Say no to Air France

This is the second incident now. Continuing my theory of there can be no smoke without fire, this is purely unacceptable. And so, as I do not buy Tommy Hilfiger garments after reading the e-mail chain, I will no longer travel by Air France.

Frankly speaking, though the Tommy Hilfiger story may even seem to be unreal, this Air France story is pretty real. I have seen a certain apathy of the European staff for the Indian customers in the flight. I have seen this in Lufthansa as well but as it was an all Indian flight, I would like to give them the advantage of "curt by nature/birth" and not due to any racism.

People may argue I have no right to be angry against racist as I myself care for fair skin. But I would like to remind that I differentiate only Indians with skin color as skin color in India can be changed by exposure to sun, makeup materials and general skin care habits unlike the rest of the world and so I think being fair in India is more a matter of self care than a genetic property. There are also a lot of gorgeous dark skin people including the great Biapsha Basu, Madhu Sapre, Kajol to name a few.

Short Note on India Elections 09

Election 09 for me was only two people. Varun Gandhi and his mom Maneka Gandhi. In 80's Rekha had shown us Biwi ho to aisi and in 2009, Maneka shows Maa ho to aisi. BJP had almost disowned him, Congress was against him but one person who was always wit him was his mom, she visited him every day when he was wrongly put in the jail. She tried so hard for him that she had almost lost in her own constituency. But all's well that ends well. Both mother and son duo has won. I do not care if they are with BJP or any other party of their choice but the sweetness of their victory can not be ignored. Imagine Varun and Maneka sitting together at one end and Rahul and Sonia on the other. Both the mothers beaming at their son as they speak and as soon as they finish, hurry up to give them a warm glass of milk, that too malai marke.

BTW, I had pulled off the post below but now re-posting it. Originally posted even before Varun was caught under NSA.

My Views on Varun Gandhi

There are 2 ways you can really have strong views about a person. When you have done all your research and when you haven’t done any. For me, the analysis below is mainly because I did not read much about it and I think I just read the facts. I do not want to read what each and every person is saying to form an opinion. But yes, this is not a hard and fast opinion (With more proofs, things may change, and come on, he’s just 29)

I feel Varun Gandhi is just a puppet in a big game that is being played by BJP or even the sinister BJP-Congress alliance which I have a feeling is always cooking under the hood. Ok, not to sound too absurd with my argument made above, but even if it is anybody’s plan, it is certainly not Varun’s own. Hate speeches like these are being made every day by RSS workers and have been made in the past by all the BJP stalwarts except perhaps Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Sikander Bakht. To make this a political issue is a part of a bigger conspiracy which I am really eager to find out. It might even be political ambitions of the likes of Rajdeep Sardesai, Barkha Dutt etc.

Second startling fact is the comparative low tone of condemnation by Priyanka and Rahul. As star people of opposite parties I had expected harsher criticisms but their statements are more like “We are ashamed of our little brother but after all he is still a kid, he will learn”. Whether these things point to the BJP-Congress under the hood pact that I speculated earlier or a case where blood is more important than political rivalry, both are good for the country as a whole. We need sensible next gen leaders who are not like present Advaniji’s BJP which had decided to oppose each and every word that Congress says in the parliament and vice versa. By showing their solidarity, Priyanka and Rahul prove that even if the become political opponents, they won’t be as insensitive as the 80+ lots.

Third reason I would like to defend Varun is his mom. She is an outcast of the great Gandhi family but she still managed to stay in picture. There are numerous people who are now nameless because of their non allegiance to Gandhi Family. But she still survives. Also, for a politician, she looks really cool( much better than Mayawati, Mamata, Jayalalitha and even Jaya Bachchan. She is in the league of Sushma Swaraj, Vasundhara Raje who themselves are collectively below the league of Jayaprada, Smriti Irani, Hema Malini). Thirdly she does this really hep and cool green and animal care thing. I do feel with most of her issues like keeping birds in cages and killing stray dogs and all such animal right things. I even try very hard to get out of Non Veg, but I promise Ms Gandhi, that the day the taste ratio of Non veg to veg based on availability even falls below 200%, I will turn a vegetarian (right now, from what I cook and what I get in restaurants, the ratio is far more than even 500%). So, I think the son of such a great mother does deserve a bit more respect and probably forgiveness because I would like to believe that he at least didn’t mean the words that we think he said.

