Indian Politics and Cynism

Another scam, another series of finger pointing, demands for resignation, claims of innocence, accusations, TRP for news channels, people gossiping over tea as if their lives depend on it.

Internal probe? CBI Inquiry? Law taking its course? And the talks about that unfailing faith in the judicial system even though knowing where do we actually stand. But haven’t we heard of similar stuff in past as well? I mean, are we really serious and really expecting a logical outcome? Whatever happened to the Hawala, fodder scam, Taj Corridor scam, Common wealth scam, Indian coal allocation scam, 2G spectrum scam and many more of these with amounts tuning into figures for which counting the zeros would be a cumbersome task!

To fix the system, the very surveilling mechanism needs to be repaired. But the trillion $ question is (yes trillion, and not the million or billion considering the magnitude of the scams that we come across), are the stakeholders willing to put their buck on it? Absolutely not, because they are the first hand beneficiaries from a system which is rotten to the hilt. Had they been willing, they would have, long-long ago.

Multiple iterations of the similar sets of events with absolutely null outcome, at times, makes you feel that may be in few scenarios, being skeptic is better than having a false sense of optimism..

Random Thoughts#4

And there are moments when you wonder, what changed, with same set of stars watching us over..
Answer is, for some questions there are no answers.

So scars need to be covered, feelings need to be buried, grief need to be masked and ‘some’ dreams need to be forgotten.

And then maybe, years later, somewhere down the lane, when I will pause to reflect back upon the time gone by, the train of thoughts will bring up these memoirs.

Until then, let all this remain concealed underneath my heart, as those lingering memoirs do, as those elapsed moments do, as those dying hopes do.

For, despite all the pains and trivialities one goes through, there is a life to be lived, things to be done and promises to be fulfilled..

Behind the smiles

Loneliness is..

Staring at the screen, waiting for '-- is typing'

Feeling happy even with one word reply..

Again indefinitely staring at the screen, waiting for '-- is typing'

Asking vague questions, just to keep the one way conversation going 'somehow'

Loneliness is..

Overwhelming feeling of the need of being heard,

But no one to listen you..

And feeling desolate,

In the hustling crowd..

Loneliness is..

Watching the rain downpour,

Sitting by your window,

With your cup of tea alone..

Loneliness is..
Reading the texts you once sent,
And were left unanswered..

Loneliness is..

To smile.. when you don’t feel like smiling..

But just for the sake of it..

Loneliness is..
Watching the dreams die,
Which were once promised to be seen together..

Loneliness is..
Thinking about the moments that never came to reality,
To turn into memories..

And smiles and smileys,

Just like vague talks and forged feelings,

Unmeant words and not kept promises,
Unfulfilled dreams and Unlived memories,

At times, they all lie..

:)

Random Thoughts#3

Vulnerable, but still opened up, once again trusting; submitted every last grain of self, with renewed hope to really ‘live’..

Got crushed..

Random Thoughts#02

Not all wounds need be healed. For some scars should remain there, forever; to keep us grounded, to remind us that I actually ‘survived it’..

Tomatoes and intolerance

Of late, the word ‘Intolerance’ has been making news much more than what we are actually capable of tolerating, which got me to pen down my two pennies worth.

I am fond of tomatoes. I can use them in vegetables, I can eat them raw, I can put them in salad and then I can make some nice ketchup as well. Point I want to prove here is, tomatoes are essential so it does have its flourishing market with a number of suppliers, some of them new, some of them old, who are always collaborating, manipulating, switching groups with each other to stay relevant and afloat in the business. And all of them, yes ‘all of them’ indulge in malpractices as well.

So as a customer, this is the option I have at my disposal. I have a group of suppliers I can approach to, who present the nicely packaged boxes of tomatoes, but inside the box, half of them are actually rotten. This holds true for almost all suppliers with a negligible variance. Personally, if I get into such a situation, I will refuse to purchase the tomatoes, but the last thing I would do is to judge and brand people for the choices they make because barring the names of the brand, the way they promote themselves and people they pool in to advertise, contents they offer is almost identical.

Recently declared Bihar Assembly election results have generated quite a few strange reactions, especially on social media. A quick glance at the stats provided by ADR (Applicable to the people who don’t jump to the conclusions directly, but instead are rational about the things they say) will show, when compared to last election, there is an increase of 1% in the number of MLAs with criminal records. Big deal! Is it really so surprising? Aren't we used to it?

So we are saying, people have made wrong choices. Factually speaking, I never have had much of hope from any of the parties. Look closely at the stats and we will find all the parties fielded candidates with criminal records with BJP and CPI topping the list followed by JD, RJD, Congress, SP, BSP, LJP and the rest. So writing is on the wall that what the actual priorities are for these parties despite the tall claims they make during the election campaigns. Rotten tomatoes are rotten, doesn't matter which supplier it comes from. And as voters, we have always been immature in making the choices. But the crude reactions and branding of the whole state is not in good taste and is totally uncalled for. People who are doing this should introspect how easy it has really become to divide people in India. These reactions become even more deplorable when we realize that Governments that are formed are actually being elected by the votes of at max 15-20% people.

