A ignorant morning

Circa 1988 or may be 1989, morning 5 AM, he was half asleep and yet not frowning at the thought of getting up in a few minutes time. Rather, he was smiling as wide as a mile and there is no denying that the reasons for that angelic smile for a 8 year old child were obvious. That was the last day of his final exams and the prospect of having 2 months full of fun filled summer vacations was giving him goosebumps.

                      When I look back, kids from late 80s and early 90s weren't blessed with Ipads, Playstations and any thought of social networking was limited to the roof top meetings with friends. Meetings which had no fixed agendas, meetings where minutes weren't recorded and most importantly those meeting had no stakeholders. The only gadget that those kids have laid their hands on were either Nintendos or a few pocket video games but then they had lots of other games. Games which you can now call primitive if not stone-age but those games involved 20 or 25 kids at any given point of time. 

                           There used to be lots of pushing, hugging, kicking and dust filled embraces but no one, not even their parents bothered about who pushed whom and why? Again, everyone knew that they have to live, survive and enjoy together and the idea of nuclear families was still far away. Even the newly formed nuclear families haven't found their identities and were still searching for extended family in their new neighborhoods. It's really hard to recreate that era and especially when most of the memories are faded away. Yet, a few rare pages are so strongly etched in the memory as this one. 

                             Everything was so routine. As a kid, he was yet not aware of the exam pressure. He knew, all the answers and to an extent, he was sure of the teacher's pattern of examining the answer sheets as well. He would attempt almost everything and may be there would be a few mistakes which his mom would term as silly ones. So, out of 100, he would correctly attempt for around 95 or 97 and he would get marks ranging from 85 to 95 depending on his luck and handwriting. These marks may seem too high but even with these marks, he knew he would be either 4th, 5th or 6th in his class, a 7th and 8th position would be a below par performance and the top three positions were surely out of sight and he never really thought these elite places belonged to him.  Even the names attached to each positions were obvious to everyone including teachers, students, parents and even their neighbours knew about it. That's why I started with the word "Routine". Everything was so much in its place for so long that it seemed that life has no hiccups and would go on like this forever.

So, that smile in those early hours was a smile of content, a smile which has hasn't yet seen life's surprises. A smile which didn't knew that in years ahead, it would need big reasons to reappear and even if it reappears, it won't be absolute. It would always measure the magnitude of the reason to smile and then would expend itself to a measured and controlled limit. 

There were still few precious minutes left to leave the bed and he could clearly hear his mother working in kitchen. His grandparents awake for long now, chitchatting in the living room. He felt so secure around them with not even a single apprehension in his mind and saw his father sleeping calmly besides him. For once, he thought, oh he's so lucky. Oh how desperately I wish that.......!! Oh no no no, Can I just Ctrl+Z it ? just for once?

On your third birthday, my little Tigress!!

This post is only for you my little tigress!! Not now, but may be 10 years down the line, you may relate to what I am feeling and what I want to convey here.

On your third birthday, I want to wish you all the happiness and love that you deserve. This is the first time, your Baba isn't celebrating it with you and as I am away from you, sitting alone thousands of miles away from you, it's time to reflect on our journey together so far!! Also, when I am away from you, the distance doesn't really matter honey, even if it's just a few miles or light years distance, when we are apart, we are apart and I cannot hug you tightly in my arms, cannot make you sit on my lap and play many of our favorite games together or cannot tell you the bed time stories. I am really good at story telling, ain't I? your mumma is so jealous of me as this is one forte I own.

Anyway, as I look back, I recall the day and exact time of your arrival. It was 22nd Feb 2012 and it was a bright sunny day and how can it be cloudy when you decided to walk into our lives? We woke up early and reached hospital on time. The doctor took your mumma to the Chamber of Miracles, though, doctors call it as Operation Theater, I prefer to call it as Chamber of Miracles. After around half an hour, at exact 9:15, we heard your first attempts to kick start your lungs and you did a marvelous job there sweetheart!!

Since then, you have always been a source of learning for us. Your mom and I have learned a lot from you. We have given our everything to be good parents and I know there are thousand of things, where we could have done better but I just want you to know that we have tried and still learning the art and with you as our teacher, I am sure, we shall not be worried too much.

You have always been ahead of the things and learned most of the things, without bothering us. You first flipped and crawled and walked ahead of the schedule. Even when you were sick, you never made fuss about it and never threw any tantrums.

When you completed your first year, your grandparents threw a big party and you were so happy to see all your loved ones together. You ran, danced and had loads of fun till you were tired and went to sleep. You looked like a fairy in that red frock of yours. Your mom's fashion sense is much better than mine. So, when you grow up and want to thank us for your beautiful pics, just thank her for the clothes selection or if you think otherwise, you know whom to blame here?

In your second year, you were already in your trouble-two phase. With all that extra energy, you were famous for running tirelessly in the society compound, however, your extra love for the children of your age and even for younger ones wasn't going too well for many.
Most of the times, we were laughing with you but I won't lie that at times, both I and your mumma felt like pulling our hair. We stopped late-night parties, going to movies, going out for lunch or dinners and at times, we missed all that fun and this two year period transformed us from a fun-loving couple to matured parents. However, you made sure that the fun we missed outside should be compensated with fun at home. And you did a great job at it, my little tigress!!

We celebrated your second birthday in Pune and it was great fun and you were so excited to see the Chota-Bheem Cake and your new glittering Blue dress. Again, your mom did a pretty good job in selecting your clothes. But you can thank me for driving her around the whole city to get that dress.

In your third year, you also had gone through a lot along with me and your mom. You have seen the strongest man in your life to go frail and weak. I remember the times when you were so frustrated with all these restrictions of not disturbing me and tried to jump on my weakened limbs. Everyone scolded you and even I was also afraid when you ran towards me for a hug. It was tough time for both of us and I thank god that we saw those tough times through!! Everything turned normal as we had clung to our faith and love. And you started your school and after first traumatic month, you were enjoying the fun at school. You learned almost all the rhymes, your increased your sense of colors and learned many new objects everyday. We are already so proud of you and assure you that whatever you wish to do with your life, we will be there with you.

As today is your third birthday and I am so far away from you since past 40 days, I would like you to have great fun and want you to don't miss me at all. I know, it won't be long before we meet again and your grandparents and mom has already made sure that you get all the present that you had asked for. So, have fun out there, do all the pranks that you are so famous for. God bless you honey!!

