Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Re: Bharat Ratna Ghalib

(this is a post in reply to Mr Markanday Katju's article today in the Indian Express)


“Hui muddat ki Ghalib mar gaya par yaad aata hai.......wo har ik baat par kehna,ki yun hota to kya hota”

One can associate , quite dramatically though, this couplet to be one of Ghalib's last. But instead ,these lines convey intense speculation, and experimentation, that Ghalib applied in cross examining this world.

Mr Katju, today, in his article in The Indian Express expressed his strong will for Ghalib to be awarded the Bharat Ratna. And in his strong(rather rude) critique ,lashed out his anger at sportsmen(read Sachin) and film stars(read Amitabh), for whom there is a popular support for conferring the Bharat Ratna.

His point of view, sadly, reflects the rigid attitude that he possesses. He, through his statement, is in stark contrast with the views of Ghalib and Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay whom he so avidly supports to confer the accolade , posthumously. Ghalib, other than his poetic expertise , is known for his flexibility of thoughts,and his open defiance to type caste customs. Mr katju, sadly, offers , none of such views to the readers.

To keep it simple, he opposes the support that Sachin Tendulkar and Amitabh Bachchan have for receiving the award, calling it a mockery of the award itself. He, however, failed to keep the following points in mind during his rhetoric.:-


1. Cricket is the pulse of India, and Sachin Tendulkar, for the past 20 years , has relentlessly worked to keep this pulse running. He came to the cricketing world at the age of 16, and his battling in this area still , at 38. So for more than half of his life time, he has been represented as the face of India, and he still strives enough to keep that face untainted. One of his greatest contributions has been the self belief that he has imparted to the nation's youth. Coming from humble backgrounds, and working his way out with enormous labor, he has proved to the nation that anything can be achieved provided there is perseverance and determination. One has to observe his demeanor to know how saintly he is, and a look at his statistic will prove his sheer artistry in the cricketing field.

2. Cinema is an interface through which people, irrespective of class , color, ethnicity , interact with each other. Amitabh Bachchan , it will be apt to say, has been the face of this platform from our country. A person ,or rather a combination of sheer artistry, pure gentleness, and unwavering dignity. He has been there at the helm of the film industry for the past 40 years, have been doing diverse kind of roles, and more importantly, at the age of 70, excelling in them. On seeing him act, cinema does not seem to be some blitzkrieg action, but an art form , in which you need talent to perform, and values to succeed. It is a well known fact that through his life, he has been portraying the common Indian citizen, be it the angry young man of the 70’s or a truthful principal of a college in 2011, with sheer perfection

India ,in 2011-2012, is an evolving country. Its not that Ghalib, or Sharat Chandra, are forgotten heroes, , they deserve an honorable place in the archival aisles of our history, but to rule out sportsmen and film stars, when it come to performing artistic, national and scientific service, is totally wrong. Tendulkar and Bachcan , collectively ,for the past 4 decades, have tirelessly labored to keep the baton of India at the top.When the country is at its lowest ebb in the context of corruption and terrorism ,they are the faces that have kept the head of our nation high. Today, sports, and performing arts are an important indicator of our national prosperity. And the two great persons , criticized so vehemently by Katju, have excelled in these fields , thus doing a commendable national service


In the end I cannot sum it up better than by admitting that yes, Ghalib and Sharat Chandra have a right to get the nation's highest Accolade, but awarding it to sporting legends, and cine-artists, will not be a mockery, but a celebration of , the modern and resurrected India and its heroes .

Friday, December 16, 2011

We the people



“Time is the biggest healer”, and in the present paradigm, this statement glows in perhaps its most glittering sheen. What great age are we living in, when a website in the US is contemplating a presidential nominee , when one of the most autocratic rulers this world has ever seen has been put to one of the most hideous deaths that, again, the world has ever seen. And last but not the least ,when some facebook posts have triggered a country wide revolution, a movement that gave them the flavor they desperately sought for- a taste of democracy.

Democracy- a word with Greek origins that generally has been put into practice when all the other ways of ruling a state have failed. As it is often quoted – the worst form of governance but the best one available. Leftist often argue that a human, naturally, is a communist. But one cannot hide away from the fact that social nature is what overrides any of the inherent tendencies of man.

A normal human being needs social interaction for his hygienic survival. An environment where he can communicate , criticize, laugh, cry thus developing different traits of a personality. A democratic set up is where one gets such an environment with the highest degree of freedom. And what happens when things go the other way round? Imagine a guy in a wooden box with no ventilation, what is the most probable end result?...a destroyed box with an injured but satisfied guy out of it. Today’s Tehrir and yesterday’s Tiananmen were such incidents.

So when democracy helps us to avoid such coups , then why it is termed as the worst form of governance? When every person has got an equal voice, an equal status, there is bound to be a clash, but , in the midst of such heat and fire, we do get the best shaped idea that run a long race but, its the slowness that frustrates. India can be termed as one such frustrated country. The reason is that after more than 65 years of independence and being led by some of the best statesmen , the country still rots in the filth of corruption and poverty. But for a country that was judged to Balkanized within years of its independence , a fairly united stand tells about the magic that the democratic scepter has created. And one cannot help but admit that it was our freedom, our popular stand that helped us to make a transition from a socialist environment to a more open one, in a peaceful way.

Lastly, it will be a gross misjudgment to judge democracy as a form of governance. Its a way of living life in a pleasant oxymoron. Here we have conflicts when we care for a common cause , we fight but we value the hard earned peace, and we often find ourselves plunged in a dark abyss but we know with freedom and ample opportunities we will , someday, see sunshine.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Mahatma v/s Anna

The words written below are some random thoughts that often clung to my mind when I saw an iron willed Anna adamant and hell bent on fasting at Ramlila Grounds, when a larger than life poster of Gandhi jii glowed from the background.



