Dear FutureMe,

Hey...I cant believe it has been a decade since your past self wrote this letter. It has been an amazing bumpy ride and trust me it is going to get AM-AZ-ING! 

These 10 years you have lived your life to the fullest. You have starred in a couple of movies that were major box office hits. 

When you were broke, you have even been a fortunate and envied gambler in a Las Vegas club and experienced the high life. 

You have met some not-so-desirable set of characters who would have put a knife in your back (for real) and eliminated you. You were lucky to escape.

You patched up with your estranged sister and promised never to let go of her again. So far you girls have made it through. Although there are times when you want to strangle her but she is the only person who has understood you. 

You broke your relationship with Dan, who was the best thing that happened to you. But good for you, you are more independent now and are living life on your terms.

You are single but you have an amazing career as an investigative journalist/travel writer. Your most precious possession is the Willys 1967 Model 4*4 Diesel Jeep that you bought with your own earnings. 

What you love the most about your jeep is, that you can hop on it within a moment's notice and takes you in the direction the wind blows. 

It is also probably the time to tell your professor that how much he meant to you, back in your post graduate days. He was the mentor that you had been looking for and had never found. It is because of him that you are a hard core newspaper journalist today. 

Its time to gather your guts and shoot him that mail saying how much you have missed his style of teaching and his classes. 

You do have an occasional lonely night here in the middle of the Chihuahuan desert, Mexico but it is nothing a bottle of Smirnoff and the path-breaking stories cannot solve. 

You feel empowered that you can see the changes that are taking place because of your stories. It is an intoxicating feeling in itself. 

You have so much more to achieve and the world is your oyster. The tiny nagging voice in your head that cribs about your imperfections will help you, I promise. It has always had our back and it always will.

Go forth and shine!

Love, 

Past Me

The last few weeks have been quite hectic. What with Tarun Tejpal, the editor of the radical magazine Tehelka getting arrested on sexual assault. The public outrage has been overwhelming. As far as I am concerned, I was heartbroken. This man was supposed to be a messiah who rose above billion of others with his free-thinking and taking a stand against everything that was polluted and corrupt in our country. Oh boy, will there ever be a greater fall? Probably, probably not. Too soon to tell.
Tehelka, till this day, remains my dream job. I don't know if I'll ever make it but well that doesnt stop me from dreaming. At this point I am probably rambling but I swear I am gonna get to my point soon.
Yes, what happened with her was terrible but somehow I just don't have it in my heart to condemn the perpetrator. Mostly cos, he committed an act that has become so common place now. People hardly raise an eyebrow there. Which is why the public backlash took me by surprise.

I knew it wasn't to do with the crime itself. I knew there were other factors at play here. Kafila helped me elucidate my thoughts beautifully. A paragraph in the article read as follows

"That explains to an extent the almost personal animosity that is at display against Tarun Tejpal. Men who may never ever have met him, have had nothing to do with him, are not even regular readers of Tehelka, they all hate him. The woman he assaulted must be wonderstruck at the overwhelming support she has received from these men. But is it about her? I don’t think so. Tejpal, to a certain elite Indian male represents what they could be, what they want to be. He is hated because he generates envy. He has touched the kind of success that a lot of men today desire but fail to achieve. I am aware that my statement will generate a fair amount of anger and I am willing to change my opinion if a more convincing argument is put forward. He is the twin that a lot of men have but never acknowledge."

Simply explained, its the pleasure people (men in this context) derive when the great fall.

The BJP is baying for Tejpal's blood. Fair enough. He did put most of their henchmen/stooges in jail.

What is this crazy blood lust that people have in them to see the high and mighty fall? I know its envy but envy is only part of the answer. As for me I couldnt care less. I don't have it in me to be jealous of Deepika Padukone or Sandra Bullock. I am ambivalent about their success and I couldn't care less if their movies tanked at the box office. 

I should be outraged as a feminist but I can't gather the energy or the inclination to do so. Mostly cos I have been at the recipient of mild unwelcome advances in an office dominated by men.I didnt pay attention to the man in concern and he got the message. Maybe the Tehelka journalist wasn't so lucky. Poor girl.

Bottom line is, it wasn't about the sexual assault. It never is. 

Its been a long long time. Been really busy which is a good thing. Will not apologise for having a RL (real life). 2013 has been one roller-coaster ride. Atleast the way I see it. As an Indian citizen and as a budding journalist.

The present Indian Government is going through a nerve wracking time. Just in case this gets decoded lets call it useless party of affluent idiots. There that's safe now. What I don't understand is where does this party's loyalties lie, apart from themselves?

The scams have hit an all time high, people being called to testified are either crazy old hags who are "too hill" to depose (Dayalu Ammal) and a certain former actress who claims shes a housewife and does not partake in any official functions of one of the players embroiled in the 2G scam.

First glaring flaw that springs to mind is how utterly clueless they are. About the country's poverty line and its sickening how they try to rope in the Planning Commission into fudging numbers and making them appear as if poverty is declining. For your relevance, its "21.9%".  Apparently politicians who were former actors claim they can have a meal at Rs 12 in Mumbai. Really. Did you disembark one stop early when you were heading to Narnia? 

Next, the "heir apparent" has the audacity to declare in a poverty-stricken atmosphere, "Poverty is a state of mind." Saying this in front of an audience who barely can live from hand to mouth is just tactless and in bad taste.  Wonder why they weren't chased out by those people and tarred?

Next, the coal files go missing.  Between 2004-2009 the present party allocated coal blocks to Public Sector entities in a less than legal, inefficient manner instead of competitive bidding. This was reported by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and then they conveniently lose the files. 

They may have tried to redeem themselves by supporting the suspended IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal but lost the battle because they desperately needed the Samajwadi Party's votes to pass the Food Security Bill. See how the "I scratch your back, you scratch mine" system works? Fiendishly clever.

Oh how could I forget the rupee fall? Its hilarious how the Finance Minister reacted! This was what the ticker-quotes on CNN-IBN read: "FM assures there is no real concern and no reason to spread pessimism", "India is in a better place than other countries". Right! The other countries being Indonesia and Brazil. Mighty opponents indeed.

Hopefully, we have come to our senses. The country cannot change overnight. Its obviously not a game. But in the same breath,we are the game changers. The opposing politicians think that India is restless for a change. It is, but what does the change look like for us? We might recover our rupee value, but will it be at the cost of a particular community that has ceased to feel safe after a traumatic genocide? Will the Indian Army be less prone to random firing across the LoC? 

Personally I am almost eager to see the outcome of the elections. What will it be? A complacent, indifferent dynasty or an ambitious, almost tyrannical rule or are we heading towards a Syria-like situation?