I have always thought of myself as a non-judgemental person. I take my own sweet time to form opinions, they are not instant. However, few days back it just hit me how I have been judgemental in subtle ways, in ways I have not necessarily thought earlier. It hit me hard. I have always thought being judgemental is one of the most saddest trait one can possess. It hit me hard to realise that I have been judgemental too. Worst was when i realised that I have judged my loved ones. It's not a nice feeling.
I have been thinking a lot about this lately. I just realise how I have altered some decisions due to the constant pressure of being judged. Also, sometimes there is a small fear of being judged lurking around in the backgroundwhich prevents you from being completely open even to your closest friends. It's not a nice feeling. Damn....
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Rains n me
Finally the rains have hit Mumbai a good 15 days earlier. Cool, I like it. I was anyways getting roasted in the heat. I tell you, reporting in the hot sun is no cakewalk. It is extremely draining physically. However the irony is, reporting in rains is not an easy thing either. I like to be a homebody especially during monsoons. I love sitting by the window sill watching kids play, splish splashing in the puddles. I love to sit by the window sill with a hot cup of coffee and just watching the rains lashing the surface.
Couple of days back I enjoyed a rainy day. It was just perfect, just the way I had wanted. I stood by the window sill and enjoyed the rains alongwith my filter kaapi made by Amma {best thing it is}. Then I slept in the afternoon. Now, sleeping in the afternoon curled up inside a blanket, when its raining heavily outside with the fan turned on in full speed is an awesomest thing. I loved my afternoon siesta :D Then I woke up and was chatting with my friend with FM radio in the background...ALL Kishore Kumar Numbers.....WOWIEE :D I loveeeeeeeeee it. Then I went for a walk when it was drizzling outside. By the time I came back home, it started pouring cats and dogs. My friend ran off upstairs to the terrace. I followed her only to see her blissfully getting wet in the rains. Usually I don't like getting wet in rains. But something spurred me to get drenched completely.
Well to say i loved getting wet in rains would be an understatement. It was so much fun. Majja Came :D :D
Couple of days back I enjoyed a rainy day. It was just perfect, just the way I had wanted. I stood by the window sill and enjoyed the rains alongwith my filter kaapi made by Amma {best thing it is}. Then I slept in the afternoon. Now, sleeping in the afternoon curled up inside a blanket, when its raining heavily outside with the fan turned on in full speed is an awesomest thing. I loved my afternoon siesta :D Then I woke up and was chatting with my friend with FM radio in the background...ALL Kishore Kumar Numbers.....WOWIEE :D I loveeeeeeeeee it. Then I went for a walk when it was drizzling outside. By the time I came back home, it started pouring cats and dogs. My friend ran off upstairs to the terrace. I followed her only to see her blissfully getting wet in the rains. Usually I don't like getting wet in rains. But something spurred me to get drenched completely.
Well to say i loved getting wet in rains would be an understatement. It was so much fun. Majja Came :D :D
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Recently I attended a Bhajan recital by the famous Manjapra Mohan. I love his bhajan troupe. They are just so amazing. Their sessions can be absolutely electrifying to say the least. Amidst the performance, I noticed a small kid clapping her hands. What was amazing was, the kid was all of 6-8 months old and it was actually enjoying the music and the rhythm. Usually small kids do not like noise and start crying soon. However this child continued clapping for couple of hours completely in tune with the rhythm. Great music sense at such a young age....WOW
Recently I attended a Bhajan recital by the famous Manjapra Mohan. I love his bhajan troupe. They are just so amazing. Their sessions can be absolutely electrifying to say the least. Amidst the performance, I noticed a small kid clapping her hands. What was amazing was, the kid was all of 6-8 months old and it was actually enjoying the music and the rhythm. Usually small kids do not like noise and start crying soon. However this child continued clapping for couple of hours completely in tune with the rhythm. Great music sense at such a young age....WOW
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
An interesting read....
Eyes, Ears And Minds Closed
Why is India's middle class so hostile to the empowerment of the poor?
VINOD MEHTA
This column is not being written to defend Arjun Singh, nor the new quota regime, nor any formula/mechanism to implement reservations. That debate has been so polarised and distorted that any intervention which does not take one or the other side is destined to fall on deaf ears. No. My purpose is to point out that the passion-charged street power and the virulent rhetoric against reservations should be seen as part of a larger, disturbing pattern. India's smug, selfish, self-centred, satiated middle class, fattened on the fruits of the booming economy, is positively hostile to any policy which sets out to empower the poor. Over 900 million of our citizens live on less than Rs 90 a day. Of this, 300 million live on less than Rs 45 a day. Meanwhile, 200 million privileged have decided that these citizens must remain roughly where they are-or wait till the enormous wealth the rich, the ultra rich and the nouveau rich are accumulating trickles down. This is an obscenity. No fancy economic formulation can hide this appalling reality of India 2006.
Take the employment guarantee scheme or selling cheap grain to BPL card-holders or the Right to Information Act (which allows the marginalised to check corruption in moneys spent in their name) or increasing subsidies for essential commodities used by the aam aadmi. You need to jog your memory only lightly to recollect the outrage of the haves at these schemes. They said India would be ruined, the finances of the nation would collapse if "utopian" proposals were implemented. The poor are poor because they are lazy, worthless, unenterprising, incapable of availing existing opportunities. Of course, I caricature the argument and the mentality. But only slightly.
