Date-Rape. Parties. and the shit that is.

31st Dec. Come party time, and lecherous bastards all round the world are ready to jump at the opportunity. It happens every year. Every time. Everywhere.
Its the sick phenomenon of DATE-RAPE.

I call it a phenomenon, coz its not just another incident, its not just another crime - its a process of social behaviour that's growing day by day. With more and more acceptance of alcohol as a lifestyle product and its accepted overuse at celebrations, date rape is becoming a well known 'accident'.

I don't find it odd that every third woman i know (who drinks) has experienced date-rape at some level - maybe untoward advances, groping, fondling or rape itself. What i find odd is their laid-back attitude towards it. They behave as if nothing happened! And that's what is encouraging bastards to keep going!

If every woman thinks its a matter of shame to report/act against the person, what is going to stop them? It becomes an exceptionally difficult situation for young girls - especially those who drink outside, but don't let their parents know about it (which i guess is pretty much the majority in our country). Coz they cant tell their parents or the cops that they have been raped/abused - coz they fuckkin cant tell them that they have been drinking. On top of that we live in a country where society still believes the shit that "if a woman is abused, it is probably because she provoked it!".

Today, the Maharashtra government has claimed that a cartel is illegally distributing ketamine hydrochloride, popularly known as the date rape drug.
For those who do not know, Ketamine is a medicinal drug used as a veterinary anaesthetic, but its abuse as a date rape drug has gained notoriety in Europe, the US, south-east Asia and India.
So i guess that leaves us with plenty of potential victims this party season - WHAT A WAY TO BEGIN A NEW YEAR! (link to news article - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Cartel_selling_date_rape_drugs_in_Mumbai/articleshow/2656701.cms)

For those who blame the government for the trafficking of the drug, STOP IT! Drugs cant do anything to you until they get to you. And its your stand towards the situation that matters more here. On an Individual basis.

Women... What can be done?
First and foremost - if you have to party - party with people you trust. It's always better to keep yourself in company of some of your most trusted female friends around too. (Kind of friends who can really kick ass helps better)

Second, even if your drink is not spiked you can get messed up. So drink in moderation as far as possible. DO NOT get yourself so sloshed that you cant remember when you stripped your clothes off and went dancing on the table.

Third, if an 'incident' takes place, REPORT it. A few days of shame is any day better than a lifetime of guilt and regret.

and finally my favourite option - if possible, SMASH the bastard so bad that he never even thinks of trying it again.

--- i guess that'll be all i can say for now.
Take care, party well... and HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! :D

Speed Tears

10 A.M.
I hop into my workplace with this wide moronic grin plastered across my face. People wonder why im smiling at the beginning of the day with no apparent reason. The confused receptionist has already named me 'atrangi', meaning 'wierdo' in marathi.

What these people miss to notice, is the fast fading streak of tears from my eyes, that make a moist line towards my temple. No, they arent the sad, cranky, wistful tears. I havent been crying.

They are what I have come to call SPEED TEARS.

9.30 A.M
I'm late. I'm droopy. And I'm naked in the bathroom screaming for a towel.
I have half an hour. Half an hour to dress up, have my milkshake, put on my shoes and reach my work place thats a 25 minute bike ride from home.

9.45 A.M.
I'm almost done. Ready to get off to work. The milk is still trickling down the edge of my lips when i wipe it off and reach for my helmet.
I waddle down to the ground floor. I put on my helmet. I turn the keys, switch it on, and it roars to life.
My bike's got to save the day again!

9.52 A.M
I crawl out of the traffic ridden in roads and reach the circle. The signal guards the highway lies straight ahead. I inch my way through, to the fore of the traffic that's rearing to go.
The cross lane halts. I rev my engine.

RED. RED. RED. GREEN!
vrrrrrroooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmm!
I'm off. Streaking way ahead of the rest. Almost on a single wheel when i break off. The machine cuts a neat lead at 70 kmph. The wind brushes past me, filling the helmet with air.