A bedtime Story

There was a little boy who lived in a big house in the suburbs of a very small metropolis. The house had a wonderful view of mountains on one side and the sea on the other side. One day, the little boy decided that he will make a lighthouse. The lighthouse will be so beautiful that when people see it, they will feel so much peace at heart that the little boy will eventually get the Nobel Peace Prize.

The little boy sets out to find the right material for the lighthouse. As soon as he gets out of the house, his friend Artim asks him, “Dood, where are you going so early in the morning?” The little boy replies-“Hey dood, I want to build a lighthouse. I am off to get the material for the base.” Artim says that he wishes to join him and the little boy readily agrees. Artim asks: “Where do we go?” The little boy says “Let’s make this out of marble stone. Let’s go to India and get the marbles from Bheda Ghat”. They fly in Air India and reach New Delhi. From New Delhi they take the train to Jabalpur. On the way they see the Taj Mahal and its Minarets. Artim asks, “Do you want your lighthouse like those Minarets?” The little boy replies, “No, much more beautiful.” Finally they reach Jabalpur and then they take the ferry to Bheda Ghat. After 7 days of intense search, they find the right marble and then make arrangements to send it to home. They take the Air India flight where they were served wonderful Kaju Barfis for dinner and come back. The little boy says, “Artim, tomorrow I am going to select the colors tomorrow. Will you come with me?” Artim replies “No dood, I have had enough fun here and have to play cricket tomorrow.” Artim thanks him for coming and goes back to his magnificent house with sea on one side and mountains on the other.

Next day the little boy sets of again for the colors. This time he meets his friend Idnas. Idnas asks: “Dude, where do you go?” The little boy replies “ Hi dudette, I am making a Lighthouse. I am going to find the colors today. Will you come with me?” Idnas shakes her head vigorously and says “Yes, I would love to but do you have any color in mind?” The little boy says “Yes dudette, I want to get the red with white polka dots just like the Mushroom on which Caterpillar was sitting when Alice met him. I need to get his copyright permissions. I think we have to go to Amazon.” Dumb as she is, Idnas says “Wow, I would love to go to Seattle” to which the little boy replies “Dumbo dudette, it’s not Amazon.com headquarters but the jungles of Amazon”. So they fly to Rio de Janeiro in TAM airlines. On reaching Rio, they saw everybody was playing soccer. Lazy as she was, Idnas found a red and white football and told the little boy “Hey, why don’t we get permission from Pele and use this pattern?” The little boy said “Oh lazy dudette, it’s not half as good as the mushroom. We have to go to Amazon forests.” They set off on a boat to the deep jungles of Amazon. After encountering the great anacondas and the piranhas, they finally reach near the gates of El-dorado. And guess what, the gate keeper was the old caterpillar himself. The little boy asked his permission and the caterpillar was glad to oblige and also accepted the invite to the opening of the lighthouse. Happily Idnas and the little boy come back home in TAM airlines eating Banana fritas. The little boy asks Idnas “Hi dudette, tomorrow I am going in search for a reflector for my lighthouse. Will you come with me?” Idnas says “Hey dude, thanks for the trip, it was really awesome but I have to do my MBA preparations tomorrow”. The little boy thanks her for coming and goes to his big house in the small metropolis.

