10 Trends we should bid farewell to in 2017

1. Show Middle Finger to Middle Name.

Dear Ladies, I know it’s your choice but I have to say it’s a horrible one. Adding your husband’s name in the middle on Facebook seems to be the new fad in 2016. Every other person I know (friends, relatives) seems to be doing it post marriage. On one hand, we have women keeping their surnames same even after marriage and on the other we have women who go one step ahead and add their husband’s name too. Personally, I find it regressive and patriarchal. Have you asked your husbands to do the same? Or has the thought of adding wife’s name to theirs even come across to husbands? I guess, No and that explains it all. I seriously don’t understand the joy behind doing this exercise. Hope to see the trend fading away in 2017 or at least husband’s catching up with it too.

2. Arvind Kejriwal should stop being a troll

I know it is wishful thinking and may be even God cannot help me in this but can we please have a well behaved Arvind Kejriwal? In other words, can he start behaving as a Chief Minister and stop blaming the Prime Minister for every damn thing in this universe?  From calling the PM a psychopath to supporting a convict like Lalu Prasad Yadav, he has become nauseating now. There have been times when I had to read his tweets twice just to check if it is him or his troll account (which by the way makes more sense).  Arvind, even Najeeb Jung has resigned now, please be a little tolerable!

3. It’s not about loving our Soldiers

I am no ‘liberal’ but the growing use of bringing in the country’s soldier for justifying everything silly done in the country should just stop RIGHT NOW! Lecturing people to boycott or ban films that star Pakistani actors because our soldiers are protecting us at the border or telling people that they should not crib about standing in bank and ATM lines because soldiers stand at the border for days without complaining is plain stupidity. Can we please stop this false equivalence and let the soldiers be out of the politics? We can love our soldiers & at the same time criticize demonetization or enjoy watching Ae Dil Hai Muskhil. May better sense prevail!

4. Muslim kids & Fancy Dress

Even Lord Krishna and Jesus would have been fed up by the ‘secularism’ shown by Indians. This is an annual ritual when pictures of Muslim parents carrying their kids dressed up as Krishna or Jesus start floating on WhatsApp, Facebook and every damn place you can find. In fact it isn’t Janmasthami or Christmas till we have seen the picture. While I appreciate the multi culturalism and pluralism of our country; we need not be reminded of it every year. Let the kids dress up and leave them. Please don’t shove it in our face. Just chill. BTW, idea courtesy @NameFieldmt

5. Close the Open Letters 

While I have written some of them myself, I think it’s high time we stop this drama of Open Letters. I say that because let’s be frank, no one is reading them; especially, the one to whom we are addressing it. I don’t have a problem with the format but of late there have been a bombardment of open letters (most of which make no sense) for every little thing that happens around us. Also, let’s face it that most of us are not aiming towards staring a dialogue but it’s just a bitch fest to get more hits on our blog and get some publicity. We should rather write a letter to our loved ones which they might actually read & may be make them happy because nothing beats the old world charm that hand written letters carry. BTW, this was suggested by KarnikaKohli

6. Ramzan vs Ramadan

Again, I have been party to the crime but if I reflect back, I feel this is one of the most pointless debates of which I have been a part of. Ramzan is one of the most important festivals of Muslims and it is called ‘Ramadan’ in Arabic. In India, as Urdu & Hindi have been the language of communication, it is called ‘Ramzan’. Most of us grew up learning it. I of course had issues (still have) with the growing Arabization as Indians started using ‘Ramadan’ but many say that I am over reacting & it’s just going back to using the ‘authentic’ name which is in Quran. So, let’s just close this debate and enjoy Haleem & Sheer Korma without getting into the spelling.

7. ‘Recreating’ old songs

As if remaking old Hindi films was not enough, we now have film makers ruining the old classic songs by ‘recreating’ them. Some of them like Kaala Chasma (Baar Baar Dekho) or Ae Zindagi Gale Laga Le (Dear Zindagi) were not that bad but most of them have been a let down. The recent recreation of Rahman’s Humma Humma (OK Janu) was the final nail in the coffin. Can we just compose some original music in 2017? @ThePuccaCritic did a good piece on the same.