The Open Road.
This is where it begins. A stupid smile makes its way across my face as i switch gears to the 5th.The longest stretch of open road that i encounter everyday begins to blur thru the visor.Every bump, every crevice of this road is pre-mapped in my mind. Visibility is not much of a question here.

80 kmph.
The wind tears harder and harder across me as i continue to accelerate. Im deaf to the world. The only sounds i can hear is the wind that kisses me through my visor. and the engine thats keeps on getting louder.90 kmph. The rate of acceleration is reaching a plane. My hand goes off the clutch to slide open my visor and the wids rips past my face. As i narrow my eyes and speed ahead, the engine revs to its limits.

95 Kmph.
The wind is forcing a steady stream through my eyes. I can feel the cold caress of th tears that are streaking from my eyes.No these arent the tears that are caused by dust particles flying into your eyes. or by smoke. or pain. these arent the tears that hurt. These are not those.

In a way it's strange how speeding down an open road changes those very
tears that generally burn your eyes when your heart bleeds, into something that
make your heart beat faster than ever. How the very same tears that burn down
your face when you weep give you a sense of calm as they caress your skin. How
the very same tears that hurt so bad, feel like nirvana on a speeding road.

100 kmph.
Adrenaline is high. My mind is racing. The silence is a roar. the world is a moist blur.
and my smile is complete!

CLUTCH.
As the road comes to another signal i let the accelerator go as i sail into the stop. My day is set already.

10 A.M.
I hop into my workplace with this wide moronic grin plastered across my face. People wonder why im smiling at the beginning of the day with no apparent reason. The confused receptionist has already named me 'atrangi', meaning 'wierdo' in marathi. What these people miss to notice, is the fast fading streak of tears from my eyes, that make a moist line towards my temple. No, they arent the sad, cranky, wistful tears. I havent been crying.

They are what I have come to call SPEED TEARS.

Memories

It might sound stupid, but there is this weird thing i do when the year is nearing its end - i run through my memories of the entire year.

Going through albums, bank statements, cards, bills, letters, memorabilia etc.

Its kinda loony, but i love to think of the year gone by - of the TIME gone by. Somehow, helps me to know a little more about the passage of time and its weird effects on us. The way it moulds us and the way we desire to make the most of it.


CHANGES! CHANGES! CHANGES!


Going through my albums of the year - one album caught my attention. Nothing too great or glorious as such, just pictures from my school reunion. An evening that was just too amazing to forget!


It has been years since we passed out of school - kinda stupid kids with weird dreams and stupider ideas of the world. Crazy, charged people cribbing about the school song and the fumbling bumbling school management and staff... people excited about simple things like school trips and bunking classes... ambitious people with great ambitions and unstoppable ideas and greater dreams... people that you didn't really have the time to know.. and those who didn't have the inclination to get to know you... ALL are here! Here, today, in one place, out of the big wide world that they found themselves in outside their school - back for a reunion of the days gone by.


What a night! From what i can remember i must have danced the hell out of that place! Every one danced (and i made sure of that by threatening to BIRTHDAY BUM those who didn't ;)), every one had a smile, some of the old squibs still existed somehow - but over it all - everyone was HAPPY! Happy to be together again. I guess we all were high, high on life more than anything else. Surprisingly, even those who got drunk, didn't get drunk enough to get embarrassing - looking back - it really wudnt have mattered if they had :D


That evening, even the people who hadn't actually given a fuck about others in school 'discovered' them. I say discovered coz back in school, sometimes like in life, we take everything for granted - we are glad to be stuck in our own little worlds - not giving two fucks about the people outside - and then suddenly when you really open your eyes you find out how much of an illusion your prejudice was! I remember arch rivals and enemies becoming friends that night. (some shit perhaps remains shitty forever though).


Its not just about the fun - Its an experience in itself! Some kind of coming to terms with the fact that you've grown. TIME has played its part on you.