Let us concentrate on the villains first. In Gandhi’s time, there were the British. Anna today fiddles with indigenous men, who are born out of this country’s very soil and act as its protectors. The British were imperialists, they did not rule our country, they ran it, for them India was a business, and they , for most part of their tenure proved to be good businessmen. Our netas come down from a different genre. Unlike the British, they regard serving the nation as their duty , pledge for upholding the constitution, but when it comes to deeds, they keep it simple, rape the nation .
So when it came to waking the country, Gandhi had a tough job, because he was fighting shrewd tacticians, who, incidentally at that time were best at their jobs, and secondly Gandhi had to arouse a nation which after years of incessant harassment laid numb. Adding to the worries , was the neo rich class, which was largely divided , and too possessive about its stand. Anna got, what Gandhi would have strongly wished for- a healthy environment. He got a vibrant and educated middle class which at Gandhi’s time was extinct.
The populace during Gandhi’s time, albeit ultimately supporting him, were habitual of seeing their nation chained. They never had IITs,IIMs,a booming economy, and a self belief that Anna saw in today’s generation, thus compelling Gandhi for intense introspection and spiritual thesis before arriving at a doctrine. So Gandhi with an impoverished India by his side went on to fight some shrewd strategists, and , it is alleged that on similar lines, Anna with a resurgent youth, raised the baton against the Khadi clad men, who mostly are devoid of formal education, let alone being strategists.
The aforementioned allegation is what I stoutly refrain from accepting. Gandhi, in all his movements simply broke the law. He did this to expose the autocratic environment the people lived under. His unlawfulness was symbolic of the fact that ‘ enough is enough’ and that the tide had risen to unmanageable levels. Along side he told Indians , not to accept the fear, but to face it with all the gusto one could muster. He attempted all this non-violently because he was pragmatic enough to understand that any other path in this poverty struck and diverse nation can never lead to a united and a free nation. His hunger strikes, interestingly, were for his own purpose,. Those were his spiritual takes, his introspective journey, to solve the dilemma , if ever, he was in.
Hunger strike is an arch weaponary in the kitty of Team Anna. But in the midst of all the chaos, we tend to overlook a gift that Gandhi, in due course of time has given to Anna, and which has he3lped in making these hunger strikes what they are-heroic.That gift is a democratic and free India. The freedom of speech, an independent media, a self dependent block of the population, and a good education has made this hunger strike a battle of good over the ugly.

When Gandhi faught and broke the laws, there were no rights, no constitution, no democratic institutions that upheld the sovereignty of the Indians., so Gandhi had no other choice. But today when we have achieved what Gandhi had dreamt of , then a hunger strike , though may seem fascinating by analyzing the corruption levels, ultimately ends up keeping the country’s republican structure at ransom.
Anna’s methodology tends to undermine the governance and politics of the country when the real problem lies in the aforementioned politicians who harass and rape our motherland. It should be kept in mind that the real victory is not achieved by proving a point at Jantar Mantar, but by respecting the constitution, following the ethos of democratic process,thus strengthening the institutions of this country, institutions, due to which for the past 60+ years we have boasted to be the largest electorate in the world.
Having said that the people’s anger is totally justified. But then we should remember that the the anger which has made us responsible citizens would easily have been an illegal action in any undemocratic environment. It’s the freedom given to us that has made us think so vocally about our country. Of course these are beautiful times when so much young blood is there for the country, but then trying to make things work on the grounds of a strike which is becoming synonymous with “my way or the highway” is pushing things too far.

Instead we should try to bring change in ways some people thought we would when they framed our constitution, when they conferred it a republic. It should be remembered that by-passing is no solution but strengthening our nation is one. We should try to analyze our democratic set up, participate in governance, reform various sectors ,and try to make parliamentary institutions citizen-friendly and transparent, which from times immemorial have been used against us, and these can be achieved when we shed the robe of observers and become participants. That way we might be similar to what Gandhi would have been today , otherwise in his very own words, “an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind”.

Friday, December 2, 2011

BEING ANNA -Reloaded

Anna* is back again....with a bang or not, only time will tell,but his presence can be felt. Words like parliament,resolution and most importantly hunger strike are bubbling again in the atmosphere. A revolution is being sensed, smelled and expected soon.

If we go by the general consensus, which means views of people which altogether lead a normal life(for some. it’s boring) life, then it’s the rebuilding of the nation that is taking place, times are great, its India shining...or is it?. If it is, then where will we put( in the scale of shine), our constitution that grants us the freedom that has made Anna's act a heroic stance? An act that , 60 years ago, could easily have been another Jallianwaala Bagh episode.

There's no doubt about Anna's integrity towards the issue, but the incessant use of hunger strikes and boycotts are taking the subject to rather unfriendly shores. In a country where each of us have been given equal rights, and most importantly equal opportunities , the path of hunger strikes is a kind of a short cut that contradicts our republican structure. The direct effect that it has on the citizens is that they have started to undermine democracy, thereby developing a scorn towards everything political.

When ,on one side Anna has succeeded in driving the youth to a just cause , on the other hand his philosophy has drifted the young guns from politics and politicians. The hunger strike methodology can, in near future lead to a domino effect , when no matter what the cause is , a similar movement may rock the stage.

Anna , by distancing himself from politics, has become a mere symbolic reality, at times when we desperately need a leader like him. It must be remembered that to uphold the nation's democratic fervour, we have to follow the path that upholds the countries democratic power. And when there is people's control, the only way changes can be made are through elections. We need to understand that common good can be achieved by participating and winning in the elections, by coming to power, and replacing the bad ones by the good and more sincere ones.

Corruption, for which the Gandhian is fighting , is not an issue. It is a disease that everyone is suffering from, and strikes are no way of curing it, rather it makes it more fatal, because of the growing mistrust it creates among the people for the institutions, the pillars of this country. Secondly, Corruption is basically an effect , rather that a cause, as it has been projected. The inept policies against a booming economic growth is a catalyst for increasing this filth. It should be noted that a common man resorts to corruption as a need, not as a habit. Therefore, a mere check may backfire, by that check becoming tainted too. In the long run , only robust policies can paint the picture in desired colors. That is possible when a bravado like Anna plunges into the political battlefield, thus making the whole structure solid.

Anna is no 'second Gandhi', he is the follower of country's father who's dream it was to see the nation being led by its heroes. Today, when we almost hate the khadi clad men that govern us, its time for Annaq to get rid of the hunger strike way, become representative of the people, lead the nation as people's hero , and built an India, Gandhi once dreamt of, and Anna himself, still dreams of.