One understands India is an economic superpower challenging China, it is experiencing unprecedented growth rates, its middle class can buy Danish bacon and Spanish olives at the neighbourhood store. Conspicuous consumption reigns. But nine hundred million people must wait for market forces to somehow touch their lives. Sheer callousness apart, these 900 million people have something called the vote. And they use it extremely craftily. In 2004, they threw out a government which considered itself invincible. Forget the ethics, forget conscience, any political party which panders to the prejudices of India's fickle middle class is committing electoral suicide.
Remember, the poor will not go away. You cannot tuck them away in Kalahandi or Bastar. They will haunt India's affluent in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai at traffic lights, in unregulated slums, in shopping malls, outside five-star hotels. They will join Maoists and threaten the Indian state while slitting the throats of rich farmers. The 'Red Corridor' is an ominous development. Any moderately sane middle-class person must ask himself why the wretched of the earth increasingly decide to take up arms against a vastly better-armed and organised force in a war they know they are bound to lose. Better to die fighting than to die of hunger.
Doubtless, there are many infirmities in the proposal to allot 27 per cent seats to OBCs. The percentage may be too high, some wrong people may avail of the benefit, a few genuinely deserving might be unfairly penalised, implementation could throw up anomalies. It will not be painless. But you have to live in a state of permanent denial, you have to keep your eyes, ears and mind closed to avoid the fact that poverty and extreme poverty in India are closely linked to caste, closely linked to historical discrimination.
Let us take the crux of the reservation rejectionist's thesis. We're told that quotas and academic excellence are fundamentally incompatible. You can't have both.Added to the above is the rider that corporate India's "global competitive edge" will vanish. In other words, there is the firm assumption that affirmative action (AA), which in India takes the form of quotas (voluntary or mandatory), will produce second-class students.
In the hysteria generated, with assistance from a conflict-hungry media, this assumption has become gospel truth with the honourable but publicity-smart members of the Knowledge Commission lending their weight to the flawed thesis. In Harvard, Princeton and Yale, institutions at whose altar the rejectionists worship, the experience of AA has been hugely positive with no dilution of academic standards (see Outlook cover story Two Faces of Reservation, May 29).
Consider the story of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala where mandatory quotas ranging from 69.5 per cent to 49.5 per cent have been in place since decades without social turbulence. Are we to assume that engineers, doctors, mbas from these southern states are substandard?
If notions of compassion and equity are alien to the rejectionists, perhaps the spectre of Maoists rampaging through pockets of urban India might help focus minds on the grotesquely unjust society superpower India is spawning. It could be the fire next time!
Why is India's middle class so hostile to the empowerment of the poor?
VINOD MEHTA
This column is not being written to defend Arjun Singh, nor the new quota regime, nor any formula/mechanism to implement reservations. That debate has been so polarised and distorted that any intervention which does not take one or the other side is destined to fall on deaf ears. No. My purpose is to point out that the passion-charged street power and the virulent rhetoric against reservations should be seen as part of a larger, disturbing pattern. India's smug, selfish, self-centred, satiated middle class, fattened on the fruits of the booming economy, is positively hostile to any policy which sets out to empower the poor. Over 900 million of our citizens live on less than Rs 90 a day. Of this, 300 million live on less than Rs 45 a day. Meanwhile, 200 million privileged have decided that these citizens must remain roughly where they are-or wait till the enormous wealth the rich, the ultra rich and the nouveau rich are accumulating trickles down. This is an obscenity. No fancy economic formulation can hide this appalling reality of India 2006.
Take the employment guarantee scheme or selling cheap grain to BPL card-holders or the Right to Information Act (which allows the marginalised to check corruption in moneys spent in their name) or increasing subsidies for essential commodities used by the aam aadmi. You need to jog your memory only lightly to recollect the outrage of the haves at these schemes. They said India would be ruined, the finances of the nation would collapse if "utopian" proposals were implemented. The poor are poor because they are lazy, worthless, unenterprising, incapable of availing existing opportunities. Of course, I caricature the argument and the mentality. But only slightly.
One understands India is an economic superpower challenging China, it is experiencing unprecedented growth rates, its middle class can buy Danish bacon and Spanish olives at the neighbourhood store. Conspicuous consumption reigns. But nine hundred million people must wait for market forces to somehow touch their lives. Sheer callousness apart, these 900 million people have something called the vote. And they use it extremely craftily. In 2004, they threw out a government which considered itself invincible. Forget the ethics, forget conscience, any political party which panders to the prejudices of India's fickle middle class is committing electoral suicide.
Remember, the poor will not go away. You cannot tuck them away in Kalahandi or Bastar. They will haunt India's affluent in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai at traffic lights, in unregulated slums, in shopping malls, outside five-star hotels. They will join Maoists and threaten the Indian state while slitting the throats of rich farmers. The 'Red Corridor' is an ominous development. Any moderately sane middle-class person must ask himself why the wretched of the earth increasingly decide to take up arms against a vastly better-armed and organised force in a war they know they are bound to lose. Better to die fighting than to die of hunger.
