Spirit of a Crumbling City

So, this week, national media and most of India woke up to a heinous crime in a city near my otherwise insignificant home town. Thanks to a strong narrative my entire insignificant city is finally portrayed as rape apologists and majoritarian hate mongers. A city that uses Indian Flags and Bharat Mata ki Jai slogans in every protest deserves this condemnation. They neither know how to protest nor they know how to raise demands. Well.. If a minority who gets killed, attacked, raped and thrown out of their home for the fault of existing in the state is being labeled for majoritarian hate crime in the same state, then they deserve all this condemnation and I'm with all media houses and activists of my nation who doesn’t let these poor English speakers put forward their point of view. Well.. If you can’t speak English, you people deserve to be persecuted.

But good news is that conscious of my nation is still alive.

Cries and Rape of 8 year old couldn’t wake up this conscious in the month of January.

Multiple transfers of SIT teams till they get tainted Irfan Wani who is accused of rape and murder of her brother in custody, couldn’t wake up the conscious of my nation that 8 year old might be lost in regional political theater.

It was a perfect opportunity for the lobby to arrest demonic culprits along with spirit of a city who stand up with national flags every single time. So, they used it and forced exodus of families out of fear of persecution from Rasana village. This once again was not enough and couldn’t wake up the conscious of my nation.

Finally people who have already seen this religious persecution plan multiple times in last 2-3 decades dared to be skeptical. Their skepticism fueled fire with govt. order that illegally occupied land by Rohingyas or other tribals can’t be claimed back. Idiots of the city tried to protest for the fact that Indians can’t take land legally but outsiders and potential terrorists can claim land legally. They once again try to see this entire scheme of things from the prism of trust deficit that has been built over last 3 decades of persecution. And finally, their biggest mistake, they protested for removal of Rohingyas, taking back govt. land order and CBI enquiry of 8 year old child murder to ensure that this case won’t be used for their persecution. It finally woke up the conscious of my nation. And demonic activity of child rape and murder, ritualistic killing and entire list of heart wrenching crimes of few barbaric animals are painted over them because these animals had religion, city and other identities.

Till now people of insignificant city believed in democracy, nationalism and plurality of society. Even in communally tense situations of J&K in last three decades, there was not a single violent activity between Dogra and Gujjar-Bakerwal community. They have been living there with peace and harmony. Now, finally, entire nation told them they are majoritarian hate mongers who are rape apologists and persecute their persecutors. People of insignificant city stopped Pakistan army alone for 14 days in 1947, bear border shelling on daily basis, get discriminated on the basis of city they live and religion they practice, still hold national flag after decades of insurgency and other disturbances but they don’t have right to protest for fair enquiry in a death of 8 year old child.

Finally, media houses and nation has shown them their place and now they should never demand justice again. Though in last 3 months, one more kid is raped inside a religious place in that insignificant city but their identities didn’t suit narrative of larger lobbies and rightly so there was no outrage or demand for justice.

Now, where do the people of this insignificant city go from here? Will they follow the same fate of Kashmir and other exodus in last three decades? Answer came from a live TV debate I saw yesterday on News18 (Bhaiya Ji Kahin Program). Debate was in Udhampur (one more town near this insignificant city) about this rape. Idiots were still demanding CBI enquiry. And one activist, from other side, shouted and insulted “Bharat Mata” with a slogan to rub died spirit of a cornered nation. Entire place erupted and News18 has to stop the program and police has to make way for that activist out of that place. One thing was very clear to me from that incident that when state planned exodus and terrorism will force them to run, these idiots won’t run without a fight. I, a part of that insignificant town, just pray that city doesn’t lose their spirit because of political and media cacophony. They don’t know guilt-ridden nation gives highest TRP on religious narratives. TRP sellers don’t care whether the victim is 8 yr old child or the spirit of a city.

MBA experiences of a nerd: Part 4

“Have you ever done it before?”, She asked me confusingly

“No. This is my first time.”, I replied innocently

“Ok. Then it is acceptable”, She replied while hiding her disgust

I was shattered by her comments. I somehow gathered courage to say shamelessly,

“I actually worked on it but that’s the best I came up with”

“I’m sure, you must have worked a lot on it and I’m sure, improvement is there…. but to tell you the truth, this is not up to the mark”, she replied in a consoling manner.

“Ok. Can you tell me what to do? How to improve?”, I asked her diligently

“First of all, it doesn’t look like that I’m holding an ISBian’s …”

“Yeah, I understand but I’m not able to understand how to do it..”, I cut her in between.

“See. The problem is… I can’t read this” she showed her helplessness.

“Ok.” I tried to look calm

“See, I understand that you are from technical background but this is not MBA CV. The recruiter will not understand all these words you’ve written” she clarified.

“Ok. I got it. I’ll remove all these words. But the problem is that if I remove these words there would be nothing left on my CV”, I tried to explain my dilemma.

“There is already nothing in your CV” she put forward her opinion bluntly.

“Ok” I was dejected.

“Even I was from technical profile. I will forward you my CV. You can have a look at that CV and rewrite all this stuff” she tried to console me.

“Ok. Thanks” I replied.

“It was nice meeting you.” She ended my resume review session in flat 10 minutes and didn’t waste much time on a lost cause.

I came out with a crushed paper in hand and a broken heart. I was not able to understand how all my work experience is meaningless and I don’t have anything to write. After some stray thoughts, I finally gave up and head towards my room.

If you are an average person with no unique or different achievements, you need to have a good sense of humor to live sanely in ISB. Thus being an average guy, I fulfilled my duty and laughed on the entire incident.

Just when I was browsing through my mails, I saw a new business competition mail. My eyes twinkled and all the insults and the feedbacks started moving in front of my eyes.