Someday, I will tell you, why I call you my little tigress more and my little princess less? 

America- Santa Monica Beach

As another week passed by in this lovely city, I got a chance to look at a totally different side of Los Angeles, Among all this hustle-bustle of this gigantic city, one may not realize that here in this city, we are always watched over. Now, don't freak out, there is no monster here and no no, not even a crazy stalker following you here. It's just the tall standing mountains, watching you serenly and there are lots of them, there is this lovely range of Santa Monica & San Gabriel mountains on the north of the city which has that gleaming proud HOLLYWOOD sign written over it.

Then, there is also Pacific Ocean on the south and a very famous beach 'Santa Monica' there. I was thinking of sharing the Hollywood hills experience first but then thought that I need to get this Santa Monica beach thing out first. Don't ask me why? and there are no prizes for guessing it too. May be, the Hollywood thing can wait for a while!!

But wait a minute, does this word 'Santa Monica' rings a bell? Of-course, it does to a teen-aged generation from the 90s who were the pioneers of gulping down the first dose of western sops that was thrust towards the land of snake-charmers. Here, I would like to clarify that I really hate this snake-charmer tag to its core and I would go with anything like 'Land of Sages' or 'Land of Yog or Yoga'. But leaving aside my preferences to the backstage, more important question is why this Santa Monica name sounds so familiar? Which Sop has shown this Santa Monica beach to us and who were those angelic lifeguards? Now, don't be shy of yourself even if you forgot the name of the beach but don't you dare to forget 'Baywatch'. Yep, the same show where a few angel-looking lifeguards saved a few losers, who eventually, turned out to be winners after getting once-in-life opportunity to be saved by those social-workers.

I was amazed to see a clean beach with clean water and where it was a normal thing to walk barefoot on the sand without being afraid of stepping on a broken beer bottle. I would be so proud if we can make the 'Claingut'  beach as Santa Monica of Goa. Same beauty, same resource but the people makes a lot of difference. Don't want to bore you guys with the preaching stuff, So here is a glimpse of what I saw and experienced there.

I saw a cute family having fun where the father was so happy to build a castle for his adoring daughter. The lady of the house, not in picture (for obvious reasons) was busy laying out the food for the family. The beauty of the place was spotless for eyes but the heart was still pumping a lot less than required as I was missing Swara and Sapna here. Had Swara been here, she would have been running all over the place and how I would have loved to build an even bigger castle or mud pool for her. Well, I assure that I will make up for this loss,whenever I will meet you, my dear little buddy.

Then, I saw these two cuties, enjoying the sunshine but it seemed that they had a bit of argument. I would advise the proudly walking out male that it's just a matter of few minutes or few hours before I see you walking back with your head down and making up with her. No matter, you rule the skies but you got to land somewhere and need to share your stories about victories and hardships. So, get back to her buddy soon and if you look at the below picture, you are just another bird in the mob but with her, you become special!!

It was also so easy to gather a lot of oyster shells and a few families were even collecting them for their next meal but being a recently-turned-vegetarian, I wasn't much in the game. So, I kept walking bare footed on the silky white sand and loved each moment of it. Even the drive along the coast was scenic and that road, barring its traffic, may be one of the best places to go on a long drive on a moon-lit night. I would love to do that sometime, in case I get a chance. With this, I would bid you goodbye to meet you with another post, may be Hollywood hills or some other place which I visit. Till then, enjoy and take very good care of yourself!!

America- Beverly Hills & Rodeo Drive

Among all the places that Los Angeles has to offer to its every increasing number of foot-loose visitors, Beverly hills holds a special status. And for a person (yeah that's me!!) who has seen the desolate lands of Chambal, Beverly hills stands testimony to a hard to accept fact that there are certain things in life which are meant for only a certain category of people. The agile legged authoritarian capitalism and the democratic socialism which can even make a couch-potato appear as a flying sikh, should both step aside and just gaze at the marvel of this place. The lusty facades of plush bungalows or the soothing meadows running along the side of the road, people visiting this place couldn't stop smiling and the reasons are aplenty.

I was smiling wide not just because I was happy to visit this place. I mean that may be the most obvious reason, however, I was smiling mainly because I was trying to accept the fact that, yes, there are certain things in this world which are meant for only a select few and how that just small glimpse of this empyrean world is so much more than our eyes could absorb. If any gwaliorite reading this post would agree and even repeat this line with me. Karra Khel hai bhaiya!!

Then there is this insanely costly drive where you will find mostly all the brands that we the commoners can't shop from. Yes, I am talking about the famous "Rodeo Drive". I mean this is among those places in other parts of the world, where people, err, celebrities shop by invitation and we cannot just barge in any shop and talk and inquire about it, kitna ka hai bhaiya!! ya fir ek size chota milega kya?


The street was full of mostly Indians and Chinese and there were a few mexicans and natives as well. Almost all of them were ogling sheepishly at the mockingly opulent watches, the handbags, the Armanis, and the Phantoms. A must to visit place in LA. Missing my ladies here as without them even such perfections seems incomplete. As, it started pouring and it was certainly more than an usual californian drizzle, we had to run for cover and end our sightseeing for the day. With more such, more-to-show and less-to-talk posts, I will come up with the next post when I visit another new place. It may be Santa Monica Beach or the Hollywood Hills or may be a less famous and nondescript South Sepulveda Boulevard!!!!

America- Down Town LA

I started the Weekend morning with a healthy breakfast. This may not look much fancy but there are not much choices here either. I have options of fruits or Oats or muffins or Oat bars or eggs. So, I mix them and keep rotating them just to avoid the repetition.  On one day, I just have oats with milk whereas at times, I add a boiled egg to take care of the protein intake. Sometimes, I throw in a muffin to get a sugar shot to start the day on high. I try changing the variety of egg as boiled or half-fried or full-fried or scrambled. At times, when I get bored of Oats, I just avoid them altogether and have some leftovers from last night dinner. But as it was Saturday, So, I just included everything in, Oats with Milk, Apple, Orange, Egg and some Olive-oil fried Kettle style potato chips. And as I needed calories to make through the miles of walking that was ahead of me, I didn't mind the extra calories served here.