Doubtless, there are many infirmities in the proposal to allot 27 per cent seats to OBCs. The percentage may be too high, some wrong people may avail of the benefit, a few genuinely deserving might be unfairly penalised, implementation could throw up anomalies. It will not be painless. But you have to live in a state of permanent denial, you have to keep your eyes, ears and mind closed to avoid the fact that poverty and extreme poverty in India are closely linked to caste, closely linked to historical discrimination.
Let us take the crux of the reservation rejectionist's thesis. We're told that quotas and academic excellence are fundamentally incompatible. You can't have both.Added to the above is the rider that corporate India's "global competitive edge" will vanish. In other words, there is the firm assumption that affirmative action (AA), which in India takes the form of quotas (voluntary or mandatory), will produce second-class students.
In the hysteria generated, with assistance from a conflict-hungry media, this assumption has become gospel truth with the honourable but publicity-smart members of the Knowledge Commission lending their weight to the flawed thesis. In Harvard, Princeton and Yale, institutions at whose altar the rejectionists worship, the experience of AA has been hugely positive with no dilution of academic standards (see Outlook cover story Two Faces of Reservation, May 29).
Consider the story of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala where mandatory quotas ranging from 69.5 per cent to 49.5 per cent have been in place since decades without social turbulence. Are we to assume that engineers, doctors, mbas from these southern states are substandard?
If notions of compassion and equity are alien to the rejectionists, perhaps the spectre of Maoists rampaging through pockets of urban India might help focus minds on the grotesquely unjust society superpower India is spawning. It could be the fire next time!
(Vinod Mehta is Editor of Outlook magazine)
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Wanted HELP
Hello everyone...
Ok, I need some help. I want to know if there is any free audio blogging service available? Is there any service akin to Google Video or You tube for audio files like Mp3? Is there any free service through which I can stream music on my blog? I am on a lookout for a free service like Audioblog. I am absolutely lost here. Can anybody help me out here? Thanks :)
Ok, I need some help. I want to know if there is any free audio blogging service available? Is there any service akin to Google Video or You tube for audio files like Mp3? Is there any free service through which I can stream music on my blog? I am on a lookout for a free service like Audioblog. I am absolutely lost here. Can anybody help me out here? Thanks :)
Friday, April 14, 2006
Reservations
Ok, this whole Reservation thing has been playing in my mind for quite a while now. Well, like most of the times, I am quite confused. It is such an vast topic with so many complexities that it is difficult for me to primarily have a stand.
The first thing that I am absolutely boggled about it, why is there a need to increase the quota levels in the institutions? Aren't the existing levels of quota sufficient? The main reason why reservations were introduced was to integrate the backward classes of the society with the mainstream society. Over a passge of time, Reservations were supposed to be written off. However, rather than achieving the set goal, what's the purpose in increasing the quota levels? Beats me completely.
To a certain extent, I do support reservations since I have seen the caste discrimination upclose. I understand how deep caste prejudices are. I had visited the tsunami affected villages for a month in tamil Nadu. Even a natural disaster like Tsunami couldn't break the traditional caste barriers. It was disgusting. Despite losing everything in the Tsunami, caste discrimination did not go away. Dalits did not get relief because they were Dalits even post- Tsunami. When a natural disaster like Tsunami cannot break caste prejudices nothing can. I understand that. However increasing reservation levels is definitely overdoing it. Since over the course of time, the level of reservations have to decrease.
Of course, I definitely agree with the unfairness of it. I have seen students from the 'general category' going into depression because they couldn't get through a particular college but students who have scored much less than them, have gotten through easily. Trust me, it hurts, it hurts real bad. It is absolutely unfair on the child.
Let us first look into why the reservations were brought about in the first place. Reservations were a tool through which Dalits and other backward classes of the society could be assimilated in the mainstream. This link can provide for good reference.
We have reservations for the past 50 years, have we achieved what we have set out to achieve? No, absolutely not. Coz caste discriminations run high. But then why hasn't the set goal been achieved? Reservations was means to achieve an end. However, over the years, it has become a means to an end. This is like having painkillers in case of arthrities rather than opting for a full fledged treatment. Improving state of primary education, improving state of central govt schools, state, municipal schools is the key and not increasing the level in reservations wherein the government is just committing another error in a bid to rectify it's earlier error.
Politicians are to be blamed for it {nothing new to it} Therefore, if the goal hasn't been achieved, then there is a fundamental flaw in the system and it needs a rethink.
In the end, I still think it all boils down to an apathetic, under-performing State. If we had created an efficient and equal government school model, like the neighbourhood schools in the West, this entire debate may well have been irrelevant. Sure, the super-rich kids would have still gone to snotty private schools, but at least everyone else would have studied with some sense of parity and quality. Right now more than 60 students compete for a single IIT seat. Isn’t it our right to demand more premier engineering institutes rather than this mad scramble for a handful of seats, made yet more acrimonious by the politics of reservation?
says Barkha Dutt
Are there any alternatives to reservations? Is there any other way reservations can be implemented? other than strengthening the primary education system in the country, I cannot think of any thing else. What was the government doing for 50 long years? It is not that we don't have reservations. Why have more reservations is what I am confused about.
