'Pride', 'Celebrations' And The 'Common Wealth Games'

After a lot of controversies and well justified hue and cry, Common Wealth Games-2010 opened with a spectacular opening ceremony.. It is being touted as the ‘Biggest Ever’ of its kind and we should not be surprised if it is declared as the ‘Best ever’; for unlike many other things, organizers of CWG don’t need any well established parameter to judge the things or rather say, being judged.. It’s like declaring a half baked food as delicious.. Of course, the event has kicked off with a rich and tantalizing official unveiling and people seem to be happy.. All controversies have been forgotten and 'how proud we are to be an Indian' chant is back.. No doubt, it's easy to get enticed by the colorful and bright extravaganza.. It is quite similar to a kid getting soothed by candy forgetting the very reason he was crying for moments back.. So we are all set for the 'Biggest' and 'Most successful' Common Wealth Games.. Trust me, the way things are unfolding, this is how we are going to remember this event because this is how it is going to be portrayed.. No doubt 'short term memories' of  'we the common people' will again help the abuse of common tax payer's money go unnoticed.. Two weeks from now, most of us will be convinced that this CWG was indeed essential for 'National Pride' and the people involved indeed did a fabulous job in adding some more jewels in the crown of our country.. But at times it is much more than what meets the eyes..

 My opinions matter little.. But they do matter to me.. So I will take this liberty to jot down the reasons 'why these games should not have been there'.. I will not indulge into the point that what significance CWG holds.. I have never believed in making things sound hyper intellectual.. So I would prefer in presenting some simple facts..

 So let's come back to square one.. Did we need to have these games hosted in our country in first place?
 I never had any doubt about this CWG taking place.. One of my friend had made a fair point to me that big events like Olympics, CWG, etc portray a country's ability and might.. I accept this truth.. My only objection is; what should be our priority? To show other countries our inflated might or to take corrective measures to ensure the outstanding issues are taken care of that we are having right now? By organizing such events we just want to send out an 'All is well' message to rest of the world.. Not just this; Our intention is to proclaim that we are a fast developing country with a rich social and cultural values.. But how true is that? If that is true then why common people rue about the corruption? Why do we still see small kids begging on the roads? Why is 40 % of population under poverty line? Why is our bureaucracy known as the laziest and slowest in Asia? Why is the 'corrupt' tag inseparable from our politicians? Why 30 million cases are still pending when we claim to have a fair judicial system in place?

 Development is not always about quick results.. It is about the intentions.. And from what I observe, I just see the murky intentions, a lethargic, indolent and corrupt governance and equally insensitive constituents.. Yes we are an insensitive lot who never care of other’s miseries.. When something wrong happens with us and we suffer the pain, then only we complain.. Other’s pain holds no importance to us.. The preparations of this CWG onset with displacing poor people from their homes for making space for CWG venues.. It's common in India.. Homeless poor are pushed from one corner to other without being given a thought about their despair.. What importance does this CWG holds for them? We can shell out 77K for a 12 days sports affair, but can't do anything for them? When Games are in progress, these people will be made 'invisible' for we don't want the world to see the reality..

 Let's bring in picture the workers, the laborers who worked on the preparations of the venues.. Thousands of them, with most of them being the migrant workers coming from far off places in search of work and a better life toiled hard in sun and rain for pennies.. A few hundred of them even died while working on-site but no one even mentioned about giving any compensation to their kin.. They never got any proper homes to live-in.. They lived in makeshift houses made of plastic and sack with leaking roof and water seeping-in and malaria and dengue breeds in such places only.. And these people don't have any life insurance.. So if the sole bread winner of the family dies, then rest of the family too falls in line of the dreadful death because of starvation.. To make things worse, these workers were paid much less than the fixed wage as per minimum wage act.. Per minimum wage act, a laborer must be paid at least Rs. 130/- per day (This act itself is a big cruel joke), but in reality, workers were paid close to Rs 80-90/-.. When we are watching the colorful opening ceremonies, these people must be sitting huddled in their small makeshift houses worrying over the fact that from where they will get the money to make the ends meet tomorrow.. Let's get into a little calculation about some basic expenses..

 All of us need money for the following things..

 Food
Shelter
Cloth

But real fact is, actual need is not just roti, kapda aur makaan (Food, Shelter and Clothing).. There are other priorities in life as well.. I am trying to list down few of them..

 Medical expenses: Ever wondered about a dear one falling sick with no money in wallet? Standing in the long queue of a crowded government hospital with abusive medical staff but keeping quite since they are the only hope to save your dear one? This is the real picture for a poor in India.. Even if their dear ones die because of medical negligence, no one cares.. We don't have the minimal medical infrastructure in place.. Could we have spent a portion of that 77K crore here?

 Children education expenses: "What is that!".. Ask a poor and he will have this expression on his face.. Ever wondered of not having got a chance to go to school/ not being able to send your children to school because hunger for food prevails over the wish to study and dream of a better future? For a poor, future itself is a dream because to see tomorrow, they need to last and to last, they need to eat.. So they need to set out their ‘priorities’ right.. No matter how much our respective Governments claim about the great work they have done for the uplifting of education; fact is, real education is realistically only for the well off people in our country barring a few exceptions of individual brilliance for which Government doesn't have any right to take credit.. Fact remains that our Education system is in tatters.. We just have a dummy system in place.. Else why don't our ministers send their kids to government schools?
Could we have spent a portion of that 77K crore here?

 Insurance and Investment: We all invest a part of our earnings in various investment plans.. We also go for various kind of insurance schemes.. Can a daily wage earner with an earning of Rs 100 odd every day even think of doing this? More you think about this and more depressing it starts getting..

 Entertainment: Ever thought about NEVER being expected to expect about the luxury called entertainment? Think about various kinds of things we do to unwind and then ponder what if you will NEVER have money to even think about doing that ever in your lifetime?

 Eating out with family: For poor, eating the basic meals is the biggest luxury.. Just think about the condition when someone has to suppress the hunger because of lack of money to buy enough food for the family.. Isn't this an insult to humanity?

 Gadgets: Love your high-end touch screen cell phone and that new look Laptop? They can't even dream to have one..