8. Who is the best Khan?

Let’s just settle it this year and agree that Shah Rukh Khan is the BEST Khan. We must stop this annual ranting of telling SRK that he should do more films like Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, Swades & Chak De India. He is a brilliant actor and he was bloody good even when he did DDLJ, KKHH, Veer Zaara and Fan. No one can do a Raj or Rahul like he does and even now when he opens his arms, he creates magic on screen. Yes, even with that hamming. He has style, class and substance. He is THE KING. PERIOD!

9. The Coke Studio Debate

With a heavy heart, I have to say that Coke Studio Pakistan is a notch above ours. Let’s just accept it guys that ours is still very commercial, Bollywoodish and to an extent wannabish also and we haven’t come up with something that is even close to the magic of Coke Studio Pakistan. So let’s just enjoy the music and keep the who is better debate aside because I just told you who is better!

10. Year End Posts! 

So tired of these year end posts telling us the top moments, the top films, the best shows, the worst actors and all that. Oh wait! Okay. It is still 2016 and I can write one  🙂

On that note, Happy New Year!

6 Annoying Photograph Poses

Disclaimer: I might have posed in any one of the following poses some time or the other; in fact we all would have but then I grew up! Many of you didn’t, so the post.

1. The Middle Finger Pose

This seems to be a favorite among the teenagers, especially the boys. As much as I try to think, I fail to understand the joy behind posing with the universal sign of “Fuck You” in photographs. You think throwing up your middle fingers makes you look like a bad ass? Sorry, but it makes you look like a douche bag. Next time shove it right up your ass. Yes, that will be good! And even bigger douche bags are the people who comment on the pics saying “Dude! Sahi Hai, Stud lag raha hai”. DUH!

2. The Duck Face

This is the most stupid thing that any one can do in a photograph and if you are on Facebook, then more than half of your female friends would have posed in this ridiculous manner. Why would anyone document their face in this annoying way is beyond me. And what’s more frightening is that of late, some men also have started pouting in their pictures. With all due respect to women I would say that if you think you look like Angelina Jolie then sorry, you don’t. You look like a BLOODY DUCK! And my dear fellow-men, you won’t get a chance to get laid with anyone of the girls so STOP commenting “Hot, Sexy” on the pictures.

3. Mirror Pose

You might call me sexist but again this pose is quite popular among the girls. Forget their room mirrors, they will not even leave the mirrors in the wash rooms. And icing on the cake is the pout that comes in which makes it even more irritating. You have every right to love yourself and it’s a good thing that you love yourself so much but should it mean that you stand in front of every damn mirror and start posing. Aargh!

4. The Feet Pose

Again, it’s the women! Forming a circle (Some say it’s actually a flower) with their footwear and clicking the picture. I mean WHAT THE FUCK! Why would you click your bloody chappals/sneakers or whatever you are wearing?  No body is interested in your branded footwear or your stinking feet.

5. Rabbit Ears

Apart from being annoying this pose is plain BORE. We used to do this as kids but then I grew up! But, many of us have not and I think it is way beyond its expiry. Putting up your fingers above your friends head makes you look more like a clown than your friend. I would like to slap my friend if s/he spoils my photograph by this foolish act.

6. Smoke Rings

If I had to rate the poses by the degree of their annoyingness, then this would top the list. This is what Duck Face is to girls, every other guy is seen posting pictures of themselves with smoke rings on Facebook. Oh, we also have wannabe kids with hookahs and blowing smoke rings.  There is nothing “cool” about smoking.  It is bad and it kills!

P.S. : All pics taken from the net, if any issues mail me and it shall be removed.

Politics? HELL YEAH!