As I haven't been lucky enough to get any group or a person whom I can even remotely place in a category of friends or even on the fringes of friendship, I haven't seen much around yet. So, I was advised by my little friend and my boss which also happens to be my 3 year old daughter that I should get out of hotel and roam a bit. She simply said, Baba Ghoom aao na bahar!!!!

When I set my foot out this morning, I was heading towards Hollywood but an unexpected fear of some spoiler was already looming in my head, I found out the usual metro bus service which was my only hope to take me to my destination runs only Monday to Friday and if I have to catch it, I would have to walk a few miles, so I decided to skip it.
Rather, I went ahead and boarded a bus that runs up to Downtown LA. Once I reached in the proximity of Downtown, my Google maps ditched me and started asking me to walk in opposite direction of downtown to reach downtown. For first few minutes, I followed it religiously but then ended in a shady area with lots of filth strayed on the street and people calling names to each other. I felt like abusing Google Maps but then it's not Google fault if there are no signals. I switched off my phone and started walking as per my own instincts and with in 10 minutes reached the downtown. There were more than I can count buildings with more than I can count floors and that's it. Downtown must be more than this and will have much to offer but with my phone not helping me out and with no directions whatsoever, I explored around 2 hours on my own and when I felt a bit hungry, I couldn't find a vegetarian option. So, I boarded the bus back to my place and alighted at a place which serves a-close-to-authentic Indian food. Annapurna serves a full Indian buffet and the food quality is good if not the best in the world.
Many of my American team mates ask me to rate the Indian restaurants that we visit, I rate most of them B+ or B and they say, wow are these restaurants that good? Haven't you tasted better Indian food than these. And I Say, they are good because I don't compare them with the stuff served back home and for that matter of fact, I don't compare anything here with anything there.
That's a different world altogether with it's own good and bad sides and I am sure this applies to this part as well. So, if I tell you that the Samosa which you are eating is no-good and I come from a land where the best samosas of the world are made, there is no point in bragging all these.
There is an interesting Chinese team mate, who just loves Gulab Jamuns and feels sad when most of the Indian restaurants here serves bad Gulab Jamuns. But I say hey, I cannot get Japanese Ramen back there or the Vietnamese-Chey or the great greek food that you get here. So, it evens out finally.

I will try to take pictures next time if I manage to visit a place which is worth clicking any pictures. The Downtown is just about Sky Scrappers, may be if I visit Universal studio or Hollywood Hills or Rodeo Drive or the Promenade, I will catch up with you guys to share my experiences!! Till Then Byee , Take care and do whatever you want to do man!!


  

America- First Take

No one in this world can either praise or criticize any place or for that matter, any country in its entirety. Today, as I get some time to reflect upon the events that took place over past few months, I have very mixed feelings and when I pick a slice of one feeling at a time and dwell on that feeling for long, my mind goes into a specific frame which I simply refer to as mood. So, my mood swings an entire 360 degrees on any given day. And only I or my best (as terming her better would be of a mild degree here) half, Sapna can relate to it.

Keeping aside my insignificant mood and its equally more inconsequential swings, let me share with you, my very first experience of being in this new country, America!!

First of all, I never had any fantasies of visiting America, I had dreamed about visiting England since I don't know when but yes I was very excited about going to UK and travel through Europe. I fortunately got the chance to visit and stay in Europe for some years and I still love the place. But, I never desired to visit USA and never ever rued the fact that I couldn't visit this magnificent country, till now. 

However, now as I have arrived here, I am still absorbing the culture and the american way of doing things and there is not a single irritating thing I have noticed now. So, I can say, there is no reason to not Love America!!

The only people who have avoided eye contact and a simple hello with me have been my beloved countrymen and those are also very few. Others have always presented themselves with a wide smile and a greeting. Natives have explained the things to me patiently and helped me in moving around as well. 

The place itself is friendly with its bright and sunny weather and I am lucky to land on west coast  and that too in a big city such as Los Angeles else I would have been facing a very different and may be a wrong side of this country in terms of weather at least.

Till now, I haven't explored much other than my office and home route and a dozen of new restaurants. So, in a two week's period, I have gorged on Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, Vietnamese, Greek and of course Indian food and I am loving all of them even when I am just checking on vegetarian options.

So, stay connected as I share more about travel, food and my other experiences of America!!

