Dheeraj Kalgutkar

  The title is a comment under  Sabhi Kuch Hai Tera Diya Hua  Ghazal sung by Iqbal Bano and penned by Faiz Ahmad Faiz.   Iqbal Bano has sung select verses from Faiz’s ghazal. Full ghazal and its English translation are below. The translation is from me and is of course not perfect or anywhere close to poetic brilliance of Faiz but is only offered for those who don’t understand Urdu and can get some idea about what Faiz is trying to say. सभी कुछ है तेरा दिया हुआ सभी राहतें सभी कुल्फ़तें कभी सोहबतें कभी फ़ुर्क़तें कभी दूरियाँ कभी क़ुर्बतें All comforts, all hardships, everything is granted by you Moments of togetherness, separation, at times distance and intimacy ये सुख़न जो हम ने रक़म किए ये हैं सब वरक़ तिरी याद के कोई लम्हा सुब्ह-ए-विसाल का कोई शाम-ए-हिज्र की मुद्दतें The pages that I have filled are in your memory Some moments of morning’s union, some of evening’s separation जो तुम्हारी मान लें नासेहा तो रहेगा दामन-ए-दिल में क्या न किसी अदू की अदावतें न किसी सनम की ...

    As per the Indian government, India is teeming with infiltrators (ghuspaithi). These illegal people have entered across India in Bihar, Jharkhand, Bengal, Kerala and so on. And they are in large numbers. They, as per the Home Minister, the Prime Minister and other important people in the Indian government, come from Bangladesh, Pakistan and elsewhere. They are, according to the Indian government again, a threat to India. Most of the problems that India faces today are because of them. I’m using the Indian government here to refer to statements or information shared by Prime Minister Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and other important people part of the Indian Government. After all, if the Prime Minister and Home Minister’s word isn’t a word from the nation itself, then whose word would be said as a word from the nation?   Infiltrators to become majority in Jharkhand in 25–30 years if unchecked: Amit Shah He also criticised the state government for “vote bank” politics a...

  Billboards promoting investment in rental properties and urban studios, reflecting the growing real estate market amid rising rents. Notice in the above image how the billboard targets the investors who will buy and rent this property instead of home owners who will buy and stay in it. It promises assured returns more than what banks offer for your savings. The targets are not home-owners and families who would stay in it, but those who would buy and rent it out as an investment; it is sold as an opportunity to make money. This was not always like this. In past, renting a house was never a business someone was in. You just ended up with extra property by virtue of your moving due to work or other reasons, and so you rented it out to someone in need. Due to this, the prices were always reasonable. The amount was not enough to make you rich, nor did the owner see it as a money-making enterprise. It was just some extra money they received, and someone made use of what was otherwise...

  “ A 25-year-old Hindu man was allegedly strangled to death in Rajasthan’s Dausa district for trying to stop three men from applying colour on him during Holi celebration”. Every year on Holi, we hear news reports of molestation and non-consensual touches. Year after year these stories have become so widespread and familiar that now we have got subconsciously wired to simply ignore them and move on with our lives. “Holi hai!” (It’s Holi!) is a cry that is shouted, and like clockwork, anyone would come, apply colour to you and proceed further to the next person. Implicit in that cry is, all is well, or all goes on Holi. But in recent years, incidents of communal nature have added themselves to the long list of Holi complaints. Protecting law and order is the job of the police. A murder by a murderer can be stopped in two ways: either you control the situation such that the murderer does not get the opportunity to commit the crime, or you do the murder yourself, leaving the...

  I too live by the river Our river though is not sacred It is still clean Perhaps it's the fate of sacred rivers to be dirty We too go to our river to swim We don't take dips, we swim and swim till our lungs and legs can no longer hold And we run from our river only when our mothers holler our names There are no flowers floating in our river No oil lamps float in our river too We don't even leave our dead in our river Our river is not sacred like yours We still love our river though It feeds us, it nurtures us Do you think our river misses being sacred? Do you think your river likes being sacred?  

  There is uproar on social media right now over the Beer biceps joke at Samay Raina's popular show India's Got Latent. Ranveer asked the guy on stage "If he had to choose between watching his parents have coitus the rest of his life or to join one time and end it, which one would he choose?". The episode of the show is now pulled down by youtube after notice from the I&B ministry of the Indian government. One, he has said far more objectionable things on his podcast and elsewhere that did not tip the scale for social media patrons to object. I'll revisit this point. Two, why do you think is his latest joke objectionable? And yes, I'll still call it a joke because he meant and thought it was a joke. We can then classify it as a bad joke, obscene joke etc but it is a joke nonetheless. But why was this objectionable? The premise or foundational basis of the joke is a belief that children don't like the idea of their parents having sex. The joke is b...