Liza

I often wondered, what does she do when I'm not around? Is she glad that I’m not around smothering her with kisses, or is she happier ‘finding me’ every once in two hours.

Am I the one between us that needs to cuddle?

So, after inputs from my house help on what she does when left alone, I decided to shoot a video. Putting it together was fun yet difficult because I wasn’t really gone! I had to physically shoot this by ignoring her for long periods of time and over nights, to see how she entertains herself. 

Sometimes she'd carry on doing her thing, pretending like I don't exist, but sometimes, right in the middle of an intense scene, she'd run off, fetch her ball, wagging her tail to 'let's play!' 

So here’s a story about a pup, waiting for her playmate to return. What seems like a never ending night eventually has a happy ending of course - Presenting Liza, shaky camera movements and bad lighting at times :)

https://www.facebook.com/swati.srivastav.796/videos/10153914744378825/?theater

Not Leaving The Average Behind.

The concept of Dove – ‘Real Beautiful Women’ does not exist. They may have featured full women in their campaigns but airbrushing out the cellulite didn’t speak well for the cause.

All of them were pretty women, big bodies with no sagging boobs or muffin layers folding over granny panties or objectionable gluteal folds camouflaging into the back thigh.

In a country where obesity is reaching epidemic proportions (as per wiki) we’re still pretty obsessed with the adjectives ‘thin’ and ‘fair’

A recent photo shoot done by an Ishaqzaadi speaks volumes of how we live our lives as a mere perception of what others expect us to be.

Though she was sweet looking, yes, the excess baggage was turning out to be an occupational hazard, but what made me go Tch*Tch is the announcement of the revised packaging.

Hot & sweaty workout pictures, with in your face cleavage, butt (now the lack of it), toned thighs with legs spread wide enough for the imagination to run wild, heels, a ghetto caged fencing, an almost toned tummy and a lot of panache on display, random motivational lines and a hashtag to justify the existence of the shoot provided plenty to grab eye balls, or balls in general.

This campaign reminded me of another celeb’s comeback. Just when the world had stopped saying “Kaha Na Pyaar Hai, Haan Tumse pyaar Hai..” she signed on as brand ambassador for a local product that was literally available across two stores in India. Rumors were, she sanctioned manufacturing of a batch with the sole purpose of monopolizing hoardings with THE return.

Yes, we all feel well with a hot body and especially if we’ve struggled hard to loose it, why not put it on display? I would! I’d dress in those little things, which, only my fingers fit through earlier. I’d go to every friend’s party and my strut would scream confidence like never before. I’d blush when people would tell me how much weight I’ve lost, I’d thank them graciously if they said I’ve never looked better, and I would proudly tell tales of endurance and hard work to a bunch of eager ears waiting to be motivated.

There are ways of getting noticed other than holding a press conference for announcing the grams you’ve left behind. Instead of dishing out a series of random meaningless pictures, I wish her PR  had worked extra hard to Challenge The Difficult by bagging endorsements with fitness brands. Even releasing pictures infringing on her privacy while she enjoyed a foreign holiday or a late night coffee with ‘just a friend’ would have been subtler and less questionable. 

After the initial “Oh Hey! She’s lost weight”, many finally came around to, what is this about, what is she endorsing, what are these lines? And soon the agenda was weightless. What does Built That Way mean anyway? How are the arbitrary lines, most of which highly debatable, even connected? When most of your life your body has been average and you've been proud of it, now you suddenly aspire to Leave The Average Behind?

I almost never feel motivated by celeb weight loss stories. One cause their careers depend on it (stardom is hard not to like). Two cause of the amount of supervision and tools constantly at their disposal. Give me a story on how your next-door neighbor went from ‘zero to hero’ and I might bite.

I respect that you had the discipline to loose weight and hope you manage to keep it off – cause that’s the hard part, and you do look very hot in some of your pics, but this photo-opp to me was bordering #tryingtoohard

Nirbhaya - The Juvenile Criminal

I’ve always tried to understand the Juvenile Justice act in India. But it leaves me as perplexed as marital rape – which on some counts is still not considered rape (in India). Whilst amendments to the act are being debated, why cant the seriousness of a crime or the reform of a convict be reviewed case wise before handing out a blanket sentence? 

It may be difficult to prove sometimes, that the underage may not have intended to but may have committed grave felonies like rape, murder, terrorism etc. on the basis of instigation.

Section 21 of the Juvenile Justice Act, prohibits the publication of name of juvenile which means no report in any newspaper, magazine, news-sheet or visual media of any inquiry regarding a juvenile in conflict with law shall disclose the name, picture or any other particulars that could lead to the identification of the juvenile.

If the juvenile has shown considerable amount of repentance and reform while serving the three years sentence meted as per law, would it be fair to then reveal his identity in an unforgiving society, where the social stigma may never allow him to ever forget or be forgiven truly.

The government will free December 16 Delhigang rape victim Nirbhaya’s juvenile rapist on December 15

Having served his sentence, he will now freely live the rest of his life as a sting in the face of her parents.

Would they have forgiven him had he shown regret?