* = Anna here is synonymous with Team Anna

RELIGION- THROUGH MODERN LENSES

Religion is a complex term. It will be an understatement to call it just a word in the lexicon. It is basically a subjective reality that appears to be a vast entity, often transcending realism. Religion- on hearing the word ,one is filled with respect,awe and revernece,towards a certain set of rules that we dare not question ,let alone break.

That respect towards religion is anachronistic in modern times because it certainly inhibits our ability ro reason and question. If we have a look at all the modern democracies we will see that there is always a growing tussle between the free spirited thought and the rigid norms of religion. For those nations, which are on their way towards a democratic set up,this friction is more pronounced.

The aforementioned conditions are effects of a wrong perception of religion and religious thoughts, that we have been garnering for centuries. We , round the globe,in almost every case,project religion as unquestionable. It seem to be word handed over by God and mere asking for its validity is gravest of sins. It is easy to analyze and tough to admit that this is a wrong perception of religion.

The correct answer to the question “What is religion?” would be that it is a set of thought processes embedded with principles that helps make people's life smooth and ethically strong. The concepts of religion are never accountable to the wishes of a particular 'great one' as that will make it synonymous with autocracy. Viewing the situation historically and socially, the main reason for religion to come into existence is to render the society a peaceful ethical and to the as much a possible, a life on their own terms, thus making flexibility , the charm of any religion.

Flexibility brings religion as a topic of heated debate. The problem with the society is that we need to look religion as a set of principles that must remain unchanged , unbridled. This creates a collision with the modern social life which is adaptable to changes.

The main motive of religion is to take human life to a better level, but our rigid take on this institution is making things difficult. We often concentrate on the petty do's and dont's and project ourselves as true followers. Any particular principle of religion depends on the historical ang geographical condition when it was enunciated. We should pay attention to only those theories and try to bring to action only those practices which are correct and ethical irrespective of caste , society and time frame.Such a treatment of religion will bring it not only closer to modern democratic principles but will try to fill the rift between various theologies.

What we need is a critical analysis and filtering only those practices which serve for the betterment of humanity as a whole. In simple words it would be catering to what any religion and its practices and philosophies actually asks for.

POLITICIAN'S BANK

For all those who felt proud to belong to a region that boasted both of Taj Mahal and Sangam, it must have been heartbreaking ,when in Lucknow, the resolution to divide the state into four parts was passed.

The main facets that have bubbled out of this division storm are the emotional outbursts of a simple UPite, who, irrespective of the dilapidated condition of the state ,has fond memories of the state’s cultural supremacy. But in the midst of all this emotion, we regularly ignore the real politik of the leaders of the state ,the beloved Vote Bank policy-an antecedent to divide and rule.

“A vote bank is a loyal bloc of a single community backing a certain candidate” is a rather innocent definition of the term. In the context of UP, it is a strategy of getting votes on the caste lines ,that ultimately lead to the negligence of the development of the region.

The main attraction of the politics of Uttar Pradesh is its casteist flavor. The reason behind the subsequent division is termed as the large size of the state that leads to its inefficient administration. This reason , as per now, is just a mirage to seek political goals. Three out of four regions which are projected as different states are self sufficient as far as the resources and manpower is concerned. The problem is the lack of effective policies of governance, as political spectrum makes it mandatory for every politician to woo a certain caste/group, ultimately overshadowing the state as a whole.

If we look at the state more closely, we will find cotton mills at Kanpur ,once known for their huge output- all closed, the artistic cottage industry of Purvanchal- all dumped up. These are some of the many ‘already’ present resources that made UP, a once prosperous state and an ignorant back towards them has resulted in the present plight of the state. And no prizes for guessing the simple reason – lack of sustainable policies ,because the idea is to stay in power rather than to strive for the development of key zones which have both man power and resources.

The largely unseen result of excessive vote banking is the continuing malice between various caste groups. The malice has always been there, but when the baton of leadership is carried forward by educated leaders, and when the the common man, too is decently aware, then, the persistence of such attitude is an alarming sign. It can be gathered from history that any pogrom is a result of a hybrid mixture of class hatred with education among the youth. The ill-effect growing vote bank policies , which will aggravate with the division, might very well bring the relation among the people esp. educates youth of the region to such a situation.

To conclude, I guess, it would be sensible to relate the state’s development with an effective administration rather than division, which may lead to a lesser say of the regions at the center. Sound policy making and impartial judgment of the issue can only make Uttar Pradesh an Uttam Pradesh, the title it has long been striving to get.

NEW TIMES...GOOD TIMES..

Ramrajya- a sound that is more perfect than the batting of Bradman,more picturesque than the valleys of Kashmir. It’s a word that is often referred to when we see atrocities happening or seeing something unjust in the present time frame. And we complement it with a word as immortal and as great as the former – Kalyug. Without Kalyug, Ramrajya is null and void, as we admire Ramrajya because we hate Kalyug. But then Ramrajya brings a music to our ears, the sound of which represents order,justice,and peace for all.

Having said that, I am of the view that we have crossed the deserts of the devilish Kalyug. We no longer reside in that separatist culture,. We are in a new phase that is a counterpart, and not a complement of the great era of King Rama- if I may call it CyberRajya- the digital boom. Computers started as a sophisticated helping hand in our complex research work,grew as a technology to assist us in our academic and industrial domain and as per now, have invaded our social,personal and every type of life to an extent of haunting us.

So are we in good times or bad ones? Are we celebrating the fest of technology or ignoring the beauties of nature in a bid to get ‘silicon’ized. Let’s just compare the present day society with the most sought after period of India- the Ramrajya.
The most fascinating thing about Ramrajya was its openness. Openness is a rather vague term that can be further broken into equality, freedom of expression, and that every person from top to bottom was connected to each other- not to forget that Seeta was abandoned due to a comment of a mere commoner. These days when I log on to my twitter account and tweet something to Mr Bachchan, I don’t do it as a fan writing some fan males, but it’s just a flow of a distinct point of view from one person to another, and all the time ,being fully aware that he is going to answer me. Similarly when an American logs on to AmericansElect.com. he does not do it to gather knowledge about the political spectrum of his country, he does it to elect a presidential nominee, thus to change the political spectrum of his country, and all this for free, because as members of this society we deserve it- a bell rings, a behavior analogous to the Ramrajya .

