The making of Secret Santa

A little background for those who don’t know what I am talking about, this is regarding a Secret Santa initiative that the Students of Kirti College, BMM Dept undertook as a pre event of their BMM Festival - Moksh. We along with some students of other colleges wore Santa caps and  gave out gifts to street kids on Christmas eve. The initiative got a wonderful response from other colleges as well as was covered in a leading Marathi newspaper and RJ Jeeturaaj appreciated it as well, you can hear us on air on 28^th December 2014 on Klub Mirchi on 98.3FM.

So now as that is done I would really like to talk about how all this came about and how we never thought that this would ever be what it is!

It was a random thought that came to my mind on 19^th December (5 days before the event) which I shared with Nikhil, to which he immediately said yes! I was still a bit skeptical about the whole thing and how we would plan this out. We met and discussed and decided that we would go ahead with it.  We immediately told our PR team to get in touch with all the colleges and inform them about the event. I wondered how many of them would actually take part in it. I had even told the PR team that they would have to go to each college and collect gift because calling them over to our college would not be something they might be keen on doing but it happened the other way round, all the colleges showed amazing support and came to drop of their gift all the way to our college. I remember going home and calling Nikhil up and telling that incase no one else supports us we would do it just with our college students anyway, but all my worries were washed out when the response from everyone around us was just marvelous. We received so many gifts that 2 cars were not enough to store them. There was a time when I came to college and was amazed by big big bags full of gifts brought in from different colleges and I took some time to get over the amazing response the initiative was getting.  Somewhere every person associated with this cause understood the need for such initiatives and that sometimes it gives you immense happiness in working for others. One of the PR head – Romit told me today that the way other people were responding to the initiative had given him a very positive feeling.

We went out on 24^th midnight to give out gifts and it got almost as late as 3am but there was not one person who complained about how late it was everyone was just happy that they could contribute somewhere to make a person smile.

I would really like to take this opportunity to thank each and everyone associated with this initiative it really would never have been possible to do something like this had it not been for you guys.

This Christmas would always mark as the bessstest one ever for me, and I am sure that it would be same for a lot of other people as well :) 2013 could not have ended on a better note. 

The government needs to set its priorities right!

So I read a very disturbing news today, “Government to amend law to put MP/MLAs trails on fast track”, wait! Why??? What is the point of wasting the resources on people who were given a chance and they took advantage of the power and in turn did crime.  Mr. Rahul Gandhi in a very nice political and in an almost heroic way called the ordinance nonsense, insulted the PM in a way, and showed that he is capable of doing the right things, theordinance was cancelled and Rahul was a hero in the eyes of a common man, this was congress’s way of showcasing that they don’t support corruption and crime and yet here is the news that these cases will be solved in a fast track case, like Hello! What about Shakti Mills Rape Case? What about Adarsh Scam? What about Coal Gate? What about those million cases which are pending in the court for ages! So in on one hand they show that they are supporting the right bywithdrawing the ordinance and then on the other hand they pass such laws that will help them give corrupt politicians a clean chit faster.

If we have resources for Fast Track courts then why can’t we use them to help the greater good, for the public’s welfare, to bring law and order in the country in a new quicker and effective way? 

Breaking the Stereotype

Today is Gandhi Jayanti, a day which is nothing more than a public holiday to today’s generation. They will sleep around the whole day, watch a news report about Gandhi and crib about the “Dry Day” (  the intelligent sorts have already stocked up theirhouse with alcohol last night ) yet whenever we talk about Gandhi it is a socially accepted fact that we should always praise him, why so? Because according to our history textbooks Indian Independence Struggle was all about Gandhi and others were just not that important.

So today I expectedthe Twitter world to be all talks about Gandhi, surprisingly it wasn’t! There were many negative remarks, many things said against him etc and finally I understood that there are other people who share my feelings and that it is not just me who dislike Gandhi. Though it’s a small step and whatever happens in the virtual world cannot be applied to the rest of the country considering so many in the country are not even close to learning about internet.  But so many stereotypes and a general understanding that I had in my mind about the guy on our currency was shattered today, I saw almost everything in a new light. The thoughts are changing, the opinions are changing and people are making it a point that their opinion areheard and that’s a happy thought! 

And the race for BBM for Android and iOS begins

For years now, we lived in a world where iOs looked down upon Android and Android and Blackberry in turn were in a battle with eachother to prove who is superior and the debate went on and on. Android boasted about the variety of apps available while Blackberry boasted about its communication opeitons and that it was a true Business Phone, its another story that this Business Phone had more market amongs the college going students who used BBMto its core.

