STUPID GENIUSES SWARMS FACEBOOK WITH STEREOTYPE POSTS! - Ibrahim Abdeali

With the recent visit of the Indian PM’s visit to the United States raised a lot of public questionnaires. The issue heated up when the Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Facebook & Google headquarters situated in the Silicon Valley at California.

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO & founder of Facebook initiated an online application which enabled users worldwide to change their profile pictures with a transparent tricolour layer with insights from the logo of the Digital India campaign to show support to this government of India initiative.

Having a number of Indian users who changed their profile pictures, opinion makers from the media industry criticized Facebook’s such an initiative. A recent headline on an online Journal that reads “Your Facebook Tricolour Profile Picture Doesn’t Support Digital India; Here’s The Ugly Truth” was shared by many of the Indian users overnight after a number of profile pictures were being constantly changed. This sudden remorse aroused in the public about their attempts to change their profile pictures is a senseless false claim.

In a recent media declaration, Facebook’s spokesperson stated that “There is absolutely no connection between updating your profile picture for digital India and Internet.org. An engineer mistakenly used the words “Internet.org profile picture” as a shorthand name he chose for part of the code. But this product in no way connects to or registers support for Internet.org. We are changing the code today to eliminate any confusion.”

Because of the false claims, a number of users restricted themselves from using this creative application over their profile pictures. Moreover, without having any idea about the concepts of the wide-spread Internet.Org’s controversy, Indian youths flooded their posts with their stupid ideas and views about it. Moreover, Internet.Org being an international agenda in the digital world is still a hot topic; however the most astonishing fact is that a majority of youths in India are still unaware of the Government’s Digital India Campaign. The ones who bet to have some idea of it are celebrating contentment with half knowledge. The ‘worth appraisal’ technological upbringing of India is the basic motto of the Digital India Campaign. It not only constrains to free internet access across the country but also relates widely to ‘technological advancements’ which many of us are not even bothered of. What we understand is to avail free WiFi across major public places in India is just a mere part of the initiative.

Facebook’s Internet.Org which is a controversial platform and seemingly a ‘philanthropic’ idea is basically deriving entrepreneurship through providing internet accessibility for free across backward regions of major developing countries including India. This mass project is being criticized generally for business and commercial disagreements between companies and countries and therefore it has been considered controversial.

Now the question that arises in the minds is that is the youth of this country still being stereotype? A considerable number of people create unnecessary hype over social platforms without reading and understanding the facts behind a particular issue. If this sort of a negligent audience is present, initiatives like the Digital India or even Internet.Org shall never be able to home itself in the country. Same goes with the rest of the initiatives of the government which is being overlooked by us just because we tend to believe what people say rather than self-analysing things before coming to any conclusion.

However, even if the rumour about the change in the profile pictures would directly make Indians sign petitions to accept Internet.Org would have been true; sensible ones must understand that in any Judiciary system, such online petitions are not valid.  Moreover, Facebook is not the sole owner of the idea and therefore it has no such authority to initiate such a movement secretly. Therefore even if it had been true, there was no harm in adding a transparent layer of the tricolour on the profile pictures because nevertheless, it would have shown to the world how united we stand at something good being done in the favour of the country in India.

But, since the Indian subcontinent dwells such brilliant fools in its care, who would use their common senses everywhere to unnecessarily prove their clever wit, but shall never go into the depths of such critical blames and would follow the crowd being a typical stereotype. The youth of this country boasts upon being 65% in the National Census of 2015, but poor they do not understand their 65% only has 15% of useful lot and rest are hindrance to the country’s development. Bitter but true!

Bajrangi Bhaijaan - An Ambassador of Peace

BAJRANGI BHAIJAAN, A Salman Khan Film initiative directed by Kabir Khan is a magnanimous treat this Eid. Introducing the beautiful Harshaali Malhotra, having Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Nawzuddin Siddiqui in the lead, Bajrangi Bhaijaan also casts some popular faces from the Silver Screen. With some amazingly touching tracks, the movie also has follies like “Selfie le le re..” and the “Chicken” song. The film is all about a man with a marvelous spirit that helps a mute girl from Pakistan return home. About almost a week after its blockbuster release all over the country, I went to watch this film in a multiplex near my house. Even after reading such good reviews about the film, I was quite confident of Salman Khan having some silly story line. This was not because I don’t like this guy. Rather because films like Dabangg & Kick had made me lose my confidence over him that he would have made a gem of the year. 

