Exit of Raghuram Rajan

So in midst of all the speculation whether he will get another term or not, Raghuram Rajan decides to leave. Of course no one, and for that matter even Raghuram Rajan is not indispensable. Life has this knack of rolling on despite the changes that come in. But events like these do have their repercussions as definitely some equilibrium has been disturbed which will take time to get restored. Of course there are eligible replacements, there has to be for an Economy as large as India. But considering the impeccable record Raghuram Rajan has got over years (And without any PR Agency(ies) doing overmill for him), it would have been in better interest of India to have him at the helm of affairs of RBI for another term. With recent developments one could see it coming. A single thinking mind is way too weak to have his say against a complete institution. Specially a country wherein people fail to take a note of the goalposts being shifted by the legislatures and continue to hail them despite all the manipulation for decades over decades and a country obsessed with a need of hero(es); Raghuram Rajan was perhaps not a good fit. Because he did what was expected from him as RBI Governor and an Economist and refused to fall in line and spoke his mind in terms of facts and figures instead of taking sides with botched up data with intention of sending out a false picture. Sad thing is, many of us will never understand the true impact as we continue to live in a cocoon with closed eyes and ears to remain in denial mode.

Perhaps this exlains why very few of us even wonder how come India stands at 122^nd in GDP PPP even though being at 7^th in GDP Nominal across globe. In latest development, World Bank has placed India in lower-middle economy group, below other BRICS countries and at par with our neighbors Bhutan, Myanmar, Pakistan and Bangladesh which pretty much sums up the state of our current economy.

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..

Political Theatrics on Janlokpal

So charade on Janlokpal continues. Congress is all out to prove their dedication for a clean politics and clean system by giving the final push for Lokpal with Rahul Gandhi appealing ‘all parties to pass Lokpal bill’ in a hope to revive his image of star campaigner which has certainly taken a beating with Congress nose-diving in recent state polls in 4 states. BJP is showing what a great 'constructive opposition' they are by talking about the '4 points on which they disagree', and in process comfortably ignoring the gaping gaps present in the draft. And SP creates some ruckus on floor by opposing the Lokpal with statements like ‘Samajwadi Party to go to any extent to block Janlokpal’ to give a feel that we are really going to have some serious Lokpal bill enacted which will really curb the corruption.

But will it indeed? Just think of the fact that even Mayawati's BSP are whole heartedly willing to support the smooth passage of this Lokpal bill. Of course BSP has always been concerned about cleansing the country from corruption, right?

So very soon we will have a dummy and toothless Lokpal is place which will miss the three main features which must have been there for it being of any significance:

1> Citizen Charter - To set a clear timeline for the services rendered by Government offices.

2> Bring lower bureaucracy under Lokpal

3> Establishment of Lokayukt in states

To add to this, even CBI has not been made autonomous.

After being stung by Delhi election results all the existing political establishments are falling over each other to show how serious they are about aspirations of the country and wading out the corruption from country. But with a common enemy in sight which they blundered to ignore, the major political parties are doing a great job of putting up a farce show of their agreements, disagreements and brainstorming acts to show that they are indeed sincere about bringing an effective Janlokpal to confuse the voters for 2014 General elections.

But just try to see beyond what they want us to see, read between the lines, try to remember and find what is amiss and we will find that it is indeed Jokepal (term circulating across social media) and not Lokpal and all this show of their political consensus for Lokpal, a political theatric.

Life in the fleeting time

So it's almost the end of first week of October and it has been close to one month since I came back from home. Usually like many other people I too hate Monday and start counting the days for next weekend as soon as the weekend is over. But last 3 weeks were so hectic that even working on weekends didn't suffice for the office work that was to be done. The new enhancement requests just before deployment, irritating design changes and not to forget the ever so critical production defects ensured that I slogged in office until the wee hours next day only to catch a sleep for few hours and come back the following morning by 10 am.

