Is good always ahead of the bad???

We paid with 178 lives to realize the fact that no more can our policemen protect us with Lathi's. Our policemen are still trying to learn how to tap multiple mobile phones, while the terrorists are already using satellite phones. Why does bad always need to spit in our face for us to realize that times are changing. Only when a plane crashed into a building did we realise that important buildings need to protected from air attacks. Only when they came by sea, did we start taking coastal security seriously. Suddenly we are guarding the sea, as well the airspace. But bad, meaning the terrorists will next find another ingenious way to hurt us.

All of the above makes me think, is bad always ahead of the good? What is victory after losing hundreds of lives and orphaning thousands of families. We are trying to equip our police with AK-47's while next time the terrorists will come with better machine guns. Is good always ahead of the bad? May be, good does not weaponise itself until bad strikes, If thats true, lets anticipate the bad, lets prepare for it . Let's be good, but lets think like BAD. Lets guess where all are we weak, which can be the probable targets. Lets not just be the good, lets be the best! Is good always ahead of the bad??? Hopefully, not again, never again!

Noise gives rise to one Voice!

Its been more than a month since the horrific attacks. For once, from a varied mass of rich, poor, corrupt, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh individuals, a WE has emerged. A WE, which was made possible only because the attack created panic, chaos, pandemonium -basically a lot of noise from which a VOICE has emerged. Its funny but for something good to happen, a LOT of bad is always neccesary. This voice is the voice of the stupid, scared and angry comman man. May be this time, we can change India. But after 30 odd days, we should ask ourselves, is the noise lessening, is the voice fading? I hope not, but it really is.

NO VOTE. NO DIFFERENCE!

Last few days I have seen a flurry of emails, communities and SMS'es which talk about using 49-0, an option through which we can cast a ' No-vote'. These emails state that if a certain percentage of people dont vote, the election will be cancelled. This is completly untrue, please read 3rd Dec's DNA main supplement, page no 8. It clearly states that a person can cast a No-Vote, but in no circumstances will the election ever be cancelled. So, this option basically doesnt make any sense. It would be great if all of you spread this messgae around that those emails, SMS'es are false.

Assuming that they were true, what would we really achieve by getting a election cancelled. Here is a list of things, which we can achieve by casting a No-Vote

1) Wastage of public money for getting one election cancelled and arranging for another one.
2) Stressing out our security forces as their duty hours double during elections.
3) Endangering our security as the police would be more busy with the elections.

We as commoners only matter to a politician when he knows that we, I and YOU are going to vote. When he knows that I and YOU are goign to vote, our problems become his problems, our grievances become his, our issues become his, at least for the time being. But the moment politicians know that YOU are not going to vote, YOU dont matter to them anymore. Hence, your problems arent their problems, your issues arent their issues anymore and hence OUR security isnt their CONCERN anymore. Hence, NO VOTE. NO DIFFERENCE.

Thoughts

Here are a few of my thoughts on the terrorist attack which rattled Mumbai....

You cant fight AK-56 rifles with lathi’s. Empower the police.

Terrorists are trained to kill, so they kill.
Politicians are there to protect us, but they don’t. So, who is the bigger enemy?

Just 10 terrorists killed 183 people and injured 294. Should we say more?

350 commandos protect Mayawati. 150 commandos protect Sonia Gandhi. Who protects us?????

We love our soldiers, but we want to see them alive.

Take my salary but PLEASE buy bullet-proof jackets for our police and save them.

We know who they are, where they came from, who financed them…..what are we waiting for? A nuclear attack??

We saved the parliament, we saved the Taj. Enough of saving, lets talk about prevention not cure.

Strength: Soldiers
Weakness: Politicians
Opportunity: Ourselves
Threat: Terrorism, everywhere!

There are many thougts, many emotions, but just not enough words to express my gratitude to all those bravehearts who risked their lives to save the lives of people they didnt even know. Brave Commandos, I dont think my words can do any justice to your courage. But to do my own small thing, I SALUTE YOU!!