Enigma of Nihilism

As my American counterparts proudly sing the "The star spangled banner", I am sinfully ashamed of raising my voice to break their chorus. In the tough times, they up their crescendo and in even tougher times, they notch the decibels of even higher levels.
On the contrary, I meekly hum the Jan gan man, not entirely convinced about the greatness that my anthem showers upon my motherland. I find myself  and my belief in doldrums where there is not even an iota of breeze to bring along a comforting level of optimism along with it. I gather myself to shake up the  crumbling dinghy but to my utter disappointment I found myself caught in the strong currents generated by the mammoths ship traveling in opposite direction. The dreaded direction is marked with many a danger signs of an abysmal pit and no one should venture into it.
I saw my countrymen proudly signing their beloved version of "The start spangled banner and their love for their country 'India' was evident. They were so happy that ignored all my yelling and headed ignorantly towards the same dreaded direction. Instead, I saw a look of pity towards me on some of those cheerful faces, some even smirked with a lot f apathy on offer. I concluded there is point in yelling any further but the agony of losing them forever was too much to bear. I had a fair chance to look at the stone faced captain. He seemed to me a man of integrity, with a trimmed mustache and a dapper yet economical outfit with no frills attached to it. From the view that my dinghy offered, it was clear to me that none of the ship's passenger had an idea of where this ship was headed towards. However, the ship's captain had a clear picture of the forebodings from the front deck of ship.
The captain was confidently steering the ship towards the same dreaded direction yet he was keeping a watchful eye on the nearby lighthouse and sent some coded signals to it. After a while, I further surrender to the sea sickness and rest my tired body on the planks of my dinghy and passively stare at the dreaded fate that this mammoth ship was going to meet. After a few nautical miles, though still not out of my eyesight, this ship finally reached its destination and fell into the pit. I saw some distant bodies jumping from the ship, heard some desperate cries of help. There were some lifeboats came into action , a few helicopters flew by and picked a few of the lucky souls but most of the passengers saw the white light and willingly or unwillingly traveled through it.
Suddenly, I found my 20 month old daughter shouting baba and offering me two dollops of sweetest thing on the planet on my cheeks. Well, out of a writer's habit, I feel obligated to dramatize a majority of my dream as any story teller wouldn't mind my amateurish attempts.
However, in the current context of Indian politics, next few months may prove to be even more dramatic than my humble dream or anxiety filled than my even humbler attempt to add most of the bits here and there to my bland dream. Yes, I am talking about the upcoming assembly elections and then the general elections which are due next year. To make my readers more aware of my political ideologies, I come from a family where politics and sports are discussed alike on dining table. My father, being a voracious reader had made up a certain ideology about almost all the politicians and all the parties. He knows the leaders from the remote states and their brief roles on the national level. So, knowingly or unknowingly, I had been on and against his side on many political discussion that we had while munching the finger licking food that my mom cooked. Not to drag this father son episode any further, I can sum up that his stand on two major political parties has been pretty clear. Congress has got enough chances and now BJP should get its fair share. However, he made  it a point that when it comes to voting, do look out for best possible choice even he/she is from congress and then pray that the permutation and combination of the complex democracy will give us a stable and good government. To his disappointment, it had hardly  happened in India.
On the other hand, my ideology has been more of a person as well as system based ideology. I have always maintained that even though we are plagued with corruption, illiteracy, poverty and what not, I still haven't lost any faith in the democratic setup of my country.
To qualify my statement of faith in Indian system, let me quote a few recent examples. I hate it when Raj Thackrey shouts for the blood of North Indians. I feel ashamed not as a maharashtrian but as an Indian. However, does Raj Thackrey's statement legitimate as per Indian constitution. No, my constitution is pretty intact and very rightly provides me the right to settle and acquire property in any part of the country. If we tighten up the judiciary a bit more and infuse the required political will then no such non-sense will be tolerated.
Another example is the incident when M.F Hussain. allegedly drew some nude paintings of Indian gods and goddesses and he had to leave the country because of some hoodlums forced him to do so. Again, I am ashamed that whatever he had done as an artist should have been challenged within the purview of the law and our country couldn't protect the legal rights of MF. However, did my government asked MF to leave the country? Also, did my country's police or judiciary asked him to leave the country? No, MF left because he was threatened by so called protectors of Indian culture. Our system's deficiency was highlighted when it failed to act against these political goons. I never got a chance to hear MF''s side of the story. Definitely,  MF didn't meant to earn the ire of the hindus all of a sudden. However, we never got to know the motivation behind those paintings.
There are so many examples where either the political will's absence or system's paralysis or unwillingness to act has been highlighted but what we fail to notice that the same system had a lot to offer if used properly and this is the foundation of my belief in our country's democracy and its entire system. There is an urgent need to fix the gaps, oil the jammed machinery but to uproot it altogether will make us another Syria or another Pakistan. I dread the day, if we are made to realize the importance of a lost democracy and its advantages.
I have tried to cover a few points about my belif in system. Let me wrap this story by talking a few points about a few persons who are at the center stage and have a big role to play in the future of this county. Though, to talk about persons is termed as the job of the intellectual bankrupt writers or media persons but as I neither, I can take the liberty to talk about a few persons.
Some two years back, we saw a huge uprising which forced the youths and old alike to take their protest to roads and demand for a systemic change. Mahesh Giri coined the term LOKPAL, a few days back, Mahesh Giri joined BJP. However, that''s a separate topic altogether. I also bought a few candles and stood on the historic Junglee Maharaj Road on Pune for close to 2 hours and felt elated that I had done something good. However, that joy didn't last long as I asked myself, against whom I was protesting? Were they Britishers or any other breed of oppressor? No, they were my own countrymen. I again asked, were they parachuted to the parliament? Again, No, I and my fellow countrymen only voted them in. I asked again, so if they are not listening to me, what should I do? fight them legally or fight them electorally. Well, I cannot do either of the choices.
So, where do I saw a ray of hope. I saw that ray in Narendra Damodardas Modi. Though, he still has a lot to catch up to stand in the line that has the likes of Shastri or Atal Bihari. Modi has still done enough to outdo his relatively weaker opponents. Here, I see a man who has done credible work and that too with in the purview of same system which others term as non-functional and paralysed. He has single handedly stamped gujrat's mark on all the parts of the country. You talk about Infrastructure, electricity, education, law and order and all the major areas of governance. There is still lot of work required on the health care and education sectors in gujrat as well but in 13 years time, he has shown lots of tangible results which no other state has managed to do. However, I see him surrounded by many corrupt people. Agreed, but I also see a habit that this man manages to get his work done with these inefficient and corrupt people as well. The government machinery of gujrat is not air-dropped from somre forgein land. Same people, same mentality, same work ethics but here they are forced to work to execute the plans and to my amusement, gujrat goverment has lots of plans in the first place. So, this man Narendra Modi justifies my belief in system and couples it with my second core of my belief i.e. people. BJP does have corrupt people but only a fool will not give chance to modi so that he can work along with the likes of Manohar Parrikar, Raman Singh, Arun shorie, Jagmohan and other philosophers from Think Tank.
At the same time, I also see another credible man Arvind Kejriwal who is more obsessed with just two things. First shout that almost everybody is corrupt and second, I am not just the honest person. Rather, I am the only honest person and only my party people should be honest as it's my copyright. If you ask Kejriwal about his model of governance, he talks very nicely about Panchayati Raj and Gram Swaraj. The same things which legendary JP had talked about and later he also talked about the grass root level problems in complete decentralization and also suggested a few possible ways of doing it. However, if you prod him more then he averts the questions by saying, Janta will decide. If you ask him about any possible topic related to governance, he bluntly  says Janta will decide. Is it not insanity that to expect a country where all the houses of a colony are not united on any issue of common interest will be united on economic policy and in the entire decision making process. That's where Parliament and its houses comes in picture and that's where a certain degree of respect and sanctity should be maintained by both side 'Janta' as well as their elected representatives. This AAP movement has not looted money from people, it has looted the core belief in the democracy and the entire system. This situation is really very dangerous and any strikes or bandhs or satyagrah movement against its own system creates anarchy.
Another theory which I think holds more ground that this gimmick of creating a dummy opponent is done by congress only. They have successfully done it twice in the past. Once in Maharashtra by creating NCP. NCP abused congress at every level and well intended voters trusted NCP. In the end, NCP supported congress at every level. Similarly, in Andhra, Prajarajyam was created by Chiranjeevi and people had high hopes that their reel life hero will turn into real life saviour for them but they were again betrayed. This time, the same experiment in underway in Delhi and as expected, People are willing to fall for this gimmick again.
This enigma of constant Nihilism irks me and agitates me to make people around me to think more prudently this time around but I fail to undestand their stubborn attitude when they blatantly refuse to hear any word against their new hero Kejriwal and very happily turn a blind eye to the facts. I wish I could jump out of my dinghy and swim across the sea to board the mammoth ship of my dream. I dream of grabbing the stone faced captain with dapper yet economical attire, with his trimmed mustache, and turn the steering wheel of the ship to avert the abysmal pit. I wish, I could do it, I just wish!!

