La-Whore
This is a picture of heera mandi , the red light area of Lahore, Pakistan.
The hand indicates where the brothel begins.
Credit: Kriti Gupta
Candid Canvas
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Did you know the reality behind these DU misconceptions?
1. Fashion: Dressing sense, no bars. Wardrobe revamping for the new session? Hear, hear. Before fashionastas jump to conclusions and come up with the next session campus couture, let us make it clear for all. DU does not believe in following so and so trend predicted by so and so designers. With all due respect to national dailies, Delhi University refuses to abide by their “must-haves” and “campus fundas”, and remains the quintessential free spirited campus, where fashion is (not)concerned! Yeah, college is all about wearing what you like, whichever way you like.
2. Love-shove, et al.: Ah, Bollywood fillums, you know. I could never fathom this one, why did they (read directors, producers) always think college was this place for puppy love, candlyfloss and bubblegum chewing yuppies? I mean yes, we love love and all the other things associated, but then, there is a lot more to us than boy-meets-girl stories, for Christ’s sake.
3. Academics and DU: Do not, ever, fall into the dark with this one. You will pay, and heavily too. College is fun, frolic and fantastic, but not all the time. We study. Whoever said college is all play and no work? No, it was not always about bunking classes, like our dear celebrities so happily announce!
4. Nonsense abbreviations: K’nags (Kamla Nagar) and BTMs (read behenji-turned-mods) is understandable, but GJs? Seriously now, when did Gulab Jamuns become shortened to that? And, “fucchas”. For my life, I never heard any sadistic senior address any hapless fresher with this word.
5. Rivalry, eh? : Okay, we may have grudges against so and so college; however, it definitely isn’t as pronounced as the world around us projects it to be. Some of the best friendships are forged across the common wall, and some of the best activity/society partners are made yonder.
6. Girls’ Colleges: Guys on motorbikes circling girls-only colleges, did you actually ever see that happen? No. We are not talking about the shady Delhi-ite here, but still, this is one sight I am yet to come across in campus. Nah, college was not that romantic ever.
7. “Happening crowd”: Agreed, college is cool and hip and all that, but honestly, it’s overrated. University is a mixed bunch almost always, so we do have a fair share of wannabe Rakhi Sawants and Rannvijays. Isn’t that what going to college is all about? Meeting your (in)famous celebrities right there!
The t-shirt slogan splashed across the media waves certainly did not fail to catch the attention of the masses, the only major difference perhaps this time being that it did not have the right to be questioned. And with these words has finally risen the once oppressed society of the homosexuals, which has taken the first step to move away from physical, mental and societal seclusion to a real, more equal world; anonymous letters of complaint and blog posts having given way to pride parades and revealed identities, and shame to confidence.
Besides, the calling should have come to us much earlier, as Britain despite leaving a section of India under 160 years of hostility and subjugation legalized homosexuality in England and Wales way back in 1967. But all’s well that ends well… or does it?
A lot of people clearly haven’t taken the High Court’s decision to decriminalize homosexuality down too well, the factors ranging from religious to personal, some even claiming it to be an irrelevant issue altogether. To this, Aditi Jain, a second year student of Gargi College says, “Tell that to the many sexuality minorities who as victims of a hypocritical, half- baked law get beaten up, harassed and/ or humiliated by the society and authorities alike.” Also, the various historical texts in India seem to defy the cause of protests staged on religious and cultural fronts. As found in Same Sex Love in India: Readings from Literature and History by Ruth Vanita and Saleem Kidwai, formerly lecturers in Delhi University, evidences of homosexuality have been found in literature going back two thousand years into history, and traces of increasing homophobia were only seen after the nineteenth century as a result of the rising influence of colonial legacy and infliction of Victorian morality with the passing of anti-sodomy laws, one example being that of heterosexualisation of qawali poetry which till before colonisation also celebrated homoerotic love.
Times have certainly changed since then. However, fact remains that acceptance of the law and the community will still be limited to the metropolitans where the luxury of approval and retreat lies directly proportional to one’s resources, slowly evaporating as it permeates to still minor places where ignorance eclipses needs. Thus; the least we can do as conscious citizens is give everyone achance to lead a normal life, the normal way. As for the people who’re still finding it hard to swallow, the fact that the act is both legal and consensual leaves nothing to be disputed about.
Besides, jab miya miya raazi, toh kya karega qazi.