Various cyber tools that strive to keep us connected have broken amongst us various class,caste and status barriers and help built us in individuals who believe in an unbiased flow of ideas to build valid and various thought processes. The commoner, thus has started thinking of himself as an important part of the social machinery, His voice is being heard, his thoughts are being acted upon, he is feeling responsible, thus powerful and hence , conscious for the development of society, country and the world. Looking from the context of India- in a land where there are various languages and cultures , no single person can lead the nation , and inputs from each and every individual is needed, and Cyberrajya is definitely making this need into a reality.

Our mythology tells us that there will be great destruction after Kalyug and the good times will start again. It is all true and the destruction is happening, not in the form of bloodshed, but by destroying customs, old roots, and fighting our way out to keep the current line of thought in place that is the hybrid thinking of the society. And once it is all over, we’ll be living in a golden age,with values we have long sought for.

The IDEA of Gandhi

It was Gandhi Jayanti last Sunday. I certainly wished to write ‘celebrated’ instead of ‘was’ ,but then I didn’t celebrate and frankly speaking nobody did!! When I track down the national festivals that I have witnessed through my age, I can relate 15th August to ‘boondi k laddoo’, 26th Jan to a disciplined parade in my school, but did 2nd October achieve anything more than a holiday with Attenborough’s Gandhi being telecasted on DD1 ??. I doubt.







A thought ,thereby arises in my mind that we never celebrate the existence of personalities like Nehru, Patel, or Bhagat Singh,like we celebrate the aura and magic of our Bollywood superstars, with media channels dedicating hour long public discussions for those tinsel towners. It will be tough to digest and intense to retrospect when said that the freedom fighters have lost much of their sheen. We gained independence in ’47, and much water has flown in and out of the Ganges since that ‘At the stroke of midnight’ speech of Nehru. We’ve seen IITs ,Emergency, near bankruptcy ,Rushdie’s Midnights Children ,Economic liberalization , 2G scam, and so, reviewing this long list there is no surprise that Nehru ,each year asks for a children’s day ,Patel is somewhere in the primary level GK books as “Iron Man” and confusion prevails over the identity of Azad.







But Gandhi cannot be attributed to such a treatment . he is there, in fact he is bound to be there, in our currency, in govt buildings , parks. In films Gandhi has, a sort of an oxymoronic role to play, because in any sequence where there is intense corruption or injustice being shown , we can see one of his portraits or hear one of his insignia tunes in the background. His gift to the common man ‘Khadi’ is still favored albeit among politicians who are all the more far away from the common man.







But in spite of all this, the birthday of the ‘Big Daddy’ goes dull, Gandhi Ashrams are in desperate need of customers. Gandhi in all its glory is as outside our lives and culture as he is inside







So we can come to a conclusion that Gandhi, not at all a stranger to our lives , has got a sort of an estranged relationship with us, In India we cannot condemn Gandhi ,but we cant embrace him either, He is a puzzle that we have to solve to clear the examination, so we leave it halfway ,to just pass the test.







There are many reasons as to why the old man, clad in a loin cloth half his life, an epitome of simplicity has become such a complex conundrum. A major misconception is portrayal of Gandhi as a person who brought freedom to India. It was never in his agenda to ‘free’ India. He wanted to lift this nation, make its people a constructive part of its edifice. He never opposed the British in general, but he vehemently oppressed those policies of theirs which downgraded the prestige of Indians, he worked towards a comprehensive building of India , where India was to be a constituted and served by Indians, he didn’t want India to be a private property of Indians.







So did Gandhi brought freedom to India, may be not, but yes he helped India to survive through that freedom process, as one single entity. Gaining freedom was a political process, and looking at the issues from a political point of view - boycott of the Non-co-operation movement and ouster of Bose from the INC ,may not be very much politically correct decisions, and India would have achieved independence quite early had these decisions not acted upon, but would India, a country with multitude of cultures and languages, had survived and avoided Balkanization., that is the main question. If we look at the political scenario of ’45, freedom to India was inevitable, what was more important was how India embraced that freedom. Gandhi thus, strived all is life to prepare India for that freedom. This preparation consisted of taking strict stands, standing by the spoken words, and setting examples by following them. Gandhi was an intellectual for whom nothing was negotiable, thus making him a bad politician.



Another allegation that the poor man faces is that his policies and philosophies are impractical. This is a misconceived allegation. The question should be, “Are Gandhi’s policies realistic in 21st century??” Any thought process, any philosophy is timeless, and ageless. But its implementation changes from time to time and is divided into phases. Any particular phase can be divided into the prevailing conditions, economic activities , and technological advancements of a particular time-frame. The mere thought of practicing the policies in 2011 which Gandhi practiced in 1920-45 is foolhardy in nature. Having said that, the ideals must remain same as India is still suffering from the same problems of poverty illiteracy and socio- economic inequalities as in ’47,but an India which has got a McDonald’s McVeggie as its normal Sunday meal, Gandhi would certainly have had different practices for it to perform



And then fasts. Did Gandhi fasted to make people meet his demands??. And I can bet you that this statement stands completely null and void. unless the demand was to stop Hindus and Muslims to stop killing each other. Otherwise the fasts of Gandhi were to purify himself., to rejuvenate the energy he wanted to use in the service of the nation. It was Gandhi who understood the real meaning of fasts. He used them for introspection, for self analysis. Under the silence and quietness of fasts, he found his God who kindles in him the determination to face all the hurdles.



One question that I often ask myself is that what would have happened had Gandhi not existed?......................Perhaps India would have gained freedom but I doubt if we had the same India as we have it today. There would have been no Luther Kings, Mandelas and Hazares, as there would have been nobody to look up to self -belief like Gandhi.



Self-belief ,yes, belief in oneself is what he gave us as a gift. Gandhi as a human being did things that were right and wrong, but through is self-belief he achieved some above-average things and an above-average status…thereby becoming the father of the nation.

I'd rather not be Anna - reprise

. If you are an Indian ,then there is no better time than the present time-frame to celebrate your 24-25th birthday . I have not seen the Quit India Movement ,just heard it, as if it was a fairytale, from my grandfather. Neither have I witnessed the emergency period, stories (rather incidents) of which I have heard from my parents. I always wondered what a movement is like , whether its tyrannical, lazy or exotic until I saw one.