Economic backwardness can be a benchmark for reservation. However here to scholarships could be introduced for the students. See, reservations were introduced since the social environment for super academic performance would not be similar to the privileged and the under-privileged. Instead of improving the infrastructure, the Government is proposing is trying to increase the quota levels. What utter nonsense.....
It is so frustrating for someone like me to live in this country wherein caste equations are so dominant. I don't care a shit about caste or relegion. However, people like me are in absolute minority which is why we see such caste equations permeating in all sectors. Ok, even though I don't care about my caste, I am being made to realise, oh, I am from the general category. Even if I don't wanna remember it, the system makes sure that I am reminded of it everyday.
Lot of people have been saying that 95 per cent scoring ppl from general category can easily co exist with ppl scoring 65 per cent of a reserved category. No problems with that. However, I don't understand why a 65 per cent scoring person from the general category cannot be included in the list. Is everyone from the General category necessarily required to be academically brilliant everytime.....everyone, always as a rule? How can it be possible? it is so unfair. Where is the space for academically mediocre people from the general category then?
However, having seen the caste prejudices myself, I feel there should be some solution to help the genuinely deserving candidates from the backward classes to come up but not at the expense of the general category students. coz I know so many of the general category students who are economically backward and cannot afford the cost of education since there is no help for them. Where do such students go? Don't they have a right to survive in the society. How can we just assume that all the general category students are well off? Assuming that, economically backward students from general category are in a minority than the other backward classes in totality, doesn it mean, it's ok for the minority to suffer, just coz they are minority? Doesn't it seem contradictory?
Trivia: It is interesting how the caste system functions in this country. Like OBCs consider themselves to be upper caste in comparison to Dalits. There are 150 sub castes amongst Dalits themselves if I am not mistaken and they also practise discrimination amongst themselves. It's funny. It's sad.
Ideally I wouldn't prefer reservations. However, given the current scheme of things, I am not completely against the currently prevalent reservations. However, I am completely against increasing the quota levels since it is ridiculous and is no solution to the problem.
The first thing that I am absolutely boggled about it, why is there a need to increase the quota levels in the institutions? Aren't the existing levels of quota sufficient? The main reason why reservations were introduced was to integrate the backward classes of the society with the mainstream society. Over a passge of time, Reservations were supposed to be written off. However, rather than achieving the set goal, what's the purpose in increasing the quota levels? Beats me completely.
To a certain extent, I do support reservations since I have seen the caste discrimination upclose. I understand how deep caste prejudices are. I had visited the tsunami affected villages for a month in tamil Nadu. Even a natural disaster like Tsunami couldn't break the traditional caste barriers. It was disgusting. Despite losing everything in the Tsunami, caste discrimination did not go away. Dalits did not get relief because they were Dalits even post- Tsunami. When a natural disaster like Tsunami cannot break caste prejudices nothing can. I understand that. However increasing reservation levels is definitely overdoing it. Since over the course of time, the level of reservations have to decrease.
Of course, I definitely agree with the unfairness of it. I have seen students from the 'general category' going into depression because they couldn't get through a particular college but students who have scored much less than them, have gotten through easily. Trust me, it hurts, it hurts real bad. It is absolutely unfair on the child.
Let us first look into why the reservations were brought about in the first place. Reservations were a tool through which Dalits and other backward classes of the society could be assimilated in the mainstream. This link can provide for good reference.
We have reservations for the past 50 years, have we achieved what we have set out to achieve? No, absolutely not. Coz caste discriminations run high. But then why hasn't the set goal been achieved? Reservations was means to achieve an end. However, over the years, it has become a means to an end. This is like having painkillers in case of arthrities rather than opting for a full fledged treatment. Improving state of primary education, improving state of central govt schools, state, municipal schools is the key and not increasing the level in reservations wherein the government is just committing another error in a bid to rectify it's earlier error.
Politicians are to be blamed for it {nothing new to it} Therefore, if the goal hasn't been achieved, then there is a fundamental flaw in the system and it needs a rethink.
In the end, I still think it all boils down to an apathetic, under-performing State. If we had created an efficient and equal government school model, like the neighbourhood schools in the West, this entire debate may well have been irrelevant. Sure, the super-rich kids would have still gone to snotty private schools, but at least everyone else would have studied with some sense of parity and quality. Right now more than 60 students compete for a single IIT seat. Isn’t it our right to demand more premier engineering institutes rather than this mad scramble for a handful of seats, made yet more acrimonious by the politics of reservation?
says Barkha Dutt
Are there any alternatives to reservations? Is there any other way reservations can be implemented? other than strengthening the primary education system in the country, I cannot think of any thing else. What was the government doing for 50 long years? It is not that we don't have reservations. Why have more reservations is what I am confused about.
Economic backwardness can be a benchmark for reservation. However here to scholarships could be introduced for the students. See, reservations were introduced since the social environment for super academic performance would not be similar to the privileged and the under-privileged. Instead of improving the infrastructure, the Government is proposing is trying to increase the quota levels. What utter nonsense.....
It is so frustrating for someone like me to live in this country wherein caste equations are so dominant. I don't care a shit about caste or relegion. However, people like me are in absolute minority which is why we see such caste equations permeating in all sectors. Ok, even though I don't care about my caste, I am being made to realise, oh, I am from the general category. Even if I don't wanna remember it, the system makes sure that I am reminded of it everyday.