However, the movie was quite predictable since the beginning. The flow of the film was smooth, plot was simple, story line was amazing and in fact, I’d appreciate Kabir khan who did not put any Salman Khan Silliness across the film except for the “Selfie le le re…” song. The film connects to the hearts of the audience entirely because of the little cute Pakistani girl. Stealing everybody’s attraction in a movie over Salman Khan is something that even Bebo couldn’t. The character of Bajrangi, has been tremendously innocent throughout. He is supposed to be an ardent follower of his religion but however, he wasn’t a fundamentalist. He lets the little lost girl to retain her lifestyle by making her eat Non Vegetarian food, taking him to her religions’ sacred places while he practiced none of these. He swears on his lord Bajrangbali that he would take this girl back to her house at POK no matter what may come across. The humor in the film majorly due to Nawazuddin Siddiqui mingled with the emotions of both the Girl and Salman Khan makes Bajrangi Bhaijaan a movie of a social cause. This film might preach the lessons of Humanity, Love and affection, morality but there is much more than all this that Kabir Khan might have made this film for.

I take this film in a very different perception which the critics or the media may not get into. Bajrangi Bhaijaan depicts how people of both the countries i.e. India & Pakistan helps Bajrangi and Shahida (Salman Khan & Harshaali Malhotra as referred in the film respectively) collectively to achieve their mission. Some beautiful incidents in the film might create a deep impact on people who actually take this film from this perception. It is the goodness within the people of both the lands that let’s Bajrangi take Shahida back to her house to her parents. Then why after watching this film and liking it to the core did we not evaluate the movie as an ambassador of peace between the two lands which were once one?  

The film features how politics being played by a few has led to all the disturbances across the international borders. Then why after watching the film and enjoying it so rigorously, we could not refrain from cursing each other’s land and its people? It is not a country but a few anti-social elements in it that spoils the reputation. But after knowing this fact, why couldn’t we initiate to develop a strong bond with the people of each other’s’ countries?

This is our mere hypocrisy that we could appreciate a gem like PK on the reality of religion that it portrayed but could take Bajrangi Bhaijaan as only a Humorous Thriller cum Fiction. We neglect intended messages so bluntly that even though if the film breaks all the records over the Box-Office collection, the people behind it would not be able to get the actual pay of their efforts. Ever since the film was released, I could not find any proper reason why people like it so much when it just has this simple ‘predictable’ plot. Now, that I have watched the film, I could say that people might have liked the film unknowing of the fact that the issues of communal disharmony, narrow politics between the countries, assumption of Pakistan being our biggest enemy (India being the same for Pakistan) raised in the film has influenced us and has somewhere made us realize that people in the both the countries are just so good at heart. But the, since childhood, we have been hearing our media, politicians and elders proclaiming Pakistan (India being the same for Pakistan) as our hardcore enemy, and so we could not find anything good about the opposite country in the film or even if we could find it, we don’t bear guts to admit.

I believe, many of you would get what exactly this film has to convey. It urges us to stand for a common issue in both the countries i.e. PEACE. Hardly a few in both the countries would understand the clear picture and the reason why peace does not prevail between India and Pakistan. But when our ‘sacred leaders’ and ‘Gems of our land-Politicians’ call us to curse, swarm of foolish people from both the lands would gather in a herd debating on the news channel, or breaking the seize fire at borders or dropping bombs all around to defend their respective countries irrespective of how cheaply they are fighting for something which never affects your personal life. Yes, this is how extremists from among us end up with. Defending our own land does not entitle us to defame someone else’s land merely crushing out our moral values. Bajrangi bhaijaan tries to shake the souls of each one of us present at the theaters watching the film but sadly, only a few might have taken back a lesson of Peace from it.

Kudos! to the film maker Kabir Khan, the cast and each one who was behind the film to initiate something so daringly in India. I have learned that this film had been banned in Pakistan but however, because of the people there, the Pakistani Censor Board allowed the release of the film there after deleting a couple of scenes. The film bashed the Pakistani Silver Screen striking a chord of emotions with the audience there. It is so good to make the other feel proud about being a citizen of such a pious country. This feeling has been shared by both the countries after watching Bajrangi Bhaijaan.

I wonder how we could still keep our hearts down at each other across the two countries. Undoubtedly this film would not affect the nasty politics being played around at both the ends but nobody would stop us from looking at Pakistan & India with a warm heart after Bajrangi bhaijaan.

Hostel Days!

About the Author: Shikha Jain is a student of literature and Mass Communications from Mats University , Raipur.

She has a forte for writing in English and have also written some beautiful pieces. You can send your feed backs to shikha at shikha_jain13@hotmail.com

It’s amazing how you leave your house with all the expectations of going to a home outside home.

First impression, they say matters. And I stand in the favor of this notion.