 Furnishing of home: If they have anything called 'real home'

 Vehicle: Ever thought of traveling in crowded general compartments of a train, at times without tickets because you had to make a choice between purchasing a ticket or food for the journey? Ever wondered of traveling in the public transport buses everyday to your workplace for which you will not get 'travel allowance' even if you earn just Rs 100 a day? Why do we see our buses and trains always crowded..
Could we have spent a portion of that 77K crore here?

 Saving: We all save a portion of our income but good times as well as bad ones.. Imagine a situation where your daily earning is so scant that you are hardly able to save anything for future..

 Job Security: The migrant workers with no savings will be out of job once the activities related to CWG are over.. With no shelter over their head, where are they supposed to go?

 Points above paint quite a gloomy picture and I know it gets quite depressing when we think about such things.. But the fact is that, we have close to 50 crore people in India who live this kind of miserable life.. And this is when I start to muse over the fact that do we really need to spend Rs 77,000 crore on events like CWG? We are talking about organizing a world class event.. Then why is it that workers who work in preparing the venues were not given even the basic facilities? Only reason is ignorance.. Ignorance towards the sufferings of the poor who don't have any voice and if there is any, it will be crushed.. Do the people in our Government genuinely think about the well being of these people? For heaven’s sake, these people are as much Indians as we are and not the stray dogs to be hushed away!
 I am yet to bring into picture the other negative aspect about the CWG 2010.. It is corruption.. We have people like Suresh Kalmadi who shamelessly exploited the money meant for the games and kept on denying the facts presented about gross corruption.. And we had people in our government supporting them.. Why is it that, just a couple of days before games were to commence, media's attention diverted from the negativities? It is not hard to figure out that who all are hands in gloves with the corrupt governing bodies and the administration.. A venue made in hap-hazard manner might hold good for two weeks and might look stunning in multicolored and vibrant light work on the evening of opening ceremony.. But they're meant to serve the larger purpose.. Infrastructure and stadiums prepared for such events are meant to be in use for the athletes in the years to come.. But the shoddy way in which they have been prepared, they are bound to cave-in in the time to come.. This is one of the most important reasons why people like Kalmadi delayed the preparation until last hour.. They wanted to build the infrastructure with minimal expenditure (and the inflated one) which could hold good during the games (And only during games).. Who cares what happens to them once games are over.. This way they successfully managed to guzzle the larger chunk of money in their personal bank accounts.. Now once the games get over; CWG will be declared 'Successful' and 'best ever' and these people will again get away.. In fact they will be felicitated for their 'great contribution' and bringing 'Pride to India’..

 In what way are these games going to help the Indian athletes? They will still remain underpaid.. Our athletes are expected to function as if they are the one who live the life by purchasing the lottery tickets.. They are expected to make it big in events like Olympics.. If they do, they are showered with money else left to live in misery.. No effort are being made to uplift the sports infrastructure in the country.. In stead of wasting these 77K crores here, we should/ could have spent the money boosting up the sports infrastructure and preparation of 2012 Olympics.. It is not that difficult.. Minimize the involvement of politicians in sports governing bodies, give secure employment to our athletes and erect better facilities in terms of world class stadiums in a number of districts, even the smaller ones.. Make it compulsory to have at least one sports for the children in school and assist schools in coming up with better sports facilities.. Open a sports academy wherein a number of identified and selected children from various sports are absorbed at a young age.. Bear the expenses of their food, cloth, education and training.. Provide them world class facilities and exposure.. This is the way we will have world class athletes.. Giving Arujuna awards won't get us world class athletes..

 Coming back to the CWG, when I think about the people in charge, I get the feeling of utter repugnance over the fact that we have these kind of morally dead people taking decisions on behalf of the whole country.. We too are to share the blame though.. For we always fail to recognize what being an Indian is all about.. Being Indian is about the resolution that we all are equal.. But we are not.. We are divided by innumerous factors.. Fact is, most of us like to live in our cozy safe zones.. We have become numb to suffering of others because we don’t really care.. We just want to be happy and constantly being assured that we are heading towards prosperity.. It is this ignorance, these fraudulent people take advantage of.. They take the decisions to suit their own interests, loot public money, distort country’s image and shamelessly continue to be in denial mode about their heinous acts and then plead for public support in the veil of patriotisms.. I still sincerely wish for the complete failure of CWG as this will not be the failure of India as a nation, but the failure of these people's very motive of getting away with all the misdeeds.. Sad enough, facts are never presented completely.. Not supporting CWG is NOT an anti national thing to do.. Instead, supporting it means getting mislead and support these people.. Having said that, I am very well aware of the fact that good these people are at manipulating the things, we are going to witness the ‘Successful’ games.. All negative points will be buried and in due course of time all dirt will be swept under the carpet..

 So brace up for the 'Biggest Commonwealth Games' ever with:

 1> A number of key athletes missing the event because of non sporting reasons.

2> Biggest ever expenditure which was done without thought (or with 'other thoughts and priorities')

3> Biggest in terms of monetary scam. Culprits will never be caught. Instead they will be rewarded; for this CWG is certainly going to be touted as the 'Best Ever' no matter what

4> Just a few hundred laborers have died while working in inhuman conditions. But what is the need to care about them? We are Indians and they all died while working for a national cause! Moreover, no distractions please, biggest CWG is on!

5> Once CWG is over, thousands migrant laborers will be left in lurch in New Delhi with no work to do.

Events like CWG mean celebration.. Lets celebrate the incompetence and ignorance of our Government in providing the basic infrastructure to the majority of the population.. Let’s celebrate the fact that how deaden we have become to the exploitation and are content with seeing multi crore charade.. Let’s celebrate the fact that we constantly get fooled by people like Kalmadi and brainwashed whenever they use the card of ‘Patriotism’.. Let’s celebrate the fact that when we are sitting in our comfy houses watching the obscene spending of money in this CWG opening ceremony; not very far from the Common Wealth Games Village but definitely ‘out of sight’, many poor laborers and their families, who worked in preparing the venues; many of them hungry, many of them bruised, many of them ill; must be staring in the darkness of poverty gaping at them.. But it’s foolish to think about these ‘small’ and ‘insignificant’ factors.. Haven’t we heard “Saare Jahan Se Achchha. Hindustaan Humara….”? And constantly been reminded that “We should be proud to be an Indian”? So let’s be proud to be Indian.. After all we have shown the world that ‘we can do it’! 'Biggest' CWG is on.. Time to bask in glory!

