Article 6

 Coping with Grief

On the 2^nd anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks I pay a tribute to the many innocents whose fates were changed by few terrorists from the terror exporting nation.

The attacks rocked the country along with the families of those decreased. That was probably the worst ever attack in the Indian history. People were kept hostages and the siege continued for three long days.

Today after two years of the 26/11 attacks we are still trying to figure what should be done to the sole surviving terrorist Ajmal Kasab. Is this what any other system would have done? Are the relatives of the deceased ready to forgive Kasab because he was a Juvenile? (That’s what the court claims). Even the bullet proof jackets given to the police were made of cheap quality material. And when time came to move the court suddenly the jackets, the files were lost. Witnesses silenced! Should we trust our security system?

These are few of the many questions that knock our brain and prompt us to think again.

Our system is too slow to act on such cases. But from May 2011 National Intelligence Grid (Natgrid) will kick in, which is a brainchild of Home Minister P Chidambaram. This will integrate existing 21 databases with Central and State government agencies and other organizations in the public and private sector.

Picture this. A Terrorist has been arrested in Jammu and on interrogation he reveals to have two fellow operatives to be from Mumbai. As of now the procedure is that the interrogator would write a report to be perused by his senior officers. If and when they read it, the information will then be forwarded to their counterparts in relevant states, who will forward it to the district superintendent of police. This winding process often takes a month.

 But from May 2011, there will be major changes in the way such data is handled across India. With the Natgrid in place, the interrogator will immediately feed the data into the Natgrid and the Mumbai police will get instant updates. They can not only mail back specific questions to the interrogators, but also, if required, send someone to join the investigation right away. All thanks to Natgrid.

Eleven government agencies (including RAW, Intelligence Bureau, Revenue Intelligence, Income tax, etc) will be able to access sensitive personal information of any individual – such as bank accounts, insurance policies, property owned or rented, travel, income tax returns, driving records, automobiles owned or leased, credit card transactions, stocks market trades, phone calls, emails and smses, websites visited, etc. A national population registry will be established by the 2011 census, during which fingerprints and iris scans would be taken along with GPS record of each household.

Once the Natgrid is in place, security agencies will need to just feed your name into the system and all information about you will be available at the click of a button. But now the question arises is will the government be able to maintain such records of so many people. India’s population is rising everyday. Well let’s be positive.     

Natgrid is an important step yet there are many loopholes in the Indian Government System. It should be taken care that the data doesn’t fall into wrong hands. As of now we can only try and trust our system and pray that Indians doesn’t see 26/11 once again… or rather ever again!  

-Yesha Bhatt

St. Xavier's College

Printed on 10th Dec 2010

Article 5

The Louvre Museum

I recently visited the world renowned Louvre museum in Paris. Exploring the museum myself was a great opportunity. The museum was initially a palace. The palace converted to present day museum is a house for around 35000 objects. It houses the statues and paintings from world renowned artists like Michelangelo and Leonardo De Vinci. The Louvre has always been an important tourist attraction as has The Eiffel been. But the museum earned more importance and attention after Dan Brown wrote and published his novel The Da Vinci Code. The novel gained so much attention that it was shortly converted into a motion film.

The museum is divided into different wings displaying Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Oriental art. Some of the famous displays are The Venus of Milo, The dying slave by Michelangelo and the much talked about Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci. Mona Lisa was one of the most controversial topic recently for many said it was a man and not a lady painted. Some even claimed the painting was Leonardo himself. He had imagined and painted himself. Whatever it is nobody still has any authenticity about what they say.

Tracing back the museums history it was originally built as a fortress in 12th century which was later converted to a royal palace in 14th century. The present day appearance dates back to 15th century when the fortress was burnt down and a new wing was added along the Seine river. The construction of the Louvre halted for sometime when king Louis XIV decided to move to Palace of Versailles.

The collection of the Louvre Museum was made when King Francis I purchased the now famous Mona Lisa painting and the collection grew steadily. The royal collection opened to the public during the French Revolution in 1793.

The main symbol of the museum is a glass pyramid. There is also as inverted pyramid just below the main glass pyramid.

The Louvre being one of the largest museum in the world should be visited by anybody who has even a bit of interest in art. The museum is lighted beautifully during the night with its glass pyramid at the entrance being the main attraction.


-Yesha Bhatt
St. Xaviers College

Printed on 29th Oct 2010

Article 4

Printed on 1st Oct 2010

IF GOD HAD A MOBILE…

His ringtone would be birds chirping
And it would always keep on ringing,

Help me!!! God would be his callertune,
Please God pick up the phone soon,

He would call and say hey Good morning,
So how are you doing?

Last night I had sent you a text,
You could have atleast replied by fax,

Are you trying to save money?
It’s a tollfree number my honey,

Broken bones or relations you can give me a call,
Don’t think I won’t receive your phone,

Share your pain considering me your dad,
And you won’t ever be sad,

Don’t keep your worries to you and try to hide,
Your life would be blessed with me by your side,

God! God! Listen I have a problem need you to solve,
I knew it my child without that you never call,

So what is it you want me to do?
Now I’ll call you always my promise is new,

I’ll walk with you my child without you noticing,
Anyways will call you later, I have a call waiting

Thank you God for being a supporter,
Bus re chup aab, dhramebazee mat kar!


- Yesha Bhatt
St. Xaviers College

Article 3

Janmashtami Rajkot ishtyle: Hit hai bhai

Janmashtami, the festival associated with Rajkot or Saurashtra is celebrated in a different way by everyone. From a child to an adult, from a rich to a poor all have different experiences and ideas to share. The same goes true with celebrations in different parts of the country. In Bangalore it is something like a small child is dressed as Krishna. He dips his foot in milk so as to get milk footprints. Then he walks from the entrance of his house to where the temple is in the house leaving a trail of milk footprints. That indicates the entrance of Lord Krishna in the house.

