horizon

Dada- the poem

He was our national animal.

With his bengali origin and northern grace.

He pawed his way and he became a symbol of brave & loyal.

But then they ungraded from spears and arrows to guns.

Its hard to keep up with technology and naturally dada struggled

And they killed him with no remorse.

Sometimes for business, sometimes for fun.

Even his southern brothers suffered the same Fate.

Now dada is only in hundreds.

And maybe dada will get extinct.

But is he does

I will still remember the grace the strength and loyalty.

Dada had it all.

But you can't compete with technology and greed.

Now they try to save him.

The same ****ers

I hope dada lives

But would they let him.

Cycle no 44

I am an insider and this makes it more interesting. I am a men's cycle in Symbiosis knowledge village and property of Symbiosis society. But I am popularly called as Atlas Cycle. One person had tried to remove the "t" in it and he wanted to make me Alas. But I am Atlas as I carry "World/guys" above me.

Some people have treated me badly in last few days, left me anywhere, broke my chain guard, my pedals and also parked me anywhere. Some say a few set of people did it. But I was there and I remember. These guys were each one in some context and hence you can not single out few people. In that sense they were faceless.

There are of course other cycles and one cycle repair shop out here. 

All these people will have their own opinions too but I have made  friend. A friend who listens to me, respects me and also shares my emotions. Maybe I am in love. May be I am in love with the golf cart. It attracts me like a magnet - I want to be its Caddy.

We have gone out a couple of times but Col. stops us and reminds us of 12'o clock deadline. 

But the question which may be bothering some who are still reading this autobiography is why me. - Why Cycle 44. Why not Cycle 37 or Cycle 59. Well lets just say that I am a good PR person and I have my contacts. That's what media is all about isn't it. 

Social Impact of Television on Youth and Children

 

Social Impact of Television on Youth and Children

Television: The Impact.

Television has had a major impact in our country for last 50 years. It  was an instrument for national integration and peace. Then as time went by it started focusing more on entertaining the audiences than to inform them. Last 18 years have been revolutionary for Television as it has become a medium of entertainment and has impacted the current teen, youth and children of the country. But how did TV  achieve to have such a major role in our country.

The children in the early 90’s saw the good old days of emergence of cable TV and last popular days of good old DD. They grew up watching serials like Mahabharat, Ramayan, Jungle Book, Shatiman etc. Now they grow up on Various reality TV shows, cartoons and soap operas. It’s a world out there alright but does it influence in a good way or a bad way.

 

Role models from TV

In the day and age of reality TV it becomes imperative that kids and youth have a clear understanding of what is really a real picture and what is TV content. But this is hard to achieve as such as we think because parents themselves are very busy nowadays to explain certain details to the kids. Thus the generation has someone like Ranbir Kapoor or Priyanka Chopra as its role model.

It becomes difficult for this generation to understand the what is good on TV and what is bad on TV as this line is really blur. This is the age of instant gratification, where everyone wants everything to happen instantly and success is measured by the time it takes to get there even if that is a short term success.  TV is such an age is very influencing medium and it’s interesting that kids have a plethora  of options to choose from.

 

 

Fashion and trends from TV

TV influences children to create their own sense of fashion. Youth want a Manchester United T-shirt as it is their favourite team. They (kids, teens and youth) pester their parents in to getting them the latest in  fashion and the newest in trends as they see it on TV.

Teen girls want to look like Hanna Montana (a popular TV icon) and thus try to either match up with her style  or they try come up with their own. This leads to peer pressure and the  economically weak kids suffer from feeling left out.

This is not a good way of creating a country that has equal opportunities for everybody. Hence it is important that while there should be no censorship on TV as it hurts the basic expression of freedom of speech, there should parental discretion and discussion on the topics which are shown on TV with taking kids into consideration.