Temple, Mosque and India

It is really amazing to see how quickly the attention of the whole nation has shifted from CWG to Ayodhya verdict.. Media is indeed very good at doing this.. Irrespective of which way the verdict goes, I would like to make some quick observations..


Six decades ago, when the first petition was filed on Ayodhya issue:

• An average Hindu's first priority was to earn his/ her livelihood for his/ her family and to do the things to make the life better for family in a meaningful, fair and honest way..
• An average Muslim's first priority was to earn his/ her livelihood for his/ her family and to do the things to make the life better for family in a meaningful, fair and honest way..

Today, when we all are waiting with bated breath for the verdict (more because of security issue than anything else):

• An average Hindu's first priority is to earn his/ her livelihood for his/ her family and to do the things to make the life better for family in a meaningful, fair and honest way..
• An average Muslim's first priority is to earn his/ her livelihood for his/ her family and to do the things to make the life better for family in a meaningful, fair and honest way..

Once the verdict will be given and the hooligans will let common people have their way:

• An average Hindu's first priority wil be to earn his/ her livelihood for his/ her family and to do the things to make the life better for family in a meaningful, fair and honest way..
• An average Muslim's first priority will be to earn his/ her livelihood for his/ her family and to do the things to make the life better for family in a meaningful, fair and honest way..

Note: 'Average Hindu/ Muslim' here means common citizens..

I can't help but wonder, is the whole issue worth the attention it is getting? What imortance does one temple/ mosque at Ayodhya holds in our lives? People need place do worship, Don't all of us have plenty of them all over the country? Then why do we fight for petty ethnic identities.. More I think about this, more I start believing that people who think on these sort of religious lines are less of an Indian and more of a Hindu/ Muslims.. Very true that we have some irresponsible religious organizations and politicals entities who aggravate the things to provoke the whole issue for their own personal benefits.. What we can do to counter their intentions is simple; just stop paying attention to their words on these kind of subject.. Let's make it very clear to them that this is the time to set the priorities right.. Let's make it very clear that we are not game with wasting our energy and resources in such petty issues.. There are many other outstanding matters at hand which need attention.. Needless to reiterate what all are they..


Politicians want to seek attention, at any cost.. Lets route them to the genuine issues.. Once they realize that a good chunck of population wants to have the basic issues like proper road, clean drinking water, proper electricity, good employment opportunity addressed, then if not all, then at least few of them will come in the correct lane.. Things will never be perfect, but they are bond to change for good if we give some efforts..


For now, let's hope, common sense prevails after the verdict too..

Bharat Bandh & 'We The Common People'

"India comes to a standstill", "Opposition's Bharat bandh puts India on hold", "Bandh shutdown India".. We will be having the similar headlines in various newspapers tomorrow.. If the issue becomes more ignited, then media will follow up on this; else from the next day onwards, we will move to some other news.. And today’s shameful day will be forgotten by one and all but those who suffered and whose voices will remain unheard as their apathy were, throughout the traumatizing day today..

To refresh the memories, NDA and Left observed a ‘Bharat Bandh’ today opposing the recent fuel price hike by the ruling UPA Government.. But ‘Bharat’ was missing in today’s ‘Bharat Bandh’.. Certainly the word ‘Bharat’ doesn’t mean and reflect the hired goons who were used to scare the people to keep off the roads and rummage through the public properties.. NDA is claiming it to be unprecedented and people's response as overwhelming.. Are they really referring to the 'real people' response? Closing eyes in attempt to NOT see the truth is appalling to say the least.. It really makes one wonder, to what low levels can these people stoop to? These acts certainly raise questions on the genuine intentions of the Political parties who were involved is these acts today..

India is a democratic country, true.. A section of people were not happy with Government’s decision(s), true.. But isn’t there a better and civilized way to express the difference of thoughts? If this Bandh was for common people, then why were these very common people made to face all sort of inconveniences? When speaking in terms of democracy, the only thing that really comes into my mind about today’s Bandh is, It was a Bharat Bandh: By Goons.. Of Goons.. For Goons.. People were scared, threatened, and abused to support the Bandh.. If this Bandh was to protest something for people’s right then why people were not allowed to decide whether to support this Bandh or not?

Today’s ‘Bharat Bandh’ gives some interesting insights about the way our Political parties think and behave.. We rarely see the main rival parties or the parties in power and the opposition agreeing on any points.. They all are hell bent on proving the fact that how good they are and how bad the opponent is.. On any issue, be it budget, Nuclear bill, Fuel price hike, any amendment or a new bill, the views of our Political parties are at extreme opposite ends.. I wonder how this can be possible.. Today UPA is in power and increased the price of the fuels and NDA declared Bandh.. I still remember when NDA was in power and there was a rather steep price rise in fuels (Kerosene’s price was increased from Rs. 2.75/- to Rs. 10/- !), at that time Congress and allies had protested! A senior opposition leader was addressing press conference today and was shamelessly saying, “there was never such kind of price rise in NDA regime”.. I still remember purchasing onions @ Rs.100/- .. Either our politicians suffer from short term memory or they are over optimistic about the fact that ‘we the common people’ suffer from short term memory syndrome.. The fact is, people were poor in NDA regime and people are poor in UPA regime too.. Farmers had committed suicide then and it is rampant today also..

We keep on hearing that India is being touted as the next super power by 2020! Isn’t that a BIG illusion, a BIG lie, a DIRTY joke in our face? Let’s come out of the self congratulatory mode.. I am an optimist.. But I don’t day dream..

