It's time.

Here's my winning entry for the Bhavans Essay Writing Competition.

ARE WOMEN REALLY SAFE IN INDIA?

          When was the last time you remember seeing a young girl, passing through a street full of men, not getting leers, wolf-whistles and cheap comments passed upon her, or rather thrown upon her, by the street hoodlums? Don’t remember? Or such a scene seems unimaginable? That’s exactly the picture of safety of women on the streets of India. Not a single day passes without the news of women being molested, eve-teased, raped and assaulted in newspapers and news channels. Everyday, there’s a new case of molestation, rape, suicide due to dowry harassment etc recorded and every time there is an outrage all over the nation. But does that really change anything? The answer is no. The case drags on in the files of the courts, the victim has little hope of getting justice and in the end, such vile men get more confidence in doing such shameful act of disgrace.

          After the rape of a twenty-three year old student in a moving bus by five men in the capital of the nation, there was a huge outcry in the country against the disgusting crime. People came out on the streets to protest against the government’s inability to stop such crimes. People wanted to know how these men got so much confidence in committing such a disgraceful act. But even after that, was there any major change in the attitude of the government in handling such situations? No. Women are still unsafe on the streets of India. Yes, it’s true that the parliament had made the punishment for the rape accused more stringent, but that punishment is only possible if the accused is found guilty after a long trial and investigation by the court. In the mean time, the accused can roam around by his free will. Does it do any good to the mental condition of the already scarred victims? Fast track courts though established in some places are yet to be set up in some major cities of the country. Even though the judicial system is trying to do its best, the major problem is the mentality of the people. Many cases are not even recorded as the family thinks about what others might think about them. No one considers the mental state of the victim.

          Was India always this unsafe for women? Did women always have to think twice before boarding an empty train compartment? Were women always so skeptical about walking through a secluded lane, alone? If no, then what happened to India over the years? How did the streets became so unsafe? According to me, it’s the attitude of the men towards women which has degraded over the years. Yes, women were always considered inferior to men, which is sad but true, but never did men had such attitude towards women, branding them as mere commodities. Maybe it is because of the influence of the western maybe because of our own film industry. But, whatever the cause may be, it cannot be denied that women are vulnerable even in what was considered to be an ideal and safe country for women. The growing rates in crime speak otherwise. Sadly, India has become one of the most unsafe countries in the world for women.

          So in the end, the question is what exactly needs to be done to make women more secure in this country? How can the world’s largest democracy also become one of the safest countries for women, like before? Firstly, the attitude of the people towards raped and molested victims needs to be changed .They should feel more confident in approaching the police for recording their statement, and not hesitant like the case is now. Secondly, the attitude of men towards the women has to change. Men should realize that there is more to a girl than just her body. They should realize the mental torture a girl undergoes after being molested or raped by vile men. Moreover, they should realize that men and women are equal and God has made no discrimination between them. The day India has zero crime rate against women, will be the day that India has actually progressed. Only when the women of India  are safe enough to go out on a street alone, without any fear, will I say  that I am proud to be an Indian. Only then, will India be fully developed. Yes it is a distant dream, but change only comes when you dream and I dream for an India which can keep its women safe.

YOU MAY SAY I'M A DREAMER,

BUT I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE.

                      I HOPE ONE DAY YOU'LL JOIN US

AND THE WORLD WILL BE AS ONE.

-John Lennon

If still nothing goes right, take a walk with a friend

And the bad days continue. Today wasn't as bad as yesterday, though it was pretty bad. I knew yesterday's fight was my fault and I owed my mom an apology. So after building up my courage (don't give me that look, it's harder to apologize when you actually mean it -.-), I decided I'd apologize to her.
And apologize I did. Hundreds of times. Ok kidding, three times. And the reaction? Ignored. Yes. My mom just ignored my apology. Whoosh.
So yeah, I was pretty much fucked up the whole day today, so I decided like yesterday that I'll go for a quiet walk. This time, though, I went with another friend who herself was in a pretty serious mess. So, just to get our minds off the problems of our lives, we went together.
I never dedicate my posts or give credit to someone else for them, but today is an exception I'll make for that friend who gave me some much needed company today. And who's the reason why I'm blogging at all right now. So AD, this post is just for you ;). I hope it makes you feel better.
Like always, we didn't go anywhere in particular, just walking on the roads and the market streets, discussing about everything - our schools, trips we'd been to, other weird stuff, etc. Anything but our problems. So yeah, it was a pretty good evening that I've had in quite some time. It helped me forget about my problems for once, at least. I hope it did for her too. Cuz I just want her to be fine.
I'm not gonna make this post much long though, so I guess I'll finish it here itself. And I didn't click any pictures, save for one picture of the sunset, and even that didn't come out as expected. So that's the one picture I'm gonna post. And I also thought of starting this new feature in my posts, "Song of the day", which just tells which song was on my mind the whole day, or the song which described the day perfectly, etc etc. 