Looking at the building, gave me a thought, like, “OKAY! So, it’s actually what I thought it would be.”

Pretty ladies with all smiley faces and charisma I should think and yeah before I forget, the building was an amazing structure to behold, Kudos to the human, who designed or drew the plan.

Well, now coming to the thoughts, which generally everybody gets as soon as they step into their rooms and notices other three bunks which makes them realize that they’re going to live with different characters from different walks of life.

And then, just in a blink the whole countenance changes and we feel like running back home because it would be the first time in our entire lives we would be living with the people we don’t know; never seen!

But ultimately, we are left with no choice.

Here comes a part in everyone’s lives, which is among one of those defining moments.

Being curious for about who would next come in...

And also, acknowledging them with the fact that we have been anticipating their arrival, welcome to room “113” and from that moment on, everybody’s journey begins from being ‘not so special’ to ‘so much special.’

Studying in a group with hot mugs of coffee.

Fighting with Neha as to show her that she’s not the only leader of this dominating society.

Understanding what friendship is from Khushali and Sakshi Seth.

Eating so voraciously that even cafeteria’s staff would deny giving us another bowl of chilly sauce.

Gossiping? Umm...I don’t think so. Because, all that we could do is curse back. And there were a few teachers who had always topped the list. Otherwise, nothing actually bothered us as we had our own set of rules and everything.

Laughing till our stomach hurts even in libraries.

Rolling down our tears, those cracking of occasional jokes just to overcome sleep, with a soft melody playing, everything was done with the new friends in a new world, Mody.

This will actually tell you how we lived our Teenage Dream!

Sun-kissed skin that gave us beautiful tans at the contradicting cold which showered us with gift-wrapped frostbites.

Everything out there was in extreme, regardless of us being strangers at one point of time.

Going crazy every night after twelve.

Pulling Sakshi Ag. with the help of roles of bed covers as to get her in.

Fetching food from the grill and swiftly vanishing from there to the hostel when found guilty by the guards.

Celebrating Birthdays before terms by eating stale cake and taking wishes from our Nokia 1100, Samsung guru and MTS. The most priceless and memorable phones of our lives!

Organizing photo sessions only because we were having a good-hair day.

Jumping from the backyard (but not for coaching’s like Rashi & Swati).

Always found missing from Co-warden round...

Bathing when chief-warden is on round & then making a fake promise not to do it again.

Akriti & Prisha, although, being a student of ‘home science’, could'nt do any good to the word cooking.

Making fun of each other, especially Pallavi.

But yeah, Rashi never backed off!

Apart from all these jerks, Shristi used to be the silent bee of our group and also proved out to be the most decent student.

Swati, Lisha were loved during exams and had a big hand in our fruitful results. Whatever we have scored, half of the credit belongs to them. We owe them like big time.

Always getting super excited for our Fresher’s.

Meanwhile, Pooja always ran short of clothes.

And Nivedita Lamba & Akrati Doshi used to be the beauty queens of that crazy town.

The only thing Mody missed out on was Boys. But Vaishali Kalera! This cute gigantic lady literally filled our emptiness by making Pooja and me see good-looking hunks quite often with her magic notification for guys.

But the old boarders had been way too smarter. Their boyfriends never missed out any of the fests. In fact, they used to thrill their girls with their presence in our school trips.

And when being accused for the same, they were too witty to land up into a mess.

Apoorva, Shaily, Snigdha and Shubhangi have been the closest to our hearts. And will always remain the same.

One million memories, ten thousand inside jokes, one hundred shared secrets, one reason. “Friends For Life.”

Crazy incidents and wild experiences are another thing that comes as a guaranteed package along with hostel life because when you get that many random strangers squished together in one spot, you’re bound to come up with these crazy stories.

It is the most beautiful part of our lives.

We formed bonds for life here!

Living together brought each one of so close that we eventually became one big family.

Hostel life has a charm of its own!

Those wonderful bunches of people who makes you feel worthwhile, also adds bright colors to the white canvas of your lives and holds your hand when you need support.

The more I think, the more I wish that we could lay there for hours and just reminisce.

And We Kissed Our Sisterhood...

About the Author: Shikha Jain is a student of literature and Mass Communications from Mats University , Raipur.

She has a forte for writing in English and have also written some beautiful pieces. You can send your feed backs to shikha at shikha_jain13@hotmail.com

With this, I would like to celebrate the lifelong bond of sisterhood. Although, I and Riddhi do not share this special connection through genes but our heartbeat was always one.