Hel your blog to grow

Help your blog to grow and reach out to a wider audiences by joining various blogging communities.

1. Try using social media such as facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and other apps to reach out to your groups and ask them to read and review your blogposts.


2. Most of the blogging communities will ask you to claim your blog space. It's a simple procedure and users may be asked to publish a blog post with a short code in it . Ex- VTY3NB3ZCP7A .
Your claim will then be verified.

3. The most important part if you want to make your blog popular is the content. If you don't read and publish your own genuine content, there is a little chance, avid reader would be keen to read your blogs

4. Another important aspect is, reading and commenting on fellow bloggers regularly and ask them to visit your blog too. This mutual admiration association (MAA) is a very strong tool to make your blog popular

5. Try publishing content targeting a specific set of audience such as if you are writing on important issues such as Child Labour and Girl's education, you would want to reach out to people and association working on these issues.

There are endless ways of fairly promoting one's blog and one should never try to use shortcuts and unfair means to promote one's blog so that your blog earn its due popularity and respect.

A Tale of Two Brothers- Part2

In this second edition of the series of posts, I believe it's apt to talk about the main reasons and events that resulted into a partition. Some say, it was Muslim League's and Jinnah's idea, some say Nehru was keen on it as well whereas some sections believe Gandhi should have prevented it or at least should have asked all the Muslims to leave India at that point.
Some people give a reasonable theory that the Two-Nation theory was not what Jinnah was looking for. Rather, the thought of creation of Pakistan struck him quite late.  This does sound reasonable as Idea of Two Nation theory didn't became a national issue till 1940s and given that Jinnah had been there with Congress and then Muslim League for a considerable amount of time, he had ample opportunities to push for creation of "Muslim India" or "Pakistan" but he didn't.
This proves one thing that all this while, Jinnah had been exploring and scouting for some possible arrangements with Indian National Congress which he successfully negotiated in Lucknow Pact of 1916.
However, his idea was more of an utopia where there would be a parallel government to care of the issues and protect the interest of the Muslims. He didn't trust his Congress counterparts and doubted that even if he manage to win some grounds for his masses, his community's interest may not be congress's primary focus post independence.
Why did Jinnah, who once was projected as the bridge between Hindus and Muslims and was regarded as the symbol of their unity, started alienating his community from the majority? Jinnah noticed that the fact that most of the incumbents who will occupy the government posts after independence are going to be Hindus. He also noticed that Hindus have embraced & to an extent welcomed the British culture, if not the British rule. He also observed that Hindus have willingly learned English language and are more equipped to run the country. As per Jinnah, this Hindu ruled India would never look after its minority issues and thus he started to realize that if the dream of Hindu-Muslim unity cannot be fulfilled, he should at least work towards unifying Muslims & build a common platform to address their issues.
Let's turn the calendar a few hundred years back and try to visualize an era before the arrival of British in India. India was majorly ruled by Muslims rulers, their wealth & splendor was a topic of discussion in the west as well. However, the power of these Muslim empires lied within the hands of a select few and there were no efforts to uplift the society and educate the masses. However, when British started to dominate, Muslims abhorred not only their rule but also almost everything that they brought with them including their culture, their food and even their language. On the other hand, Hindus at least adopted their language with open arms.This very act prompted Muslims to consider English as the language of servants and they chose to live in their past glory.
The result of these events created a society where most of the government officials who were Indian nationals were Hindus and this proposition didn't seem favorable to Jinnah even if most of his demands were accepted by Congress and thus he was prompted to opt for a Two Nation Theory.

Though, the exact date of the resolution is still questionable but as per available documentation, on 23 March 1940, Lahore resolution was passed.It was the forum which Muslim League chose to issue a formal political agenda to create independent, sovereign Muslim states which later evolved into demand of Pakistan.
There are many extreme theories which are still being discussed, some argue that the entire idea of partition was at fault and resulted into biggest bloodshed of 20th century and one of the largest migration of population in centuries whereas other theories find partition was the best possible solution at that point and it did some amount of damage control.
Whatever, may be one's argument to try to prove one's point right. The truth is, this event has affected the fate of millions of people back then and will continue to affect the future as all the child issues such as "Terrorism", "Communalism", "Extremism" and hatred between two nations are outcome of one single event, that was partition.
In the next post, I will try to talk about the first steps which these babies (back in 1947) took and their own set of problem and methods to tackle those problem.

A Tale of Two Brothers -Part1

I am deliberately choosing to call them as two brothers and not two nations as there is an emotional connect between them. Brothers, who are drifting away from each other with each passing day. Both grappling with problems which are majorly common. Yet, one is silently taking small steps towards glory and the other is mostly sulking in ignominy or sometimes seething in anger or frustration over the whole world going gaga over it's own brother's achievements.

By now, you must have caught my imagination that I am trying to talk about India and Pakistan. Another reason that I have preferred to chose word brothers as I really see them as two individuals coming from the same family, with same sort of culinary traditions, rituals, education system (inherited) and same sort of humor as well. Believe me or not, what makes Indians and Pakistanis, laugh, dance and jump with joy are the same things.

Though, I don't need to list examples here but for people who are still not nodding their heads in agreement, here are a few examples. How many of us Indians have laughed their guts out on Pakistani Comedy of "Bakra- Kishto Me"? Also, you must have heard of Pakistanis fond of Indian Movies. Also, you must have read about people going to Lahore for watching cricket matches and their narration of the city as a mirror image of Amritsar. This list is endless, however is not enough to douse the ever rising flame of anger between these two brothers.