And suddenly I realized that one month has passed already, just in the same way previous months and the years did. So time really flies by. It is so strange that in real life everyday just appears to be another single day and if we try to compare our today with yesterday, there is not much difference of major significance. But over a period of time, these 'everyday' carry the whole week, months, years and decades with them. They have been doing this since eternity, silently and with such an ease that it goes completely unnoticed until we kind of wake up from sleep and realize, 'Oh it has been one month already!'..

And the copy of 'And the mountains echoed' is still kept untouched. My 2B and 5B pencils are also lying inside drawer waiting to be picked up and used which I had bought 4 months ago to start drawing the portraits, a hobby I stopped pursuing long ago. Promise that I had made to myself about taking photography more seriously is gathering dust just in the same way my guitar with a broken string has been since last 2 years! To add to this, when I gave a casual visit to the ‘posts’ section, I found at least dozen posts in the draft state, some in initial stages, some partially complete and few of them close to finishing line which I never completed and published. All these were/ are my thoughts, my perspective over different things I had felt the need to express and share, but certainly didn’t do justice to them and in another way to myself by keeping them in dormant state.

Where did all this time go? How could I let them slip through my fingers without even realizing? Today I read a post on a blog and could relate to it so much. It was about the fact that how we tend to ignore what we really want to do in our life and how we in a strange manner close our eyes to the very things that really make us happy because we are too much absorbed in our day to day routine and then complain about absence of joy and a lingering feeling about the lack of purpose in life..

I hope to improve in this aspect and attain equilibrium, for sake of my own happiness. And I hope to write more often, read more regularly, and capture the unseen which my heart sees, through the lens of my camera. Suddenly fixing the strings on my guitar seems not just easy but a priority as well and a black and white portrait of a brooding Guru Dutt looks inspiring to pick up my 2B and 5B pencils..

INR, Chennai Express And The Choices That We Make

So INR breached the 63 mark. To be honest, we should not be surprised with the way things have been going since last couple of months. Sad thing is, in a cynical way I get this feeling that UPA-3 or even worse a third front led by some Mulayam or Mayawati will be thrust upon us next year. And perhaps we deserve this as a nation. Because most of us have stopped thinking, stopped contemplating about the choices we make in our lives. We are more concerned about momentarily joys, don't bother about things happening around us unless we are impacted at personal level. But then in that case there is not much we can do about that except just fretting over it. We have stopped appreciating good things and let ourselves buoyed by hype.

For instance, we have films like Chennai Express breaking all the records. And we still crib about the lack of quality in our movies. Success of these movies or anything in that genre in a way illustrates what majority of we Indians are in our choices that we make and our sensibilities. ‘Some Chennai Express’ rules the box office, ‘A UPA-2’ after decades of proved failure gets re-elected and rules country to take it to abyss and still has the audacity to say 'Ho Raha Bharat Nirmaan' shamelessly, corruption rules, ‘An Anna’ fails, ‘A Kejriwal’ is scrutinized for no reasons, anyone showing promises of good governance is doubted as 'foreign agent', ‘Some Khemka and Durga’ are transferred and suspended for taking on the big corrupts hands in gloves with reins of power and corporates control the government and hence in the process our lives. And one main reason behind these kinds of events is the wrong choices we make when we ought to make a correct one; be it electing a good Government or watching a better movie. Yes the truth is our standards have become like that only. It’s because we have lost the ability to distinguish between genuinely good and the fake things.

Ironically and in a strange way, any movie falling in the category of Chennai Express and enjoying similar success just proves it in a very simple way. It symbolizes what we expect from our lives, enjoying brainless junk and being mute spectator to stupid and intellectually deprived things. And trust me, there are people out there who are laughing at us because they know that we are happy with the rubbish being served to us and we can easily be brainwashed and mobilized with false agenda.