The little boy wakes up early morning at six fifty the next day and sets of in search for the reflector. He meets the rowdy neighborhood boy Blutu. Blutu asks “Hey Dyude, ‘ssup! so early on a Saturday morning, I haven’t even slept yet . Where are you going?” The little boy replies “Hi, I am going to get some reflectors for my Lighthouse. Do you want to join?” Blutu tags along. The little boy tells him that he plans to go to Buckingham palace to ask for some diamonds. They fly in British airways and reach Heathrow airport right on time. Restless as he is, Blutu immediately wanted to go to rest of Europe especially Amsterdam. The queen had given them appointment after a few days so they set up for a Euro Trip. The little boy wanted to go to the ongoing Cannes Film festival and from there, they sailed to Amsterdam. On the way back, in Belgium, Blutu suggested getting some glass from there for the reflector but the Little boy never changes his mind and they went to the Queen. The queen, Her Majesty Hermione I, was very nice to them and showed them all her diamond collections including the Cullinan diamond and the Kohinoor. Then she offered her own selection of diamonds to the little boy for the reflector and promised to come for the opening bash. They came back in British Airways flight with Blutu enjoying his Tandoori chicken but the little boy stuck to the very English Fish n chips with Tea and muffins. After coming back, the little boy asked Blutu if he wanted to accompany him next day in search of the foghorn. Blutu replied, “Dyude, I wish I could, but you know, I have to see this girl tomorrow who is going to be my prospective wife. So, I better be there.” The little boy wished him all the best and went back to his big house with a Bonsai mango tree in the patio.

The little boy woke up a little late at seven thirty and got ready. Just when he was about to get out, Dnohs came asking for some cereal for breakfast. On seeing the little boy all dressed up, Dnohs said, “Magaa, where are you going, da?” The little boy said, “Magane, I am going to Africa to ask the Lion king for copyrights for his roar for the foghorn of my lighthouse.” Dnohs immediately came along, even without brushing his teeth. They flew in Air Tanzania. But as luck would have it, the plane did a ccrash landing in Alexandria. It was a blessing in disguise as neither Dnohs nor the little boy had visited Egypt before. They had fun roaming around Giza and Alexandria. Dnohs was a sharp buy, To reduce travel, he told the little boy, pointing towards the Spinx, “Magaa, this looks like a lion, and you will probably never see this big a lion. Why don’t you ask this one for permissions?”. But adamant and quality conscious as he is, the little boy ruled out the idea though secretly appreciated Dnohs’s idea in one of his blogs. They set off for Tanzania first on camels and then on elephants. Finally, at the edge of a cliff, with setting sun in the background, they found Simba. Simba said “Whroaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam, I will be pleased to give you the necessary rights, just bring my pen so that I can sign it.” After getting the signature and his consent to come for the opening ceremony they came back home in Air Tanzania eating Ugali. The little boy asked Dnohs if he is available tomorrow but Dnohs said, “Magaa, I have to finish my project 15 days before the deadline you see. It’s recession time.” Little boy just smiled and came back to his big house in the small state.


Now, the little boy had all the necessary things and just had to build the lighthouse. As this did not involve any fun travel, nobody was willing to accompany the little boy on his venture and hence he started building on his own. As soon as he put the first stone in place, a hand came and helped him place the next one. He turned around to see a beautiful little girl. He asked her, “Miss, what’s your name?” She said, “Hello my friend, I am Alimru. I live in the house on the hill. I saw you working alone and came along. Do you need some help?”. The little boy thanked her and both of them started working. With such a great company, they never realized when it was dark and then Alimru said, “It was nice working with you and I will come again tomorrow. I might be a bit late as I have my MBA prep classes at 6 and we then have practice for our softball finals, but I will join you by 9 for sure”. The little boy was fumbling for words and went back home. Soon this became a routine and Alimru came every day to help little boy realize his dream. Meanwhile, Alirmu scored an 800 in GMAT and her team won the softball. The little boy was cheering her from the first row. One late evening, they finally finished and Alirmu said, “Dear, what do we do for the light?” Both of them giggled and went zooming into the sky, beyond Milky Way and plucked one of the brightest stars. They came back and placed the star on the light house. It was looking fabulous and they decided to go for a walk along the beach. The phosphorescence of the water and the lighthouse beams created a mystic surrounding. Suddenly, the beam stopped right on them and both just stopped where they were.

They celebrated the opening day under the starry sky on the beach with cool breeze blowing. The menu was selected by the little boy. They had Palak Paneer, Crunchy Salmon sushi, broccoli and asparagus salad, Mapo Tofu, Coconut Shimp and many more with Chocolate Mousse and Rasgullas for dessert. The caterpillar, Her Majesty Hermione I, Simba, Artim, Idnas, Blutu, Dnohs everybody had come down for the occasion. But of course nobody could take their eyes off Alimru!!