2011: The Year that Brought...

     Finally it is the last day of 2011! We saw a lot happening this year. I personally saw a lot and so the world. We have lived the year with a smile, a giggle, a hearty laugh and with teary eyes. We lived the year with mixed emotions. At the end of the year, when I look back I am confused whether to be happy or sad. This year, indeed was a special year with spectacular happenings around the globe. Yes, we saw a lot, felt proud for something and something which left us disheartened.

    Bidding farewell to this year, let us have a peek in the past. The year brought a lot of changes in the world. The change that gave hope, the change that had public support and the change which was in the name of democracy. No, I am not only talking about Anna Hazare’s protest against Corruption in India. There were some more mega-revolutions which shook the world, for better!

     The year took a flight with the first revolution of the year, #EgyptianRevolution. This fight for ‘freedom’ began on 25^th Jan against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. This revolution gave the world a kick-start with protests erupting throughout Egypt. This fight is still on against the Egyptian government for the Freedom of Speech, Freedom from Police Brutality and Freedom from Corruption. The mass protest at Tahrir square united the whole Egypt against the ‘evils’ of the society.

     The Egyptian Revolution set an example for the world and thus gave rise to another revolution, #TheLibyanRevolution! The revolution which began on 15^th Feb 2011 came to an end on 23^rd October with the end of a dictator, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi! The anti-Gaddafi movement finally saw the face of victory with the death of Colonel Gaddafi in the hands of his rebels. The 8 month 3 weeks long revolution against dictatorship gave the world a hope and proved Hellen Keller’s quote, ‘Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much!’ to be true.

     This awakened the Indian Social activist Anna Hazare to unite the nation in the name of #IndiaAgainstCorruption. The movement took momentum on 5^th April 2011 with the hunger strike. The protest is losing its importance now but it had a really great start which brought the youth and the citizens together. The 74 year old activist joined hands with Arvind Kejriwal and ex-cop Kiran Bedi to fight the corruption in the society. The movement was quite different from the previous revolutions as it was a non-violent protest or you can say, ‘a bloodless war.’ The movement is going on since 8 weeks and 2 months.

     How can we forget the much talked revolution! ‘We are the 99%’ #TheOccupyMovement, which took off on September 17^th, has spread worldwide. The movement against Economic Depression and social inequality started with Occupy Wall Street of New York City which received a wide coverage in the media industry is now happening in more than 2700 towns and cities including Australia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, UK, Israel and many more. The Occupy movement had not a specific goal but in November, the London contingent of the movement released a statement that it was to end Tax invasions by wealthy firms. The goals are yet not clear and the media is still debating on what the issues actually are.

     Apart from the revolutions for a better society, 2011 witnessed the biggest victory of humanity; the victory in Abbottabad on 2^nd May where the most wanted terrorist Osama Bin Laden was shot dead. Thanks to US Force! The Devil kept the Intelligence agencies chasing him for several years but finally he was destined to kill. The world (includes only peace-lovers) cherished on his death. It came as a biggest good news for everyone.

     Now when you have read about the revolutions and saw 2011 as a year of protests, let us see what we lost in 2011! 2011 took with it our masterminds like Steve Jobs, Shammi Kapoor, Devanand and much much more.

Steve Jobs (24^th Feb 1955- 5^th Oct 2011):

     The death of Steve jobs left people speechless. It was the shock that 2011 gave by taking away the most influential and most admired CEO the world has ever seen. The man who brought change in the world of technology left the world with his amazing inventions. He needs no introduction as Steve Jobs was himself a revolution.

Maqbool Fida Husain (17^th Sep 1915- 9^th June 2011):

     We lost the tech-man and we lost the man in white beard with a paint brush. Yes, I am talking about M F Husain. I remember the day when I woke up to the headlines of MF Husain’s death. India had lost one of his greatest artists. The barefoot artist who once painted film posters for six annas per square foot came to be known as the Picasso of India.

Devanand (26^th Sep 1923- 3^rd Dec 2011):

     India’s Evergreen Star debuted with Ziddi(1948) which became an instant hit. He won various awards and also honoured as Padma Bhushan in 2001. Devanand breathed his last in London.

 Amy Winehouse (14^th Sep 1983- 23^rd July2011):

     The singer-songwriter who sang about love and rehab died at the age of 27. Amy received 23 awards in her musical career and was nominated for 60. She succumbed to an alcohol binge at her residence.