It makes me remember these lines I read recently:

“Heavy physical work, the care of home and children, petty quarrels with neighbors, films, football, beer, and above all, gambling filled up the horizon of their minds. To keep them in control was not difficult…. All that was required of them was a primitive patriotism which could be appealed to whenever it was necessary to make them accept longer working hours or shorter rations. And when they become discontented, as they sometimes did, their discontentment led nowhere, because being without general ideas, they could only focus it on petty specific grievances.” – George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four

A note about the past

The year 2012 ended on a terrible note, with the news of demise of my younger Uncle. With no intentions of being philosophical, at times I really feel that many of us are just running in life aimlessly or at least with blurred and ambiguous aims. For we do have some aspirations to fill up, but at times when some news like this comes up, a little reality check will tell us that we have been ignoring many other important things in life. A little attempt to recall tells me that last time when I had seen him was more than 12 years ago and that was during a family gathering after a huge personal loss for each one of us. Last time when I spoke to him over phone was in June 2009. So we really were not in touch all these years. Still, this news sent my mind in a state of gloom. For irrespective of the fact that when I saw him last time and when I spoke to him last time; the reality doesn't change that when we were kids, for big group of my cousins and my siblings, he indeed had the coveted 'favourite Uncle' tag. For kids, there is nothing like sweets and junk food. And being a big foodie himself, unlike other elders, he had won over all of us with his amicable ways.

Time changes many things in life. It changes our priorities, our outlook and to a large extent us as a person also, not essentially in negative way though. But news like this serve as breakpoints; where we pause and reflect over the past, being nostalgic. Even this time will pass over, like it has in past. Another string linking me to my childhood days and memories has snapped. But as they say, life moves on..

You will remain in our memories as the 'favourite Uncle'. With you gone, a void has been created which will remain there for ever. But you have also left us with memories full of laughter, smiles and innocent giggles which we will cherish for ever. You will always be missed and remembered..

Solitude..

Count read 282. And he saw a panel in right having the list of names with a green in front of some of them signifying their status. There were some videos. Some comments below them. And some likes also. There were many pictures, with smiling faces, of happy people. Some of them from the list of those 282. And some more comments below. And some more likes as well. He saw some updates, thoughts being shared about many things and some jokes that had been posted. Followed by some more comments and likes. And everyone seemed to be gelled so well. And he suddenly felt alone, very alone. Irrespective of the fact that there're supposedly 282 friends in his list. He felt miserable, wretched and completely lost; irrespective of the fact that his cell phone was full of the numbers to be dialled and talk to. He felt himself in some sort of abyss, some bottomless pit; wherein he could hear the voices of the people he knew; happy voices, but they didn't seem to hear him, they didn't seem to feel his presence or least the presence of his uneasiness. "Is it same with everyone around?", he thought. And somehow the whole '282' seemed to be mocking to him. He felt alone in the crowd of the familiar people who strangely looked unknown now. He felt like a ‘Nobody’ and non-existent. He felt as if he had been living in a cocoon giving a false sense of comfort which is not around when you actually seek it when you actually feel its need. All of this compounded together, instead of giving comfort only seemed to amplify the discomfort even more. The uneasiness of being invisible in the bright light of the day with a sinking feeling in the heart wherein your pains can’t be even understood, let alone be shared. And then the cursor hovered over to ‘delete account’..

The doors are closed, windows are shut and curtains are drawn. It’s dark now and no one can see him even if they wish to. Strange enough, the darkness feels soothing and pacifying, uneasiness feels personal and the realization of the fact of being in state of oblivion gives a comforting sense just the way a soft serenade does..

Incompleteness..

