BigB problems again

The venue was the Worli-Bandra Sea link, event by : Maharashtra State govt.. Invites were sent off, except since many like Amitabh Bachchan are very tied up & busy he confirmed a day earlier. The organisers MSRDC -Mah state road corpn. NCP & cong parties. All knew Big B was going.

Now small recollection on latest developments of this superstar is that BigB is NOT politician, he claims so. He stays away from politics, wc he again claims, but gets drawn into each & every controversy & political that too, at the drop of the hat.

Now BigB remained present for this grand occasion, opening of the extension. The CM ashokraoji (yes this is meant to be tongue-in-cheek) Chavan was present. They looked into each other's faces, smiled, but then media too wants controversy. Someone close to the NCP leaked info. firstly remember the Ntionalist Cong Party, our very own NCP extended the invitation to this superstar actor. Then the one prankster MLA leaked BigB's presence as controversy.

"How come the man who is ambassador of Guj be present at Mah govt programme, when our govt is secular? Now the one to whom it was leaked is really one smart cookie, who shld've turned round & put his MLA in his place. "isn't your party too in this govt? Hasn't your party been responsible for this goof up?" Who will ask these questions? The young nimbu-timbu journos??

So the media got controversy, BigB the eyeballs. The controversy flared into a major problem b/w Cong-NCP with people alleging the ground beneath Chavan's feet shaken. Well COng only creates earthquakes, initially one sees NO reaction then one fin morn or late night the whip is cracked & axe falls on the concerned minister. In this case the CM.

However this wasn't the end of the controversy. earlier on in the month it was proclaimed BigB would attend the 83rd Marathi Sahitya Sammelan. He did, he not only read out lines from his father's poetry on rebel. He also praised Kaushal Inamdar's 'Marathi Abhimaan geet.' The CM sulked & sat at home. This dropepd his popularity further.

Can't help we live in a country that has higher number of illterates, uneducated people. So TV rules & dominates our lives, decisions & bedrooms. The CM lost out on sympathy & popularity. But what the citizens really need to ask, admit, BigB has been made a scape goat. But he isn't innocent. How can Amitabh Bachchan accept the post of an ambassador from a CM Narendra Modi who is tainted? Who has blood on his hands? Who has openly spread venom & hatred.

Or does Amitabh Bachchan think human rights, right to life is bullshit. People need to be killed, women need to be raped & children - all these belonging to of a particular community, religion deserve their fates? He mouthed venom when journos wrote abt Aishwarya (his daughter-in-law) being unable to conceive. Hello Mr Bachchan, the women raped in Guj too are someone's daughter, daughter-in-law, wife, sister, mother...those Muslims killed too are precious lives. He sits on the same dais with that Modi.

No one wins & no one gets sympathy. They don't deserve it for sure.

All figuratively speaking

When in school we learnt the complexities of English language & it's grammar, a lot was always said, "Figuratively speaking..." i would see circles, squares & triangles or shapes in the clouds, skies, chippings of our walls. That Were figures for me!

As i grew up the 'figuratively' speech & naunces i tried to grasp. Then came economics, credit interest, rates, which were other newer figures i began studying. Then came size Zero, minus, hour glass, pear-shaped, guava shaped & apple shaped figures, wc i am told are real figures speaking...! So like modern life, English lang got complex.

Now what i am going to tell is of various transactions that took place in my economic life, that can be translated across rest of my life & living. I bought a home. YES! Its come true, these were mere talks, dreams, like many others. I NEVER would have believed, still can't that i ACTUALLY own a house. Thanks to the press club scheme, i did NOT have plead, take special out of the way help or anything like that. When the whole process was on, wc is after submission of over 1000 pages of xeroxed, original papers, came the 'figurative' part.

The whole transaction has been totally 100% white. I sold my shares, raised Rs 5.50 lacs initial down payment, which was in cheque. The shares were on paper, since in demat format, there is nothing physical to prove or feel the shares worth nearly Rs 3.50 lacs. The remaining were from savings & investments. All these savings were again just on paper. Nothing till i withdraw came in hard cash.

When i sold the shares around pre-Diwali time, the Bombay stock market was really high...bullish. I knew i had advantage & my friend told me sell now. The money after selling looked nice in the account. Quite a few zeroes. Again on paper or something one can access on the laptop or PC.

Then came THE day to make that payment to MHADA of rs 5.50 lacs. My hand would reach that cheque & kept holding it in the Bank cashier window...eyeing it as if it were handsome man i have to let go of. It was a paper (cheque) that stated the amount which i handed over...i came back & checked through the net my savings account.

My heart leapt..suddenly, quite a few zeroes had reduced to fewer zeroes. There was some money remaining...but obviously tremendously less. all this was on paper again.
As if this shocker wasn't enough came the time to take my loan from another bank. It wasn't much running around, except more pursuance. When the loan was sanctioned i would safely cart those cheques in my bag...worth quite a few lakhs. Suddenly from zero i was a millionaire. But all on paper, in liquid cash...ZERO.

The new cheques were deposited in MHADA to various agencies & banks. I was left again with lesser money, as now there is a huge cut in my salary. The salary again on paper gets deposited to my account, before i know various bills, cuts are made & mainly the EMI gets cut from that salary. Now all that is 'figuratively' speaking. This is figuratively speaking, all dealing transparent, white, but all that i have NEVER counted actually or seen in bundles...paper to paper, figure to figure exchange or zeroes....what i am left with at the end of the day however is muuuch lesser money to spend & access to.

Special Women's Day celebration -Mayor's Award

I really think sometimes dreams do come true. How and when that is something we can't predict or control. And when they do, like they have for me, I don't even know whether the truth has sunk in -I won the Mayor's award!

For the love of god i would never have been able to predict this part. I would dream, that i yes even i will win an award one day for my writing. For the issues & stories i've tried to highlight. It is NOT about me, but about those people whose stories need to be told - millions of tribals, women, deprived, Minorities, issues like inability of communities to adjust to the changing modern times, of being on the global map, while one's basics rights are being denied.

This year -2010 the 100th year of Women's Day celebration has been special for me. I was initially told i will be felicitated with over a dozen women by the Mayor Bombay (Mumbai) city, Shraddha Jadhav. It is special day, special event, 100th year & i am extremely honoured to be part of this celebration.

It is humbling truly, because there were sooo many more accomplished women who were present & amidst them i too was there...it's extremely encouraging & superb to know the way people, old class mates, friends & parents have stood by me. It also is a time to say there have been many who did not help me positively. But their criticism, their negativity helped me believe in myself in the values i stand for.

I may not ever have grand children, but i definitely have got something that will make my family proud... :)they gave us a trophy, certificate both personalised, a shawl & coconut. Lot of people asked, "Why no money..." i didn't join this profession for money or award, what i got is sufficient for sure.