Divine Comedy

India, the old country of “ethics and conservation”, makes another desperate call for upholding the “culture of the country”. Newest in the series of “reforms” is the law passed in the state of Maharashtra which raises the “legal” drinking age from 18 years to 25 years in the entertainment capital of India, Mumbai and the rest of the state.

Many opinions have surfaced but none of them are in support of the law. I am no supporter of drinking but its just another law which is not going to be implemented. And it is only going to rise the corruption rate in the already corruption ridden state. The hitches are too many to enumerate. For one, the law hopes to discourage under-age consumption and drinking problem. What I don’t understand is how is the legal age to “buy” liquor going to reduce drinking? Its not. The black market will grow and the underground is going to be the only benefactor.

The law makers are yet again making an erroneous assumption that enacting a law will change the situation. India is not a drinking country. Most youth all over the country feel that the drinking stops at around 25. Rising the drinking age makes no sense. Even when the drinking age was at 18, there were too many cases of under-age drinking. So when the law enforcement couldn’t monitor a few teenagers, they are surely going to see to it that people don’t drink before 25. Doesn’t sound soo sane, does it?

Another view I hold is how are the drinking habits regulated in the villages? Aren’t we a cultivating nation with the majority of the population residing in the villages? Liquor is not even sold in those places. But can the law makers do anything about the consumption? The night life in the city may be attracting a lot of youngsters but the drinking problem is more acute in the villages. So, what is the law going to do about it?

The claims about the taxes the state pays for the imported liquor is just another feeble call from the dark because ultimately the taxes for imported goods are borne by the particular consumer, not by the government. Maybe its time to pay more attention to the tax scams because if the state is finding the liquor tax unbearable, then there is something wrong with the taxation department, not with liquor consumption. That may be something for the law makers to look into, instead of passing such useless laws and wasting everyone’s time. Raising the tax on the imported liquor won’t change anything, it will be just another reason for the youth to vote for the opposition in the next election.

Maharashtra's chief minister, Prithviraj Chavan, said drinking problem was a social issue and insisted the measures were not an attempt at moral policing. "Liquor consumption stresses the health system and destroys families," he said. What he needs to look into is how he is going to change the attitude and not the habits. If the drinking starts at 25, how does it stop affecting the health or destroying families?! And how does the government hope to stop in-house drinking? Seems like Mr. Chief Minister didn’t do his homework properly before proposing the law. How effective was the law that required a purchaser to produce identification that he is 18 before buying alcohol previously? Most college campuses have drinkers, are they even 18?

We can vote at 18, but don’t have the liberty to choose if we want to drink or not? If we really want to do something about the drinking problem, its awareness that we need, not a law. A compulsory statutory warning will be more effective.

Just another desperate law which is just as out of context as the rest of the “drinking laws”. 

Childhood Memories

Back in school, when I changed schools or when someone left the school due to transfers, all I could think of was missing them. Who would have thought that the concept of a social networking site would come up and change that totally?!

Never imagined that I would be able to contact my long lost “fight”mate from the fifth form who left the school soon after. The mixed feelings that come with those memories have no substitute. :) Those were the days when social-science required us to draw the political map of India on the class floor, when we start hating a teacher for giving a lower grade, when we keep “shops” to learn profit and loss (and realizing how important bills are :D ) and when we dress up to show how the UN functioned! Call me crazy, but mahn, we enjoyed life back then. :D Those long lunch breaks, those small politics and “big” fights, those invented games and copying notes from the black board! :D The first scratches, the first competitions, academic rivalry, the first competitive exams, the first “Eureka” after getting an answer for a question after days of searching… The time of firsts!