There is something haunting about the incomplete things. A painting left incomplete with just two eyes drawn on the canvas, staring at you, penetrating you deep down inside. A house in the neighborhood, left under-constructed, which didn't see the joys and the celebrations of the people who would have lived in there, had it gone on to become complete. A tree uprooted in the storm, its greenness drying out of its veins with every passing moment and unripe fruits still on its branches. A paper with few words written on it but all smeared and illegible now. A promise promised long ago but now not kept and forgotten and along with it crushing all the dreams which were seen but never became reality. And when the realization strikes that this incompleteness is there to stay, forever, it instills hollowness inside. Paradoxically, this hollowness is so complete; it engulfs the mind and senses completely blocking the space for any other thoughts to come in.

Same Day And Another Year...

He tried to smile and was surprised to see that he actually managed to. But he knew that his eyes will betray him. They didn’t. “May be because it’s eleven years now”, he thought. “But then why did the sleep elude me whole night yesterday?”, He pondered again. “And what is this uneasiness inside again?”.


“But I smiled today, I really did. I smiled, chuckled and even laughed; and my eyes didn’t betray me either..”, He looked out of the window, gave a look at the high-rise buildings which still had the lights on at few floors but under the overcast  sky, they looked different; draped in shadow. They looked hollow and lost as he was feeling right now. He thought of the various distractions he had tried that evening similar to the previous years, but couldn’t take off his mind from the fact that it was ‘this day’ again. “May be I should have stayed back till late hours in the office”, He thought with his right hand on the window pane. Suddenly a cold wave of wind swept across his face. He looked at the watch. It was 12:15 AM. “Eleven years..”, He sighed, and closed the window..

And That One Fatal Decision

One wrong decision cost Osama Bin Laden his life.. Instead of opting for a hideout in Pakistan (where looks like he was duped), he should have thought of coming to India and get recognized (And you bet he would have been easily).. We would have arrested him 'alive'.. Then he would have been tried in Indian courts for a decade or so to give him a 'fair judgment' and then the death penalty to which he could have always appealed; Dragging the case for another few more years at the highest court and on getting death sentence again, he could have filed mercy plea to the President.. We do have sensitive people like Medha Patekar and Arundhuti Roy who would have supported and fought to the hilt to get him the justice on 'humanitarian' grounds.. Then there are whole lot of human right activists who would have gone on fast unto death demanding to give him a fair chance to 'change', with 'After-all he too is a human' with equal right to live' being their core logic.. Even our Government would have been glad to spend billions for his security which he certainly didn't get in Pakistan.. More than anything, Kasab and Afzal Guru would have got some company.. But one judgmental error of Osama sealed his fate..

P.S.: Pun intended

What Is My Identity....

Working in a foreign country brings a whole lot of new understanding and insights about our life.. We get to see a new culture, new places, new food habits and new beliefs.. And if we try to, then we also get to discover some facts about ourselves which we always knew but never paid attention to.. A usually unquestioned question which more often than not gets an unsatisfactory answer is “What is my identity?”

My Passport says, I am Rajeev Kumar Jha with so and so date of birth and a citizen of India.. But most significant identity which it adds with me is my Passport number.. My PAN card gives me another identity number.. From religious point of view, I am a Hindu and on caste lines, I am a Brahmin whose mother language is Maithili.. From my family’s perspective, I am a son and a brother, may be a good one.. From my friend’s point of view, I am an understanding and caring friend (I hope).. Looking from Accenture’s perspective, I am Software Professional with Java/ J2EE skill set.. For the client here at KL, I am a GCP resource whom they have called from another country to get their work done.. From my colleague’s point of view, I am a team mate, who might or might not be co-operative and the one with whom he/ they need to work with.. From the perspective of the nearest Indian restaurant from my flat here, I am a customer who mostly looks for vegetarian food.. As I have, each one of us are by default attached with a set of identities which may be religious, social, professional or general in nature.. And we all are defined by multiple sets of identities.. Not marking this statement as conclusive and final, barring a few, our identity mostly depends upon other's perspective.. So identities do have important roles to play in our life.. But problem arises when we start giving them the undue attention.. When I think about few of the basic problems back home in India, I feel that somehow, we have let some of these ethnic identities rule our mind and control our lives.. There are quite a few of these ‘set of identities’ which have been in attention for all the wrong reasons.. We don’t get divided over the professions we are having.. We don’t hate people who work for any other company, even a rival one.. We don’t really care about the fact that if we studied and went to the same college or the different ones.. But we do get divided over ‘Religion’, ‘Caste’, ‘Language’, ‘Region’.. Let’s look into these very quickly..

