Why Clubs In DELHI Do Not Allow STAG Entry?

[Stag: A person who attends a social gathering unaccompanied by a partner, especially a man who is unaccompanied by a woman.]

Ever tried going into a club alone or with your gang of boys? When that lame-looking man at the entry, after having a look, decides not to let you in or ‘politely’ suggests that you hit the lounge area instead? And you go red, with anger or shame, depending on the mood and your nature. But the face at the counter is unrelenting and you have to leave the place. End of story. Huh?

I have been in a similar situation before and I must tell you that it is humiliating at the very least. But then, I had my reasons. I am not a globe-trotter but what I know for sure is that in two cities of United States that I’ve been to, Los Angeles and New York, if you walk into any club, you will not be denied entry just because you’re a lone guy. In fact, more chances are that you’ll find someone to dance with, to talk over a drink, and to have fun. So, when you come back to India and go into a night club with your buddies, only to be denied entry, it sucks real bad!

For example, almost all nightclubs in Delhi have free entry for girls (understandable, though ugly chicks do get through!), charge for couples (ok, I mean I can pay up in this case) and double charge (what the fuck!) or even no-entry for lone guys. How far is this fair? I mean, let girls go in for free, charge guys as much as a couple but let them go in!

But, I was about to tell you why guys don’t get stag entry? The reason is the brute and unruly behavior of guys in Delhi especially when drunk. I really feel ashamed but closer to truth when I say that a sizable chunk of single guys in Delhi are sex starved and frustated, ready to pounce upon any girl they find ‘available’. If you make a video of how these ‘men’ behave, it would make you smile in disgust for long.

I have to drop all my female friends within meters of their houses to ensure their safety. This is after an incident in which my friend got verbally abused by neighborhood goons (in a posh Delhi locality!) I can’t travel comfortably with my partner in Delhi Metro with hoards of males trying to get a piece of ‘action’ by getting close to her. Such is the state of affairs in ‘Dilwalon ki Dilli’!

Well, I think this and I think that. But at the end of it all, I thank god for the policy of not granting a stag entry!

[How did you like the article? Do you feel stag entry should be allowed? Feel free to comment below!]

 

GAY-PRIDE PARADE, DELHI

[Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are author's own. If you have any objections to the contents of this post, keep them to yourself.]

All right! Lets begin.

June 29, 2008: Around 800 people from different walks of life gather in New Delhi for a common cause. They rally for acceptance, respect, to break the ice, and to make the society know of their presence. The occasion was Gay-Pride Parade, first of its kind in India. This was a radical change for Indian Society which has traditionally been conservative and especially hush-hush in the issues concerning sex and sexuality.

Where parents decide the partner for most people, love marriage has a hard time getting accepted, the condition of a person talking about him or her being homosexual can only be inadequately imagined. I mean, if I were gay, there would be no way I would be able to tell, let alone explain, my parents about it. It is a ‘unacceptable’ departure from so-called values of the Indian social system. Such is the situation even today.

So, it is quite brave for these men and women to come out in open and let the world know of their sexuality. I can understand why some of them decided to wear masks but still appreciate their effort to come out in the open. As I imagine, most people there would be/have been uncomfortable telling that they were gay/lesbian to their friends and family. Even in a modernizing India, it is hard for people to accept such a thing. Call it our closed-mindedness or give it any other tag but it remains a fact.

I’m a hardcore proponent of individual freedom and hence, believe that everyone has a right to choose according to their wish as long as it doesn’t hurt others. I do not endorse homosexuality but at the same time, do not loathe it either by giving a lame explanation that it is against law of nature etc etc. If one of my friends comes up to me and tell me he is gay, I would not be shocked or angered, instead, I would accept him the way he is (I mean, his sexuality shouldn’t change our friendship unless of course he is attracted towards me!) Least of all things would I ever think of telling him about what ‘God’ would think of all this.

Also, in a nation run by laws written in 1800’s, I do not expect the law concerning ‘unnatural sexual intercourse’ (SECTION 377 IPC, which currently includes homosexuality!) to change for another 50-100 years. There are a million other things queued up before that. Also, the change is expected to be gradual. But as they say, closing your eyes doesn’t alter the truth. What we need to do today is to recognize that there are people in our society who are different in terms of their sexual preferences and that we should adopt an open-minded and liberal attitude towards them, and make them feel a part of our society by letting go of our prejudices.

After all, modernization doesn’t only mean change of clothes or attitude, it means a change of mind-set and ideologies too!

(PHOTO COURTESY: Top-right - PTI; Middle-left - The Economist)

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Another year ticks by…

This vacation marked the fourth anniversary of my life in Delhi. I must say it’s been quite an exciting ride, full of ups and downs, twists and turns, but when I look back, it’s all been worth it!

No matter how much they try, emulating the roller-coaster called life is difficult to the extent of being impossible. I just wish that this coming year goes smooth and sassier than before! It actually seems quite difficult because of a major kick-ass examination that’s coming up. But lets hope that I get through easily.

Ok! That’s all for now. I’ll write more about the exam as it comes near because as you can u’stand, it’d be the only thing on my mind then!

P.S. My best wishes also go out to all those students who have been surfing similar tides! Besta’ Luck guys!

 

Kingfisher n RSJ Indian Rock Fest 2008 Kicks off in Style!

Note of Caution:

• If you don’t listen to rock, this might seem a hard post to understand.
• The language is classified: ‘Informal with Slangs‘. Keep your kids away.

As a rock devotee (yeah, fans are a lil’ down in d hierarchy!), you always look for any gig (an art event basically, music, dance, theatre etc) that’s happening in your city. So, when I read about HT City, Kingfisher, and RSJ Indian Rock Fest 2008, I was already jumping up and down, shouting “oh mfkr… it’s back!!!” and my friends had a hard time figuring out what was wrong with me!