The Dark Knight

The number of blasts and attacks in India over the last few moths make me bleieve that we are living in some under-developed South-African country where bomb-blasts and mass-murders are a daily reality. I just cant resist myself from comparing the current situation in our country to the one that was shown in the batman movie, The Dark Knight.

In the movie as the mafia mounts a war against the city, everyone expects someone to answer the mafia in its own language-violence. But, there is one man, who tries to hit the mafia through making tougher laws. He is the fair knight, the one who tries to fight violence through laws. That is fine, I think the Indian law book might be one of the biggest books in the world. But today, we need someone like the Batman, a dark knight who kills the killers. One who answers to them in their own language, who gives an eye for an eye, one who does tit for tat and does boom boom even before the mafia can start its work.

May be we need a dedicated hit squad to tackle this menace. A dedicated group of officers, whose only job is to track such elements and kill them at the first possible oppurtunity. Give them the best weapons, the best training and a license to kill ala James Bond. Today, I so wish that superheroes were for real then I guess our beloved Taj Mahal Hotel woudnt have to be raped left, right and centre by these terrorist. We could have saved the Oberoi and Nariman House and all its residents from the ordeal that they went through. I wish a man would come in his batmobile, blast through the window like superman, thrash the terrorists with the power of He-Man and then finish the them with the ferocity of Joker. I know, the human rights guys wouldnt like this, but what would you do with human rights when the most basic right of innocent humans, the right to live is being snatched away by mindless terrorists. have a look at this......

Jaipur Blast: 80 dead. 100 plus injured.
Guwahati Blast: 67 dead. 50 plus injured.
New Delhi Blast: 30 dead. 100 plus injured

It's been more than 25 hours, my beloved city is still in fear, we have lost many bravehearts, more than 127 are dead and more than 300 are injured, hundreds of families have been orphaned. I am waiting for Mumbai's Dark Knight or rather Dark Knight's!!!!!!

Helplessness!

Watching the terrorist operation last night on my TV screen, there were only 2 emotions I could feel. One being so strong that I just wish that I could begin this blog with the choiciest of expletives begining with m, b,c and everything else. When the terrorists continued to hold the whole city to ransom, all I could think of was helplessness. The sheer thought that even 38, 000 policemen could not make you feel secure was nerve-wrecking.

I was watching the TV till 2 o clock in the night, there was a lot to see in the middle of the screen, but there was a small column to the right of the screen, from which I just couldnt take my eyes. The column showed the number of people who had died in the attacks and every few seconds, like it happens in a typical Hollywood movie, the figure kept mounting......57, 63, 70, 100, 120 as i write this and who knows how much by the time it gets over. We have seen numerous blasts in the last few years but just one scene where policemen were walking on the road with pistols in their hand is something which no one would ever dreamt of even in their worst nightmare.

We dont know how many fathers, mothers, daughters, sons and friends might have died in these attacks and may be even if we do come to know, we wouldnt be able to do much for their families. As one place after another was targeted, as a citizen of Mumbai, who loves to eat at Juhu beach, loves to hang-out at Bandra, admires the beauty of South Mumbai, all I could feel was helplessness!

Well done MATE!!!

Every human activity which involves a team needs a lot of team spirit to suceed. The Aussie over the years exhibited team spirit which made it into the best team into the world. they called it mateship. it simply was being happy for, helping, feeling for and standing up for your colleagues, in this case, their team-MATES. I clearly remember that whenever an Aussie player was shown aggression, at least 3-4 of their players would surround and intimidate the opposition player. An Aussie always knew that his team would back him to the fore, come what may. He always knew that his team would always stand by him, be it in good times or in bad. In fact even before anyone could raise a finger, his team members would rise and form a wall to protect him. In fact through this wall, they would hurl such volleys that the opposing team would definitely back-out.