“This is it”, I shouted loudly with in the four walls of my room.

“I’ll win it and get the CV bullet point. My CV would be unbeatable now. I will show her and the world that my CV is not a piece of waste. I’ve done something in life”, I shouted again with a devilish laughter.

The competition was open only for teams and not for individuals. Now this scared me.

“Who will form a team with me”, I thought loudly.

Whom I need, they don’t want me… And those who need me, who wants them in the team…

Everybody wants to form team with Dean Listers, a rare breed in ISB. Finally I somehow formed a team of 4 losers and registered for the competition.

ISB somehow listened my loud thoughts and starting wrecking havoc in term 5 through assignments, reports, quizzes, forced/unforced PPTs and what not. No matter how hard we tried, ISB made sure that 4 of us would never meet for the competition work. So, in the end, we split up the work among ourselves and decided to meet two hours before submission deadline with individual deliverables.

In between I met another animal in ISB called Freeriding. It is a tool which allows you to sign up or volunteer for multiple activities in ISB and gives you a right to claim all the achievements from that activity without the obligation of work required for that activity. Some people entered into ISB with freeriding as an inherent trait and some have learnt this art to perfection in last 6-7 months. And, just to follow the latest trend, one of our teammates also decided to use that card on us.

On the deadline date, three of us met and waited patiently for the fourth guy who has stopped responding to my mails and calls from last 3-4 days. After half an hour, I decided to go to his room and meet him. Luckily, I saw him on the way and waved my hand. The guy immediately picks up his phone, gave me a sign to wait, turned around and never came back. I stood there like a fool for 5-10 minutes before I understood the genius of that smart bastard.

Finally, when there was 1 hour left for submission, we decided to complete his part and submit the entry in one hour.

“Let’s add the marketing strategy”, my teammate told me

“But we don’t have a marketing strategy” I replied confusingly.

He smiled at me and opened his previous Business competition entry PPT. He copied 6 slides and pasted it in our PPT.

“Just change the name of the organization and we are done”, he replied confidently

“But….”, I was confused

“You haven’t done it before?” he asked me

I recalled the golden rule of survival in ISB.

“Not with PPTs” I winked and we both started laughing… 

Deceptive Eyes: Chapter 5 (The Closure)

Pre Script: Don't ask me where are chapter 3&4...

It was Sunday afternoon and I was roaming carelessly to pass some time. My flight was delayed by 8 hours and I decided to roam in the city. I like roaming alone some times because it provides structure to all the random thoughts of my mind. I was just thinking about my work when I saw a couple having fun in the corner of the street. I went close and something struck strongly on my face. It was Soumya. When I looked at the guy, it was Savraj. My mind wanted to vomit right on Soumya’s face, but something was forcing me down. I was unable to stand. I somehow sat on the side of the road and went numb for some time.

1 year earlier

Once again I was entering that café where I saw her for the first time but this time it was different. My mind had become senseless in past few days. It was as if the last 5 years were slipping down from my hand like sand and I was not able to hold it back even after my repeated desperate attempts. I entered into the café and she was sitting on the corner table. I put a fake smile on my face and greeted her.

“Hi”

“Hey..” she replied casually,

“So, wassup… Howz things going?”

“I don’t think, we have a future”, she put things straight on table. On normal days, these lines would have fallen on me like a bombshell but I somehow knew it internally and didn’t felt anything.

I remained silent and tried to convince myself that everything will be ok and inhaled few extra ounces of oxygen to support my sinking heart.

She continued, “You are very possessive. You don’t want me to do anything in life.”

I wanted to shout hard at her “How come you are getting close to your ex-boyfriend now? What about all the lies that you throw straight on my face every day?” But, my mouth was not helping me. I was not able to speak; even those extra ounces of oxygen were causing extra pain in my chest. I surrendered to the pain and allowed her to speak more.

“You are not giving me space. I want to enjoy my life. I want adventure and you are not here to do all those things with me. So, what should I do? Don’t live? And, you have your own priorities in life. You don’t change for me. I have my own career and my own life. I want to make big in life.” She said all those things with a lot of emotions on her face.

I saw those emotions on her face and my ears stopped listening. I was looking at her beautiful face and cute eyes. Her eyes were moving along with her hands. I just wanted to savor these moments and keep them safe in my mind. I knew today would be the last time when I was looking at her. Suddenly, I hear a thumping sound and saw her moving.

“I’m going…” She moved her chair and started going out.

I followed her and stopped her at the gate.

“You were perfect in last 5 years and it was all my mistake. I will miss you”, I said like a losing captain of the army to save grace.

She stopped and looked at me. My hand moved without my permission and touched her face gently. My lips moved on its own and said, “Take care of your self”

She looked back at me with her innocent eyes and I saw familiar emotions in those eyes. She looked at me for some seconds and then turned back to catch a taxi. I was standing there, saving those seconds permanently in my memory. She went ahead and didn’t look back. I stood there like a loser for next few hours hoping that she might change her mind and come back but it didn’t happen.

1 year later

Memories were overpowering my mind and my legs were shaking. I moved my hand on my face and saw tears were flowing from both eyes. I somehow gathered strength and cleaned my face. I took few deep breaths and tried to console myself. I stood up and looked at her again. She was also looking at me but emotions were missing from her eyes. She looked at me with pride and cuddled her companion’s arm. She moved ahead and said:

“ Hey Sunny… Long time… This is Savraj… My friend”

I was standing there with a vacuum in my mind. My hand moved once again without my permission and touched her face gently, “Take care of yourself”, I said softly.

This time I saw a tear flowing down her eyes. I moved ahead. A part of myself, who was still standing there outside the café waiting for her, came back and moved ahead with me….