Gogol

Man: Pack a pillow and a blanket. See the world. You will never regret it.
Ashoke Ganguli: My grandfather always says that is what books are for. To travel without moving an inch.

Twilight through the looking glass

I'm Kramer.

Winter has died the death of a bollywood star!!

Spring is finally here............

Crime and punishment!

Zaibunissa Qazi got five year rigorous imprisonment under TADA in 1993 blast verdict. Allegedly her crime was to unknowingly allowing her house as a safe heaven for the arms and ammunition which were later used in 1993 blast. She was 51 year old when she was arrested and now 71 year with severe kidney complications.

On the contrary, charges against Sanjay Dutt for illegal arms possession under TADA was dropped, even though allegedly  he confessed to have acquired them from underworld dons which he later retracted. Eventually he was tried under Arms Act of India and given five year of imprisonment. After the verdict, Sanjay accepted the verdict with a heavy heart and agreed to serve the sentence.

Things were fine till this point. But the problem started to emerge with large number of celebrities, law makers and politicians starting to bate for Sanjay and his clemency. It is quite understandable for friends and family to show sympathy and seek clemency. But what about the social conscience of people who don't know him closely, like, Markandey Katju, Mamata Banerjee and several other prominent politicians. The reasons given are that he has suffered a lot in last 20 years,  and that he has a family to look after. So is true about Zaibunissa.  Why didn't anyone asked for Zaibunissa's pardon? Just because she is an unknown face. Shouldn't people be more careful in assessing the verdict before fanning out their liking for certain people. On one side you reinforce the fact that law is equal for everyone but at the same time you show a double standard, as  evident between Sanjay and Zaibunissa.

Why wasn't zaibunissa tried under Arms Act? Why was she singled out? It is for people to see the obvious.

I have nothing against Sanjay Dutt. He has been graceful in accepting the verdict. He has all the right to appeal for pardon so has his family and friends. But do I agree that he should be pardoned, not before Zaibunissa Qazi and I am sure Sanjay would agree with me. What pains me the most is the double standard of politicians and lawmakers.

Justice delayed is justice denied. At one point it used to be crime followed by punishment and now its crime followed by delay and further delay and some more delay.....

Wonderful Sundays!

Weekends are meant for fun, to go out and explore the randomness. Days to break out of mundane daily life and give ourselves a breather. Normally, for me the weekends are spent either working in lab or in bed snoozing the alarm nth time. Even my girlfriend has given up on me and patiently waits for me to finally get out of bed and call her. I must say I can't imagine being with anyone else but her :). Calling her and watching movies together are the only exciting part of weekends.

But for past couple of weekends things have been little different and little more interesting. Last Sunday I was able to drive myself to city and spend a wonderful chilly day with my friends Aroop and Dawn. A day of endless walk, good cheap food and equally good and cheap beer. Dawn's interest in antiques got us a chance to walk through some of the best antique furniture at annual antique show in the city. Over all a wonderful Sunday.

This Sunday  too the fun continued. Shomo, a friend of mine, and his wife were kind enough to invite Divya and I to their place for lunch. Lamb biryani, prawn in coconut sauce, mango chutney and sewaiya made our day followed by random lazy chitter chatter about religion and politics. Over all another wonderful Sunday.

I hope the fun continues!

Oh my beloved...you will be dearly missed!!!

Winter is my favorite weather. A weather of gray shades, gloominess and most importantly layers of clothes. How I love the chilly wind sending a shiver down the body and walking in heaps of snow, leaving behind footprints and many more impressions. Being a foodie, winter is the time to hog on to anything or everything without any guilt. Fried food and smell of good coffee never tastes so good in any other weather but winter. Oh how I can easily hide my overgrown belly under layers of clothes and fool myself in eating more and a lot more :)

But as someone once said, everything has a self life, especially things which bring excitement has much shorter life, like a rose survives only for a few days but elephant can live forever. Mind it I have nothing against elephants, rather I love baby elephants who doesn't :) so the winter is almost at the brink of departure. Spring has been trying its best, but winter is dying a death of one of those Bollywood heroes, stretching every last breath.

The most scary thing is that layers of clothes will disappear and will soon give away all my secret. The guilt is gonna creep up and only thing that will show up is the bump. Oh how I dread that. But may be I need it to prepare myself for another year of winter.

Oh my beloved...you will be dearly missed, till we meet again!!!