Be it among friends, in the coprpoarte world, in sports or even in politics, mateship is of utmost importance. Mateship comes from a leader and thats what we see from Dhoni. When Dhoni gave Sourav the honour of captaining India for the last 5 overs, it showed the respect Saurav commanded among his team-mates, seniors as well as juniors. What it also showed that Dhoni is a great leader, who not only knows when to step ahead and take charge but also knows when to step back and let someone else enjoy the respect. His was and I think will remain one of the greatest gestures in world cricket for a long time. I always beleived that one thing missing in all the Indian teams of the past was the mateship-standing up for each other, enjoying each others sucesses and praising each other perfromances in public. But now , with what Dhoni has done and with the way his team is playing. I think we finally have the element which we always missed the most. We had a good team made up of fantastic players while the Aussies had a fantastic team made of good players. It was a great sight to see the respect given to Saurav and Anil by Dhoni, this can only augur well for the Indian team, all I can say to Dhoni is, '' Well done MATE''

Winning and losing....its in the head.

There was a time when a group of 11 athletes strode the earth like giants. When they touched their bats, they turned into swords with which they slayed bowlers around the world. When they hurled the ball on the pitch, midway it became a grenade which would blow the batsmen off their feet and when they fielded they pounced on the ball like hungry ( and wild) cats, who never missed their prey. They intimidated their opposition not only with their skills but also with their walk and their talk. They believed that they were invincible, in fact in competitive sports, where there is winning as well as losing, they just knew one word and that was ...........dont need to say it. Since they beleived they were invincible, the whole world beleived they were invincible.

Teams would give up against Australia even before the game had begun. I guess the Aussies would be getting up from their beds and straightaway be practising, not cricket but their man-of-the match award winning speeches. Then slowly, the aura began to fade after India affected a historic turn-around in the 2001 series. Still the Aussies beleived that they were invincible, then came the 2004 series in Australia where the believed that they would eat us raw. But India under the leadership of its charismatic leader, Dada drew the series and hurt the Aussie pride like never before. We spoilt the last series of one of Australia's greatest captains, Steve Waugh or Tugga as he was lovingly known. Now, the Aussies started bleiving that India was the team to beat. Suddenly from just visualising victories, they had started to visualise drawn matches. They had started to beleive deep down in their mind that India could defeat them and hence, India did. They had started beleiving their doubts and doubting their beleifs. With the defeat against India yesterday, life has come circle for the Aussies. Once, when they took to the cricket field, they knew they were going to win. Today, they play to make sure that they dont loose. India on the other hand beleive that, only they can win and since they beleive, only they will. The tide is turning or rather its turning in the mind. Hail the new champions ( at least for the present moment)- TEAM INDIA.

We are watching you Big Brother

If you hve been going through the newspapers during the last few days, you could be forgiven for beleiving that the very next moment either Mc Cain or Obama would turn up outside your house, yelling '' Roti, Kapda aur Makan'' or rather as they say in the US '' War, Economy and Osama''. The amount as well as the kind of coverage which the Indian media has given to the current US Elections, you cant be faulted if you beleived that both of them were competing for the Indian parliament. Everyone from an 18 year old to a 65 year old wants to know who is going to win the elections, nothwithstanding the fact that most just know 4 things about America: its spelling, Mc Cain, Obama and its best friend, Mr Osama. I wish our public had the same kind of enthusiasm for elections in India as well. I can confidently that 90% of these people dont even know who their local corporator is (assuming that they at least know hwo their building secretary is).