 

A patter to choose from

Youth and children have a lot of options available with them. They can choose as to what, when or where do they want to watch any TV show. In this environment of multiple channels and limited time, families usually end up watching TV together. Also a point to be considered is that most middle class people have only one TV Set available with them. Thus many times kids end up watching adult content as mothers watch TV soaps in front of the kids who misinterpret the shows by analyzing it themselves through their limited understanding. Mothers usually just allow them to watch it as the kids generally stay quite and do not disturb her while watching her favourite soap.

Couch potatoes.

TV watching can be harmful to a person’s eyes. TV watching can be addictive and people can become couch potatoes and be lazy enough not to do anything.

Out of my comfort Zone

Getting to know more about Dr. Prakash and Dr. Mandakini Amte and their work made me realize that there are many problem areas where efforts are need but we are clearly neglecting this need as we are so detached from the realities of India. We, I, fail to see the poor and depreciating state of affairs in rural India as most of us are far from these troubles, in our own shells.

They inspired me to look beyond my comfort zone and really think about how I can help my society, my country in a better way. 80% of my country lives in rural India but our attention is perpetually fixated on the minority in the urban. I have always wanted to do my part and help my country progress but I now realize that progress cannot be directed from the cities alone but needs to take place at the hub of our country and one needs to go down to the roots, our roots, to make an actual difference.

This is how their story affected me and I will do my very best to remember this and work toward helping build a better India.

A Day with Ramsay - A short Story

I am in a Hostel and people call me Taken. My real name is only known to a few people and of course  you have no chance of finding it.

With a popular name like Taken - People usually ask me, " Hey are you taken for granted? or you taken as in sold out."

But I am used to it and I love the fact that I have such a weird name. But the other day I met a person who just  blew my mind. His name was Ramsay Shastri and he had a comical face.

Obviously people asked him if he was related to Ramsay brother's who had single handedly produced all the popular horror films films in Bollywood till recently. But he said he wasn't and that solved that.

Ramsay was a keen observer, he was knowledgeable and he worked hard. He seemed to have had an opportunity to meet various interesting people. He had met Osho had had spent three years with him. He had worked as an intern with Kalpana Chawla for five months in Nasa and he had also worked under Mother Teresa and her sisters of charity.

He told me this and I believed him.

That evening I joined him and his girlfriend at a local pizza place and we chatted. He told me about the time when he was a part of back up staff of Indian Cricket Team and also about the time when he  had organized the opening ceremony of the 1982 Asian games. I listened to him,nodded  and simply ate my pizza." Hy mm cheese was the best thing invented after chocolate",  while I was thinking this, Ramsay's girlfriend asked loudly," Jannu (Darling) have you told him of the time you managed the Queen's office for one month".

"Oh yes, Taken listen to this..."

"Bull shit" I said how can you expect me to believe all this crap. I said this and got up from my chair to leave.

The girlfriend said, "If Ram_says so I believe him".

"I DON'T" I yelled.

Look at this the girlfriend said and out came a picture with Queen, Royal family and Ramsay standing together in a group picture.

A paper napkin poem

She dies

He can not cry

His love unexpressed

A storm blows away a fertile field.

She dies

He does not cry

The silent days and silent nights

And no one knows 

what burns inside

Baggy Brown

Its surprising that in the past he has not had more caps. Its a sure thing that he loves caps and he loves them in various colours and sizes and models.

I love the fact that one of them is baggy brown. In modern times baggy green has been made popular but the fact of the matter is that without baggy brown it would be incomplete. Its hood gives the satisfaction of both casual as well as sophisticated and its baggy nature makes it comfortable. Long live baggy brown. May you never go out of fashion. 

A company called Naik (NIKE)

It was a normal thing to see a hawker enter the local train and trying to sell things. Today he had wallets and he was selling them with this positioning - " You get them at 60 /70 Rs. in shop while you will get it at Rs. 20 from me. And mind you its NAIK company. I looked at the wallet and it was a very good piece with a fake Nike logo over it.

Two States

I read the latest offering from the Staples of Chetan Bhagat. Its ok. I still miss the flavour he had from five point... but I guess he is atleast living his dream.