Printed on 10th Sep 2010

Janmashtami unlike other cities is a week long celebration in the city of Rajkot. The city is beautifully decorated with lights and one can see children dressed as Lord Krishna performing in their school celebrations. The temples are crowded with people offering their prayers. There are people on roads, in gardens, in theatre. It seems as if they have kept their work on hold to celebrate the birth of Lord Krishna. All schools, colleges, offices, shop remain close on aatham and naum. We have rathyatra on aatham in the morning, shopping by evening and people flock to the melas at night.

Ahmedabadi would hardly come to know that its Janmashtami, because it is mostly a festival of Saurashtra. Its only on aatham that they have a holiday and have a bit of feel of the festival.  But a Mumbaite has a totally different experience to share- there the main attraction of this festival is the matki fodna (breaking of the earthen pot). Everywhere young boys are visible trying to reach the pot tied high above. It is a festival full of enthusiasm and fun.

                                                                                                                   - Yesha Bhatt

                                                                                                               St. Xavier’s College

Article 2

When should parents give their teens the right to take their own decisions?

Children are such that they always think themselves to be grown ups, at whatever age they might be. And for their parents they will always remain children how much ever old they grow. Some children are extremely rebellious, while others believe in letting go.

When teens become 18 they think themselves to be adults, matured people and they also expect their parents to give them the remote control of their life. Though at times they are not matured enough to handle a particular situation and land up in hot water.

I believe the right time to give teens their remote control depends from situation to situation. Some children are emotional and some are practical. The one who are emotional sometimes commit huge blunders just because they give importance to heart. There are times when they need to think, they need to be selfish, they need to have self- respect but they sacrifice just because they are too emotional. And on the other side those who are practical think a lot. In the process of thinking they loose opportunities, relationships and eventually themselves too. In the long run emotional and practical people don’t survive. There needs to be a balance between both. When parents feel their children have this balance, they should let them make their own decisions.

Sometimes even the parents need to recheck their point of views. Very strict and firm parents are also dangerous for the children. Such parents force their children to become rebellious. When parents don’t give them the right and doesn’t even understand kids become irritable. Like if a teenager wants to go for a party or a movie with friends they should look into the situation, the expectations and then take the decision. A direct ‘NO’ might have a wrong impact on the child’s mind.

Moreover, this debate of ‘decision-making thing’ ends easily if parents and children both come at a win-win situation. When the parents start giving certain rights, kids feel they are trusted and loved. This trust and love brings in them a sense of responsibility. Children feel their decisions are appreciated and so they should be careful in everything they do. They stop being rebellious and this makes them take the right decision.

This scenario often occurs during a child’s marriage. He/she wants to marry someone and the parents are against it. There are things which are not in our control, but nature controls it. Parents should understand their kids and let them take their own decisions. At last the only thing both parents and children need to do is understand each other and that parents give right to kids to make their own decision when they have a balance between emotionality and practicality.

 

                                                       Printed on 16th July 2010

Article 1

                          A Dream Come True!

It was like a dream come true when I met CHETAN BHAGAT, the bestselling Indian author of ‘ Five point someone’, ‘ One night @ call centre’, ‘The three mistakes of my life’ and the recent ‘ 2States’ a few months back.

Well since his first book in 2004 I always wished to meet this great personality who made India read like never before. He has been successful in doing what authors like Shobbha De and Deepak Chopra couldn’t. Well in that case nobody except him could.

When I heard he was coming to Rajkot I couldn’t believe my ears. Soon I made arrangements to attend his seminar at Maniyar Hall where I got an opportunity to meet the person whom I admire a lot.

Though I had prepared myself to interrogate him, but one look at him made me speechless. All I could manage was a photograph and an autograph my reaction was expected. Who wouldn’t be mesmerized to meet their favorite celebrity in person? After all he is my favorite author not mentioning Jeffery Archer and Nicholas Sparks.

In the seminar Mr. Bhagat talked about how he wrote his books, his days at IIM- A, the obstacles he faced in his life and the controversy over the credit in 3 idiots. He requested the youngsters to keep a positive attitude by illustrating his own example.
“I was rejected by 8 publishers between 2002 and 2004 for Five point someone yet I went to the 9th publisher. It was then that Rupa accepted my draft on a condition that 1000 copies should be sold. I sat down to make a list of my friends and relatives who would buy my book which came down to 200. I was falling short by 800 people. But I wanted it to be possible. I visualized it being printed and that positive attitude has brought me here. One lakh copies of my book were sold. Hundred times more than what is needed to be a bestseller.”

He also added saying “I am the only Indian author whose books are being adopted by bollywood. Those 8 publishers didn’t understand the meaning of the title ‘Five point someone’ but today the movie 3 idiots has earned 240 crores in 10 days, more than any other movie in Indian history.”

He showed a presentation titled ‘Why Gujarati girls are better than Punjabi girls’
-A study for my mother.

Printed on 2nd July 2010

Presently he is working on the screenplay of his third book ‘The three mistakes of my life’ which would be shortly shot in Ahmedabad by the crew of ‘Rock On’.

Clad in dark blue jeans and black and white stripped
kurta, he looked more like a Gujarati. When questioned about the same he said he is a

Punjabi    but loves Gujarati food like thepla and dhokla.

In the late evening I messaged and called all my friends and cousins to inform them about the event. Most of them were happy and jealous to learn about it. And that excited me more.

- By A CHETAN BHAGAT FAN
Yesha Bhatt
St. Xaviers College

My articles in Times Of India