The Gen-Y has termed this era as a revolution. I, being a part of the Gen-Y and a democracy disagree completely. This is not a revolution. A revolution to me, both literally and figuratively means a complete overhaul. An upside down strategy required when one has reached a dead end, when the thought process of a state has saturated and when the ideologies upon which the nation has strengthened its roots have deprecated.. What we as a nation want is a deviation in our thinking, a tilt, a subtle and gradual change in our ideology.



Corruption is a cancer ,no doubt ,and it is eating our country out, but then , there is a pending topic of red terror(in simple words, we call it Maoism which is drawn out of extreme poverty)., and also do we have the all time hit insurgencies by China and Pakistan on either sides. But then we can’t hide away from the fact that we are on our way with zooming economy and rock the stage when it comes to demographic dividend. So here’s a 3-dimensional situation with corruption, poverty-cum-terror and achievements as its subsequent faces. This is the rubics cube that we have to solve.



It would be a horrendous task to undermine our civil institutions and the clauses and phrases of our constitution , because they are the galleries of our republic that endorse the freedom to its citizens, freedom that has made this multicultural,multilingual,world’s largest electorate hold its democratic power, a power that has created the great Ramlila Maidan celeberation.



So do I admire Anna Hazare. Yes, I very much do. But having said that, I am not Anna. I am the citizen of India and I have a distinct spirit and have a distinct opinion , which , in all the good senses , is for the welfare of this nation. And perhaps Anna also wants such mentality to sprout. He doesn’t want us to blindly follow him, or write petitions in blood but ,put opinions, discuss the pros and cons of the bill. Never mind if a person is against the bill, he should have the confidence to put forward his issues if he has the zeal to regulate corruption., thereby really supporting him. This way we will strengthen our democracy and its institutions , where there is a rule of the public and which for the last 64 years has been shouting that this land is for the people, of the people and by the people.







In a country where corruption is channelized to each nook and corner and where conducting a referendum will end up being a wild goose chase, the educated youth, and the sensitive middle class should stand up, hold public discussions about the prospects of Jan Lokpal, extend the whole thought process to the villages and all the downtrodden. That will be the only way the Jan Lokpaal will truly reflects our democracy and will amalgamate the interests of the nation’s billion people.



And yes one more appeal, stop saying that we are against corruption, that will be analogous to running away from the truth. The honest and brave way will be to accept that “yes we were corrupt”, and “now we have the courage to reinvent ourselves”. That will be the right way forward, perhaps that will be Anna’s way

P.S. 'I”d rather not be Anna' was the title of a provocative article by Arundhati Roy. I being an ardant fan of her was disappointed by her take on the whole issue.and therefore this reprise versionis an apology anda fan’s take for that article.

Zaveri Bazaar - A travelogue

It was A’s choice to visit Mumbadevi. I , after a marathon tour of Siddhivinayak,Haji Ali, and Mahalakshmi , was now, caught in a jinx. My adventurous and touring self were in a clash ….with the real , more humble persona of me. Ultimately the daring and touring one got the crown and I ceded to A’s request.



B, the third musketeer amongst us, was in mixedbag. A celebrating and undying spirit of his, both were unable to cope up with the majestic gushes of wind and the oily surface of the Haji Ali causeway. He wanted to go home, lie down in the couch, watch some news, light a smoke,I saw those snapshots of wishs in his eyes for two long minutes, but miraculously at the start of the third minute, it all went off, and for reasons unknown, he also gave it in.



The best way to roam around Mumbai ,or as a matter of fact any Indian city which has got a story to tell is, hire a taxi, sit besides the chauffeur and bombard him with your Q and As.



We took a taxi at the crossection of Bhulabhai Desai Road and Pedder Road. I literally jumped towards the front door. My eyes were like the lion’s when the king of the jungle has seen blood on the front seat.At last with some rare reflexes and with raised eyebrows of the driver ,I caught hold of my seat while things happened a bit peacefully behind me as the other two guys sat quietly in the back seat.



Soon we took off towards Peddar Road



Me : ye Peddar Road hai??

Driver : haan sahib.



Suddenly the weather changed, what was something a little more than a rainfall turned to something less than a storm. The wet and naked roads , devoid of commuters , made the Island city a lot more sexier than it normally is when the town is a financial nerve center. The incessant rain was turning the wet ,moist and salty atmosphere into a sensuous one.



Me (turning towards B) : saale ye hai Mumbai..mayanagri.

Driver looked towards me and ended up in a wry smile.

B : abe ye sab angrezon ne banaaya hai kyaa??

Me : haan, kaafi kuch.



The cab turned left bringing with it a view of the grand sea face which eventually made its way to the grandeur of Marine Drive.



Me : Bhayiaa 26/11 ko to yahaan sab sunsaan hoga

Driver : sunsaan kya sahib sab band tha..kuch allowed hii nahi thaa

C : aur train??

D : log hii kahaan the train pakadne k liye….aur frequency bhi kam ho gyi thi…abhi 5 minute me aa jaati hai..un dino aadhe ghante me 1 train aa rhi thi.

Me : matlab office woffice sab band??

Driver (taking a sharp turn thus, taking us away from Marine Drive) : Are kya office seth, lag raha tha jaise kisi doosre desh ne akraman kar diya ho….

Me : Achca ….saaalaaa…



The driver looked at me, intensely and then, smiled again. I would be lying if I’d say that I was not at all amused by that smile. But in the hindsight I can relate a lot more bravery to that smile. For that driver and many others, this city with all its roads and sea faces , was like a mother, and they had seen their mother being brutally beaten ,looted and raped on 26/11 , and on many more occasions, but at all those times, they had fought and brought their mother back to her feet and the city was again running. I recalled ,that what a soldier does for his nation,these drivers had done, many times for this city.



Me : Achchaa bhayiaajii, abhi waale blast bhi to yahiin kahiin hue the??

Driver (pointing his finger to a congested street) Wo baju me wahaan…wo

Me (partly in disbelief and partly in fear) : Achca ..mandir yahiin hai kyaa??....aas paas??

Driver(finally giving the Bumblebee’s engine a little rest): seth yahaan k baad se taxi allowed nahi hai blast k baad se ..wo raha mandir saamne ….



