Living In The Absolutes: The Modern Day Phenomenon of Doing Everything Extreme

‘Democracy should be absolute.’

‘Criminalisation of Article 377.’

‘Freedom of press is sacrosanct.’

‘Ban on the consumption of liquor.’

‘Criminal charges on the consumption of beef.’

 

Suicides Among The Youth ‘Due To Failure In Exam’ – A Rising Endemic

While the 100% cut-offs seem to reflect the evolving intellectual capacity of upcoming generations and grab headlines year on year during the admission season, another understated but equally critical fact that seems to get overshadowed by its more popular cousin is that of the increasing suicide rate among the students caused due to academic pressure, or as the Government of India puts it, ‘due to failure in exam.’

 

How Mainstream Media Is Misleading The People

Few days ago, a huge furor was made in the social media after Deepika Padukone, a leading film actress, responded to an article by one of the biggest media house in the country, The Times of India, which shared a video on its twitter feed titled ‘OMG!! Deepika’s Clevage Show.’

Similar kind of articles have become endemic in mainstream media, who are willing to sell their ethos if that were to ensure a few more readers. This isn’t an isolated incident and what we have been consuming in the name of news in the past decade has left a lot to be desired. The only reason this particular news got coverage was because the actress in question chose to respond to the news by saying what she did with her life and body was her personal business. From objectifying women, to highlighting wardrobe malfunctions to wanting to be in the bedrooms of celebrities, we have seen it all in this age of digital media.

 

Reservation – A Necessary Evil In A Diverse Society

‘Reservation’ – one word that never fails to evoke reactions across all the segments of our country. Everybody who is anybody has some opinion or the other on the topic of reservation. While reservation has been known to exist since the time of independence, the topic usurped national conscience in 2006, when the government passed the OBC quota bill, giving 27% reservation for OBCs in central educational institutes.

The passage of the bill was followed by huge backlash, with student protestors making their presence felt throughout the country. Both, the ones beneficiaries of the bill as well as the ones at the receiving end of it had their opinions to share which, most often than not, were not in the kindest of tones to the opposing parties. The backlash is such that even till this day, whenever the results of an all India level exam like IIT-JEE, AIPMT or CAT is declared, we still find a few students raking up the issue again and blaming it for not being able to clear the exam or getting the college of their choice.

 

Give Us Your Empathy And Not Your Sympathy

Dear ‘USUAL ONES’,

We, ‘God’S Special Ones’, are writing this letter to remove the prevailing misconceptions and perception that you people have about us.

We take pride in the fact that we are not like the billions of you, whom God has created like products in a wholesale factory – in bulk and with nothing to distinguish one from the other. Rather, we are the ‘Special Edition’ products, the manufacture of which requires a lot of planning and hardwork before finally dishing them out for people like you to digest.

 

The Law Of The Land Should Be Same For Everyone

Justice Markandey Katju, Chairman Press Council of India and Former Judge Supreme Court of India, has let me down. His opinions, though eccentric at times, always have some amount of logic attached to them. But his current stance on the Sanjay Dutt verdict, and his reasons for asking the Governor of Maharashtra to grant pardon to Sanjay Dutt are nothing sort of absurd and ludicrous.

 

A Tragedy that Woke Up the Long Dead Conscience of a Nation

I have seen and heard enough people give their opinion on the Delhi gang-rape case. The only reason I have waited so long to write something on the matter is because I was keenly observing the reactions of the people. And after a comprehensive analysis, these are the conclusions I have drawn – the political class continues to let us down, both with their reaction as well as their assessment of the problem; the judiciary, self-admittedly is inefficient in dealing with the pending cases, let alone handling the new ones; and we, Indians, have already started blaming any and everyone for the current situation, without standing up and talking responsibility by acknowledging that the biggest culprit  lies within us.