Elizabeth Taylor (27^th Feb 1932-23^rd March 2011):

     Taylor debuted the screen at the age of 9 with the movie, There’s One Born Every Minute. Elizabeth Taylor was known for her beauty, won 3 Oscars and is regarded as The Greatest actress of Hollywood’s Golden Age. She had 53 books subjected to her in 2006.

Jagjit Singh (8^th Feb 1941- 10^th Oct 2011):

     Jagjit Singh rose to fame in 1970s when the there were ghazal singers ruling the list. He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2003. He had sung in movies too.

Shammi Kapoor (21^st Oct 1931- 14^th Aug 2011):

     Prominent lead actor of Bollywood Shammi Kapoor made his debut with the film Jeevan Jyoti. He acted in movies like An Evening in Paris, Dil Tera Deewana, Junglee, Kashmir ki Kali and much more. And he bid goodbye to the world after he suffered a kidney failure.

     2011 was a journey with joy and thrills. At the end of the year I am confused to decide what exactly the year was. The whole world is talking about what had happened in the year. Will 2012 bring some good news? Will 2012 be the year of change? Will 2012 bring prosperity for everyone? Well, we have to wait for that and expect a good time ahead.

                                           Bye Bye 2011!!! 

The Different Men in Society

The society sees them as a different species. Some do not have any problem with them while some are uncomfortable in their presence. I have met some people who were not straight. I personally never had a problem with them being a part of society; after all they are also humans. But many of us do look at them as they are Martians. Why?? Don’t they have a right to do what they feel is right? Don’t they have the freedom to live ‘their life’ the way they want?

We live in a society which habituates people of different thoughts and perspectives. Some may feel friendly with gay men, while some may not. Ask yourself: how did you react when you saw a man walking in a girly way? The probable answer is that you laughed or grin thinking, “that guy is gay.”

We as humans are always very curious to know what’s going on in someone’s life and we are more curious to know about homosexuals. And question them as they are some strange creatures. Our questions make them feel uncomfortable, unknowingly; we do hurt them many a times. Stats show that two out of five LGBT youth do not feel safe in school because they fear being questioned about their sexuality.

Many of the normal men fear of homosexuals, actually, that cannot be even termed as fear, the word should be hatred. The hatred for them many a times takes a deadly phase. I read about a news article about such an incident. The news was: ‘Man beheaded a homosexual because of shame.’ The man had sex with him and was shameful for what he did. He hated it and thus he killed his partner. Even in schools and colleges most of the people are not gay-friendly. They try to avoid them, leaving a psychological impact of their minds. They are not accepted by their families and sometimes not in their friends’ circle. This pressurizes them to commit suicide. Some homosexuals are brave enough to fight the situation but not everyone is.  Another study says: Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual youth were more than four times as likely to report being threatened with a weapon on a school property.

I also read an article by an 18 year old gay. He wrote, “In my country being gay is not only a sin, if you are gay you’re considered sub-human.  No possible penance. I was once told that the only way to “heal” a homosexual is... with a bullet through the head. ” He concluded by writing, “It’s just so hard not being able to be who you are in front of people, it’s so hard measuring your every word, your every move so that you don’t slip up. If anyone knew, my life would be over.”

Read each of his words carefully. How lonely and fearful he is! The article by that boy shows what kind of status do homosexuals get in that country. He didn’t mention the name of his country but it shows how homosexuals are treated over there. Can’t we show some love towards them? Some choose to be gay while some are forced into it because of the situations. You might be wondering how the situations force a person to be gay. I have the answer, Out of many instances I read about homosexuals and other members of LGBT community, most of them went through SEXUAL ABUSE. Many of them complained they were sexually abused in their childhood, either by family members or someone else. The childhood which was meant for them to play with toys, they were used as ‘toys’ instead.

The society has a lot of myths about the LGBT community. They are portrayed in a very ‘cheap’ way in various forms of media. You must have noticed in many movies and TV shows, the Gay character in the movie always had his hand bent downwards. It is not necessary that all gays love to walk like that and have a hand posture in that way.

Another myth is that homosexuals are sex addicts. I heard this from many of my friends. Let me remind you the myth which states: Men think about sex every 7 seconds (which is not universally true.) Some men might think about sex most of the time but it would be unfair to say that ‘All’ men keeps thinking about sex. This theory applies in this case too. Not all gay men are sex addicts and it would be inappropriate to term Homosexuals as Sex-addicts.

          They are no different from our society and I believe they deserve the same rights and happiness which we do. They deserve to live and not crushed beneath our feet.  I know we live in a society, a society, where a single thought cannot change the thousand minds. But there’s a word called “TRY” and I want to.