There is no doubt the stormy relationship I and Riddhi shared when we were six and seven respectively and it continued for a decade. In between those years, she has also been my most formidable opponent. The degree to which we’ve fought, I’ve been rude to her or hated her could be more than the hottest days of Rajasthan.

And she’s the most girl-iest person I know.

I have always envied her just because she had far more Barbie dolls than I have ever had!

The kind of life that she shared with me has truly been a roller coaster for her.

Handling my mood swings; going from serious to crazy in a blink.

Accepting my behavior; From being friendly to utterly adamant and stubborn.

From sharing those cherry lip sticks to long pink plastic nails,

From that dress up princess games to stealing tattoos, chocolates and chalks,

From being dumped into the bath-tub to drinking mocktails in wine glasses,

From foolishly dancing on the rooftop to organizing karaoke night,

From laughing till our stomach aches to crying down our khols,

From hiring our personal photographer to flaunting our dresses on embarrassing ramp,

From dreaming to own one Mustang to go on the road trip to Goa.

From imagining us married to super hot and uber rich guys to then taking divorce and marrying each other!

Since childhood she had very few close friends but used to talk to every possible individual.

She has always tried to stay close despite the distance. And days we could cuddle upto were either on any occasion like, Rakshabandhan, New Years’ eve or during summer holidays.

Those were “the days”, I must say!

My house is hustling bustling with ‘n’ number of kids from every possible city and from across the seas i.e.  Canada.

And we all have always been so engulfed within ourselves..

Dawn ends up by seeing us being tangled in each others arms which forma a chain saying, “united we stand

divided we fall”.

Noon never gets bored because it could'nt seek for any one of us and every day’s evening kept us hidden.

Moonlit terrace with cozy bed - rolls made every story on screen pretty interesting and lovely!

Even stars kept staring at us all night, winking and smiling at our melodious talks,

giggles and our special bond.

And, we could'nt miss even a single

card to win any game of our lives.

The only dream we all had was to feel the very first  raindrops on our scintillating skin and to be blessed with raw mangoes with a bit of chilly all over it.  Later, we termed it as a ‘blissful ignorance’ for the outside world.

Whenever we planned to eat out she would always say ‘mein ghar par daal chawal khaungi, and you guys go out for pizzas and burgers.’ But then, she would tag along.

At dinner, we always ordered zillion dishes, but our dinner was never complete without a cup of ice-cream that we all would share.

That’s why one single delicate thread binds us all.

This girl, is very well versed with every bit of me and still so in love with me.

I’ve always been a part of all her future dreams.

And also, been her favorite little sister.

So at this moment, I would rather say that I can’t make it through life without a sister like ‘Riddhi’.

We have made so many mistakes and we’ve also been strayed for that. From the straight and narrow.

Oh, we wish we had obeyed.

But that feeling lasted only for a while.

We influence each other during our life’s most defining moments;

From providing wise counsel during our first crush,

To subsequent comfort after the breakup,

And, to refuse to reveal intimate secrets to parents or friends.

We are learning to forget the fear, that comes from a troubled sky.

We are almost happy over here, but sometimes we wake up at night and cry.

In short, being with her my happiness redefines and she adds a meaning to my life, which is worth living!

I can go on writing for pages about the memories of our life but not all memories are to be shared. We want to treasure a few for future so that every time we are sad, we open a new page and the smile automatically shines on us. Even though we do not live under the same roof, act in the same manner or even get along without an occasional spat, but nothing creates a more special and lasting bond than sisterhood..which  we’ve already kissed! 

#ShortStory : Day Break at Dawn!

Like every day, Dawn had appeared over the sleeping mankind. Birds leaving their nests, chirping all over  and announcing the rise of the Sun. It symbolizes morning and the awakening of mankind from a sound sleep.

Mr. Jones, according to his daily routine woke up early at four that morning to feed the pigeons on his wide terrace. He never kept any alarms to wake him up; rather he was so accurate that he always stood right on his feet from his bed at the commencement of dawn.

After a bath he spelled the Lord’s prayer followed by feeding the pigeons at the terrace of his multi storeyed  English House.

Jones’s way of walking and talking had always been Royal. His neighbors believed that he might have been a descendant of a king. That day, when he moved up to the terrace and opened the door, he found over a hundred pigeons waiting for him. After throwing handful of cereals a number of times to the birds, Jones sat on a chair kept at the edge of the terrace of his house. He was wearing a shawl for there was cold at Johannesburg those days. He was enjoying the dawn which he loved to experience regularly for past many years.

Those days, Jones used to keep himself away from the worldly beings. He was a little depressed for he could not establish a flourished career of himself. His life had been giving him failures all across. This made him wander about lost in his own thoughts. That day, he was as upset as he used to stay from the past few months.