It was the time when we made friends, waited for those games hours in the timetable all through the week, when we still completed homeworks and loved what we studied, learning and not just knowing. A time when i looked forward to being in school every morning just to look at the particular someone I had a crush on, just to feel my heart skip a beat whenever that happened, wishing I was a little more discrete in controlling what I showed on my face, and hoping desperately that the person never found out what was going on in my mind. I know we all had those days. :D

The first poems, the first secrets, the first opinions, the first questions which startled our parents, the first sleepless nights, the first tensed moments about exams, they amuse me now. How matter of factly we have become now! That was a time when we wished to grow up and leave the school, go to college, when dreams were all that mattered, where friendships held us close and we actually trusted and loved people. The past seems so beautiful now. But we always wish for what we cant have, don’t we?? :)

The time when summer vacations meant the blazing sun, loads of homework, summer camps, learning the finer details of the game from a senior, two whole months of roaming in the sun (and tanning), discovering the secret shortcuts and realizing two days before reopening day about the homework (which included charts and models!!!) and a couple of sleepless nights and a aching hand for a  reminder! :D

Weekends back then were real. It was the time when completing school work had real rewards, when we darkened the room with bed-sheets to give the theatre feel, when we saw animation movies and dreamt about being in the fantasy world for a whole week! :D

No mobile phones, it was another age it seems, when we talked and laughed together, the time when we actually remembered landline numbers and dialed it to contact people! When we went to the beach and played on the sand, having long drives and trying to find patterns in vehicle registration numbers! Those study groups where we never studied and the time when we sneaked out to play hide and seek (and many variants of the game which in its extremity ended up in a shooting game :D :P). Those days when we cycled to reach a friend’s house, a time when breaking rules was all we wanted, a time when we drank water out of temple taps, when we played in the rain and enjoyed being sick because it meant a day when our moms fussed over us! :D

I know we all had those days but now we are soo busy to even talk to the people from the past, when we barely have time to sleep, to think about how to get ahead. If you had such a beautiful childhood too, make time for your childhood friends too. They were really your friends, knowing you for who you were and loved you for that! :) :) 

The Bermuda Triangle

Wondering what this title can hold in itself? :D I swear I could see your brains swirl in action, imagining yours to be like that of the Glass Cat. Listen to the tale so that you may find some enlightenment. :P

With the day proceeding like any other holiday (with nothing to do, i.e), my friend and I decided to take a “trip” to Spencer Plaza. The plan having materialized out of thin air at 10 in the morning, I was supposed to meet her at the railway station. She arrived a good half an hour late and I reached another 10 minutes later. The proud owner of a cool shades (Fastrack :D ), the scorching Chennai sun forced me to wear them. There she was, waiting for me in the hot traffic prone area of Chennai. Getting on my two wheeler, she said, “its too hot, isn’t it? Shall I wear my sun glasses?”. I told her, “sure, why not?”. Then I turned around to find out “why not”!!! She was sporting her dad’s Adidas ahem cooling glass! No wonder. She laughed and said, “I didn’t want anyone throwing me a couple of bucks when they passed me by. :D ” Well, I had no idea that the crazy fun was just getting started. :D :P

If you know Nungambakkam, then you ll know what real traffic is. For one, the roads are not enough to manage the traffic. The other reason is the bloody one ways and medians. So my dear friend, who was till today making fun of me for getting lost in the roads actually got all muddled up about where we were going. All through the short journey all she could say was, “Are you sure of where we are going? You sure?”. Of course I was sure! I had perfected my road skills after a whole year of getting lost, but that’s another long story. So lets leave it there. :D

Without much event, we reached the parking station, left my two-wheeler in the parking lot and made our way to the Spencer plaza. Our first stop was Landmark. The Spencer Plaza is by a lot of standards one of the most complicated buildings in the city. I had learnt earlier that Spencers has three phases because like every other building in the old city of ours, the buiding was built phase by phase. So an average person was bound to get a little confused with all the secret passages and the connections! But then my friend was not an average person atall, as I found out later. :D

Having taken the secret second floor entrance to Landmark (I always wondered why I could never find the proper entrance, guess its all because of the Harry Potter fan thing! :D :P ), we browsed through the best sellers which were on sale. Having found Bouncie (which is by the way a cute jelly like toy), we went through some random stuff. But the mission was to find a hair straightener. So we stayed focused and found it. Then came the dilemma that strikes every middle class consumer of the country, “which product to choose?!”. Thus began the trial sessions, while I wandered off to look at some other electronic gadgets. After a good 15 minutes of trying and discussion, my friend settled for one. I heaved a sigh of relief!