5.Hire a beefy bodyguard and hide behind him at any sign of trouble
4. Chin up, chest out. Strut around like you’re Sylvester Stallone from Rambo and look everyone straight in the eye. You can even nick your little brother’s toy guns and keep twisting them around in your hands cowboy-style for added effect.
3. Hang a camera around your neck. If any seniors approach you, just say you’re there for sight-seeing, get a photo clicked with them and walk off whistling.
2. If you come across any seniors ragging luckless newbies like yourself, just join the seniors, laughing and back-slapping them like you’ve known them all your life. Punch them playfully on the shoulders and drop in suggestions. Soon they’ll be treating you in the college canteen!
1. Get bodypainting done in the colours of your college and merge with the walls to avoid detection
Not as black as it seems…
Economic slowdown? There’s no such thing, not in India at least. While the world’s financial leaders sat amidst the ruins of their corporations, Indian business continued much as before, even showing slight increase in some sectors. Statistics show that India’s economic slowdown managed to ease and become non existent during the first quarter itself, contrary to expectations and despite the slide in manufacturing and job availability. The Indian economy grew 5.8 percent from a year earlier in the first three months of 2009 and finance, insurance and real estate expanded by 9.5 percent in the January-March quarter, faster than the 8.3 percent growth clocked in the previous quarter. This is because India’s main industries and major money sectors such as real estate managed to buoy the economy, even making progress amidst sluggish world economies. The secret to their magnificent maneuvering of difficult times however is no compliment to our economy. In fact it is just the opposite for it is the robust black economy of India which has kept our industry from getting its feet wet.
An India development report, the latest study of the black market undertaken by the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR) in 1999-2000 estimated the total amount of black money in the country to be Rs 3, 54,000 crore in 1999 when India’s GDP was Rs 17, 70,000, making it 20 percent of the GDP. However this is merely the official report. Economists estimate black money to comprise almost half of the Indian economy now, their hypothesis stemming from the fact that the black money component in real estate transactions are a fairly accurate indication of the black money present in the economy, and the component is currently around 50-60 percent.
Black money enters the system for a variety of reasons, of which corruption is not an insignificant part. However quite a bit of black money is pooled in due to evasion of taxes, levies, excise and duties on the part of major manufacturing, road transport and other companies. Cash transactions, which are again unaccounted for money, make up almost half of current financial dealings, especially in the real estate, electronic goods and transportation departments. The film industry is a regular boost to the parallel economy as are personal incomes and the various illegal industries. Even the recent elections greatly benefited the black economy, since each election produces between 10.99 billion to11.33 billion dollars of black money, as shown by a study conducted by the CMIE (Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy) in 2006. In other words our Black economy is thriving. However, this may not be a bad thing.
It is in difficult times when legal business earns a low return or the white economy slows down, that the cash economy can greatly turn the table and steady the situation. As a result of the global crash, cash transactions are on the rise, with certain sectors such as real estate even forcing buyers to deal in black money when their sources are in fact legitimate. The currency holding by people has also seen a tremendous rise, as revealed by Reserve Bank of India data, and is a direct proof of the rising cash market. Since the credit market has deteriorated, cash transactions are growing by over 30 percent and are taking hold of the economy, this change also effectively keeping the economy afloat. Commercial dealings have reverted to cash, even in case of ordinary home purchase, and as a result, even the sale of luxury items such as expensive electronic home goods has seen an improvement, as revealed by the continued growth in high end consumer durables like the LG Electronics spurt in sale of LCDs.
Black money suddenly ceased looking so black, and came as a boon to our economy. It effectively cushioned the economic crisis, simply because transactions being mainly conducted through cash, the downturn has affected only the black money which was unaccounted to begin with. A perfect example of this would be the home mortgage crisis which so severely afflicted the USA but left India unscathed. Since real estate dealings are done largely with black money on which no loans can be obtained and which cannot affect the sub-prime market, the crash in land prices did not majorly cripple our white economy.
The black market has always been posited as a problem, but now it has suddenly become a solution. While this in no way excuses the disgracefully flagrant black economy, it can at least be a reason to delay the curing of the economy. Black money need must be evicted from the system, if only to end this ridiculously embarrassing situation where the government is forced to be grateful for it. However one can hardly blame the citizens for muttering a short lived but fervent prayer of thanks for this malignant factor which saved the livelihood of many.