The words didn't betray her. That dream did.

It came as a feeling of joy. She couldn't believe it as happening right inside her mind. She could feel each word she was reading, and connecting so easily with the simple things the book talked about. It was as she was in conversation with the book. It was like the book asked her if she wanted it, and gave her exactly what she asked for. The plot shaped up just like she was imagining it to be. As she read one word and guessed the other in less than a second, she was right about each word that followed. It felt like both the book and she had some telepathic power. She seldom read books, given the fact how lazy reader she was. But every time she did, she knew where was the book heading, she exactly knew what will happen next. Maybe she picked me predictable books, but it gave her happiness. It gave her the feeling of a competition that she won almost all the time.

She would say, “I’m in love with you”, and before she completed her sentence, the book would say, “oh! How much do you love me? Every book she picked up, could talk to her, would become her best friend, or even a lover and could read her thoughts. She felt like she was the one writing the book. It never betrayed her.

Not until, one day she picked up a book, just out of desperation, she was missing someone to share her thoughts with for a long time. She hadn't got enough time to read, or rather complete a book. She had left several books half read, because there was no joy in predicting them, she thought. That day she picked up this book, and promised to herself that she will finish it, no matter what. She started to read from it, and soon the book gave her the joy she was longing for. As she reached the climax, she realized she was tired, and decided to sleep. As soon as she entered her dreams, she couldn't help dreaming about the book. Dreams in a way are so uncontrolled. It’s like you are in a state of trance, and you are tripping and falling, but not being able to control yourself. She dreamt about this book, taking an unexpected turn. She tried controlling it, but she just couldn't, so helpless she felt about everything. Next morning, she woke up quite early, out of desperation of completing the book. She started exactly from where she had left, it betrayed her. It did not went like she expected it to go. It went like it was in her dreams. She felt betrayed. She gave up. She gave up after two chapters.

Today, her friend gifted her the same book. Her friend was quite excited, and wanted her to finish it quickly so that they could discuss it. All these years she hadn't read any book, as she felt betrayed. Today as she opened this book again, as promised to her friend, she couldn't believe she was reading the same book. The joy she felt was similar, but it kept going as she was predicting it in her thoughts. It ended just like she expected it to. She was surprised. She had found that friend again. She had found her love again. It was the same old lover she had missed all this years, and she realized how wrong she was about it.

The words didn't betray her. That dream did.

Educational Institutes and the building mindsets

We always talk about empowering youth. We talk about globalization. We talk about equality. We talk about our changing mindsets.

I have grown-up in a small town, where talking to a boy was a crime. People would talk ill about you, and even the most educated upper middle class women would gossip about how bad the 10-12 years old girls were when they used to talk to boys. Fortunately my parents were brought-up in a very urban family, and never really restricted me on interacting with boys. I always thought it’s just a small town thing, and people in Mumbai must be open-minded (Mumbai was a fascination back then for me). Well, my opinion changed in just a year after I shifted to Mumbai.

Now let’s get to the point. Recently I attended a college festival of a quite well-known college in Mumbai. One of my friends was performing there. I was in the audience when I saw that there was a barricade put in the middle on the sitting area, one side was for girls and the other for the boys, that was the first shock. There were NSS volunteers standing around the barricade. Now what these volunteers were told to do is, not to let any guy and girl talk to each other from above the barricade. That was another shock. There is already a barricade put, there are a lot of volunteers to make sure that people don’t jump over the barricade, there are also teachers standing around, keeping a look on all the audiences, then why are these volunteers asked not to allow girls and boys talk to each other? And look at the irony, there is dance & fashion show competition going on, with all kinds of romantic tracks, girls and guys dancing together, hand in hand. Backstage I see girls and guys sitting on each other, chatting having fun and here they are trying to prove that they are much disciplined?

Well, whatever was the reason, Educational Institutes should be concentrating on educating students, I never believed that colleges should inculcate moral teachings, it should in-fact talk about how prejudiced is the society and talk about equality between girls and boys. I don’t know how right I am but this, don’t talk to each other, stand apart, and watch your friends performing is just not right. It is a very sick attitude.

Mission Safe & Secure Nerul: Stay Alert, Stay Safe

That mindset of Policemen being useless and rude and disgusting and corrupt, changed, changed for some 20 people, right there, my eyes noticed it, and maybe before I stepped inside that one particular room, many people must have got out of that place with a positive feeling of safety and security in Nerul

Well, let me get to the point. Last Friday, that is ummm 10^th of January, a friend asked me to accompany her to Nerul Police Station, in the evening (you know it isn’t safe to go alone to a police station late evening for a girl, well just a fear, quite a irony). Anyway so I and the friend went to the police station for her passport verification. After sitting for like 10 minutes, one of the policemen made everyone present there, sit in the office of Senior Inspector of Police, in simple terms the senior in-charge of Nerul Police Station. Nicely arranged chairs, decent people, clean office and silence, and then enters Mr. Rajkumar Chaphekar, the Senior Police Inspector- A simple, smart, soft-spoken and funny man. He takes his seat and starts calling out names looking at the forms kept on the table, he just wants 2 simple questions to be answered- 1) Where do you stay in Nerul? And 2) since how long do you stay in Nerul? So one by one everyone he calls out for answers those questions. Very politely he asks everyone to give him some more time, as he would want to talk about a movement he has launched in Nerul for a while now. The movement is called, ‘Safe and Secure Nerul’.

Now the objective of writing the blog: This particular Movement, and the efforts that this policeman is taking, made me aware of the fact that ‘Staying Alert’ is the only funda to avoid mishaps. Fortunately most of the policemen I have come across turned out to be honest and dedicated to their work, but as the first line of this post goes, most of the people have a negative perception of police and a police station.  

What he spoke of the next 20 mins, wasn’t boring, did not make me sleepy, and did not force anyone to get up and walk out of the room. How with some common examples, funnily he explained that we humans are so irresponsible, that we just forget to use our common sense and put our life and our earnings at stake, forced people to listen to him, with attention.  The fact that most of the times, we ignore a crime, happening in front of our eyes, because we don’t want to get into any problems and waste our time, gives the criminals the  confidence to loot us, trouble us and dupe us is something that we all should understand, but we fail terribly.

All the tips and tricks that he shared with us, were so practical. No, you don’t have to go fight anyone when you see something happening, you just have to shout ‘chor chor’ and yes it is going to scare the chor. No you don’t have to stay indoors; you just have to take some efforts to stay alert, keep your cupboards locked, and keep the keys with you, not under the pillow or on the cupboard. Such really simple and common things that we avoid in our lives, telling ourselves, ‘chalta hai yaar’. We are lazy even to think smartly. We walk away quietly, when someone is trying to break a car’s window to steal some cash, walk on the roads, displaying the gold chains, ignoring to use the safety doors, putting letters for the doodhwala’s and paperwalas on the door, when going out of town, giving open invitation to the robbers, isn’t all this so dumb?

Well, this man, Mr. Rajkumar Chaphekar, talks to the people who come for passport verification to the police-station and tells them some simple things that we all know, but ignore. He goes to housing complexes, housing societies and take meetings, to make them aware and help the entire police force of Nerul to keep its citizens safe. You can invite him to your housing complex too; he will readily come, teach you in a way that it won’t ever leave your mind, and also make you laugh with his stories and the art of telling you the serious stories too wittily.

Join this movement, ‘Safe and Secure Nerul’, ‘Stay Alert, Stay Safe’!