Lot of people have been saying that 95 per cent scoring ppl from general category can easily co exist with ppl scoring 65 per cent of a reserved category. No problems with that. However, I don't understand why a 65 per cent scoring person from the general category cannot be included in the list. Is everyone from the General category necessarily required to be academically brilliant everytime.....everyone, always as a rule? How can it be possible? it is so unfair. Where is the space for academically mediocre people from the general category then?
However, having seen the caste prejudices myself, I feel there should be some solution to help the genuinely deserving candidates from the backward classes to come up but not at the expense of the general category students. coz I know so many of the general category students who are economically backward and cannot afford the cost of education since there is no help for them. Where do such students go? Don't they have a right to survive in the society. How can we just assume that all the general category students are well off? Assuming that, economically backward students from general category are in a minority than the other backward classes in totality, doesn it mean, it's ok for the minority to suffer, just coz they are minority? Doesn't it seem contradictory?
Trivia: It is interesting how the caste system functions in this country. Like OBCs consider themselves to be upper caste in comparison to Dalits. There are 150 sub castes amongst Dalits themselves if I am not mistaken and they also practise discrimination amongst themselves. It's funny. It's sad.
Ideally I wouldn't prefer reservations. However, given the current scheme of things, I am not completely against the currently prevalent reservations. However, I am completely against increasing the quota levels since it is ridiculous and is no solution to the problem.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Why
How I wish I could say NO to people like some persons I know! I wonder how some people say NO so easily! Inability to say NO can be an irritating quality. I hate it.
Update:
Hmmm....Well, on the hindsight, I think this post of mine is kind of misleading. Well, when i say I cannot say NO, I should have added that I cannot say No to my loved ones. Otherwise, I can and I have easily said NO. However, when it comes to loved ones, saying No is tough.
Update:
Hmmm....Well, on the hindsight, I think this post of mine is kind of misleading. Well, when i say I cannot say NO, I should have added that I cannot say No to my loved ones. Otherwise, I can and I have easily said NO. However, when it comes to loved ones, saying No is tough.
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Friday, March 24, 2006
Damn
Well, I was on my way to post something else till I chanced upon Annie's post. The images are very interesting and many among them have moved me. This post is just an emotional reaction of mine regarding a picture I saw.
This one has seriously disturbed me. So what they are prostitutes, I don't think they deserve this....I know, it's their decision to work, I know. However, this line"One of the many prostitutes who work until the last day of their pregnancies." just brings a chill within me. I somehow don't feel that it is right. I think prostitutes should have maternity leave too :( Very depressing....
This one has seriously disturbed me. So what they are prostitutes, I don't think they deserve this....I know, it's their decision to work, I know. However, this line"One of the many prostitutes who work until the last day of their pregnancies." just brings a chill within me. I somehow don't feel that it is right. I think prostitutes should have maternity leave too :( Very depressing....
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Random musings
**Before I start writing my new post just wanted to inform that my previous post was not about the forward that I received. It was about the thought provoking response I received for that forward. So, please scroll down and make it a point to read it. **
I read this and I felt sad. I don't know Sowmya personally. Neither do i know her as a blogger. Though, I had seen her comments in various posts, I somehow never bothered to check her blog. However, when I read Chakra's post informing about her demise, I felt bad. You know, it is very weird to read a blog of a dead person :| It really is. I cannot imagine what the family would be going through. I know, death is inevitable, a harsh fact of life. However, I just wonder, how would it be for the family to go through her blog post her demise. Would it threaupatic for the family or would it prove to be a hindrance for them in 'moving on....'? It's a very weird situation. At the end of the day, I just pray god that her soul rests in peace.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I read this and I felt sad. I don't know Sowmya personally. Neither do i know her as a blogger. Though, I had seen her comments in various posts, I somehow never bothered to check her blog. However, when I read Chakra's post informing about her demise, I felt bad. You know, it is very weird to read a blog of a dead person :| It really is. I cannot imagine what the family would be going through. I know, death is inevitable, a harsh fact of life. However, I just wonder, how would it be for the family to go through her blog post her demise. Would it threaupatic for the family or would it prove to be a hindrance for them in 'moving on....'? It's a very weird situation. At the end of the day, I just pray god that her soul rests in peace.
**************
Couple of days back I went to meet Mr S for one of my stories. I knew Mr S as I interacted with him earlier too. It was just that I was meeting him after a couple of months. I reached his house and I rang the bell. Mrs S answered the door.
Me: Hello, is Mr S at home?
Mrs S: [puzzled expression] Aaapan Kon? {Whose this?}
Me: Oh, I am Shobha. Remember I had met Mr S in connection with a story I had done earlier. Is he there? I wanted to talk to him regarding a story I am doing now.
Mrs S: Oh, tey vaarley {he expired} [ I should add that the way she informed me about his death was really weird. Her tone was as if she was informing me that he's not home. No melodrama, absolutely matter of fact. :|]
Me: WHAT?????? Oh shit... I am so sorry....