I am a naturally dumb guy. But in that time frame of stepping down from the taxi and getting the first look at Zaveri Bazaar, my mind was filled with a thousand and one thoughts.



“shall I tell my mother….no no no…it wil be terrible thing”, “so finally I am at the terror hot-spot….I will tell this thing to my friends, may be I could write about it”….”what if..what if Bomb has been planted ..its Saturday, so crowded…”….”shit…common….nothing wil happen….are yaar..saali kahin aakhiri yatra na ho”



Above, is the story of my mind in the first 10 minutes of my landing at Zaveri Bazaar. “Kitna sona hai be”…B’s voice came from the backdrop…and so with the jungle of thoughts in my mind , I walked ahead.



Jewelery is everywhere. No other thoughts can come to anybody’s mind when he stands in the middle of this bazaar for the first 5 mins. From hutment to palaces, everything was – if there is any word like that- jewel-phillic. It seemed to be a street of commoners where the ‘aam- aadmi’ toiled hard and gave away his sweat to bring affluence to the rich and famous.



Gold , for them was not what it meant for us. Diamond was not a lady’s best friend. They were pure and were revered. The people and those rare gems had a relationship analogous to that of the pen and the writer.



Finally we reached Mumbadevi, which to put in a more apt manner ,was intense . As if the almighty was meditating deep on the pros and cons of the recent blasts. After all Gods here had seen Mumbai grow , applauding at her achievements and praying at her struggles and hurdles.



It was my turn now, to be in a mixed bag .Nightmares were still hovering over me. And as a topping, in came a dilemma , My wish to roam around Colaba and have a pint there met in a head on collision with the aroma of the jalebi that was being prepared nearby.



Me: abe chalo be Bus pakadte hai…varna milegi nahi??

A: Abe saale jalebi khaa le. Bahut din ho gaye hain be.

B : haan be ..khaa k chalte hain…mauj aa jaaegi.



I lost. We went inside. A peaculiar combo of jalebi and papdi was served. With the very first bite , I was travelling through time. I was back to the days which started at 7 AM and ended at 1 in the noon, when tension was limited to the pending homework , where there were fights , but no hatred , and where there was fear of scolding but no terror.

Handing over the bill to the shopkeeper we walked out of that hotel.. My fear was now turning towards an intriguing curiosity. I was in a place which was one of the most testing place to be in the recent times but all what I had seen and heard were loud laughter, smiling faces and fast paced seths. I was ashamed to be in nightmares again..compared to those dare-devil jewellers, I was a selfish piece of nut.But I could not help it, the thoughts of an imminent blasts were overpowering the jovialness of the Zaveri Bazaar



A: abe raat k khaane kaa kya kare??

Me(dying to go to Colaba) : abe chalo be ..Leopold chalte hain..dekh lenge khaane kaa

A: abe aunty bhii nahi aaeng banane….

“ARE PACK KARNE LAANE KAA NAA”- a passer by remarked , and almost instantaneously started laughing. I could not control myself , gestured towards him, and laughed out.



I and B laughed out for 2 long mins. A had no idea why we were laughing. I looked back at the Bazaar saluted to it, and started to walk towards the bus stand, to head,finally to Colaba.

Bharat Durdasha- Kya Karein

That feeling came all of a sudden, grew exponentially within me, and soon I was a slave to it. It was a stroke of pride, an aura of doing something that made my relation to this country firm. In more simple(and dull) words I was filling up the Aadhar UID form.



Such feeling ‘patriotic’ ,if I may call it ,arise seldom these days. For the last 7 months , when life has been categorically defined between work and weekend , fewer have been times when I have thought about the Matrabhoomi…the land,our mother, where we are born and raised.



A month has passed when I met that guy for the first ,and the last time. He was a friend’s acquaintance ,new to Mumbai, and naïve to the zeal ,the spirit that the city sets in you. He was here for a job , and was looking out for a room. For the last two days he had toiled hard,but, without any success . Still , he had a kick, that was driving him, in those torrential Bombay Rains, to look out for more and find a place in the Maximum City which beholds all. The way he finished his tea, the amicable tone of “Bantu bhaai..ghar kab jaaoge”…it was all raining optimism.



I have not met that guy since that day, but a week later I found out that he didn’t get a flat. Well….he was a Muslim The feeling that I had at that very moment was an even mixture of amazement , frustration and helplessness. The picture of Bombay, of majestic Marine Drive and picturesque Powai, which defied tradition and embraced all ,started fading from my mind. I wanted to do something I knew I could not and was sure that I would not. A caricature of that lad came to my mind. A jovial guy, a nice guy slowly immersing in the shallow waters of religious extremism, the waters are getting deeper , the guy is falling, loosing control. Sometimes he could not do anything , sometimes he does not want to do anything……..Suddenly the rain, like lashes , started again…..I ,muttering “saala koi kaise kar sakta hai aisa” came to the serenity of my room.

It was 13th of July…the bus had not come for ½ hr….depression was looming large. I was in a dilemma whether to wait for the red beast or start walking. In the midst of my fondling with the two options,I received the news,” Bantu ,bomb blast ho gaya hai”. I, sure, that the building behind me is going to explode , turned backwards. It didn’t explode, I started walking.



I decided to walk till I found a bus. Amma’s phone came “ Dadar kahaan hai..Bantu, un logon ke area me mat jaya karo”. My phone was constantly ringing. And again I was caught in a blend of emotions- first, a black one of fear of death and destruction , and second , a more colorful thought with a more childish flavor in it- of being in the limelight.



I finally got a bus,no. 27,coming all the way from Worli, which had passed through the bomb affected areas. It was a crowded bus. Infused with the air of sweaty odour and bad breath was a hush of fear,of stories of panic. I finally found a place to stand beside a seat where a kurta clad ,old bearded man was sitting. I made out it his religion from his attire. I clenched my fist, was perplexed. Thoughts were high in my mind that the bus is going to blast. The old man’s phone rang, he said ,”blast ho gaya” and I found my nightmares coming true. I was trying to get rid of such thoughts, I was helpless, those thoughts were like gushes of wind trying to break open my logical doors.

A little later , my stop came, and the bomb blast became an incident and the bus incident was now a matter to laugh at in the office the next day.