We still don’t have clean drinking water for 80% of people.. There are multi millions who still don’t have shelter over the head, undernourished children still sleep with their bellies empty and we are talking about being superpower! Any country’s economic health is not reflected by graph of stock markets! Do we have proper roads? Do we have sufficient electricity? Do we have employment for our people? No we don’t have.. Let’s not hide from the truth.. We are a struggling nation.. We are no where close to being a super power.. Indian Economy, Indian Democracy, Indian Political system.. These are the words which are similar to movies with script in a complete disarray.. But still, the star cast and the production team claims it to be 'Running Successfully'.. With such contrasting differences between haves and haves not, we don't even need the figurative reports.. Just look around and we can see the real India and fact will present itself.. And that fact is very disturbing.. Fact that we are treading a difficult path and are in hands of people who don’t have any vision.. Our strings have gone in the hand of such kind of people who lack the qualities to be called a civilized person.. And the fact that they are running the show and pulling the strings is very scary..

There has to be some root cause of the problem.. Problem is our mind set.. We still fight among ourselves.. We are still Hindu or Muslim first and then a human being or an Indian.. We keep on finding ways to fight among ourselves.. And we are blessed with multiple reasons.. We fight on the basis of religion, caste, region, language and we never get tired of this.. It’s easy to divide people by luring them.. Caste politics is something which has made the fortunes of many politicians.. Common people take the bait of this temporary benefit and contributes in dividing the country and thus making it even more fragile.. Civics textbook of class VII has the contents sufficient to make anyone an ideal citizen.. It states, “One should not vote on the basis of Caste. Religion, region, language or political party”.. How many of us follow this? Answer to this question will give answer to many of our apathies..

Reflecting back on today’s ‘Bandh’, it was a pure demonstration of opportunism at the height.. Millions of people traveling were stranded, public properties were ransacked and people commuting were abused.. Did the opposition parties ever thought once about the daily wage earners who will loss their day’s salary? How will they eat and feed their families? What about people who needed immediate medical attention? But expecting that these people will even think of considering these things will be our foolishness.. These people don’t have any ideology.. They support hooliganism because it serves their own purpose and somehow, sometime, somewhere; they too are or were a part of the same brigade directly or indirectly.. These political parties and people involved in these type of decision making are people with dead conscience for whom only thing that matters is their own personal interest..  

These ‘people representatives’ who are sitting there and making moves can change so much for the country had they had any vision.. But even though they are donning the roles of the leaders, they think least about the country.. Today’s Bandh cost India a whopping amount of Rs. Thirteen Thousand Crore! Think about the things that could have been done with that amount! Think about the number of school, hospitals and roads that could have been constructed.. Fact that this ‘Bandh’ was observed against the price rise, think about how it really helped the common people when so much loss has been incurred because of this.. With so many issues already crippling us, we expect a much better, matured and civilized response from our politicians and which is missing as always..

Indian political system has hit a new low.. India the country of our dreams.. How do we envision it? I see that vision getting blurred..

Life In Absolutely Imperfect Absolute Freedom

Writing something after a long break.. I had expected to start afresh with writing about something positive.. But things usually don't go as we expect them to..

Today morning received a forwarded mail from a friend and then even newspapers had the same story captured.. Two girls were abused and assaulted in the most populated place of Bangalore and neither police nor the public who just acted as mute spectators thought of intervening.. These incidents are dismaying to say the least.. We claim to be proud of being born in country with rich values.. But incidents like these prove that in reality things are very different.. It's very much clear that such incidents are not any kind of aberration; instead, they do happen very regularly across the country and most of them go unnoticed, thanks to unwillingness of people at helm of affairs to enforce the laws which are in place to tackle the things.. Even more saddening is the response of people who are happy to be armchair critics but when they witness any such incidents, instead of intervening, they choose to shy away.. Sad reality is, these things will continue to happen because we have sick perverts in our society and due to one reason or other, even law enforcers recede from booking them.. Incidents/ accidents do happen, are talked about and then are forgotten.. Life of common people in our country has no worth since there are plenty of us here.. If life itself has no respect then who cares for the bruised and battered feelings and hurt self respect! Look where we are after 63 years of Independence..

Just think about how horrible the whole experience must have been for those girls who had to suffer even when they were not at any fault! In one of the most moderns cities, girls are not safe to take a walk down the busiest road of the city.. Shouldn't we be ashamed as a nation due to this fact? Any one who can wield some muscle, be it the spoiled brats of some corrupt and rich politician or businessmen or a filthy goon, more often then not get away with their heinous acts.. Most surprising is the response of the people.. Our usual response is watch the incidents as some source of entertainment and then back out.. It's right that Police personnel are the one who should spring into action first.. But if they don't and in case if they are not at the spot of the incident, then is it right to just be an onlooker and let the perverts have a free hand and continue to assault the poor victims? In the case I am referring to, I understand there were just three of them and Majestic where this unpleasant incident happened is always thickly crowded.. It is impossible to believe that people who simply chose to just stare at the whole incident quietly, didn't intervene because they were afraid, reason being the miscreants were not even armed! They could have at least shouted, could have done anything to lessen the courage of the miscreants.. But they didn't because may be they're happy with the happenings.. Yes no matter how upsetting and appalling it might sound, we do have people and believe me, there are numerous of them who take pleasure in seeing such disgraceful incidents.. Aren't we a nation with people having dead morale? We don't understand the anguish of a person who is suffering.. Where are we heading to? Like most of the other things, this question is non conclusive.. Talking about that shocking incident, truth is, even if few people had raised the voices at the spot, things would have been much different.. But now those miscreants are walking free high on confidence that they can get away with anything.. They will again pounce back and very much possible is their next victim(s) will be someone from those onlookers family..

Inefficient governance, inept law-enforcers and a judicial systems with some serious loopholes which allows the offenders to get anticipatory bail even before the offender is arrested.. No wonder common citizen lives in fear, Girls think multiple times about taking a shorter route back home which has even the slightest hint of less crowd (And even crowded roads are not safe), parents feel worried until the child has reached home from school.. These feelings might not always be overwhelming but they are present at the back of our mind.. And we thought we are independent..

Isn't Independence something about not being afraid and having equal rights and not being exploited? Out of population of 1.19 billion people, how many of us can claim to have absolute independence, of not being insecure about anything, of having equal rights and of not having been exploited? Truth is, these questions will always hang in mid air in front of each of us and will never be answered..