This oxymoron-ic existence of relationships confuses me and confuses most of the intellect. You must not have noticed that I have subtly booked my birth amongst the elite intellects. My sole aim remains here to present the present state of the relations that these two ever-feuding nations share, dwell a bit on the past and excavate the seeds which previous generations and events had sown which resulted into a partition.
To understand the complete picture, one would have to either wipe out all the rosy and gory picture which the media (print and electronic) has painted in front of you or build your own perspective by listening to story from both the sides.On one day, they give us a hope by running "Aman ki Aasha" and on another day they flash breaking news of beheading of Indian soldiers. What should we believe and what we shouldn't?

                    There are rational speakers on both the sides, who are shouting truth on the top of their voice but they are happily ignored by media. Obviously, there are more important news to cover such as Digvijay singh is genuinely worried about NaMo's marital life. What a soft hearted man, our Diggy-Raja is? Here also, I prefer to call Diggy-Raja and not the other degraded names which social media so vehemently uses as there should be some conduct shown even while discussing the issues or persons which irritates us.

We prefer to call Gandhi Family by names and there might be a thousand valid reasons and incidents which may justify this. But, what has been a difference between India and Pakistan is the approach taken in the first few years by the leadership of these two nations.

Unfortunately Pakistan lost Mr. Jinnah and Liyaqat Ali and was be-reft of any father figure since then and a similar event happened in India where Mahatama Gandhi was assasinated by Nathuram Ghodse. Again, I am not labelling the assasins as bad people or extremist and the assasinated as saints as that is not my motive, I am just trying to assess the impact that these events had on the future of these two nations.Any Indian who may prefer to call Gandhi as responsible for Partition would not deny that he was the leader of masses, people believed in him and followed him blindly and when such a patriarch of an entire generation is lost, people and even nations lose confidence which fortunately India didn't lose and was guided amicably by Mr. Nehru.

This is an interesting topic of every house party that people hold with close friends and relatives. They discuss in detail what Nehru could have done better and what he shouldn't have done. There is a hate sentiment while we Indians discuss about the lavish spendings that he was accustomed to. Agan, I am not interested too much in mud slinging exercise here and discuss the monthly balancesheets of Nehru Gandhi family.

What Nehru did got right was the start of Non-Aligned movement and focus on science and technology. So, India started on its long, boring and tiring yet much-needed journey of being a socialist secular nation. On the other hand, Pakistan started off on its journey of being a National-Security State i.e. their prime concern would be security and not the betterment of their society.

In next parts, I would like to talk about what India did differently in terms of land reforms, sharing of power and building a better educational system than Pakistan. Somewhere, I would also dig a little on the seeds of partition, who sowed it and for what? Why muslims couldn't embrace English education as Hindus did it back then.

At some point, it would be mandatory to talk about how India was weaved into one thread by Iron man Shri Sardar Patel and what formula was used for partition and what were the exception to this formula. These  posts would be solely aimed at improving my own understanding of history, as we were never taught all these things in out text-books, and also to spread awareness amongst people about their own past.
One thing, I would like to make very clear is, I have no intention of hurting sentiments of anybody out there.

The Generous Indica Man

This one is again coming from the roads of the maxim city. I really don't know why Mumbai got this name "Maxim City". May be because here everything can be found in excess. Maximum number of poor people, maximum number of rich people or for that matter of fact maximum number of people any city can accommodate.
Anyways, this story is not about how Mumbai got its new swanky name but about a generous man I found on the roads of this city. That day, I left home at around 10 am for office. It hardly takes half an hour to reach my office as there so many buses, shared taxis available to commute. There are also many drivers driving luxury cars of their owners who offer a lift for a minimum charge of Rs 20. So, its pretty common for commoners in Mumbai to have experienced the interiors of Toyotas, Fords, Hyundais and if you get luckier, you might find yourself in the back seat of a Merc or BMW.
So, I got a lift in a Corolla and reached almost halfway to my office. I stepped out of the comforts of this luxury car and found myself standing in the scorching heat of the early days of May.
As a routine, I started looking out another share taxi or auto or bus. Suddenly an Indica stopped dangerously close to my feet and the driver asked me to jump in. Now, the driver here was neither a well dressed chauffeur, nor a Bihari bhaiya who usually have their entire life written all over their face.
He was a 70 year old man dressed in a white Kurta-Paijama and had a long beard. Donning a cap which Muslims wear, his appearance was of a religious God-fearing man. As soon as I took my seat, he started demonstrating his exceptional driving skills. He was exceptionally fast for his age and he was no where close to being rash and dangerous.
It took him hardly 10 minutes to reach my office and as soon as I gave the money to him. He politely refused it by joining both the hands and asked me to open the door cautiously as its a busy road. Now, 20 rupees is not an amount that will make him any richer or make me any poorer. However, it's the reaction that came out when he was offered money which was very real and hard to find in these times where people are ready to slit each other's throat for almost anything
I didn't knew what to say. Since 6 months. I am traveling in these shared taxis and chauffeur driven luxury cars but I never encountered any such man who offered me a seat just out of generosity. I am sure there is no chance I would meet this Mauli Sahab looking like driver again. However, the generosity that he had in his heart for the strangers will stay with me forever.

A mile wide smile

It was yet another hot & humid day in the month of April and Mumbai was living up to its reputation of torturing and draining out the last drop of water from your system. After a hectic yet fun-filled weekend, I had to catch a bus to reach to my house. Sunday was about to come to and end and Monday blues were getting even bluer by each passing second.
Lazily, I picked my stuff from a friend's place and reach the bus stop. By now, you could imagine that there was nothing exciting about the proceedings. After standing for about 15 minutes, a bus came and to my surprise there was no rush in it. I hopped on to it and as a custom, chose a window seat so as to make myself feel a little better. In Mumbai weather, water and wind does help and makes you feel strong enough to bear the painstakingly slow traffic. Today, was however different, no traffic jams and no rush in the bus made me feel a zillion times better. Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder and heard the ticket collector's voice, Ticket Ticket. I gave him the money and got my ticket. Out of routine, I took a look at the ticket collector's face and saw an unusual smile on his face.
Sporting a smart cap and a genuine smile on his face, he was asking each and every passenger for buying tickets. He was also shouldering an additional responsibility of helping people with the directions of their destinations. Even when the bus got crowded and there was very little space to move around, this guy with his cap still on his head, felt at ease and never frowned on anyone.
His smile as genuine as a copy book cover drive out of Dravid's willow was good enough to force many a people to smile back at him.
In hard times when there are so many reason to frown over, this simple guy with a not-so-dream-about kind of job is teaching the people, how to smile. A very basic trait of human kind which is so vital in today's time is to smile but we never do this or deliberately chose things which makes us feel sad.
Hats off to you, Err, Caps off to you, Mr. Smiling Ticket Collector!!

