.tabassumb.jux.com

The Racket

When one watches Slumdog Millionaire, one wonders whether in reality a racket as brutal as child trafficking really exist. The smuggling of young kids, training them to sing bhajans, and then using them to beg on roads makes us question the authenticity of the whole process. May be this is’nt real. But things more gruesome than this are…

When I first stepped in the Cuffe Parade slum, I instantly felt nauseated. Was I sick? No! It was the atrocious stink which filled my nostrils and reached the pit of my stomach that made me want to puke. Even when I was busy trying to control my nausea, I could not help but get surprised by the fact that the people around me- the ‘slum-dwellers’, were absolutely fine with the obnoxious stink that made me sick. Recovering from that initial attack, I moved further into the depths of the slum. A mix of dilapidated shanties and ‘pacca’ houses flanked either side of the ‘kachha’ road. People, specially men kept staring at me with eyeballs ready to pop out any instant. I felt an urgent need to go and grab a stole or ‘chunni’ for myself. Why did I come here? I kept asking myself. If it was not for this assignment I had to do, I would never have come here.

The slum I was roaming in can be fairly categorised as a well-to-do slum. People do not live in extreme poverty here, although you could fairly guess that they do struggle to make their both ends meet. For basic bread and butter one has to work for the whole day and only then can he expect a decent meal. My initial shyness evaporated in about twenty minutes, and then I started my interaction. I was chit-chatting with young boys playing football when my eyes fell on a policeman who was keeping his eyes steadily on the boys. I decided to talk to him. Mohan Bhisai, the officer who has been appointed to look after kids in that lane spoke in a guarded tone, as if not sure how much to reveal. “My senior instructed me to stay here”, he said. “I look after the kids who play here since there have been several kidnappings in the past”, he further added after a little urging from my side. Zapped, I stared back at the kids. Were they even aware of the potential threat they faced in their own locality? The home, the shelter, the protective cocoon, which made them feel so secure, was in fact one of the most dangerous place to live in.

I kept asking other people, since Mr. Bhisai was in no mood to divulge further details. What I gathered was shocking. Young kids, less than six to seven years old were kidnapped and found dead a few days later near the slum. There were two things common in all the missing kids- their dead bodies were invariably discovered on a ground near Lalit building in Cuffe Parade and even more gruesome was the fact that the kidneys of all the corpses were found missing. What was shown in the movie Slumdog Millionaire was nothing in front of this horrifying kidney racket.

Bharat Chauhan, a young banjara, spoke about how his neighbour’s three-year-old daughter was kidnapped and later found dead on the same ground. “Her kidney was missing”, he confirmed. And what he added on was even more horrendous- the girl’s head was chopped off. Such brutalities immediately alerted the Cuffe Parade police and they installed CCTV cameras along with stationing policemen in every lane of the slum. When asked, people talk about such kidnappings with caution, since they have been instructed not to discuss much about it by the police.

I went to the police station to enquire further, since the locals were not giving in much. Jagannath Gaikwad of Cuffe Parade Police station mentioned that the first kidnapping took place on October 20, 2011 when a girl went missing from Sayonara Junction. Days later her dead body was recovered. The second kidnapping happened on January 12 2012. This time a three year old girl was the target, she was kidnapped while she was walking with her grandmother. The third incident took place on April 18, 2012, and yet again a girl was kidnapped. All the girls were found dead after a few days. The police preferred to keep mum when asked if there were any signs of sexual assault. And they maintaned their silence when asked about kidneys being stolen from the bodies. Their silence forced my thoughts to linger on one possibility- a huge racket was at play here. Its web was far-fetched and full of conceits. No one knew what to say or whom to blame. The police has not yet unearthed evidence against a single party. Too many questions and too many doubts, so far nothing has been answered.

However, the police did start taking measures with the second kidnapping and stringent action scared off perpetrators. But fear flies high, and slum-dwellers still worry about their little ones playing outside blissfully. The ignorant children are not even aware that they’ll be picked by strangers from just outside their houses. The people living there stated that kids were lured by chocolates and they followed the person wherever he took them. Even after repeated attempts at cautioning kids, this process of trapping kids continues.

Can the children of Cuffe Parade be saved from a racket that is freshly brewing? For that we need to rely on the police and make the slum dwellers more cautious. Only then can one hope to save what looks like another Slumdog Millionaire in making.

Another ‘Aman Ki Asha’…

Last year when around a dozen of my family members applied for a Pakistani visa, only half of us got through. We were dejected and crestfallen, a family wedding was round the corner in Karachi, and only six of us got visa. A silent thought floated through each one of our’s mind, why can’t Indo-Pak relations get amicable? Travelling across that ever so thin boundary would be much easier then, we could go there any time and every time we wished to, since half of my family practically resides there!