Now suddenly Blackberry announced that it will launch BBM for Android and iOS and suddenly these people who took every chance to look down upon Blackberry went crazy for BBM. Even before it was officially launched, there were unofficial apps circulated, GooglePlay was fooled with fake BBMs and there were 1.1million downloads in the time span of 8hours. And all this led to Blackberry official postponing the launch of the official BBM ( according the the tweet that they sent out ). I don’t understand why we have become so impatient? There was a time when mobile phones, instant messaging, emails didn’t exist and human beings functioned  just fine. But now when everything is so quick and fast that we all want  everything to be quick. It’s a race to get everything first. The first one to post your pin on facebook, the first one to review the app on your blog or the first one to tweet about it.  And what do you get by doing all this? A few extra likes and retweets. I don’t really think its worth it. I would rather wait for the official app and use it in a hassle free way. 

Scary Thoughts!

Around 6 -7 years back, sometime in school when I first considered being a journalist the only romantic idea in front of me was doing some hardcore journalism like exposing the corrupt politician, helping the poor get justice etc etc… the same ideas and dreams which any aspiring journalist shall have. Its the scenario now that scares me, everyday as I open the newspaper I see a new case of sexual abuse or molestation or acid attack and I shudder at the thought that the romantic idea is shattering and shattering at a point that tells me forget doing something for the country I don’t even know if I shall be safe and sound this time tomorrow.

Many rallies, protests, candlelight march happened in the city. Police also showed that such things won’t be taken lightly. People are finally getting aware and still such heinous crimes continue, don’t these people fear anyone? I am atleast glad that the girls in the city are becoming stronger by actually going and complaining and not succumbing to these things. But there is a negative side to it as well which is more dangerous is the thought that what if these people who fall down to such low standards actually go a step further and actually kill the victim so as to save them from being arrested later. So basically we live in a society where our government doesn’t provide enough security, we can’t go and expose the culprits because the results may be severe and still even if we do make a police complaint and get the caught, it will still take ages to actually see them behind bars for good. 

The Police is not God to be everywhere!!!

The recent Mumbai’s Gang Rape Case has again made the city unite together to protest against such crimes and demand strict laws against such crimes to avoid further instances. Many debates, talks, rallies happened in the last 2days and people have also blamed Mumbai Police for it, I agree to the fact that after being aware of the notorious elements that were prevalent in Shakti Mills they should have taken steps to stop it.

Nonetheless I won’t take away their credit for the commendable job they are doing with night patrols which helps keep the city safe, I have mentioned innumerable times how I am in love with the city and how I find it safe even at midnight. Many a times me and some of my friends do go for late night drives, and I should mention that there are many police checkpoints put up around the city to avoid any nuisance. So once when we had gone for a late night drive, I dozed off in the front seat while my friend was driving me home. A police saw me and stopped the car and started inquiring my friend, he also asked me a couple of questions to check if there was something wrong on learning that everything was normal he let us go. At that point the whole incident made us laugh, the friend said, “ He thought I had drugged you and was kidnapping you”. But now I realize how important that incident was… how aware and how keen the police were about women safety.

Such rape incidents shouldn’t happen but putting the blame on police won’t help, they have a lot to go through and such devilish things will stop when strict laws shall be made and executed. A grassroot level change is needed, we are supposed to educate the future generation, make them respect women, sex education should be introduced as a part of school curriculum. When the basic way of looking at a woman changes shall this thing come to an end, but this is something that shall happen over a period of time. Right now, STRICT laws is what we demand!

A Negative India

India has always been known for its rich culture, varied religions, food, language etc sadly in the last couple of years India is also being potrayed in bad light. Women safety is no doubt a big question that every Indian girl faces. It started with Delhi being called the “Rape Capital of India” on social media sites. And people’s anger did kind of calm down by showing their frustration and cursing the government online. But what disturbed me today and made me write this post is this BBC documentary that I came across on Youtube - India A Dangerous Place to Be a Woman. 

 India was knows for its culture right? Culture also includes respecting women! India was always critised for its old school thinking about women but actually naming it a Dangerous Place to be a Women? Omg! I never thought that there will come a day when ill see something like this. The documentary is also wonderfully made in which the host goes and actually talks to people who have gone through eve teasing.

 

This very documentary makes me shudder, Mumbai is a safe city that way but you never know what it will be like 5years from now. It makes me wonder if I would have the same freedom I have now then. It makes me wonder if my future daughter is going to be born in same safe India that grew up in, and trust me the thought isn’t romantic. It actually makes me shudder.