Urgent: Indian System needs some fresh blood

Shall I? She shouted at the top of her voice, Shall I? The audience echoed the answer she so deeply wanted to listen, YES, YES and even more resounding YES!! She smiled and left the stage. No one can miss the resemblance of her ancestors that provides a grace to her otherwise Non-Indian face. She walks with elegance and keeps herself gracefully away from engaging in any childish games that her younger brother so eagerly gets involved in.

However, this is all I or a common voter in Indian knows about Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Bored with same false-promises and media frenzy to jump to conclusions, I changed the channel. It was a co-incidence that the other news channel was not engaged in the same coverage and a young journalist was interviewing the probable future PM of Pakistan, Imran Khan.

In his talks and Ideas, he sounded a friendly gesture that he would extend towards India if he is catapulted  to the top. Nothing new, I have heard Nawaz Shariff, Lady Bhutto, and even Mr. Musharraf echoing the same thoughts whenever they crossed the fence and indulged in enjoying the Indian hospitality. However, one thing that was strikingly different was his response when he was questioned about Kashmir.
What he pointed out was that no military can ever solve Kashmir issue. Again nothing new, we have heard this Love-Hate, Peace-War rhyme a zillion times. However, he said that when I say that this issue should be solved on table, we require strong leaders from both the sides. Leaders who can take big decisions, leaders who can face the criticism of the non-conformists, leaders who can gather the support of the masses and can own their mistakes. Very true, I cannot see, minister like Manmohan Singhs, Rahul Gandhis, Sharad Pawars, Mayawatis, Jayalalithas, Mamta Banerjis ever taking any such bold step and back themselves when faced with opposition.
I know that we don't need any Imran Khans or Shoaib Akhtars to teach us how to solve Kashmir. However, what we won't do ourselves any harm by electing strong leaders. People such as Digvijay Singh, Sharad Pawar, Shibu Soren, Mamta Banerjee should give way to Narendra Modi, Nitish Kumar, Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia and even Pranab Mukherjee (as his slate is still unblemished).
I am too naive to understand the politics which is governed by so many factors such as Castes, Creeds, Reservation, unemployment, Inflation blah blah blah and a further blah blah blah. However, our system desperately needs some fresh blood.

Happy Birthday Magician!!

Magic, yes magic is the word and that's what we created whenever we joined our hands. Time used to fly past like a seagull and we used to sail sommothly over the ever-rising high tides. Worse things used to appear less annoying and good things used to masquarade as best things. The day has come again when 31 years ago, the magician with his magic wand was born in a dusty little town of India.
I remember him asking me once,
Magician: Hey Sid, what's your date of birth?
I (As reserved and reluctant as ever): Why are you asking that?
Magician (Grinning as if he has seen the future): First, Tell me
I:  17th Jan, now tell me, why are you asking that?
Magician: Oh wow, see I knew yours would be closer to mine, i.e. 12th Jan
Magician (Again):  Capricornians share this unique chemistry. I hope we will have great times together too
I: Happy to find a fellow capricornian in one of the worst phases of life. However, great times? you got to be kidding. We are about to sink and there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Forget light, there is not even a tunnel here. Doldrumsm yes we are in the doldrums, happily sinking and going nowhere.
Magician: May be this is your first day in hell. Don't worry, I will make sure, you have your share of fun.
 
Little I knew that he will really stick to his words. That worst phase really passed away and without my knowledge, he had built a special bond with me and then we departed for a long long time. Magic spell that he created was broken. Things again started to look a little less rosy.
 
Two years later, I called the Magician.
I: Dear Magician, how are you and what are you doing?
Magician: I am no more a magician, a witch came and ran away with my magical wand. I am nothing but a cipher.
I: No, it cannot happen. Your magic wand is still safe with me. I thought, you had mutilple wands and thats why I kept one with me. Of course, I lied. I had no magic wands with me.
Magician (Almost crying): No dear, I have just one such wand and I am nothing without it.
I: Ok, can you come and collect it from me. However, you need to fly with me to a place where that wand is kept.
Magician: Sure, I can go to any part of the world to get my beloved wand back.
I: Ok then let's fly to London and you better start creating some new magic spells as your old ones are stinking.
Magician, You bet, I will and he laughed a hearty laugh
 
We lived two years like a magical spell which was so real yet its reality seems to be stranger than fiction. Then, one day, I decided to mve away and break that magical spell. Magician was feeling the pain and so was I. However, we never spoke that pain. Later, we briefly joined hands to re-create that magic again but it never clicked again. And then the magician realized that the magic wand that he possess is not a real one and he was devastated by this loss. Broken to the core, he decided to move to an altogether new place. He never spoke of it to anyone. Magical spelss were breathing their last breaths. He just broke all the shackles, threw away the dummy magical wand that I gave him and tried to shout my name but his voice echoed and there was no response from anyone.
He took a look around and saw everyone happily involved in their own little magical worlds that he once built as easily as snapping a finger. He bid his last adieu to very and departed forever.
Every 12th January after that unfateful day will never be same again. Wish you a very happy birthday!! Love you my magician!!

