Hoist the colours high

It's been another fascinating 10 days, especially towards the end, which is why I'm kind of glad that I waited until now to blog about recent events. I've gotten most of my cannon fodder, so to speak, from the last three days, in fact. Here's the white, black and yellow from these past 10 days.

Wikileaks. Ha Ha Ha. One would have thought the whole rage had finally subsided - newspapers had stopped publishing special 'Wikileak of the day' features, TV channels also looked like they were giving Assange a break and BANG. Out of nowhere. Pretty incredible, really. The story's kind of stupid but it's gotten so much media attention that it's hard not to talk about. Basically, Wikileaks released a cable that 'accused' Mayawati of being a paranoid control freak, citing that she had food tasters, and some other seemingly random connection with sandals and airplanes that I didn't bother reading into too much. See, austerity isn't something Indian politicians are renowned for. Shashi Tharoor, of course, had it shoved down his throat and the issue has died down since then, but paranoia being reported is a new thing. Mayawati responded in dramatic Indian fashion, of course, calling Assange mental and saying that if he was unable to find a mental asylum, she would house him in Agra with pleasure. Assange, who seems to be raring to have a go at anybody now, sharply reminded her that he was under house arrest and accepted the offer to take asylum, albeit political, in India, a country he loved; which was enough for news channels to go berserk and flash animated pictures of Mayawati and Assange in boxing gear. Pretty hilarious, actually. The way I see it, Mayawati could have made the most of this opportunity by agreeing to at least the security part of the cable. If I was looking to poison her, now I know for sure that she doesn't have a food taster which makes plotting a lot easier. Hmmm.

Another incident that chanced towards the end of this ten day period was the Delhi bomb blasts and earthquakes. Not a lot of casualties, thankfully, but one does get the feeling it's a prelude to something bigger that's coming. Stay safe, guys. The earthquake after that, again, had minimum casualties, but naturally sent the whole city into panic. Quite an unsettling day, no puns intended. On the same note, I wonder why they're called 'casualties'. Hmmm.

If you haven't already noticed, I'm in a pensive, thoughtful mood and hence I feel it's only fair to use a little part of this in mindless speculation. So, from the time we were children, we've been taught about what each colour of the Indian flag signifies. Saffron is bravery and courage; white is peace and Green is truth and chivalry, if you are also a little shameless like me and have forgotten. Well my defence is that from childhood, we are forced to see these colours differently. They lose their initial meaning and at least for me, developed another significance altogether. Saffron became Hinduism, with Hindu saints wearing flowing saffron robes and the Shiv Sena proudly flaunting the same colour as well. At all the Hindu festivals, I'd see people with saffron scarves tied around their heads or some other representation of the colour. White has always stood for peace, in popular culture all around the world, and it's probably the only constant in my head, because Green for me now signifies Islam. With the official flag of Islam, or the colour of a lot of Muslim houses, or the shrouds and sheets used for Namaz; that's all that Green means to me; not truth or chivalry. And to put things in perspective, the Indian flag to me has become all about maintaining peace, literally between Hinduism and Islam. The saffron band is on top because Hindus in India outnumber Muslims, firstly, and secondly because Islam always seems to be at the receiving end of everything. Now here comes the interesting part of my analysis. There's a wheel in the center, a blue chakra that signifies law and order. To me, it means that if the chakra does it's job well, then the saffron and green can be rotated around it until they come to a point where they are horizontal and not vertical, symbolizing perfect peace and equality. Isn't that what India was supposed to stand for, as a whole? Now too bad that if that ever happened, the Italian flag would file a lawsuit. Ah well. So much for contemplation.

We now look at the white, black and yellow from the past week.
White: Id Mubarak and Happy Ganesh Chaturti. This period always symbolizes harmony, and hence peace, aka white band according to not only the Indian flag but also according to my futile analysis of it.
Black: The disgusting jokes about what Delhi's been through ('A blast and a rocking day', seriously, internet?)
Yellow: The Mayawati Assange duel, definitely. Yellow journalism at it's best. Take a look for yourself and enjoy a few laughs.

That's all for this week. Stay tuned. :)

The End of an Era

Well, firstly, long overdue congratulations to team Hazare and what will be remembered (at least in all the newspapers) as a 'Victory of the people'. How the bill will actually be implemented remains to be seen, but for now it seems that Hazare is off the fast track and looks now to move on (seewhatididthere?) It's been a pretty eventful week for me personally, which means that current happenings have taken a backseat, pretty much, but there are still a few things I'd like to talk about before I pick out the white, black and yellow of this week.

We'll be examining 2 major pieces of news this week, both of which seem to me like the end of two totally unrelated eras. Of course, all chances are that I will be proven wrong, but it just seems right to talk about how things seem to stand at this point of time. Starting off with Team India losing it's number one status in test cricket. Nothing gets India going like cricket, and last week's loss that sealed the humiliating series defeat to England was perhaps more in the spotlight than Anna Hazare and his cause. A run that began in December 2009 ends a little over 18 months later and what was being described as India's golden run (where cricket is concerned) seems to be diminishing and how. Well I'm not a total sports buff, but I know enough to know that a team that is not competent enough to draw even one test out of five, leave alone winning, does not deserve to be called the top team of anything. We respectfully bow down to England, for now, and look for redemption in the near future. If anybody can pull it off, it is MS Dhoni and his boys, I have no doubt of that. What worries me is that apart from being the end of a Golden age for India, it also seems to be the end of the road for certain senior players in the cricket team to give way to new talent. Very few youngsters seem to be capable of shouldering the weight of an entire country's expectations, this including Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina who have failed to impress in the recently concluded test series. Rahul Dravid has proven to be the very cracked yet stable wall of Indian cricket, but he alone could not turn the tides, neither should he be expected to. It is going to be a critical year for Team India and one cannot help but be interested in looking at how the face of the team will change in the coming months. Stay tuned there.

Coming to a completely different topic, one cannot help but feel a little hollowness after reading about the resignation of Steve Jobs, who has been an inspirational figure for millions, apart from revolutionizing Apple products and showing how insanity can conquer everything. I must take out time (and space) to pay homage to a truly brilliant man who has been through a lot in life and yet managed to learn from every experience, good and bad, and come out on top. One must read about his life and experiences, from dropping out of college and living off meals from the Harekrishna temple which he afforded by selling used glass bottles; how Apple booted him out of his own creation only to be forced to pay attention to him because of Pixar Animation Studios and how his has been a true rebirth. The number of times his Stanford Speech has been quoted this week is phenomenal, and yours truly, for one, does not tire of the incredible address. GG WP, Steve. Stay hungry, Stay foolish.

We now look at the white, black and yellow of this past week's events.
White: The amount that Steve Jobs has managed to inspire with Apple. Apple remains to be one step ahead in every department and every market they have entered, and Tim Cook has one hell of a task, lesser as Apple's CEO than as Steve Jobs's successor.
Black: The holier than thou attitude that most newspapers seem to be displaying by 'siding' with Team Hazare. The amount of credit that the Times of India is seeking has to be seen to be believed. Seriously, not buying it.
Yellow: Sensationalism over team India's recent string of defeats. Granted, we've not been playing at our best, but some of the claims made including allegations against Dhoni's loss of concentration after marriage are pretty hilarious. Seriously, guys, chill out.

That's all for this week. Stay tuned. :)