Looking at all your schoolmates - and at yourself - its like looking at time itself. Time heals, time kills, time changes, time works on people in various ways.

Some people grow up, some never do, some change for the better, some choose the worse, some discover themselves, some are still trying - but at the end what matters here is that there is something that time dosen't change.


Time doesn't change much the feeling of BELONGING.


Time changed everything around us - maybe even everything about us - but still on that one day - so many STRANGERS moulded by time, changed by time, were FRIENDS again!

Friends taking on a simple night from the same 365 days that fill a year and turning it into one crazy night to remember!

And that's what matters!


I guess, if i were to look back any day, back to this night - I'd be glad, I'd be happy - coz I'd be with my BAND OF BROTHERS again.

Love you people man! Thanks for being in my life, together.

Cheers mates!

and all the best for life!


(btw, if and when i fulfill my dreams of being a film-maker - I'm definitely making a film on this one night! :))

My interview with Mr.Evil Kitty [episode 1]

to be continued.. (in the blog after this :))

My interview wid Mr.Evil Kitty [episode 2]

for the original pictures, pease visit: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=12168&l=acd4d&id=517429951

Celebrating Singlehood!

Walking with my friend Sanjeev, alongside ruia college yesterday - on route to mission RESCUE FAT BASTARD this queer thing suddenly struck me. (kindly do not ask details about mission RFB). All of a sudden out of nowhere i realised something that made our day!
FOUR AND A HALF YEARS! yes, that's the time we have been the best of friends - Sanjeev, ketak and I. and one of the funniest things is, for four and a half years we had never, never been single or committed together. that was until i realized yesterday that FINALLY, FINALLY all of us were single again!!!!

for the first time in our crazy time together!!!!

it was reason to celebrate!!!!!

well, it always so happened that one of us was committed and two of us were single, or two of us were committed and one was single, by the time the third got committed, the second was single again and so on and so forth for all these years!
Finally when Ketak broke up recently it happened - all of us were single together!... but it didn't strike me till yesterday! and when it did, darn! did we have a ball or whattt!

lolllll

We still love our exes, yes - they are amazing people - and our being happy has nothing to do with breaking up with them per se... its just that its brilliant for all Friends to just be single for the first time ever!!!!
now we can finally have that all singles party we planned to have sooooooo long ago! :D

its like this reallly stooopid child finally getting to have his tent in the garden party!

lo! i cant even imagine how this new years ever is gonna be!

Anyways now that we are finally all single - Sanjeev, Ketak and I, and now that we have realised what idiotic emotional dumb asses we are-- we decided on three things:
1. No getting into any relationships before our SINGLES PARTY! (dec 31st 2007)
2. Dating is fine, Emotional Commitment is strictly NO NO unless approved by the other 2 fools.
3. Shift HR division to our Kid sister - Veera! Our kid sis would have the final judgement whether we should or should not let anyone into our emotional sides again (coz as it turns out, she probably has more sense in her head than we emotional numb nuts do!)

------ hmmmm... so that brings me to the next point--- my son!
thanks to the discussion yesterday i decided to make one other thing straight-- my dog is my son - and he comes above everything to me - and if people don't like him - i don't like them - it is that simple!
So women who dislike dogs--- please do me a favor and stay away - coz there's no way i wud even stand such people. (that narrows my 'potential' category, but i really don't give a damn! my son comes first)

So -- neways -- with the party set -- the 'relationship' approvals section in our kid sis's hands -- and the guidelines in place --- we are all now looking forward to a crazy new year--- and a brand new beginning!!!!!! :DDDD

yipppieeeeeeeeeeeeee! :D

fckkkkkk! being single never felt so amazingggggg before!!!!!!!! :D

PS: For applying to the candidates in question (apart frm me) you can get in touch mail your resumes along with a photograph/video and a covering letter to our HR manager VEERA ;)

As for all those others who are 'single and lovin it' you are free to join in the fun toooooooooooo! :DDDDD

meowwwwwwwwwwwwwww! :D