Amid this gloom and falsehood, if only Santa could fulfil some small wishes this Christmas!

Nah, no New Year greetings from me to you. There is little to celebrate. Nothing much to look forward to. Nothing to talk about except of the gloom and the falsehood spreading out

(Representative Image) Farmers protesting at Delhi’s Singhu border (Photo by Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
(Representative Image) Farmers protesting at Delhi’s Singhu border (Photo by Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
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Humra Quraishi

Amid gloom and sorrow, another year takes off!

Nah, no New Year greetings from me to you. There is little to celebrate. Nothing much to look forward to. Nothing to talk about except of the gloom and the falsehood spreading out.

Coronavirus is just one aspect. The political scenario is another of those worrying aspects. There are offshoots taking off. One of the absolutely worrying offshoots is fake news. It is nothing but poison. With the godi media spreading out its fangs, it’s time to counter the sheer propaganda.

In fact, the farmers collective sitting determinedly at the Delhi borders have already started publishing a newsletter or one could call it a small-sized newspaper - ‘The Trolley Times’ - focusing only on facts and with that countering the fake news.

It is about time we get back to those ‘Avadh Punch’ days when many decades back the agitated Indians vent their anger and disgust against the Brittish rulers through their very own Lucknow based publication – The Avadh Punch. The popularity of the Avadh Punch venture can be judged from the fact that within a short span this publication had spread out and was published from several other states of the country. Caricatures and cartoons, verse and prose captured the mood of the Indians against the then Brit rulers. There was that full – fledged focus to protect our land and our very existence from the then rulers.

Look around, and see how today the farmers of the country are trying to protect their lands from the moves of the present day sarkar! They are worried and apprehensive and unsure of what the future holds out for them. There is a strange unease in the air, sorrow of the worst sorts holding out. The farmers are little believing any of those so called sarkari promises. They are seeing through the gimmicks and ploys.

If only even a fraction of those proposed promises were put into action then perhaps creases could have settled. But, nah, there are huge gaps between the ground reality and the promised.

If only on this Christmas Day, Santa Claus could come up with some little ‘ gifts’ for the aggrieved! None of the public relations exercises but immediate relief and redressal.

If only the three controversial Farm Bills get rolled back and all those farmers who passed away during this ongoing struggle could be given the due status of a martyr! Also, there are hundreds of farmers whose livelihoods have got ruined during this long protest. Sitting in the cold, leaving back their farms and fields for days and weeks at a stretch. Has the sarkar even bothered to find out what happens to the surviving farmers and their families?

If only the 83 year old Jesuit priest, Father Stan Swamy could get immediate bail on humanitarian grounds. He is ailing, affected by the Parkinson’s disease, yet he sits languishing in a prison cell.


If only there were less of speeches for the students of the Aligarh Muslim University and more of looking into the police atrocities on the students of this university. Just about a year back, writ large were those visuals of the cops and the local goons thrashing the university students. Has there been any follow up on the condition of those students who were brutally injured and their academic year destroyed due to the police atrocities? Have any of the administrative heads been questioned if not suspended for ruining the lives of these students?

If only there could have been any follow up on those students of the JNU and the Jamia Millia University who were just about a year back brutally attacked by Right- Wing goons together with the cops. Have we bothered to find out where and how are they? No we haven’t. Because we only believe in giving speeches.

If only hapless children on the street could be reached out to, hundreds of our street children could have been saved from the clutches of the mafia. The rising numbers of the kidnapped and lost and abused children scare you and me but perhaps not the sarkar!

If only there were less of the private senas unleashed by the political rulers of the day then, perhaps, the minorities could live without those everyday fears denting their very existence.

If only there were less of the contrived and the fake and more of the genuine then, perhaps , there would be fewer of those painful cries, spreading around from all possible quarters.

Tell me, in such a hopeless scenario how can one coo a very happy new year! At least I’m unable to do so!

Vinod Pande’s special gift on his 80th birthday!

The only happening sphere in these dark times is the fact that the creative lot has been trying hard to hold on to their genius. In fact, this August when the veteran film director and producer, Vinod Pande, commented that he’s going to give himself a gift on his 80th birthday, one thought he’d be buying himself the mundane! Nah, I stood corrected when he detailed that he is coming up with many more creative projects. New creative gifts for himself and also for us!

Yes, sleek sophisticated productions from this 80 year old film maker who doesn’t believe in halting any of his creative passions. For him age seems just a number, as he does just about everything himself, including driving around in a city like Mumbai! Call him a one man wonder, as he rather too passionately details his ongoing and upcoming new projects –

“First of all, comes our feature film ‘Undertaker’, which is ready and we shall begin the preparations for its release soon. The second one is our web series ‘Obsessions’ which has been partially shot already. We shall soon release its pilot episode which is now ready in all respects. We are already work in progress on our Pod show, ‘Thodee See Mohabbat, ‘Thodee See Shararat’. We are also continuing to produce our informational and motivational videos– Four Finger Formula, Film Essence, Har- Dil- Azeez, and Journey. Besides a new digital platform in the VOD module is going to launch all my earlier films to date except the new one. Then, I have to soon launch the publication of my third novel ‘ Destiny’ which has been ready for quite some time.”

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