Staring at the beautiful North Cascades peaks and the thrawling green woods, he eventually got lost in his own world. Dawn was the time before the rising of the sun marking the end of a dark night when birds flew from their nests to fly high in the sky to mark their freedom. Snow covered peaks, Fog and mist all over the countryside made Jones fell asleep.

This was a very rare occasion where jones had fallen asleep over a chair but then there was something mysterious about it too. Jones saw a dream that morning. A dream, that proved to be an important lesson for him and could be a lesson, for all those who get to know about this.

In his dream, Jones could see himself as a magnificent angel who has got a pair of whining wings. He got ready for his first flight up high in the skies of God. He flew far away like a bird when put off the cage.

He flew so high that he could see stars at infinity. He passed by different planets into various galaxies through the meteors and the asteroids into the space. Moving ahead, he came across a planet with a ring around it. He wondered if it was the holy Saturn. “This planet has holy meanings in the Greek mythology”, he mumbled. He decided to take a tour of it before travelling further.

As he walked a mile on the Saturn, he saw a sparkling light glowing and shining bright right at the edge of that ground. The bright light he saw was sharp enough and so he could not see beyond it. As Jones moved further, he saw a throne made of sparkling jewels and countless angels moving to and fro serving an Old man who was sitting on the jeweled throne. The man on the throne had a royal face, a long white beard, and wrinkles over his bright shining face. He was wearing a gown made of silk with a crown made of stars.

Jones stood near the old man and greeted him with great interest saying, “hey! You there… Howdy?”

The old man replied with a husky voice “I’m great, but you seem to be not so great!”

“Aaahh… Yes! But how do you know?” asked Jones.

“That’s none of your pretty concern son, and I also know that you are fed up of the World you live in”, said the old man.

Jones was in a state of inquisition for the old man already knew a lot about him. Jones recall all the sufferings he went through being a common man in the World he lived and questioned to the old man, “You seem to be an experienced person. In that regard I ask you, how do I and many commons like me get rid of all our sufferings in the World? ”

The old man kept silent for a while and then smiled. Jones was confused because the old man’s smile was a silent reply which he could not understand. In a short while, the old man answered, “travel deep inside your soul and search out for yourself. Search out for yourself in your surroundings. Look out for yourself in the vast sky for you uttered about yourself and many like you. The creator has made you an individual and so you are alone. There is no one like you in the World you live. My son, you considered yourself a common man. Have you forgotten that you are also one of the most supreme creations of God?”

Jones replied with a rare voice “No, Sincerely not!”

“Then how can you be common? You are special. Everyone in the world you live is special. Go my child, know your talents. You took birth by the will of the Almighty. He shall show you the path. Have faith in him and then see how you make wonders down there!” said the old man.

The old man then smiled and waved a hand at Jones and got vanished.

“Good Morning Jones! Here’s your Lemon Tea dear!” called out Jones’ wife Michelle that went straight into jones’ ears and he woke up from his dream. It was a pleasant morning for him. Jones was no more lost into his own thoughts. He had no worries anymore for he had received an advice worth nothing of the World.

Jones had understood that the old man was God himself who called him up to share a word with him and make him realize his importance among the other men on Earth. For now, Jones face had a wide smile and ambitious attitude. He was no more feeling down. He rose up from the chair, looked up at the sky and walked down towards the drawing room for his morning tea. That morning ,was yet another general event, but quite very special for Jones and many like him on Earth. 

A Dream!

I wish I wish, I’m not dreamin’ ;

I wish I wish, I kept pinchin’.

I can’t believe my eyes and ears,

I longed for it for years and years!

‘Wow’ says my heart today,

And bursts unlike every day!

I’m glad enough to act like a mad!

‘control your emotions’, says my dad!

I’m going where I’ve never been,

I’ve gotta see which I’ve never seen!

The city of dreams that stay sky high,

I’m going to visit the city ‘Mumbai’..!

The place in nation where stars reside,

And the magnificent sea it’s beside!

I’ll walk graciously on the Marine Drive,

Although with happiness, today I strive!

Gift of a Friend as sweet as You!

Sweet was his smile,

Physically a stick,

A friend of mine,

His name- Pratik!

Happiness he spread,

Fun was his work,

Pure within the heart;

His words a lil jerk!

Sharp at brains,

Cool at attire.

Charmed all around,

His very own satire!

I loved his company,

Enjoyed being together!

Care for me he did,

As soft as a feather!

I thank to him,

Up there on the chair;

Who wrote on my hands,

A life so fair!

I thank to him tons,

For everything new!

And a gift of friend

As sweet as you!