This over-enthusiasm cant wholly be blamed on the media. One should keep in mind that it is the format of the US Presidential elections that generates this kind of buzz around the world. Here candidates instead of just blaming each other, constructively debate various tricky issues from terrorism, global warming to recession and many more. Here in India, all we get to hear from our politicians is how the opposition party has ruined the country. In the US, the voters clearly come to know the mindset of their would-be president when both the candidates go one-on-one in the presidential debates. After thoroughly analysing both the candidates, you can pick your own president. It is this vibrancy and pro-activeness which is in-built in the American democracy which has made it so sucessful. The very fact that the whole world is watching the American elections is a tribute to America's greatness. Most beleive that Obama will win easily, but wait, this is America. If they can elect Mr Bush for the 2nd time inspite of all his blunders, then they sure can make Mc Cain the most powerful man in the world. Usually America is known as the Big Brother, who is always watching. But this time take a careful decision America, as the Big Brother is being watched by the entire world.

The time is now!!!!!!!

As a kid, we all dreamt of being someone or the other. But among that dreamy someone, one thing was common, the dream of being sucessful and also of being super-rich. Whenever we saw a aeroplane whizzing by, high in the sky, a few of us would always turn around and tell our friends, one day i will become a pilot and then fight amongst us as to who would be the pilot and who would not? Some of us would look at the television set and dream of being a superstar. Our parents would always tell us, Bete bade hojao, phir jo chahiye woh banke dikahana. We always told ourselves, I am still so small, will do it when the time comes. Today, we are all in our twenties. What do well tell ourselves? Arre I m just 22, will do it when my time comes.

Now we no more dream of being a pilot, all we dream of is getting a break from our job and spending a relaxed weekend. As kids we wanted to grow up to realise our dreams, but even as grown ups we still want some more time. i think we were bettr as kids because at least we had the ability to dream and then even visualise our success by playing with an aeroplane. Today we have forgotten to dream big. From a 4 year old to a 12 year old to a 22 year old, life has gone through very quickly and from 22 to 60 yrs wouldnt be any different.The question is, when will the time be right?? Even at 60, its never too late, but i guess having a jet of your own at 30 would be a lot better than having it at 60. I couldnt be a pilot, so what??? Now, I can at least own a jet and hire a pilot for myself. The TIME is always right, the TIME is NOW!!!!!!!!

'' If you dream to win. Dare to dream'' and dont stop there.........theoker.

End of an Era........ a perfect Cliche!!!

Anil Kumble announced his retirement yesterday from international cricket. No, but this aint about his cricketing life. This is about Anil Kumble, the humble giant. Rarely would you come across a man, who would step on the sporting field inspite of having a fractured jaw. Him coming out to bowl with a fractured jaw and even taking Brian Lara's wicket will forever remain one of the greatest scenes in the history of cricket. His body might have asked him to quit, yet the mind still hasnt. That became amply clear when he ran back yards to catch a skier from Mitchell Johnson inspite of having taken 11 stitches in his hand. This catch could easily have caused great injury to his already damaged hand. But he didnt worry or may be whenever he wore the India T-shirt, he just had one objective, one aim, one desire: to see India win, at every cost. This act once again reminds us that he was not only a man with great skills, but a man of great determination.

His value to the country is often under-rated, he was not only one of India's finest bowlers, but he was and will forever be one of India's greatest player ever. With more and more of youth mania everyday, we see great aggression, more abuses, more physical contact. This generation might bring us sucess with aggression, but in a way Anil represents true India. An India in which irrespective of our success, we always respected our opponents. An India in which irrespective of ones greatness, one always remained down-to-earth. An India, which even after defeating a hopeless enemy 4 times, forwards its hand of friendship and treats it with equal respect. Perhaps its not just the end of a career, its probably the end of an era.