Remembering Atul (Reposting)

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7 things you don't know about me

7 things you don't know about me

Working on this.. Looks more difficult than what I had thought! :)

Questioning The Obvious

No there is nothing personal here.. It's just that after being asked on multiple instances by multiple people I felt the need to give vent to everything inside me here.. I usually like to keep a mum on being questioned this, a part of reason being, it never looks constructive to discuss on something which is non-conclusive and the bigger reason being the fact that it has never thrilled me to even the minutest extent to offend someone’s beliefs and sentiments, be it religious or something else.. I just wonder why this same response doesn’t come back to me from others as well? I wish there had been a ‘Not Applicable’ option in people’s questionnaires when we are speaking in terms of ‘Religious Beliefs’.. Why is it that when someone of us says, “I don’t believe in God”, the general response is that of an utter disbelief as if the person has claimed to possess a third eye! This response is followed  with a good long counseling session wherein the ‘subject’ is made to believe what a big sinner he/ she is for having such unholy thoughts and then follows more preaching on why he/ she should never utter such words and be an obedient devotee and start believing in ‘God’..

My only question is, as an atheist if I never question why others do believe in God’s existence, then why it can not be the other way round.. A belief is a belief which can never be forced to others since it is purely based on personal experiences.. My experiences don’t give me reasons to be a die-hard fan of God; for those who have got the reasons and those who believe; I respect their choice.. Why can’t ‘Non Believers’ and ‘Believers’ coexist without questioning each other?

I don’t believe in existence of any God.. This fact is not a fact; this is a hypothesis, my hypothesis (which many other also must be having).. And I am not putting in any efforts to prove me right.. No efforts mean, I am not doing anything from my end to make myself sound right to others.. My hypothesis is just based on my experiences; which for the sake of my mental peace, I am keying in here..

In the usual volleys of questions that I get; the most common and usually the first one is, “Why don’t you believe in God?” I would like to answer this either of these two one liners..

1>  Why do you believe in God?

2>   Why should I believe in God?

No offence intended here.. In the following lines, I will be giving some more explanations which are purely based on my understanding and I am not intending to hurt anyone’s religious sentiments.. My own existence in this immeasurable and endless Universe is very infinitesimal.. Certainly I should not even think of claiming that, “Look, what ever I am saying is correct and you should accept my words without any questions and imbibe them in your day to day life! I can not do that and I should not do that.. On contrary, this is what happens to the sect called ‘Non Believers’.. Because they are forced to imbibe the hypothetical theory about the existence of ‘God’.. Let’s not forget that even the theory of the existence of ‘God’ was given by human beings only.. I doubt the fact that centuries or millenniums ago, ‘God’ decided to descend on earth, handpicked few people to write great religious literatures and then went back satisfied that now all will be well on the earth..

This whole theory of the existence of ‘God’ was certainly conceived in the brain of human mind only.. Otherwise how do we justify the existence of multiple religions? And how about Existence of multiple Gods? Or do we really have different Gods in different religions? Some of them stronger, some of them slightly weak? What about the beliefs of the tribes who have their own version of Gods? Finally, then how do we justify the theory that there is only one God? If the basis behind all the religions is existence of a single God then why do we choose to pray to our own specific version of God? A little introspection and if required a little more of retrospection might help us coming out of the orthodox clutches.. For me, If I still believe, I will think I am a person of confused conscience.. Picture of a fair God, who is caring and loving and treats everyone equally never comes in my mind.. How much other species matter to God? How come even with a caring God being present, so many species got extinct from the earth and many more are getting wiped out? All sorts of logics fail to answer this.. But isn’t it that when we talk about religion, we are expected to NOT use our brain? Reason being put forth is that ‘God’ must be having a ‘bigger’ reason.. Okay.. fair enough, let God give me this logic, I will accept it; But I will not accept this logic from a human being who doesn’t even know the purpose behind the existence and conflicts of so many religions!

Quite often people interpret me not believing in ‘God’ as the result of some real devastating experiences in my life.. I am advised to not brood over the past and meditate instead.. I will make a little confession here.. My alteration from a ‘believer’ to a ‘Non-believer’ certainly has its roots in the bitter experiences.. 10 years ago, when I was in the worst phase of my life, I was quite young.. When it happened, different people said different things but with same intentions, trying to get me out of the depressive state I was in.. Theories of decisions of ‘God’ being beyond the understanding of simple human being were given.. I was very confused, my mind being in a complete tangle.. Somehow still unconvinced, I chose to accept the fact.. But when I got the second blow 3 years ago; it left me very very infuriated.. There was a lot of anger inside me at that time.. I felt like a cheated person who had put all his faith in ‘God’ but was still struck by catastrophe.. Some wise person has said, “Our pain is only as large as our inability to see other’s pain”.. With time I discovered that there are people who have seen worse in their lives.. Then I realized the real picture.. I realized something which we all are aware of right since we get our senses but somehow keep ignoring it unknowingly, never allowing this reality to set in inside us.. ‘Maktub’.. It means, ‘it’s written’.. It is an Arabic word which has been used multiple times in “Alchemist”.. This single word encompasses the whole meaning of life, which is very simple.. We certainly have more than a single school of thoughts, who will certainly disagree with each other over this.. I am not the suitable person to present those views.. Coming back to what I feel; I had just one doubt; “who is pulling the strings of our lives?” People say, ‘God’ is the creator.. In early days of human civilization, people at times scared and at times overwhelmed by the power of nature started worshiping the forces of nature which in due course of time turned into the image we know as ‘God’.. Our great religious literatures teach us “God is the creator and everyone is equal in eyes of God”.. With all respect, I would like to disagree with this.. If this had been true, this world certainly would have been a much better place.. I am certainly not complaining; I am just echoing my realization of truth.. 

Once a well wisher had told me, "God arranges the results of our deeds in our life cycle".. It can certainly be proved wrong 'N' number of times.. Just look around and we will know how highly incorrect this point is.. Don't innocents suffer in this world? And don't the sinners get away and lead a lavish life? Then where is the natural order of justice? How about the infants, minutes or hours old dieing? What sin they would have done to deserve that?