Mrs S then proceeded to give me the details while I stood there shell shocked. She explained to me about Mr S's death in a very matter of fact way. I apologised profusely and after few minutes left the place. This was a perfect "what is life?" moment. I mean, I just go to meet someone and I get informed that he died. He was a sweet man, a very active citizen. Damn it.... This was the last thing that I had expected. I swear weird things happen to me....Dear God, may his soul rest in peace too...
Me: Hello, is Mr S at home?
Mrs S: [puzzled expression] Aaapan Kon? {Whose this?}
Me: Oh, I am Shobha. Remember I had met Mr S in connection with a story I had done earlier. Is he there? I wanted to talk to him regarding a story I am doing now.
Mrs S: Oh, tey vaarley {he expired} [ I should add that the way she informed me about his death was really weird. Her tone was as if she was informing me that he's not home. No melodrama, absolutely matter of fact. :|]
Me: WHAT?????? Oh shit... I am so sorry....
Mrs S then proceeded to give me the details while I stood there shell shocked. She explained to me about Mr S's death in a very matter of fact way. I apologised profusely and after few minutes left the place. This was a perfect "what is life?" moment. I mean, I just go to meet someone and I get informed that he died. He was a sweet man, a very active citizen. Damn it.... This was the last thing that I had expected. I swear weird things happen to me....Dear God, may his soul rest in peace too...
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I am talking too much about death na....Ok, let me give you a cool news. Let me introduce my Pakistani buddy to all you guys for he has stepped his baby feet in the world of blogdom. He is one of my nicest friends, an absolute sweetheart. Ok world, drumrolls please.....
Welcome NOOR
Please guys, go and visit his blog. He is a very interesting person and an Indophile. I am sure none of you would be bored. You know, currently he's facing a weird problem. He cannot access his blog hosted by Blogger/Blogspot. This is because, post the Danish cartoons controversy, the Pakistani government had banned many webjournal sites including blogger. Read more here Though he can write entries, edit them, he cannot view them in his blog. An optimist that he is, he feels it would be a temporary glitch. Anyways, visit his blog, it would make an enjoyable read.
P.S. In a very weird way....Noor's latest post also talks about death :|
P.S. In a very weird way....Noor's latest post also talks about death :|
Friday, March 17, 2006
Response to the Tribute FWD
Couple of weeks back I received this mail as a forward. {Please read the response to the forward below}
Late Mr. Surjan Singh Bhandari
N.S.G. Commando
During The Attack on Akshardham temple on 24th September 2002 this Brave Man fought the greatest battle of his life. Yes he was the N.S.G. Commando Late Mr. Surjan Singh , who sacrificed his life for the Nation. Sadly On 19th May 2004 he lost the Toughest an d Longest battle against life exactly after 600 Days being in Coma, he lost this life.
The Bullet which hit him in the head made him Unconscious for almost 600 days. His family members were hoping that one day their Hero will open his eyes but he didn't.
It was the Longest Wait for the family members of this Brave Man. When the whole India was busy in Guessing Who will be the Next PM of the country - Will it be Sonia or will it be Manmohan Singh, This man was fighting his Last battle. But it's so sad that in the hype of all the Political Drama, the News about his Death was Lost like a needle in a hay stack! Even the leading News Papers & So Called Best News Channels of India which Works on 24 X 7 basis, failed to highlight this story of the Brave Man. Unfortunately it was mentioned somewhere on the middle page of some newspaper.....This was the Reward for the Brave task for which he lost his life.
Besides his Family members, only one thing was there with him during those toughest 600 days. It was there near his bed till the last Moment. Can you guess what it was?............... It was the "Tiranga", yes! Our National Flag, which was saluting him for his Great cause. Absolutely No words can suffice our Gratitude towards him...
If news papers refuse to cover, TV channels refuse to cover, let us do our bit.
Please forward this mail to as many people as you can.
This is the only way we can salute his Bravery...
As a reply to this mail, I received another mail by mr Vijayan M J of Pakistan India People's Forum for peace and democracy. It was such a thoyght provoking mail that I could not stop myself from posting it here. Therefore with due permission, I reproduce the response to that forward.
Dear friends (response to mail below),
As an Indian, I fully support remembering (forever), sacrifices made by
brave men like Mr. Surjan and feels that we need to challege the 'selective'
public/governmental and media memory also... But do we only remember these
(like our media does to Kargil heroes and those jawans and officers who get
killed in Kashmir or other disputed areas of this great nation)?
Am asking this question and taking time to write this note as I feel mails like the one below are part of our own fraud attempts to forget these people and their 'sacrifices' and 'martyrdom' and an effort to boost our morale and patriotism. This is a self-inflicted 'feel good' that we are upto. Some get goose pimples by involving in this sort of nationalistic/patriotic/jingoistic acts. But sadly neither does this kind of e-activism contribute to remembering people like Surjan or others who have at different levels given their life for any cause, nor does these help prevent deaths of future surjans...
Do we know why??? Because it is an established national defence policy of countries like India and US (among some others) to waste people on the armed front and this is no guess - some of us are involved in related studies. We are an over populated country (as we have been repeatedly told) and it does not matter to us how many jawans of Indian origin are getting killed in internal egoistic battles that we have been figting over the past 59 years. We have prepared speeches that officers patriotically deliver when jawans and fellow men die to militant bulltes or grenades in Kashmir, Nagaland or elsewhere. We have ready press releases from the Ministry of Home afairs for them and about those who killed them (blaming ISI for every action in this country - like Pakistan blames RAW).