Then came the age old problem of FOOD. I suggested that we take something from the food court. We took the flight of stairs and after a little searching, found it. But my friend was not satisfied! She had to go to “another food court” that she had been to. So I agreed to search for it with her. This is were we started having trouble with the twists and turns. The “take right, go straight” wasn’t exactly that simple. So a few dead ends and many minutes later we found the “other food court”. When I finally thought I was gonna have food, my friend went through all the menus and decided that she wanted a sub(which was in the previous food court). Well, I had to agree! So we made our way back through the maze, tired, thirsty and famished. And ya, once inside Subway, and a good 15 minutes later she decided that she wanted a KFC Burger! I was just amazed at how bad a decision maker she was when she blurted out, “Sorry, I am a bad decision maker!”. Finally!!!

The KFC inside Spencers has some real nutcases in the billing counter. And ya the law of queues was soo proved yet again. When our turn finally came, the girl at the counter shouted soo much, that my friend got apprehensive and just nodded for everything. I dunno what happened over there but when we got our order, we were totally confused as to what was in front of us. It had two burgers, French fries and pepsi (and some more chicken which we hadn’t ordered!!!) . We were too hungry to argue. So we just sat down and started eating.

I was never good with too much food. Me being the only non veggie, most of the order was my burden to bear. Thus began the eating session which was to last for a good whole hour. We started talking about this and that, commenting on people sitting around us and having a good laugh (well, in our defense, there was this guy who was wearing shades inside the eating area! :D). The shop next to KFC was named “Nala’s Aapakada”. My friend was wondering what it was and was frowning with concentration. So I turned around and tried reading it and ended up reading it as “Appakada”. :D After a while, we figured out what it was and had a hearty laugh! :D

After the food had gotten into the system, we were fuelled up for a little more exploring as there was a lot of time at our disposal. So the adventure of “small shops” started and again the circles began. I dunno what was going on with the three phases and the three floors but everyone there was equally clueless. I m sure we walked every corridor atleast four times! Uphh!!! Then I was reminded of the way people were rumoured to go in circles, trapped in the Bermuda Triangle! Yes, that was us, two innocent electrical engineers trapped in the “three phases” of Spencers! ;) and ya, this is exactly when Cookie Man pops up every 5 minutes, tempting us with the smell! Damn! :D :P

The doors of Landmark loomed back in sight suddenly and as we were just about to enter the safety of the book store, we were sighted by a group of three people who were taking a survey of what should be the next mixed scent for EVA. They ended up separating us, sprayed us with two scents and asked us to guess the scents. Well I m proud of myself, got two of them right! :D atlast when we were free to go back to Landmark, my friend and I got into the Kids section! :D Believe me, you seriously gotta go there if you are the type who idolizes cute stuff! Everything around there was just adorable! It was more than in our powers to restrict ourselves, and left more or less to ourselves, we started playing with the toys which were a part and parcel of every kid’s childhood! :D yess, there was Mikey, Pooh, Piglet, Donkey, Tiger, Penguins, Goofy and many more! :D there was this Dolphin that had this weird look on its face which reminded me of a real person, which when mentioned, both of us were laughing till an actual small kid came there and made us realize how grown up we were for all the chaos we were creating. So grabbing what was left of our dignity (of a college student, as my friend put it :P ), we fled the place. But I still ended up buying a soft doll of a penguin! :D

Then it was time to leave. Sulking that the day had to come to an end, we exited the store. We took my two-wheeler and left the place. Driving back in a different route, my friend was actually supportive of my driving skills and my knowledge of the roads. :D Ha!!! There you go! :D :P

Going home and refreshing ourselves with some water, we walked back to the station. As I watched her board the train, I was just left thinking why people felt just two girls cant have fun on a day out! I had it all today – fun, madness and a great memory! It was just another day that started out soo simple and ended up an awesome experience! :D