And when Asif Ali Zardari made a short visit to Ajmer, it was like an ice-breaker. India and Pakistan decided to get friendlier in terms of trade and business, for me that was a twig of a silver lining. My family in the other country immediately applied for visas. Just in case the relations got sour later, why lose such a golden opportunity? And I made a meticulous search on the current bi-lateral ties. Yes, good tide is in for a long time. Pakistan is the only country in the negative list under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, or FEMA, which prohibits investing in India. Now that name has been removed too. India has broadened the scope of FDI for Pakistan and in return Pakistan has taken a step further in naming India as the most favoured nation. Wow, most favoured nation, now that’s something right? Pakistan even increased the number of exportable items from India more than three-fold. Now that’s an immaculate example of symbiotic relationship.

I couldn’t be more happy.

And I’m sure the ones reading this blog share similar notion too. It does not matter whether or not your family or any acquaintance resides in that sister-country, peace is a noun that every single Indian and Pakistani yearns for. The media may have created a hype, stressing on the strained Kashmir issue or the deep-rooted terrorism or the not-so-friendly terms between India and Pakistan, but the people in both the countries have no such issues. I have spoken to many Pakistanis there, and discovered a pleasant truth, they are indifferent to all issues between the two nations. The market sells stuff claiming it is Indian-made, and people buy it immediately. The word ‘India’ has credibility there. I have encountered occasions when, on my routine street shopping occasions, many sellers have tried convincing me to buy items claiming it is from India, I have smiled silently, not because I’m an Indian myself, or not because I know for a fact that those items are not Indian-made, but because the people there consider India at a higher pedestal than you or I can imagine.

Had 1947 partition not taken place, both the nations would have flourished as one. The flawless singers there, be it Atif Aslam or Rahat fateh Ali Khan would have been our singers too, the cricketers there would have been in our team too creating an envious prospect for all other teams ( imagine merging India and Pakistan cricket teams!) and our combined economy would have been on the top slot. Not only this, petty issues like Kashmir dominance and terrorism would not have existed, neither would there be any strain on the LOC. Anyways I have gone far away from the practical world into an imaginary realm. This is just the beginning, if ever, peace is to come as a topping on both the countries, then we need more such initiatives. One for example, was Times of India’s ‘Aman ki Asha’ campaign that brought the arts of both the countries on a single platform.

Such endeavors constantly remind us that scope of love, friendship and cross-border trade is still probable. I’m reminded of a beautiful verse from Rabindranath Tagore’s poem...'Where the mind is without fear' , and I can not end without sharing few lines.

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Superstitious, Are You?

Love, such an abstract, undefined word.

Like a fountain, it ejects out happiness to one extreme end of the pool and sadness to the other end. I’ve been in situations when my mind literally waged a war deciding one vital question- whether it’s happy being single or is relationship a better way of living life. Of course, till date, I’ve failed to get an answer. Anyways that’s not the reason why I’m writing this blog. As I said, love brings happiness, but it also bestows sadness. And Indian culture with its high-melodramatic love stories, brings with it every possible emotion- bliss, fear, fights, tears, tension and dejection.

Recently one my friend grudged about being a ‘manglik’ and her boyfriend worried over the fact whether marriage was on their cards. Common now, seriously? We live in the ultra-modernized extremely-broadminded 21^st century, where people have more conviction in science than superstitions. And yet, I find this perplexed couple fretting over their future on a baseless manglik issue. Look at Aishwariya and Abhishek,  have you noticed that Abhishek is still alive, and they both even have a daughter? And well for your knowledge, Aishwariya is a manglik. I don’t disregard the whole ‘manglik’ or ‘mangal dosh’ thing, but making it the base for all matrimonial decisions is an absurd idea. The topping on this cake is still left, my friend went a step ahead, she went for online assistance for matching kundlis and finding solutions for manglik dosh. I wondered out loud then, “Such things exist online?” “Oh yes they do, I even found a matrimonial site for all mangliks”, she said. I could utter nothing except issue a deep sigh.

Indian culture is an unpredictable, highly volatile bag. Before a marriage, we have ten different issues that need to be settled down- Is the girl or boy of the same caste? Does he/she eat non-veg? What is the prospect’s education? What is his or her background? Can her father give dowry? Can she cook? How much does he earn?……and blah blah blah. Parents are concerned, agreed, but marriage in Indian context, has become more of a job profile’s check-list than a blissful union of two souls. Christians also marry, do they live unhappily because they do not match kundlis? Parents are concerned about their daughter’s marriage as soon as she turns eighteen, mothers set on a groom-hunting mission in every possible marriage, fathers worry over the marriage expenses of their still little girl and the relatives leave no stone unturned in pressurizing parents to get their son or daughter married!