When I started writing this article , I wanted to give it a dramatic ending something abstract, yet out of the world, like Tyson’s punch. But now , I realize that conclusion is something we don’t really want , what we need is a start.



Most of us might not have gone through the same incidents, but yes, we all go through the feeling that those incidents created inside me. We feel proud of our nation, we desperately want to do something for it, and when needed we believe in sitting in a couch , eating home cooked food getting entertained by those sensational headlines……….and throughout the bottom line remains…” Kya Kare”

Frankly speaking , I can’t believe that a nation of 1.2 billion cannot rock the whole volume of the parliament in full strength. The fact of the matter is, that most of the times we are the ones who don’t want to change. We are the ones who don’t want to throw cigarette butts in a dustbin, and we are the culprits who are reluctant to opt for a long route to get things, general things , like passport registration, Driver’s License registration, getting flat,systematically done. That guy didn’t get a flat not because of a corrupt government , but because of a sick mentality. Mentality that causes the 2-g scam. The bomb-blast , again a result of that ‘stinking mentality’….and the result of that blast…in huge amount …’stinking mentality’.

The problem is that India is not ruled by government, or by a bunch of bureaucrats . India is ruled by a mindset, That which nurtured by poverty , dreams and religion in such a way that being an IAS doesn’t mean to be changing the system, but, bringing fame and money to the family.

Anything bad that happens , is the case of a psychology. A psychology has been there, be it Babri, 2-G ,13/7,26/11,11/7……..

Solution, well , I am too small to give one. Personally I won’t opt for a revolution. But yes, of introspection. I would like it, many would disagree , but in the way of Gandhiji. We will get there slow, 5 years, may be 50 years, but then, we will be getting to something, maybe a better future, a better nation, a better mother.

602...me v/s the world

My open mouthed gaze towards one Skoda sports car was short lived because behind that slender beauty….was a voluptuous beast. The atmosphere started getting tense, a ‘hussssshhhhhh’ dominated the scene. I, accidently stepped over ‘a thin as a thread' sandal of a lady , thereby crushing her cute toe. She beemed at me, I got ready to be slapped. But nothing happened , tension was abuzz, it was 6:15 PM . 602 was coming.





5:45- 6:00 – My down the hill walk marking the end of my office schedule often starts with a prayer ,”Lord just give me one seat in that bus…the window one will be great , but then anything worth sitting is fine”. As I reach the office gate , I slowly, narrowly, delllicattely turn my eyes towards left, watch the crowd waiting for the bus and march ,as if a freedom fighter is going to the gallows in the hope of getting his decision reversed, towards the the stop, and start waiting for BEST bus – 602.



6:00- 6:15 - The mind is all set, the body is all geared up, all prayers said , the eyes are focused firmly on the road. The crowd around is increasing, similarly my heart beat too, though at a much faster rate.’Thank God!!!’ is what I say when I see a person walking across the stop, showing no interest, although some mercy on us.”Fuck”(in Hindi), is spitted out as soon as a guy stands besides me , making his intentions clear, that of catching the red devil.



6:16- 6:20 – Like a Jew is unable to explain the Holocaust , a Japanese cannot describe the 1945 Nuclear explosion, similarly,these 4 minutes …no…240 seconds are undescribable, unexplainable and unapproachable. Well , they just happen. Those are spiritual moments. You don’t see your caste, your colour , your clothes , all of them seems to be momentary,what the sages have called ‘Maya’. You see the path towards the truth, you want to catch the bus , you, want to grab a seat.



6:20- 6:30 – I didn’t get a seat , am standing. My prayers have been shown the exit door. I am terrified, am perplexed. There is nothing sadder than this, even if I catch impotency , even if I get to know that this is the last day of my life,nothing beats the melancholy of this moment. Now, when each of my senses are blocked , my nose has become proactive.I can breathe in the stench of all the IT pros alongside me, contributing heavily in the GDP of the nation. I can feel the jasmine of the hair oil the buddy next to me, has poured over his head….I feel as if the conductor is coming towards me…”pudhe sarka..sarka pudhe”..these sounds touch my ears. I can see nothing except for a patch of road, which I am looking through an opening . I use the shape of that patch to get to know whether I am in the Powai region, or have reached the Eastern Express Highway.



6:30 - 7:00 – It has started becoming all right now. I am getting used to the stench, the jasmine, the mob. I am in a trance. Except for my I-card, I guess I have nothing, I owe nothing, I own nothing. I am a loner in this crowd who wants to reach home, feel the warmth of it. We all have transcended our bodies and have become one holy mass ,desperate to see a light, our destination. And then, IIT main gate comes , and I lose that warmth ,I come out of the holy spirit.

IIT was the place I always wanted to be a part of. I knew I wasn’t one of those but the screams of the outer world were too loud for me to hear the inner voice. I gave one year just to get an entry across that gate. I ended up being in a C grade college(though I loved every part of it). Today, I was staring across that gate. I wanted to catch just one glimpse of a student, owner of a perfect grey matter, guys who are revered nationwide,people, who study there, go to US. Study MS, stay in the US, thus ,leaving the nation to its gutters, filthiness and crowds.



7:00– 7:15 – The crowd has started dispersing,the bus is moving fast toward my stop- Kanjur marg. The journey, in hindsight can now be seen as an adventure, a story whose glorious end, I am able to see- my stop. I have gleefully stepped out of the bus, as if I have single handedly won the world cup for India, or have made her a superpower. I turn around, start gearing myself for another bus, another ride……another story.

And the 'Award' goes to....

Prologue –

Time – Sometime in Feb-March 2010,not many days after Ravi Shastri announced from the commentary box at Gwalior- “Sachin, the first man in the planet to score a double hundred in ODIs”…news channels bustling all around ,should Sachin be the next Bharat Ratna??. The ‘?’ was a ‘?’ for the moneymaker media barons, while it was a decent ‘!!’ for the youth culture and the future stronghold of the nation…and a quiet ‘.’ for the millions of common Indians who , for the past 15 years,silently , yet firmly had made Sachin their Bharat Ratna.