Religions came into existence to bring ‘Me’ and ‘You’ together and convert them into ‘We’.. Today it has again become ‘We’ and ‘You’.. Are we really ‘following our religion’? Caste is probably most misunderstood of various identities that we carry.. It’s just the name of the profession people were involved in years ago.. But ironically, over the years, their generations carried that thing as an identity which took shape of ‘Caste’.. Ever thought of calling kids of an Engineer as ‘Engineer’ or the child of a Doctor as ‘Doctor’ just because of his/her parents profession? Basis of a caste system is as simple as that.. Then why do we continue to divide and discriminate over this ages old baseless thing? Ironically, most of us are doing that.. Coming to language, isn’t it something as simple as ‘medium of communication’? Then why do we see ‘Mine is better’ or ‘Ours is more rich’? No matter which God or faith or religion we follow, we have certainly not been given the power of speech by the creator so that we can spit venom and demean others.. Language is a need, a vital one and its importance solely depends upon the place and people we are interacting and working with.. End of story.. But many people tend to read in between lines and many others know how to manipulate things for their own advantage.. No wonder we have people spreading hatred on the basis of language as well.. Then comes in the ‘Region’.. Yet another dividing factor and has some of its roots in previous three factors.. And there has been continuous attempts by some political entities as well to fuel the issue deliberately to keep their pot boiling.. This has been made a sensitive issue needlessly.. Only thing I want to state is, if we are Bihari, Bengoli, Marathi, Gujari etc first and then an Indian, then we are not Indian in real sense.. But reality is, this aspect is there to stay specially because we have regional political parties which will always use regionalism to spread hatred for their own gain..

So here we are, in the 21st century, and still clutched in the age old beliefs and letting our actions being determined by these meaningless facors.. Some conscious efforts at individual level can certainly make the things improve.. A person doesn’t become good or bad, successful or failure because of the religion he follows, the words he speaks while praying, the Gods he worships.. A person doesn’t become intellect or dumb on the basis of language he speaks.. A person doesn’t become respectful on the basis of caste he is from but because of the deeds he has done.. A person doesn’t become superior or inferior because he belongs to a specific region.. The biggest truth is, we are human beings, an intelligent specie.. Let’s do some justice to this fact.. What was the caste or religion of the people who discovered fire? Or what was the language spoken by the people who set the first wheel rolling? Does it matter? It doesn’t.. It is just about and it is all about the legacy we leave behind by good things that we do here when we are alive.. It need not be a great invention or something on similar lines.. It can be something as simple as treating everyone equally and leading our life in a way which helps in taking the world closer to real harmony even by the slightest extent.. It is about compassion, it is about tolerance and more than anything, it is about doing our work with sincerity and in the right way.. It is about caring and adding smile to an anxious face.. If these words seem to be superfluous, I will try to make them a little simpler.. We all want to be happy in life.. Life is all about an honest attempt wherein we are living happily and giving an honest attempt of trying to make others happy as well..

Anything which pulls me towards negativity and makes me prejudiced is not a part of my identity.. So what is my identity? I am Rajeev, a human being.. I am Rajeev, and I believe in doing my work with sincerity and try to be a helping colleague.. I am Rajeev, and I hope to be a good and caring son, brother and friend for my family, relatives and friends.. I am Rajeev.. and I love to look into the vastness of the infinite sky and its blueness and at night the twinkling stars and the reflection of the moon in water, the same way all of us do.. And I am Rajeev, and love to listen the innocent giggles of kids and watch the smiling faces which sets a real sense of pleasure and fulfillment inside us....

