Men and Women are not equal. Period.

Men vs Women. Yes, an ongoing debate everywhere since time immemorial. The sudden realization of women's rights to both the sexes has fueled this further. I see people putting up gender equality banners everywhere. The educated class has given remarkable support to this cause. Well, I don't think men and women were, are or will ever be equal.

The whole notion of men and women being equal defies common sense at a very basic level. They are two different types of human beings. No one can compare the two. It's a classic case of apples and oranges. It is downright silly to compare them. When comparing, there must always be a parameter. When you compare two people (regardless of their sex) you compare them in fields like academics, sports, height etc. It would be wrong to just blatantly claim A is better than B, because that doesn't make sense.

Now, you can't expect women to stand in the same queue as males to book a railway ticket, because half the men (probably more) are sleazy creatures which will lead to an inappropriate and completely unpleasant experience for the poor girl. There most definitely must be a separate line for the fairer sex. This 'special' queue will not determine who is the better sex. It's a common sense measure.

Similarly, a woman cannot compete with a man when it comes to physical tasks, in most of the cases. It's just a physical barrier. I don't see why a few people get so butt hurt about it. Get over it. Girls are emotionally more sorted than guys are. Guys don't and shouldn't crib about that.

Men vs Women is as vague a question as Acer vs Lenovo or Table vs Chair. We need a specific parameter to zero in on the answer. For eg if we compare battery lives of acer and lenovo, we can probably come to a conclusion. Probably. See how difficult it is to choose even when the domain is narrowed.

Also, ladies just because a guy pulls a chair out for you, doesn't mean you are weak. It's a gesture, that I am a guy and you being my lady must not hassle herself with the physical inconvenience of pulling out a chair. Similarly, when it comes to matters of love, emotions, being constructive etc, women must come forward to help the men (just like we helped you with the chair a while back), because we would probably suck at it. It's not a competition, it's a void, and with the help of one another, we must seek to fill it in a manner convenient to both sexes.

Eyes Wide Shut

"Mera Bharat Mahaan" (India is great)
You must have read this sign behind Taxis and trucks. Since we were kids, we have been brainwashed by the notion that our country is the greatest, a country with imbibed ancient values. Be it patriotic poems or stories that have been tweaked to suit this purpose. I am going to question that fundamental truth. I do not think there is much to be appreciated. I feel India is a regular country, which falls between the failed states of Africa and the much prosperous Scandinavian nations. I have tried compiling some reasons for this blasphemous thought.

1- India is a country where girls are raped, brutally (as if the act isn't horrid enough) beaten up, killed and either hung from trees or thrown out on the road out of a bus and unsurprisingly, people in responsible positions announce publicly that rape is not such a big deal and that boys will remain boys, mistakes are bound to happen. Some of them also say that 'painted and dented' girls light a candle and protest against rapes. There are still others who claim chowmein to be responsible for rape. Limit of idiocy has been breached a number of times in this country.

2- India is a country where you will surely be judged if you ask a "lower" caste person his caste, in some cases there is legal punishment against calling someone by his/her caste. People will say, you still live in medieval, rather ancient time, caring about caste. They will judge, fiercely. I agree with them till here, but the very next instant these very people will stand in a queue to get a reserved seat in the premier colleges/jobs of this over populated nation where meritorious students are left behind and the reserved class student gets a seat with bare minimum marks.
Welcome to India, where inequality will always exist be it against backward class or upper class. Because revenge. Deal with it.

3- Following the above point, it is the only country where there is reservation based on caste. This is so screwed up, that it doesn't require further explanation.

4- India is the most densely populated country in the world. Which means we have people out there on streets deriving nutrition from nothing but human faeces. Yes, a lot of them.

5- India is also a country where people expect to get paid without working. I am talking about Govt Officials, the backbone of the country, the ones who run this nation. That explains why our beloved country is so crippled. These people will ask you 'favor money' or 'bribe' shamelessly to your face to do work they are already getting paid for by the Govt. It's like they have not heard of words like honour, dignity and self respect. I consider this as the worst form of begging.

6- The Indian Police is a joke. Personally, I feel these people harass way too many people than regular hooligans ever can. The Indian Judiciary is sold out.
The amount of criminals in the Indian Parliament is actually shocking. These people, who are criminals by the way, are not only free and not in jail, they also have jobs, and not just an ordinary job but the job of running a whole country. Let that sink in.

7- Coming to much smaller issues, 'Live and let live' can never be the motto of Indians. We are very nosy. Very judgmental. A boy and a girl together implies bad parenting. A 24 year old boy cannot drink a mug of beer because it's against our traditions (lol) to consume alcohol or smoke a cigarette. A lot of states in India have the legal age to drink as 25.

All I need to know is, why do we glorify something that we have inherited. Nationality, religion are no reasons to demean basic human values.
India is not a sone ki chidiya (golden bird). Wake up and become a human being.

PS- India is also a country where my limited freedom of speech forced me to reread this post before posting it. Who knows, I might be behind bars for writing some of this.

Parallel Universe Syndrome

The feeling of committing a mistake and realizing it later when you can do absolutely nothing about it is devastating. Really, it's a third degree form of regret, the worst there is. Nothing stops you from thinking about you in an alternate universe- "what if". This 'what if' ruins life. Trust me, one can ponder about it for days at stretch and not run out of positive what if scenarios. The shattering part is that no one really cares. No one can really understand the intensity, those who do, fake it. The close ones may listen to you a few times, but those hearings usually end with a "Move on, life's too long blah blah...". Come to think of it, I would say the same thing too to someone else. And well, after these few times, they stop listening too (which is okay really). What's left is the person, his what if scenarios and probably a little whiskey.
There is nothing in the world that I could find solace thinking about when I am stuck in this web of parallel universe scenarios, absolutely nothing. It is deep, extremely personal, and outright damaging. I say damaging because this entire thought process is time consuming and diminishes your self esteem, because you compare yourself to the perfect 'you'. Well yes, you really can't change the past but the future is in your hands bullshit takes you only so far. The affected person becomes so over cautious in life, that he over thinks everything to the point of squeezing the juice out of life.
Damn, I have made a lot of mistakes, I have sat, observed myself and at times backed myself for the ongoing mistake. Self destruction at its worst.
Whoever you are, whatever you do, that parallel universe image of yours will haunt you forever, sometimes for the good, and sometimes for the bad.
Mostly bad.