COMING CLEAN WITH THE NEXT GENERATION

Ever since we were old enough to utter our own words, we’ve been dealing with a fair amount of obfuscation about the realities of life. “Better to tell the children a nice fairy tale now,” the grown-ups thought, “and let them be horrified by the gravity of the situation when they’re older.” Its high time, we fed the next Generation with the hard hitting Truths.

1. A Mug of Beer does not make you an alcoholic.

2. If you did things the first time you were told, you’d waste a lot less of your own time.

3. Your generation will be embarrassed when you join Facebook.

4. Sunny Leone is Not an Actress.

5. Everyone feels like a dork in middle school.

6. Following Manchester City isn't cool.

7. Failure isn’t the pillar to success. Once a Failure, Always a Failure.

8. You can’t be anything you want to be.

9. It’s not my fault you’re bored.

10. I let you win at chess.

11. School and College are not equivalent.

12. Being a Twenty Something doesn’t make us very Old. We are still young!

13. Top Ramen, at 5-10rupees, is vastly underrated as a food group and is an appropriate meal any time of day; breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

14. Alcohol doesn’t taste bad. It becomes a necessity later onwards.

15. There is NO such thing as a Participation Trophy. If you are not in a Podium Finish, you are a Loser.

16. JK Rowling is a woman and Sidney Sheldon is a Man.

17. Pro wrestling/WWE is fake.

18. It is not a fun game to see how angry you can make each other.

19. Money ACTUALLY doesn’t grow on trees.

20. A belt will keep your pants up.

21. A naptime isn’t a punishment; not an unnecessary activity whose only purpose is to prevent you from playing outside with your friends or watching more television. Naptime is the BEST time, and should be taken advantage of at every possible occasion.

22. Your Education doesn’t just end at your 12^th grade. It’s just getting started.

23. Kissing and Intercourse are totally different things.

24. Sucking up to your superior helps.

25. Your parents don’t always have all the answers to the questions of the universe. Shock of all shocks, your parents are people just like you. Sometimes they know what’s best, sometimes they don’t (sometimes You’ll listen, sometimes You won’t).

26. Not all of you’re going to grow up and find your very own Prince Charming/Princess Sexy to marry.

27. Super Contra is the coolest Video Game ever.

28. When watching a movie you’ve seen but I haven’t, there’s this thing called a “spoiler alert.”

29. Lady Gaga is not a lady. She is something else.

30. Justin Bieber and Falguni Pathak aren’t Rockstars.

31. Your mother is the most important person in the world.

32. There’s a difference between someone being nice and someone being rich.

33. Ten minutes of spelling homework is not “a ton”.

34. “Sucks” is a useless word. It doesn’t describe anything.

35. Your life does not suck. Wait until you turn 23.

36. Social Networking & Having a I-Phone can’t be listed in your resume!

37. There are 151 Pokémon. Period.

38. You never get to chase your own dreams. You ALWAYS end up chasing someone else’s.

39. Your friends will change.

40. So will your beliefs and you.

I guess, as a kid, I used to believe that my beliefs would never change. Now that I’m almost turning into an uncle(A kid literally addressed me as such!), I believe they’ll never stop changing. And I believe that’s what growing up is all about. Happy New Year.

BBSR MUTE CANDLE MARCH : AS IT HAPPENED.

There’s no such thing as an event going smoothly as planned. A trouble-free event is fast becoming a myth. After countless meetings with the volunteers, the day arrived.

4:20 – A raging Ankita calls me up – “ I told you to be punctual ! Its 4:30 nearly and no-one is here yet!”
The same Ankita who came up with the lines “Girls – Neither safe in wombs nor in streets”.
4:45 - The Police Permit issue was turning into a real head scratcher. Pratik, Aditya,Sanket Bhai, Ranjan, Sworoop and me were all over BBSR, hunting down commissionerate offices.
5:15 – The rally is about to begin and the crowd management team led by Anurag & Sidhant were doing an excellent job.
5:40 – The Mute March starts, led beautifully by Smita didi, just as we arrive with the Police Permit License. Phew !!

6:30 – Reached Master Canteen. Goutam, Anuvav , Sayan and co working furiously to distribute all leaflets that had a clear message to spread awareness with Amresh & Ajay providing water.
The contents of the leaflets in summary – WHAT CAN A GIRL DO -
# Don’t let rape become a taboo at home. Open up to your parents & have discussions regarding rapes. Awareness, Alertness & Education is the only way we can defeat this.
# Keep a pepper spray handy. Available at all chemists. Costs around 300. Can save lives.
# Stay alert while travelling in autos & buses. Inform your family & friends beforehand whilst travelling.
# Have the police helpline 100 as a speed dial contact.

 6:50 – There was a power cut along the PMG line. You can make out all the candle-shining-in-dark stuff.
7:10 – Candles were planted and the banner was signed by all participants.
7:30 – A 2 minute mourning & last message from Sanket Mishra.
7:40 – Autos were arranged for return-transport.

The world may not have ended, as many had predicted on 21^st Dec, but the humanity sure is on the path of destruction.

And how this will march help? No it won’t stop rapes, because there are people who still don’t believe rapes can be stopped. Some are just a part of a large group of people,  that just can’t think of anything to do, so they rant and shout. Please next time someone is getting abused in front of you, take a stand. And maybe then we will believe you. Until then, let people believe in things. To all those non-believers, I truly believe that if we had met in a different place, at a different place, under different circumstances you’d still be an asshole.

Like Sanket Mishra said, “We are saying we have been made mute. And yes, the hope is that this muteness is not something we are happy with. And yes, your reaction is exactly what we want from people once the mute rally is over. Once the rally is over, the actual work begins. We want to spread the awareness of what women, can do to break out of the mute pain!”

Rapes & Mugging incidents are fast becoming some sort of a trend here at Bhubaneswar as well. It’s high time we gave a fuck. I know these rapists are pure evil.  But here’s a message to all those who just keep on ranting non-believers – You guys should have been just a blowjob, let alone being born. Its guys like you, that should remind people to take birth controls and use condoms. If you’re not going to get off of your lazy ass & fix a problem, then shut the fuck up and get over it.

We all have personal issues that trouble us in our daily life. But it was really over-whelming when 400 people turned up to join hands with us, leaving all their personal troubles at home. Guys like Smikash and his friends had even turned up from Cuttack. This is just the beginning. We are working hard for newer ideas and intend to implement them as quickly as possible.

The job isn’t done here. This rally is just a baby step. Spread awareness and stay safe. We are here to help. Cheers.

Being a Chandler Bing fan, I am urged to finish this amateurish piece (written in 20mins) on a comic note.
“Whoever had predicted the world to end on 21^st December, had gotten it wrong. The world is supposed to end on 21.12.2112. Getting the pattern? We still have a 100 years !"