The story goes like this - last year, I attended this event and I was left wanting for more since it was the last gig in my city. So, to quench my thirst, I decided not to miss out on any action this time!

For those of you who haven’t got a grip yet, Rock Fest is an annual event consisting of a series of gigs by lesser known rock bands across many clubs, lounges, and pubs in different cities! Sounds gala, believe me, it is!!

Now, the underground scene for rock in India is pretty naive and the mecca can be considered either Bangalore or Mumbai. It’s not your usual Godsmack, Iron Maiden, GNR, LP, Creed like music, it’s lesser known artists who are relatively unexploited in the industry, trying to up their popularity and give the crowd a bang for their buck! Mostly, these artists don’t hesitate to experiment with various genres of music and that’s what is this the fest’s USP! Like just yesterday, I was at this gig where ‘Aurora Jane’ was playing fusion of blues and rock. Must say, it was refreshingly awesome!

Enough said. Few advises though:

1. If you think you are a rock ‘devotee’ (or above!), DON’T YOU FKIN DARE MISS IT!!!
2. While you are there, keep you mind open to entirely new music. You might not like some of it, but as a whole, you won’t be disappointed.
3. The entry is only 100-150 bucks. I don’t think that’s a bad deal for a few hours at a lounge listening to good music!
4. If you have any concerns or need more info, MAIL ME or LEAVE A COMMENT

Yeah, btw, I was at Opus Lounge (Basant Lok, PVR Priya Complex) last night with my friend Jerome. It was the opening gig of Rock Fest ‘08. Lane 9 and Aurora Jane were performing. Frankly, Opus SUCKED. It was hardly the size of my bathroom (actually, just double… that’s it!), crowded, with no place to sit. LANE 9 should have just better fkin killed ‘emselves. Except for the two good tracks, all they did was to literally THROW shit at us! But all the shit was offset by the awesome music by AURORA JANE (Australian Band of International repute in the scene). They showed these miserable fuckers how to do it! Especially the drummer who was a cute hottie wearing full length skirt and banging those drums in style! Oh what an awesome exp that was! I returned a happy joe after all that!

That’s all for now. Stay tuned for the schedule of Rock Fest 08. Coming soon only on NTB!

Love to all metalheads!

 

Helllooooo New York!

Finally, the announcement was made. We had been flying over the outskirts of NY when I woke up. All I could see was an endless array of light bulbs glowing as if a billion lightening bugs were neatly stacked in blocks of varying sizes! The expanse of New York City was something that I had neither seen nor imagined. It was 1145PM on 03/Mar NY time. Our flight landed at the John F. Kennedy International Airport 5 mins later. Seeing the JFK made me realize that the Delhi Airport needs another 100 years to even come close to what JFK is today!

Anyways, we walked through the corridor towards the immigration counter, only to find a line for immigration. As I stood there waiting, I could feel my heart race with excitement about how I was finally here in US, my plans for the next two months and a million other things!! The gentleman at the immigration called out for me, asked why I was here and a few questions later, I was stamped for a max. stay of SIX months in US!!

I had to wait for half an hour for my luggage to arrive, the reason for which, as one could imagine, was that my bags would’ve been placed perhaps at the bottom of the whole stack as I was one of the few people on the flight who were flying from New-Delhi to New York. All that time was utilized in thinking and drafting an emergency backup plan in case my bags didn’t arrive at all!!! (hehe!) Guess what… it takes $3 (Rs. 120) for luggage trolley!! (All I could manage for this was… wtf!!)

I then reached the customs counter, which took away a pre-filled form, asked if I was carrying any food (No points for guessing the answer) and then, I was finally in the USA. I took an AIRTRAIN to the Howard Beach Station. It was an awesome experience riding in a train (slightly smaller than Delhi Metro) which runs on an elevated track (almost making you feel as if in air and hence the name). My friend (Ankit) had come to pick me up. It was getting late (around 1:30AM) and we decided to take a train to reach his house in New Jersey.

More in the next post!

 

International Book Fair 2008

YES!!! After making me wait for sooooo long, the International Book Fair 2008 is finally here. It’s on from 2nd of Feb till 10th of Feb at Pragati Maidan, New-Delhi.

I must say, it keeps getting better and better each year. This time around, there is an increased no. of stalls with an amazing variety of books on display. Of course, the big names are all there.. Penguin, Oxford, Cambridge, Orient-Longman and a lot more.. But what I also liked were stalls from organizations like International Labor Organization (ILO), UNESCO, World Bank etc which can be categorized as unusual yet totally engrossing.

The stalls have a huge collection of the world’s finest literature of authors like Kafka, Toni Morrison, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Anita Desai, Kushwant Singh, John Grisham and hundreds of such great names. There also is a myriad of classics by Leo Tolstoy, Charles Dickens, Ernest Hemingway etc and practically a million other books by lesser known writers. Also, there are stalls from several countries like Russia, Canada, Japan, Spain etc featuring their most famous works.

Overall,  I must say, for book lovers there can be no better place to hang-out this week except the book-fair. Believe me, you’ll thank me that you went!  But if you don’t follow my advice, I’m sure you’ll be sorry for missing out on such an awesome event!!!

- Arpit

 

Flyway…. Memoirs of a Long Drive..

Just a couple of days back, I received a call from one of my friends. Both of us had been wanting to go on a long drive.. With a temp. dipping to 3 deg a night before, I knew that thermometer would be reading 2 deg or less when we would be out. Awesome… I thought, since for me, it was perfect way to get relaxed. But we did not have sufficient time for a long drive to another city or something. We had to have it all within 45-50 kms.

So, we hit the road… I had Noida Flyway in mind since I had heard a lot about it already from my friends. I had been there in the day time before, but it never at night.