And yet, we continue living this ignorant lifestyle, fretting over it, but later accepting it invariably. With all due respects, just pause for a second and wonder, if your whole destiny was written out there, what charm will your life hold then? If pundits or moulavis knew so much, wouldn’t they work upon their own lives? Trying to know what’s in stock for future, and then getting miserable over it is a recipe for disaster! Instead accepting superstitions and yet living our life on our own terms is a wise well cooked dish ;) 

Be ardent believer of manglik dosh or pass it away as superstition, but follow one thing, don’t let religious orthodox principles or culturally bound rule-books ruin your life, instead let those very principles act as a solid base for your values and empower yourself to live beyond the monotonous some ‘baba-assisted’ lifestyle .

The Untapped Land of Pakistan !

(An article I wrote for Naidunia)

The word “Pakistan” means “pure land”. But the irony is, when one pictures Pakistan, he is forced to imagine something entirely opposite. A very conservative and strict atmosphere, an unknown lurking danger, the myth of Taliban and it’s aristocratic rule, a poverty inflicted society, and an anti-Indian government… all this sets our mind tickling about how people even survive there!

But when you step in Karachi, and take a glimpse of it’s posh well-developed infrastructure, you will be surely forced to change that mind-set. It is as developed as any metropolitan city, and is recently splurging with quality education. You look at the people there, and try to spot a trace of fear of the impending danger, but there’s none, they look as normal and indistinguishable from the Indians. India and Pakistan are like the eyes of a same person, though they can never meet or see each-other, yet they share similar vision, similar culture and similar corruption issues.

And as surprising as this might sound, Pakistanis are very fond of India, they watch Bollywood movies with equal interest, keep tabs of Indian news 24*7 and feel an inexplicit connection with it’s sister-country as if the two nations are linked with unbreakable threads. Shajar Ali, a watchman from Karachi says, “Half of my family resides in Lucknow, and India is like my other home. I keep going there once in a while. However I just wish the tension between India and Pakistan gets over, getting a visa has become even harder after the Mumbai terror attacks”. When asked what difference he sees between India and Pakistan, he said, “I’ve seen more love amongst people in India. They are warm and affectionate, everything else between the two nations is almost same.”

The Difference?

Pakistan and India are similar and different in so many ways. While corruption, scams and cricket are invariably hot topics in both the countries, many other issues such as security, freedom of expression and women empowerment vastly differ in both the nations. Indian air promises a sense of freedom and safety. But the minute you enter Pakistan, you’ll be advised to remove all your jewelleries. Thieves their follow you like a shadow, and people are scared of wearing any jewellery simply because they might get looted on gun-point. Even the police and administration can not fight that shadow. When asked how they wander about on streets wearing jewellery, Tasneem Malik, a housewife said, “Well I have almost stopped wearing gold jewelleries, mostly it’s imitation jewellery that I wear. There have been cases of loot in our neighbourhood, and sometimes robbers even kill ladies for not handing over their jewellery. It’s best we do not take any risk”. Even marriages here are held secretly without any flamboyance, since a little pomp-n-splendor can easily invite attention and lead to inevitable robbery. While Tasneem feels security is a big issue in Pakistan, Malik-ul-ushtar, a businessman, on the contrary feels Pakistan is a great country which is just caught up in international politics. He says, “Theft and robbery are issues every country deals with, the real issue with Pakistan is with particular sects of terror groups which are bent on creating havoc, and media is no help either, it has just exaggerated the situation. Otherwise Pakistan is a beautiful nation and everything is normal here.”

Women Liberty

If Pakistan has some golden points every nation should look up to, it also struggles with certain dark areas too. Gender equality and freedom of expression are two rights one is unofficially denied in this country. In the cream classes you’ll fail to notice this injustice, but the masses are a crystal clear projection of this invisible barrier that’s threatening to pull down Pakistan’s growth process. Clad in ‘burkhas’ and covered from head-to-toe are ladies living in their own protected shell, unaware of the freedom and opportunities outside their realm. You can not find even a single woman driving any two-wheeler there. Shocked? Well should be. It is not considered appropriate for women to drive two-wheelers, since of course driving openly in public without any shelter is way beyond what the society can tolerate. About this Mrs Patanwala said, “I have been to India once, watching ladies drive made me realize how much I’m actually missing. But there’s a cultural difference between India and Pakistan, in Pakistan you can not take any sort of risk, not even of driving a two-wheeler in public”. Though this observation might seem petty to the larger half, a small percentage of women hate this distinction, they feel it holds them back. Mrs Malik says the unavailability of two-wheelers for women is a definite sign of backwardness. But on the contrary, Athar, a businessman, sees no harm with the practice and explains the logic behind it. He thinks in accordance with Islam, a lady should never do anything that invites the attention of men. Driving a two-wheeler openly is dangerous as well as a risky invitation to thieves. So avoiding driving will ensure a woman’s safety. Justified or not, this practice has now been embraced by almost everyone, to the extent that they have grown happily habitual of it.