One ( Helluva) Rainy Day

This saturday, sitting near the window, watching cats, dogs and BMC's nightmare, pouring down from the heavens ( BMC would call it HELL though), I coudnt dream of much except a vague picture of a beautiful rainy day, and no, not the kind of days we dreamt of, during our school days: making paper boats and letting them sail in what we called as local rivers, but in reality were nothing more than filthy gutters which somehow didnt look dark brown due to fresh rainwater. I was dreaming of something better, something more apt for a day when the sky was dark, the wind chilly and the surroundings so un-global warmingly greeeen. I thought woudnt it just be perfect to be out for a whole day with a special person ( special for me= person from the opposte sex only!!!!), it would defnitely be perfect. Since i had didnt hve much to do, I thought lets imagine such a day......and yeah, this was not going to awwww- sooo- mushy, this was just going to be plain fun and niiiiiiiiiice. Wud probably start early in the mornin, ( Note: early means 11 30, earliest means 9 30, kicked out of the house means 7 30)...so wud start early and probably go in for a fun movie like KungFu Panda ( Review: A nice watch, good animation combined with brilliantly visualized stunts and a good story)....hve nice nachos with mexican sauce and some pepsi to go with it. Then, after the movie, some light shopping ( didnt you get it, i said i wud be out wid a person from the female specie n hence shopping or rather window shopping is almost as regular as meetin )....she looks here, she looks their, n if d price doesnt fit her budget, she behavs as she doesnt care........once done with this warm up, v move one to a chilled out place like New Yorkers and order their arabitta pasta with garlic bread n slence ensues for the next 15 mins.....oops i m sorry, only for d next 8 mins as the pasta wudnt last for more than that. After we are done with pasta, u wud feel a bit too italia in d mouth and so go in for someting Indian, something more apna sa, chhole bhature.....yes NewYorkers does serve sum good Indian food. Relish the the Indian chhole bahture with the same tongue with which we relished the mexican pasta just a few minutes ba, once tummy full, time to for sum exercise, so, we go shopping again, yes shopping, again........d 1st session was just sum light shopping, a warm up, d real exercise begins now.....sum heavy shopping, which luckily also included sum buying this time. n aftr heavy duty shopping duirng which u didnt even c a single strechd nerve on her( she didnt evn she u, she was shopping, duuuuuude!!!), suddenly she feels sooooooo tired, her high heels which until sum time bak werent even feel-able suddenly start giving her so much pain that she wont walk a single step. So, u take a rick and and go the nearest cafe and ahve sum god apple muffin ( if d muffin is crubling a lot, dont try n hve it with d fork, u wil make a fool out of urself), then as d sun is setting, go from the comforts of a posh cafe to a sandy beach which during monsoons looks unbeleivingly beautiful......sit there, just sit there, fel the breeze blowing acroos ur face, jus enjoy those silent moments ( they are the best of the day) and then as the silence is disturned by the druming of ur again empty tummy, go in for typical indian spicy beach food ( Indian beach food is not prawns, fishetc etc,its pav bhajji, pulav, pani puri n plenty more)....its a different experience all together, when u r njoying the pure roadside delicacy with her, the wind playfully messing up her hair, the sun setting and apna- very-own bollywod music going on in the background......then d last ride home, when u r sooo happy, ur smile so wide that even 9 additional faces wudnt b enough to contain it, joy which can clearly judged from ur face, words are just not needed. then as she is about to leave and i m about to give her that las special good-bye hug, i feel sweaty, palms are sweaty, sweat is running down my face, nooooooo,i m not nervous, i realize dat its stoppd raining outsidei m sitting near d window and the sun is shining right in my face...........my raindreaming ends there,a bit abruptly.....but stilll dat was one ( helluva) rainy day( dont think my school teacher wud gimme 10 on 10 for that, though)..stilll a gr8 day...a memorbale one

Dentist or Devil? Definitely Devil!!!!