Would our hearts be divided as a nation in forgiving Kasab, had it been proved that he’s a juvenile, brainwashed to serve for the greater good of mankind. In July 2014, Indian Express reported that Pakistan-based terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Toiba had asked its members to declare their age to be below 18 years. This would ensure that they are tried under the Juvenile Justice Act instead of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The maximum punishment under the Act is three years.

But some still argued that there is no need of tampering with Juvenile Justice Act for putting up effective deterrent against terrorism.  –with a population like ours, we have enough and more to spare while we err and learn is it?

With Juvenile crimes I often feel there’s an unsaid arrogance similar to M.C Hammer’s “Cant Touch This!”

So, thanks to Section 21, I’ll never be able to identify Nirbhaya’s rapist. I’ll never be able to be cautious-on-a-double if I see him following a lonely girl, fully aware of his potential.

Her parents will never feel safe again. He could work right under their nose and conspire to silence the theory called Nirbhaya. He could be my watchmen,  my driver, my gardener, my dog walker, my niece's bus conductor...I will never feel safe again!

The Quint spoke to his counselor who regretfully admitted no ‘positive change’ in him.

“There was no regret when I first met him after his arrest. Nor is there any today. I didn’t have to grill him to make him confess his crime. He told me in detail about his role in the crime. He told me that he convinced Nirbhaya and her friend to board the bus and later about how the crime was committed by all five of them. He also told me that before Nirbhaya boarded the bus, he had tried to convince another girl who was alone, but that failed when she hailed an auto.”

We are not talking about a Dacoit here. We are not talking about a murder. We are talking about a Juvenile who stuffed a metal rod up a girl's vagina piercing deep enough and twisting hard enough to pull her intestines out. We are talking about a Juvenile whose nights never replayed her haunting screams. We are talking about a Juvenile, who didn't flinch while watching her get raped and took his turn as well.

We are talking about a Juvenile here who did not go sick in the intestine after throwing her out the bus, naked. Someone who could live with the act and not turn himself in. 

We are talking about a Juvenile here, who has no remorse or regret but is aware that his age is going to see him walk free.

We are talking about sending someone back on our streets where his counsellors’ feel that he hasn’t been rehabilitated.

Are the court and government waiting for him to commit a second unspeakable crime before locking him again? If all evidence and reports say he feels 'not guilty', then show us who we need to guard ourselves from. Just removing curtains and having bus' drive around with their lights on is not a change big enough to make me feel safe.

So for all the other times a Juvenile commits rape or murder; the blood is now on their hands.

I think from here on, every Juvenile criminal should be renamed as Nirbhaya.

The National Andthen....

Much has been debated about the recent furor created over a family not standing during the National Anthem and then what followed, amidst angry triumphant clapping and abuses, was the family being ousted at the start of the show by self-confessed patriots!

All through school they taught us to stand in attention while the School Song played, followed by the UAE National Anthem and then the Indian National Anthem. We stood like pins and sang, irrespective of nationality, language or religion.But a height order was maintained. 

Many decades later I still stand while singing, because it reminds me of school, it’s a chance I get to relive those memories, plus I like the anthem.

Today, I also do it because of the mandate “Please stand for the Anthem”. That too, reminds me of school.

Somewhere it resonates a sense of pride within me, but doesn’t make me forget the hundred other times, I may have wished to be in another country.

The debates I read over social media made me really sad and scared. What started out as a family, soon became a ‘muslim family’. Cricket, Pakistan, attire, mother, father, nothing was spared! Readers who weren’t even there to begin with were exhibiting this angst.

I would like to know how many of us stood in our homes when DD played the National Anthem? How many of us stand in front of our TV during  flag hoisting on the 15^th of every year? How many of us stood when the national anthem was sung in the middle of Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham? 

For those of you who didn’t, but mean no disrespect, don’t beat yourselves yet.

It is not a legal offense to not be standing in attention or at all, while the Anthem is played. If a person is found, disrupting or preventing others from singing the anthem, THAT is a legal offense.  – Here’s a thought every time the cops want to drag you in, stand where ever the hell you are and keep repeating the Anthem, till cows come home or the cop goes home, which ever comes first - cause disrupting you would be an offence. 

Was the family’s right of citizenship then infringed upon by not being allowed to watch the movie and curbing free will, by no fault?

This is just the kind of policing that has declared Beef a patriotic Moo, 1 PM a good time to shut down clubs and short clothes as reason for rape.

People who stand for the anthem want to. Here's another thought, let's start playing the Anthem at the end of the movie, let's see how many stay back to pay respect. The results will be shameful. Patriotism and respect cannot forever be demanded. How many of those in the hall that evening, went home narrated stories of standing by what was right, then littered the streets, spat on roads, bribed and called other communities names – this all negates the patriotism that you just spend 2 mins standing for.

I'm not for or against standing, neither do I think either shows respect or disrespect. But I'm not for the kind of hatred that brings out the ugly, slimy, purple faced, bone crushing, single eyed monster that Kiran Rao was talking about. Aren’t we all tired of this bullshit? And we help Media propagate this by forwarding and re-tweeting. Make this stop.