When people suffer, logic is given; "must be in-lieu-of some past sin.."

When no record of so called 'past sin' is found, another logic is put forth; "must be because of previous life 'karmas'. This punishment is for the purification of soul.."

Cite an example of people with no moral values living happily, logic changes to; "will be going to hell.. Justice will be done!"

Bring into discussion a person of proven integrity meeting some tragedy, another logic pops up; "will go to heaven for the good karmas he/ she has done in the life time.."

I disagree with a lot of points here.. I will start with “Punishment for the purification of soul” first.. Fear can never make anyone good.. It can just make someone scared.. The whole logic is very simple here.. If I choose to do something good, that’s because I really want to do that.. If I want to do some bad act; say some kind of sin, I might not do that out of fear of getting punished.. I might postpone that act, or I might never get a chance of doing that at all.. But that doesn't mean that my thoughts would have been purified! At the end of the day, it's just the fear factor which kept me from doing that.. Fear of punishment can not transform someone.. And the logic wherein a person is punished for the ‘sins’ of previous life, how fair and good that is when the person is question doesn’t even knows the reason why he is being punished for! I reckon, our Indian Judiciary System works better than that.. This whole set of logic is unfathomable! If there were anything called unbiased god; or rather say, had there been any god in first place; yardsticks to measure everyone's deeds would have been same.. Most ironical is the logic of heaven and hell.. These two are again just hypothetical things with no real proof to hold their places.. None of us has seen heaven, neither hell.. What is evident to us is this world and this life we are living in and with.. When logic of ‘bigger rewards/ punishments’ in terms of heaven and hell is presented, then what does this life means? Is this whole life cycle just a charade? Then how can people be judged for their deeds done in ‘this’ life which doesn’t hold any significance? Certainly a lot of imaginary stuffs do the rounds when we talk about religious matters with different people giving their own interpretations.. For me, this is not 'moh', this is not 'maya'.. This is the reality.. And truth is, there is no natural order of things in this world.. Fact is, there are good people in this world and there are bad ones as well in varying proportions.. Both kind of people will continue to co-exist.. Irrespective of the kind of their deeds, both kinds will have a section 'very happy', a section 'happy', a section 'not so happy', a section 'never happy'.. Randomness is the natural order of things in true sense in life..

My good deeds, if I do any, essentially don’t guarantee me any rewards.. So it is just about the willingness and the person’s own conscience.. What I have learnt is, “don’t do anything good with expectation that something good will come back to you as reward in short or long run.. If something really good indeed comes back, it’s good.. Else just cherish the happiness felt at the time of doing that good deed and the life will be a bliss..” I prefer to believe in goodness.. I have learnt to trust in my conscience to get the answers whenever I stumble across some uncertainty.. And it answers.. Goodness is my religion which guides me in every step of my life and tells me how this life is to be lead.. Isn’t that the purpose and soul of every religion? Peace....

P.S.: I have expressed my views quite openly.. But at no point my intentions was to hurt or offend anyone’s beliefs or sentiments.. If unknowingly I have done that then I sincerely apologize..

Colors Of Life.. The Grayer One

I had written this one a couple of years ago.. Keeping a bit busy these days.. But writing few new ones; hope to complete them soon..


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                                                Colors Of Life.. The Grayer One


This is a story of life...  Story of an unnoticed life...  a life as insignificant as it never existed... Life without any colors and without any spontaneous brightness... Story of a grayer shade of life...

It was my first vacation after joining the college and I was happy going back to home specially “Holi” was round the corner. After 24 hours long train journey it was really great to set the foot on the platform and head towards the Railway station exit where familiar Auto stand was waiting. After a little bargain, I got inside an auto with my two large bags.  The auto threaded in and out of the narrow lanes and within 30 minutes I was in front of the New Market Street at the end of which was my home.

I paid the bill, picked up my bags and as soon as I turned to walk I saw a wobbly hand extend itself towards me.  I looked straight ahead of me, trying to avoid looking at him, trying to ignore his presence and averting my gaze. It was pretty much the same reaction in which most of us pretend to turn blind whenever such miserable unfortunate people approach us with an empty hand but a heart full of hope.

The most common thing which we tend to do when asked for help is, to either check our pocket for coins or to ignore the call for help. So I too found myself fishing inside my pocket for some coins. But there wasn’t any. The minimum that I had was a Rs. 50 note which had been returned by the Auto driver after I had paid him the bill.  

“It’s really disgusting!!” I felt. “I am coming back to home after 6 months and this is what is welcoming me!!”

“Why don’t these people do some work and earn money? People shouldn’t beg”, I said to myself. Then I picked up my bags and started walking. Behind me, the old man was retracting my steps almost close to my heels. I wished I had some coins to get rid of this trouble but there wasn’t any!

The more insistent he grew, the more adamant my refusal became. Now he was almost pleading. I paced up my walk and to my relief discovered that he had stopped following me.

It was the third day since I had come back to home. I had some work in New Market. While returning back, I again saw the old beggar, sitting cross-legged in the sun, his head bowed and his hand cupped on his knee. Then I noticed that portion below his left knee was missing. I recalled the question which I had asked myself on previous day, “Why don’t these people do some work and earn money?” I had got my answer.

I found myself walking towards him. I was in front of him and then I realized that I didn’t have any coins with me again! I slowly tried to retreat from there. But it was too late. He looked up and saw me while reaching out his hand asking for money. He was a skinny person who must be in his late fifties. But his disfigured face, tattered clothes, and ruffled gray hair made him look even older. He was looking silently towards me with his blank eyes. Eyes without any expression, not even pain. It was really scary to see a living human being in such a condition. The old man clinging on his walking stick standing barefoot on his one leg was still looking at me, but now he was not asking for money. I guess, his instinct had told him that I was going to give him alms. Experience, I thought.. I had a fifty rupee note in my purse apart from the two ten rupee note in my pocket.