“I hate it/ Not interested/ Sucks/ Apolitical/ Not interested/Fuck Politics” These are some of the common answers which one gets to see under the ‘Political Views’ column if you visit the Facebook profiles of your friends or acquaintances. First I thought it might be a problem with my friends. In order to be sure; I stalked (Yes, I did) random profiles and interestingly the answers remained pretty much the same. And that exactly is my problem – The growing apathy of the youth towards the politics of the country. Politics/ Raajneeti has become what film line was years back; good people don’t enter it. While the people consider cribbing about the state of affairs in the country as their right; they don’t remember their duty when it comes to voting. And what’s even more worrying is the percentage of voting being less in urban centers than rural. So, the same youth who wore the ‘cool’ Anna Hazare caps doesn’t like to stand in the ‘hot’ sun to vote.

A recent survey indicated that India will become the youngest country in the world by 2020 with the median individual age of 29 years.  If the young population of world’s largest democracy show such detachment from the politics of the country, we are in grave danger. Whether you like it or not but politics in any country is closely related to its development. The policies, procedures, laws determine to a large extent the way an economy moves.  Governments need to do lots of things to encourage development – they need to build and maintain infrastructure, and raise and spend finance wisely, on the right projects. When governments are inept at managing infrastructure, development is impossible. Today, we stand at a point when the economy is in shambles and market is down. As a country that already faces high rates of unemployment, we will be faced with even more unemployed people in future.  Mining, exploration, industry in the country is dying. We have made a world record with the number of scams that unearth everyday. Isn’t it important for us as the young brigade to understand politics so that we can vote wisely? Isn’t our future at stake?

Call me sexist but this ignorance is more in females. I still remember that my best friend who is from Uttarakhand didn’t know the Chief Minister of her state! Don’t you think you do grave injustice to the country when you vote by looking at how deep someone’s dimples are or how fluent one is in English or even the style with which one flips hair? It is NOT a Mr. India pageant! You are bloody deciding who will govern you for the next five years!

As our government plans to launch the Food Security Bill scheme in the country, how many of us even know what it is all about? Do we understand how this populist and non-sense scheme will impact the already weak economy? Do we understand that it will worsen the fiscal deficit situation? Do we understand that India’s trade deficit will be hit hard as the programme will require 70-80 million tonnes of more food grain every year. India which does not produces that much will have  import in order to meet the requirements! Isn’t it vital for us to understand what is going on in the country?  Why can’t we discuss this with friends along with our many discussions on films, fashion, cricket and music?

What sort of individual you are if you don’t have a political view? You are 18 years old and you don’t know what’s your political ideology? What are your views on economy, markets, social stratification? How can you be ‘Not Interested’ in the politics of your country when it impacts us immensely? How can you be more interested in knowing who will head the cricket team rather than knowing who will head the country? Having a political view is much more than supporting a particular party.  For example; I am a rightist but I don’t entertain the idea of ‘Ram Mandir’ which the ‘Indian Right’ party proposes.

Arguments against Politics!

• Politics is Boring– Are you kidding me? Just listen to any of the sessions in Parliament and I bet that you will not find anything more entertaining and gripping. Our parliament (when functions) sees some brilliant debate. Not to forget the drama. It can shame any of our ‘saas-bahu’ sitcoms.
• Nothing is going to Change – For heaven’s sake, every single vote counts! What if everyone were to say “Oh it’s not important”?  We wouldn’t get anywhere in the world.
•  All politicians are corrupt – For every Lalu Prasad Yadav, we have a Manohar Parrikar. For every Advani, we have a Vajpayee.
• Don’t like the candidates – India doesn’t give you the option of ‘No Vote’ so please go and vote for the lesser evil. Your not voting will not make any difference but your vote will!

The success of every democracy and the making of a responsible government is directly proportional to the voting power of the citizens. A stronger democracy can be built with greater participation of people! Okay, it’s going very preachy and I should stop but with the hope that the ‘Y’ generation will say a big YES to politics and get involved in bringing a change!