So today's Song of the Day is "Angel" by Jack Johnson, which I dedicate to the weirdest friend I've ever had.

Angel - Jack Johnson

"She wears a smile that makes me wanna sing
she gives me presents with her presence alone"

When nothing goes right, take a walk.

Ok so you may have guessed from the title that I had a shitty day today. Yes I did. And it was pretty much fucked up like hell.
So I had this really stupid fight with my mom (which was my fault, obviously) and she isn't talking to me now.
Anyways, she went out for some work, and I was left alone with my brother. How exciting. I decided I needed some fresh air, so I grabbed my earphones, and went for a walk. I told my brother that I was going to recharge my balance and data plan, not that he gave a fuck anyways.

It was actually good that I went for a walk, cuz it helped me to get my mind off the incident for a bit.
Anyways so, I clicked some pictures while walking. So today I'm not writing much, just posting the pics, with a description for each. Hope you like them.

-Managed to capture the setting sun from between these buildings.

-Clicking a picture while crossing the road. Not advised, of course. 

-The best graffiti I've come across in quite some time. Very true too.

-Uh not sure why I'm posting this one, to be honest. Thought it'll increase the length of the post :P

Maybe the graffiti gang which made that art. Just thought I'd give them some credit.

-And finally, ending the day with an ice cream. Narcissist mode on.

Until next time, adios.

Shit people write

Yo, I'm back B). Feels great to be back on blogger *peaceful whatsapp smiley*. Couldn't blog these three days cuz of two reasons:- 1. I was really busy, and 2. I couldn't figure out what to write anyways. I hope you people didn't miss me much :P.

So anyways what's been keeping me busy these past three days is some editing that I have to do for my college magazine. I'm, like, one of the student editor of this magazine which I doubt anyone reads. And if you think this is a piece of cake (like I did, when I accepted the offer), then you're absolutely, completely, WRONG. This is the crappiest thing that I've done in quite some time. Let me explain how I got selected for this godforsaken post. See we had this essay writing competition in college, so I thought I should try it out, not caring whether I win or not (read my first post for details) and I honestly thought I wouldn't win.
How wrong I was.
I got the first prize. And when the announcement was being made, I was standing outside the class. For coming late for the lecture. Oh how dramatic my life is. So as the English teacher came out of the class as the lecture got over, I casually asked her about the results of the essay writing. "What's your name?" she asks me. "Qazi, Qazi Aamir", I reply, like a boss. Nah, kidding, just said "Aamir *yawn*". Yes, with a yawn. And she screams, "WHY WERE YOU NOT IN THE CLASS?!?!".....
....
....
.....
.....
......"BECAUSE I CAME LATE B*TCH!!"
....screamed my mind.

"Uh because I was late for the lecture", said my tongue.
*glare*
*return glare*
"Congratulations, you came first in the essay writing competition" she said, rather stiffly.
"F**K YEAH! WOO HOO! OH YEAH! I'M F**KING AWESOME! " screamed my mind again.
"Really? Thanks a lot", I said.
She gave me one last glance, still trying to digest the fact that I was the winner of her essay writing competition. Yeah, shit happens sometimes.
The next time I met her in class she was a little more calm. I saw through the her fake calmness at once. She is the kind of teacher who gets hysterical over small things. And I soon came to know why she was behaving like that. She goes, "Are you interested in becoming the student editor for the college magazine?" "Uhh... I'll think over it and tell you"
"Take your time :)" No, not a typo. She actually gave me a smile. I dunno what's with the smiles. I get them a lot. Anyways, in the end I did accept the offer, after like 2 weeks or so. And no, I didn't think over it. I thought if I refuse, I'd feel guilty afterwards for not trying it out.
So she calls me and another chick (who came 2nd) one day and tells us what we have to do. We get some essays and poems that we have to check out, make changes to them so that they are better, type it on MS Word™, and bring it to her on a pen drive. What the hell -.-".
The real problem starts when I read the essays (the essays which had
lost against my essay). And I didn't take time to figure out why they lost.
You see, there are good essays/poems, then there's a big pile of shit, and then are the essays/poems which I had to edit. No, not all of them were bad. Some of them were really good. But the ones which were bad were very bad. Like really, really bad.
Like there was this one essay titled "Women Empowerment", and it was the worst essay I've ever read. Seriously. An excerpt:-
"As far as it is considered, the well being of women is being improvised. But somewhere or the other womens are spoilt and affected in either of the ways. The way the men stare at women is terrific. Once cannot imagine women not in the country, if this happens all the males and children would have gone on strike"