On Terrorism

Just like a snake coiled tightly around it’s enemy, terrorism has established it’s tentacles firmly in Pakistan. It has converted the pure land into a draconian state ready to swallow any one standing against it. And as shocking and disgustful as it might sound people have grown numb towards violence; bomb blast and firing are scenes they confront daily. And you can’t even blame them. The environment itself is so soaked with terrorism, that a person learns to live with it. You’ll never fail to notice armed policemen guarding important areas prone to threat. However according to the locals, recently the situation has drastically improved and the rate of terror strikes has marginally reduced.

Cricket: Game or Shame?

The recent verdict on spot fixing brought some very famous cricketers like Salman Butt, Mazhar Majeed, Mohammad Aamer and Asif in limelight. In a nation where cricket is religiously followed, these incidents shake people’s utmost interest in cricket. While for some this is small news, but passionate fans got a huge blow after hearing this revelation. Murtuza Ali, an avid cricket fan said, “I was and still am a huge fan of cricket. I always believed in our team, but the spot fixing incident has disappointed me a lot. The country has given these players so much, and in return they betray us with spot fixing. It’s very unfortunate”.

Do you smell corruption? India and Pakistan after all have something in common!

Marks of Progress

Amidst the dark episodes comes a brighter chapter, that of progress and broader vision. Many schools all over the country have now turned co-educational, which was an unlikely scenario few years back. Another scenario you are unlikely to find anywhere else is the transport system. Speaking of Karachi in particular, you can neither ignore it’s butter-like roads nor it’s ultra-unique buses. It flaunts beautifully adorned buses with paintings and colourful designs. And you just can’t take your eyes off those attractive buses (if you have watched the movie ‘Bol’, then you know what we’re talking about!). Although most of the buses have been irreparably damaged by bomb blasts, yet their beauty beneath the charred surface is still visible. Gazala Sabir, an Indian says, “I loved the buses in Karachi. Although they were as congested as the ones you find in Indore, still they had a special charm about them. I was so impressed I purchased a tiny model of the bus”.

The land of Pakistan is an untapped and hidden domain, which is just hooked up in the claws of international politics and terrorism. The people live and think the way we Indians do. And there’s absolutely no difference between the two nations. It’s time we follow the famous phrase, “Make love not War”.  

A Sorry State of Affairs…

(The confused mind of Indian politics)

The Indian netas never fail to surprise me. Politics is a game for them and they are absolutely flawless in playing it. Our democracy is like a game of chess, the politicians and the opposition are the master players. Each move that they make is a counter attack at the opposite party, but in the process we Indians like pawns are trashed mercilessly.

The current scenario is quite similar; in between the accusations and counter allegations involved in the Jan Lokpal bill, where in BJP supports spiritual guru Ramdev baba and Congress key members like Kapil Sibal try to maintain their poise, the common man is being kicked, manipulated and romped around.

An even more ‘sorrier’ fact is that a certain minister gives supari to murder Gandhian philosopher Anna Hazare and what is ironical is the fact that the Maharashtra government promises to provide the man full-fledged security. The government threats and protects the same person! Seriously what games do these netas play?!

And during times like these I wonder what Prime minister, Dr Manmohan Singh gains from keeping absolutely mum when his ‘team of warriors’ are out there brandishing police crackdown in the middle of the night on innocent people. Remaining silent about the Rajghat folly is undermining democracy itself. The time and the scenario are both ripe when we Indians must neither encourage corruption nor its practitioners.  Following suit of Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Yemen et al, it is quintessential that corruption is nipped in the bud. And irrespective of what political gains Ramdev baba hopes to seek, I salute the man for his endeavour because ultimately his success in ending corruption will benefit the common man as well.

Well anyway, among the infinite series of plotting, backstabbing and conspiracies I gain solace with a small silver lining… Atleast the government has nailed down some big corporate players involved in 2G and CWG scam. But yet again, while they intend to curb corruption they also want to make sure that their occupied corrupted seats do not slide away from them and so a bill intending to check on their practices is the last thing they want.

Such a sorry state of affairs!