Iwanted to start this blog with a bang, a metaphorical one. A start which would make people ( Pardon me, coz using the term 'People' makes it seem like a 1000 pple r gonna start reading my blog 4rm 2mrw, but, you nevr know.....lol) i wantd a bang that would make pple sit up and take notice, but then, I realized that the only 'Bang', that I have been experiencing lately has been the the 'Bang', when the forcep of the dentist is hit against my my teeth, so I decided to start my blog with a bang, literally!!!! Going to a dentist can really be misleading, you go there expecting a dentist to prescribe some cream or a few tablets without too much fusss, but trust me, i mean it, trust me, nuthin can prepare you for the painful interior decoration that dentists undertake inside your mouth. You actualy start beleiving that your mouth is not your mouth anymore, its a solar system, and yopur tongue is the rocky base where one after another, unsual jets, i mean dentists tools keep landing just to explore the terrain. first comes the irrigator, which sounds like any earthly deodrant, but tastes like a dish from mars, then comes a red hot forcep which is thrust onto your tooth and actually makes your mouth smell like a melting volcano, then comes the tiny little devil, some paper needle which makes you cringe with pain, it is like a space ship with spikes, which prick your gums and make you beleive that suffering a heart attack would be better. Hve u ever imagined, what wud you do if u were had 2 selct between a devil and a dentist? I hve, and my answer is defnitely the devil!!!! How worse can a devil get? He mite drink your blood, cut you into pieces, put you into a coffin or grill you like a sandwich, but the devil definitely wont treat your gums like a soalr landing surface where he lands a space ship with spikes. It is beleieve that one shoudl never be hit around the lower body as it hurts the most there, but guys beleive me, when a dentists with his weapons battles inside your mouth, there is only one place where it hurts the most, GUMSSSSSSSS!!!!

the WHO, HOW, WHY WHAT, WHEN of Theoker?

Hi, guys , I am Ishan Mehta!.................whattttttt? Isnt the name enough, I wish it was, but one day i hope that just the name will be enough. Till then, I am a media graduate and an aspiring copy writer, and unlike other copy writers, I dont eat, drink and breathe ads, I eat junk food ( luuuuuuv Ma- ke- haath KA khaana though), breathe Bombay ka divine air and, luckily dont drink much except H2O and buttermilk. Actually,I am thinking as to how would giving my introduction help? coz people visiting this blog would most often be my friends, though not always my chuddie-buddies, but then on the other hand I think its better to be visible to pple, who knows if tommorow microsoft decides to ditch its yahoo bid and proposes to buy- out my blog instead? no one ever knows, so keep dreaming...................( and yea, doing is also thoda important to realize your dreams). That was the How of Theoker. Now, lets have a look at, Why theoker? Please dont expect me to go in the order of Who, How, Why etc etc as i am not a journalist and nor do i hafta face a forever furstrated editor. Typically, any blogger thinks of many names( Read: lame names) ,even I did, a few like livestrong, hopeless optimist etc etc etc and then.....................lightning, didnt strike. a storm, didnt rage.Creative juices, didnt flow. But still I got an idea, a name for my blog, Theoker- a theory thinker, a term of my own, I donno how much relevance this carries in the outside world but for me it means a lot, Theoker means ME. Theoker coz I tend to analyse ( or rather over anaylse) a lot, always searching for that elusive sumthing, dat elusive factor, that elusive spark in everything and in doing so I often notice patterns that are not visibile to others ( or patterns that are sometimes not even there, just my imagination), but at times i tend to miss the simplest and the most smallest of things, take for instance my beleief that by changing the negative character in every version of Dhoom, 1st John, then Hrithik, Yashraj is just trying to build a brand Dhoom, which is far bigger than any of its stars, just like it is the case with James Bond, the actors change but the series continues. This was the Theoker view but the truth might be that after doing Krissssh, Hrithik might just have been the perfect actor to be cast as a Real- looks- but- animated- deeds waala super hero......d explanation can b dat simple, but i nevr take it like dat, neway thats why,THEOKER. Phew, even i know , I have written a lot for a first timer,but thats the advantage of writing a log, u can write ur own shit, in ur own crappy way without there ever being a need to flush. So be it, Manmohan or Bush, SRK or Salman, Sachin or Dhoni, keep reading this space for below the belt stuff, ooops i meant below the surace stuff....enjoyyyy