A Nation Betrayed

We are living in a difficult time.. It is an era of scams, enquiry commissions, sky rocketing inflation.. I hate to paint this gloomy picture full of disparity.. But writing in anything otherwise doesn't hold any meaning because these are few facts which even though make us uncomfortable, but they are very much true..So question it leaves behind is, where are we heading to as a nation?

Being in a new country, one way to keep track of the things back home is following the news.. And I do that by using google..co..in >> 'News' tab.. And barring a few instances, usual headlines are the unpleasant ones.. Latest one being CM-Governor ugly spat in Karnataka and the violence that followed on Saturday Bandh.. Same story repeated again.. I will not talk about 'What's the point in observing Bandh', 'The economic loss which occurred', 'How that money could have been utilized', 'The inconvenience common man had to face'.. Because they hold no meaning to our politicians.. We are being governed by a sick and insecure lot, who are confined to their own personal ambitions.. One thing that has been very consistent across the nation and states is, we always have had corrupt Government(s) and irresponsible opposition(s) whose intention has always been to topple the Government so that they can take turns and loot the country..

Why cannot the politicians behave a bit more responsibly? Recently we had a statement coming from a top notch leader that joining politics is about sacrifice and one should not consider it as a career option.. I seriously doubt this.. Our MPs and MLAs don't work for free.. As a matter of fact, being an MP or MLA is probably most lucrative job today and you don’t even need a professional degree to qualify for this! All you need to have is, good political contact(s), lots of money (That means really a lot of them) and/ or some muscle power.. When it is the question of joining the politics, there are a number of ‘*Conditions Apply’ for common people.. But at Press Conferences, few of our charismatic ‘youth leaders’ always ‘encourage’ the ‘young and educated’ to join Politics.. But the real fact is, for commoners, they will ask you to come through ranks and in an imperfect and undemocratic system where genuine qualification matter least, it is impossible to ‘come through ranks’ alone and reach a responsible position.. About the 'Sacrifice' aspect, it is quite well known fact that how patriotic our politicians are and how many of them lose their sleep over the issues common people are facing today.. To sum up, I only see insincerity and shamelessness as far as acts of our politicians are concerned.. There might be handful good ones, but the whole system is so much rotten that those few will never have a free hand in setting the things right..

As most others, I will leave even this feed as a non conclusive one.. Not that I have run out of words or the ideas, but at the moment I am having a feeling of repugnance.. We have been let down and cheated so many times now.. These politicians have forgotten that they have been elected and selected and are being paid handsomely to do some work.. But what they are doing is far from what they are expected to do.. Worse still, they are diverting the attention from their incompetence by involving people into their political rivalries.. Not only they are not doing what they are supposed to do in their 'working/ official' hours, but they are also wasting other resources for their own benefits.. This is simply not done..

Just think about the number and monetary values of the various scams in recent times.. Think about the similar incidents which have happened in past.. Then think about the names that were involved in those scams.. How many of those have reached a logical end? How many culprits have been punished? More than everything, how much amount related with these scams has been recovered? A small analysis of these questions brings up the answer that why we should not be surprised to see the shady images in our political system and why we have people with criminal backgrounds getting tickets and contesting elections even from behind the bars.. In fact, this is something common across all the political parties.. Our law and judicial system is applicable to the common people only and may be our Politicians don't come under the perview of it. Bigger the stature, more 'Pas Applicable' laws become to them. But we should not be complaining, for being a good citizen, we should have 'full faith' in our 'Judicial system'.

So where does it leave the common man? At least from what I can comprehend, it leaves ‘we the common people’ with very little options.. We need to be contended by what they are doing.. We have cynics running the country who are full of murky intentions and want to see the things going on as per their whims.. May be we should get used to this feeling of betrayal and abuse, maybe we have got used to it….

'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..