I saw myself handing over the money to him and regretted that I didn't have more to give to him. The poor fellow was really awe-stuck! I couldn’t stand there any more and turned back towards the way back home. 

For rest of my walk, I was thinking about the old beggar. It was such a pity to see a human being live in such a condition. “Does he have a name?” I thought, “He must be having one”, I answered for my silly question. “How it must be to live like this? Getting reduced to being a lump of flesh and blood without any identity. Living all alone day and night on a pavement without anyone to talk with, without anyone to share your feelings. He too must have been born some day, must have grew up with some hopes and dreams, no matter how small and how insignificant. It’s for sure that he must have never thought that he will live a life like this! What kind of dreams he must be having when he is asleep? What if he gets scared in his sleep due to some bad and scary dream? Does he have a family? If yes then did they desert him? If yes then why? ”. A hell lot of questions were coming in my mind...

For next couple of days I made sure to pass that pavement a couple of times everyday and give a share of my pocket money to the old man. While giving him the money, I used to think about the options which the old man had to have a better life. But I couldn’t come up with anything practical. It’s really strange that in a country which is talking about economic reforms and growth, there are people whose life is so miserable. There must be millions of such people who live a faceless life… life without any identity. “Do these people have their name in the Voter’s List? For most of such people, I guess no. So these people don’t have any identity in their own country!"

It was Holi the next day. I was happy and excited for the colors and fun which was in store. Like every year, sweets were being prepared at home and I thought of taking some to the old man. I didn’t have to walk to him as I found him begging in our street only. I called him and after few minutes I was sitting in my porch with the old man sitting a few meters away from me. I took out the plastic bag in which I had wrapped the sweets and offered them to the old man. His eyes widened, and like a new friend, he slowly shortened our distance apart. He took a sweet and silently ate it. Then he ate fast as a hungry kid would do. I had never seen anyone eating in this manner. I looked into a pair of hunger ridden eyes and could almost feel my hunger hit me with a vengeance.

Hunger…that kills slowly like a slow poison… hunger that kind of does a protest at our insides… hunger that constantly reminds us of deficiency of food with its pin prick stabs… hunger that makes even the most tasteless, cold and stale food taste as delicious multi course meal… hunger that turns u weak and makes u want to keep aside the principles for a while and get rid of it somehow, no matter how! Because practically, it’s much easier to battle with morals than an empty stomach. Empty stomach makes conscience take a back seat. 

I was sitting… lost in thought… the view around me a blurred haze. So deep was my thought that it took me a while before I realized someone was talking to me... I turned my eyes to the old man and saw him thanking me silently with gratitude in his eyes. I saw his bare foot which was badly bruised and I decided to add slippers to the list of the things which I will give to the old man in coming week because the pavement he lives on must be cold and his feet might get hurt. He got up and walked away. Little did I know that it was for the last time when I am seeing him alive?

How can life be so unfair? It gives so much to many and there are people, who are not so lucky and definitely not among the favorite children of destiny, who live in despair.  These are the people who live for today, who can't afford to dream. Dreaming is a luxury, life a mountain of struggle with all the steps slippery. They can think of tomorrow only and not the day after. They sleep under the sky, no matter how cold it is, with nothing to protect them in rain. They need to fight with street dogs to have their share of food!! This is what life has to offer to them. Poor old man belonged to this unfortunate genre. I was really forced to think, “What is the fault of this person for which he is suffering so much!!”.  

Life is really a great mystery. It is romantic but never sentimental; merciful but also unexpectedly cruel. In early hours next day, the Old man was run over by a speeding car which was probably being driven by some drunken people who were may be a bit over enthusiastic about celebrating the Holi. It’s difficult to say if he died on spot or if he could have been saved had he got the medical attention on time. But who cares? Who cares about a person whose presence was non-existent. I don’t know how much the people who run him over regret about it. The only thing which I fail to understand is how can anyone run over people- and not even care to look back if he can be saved? If his pulses are still intact, if his heart is still beating. - And instead leave him to bleed to death? This is not a lapse in morality; this is the disturbing absence of humanity.

When I went to see him, his body was lying in his own pool of blood. May be "God" decided to be merciful to him and put an end to his sufferings. He lived blindfolded along the contours of life, completely out of synchronization with rest of the world, just like an uprooted branch of a tree, hanging lifelessly and his death didn’t made any difference either. No one mourned. It was just an insignificant life which had come to an end....

It’s Raining

This too is close to two years old.. Had written for my project's newsletter..

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It’s that time of the year again when we take out our long forgotten umbrellas and raincoats; time when blazing sun takes a back seat as clouds take over the reigns of the sky and flashes lightning covering all the horizons to reinforce its supremacy. As I look out of the window at the dark, gray clouds, I can’t help but marvel at the spectacle that the nature unfolds.

I won’t say that rainy season has been something which I really liked and waited for. It has been more of a love-hate kind of relationship with rainy season in childhood days; hated it when ever it used to play spoil sport by pouring hard in evening, which was our time to play cricket after coming back from school. On seeing the dark clouds in sky we just used to wish, “rain- rain, go away”, but it used to rain hardest when we used to wish least for it and so in the process dampening all our enthusiasm and spirits. But really loved it when it helped in coming up with an excuse for not going to school, but that was not the case always, specially when it used to drizzle light, for someone had devised damn raincoats and umbrellas as well. I have always strongly felt that apart from defining Newton’s Laws of Motion; Frames of reference also fit perfect while defining Monsoon. What I mean to say is; perception about monsoon depends on particular perspective from which it is observed. I will just try to recount few of the perspectives which I have had.

It’s one of the most beautiful feelings to sit at the window and stare through its pane with a steaming cup of strong ginger tea, watching the clouds downpour as soft and cold wind brushes your face lightly. And in these perfect cozy conditions, one should be forgiven if he slips back into the old good sweet memories. There are certain things in life for which there can never be a replacement. And without any doubt, without any second thought, childhood days comes as the first thing when we dig in deep to find out the precious things of our life.