So looking for some more varieties of intolerance? Judging people without any rational is intolerance. Branding a whole section with unpleasant words just because they didn't fall in line of your irrational, half-baked and freakish political point of view is intolerance. Such kind of reactions show high level of prevailing immaturity in our society at large and proves how easy it is to rally people. They have been doing it over and over again and we have been falling for it always.

PS: My views would have remained same even if the election results had been other way round and similar reactions had come up from the supporters of other side. For me, hope lies in the healthy tomatoes and not the supplier. As long as we keep on accepting the rotten ones, we will be continued being served the rotten ones only. At the end of the day, life is all about the choices we make..

About confused tastes

There is nothing called good or bad, right or wrong, ethical or unethical; as long as it suits their motives and fits their equations. Ever thought of going to a restaurant dishing out banana split with 'mustard sauce', "convincing you" that it indeed is a great combination and on your next visit when you are actually used to having banana split with mustard sauce; they manage to erase it from your memory, since it no longer fits their scheme of things, and serving tomato soup with a scoop of Vanilla ice-cream and succeeding in selling it to you!

Welcome to Indian politics (or perhaps it holds good in many other countries as well) where law makers have been dishing out non-sense, bending and exploiting the laws, altering it per their convenience and we have been accepting all of it, adopting, adjusting, accommodating to their permutations and combinations and discussing the stats of poll results as we do discuss the score of some match and take sides in supporting our "favorite team(s)".

We are indeed too naive to comprehend and too confused to even realize that we have been taken for a ride, term after term, year after year, election after election. And trust me, we have been this way since ever and we will continue to be. Sounds cynic? May be, but in my view, I don't see it changing, at least anytime soon.

Disclaimer: I have never tried banana split with mustard sauce and neither tomato soup with vanilla ice-cream. So if you do, please do at your own risk. And no, I don’t want to know how they taste like :)

Random Thoughts#01

Some memories are like old wounds, linger as your shadow, open up unexpectedly and are more painful than ever, with the nostalgia factor they carry..

Numb

Coldness in her eyes disturbed him, the same way it had two months ago. Promises forgotten, feelings fragmented into pieces and all the good memories undone, shattered and turned into nightmares, all he is left is with the deep sense of worthlessness. "What went wrong? Why didn't I see it coming?" are the questions he is left grappling with.

There are moments when you feel you have found a soulmate, only to discover later that soul itself was missing. But what about the times when they spoke and shared about the memories of childhood, and their expectations, fears, insecurities and dreams. Her eyes used to feel soft when they used to look at him, in some way smiling at him. But guess time changes things, and it changes some people too, that too to a great extent, in fact completely. Or maybe things were never real from the other side. This realization made him even more disturbed.

"Please ask yourself, haven't you changed from what you used to be?", he quipped and wanted to question further, but was afraid of hurting her which is the last thing he ever wanted to do, irrespective of the turmoil inside him which has been ripping him apart since all these months now.

He has accepted subconsciously that grey is a color and it is real, as real as it can get, as real as the wind, the sun, the leaves falling off branches of trees during the autumn in full bloom. And so does the life is; it is real, doesn't matter even if it is negative and empty.

And don't care about the tears that were meant to come out of the eyes as they have dried off long ago and have been replaced by the bleeding that is deep inside the heart, spurting out the blood in gallons, only if she had the eyes to see and a heart to care.

They say, there is something romantic about being lonely; at least after genuine efforts, honest feelings go unanswered and your heart says, this is all that I can take, no more please, it begs. Coldness in her eyes has numbed him..

Plastic

And it looked beautiful. It looked tender and it looked even prettier because of its vulnerability. It was almost close to perfection. With its bright attractive color, it looked pleasant to the eyes and its softness made it soothing to the soul and appealing to the heart. And it could sculpt itself as per the need of the hour and that is what made it even more appealing. And they fell in love with it for it was beautiful indeed. With purity only analogous to the drop of dew on the lotus leaf, innocence only comparable to the giggle of a child with bright twinkling eyes and grace akin to divine from heaven, it was undeniably a synonym of precision, a heart stirring stanza straight from the most beautiful poem of a romantic poet.

But it was plastic. It was beautiful but yet it was plastic, with no feelings, no strings in the heart to stir; like some mechanical device programmed to fool you into getting used to it and then one fine day ditch you when you start relying on it completely and feel yourself attached to it mentally and emotionally. It was indeed plastic from head to toe with plastic feelings, and a plastic smile and a plastic heart.

And it suddenly appeared devoid of the emotions. And this lack of emotions felt choking and suffocating. Too much of plastic in this world. And he gasped for air but plastic seemed to have engulfed him and he felt swamped and fought to feel some fresh air in his lungs but in vain.

He battled to open his eyes, could open it a little, may be half and then his eyes started closing as he moved into limbo..