The Young India

Kartikey Sehgal

Development is an umbrella term that hides many truths. It assumes the status of progress and many times this assumption is kept out of the periphery of observations.

A common social and political rhetoric states that Mumbai is progressing. It implies that buildings are erected over slums, without any relocation or other plans for the slum dwellers. Thereby, the seeds of class conflict are sown.

One important progressive area of Mumbai is the stretch between Goregaon and Malad and it houses the well-known Inorbit Mall and the Mindspace complex that hosts several IT companies and BPOs. There is something special about this place.

Kartikey Sehgal

“I feel like I have come to a jaggery market. My own stature has become like that of a common fly that tastes sweetness from one pack to another.”

Gulzar said that he was overwhelmed by the amount of praise he received from the different artists. I was at a private function where the eminent writer-filmmaker was honoured for winning the Oscar for “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire.

Kartikey Sehgal

Owing to the female mind’s impulse to test eye shadow and blush (cosmetic) on my face when I was in a hurry, I walked out of my home forgetting to wipe out the colourful powders from my face.

Few men looked at me. It’s not that I was looking funny; men, as is their nature, will look at anything that reminds them of women.

Many times, their inquisitiveness about your well-being and work-life is actually a ploy to know about the women in your life.

When men ask one another “so what do you do?” they mean to ask how many women you work with and if they are desirable.

Kartikey Sehgal

It is absolutely fine if you do not vote in the coming elections. Asking you to vote compulsorily is like enforcing a caste system.

Consider the Jaago Re ad on television in which a ‘young’ man and his friend offer tea to people who have not cast their vote. You are sleeping-he tells them. When they retort that they are awake, the man says that if on Election Day people are not voting then they are obviously sleeping. The embarrassed/awakened people then accept the cup of tea as the two young men walk confidently amidst the crowd.

Compulsory voting is subterfuge.

Crimson

For a few moments every week, I allow myself the luxury of slipping into my make-believe world where you and I can pretend that the rest of the world ceases to exist, where I can pretend you are only mine. It might have just been a candid conversation for you when you told me how exactly you felt about me. But it tossed me onto a whole new plane of thought and imagination. Yes, it broke the illusion of platonic love with the opposite sex. Yes, it took away from the innocence of our friendship.

Nimesh Advani and
Ipsita Bandyopadhyay

“Snapshot of memories” or simply an awry screenplay? Nimesh Advani and Ipsita Bandyopadhyay think differently about the movie ‘Delhi-6‘.

Nimesh [1 out of 4] writes that “…there are so many characters and so many sub plots that I was confused where to look next…”

Ipsita [3 out of 4] writes that “Do we remember dreams/childhood memories clearly? But some events, images, sights, sounds, smells stand out.”

Santa Singh

Yes, Dev D is a very good movie. I wonder why it is being appreciated by many people; seems odd when other light-weight feather-type films make so much money in India. But as the popular saying goes in Hindi.

“time time ki baat hai pyaare”
(it’s all a play of time)

In time, we will know more about good films that were ignored by movie lovers.

Dev. D fans are talking about the movie breaking taboos and bringing a ‘new wave’ in Hindi cinema. Well, there have been movies that have done that before with respect to women liberation. I guess most fans have not been tuned to films of Amol Palekar. Of course, he is a low budget, art film-walla. So many people won’t go to theatres to see his movies. But they will recognise the liberated woman when they see her on screen, embellished with music and songs. Women liberation is not to be searched. It is to be waited for and then when given, it is to be applauded. Till the next time.

Kartikey Sehgal

Women’s interest in cricket is a sudden development, propelled mostly by the advertisements projecting cricketers as demigods. In the year 2003, model and actress Mandira Bedi became popular for hosting a cricket-discussion program during the World Cup cricket matches.

Her immense popularity had little to do with her knowledge about cricket and more with the plunging necklines of her saris and the unavoidable amount of cleavage on exhibit.

Kartikey Sehgal
[Rated 'Mature'. If you are below the age 16, then go here first]

Verna was a virgin. She decided to make love.

She visited her uncle whose dress was of the same maroon colour as his drink and who wore a jacket on all occasions, except perhaps at night about which Verna knew nothing.

Verna’s uncle asked her to wait till marriage for “while there is nothing wrong in a girl of your age to make love, the wait is always sweeter’.

Then she saw some red marks around her aunt’s fair and milky wrists as her uncle arose to yell at the television and shake it so that it presented better quality of picture.

Kartikey Sehgal

[Milton Friedman in his book 'There's No Such Thing As a Free Lunch' says that ". . . every bit of pork, every subsidy, every inflation, every politically-imposed inefficiency, is paid for, and paid for in full -- by somebody."]

The traffic cop stops a citizen and complains that his vehicle is emitting dangerous amount of pollutants. The driver shows the sticker to the cop and exits from the situation. That sticker was purchased for 100 Rs from a government official who checks vehicle maintenance. The true cost of the sticker is 1000 Rs. By bribing the government official, the driver saved 900 Rs with which he made his children happy.
This is free lunch for the driver.