Another excerpt from an essay, which wasn't as bad as the first one, titled "The Uttarakhand Calamity  : Man made or natural?"
"....Mainly people believe that the destruction are made by God our destined by God. But if it is true how did destruction had taken place near by a such a huge, famous pilgrimage, i.e. Kashi and Vishwanath?"

Note: The above excerpts is not the work of the amateur blogger. The blogger doesn't own any copyright for the same(and doesn't want to anyways). There were no exaggerations done by the blogger either.

That's about it. If I write excerpts from all the essays, then I'll probably never finish this post ever.
One of the essay, however, was really good. Maybe I'll post it the next time.
And yeah, there's my essay too, but the other chick who came 2nd has it, so I'll have to wait for college to start again before I can post that.

Hope you liked this post. Until next time, take care, adios.

A guardian. A friend. A brother.

Aaaaaaaaaannnnnd I'm back. Not with a bang. But a grumble. For I slept at 3.30 am and I'm up since six. 6 am, not pm. "You? And wake up at 6? Hahahahahahahahahaha!" Believe it son-_-. No it wasn't out of intention. But rather I was forced to. Like we say in Hindi, "majboori thi yaar". And what was the majboori? Classes! You see, I'm a junior college student, and I have to give my board exams after about a year and half. And that's not all. I also have to write an entrance exam for engineering college. Okay chuck! Even I don't understand my education system, so I'll do no good trying to explain it to you.

Anyways so, I go to class by bus. And today I met an old friend at the bus stop. Actually he's not exactly my friend, but my brother's. We both were in the same school so all of his school friends pretty much knew me as the "little brother". We didn't talk much today, like he just asked me, 'Going to class?' and I said 'yeah'. That's about it. But this guy is someone who I can never forget. Apart from the fact that he's 6'5", he used to be a sort of another  elder brother for me in school. There are a lot of things that he had done for me and I'm writing this post just for him.

I remember, when I was in primary (or elementary) school(grade 1 to 4) I used to be this aggressive little kid who used to pick a fight with guys twice his size and age in the school bus. You see, it doesn't take much to provoke me. One insult and I get as mad as, err, a raging rhino :x. So anyways, I used to try and fight big guys like a rat trying to beat up a gorilla (ok, the metaphor was lame :/). And this guy always came in between and saved me. He didn't even tell me anything afterwards. Just, 'Dude, calm down'. And surprisingly, I would listen to him. I wouldn't listen to my own brother and I listened to him. And my brother used to get so pissed at me and go home and tell mom about my antics. I used to get a good scolding from her because of him -_-.

Then after four years passed in this manner, I finally entered secondary school. My mom was really happy. Not because her little son had grown up so much. Because now my brother could keep a closer watch on me. At least she thought he could.
Anyways so, tired of my regular fights in the school bus, my mom decided that I should travel by BEST buses (the public transport buses) with my brother. Yeah that's right. A fifth grader. Travelling by public transport. No biggie. I had my brother with me. And his friend too. Actually I was glad that he was there. And it was a good thing that he was there. Cuz later on, my brother started having tuitions after school. That would mean me coming alone by bus. Still no biggie. I had learnt how to travel by bus and had no problem with it. But I used to be tired as hell. So this friend started going by auto rickshaw cuz my brother wasn't there. And then he used to force me to come with him so that he could drop me. And if I refused, then he used to be like, 'Are you coming or should I pick you up and throw you inside this rick' and then I had to go, cuz I didn't want to piss him off (believe me, one pissed brother is enough). But again, he wasn't doing this cuz my brother was telling him to do so. On his own will. Just like that.

There are countless other times when he had taken me home from school if I was ill (usually having an upset tummy) and my brother wasn't there.
So, RK, if you're reading this, then I'd just like to say that I'm really grateful for everything that you did for me, which I don't think anyone else would have done. Thanks man. Thanks a lot.

[P.S. Even my brother had done a lot for me during school days, so regardless of what I said about him, don't picture him as the evil older brother, cuz he wasn't one]