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Place- Marine Drive ,200 metres +- Wankhede Stadium,I am standing somewhere in the middle of that 3.5 km long stretch. A place that holds true to the saying that ‘Men are from Mars and women are from South Bombay’ is alive and kicking. Cars all around, with bodies partially out of them,bodies with all the animation,waving flags from their hands and having jubilance in their faces, and faces, with nothing but screams of ‘Indeeeya..India’ from their mouths



India finally “after a generational gap of 28 years”(again in Shastri’s terms) had won the World cup and Marine Drive alongwith the whole of Mumbai and the whole nation was like something never before in the past and would never be at least in the next 4 years.



And these days..as was expected from the night of 2nd April , news channels are galore with ‘Indeeeeya..indiaaa’ spirits, be it Sachin, Dhoni, Sehwag, their mothers, wifes , relatives or sisters, there are all welcome in those supernatural, ‘out of the world’ studios ..and Hence another issue has come out of its burial ground…..Should Sachin be awarded the Bharat Ratna??



As a common man I don’t think my opinion counts but…as an ‘Indian’,I guess I should give one.



Yes…I think Sachin must be awarded this supreme accolade ,although he is already one( the supreme) in the eyes of this great nation. But for me, there is one more and only thing(as I may call it) that should be conferred this honour before Sachin. That thing, that era, that religion, that greatness is cricket.



If I may quote Wikipedia , Bharat Ratna is a civilian award awarded for highrst degree of national service including artistic, literary ,and for public service of the highest order.. if for a few minutes I ( and the people who are reading it ) assume cricket to be a human being , then this man has been doing the above mentioned things for the past 75 years., Be it Mumbai, Chennai , Malihabad, Leh, Be it Abhishek Bachchan, Atal Behari Vajpayee, or a poor farmer, the panorama of this guy over each of them is just the same ,irrespective of the fact that some of these guys own a Bentley, some own this nation, and many, doesen’t even own a rooftop for them.



There must be something in this man that for watching this stud people from jammu to kanyakumari, Rajasthan to charapoonji(I know this is a cliché but still) ‘bleed blue’. No matter if it is ’47 ,’84, 26/11, come this man and the nation is united like never before.



And now lets just convert it into a sport, and we see that it isn’t even our national sport,perhaps it needn’t be, because it is our national pride , our national emotion.. it is something greater than religion, because religion we have to follow, while this, we love to follow.



That last six from Dhoni, on that memorable night was not just a six, a winning shot, it was a moment when 1.2 billion Indians had tears in their eyes, were weak at their knees, and were dancing no matter if majority of them had no food to eat , no houses to live in and no occupation to earn from.



This game deserves something from this country, it deserves a tribute, if possible, a Bharat Ratna and if possible (and if I may have the guts to say) before Sachin.

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Epilogue

- The streets of Mumbai have turned workoholic, Dravid has made statement that Sachin is already a Bharat Ratna, and somewhere a craze ,a madness has started taking birth for the upcoming IPL.

TRIVANDRUM.......

It was my third visit to Kovalam and my first interaction with the sea with the taste of alcohol in my mouth. Craving for beer at one of the best beaches of India did cost me 15 bucks more but then,with that ‘Palone’ kick I saw the Arabian sea in a different avatar. It was like an unlimited or rather limitless expanse of 5:30 in the evening which seemed to me like a combo of darkness nestled intimately with a blurred sunshine coming out of nowhere, it seemed that the sea carrying almost everything and then ,as soon as it kissed and made love to the rocks it was exactly penniless, as if the sea was like Mira who left everything just to be with his very own Krishna which was there on the sides of Kovalam ,from time immemorial, in the form of rocks.

And in the middle of the tsunami of thoughts attacking me that evening ..I uttered “ek bar biwi lo le k aoongaa zaroor”.

Life at Kerala , I thought at that point of time, was becoming interesting. A thought that didn’t come to my mind when I arrived at Trivandrum Central on 14th of Nov ,2010 followed by a failed bargain negotiation with the driver and coolie, only to be dumped , in a greenish ,’kabootarkhaana’ ish room no. 204. And then time started improvising things, it didn’t heal because somewhere I was feeling that there was something missing, but yes, it definitely improvised.

The training done at the tip of this great nation seemed to me in agreement with the premonition that I had on the day when I was interviewed for TCS. “Achcha ye bataao ,tumhe le kyun” was asked by the interviewer umpteen number of times ,and an equally umpteen no. Of times I retorted back..”Sir I have got the hunger ,I will fight it out”. I finally was selected ,but, in those hours between the announcement and the interview I thought-”Am I made for it??,is this the right place for me??”. Incidentally, the same thoughts that I had on the eve of my J2EE lab test.

Java , a word that I hated in college , now became a necessity ,and due to that a phobia of this tremendous language was instilled in me. Sometimes I fell in love with this Gosling’s creation, other times…it was like a web knitted with the poisonous strokes of classes and objects , made only to capture my free spirits. My relation with this ‘programmers’s delight’ started as a challenge to be conquered , went on becoming a phobia , and ended up , still remaining a challenge unconquered.

Technically ,I feel proud to say I came out as failiure. I was proud of this fact because I didn’t run away from the programming intricacies , I faced them all ,although in the end my grey matter losing out to the theory of ‘Platform Independence”.

Friends , were something that I hadn’t expected in the training. I thought it would be all a very ruthless ,dogged professional exercise, where there will be a flurry of associates and a famine of mates, but things turned out to be otherwise . Aruvi Tourist Home , seemed to me as the extension of the hostel life that I had lived and cherished for the last 4 years of my life and needless to say ,was cherishing this period too. Those starry nights, midnight smokes, exuberant bakar(courtesy Ishan and Frusty) were real gem of moments. Kerela , a place which seemed to be a bit strange at first ended up being one where we romed in the nights just to get a cup of tea with fried eggs.

Apart from all the case studies , deadlines and LAAP fears , on 12th feb when when I was boarding a flight to Mumbai for a furthur battle, Kerala didn’t seem all that bad. I had developed a longing for the chettas, was missing the juices of Pattom, and the elegant architecture of Peepul Park. More that God’s own , I think kerala was India’s own, with an awesome literacy rate, co-operatinf people and mesmerizing beauty. It is a state that has clung to its root and is a lesson for the rest of India to look up to and the answer to all those who say “Is desh ka kuch nahi ho sakta”.

All I was able to utter to myself when finally leaving Kochi Airport lounge was …”ek baar saala (biwi ko le k ) aoonga zaroor.