But we do not want to stop these killings or make sure atleast that we try our best to support the lives of those who are better living then dead. This forces me to say, in India, we prefer some soldiers dying every year (that too, thanks to Bofors scams where we end up buying fake weaponry, we eat money from their coffins even - like what our defence minister and co did during kargil, we boast about their sacrifice to their country after their death and immediaely forget about them, and most importantly we think - even while reading this mail that all these are problems created by a section of us called politicians, alone)...
As a people, we have done nothing to expose the culprits of Kargil war - those in our intellingence and political circles, who thought it was not even important to inform our soldiers in advance that Pakistani army had already dug graves for them, this left a thousand soldiers killed (in a semi-war that was necessary for the then BJP to survive in power and three US weapon companies to promote their arms trade with GOI). We do nothing when we hear about the regular 'practise warfare' that our soldiers are taught to fight in Kashmir - including the rapes, the fake encounters and the disappearances... Lets leave romanticism aside and ask ourselves since when is raping a woman important to protect our national sovereignity and integrity. I have heard from soldiers and more embarassingly from army officers that "since the women in Kashmir lift their skirts for Jehadis to make more jehadis, it is an important anti-insurgency strategy to sexually and pysically thrash them"... Would you and I stay quite if that was to happen in our backyards in Kerala, West Bengal or Maharashtra? Imagine Indian army man doing this to you or your sister and you will never utter the word patriotism (the way it is pronounced now by jingoists) again in your life, I promise...
So here we have a serious problem in hand. A government which has a policy to waste men in conflicts or to (expired) Mig-29 crashes on the one hand and WE who only want to remember the men who get killed by orchestrated and planned actions of any tom dick or harry...
Please remember, rarely people are born mad to kill others or to get killed on the first instance. They are taught and trained to do so in most instances... *Everyone, including our soldiers*, our *agricultural workers*(who are committing suicide in thousands in our villages due to starvation -
they are also equally patriotic and are giving their life for the nation, they pay the price for a nationally accepted policy called advanced capitalism), *our students* [yes they do get killed very often in Kashmir (remember fake encounters, whic govt has officially apologised for, now), in Meghalaya (ten school students were killed by state police and CRPF, for demonstrating against an unjust educational policy), in Assam (when they tried to protect the dignity of a fellow girl student, who was asked for favours by some jawans travelling in the train)], *our rural folk and tribal* *country men and women* in Kalinga Nagar (in Orissa) for asking the government to give their land back to them and not to MNCs and Indian corporates, etc etc *deserve to be remembered. None's life is more precious than some others... *
Unlike what our media tells us, there is no point in getting agitated only when a Manu Sharma laughs at our system and gets away with a murder in public, because of money power, we need to be equally agitated and active when Narendra Modi mocks justice in Gujarat and get away with killing 2000 of them or when Indira Gandhi and Rajiv got away with killing thousand of Sikhs in Punjab, Tamils in Sri Lanka (through our IPKF), etc... Is there an sms number of a channel I can send 'punish' to get Warren Anderson (of the famous Bopal Gas tragedy fame) punished for criminal negligence that resulted in a genocide of Indians!!! Will Bush and Manmohan be talking this time about bringing that fellow to justice??? No, never...
I realise life is not 'Rang De Basanti' and that this mail has already tested your patience. But let us atleast not fool ourselves and get bitten by patriotism and nationalism + concern for our fellow country men and women, only when it is convenient to us - to get goose pimples. Their memories and our lives are worth more than that!!!
Thanks to those who reached this part of the mail
Vijayan MJ
Late Mr. Surjan Singh Bhandari
N.S.G. Commando
During The Attack on Akshardham temple on 24th September 2002 this Brave Man fought the greatest battle of his life. Yes he was the N.S.G. Commando Late Mr. Surjan Singh , who sacrificed his life for the Nation. Sadly On 19th May 2004 he lost the Toughest an d Longest battle against life exactly after 600 Days being in Coma, he lost this life.
The Bullet which hit him in the head made him Unconscious for almost 600 days. His family members were hoping that one day their Hero will open his eyes but he didn't.
It was the Longest Wait for the family members of this Brave Man. When the whole India was busy in Guessing Who will be the Next PM of the country - Will it be Sonia or will it be Manmohan Singh, This man was fighting his Last battle. But it's so sad that in the hype of all the Political Drama, the News about his Death was Lost like a needle in a hay stack! Even the leading News Papers & So Called Best News Channels of India which Works on 24 X 7 basis, failed to highlight this story of the Brave Man. Unfortunately it was mentioned somewhere on the middle page of some newspaper.....This was the Reward for the Brave task for which he lost his life.
Besides his Family members, only one thing was there with him during those toughest 600 days. It was there near his bed till the last Moment. Can you guess what it was?............... It was the "Tiranga", yes! Our National Flag, which was saluting him for his Great cause. Absolutely No words can suffice our Gratitude towards him...
If news papers refuse to cover, TV channels refuse to cover, let us do our bit.
Please forward this mail to as many people as you can.