Now a little confession; despite all precious hours of cricket which I couldn’t play because of rain, it has been so special to me. After the killing heat of summer, monsoon with all its beauty has always been a welcome change. Usually monsoon used to arrive just after the reopening of schools after the long summer vacations. As cold breeze replaced burning heat, with raindrops taking over the sunrays, I used to look in awe at sheer beauty and variety that the nature has to offer. Monsoon meant eating “garam pakode” on the verandah, monsoon meant getting drenched in rain even after getting scolded and then catching cold but never regretting, monsoon meant playing barefoot in mud and water and soiling the clean clothes, monsoon meant floating “kagaz ki kashti” over accumulated water in the courtyard and watching it anxiously float safely, monsoon meant surrounding granny with other kids before sleep and insisting to narrate the same story which we had heard several times.   

Not much has changed except, we used to enjoy monsoon with more freedom which now has become somewhat difficult, if not impossible, with a cell phone always in the pocket. But nothing can take away the freshness; the charm which comes with monsoon with rain drops injecting life in the veins of everything dried up and drained with warm summer. The noise of whistling wind and heavy raindrops rattling the leaves sounds soothing and is music to ears.  The best thing about rainy season is the ocean of changes it brings with it; and completely mesmerized, I look at the quick transformation it brings about with it with dried water sources swelling up and the nature which was a sort ago deprived of vegetation, getting engulfed and enveloped by rich greenery. 

So it is that time of the year again; when at times everything looks so serene, so lucid, so calm, so tranquil, and the next moment sky opens up to downpour the world with sudden but  incessant rain as if it would never stop and again all of a sudden, nature pulls out another magic and sunlight breaks through the clouds in beams of silvery white shafts of light and paints a beautiful rainbow in the clear expanse of the sky like a masterpiece made by some artist and I look perplexed in awe, completely mystified and spell bounded. It’s that time of the year again, which brings back the “short winter”, when we long for a warm cup of tea or coffee and roasted corns taste heavenly. Yes, it’s that time of the year again, Monsoon has arrived..

Summer… The Season

Had written this one two years ago for my project's newletter..

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Come summer, and memories of wonderful childhood days ooze from the closed chambers of my mind. It makes me go back to the old lanes of childhood. Childhood is a different world altogether, its like some heavenly place, where all colors look brighter, the air filled with fragrance and each morning more refreshing than the previous one.  No, this wasn’t “Summer of 69”,  This was a Summer season which came many years after Summer of 69 and made the summer season something very- very close to my heart.

Come summer and all the sweet memories come flooding back, fondest memories of childhood when I along with my siblings and cousins used to go to our grandparents home at our village to spend the summer vacation. It looks as if I am looking back in my notebook where I had scribbled down something yesterday. We can not put back the clock, but memories give us an alternative, using which we keep hold onto the things we love, special moment of our life, which we never want to let go of. I feel, in every human, there is a writer who unknowingly writes his own master piece of literature, his own book of memories stored safely in some back drawer of his mind, which he looks into after sometime, when he wants to rejoice the old days which have passed, to never come back again ever…

Come summer and I feel nostalgic and remember the best season of my life, childhood. Like every good thing this too doesn’t come in abundance. But those days were really good, though somewhat different from what they are today. Of course there were minimal modes of entertainment. Especially on going to our ancestral home in our native place to spend summer vacation, we were left with very few options. There was no TV, no computer games and situation really demanded us to be at our creative best to kill the boredom! And that was the best part of it… Everyday coming up with some new ideas to spend the long hot summer days.

Come summer and comes in mind the images of those glorious looking and sweet smelling mangoes with heavenly taste. Unlike in cities, we used to get a large verity of mangoes in the village… Malda, Dashehari, Kishen, Bhog, Himsagar, Sinduri, Safeda, Fazli, Biju, Sipia, Shukul, Kesar and many more!!

Right since my childhood I have been in love with this fruit having taste of divinity.  All of us used to sit in the backyard eating away those juicy mangoes… and at times to such an extent that we had no room left for dinner! That was a life which we really lived at fullest, playing outside from sunrise to sunset without any worries, memories of each of us fighting for petty issues claiming a particular branch to be his or hers and then again giggling together completely forgetting about the fight! Really… those were the times which I really miss… Those were the real vacations.

Nothing can replace that feeling of freedom which we used to have on climbing mango trees. On reaching there on the top of the tree, I felt like I am at the top of the world. We all used to have our share of stunts, jumping and dangling on branches and trying to pluck that elusive mango at the farthest and thinnest of the branches and on falling down, patting off the dust and throwing stones aiming that mango. There were times when we were scolded for roaming around (sometimes good thrashings as well) in warm whether, but sneaking out of home tip-toed when all the elders were taking an afternoon nap added to the thrill…  Warm “Loo” never deterred us; neither did the thrashing and scolding which we used to get… We were a bunch of fearless spirit full of enthusiasm with never-say-die attitude, always  marshaling all our intelligence to protect our fundamental right, having adventure in sweltering summer afternoon.

Climbing the jamun tree, sneaking into neighborhood  courtyard to steal pickles (Just to tease the neighbors); cutting raw mangoes to eat with salt were real fun… And the best moment of the day used to be when all of us were rewarded 50 paise for being good kids and staying indoor during day (They rarely found out that we used to sneak out when they were asleep!!). We used to get tasty churans, poppins and peppermints with them… Finally, all these funs were cut short once our vacation were over and we used to wait for the next summer, for the next summer vacation, for a whole new series of adventures which were in store and we would be having.  If wishes had the wing, I would have loved to fly back in those days. I really wish I could go back to those old days again. But wishes don’t have wings and we really can’t put back the clock.  The only thing that we can do is remember… remember the summer days full of fun and adventure and warm summer nights with stars out in full glory lighting up the night sky with the full moon looking on in wonder. When I compare it with today’s life, I feel life in those days were so simple, with least complications.

As I look back to refresh the old days full of joy and happiness, laughter and innocence, the fragrance of warm soil just drenched with water, cattle and heaps of hay in the courtyard, bullocks tilling the fields with tinkling sounds of bells, sweet lichis and jamuns ripening, sights of green fields with  crops and the small  shop from where we used to get peppermint and churans, I can’t help but say… “Those were the best days of my life… back to the Summer of …”