This is the only way we can salute his Bravery...
As a reply to this mail, I received another mail by mr Vijayan M J of Pakistan India People's Forum for peace and democracy. It was such a thoyght provoking mail that I could not stop myself from posting it here. Therefore with due permission, I reproduce the response to that forward.
Dear friends (response to mail below),
As an Indian, I fully support remembering (forever), sacrifices made by
brave men like Mr. Surjan and feels that we need to challege the 'selective'
public/governmental and media memory also... But do we only remember these
(like our media does to Kargil heroes and those jawans and officers who get
killed in Kashmir or other disputed areas of this great nation)?
Am asking this question and taking time to write this note as I feel mails like the one below are part of our own fraud attempts to forget these people and their 'sacrifices' and 'martyrdom' and an effort to boost our morale and patriotism. This is a self-inflicted 'feel good' that we are upto. Some get goose pimples by involving in this sort of nationalistic/patriotic/jingoistic acts. But sadly neither does this kind of e-activism contribute to remembering people like Surjan or others who have at different levels given their life for any cause, nor does these help prevent deaths of future surjans...
Do we know why??? Because it is an established national defence policy of countries like India and US (among some others) to waste people on the armed front and this is no guess - some of us are involved in related studies. We are an over populated country (as we have been repeatedly told) and it does not matter to us how many jawans of Indian origin are getting killed in internal egoistic battles that we have been figting over the past 59 years. We have prepared speeches that officers patriotically deliver when jawans and fellow men die to militant bulltes or grenades in Kashmir, Nagaland or elsewhere. We have ready press releases from the Ministry of Home afairs for them and about those who killed them (blaming ISI for every action in this country - like Pakistan blames RAW).
But we do not want to stop these killings or make sure atleast that we try our best to support the lives of those who are better living then dead. This forces me to say, in India, we prefer some soldiers dying every year (that too, thanks to Bofors scams where we end up buying fake weaponry, we eat money from their coffins even - like what our defence minister and co did during kargil, we boast about their sacrifice to their country after their death and immediaely forget about them, and most importantly we think - even while reading this mail that all these are problems created by a section of us called politicians, alone)...
As a people, we have done nothing to expose the culprits of Kargil war - those in our intellingence and political circles, who thought it was not even important to inform our soldiers in advance that Pakistani army had already dug graves for them, this left a thousand soldiers killed (in a semi-war that was necessary for the then BJP to survive in power and three US weapon companies to promote their arms trade with GOI). We do nothing when we hear about the regular 'practise warfare' that our soldiers are taught to fight in Kashmir - including the rapes, the fake encounters and the disappearances... Lets leave romanticism aside and ask ourselves since when is raping a woman important to protect our national sovereignity and integrity. I have heard from soldiers and more embarassingly from army officers that "since the women in Kashmir lift their skirts for Jehadis to make more jehadis, it is an important anti-insurgency strategy to sexually and pysically thrash them"... Would you and I stay quite if that was to happen in our backyards in Kerala, West Bengal or Maharashtra? Imagine Indian army man doing this to you or your sister and you will never utter the word patriotism (the way it is pronounced now by jingoists) again in your life, I promise...
So here we have a serious problem in hand. A government which has a policy to waste men in conflicts or to (expired) Mig-29 crashes on the one hand and WE who only want to remember the men who get killed by orchestrated and planned actions of any tom dick or harry...
Please remember, rarely people are born mad to kill others or to get killed on the first instance. They are taught and trained to do so in most instances... *Everyone, including our soldiers*, our *agricultural workers*(who are committing suicide in thousands in our villages due to starvation -
they are also equally patriotic and are giving their life for the nation, they pay the price for a nationally accepted policy called advanced capitalism), *our students* [yes they do get killed very often in Kashmir (remember fake encounters, whic govt has officially apologised for, now), in Meghalaya (ten school students were killed by state police and CRPF, for demonstrating against an unjust educational policy), in Assam (when they tried to protect the dignity of a fellow girl student, who was asked for favours by some jawans travelling in the train)], *our rural folk and tribal* *country men and women* in Kalinga Nagar (in Orissa) for asking the government to give their land back to them and not to MNCs and Indian corporates, etc etc *deserve to be remembered. None's life is more precious than some others... *
Unlike what our media tells us, there is no point in getting agitated only when a Manu Sharma laughs at our system and gets away with a murder in public, because of money power, we need to be equally agitated and active when Narendra Modi mocks justice in Gujarat and get away with killing 2000 of them or when Indira Gandhi and Rajiv got away with killing thousand of Sikhs in Punjab, Tamils in Sri Lanka (through our IPKF), etc... Is there an sms number of a channel I can send 'punish' to get Warren Anderson (of the famous Bopal Gas tragedy fame) punished for criminal negligence that resulted in a genocide of Indians!!! Will Bush and Manmohan be talking this time about bringing that fellow to justice??? No, never...
I realise life is not 'Rang De Basanti' and that this mail has already tested your patience. But let us atleast not fool ourselves and get bitten by patriotism and nationalism + concern for our fellow country men and women, only when it is convenient to us - to get goose pimples. Their memories and our lives are worth more than that!!!
Thanks to those who reached this part of the mail
Vijayan MJ
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