Anticipation, Tiring yet Tempting

There is something very innate in the heart of every human being that it keeps on anticipating the good things that the future promises to hold for us.
Showing a dumb and blank face to the teachings of our holy book GITA, we keep on anticipating. No matter, what the end result turns out to be, anticipation keeps us on our toes. Even when the odds are against us, its just that tiny little ray of hope that makes us to do all that we can possibly do to turn the tide in our favour.
We sulk, we crib, we even go on to the extent of passing a judgement that this whole world is so damn unfair. However, somewhere in the darkest corner of our persona, there is always a hidden hope. Over the ages, several adages have been coined to keep the act of anticipation alive. "Every dog has its own day", "Light at the end of the tunnel", "Were it not for hope the heart would break" and several others reflect the conscious effort of the entire mankind to keep the hope or the behavior of anticipation alive with in us.
I agree that sometimes, we fail and repent the day we started to anticipate that particular thing. However, wouldn't we all be Saints of Himalayas if we eschew all the worldly pleasures including hope and live as if nothing could make or break us.  Imagine if two saints who live in the neighbourhood are having a chat.
Saint1: How are you Saint2?
Saint2: Oh, I am extremely happy, I was just looking after my kid while my wife was doing daily chores and my kid just ironed my dog, so he is not well, no no he actually died and my wife has beaten me up for being so careless. And, Saint2 has all the joy of the world on his face while saying this.
So, to maintain the order of the world, let's not try to be saints, let's try to be humans and let's keep anticipating.

Guilty of not running :(

My Lord or as the overly enthusiastic Bollywood lawyers call it, Me Lord or Milord, the person standing right up there has been accused with the charge of MURDER!! Hell, No, why can't I get my lines right, actually he has been charged with an even serious offence of NOT RUNNING!!!
Oh yeah, this time it's as crisp as it can get, this guy named as Siddhartha has started making up for the loss of running by just walking. The judge took a demeaning look at me and order, Proven Guilty, he should be made to run until his last breath.
I protested, No Milord, this isn't true, I really want to run, I can run and I will run but no one paid heed to my cries and my voice returned to me after trying to negotiate with a few blank faces. Suddenly a cool December breeze hit my left ear and my entire left cheek got frozen. As I opened my eyes to see a struggling sunlight trying to make its way through the non-budging clouds, I realized it was a dream, or more aptly a nightmare but annoyingly close to reality. I have kind of given away running and taken up extensive walking. After walking for around 4 kilometers, my legs get all warmed up and rare to go for another 4 kms without any sort of trouble. I walk nearly 4 to 5 kms on a daily basis and really love the entire journey even though I had to walk on the busy streets of the city on my way back to home.
The hands move a little slow at first and the knees and ankles feel jammed but as the first 10 minutes pass, it feels all well oiled up and in great nick. I try to make it 10,000 steps a day but always feel that I am reaching to around 8,000 only. Still, these 8,000 steps do make me feel lighter and better. I know there is nothing like running in a cold morning breeze but I have happily accepted walking as its substitute as it requires less commitment and its virtually injury free as well.
I hope that I would try to run at least once in a week but for the rest of the week, I would be just slowly measuring miles on my foot. The only thing that is disturbing me are such foolish nightmares.

Things change and How?

I distinctly remember a hot summer afternoon of 2001, there were few college seniors along with our batchmates involved in an intense college canteen discussion. I was aloof to all the concerns and worries like lack of placements and a bleak future awaiting us right outside the college campus. I had my own plans of doing MBA and my simple math told me that by the time I would be out in the market with a management degree, this recession will just be over.
Although, none of my plans of pursuing further education actually materialized, I still wonder about the accuracy of my prediction about the recession. I don't know how but I landed up in a job that I was not initially looking for and eventually got desperate for, whereas others ended up being more despearte as it was them who actually deserved such jobs as it was them who had prepared for it.
Well, the discussion in that airy and almost non-existent canteen shifted to monetary expectation that one can have. I had a modest amount in my mind at the start and wondered if I would ever get such a coveted starting salary. I again did some mind math and decided that Rs 10,000 would be more than enough for me to have all the luxuries of life. Why on this mother earth, any one would want more than such an extravagant salary. I even planned to buy a branded white T-shirt with blue denims from my first paycheque.
Reality treated me with utmost care and gave me much more than I ever dreamt of. I got my first salary a little more than the amount I had thought of and in these 8 years, that amount has been mutiplied few times.
However, this huge sum still falls short as the luxuries have become necessities now and the necessities like a girl's age keeps on increasing at a rapid pace.
I simply wonder how things change with in a few years, however, I am not sure if the change is always for the betterment and is there is any end to such change. Well whoever said that it's all Maya and one should shun all the worldly pleasure, surely hasn't seen the newest SUV launched last week. I bet even saints from himalayas will drool over its curves.

Chaotic days

Actually, I had nothing to write. I have been going through a mixed variety of emotions in the past few days and each and everyone of it was worth living!! ok, so a much simplistic yet effective way of jotting down the things. The below list does include a few things which I have wanted to do since long
Period in scope is past fortnight.
1. Started playing cricket on weekend: Sad to know that sharp reflexes have given way to fatigue and a trademark sprint to chase a ball has been a thing of past.
2. Visited an orphange: All thanks to my friends who asked me to accompany them. Good to see the evils done by society have been unable to crush the spirits of young buds. Though, they have been HIV infected for no fault of theirs, they have stood up and supported by a few noble souls. Hats off to you guys, look forward to meet you soon
3. Mumbai Trip: Another visit tothe city which would serves as my temporary-would-be abode in near future. Though, this time it was a short trip for an official training. Got a chance to meet my childhood buddies and we talked for hours and hours non-stop. There was so much to catch up. We talked about our school days, summer vacations, silly games that we used to play, our favorite movies, our favorite places that we used to visit and then there were new things to discuss about our new jobs, new places, new restaurants, new movies and blah blah blah and further blah blah blah. At the end of each day, each one of us murmured, Oh those were the best days of my life.
There has been no stagnity in the past few days but did I miss it in the first place. Nahhhh!!

Lokpal and Anna Saheb's effect on democracy

He has always been a big crowd puller. Does that prove him right, all the time? It's a big question, I have dealt with all along my childhood. I never got the answer though. All I got were arguments and counter arguments. Some were adamant to catapult him to God-like stature and others were just happy demeaning him.
Yes I am talking about the toughest puzzles that even natives of old blighty struggled to solve, The Great Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.
I always thought will anyone really pay heed to what a weak and seclusion loving man has to offer. His ideologies, his methods were far too simple yet difficult for my childish comprehension. I just knew one rule, if the opponent is weaker than you, don't spare him and if he is stronger, spare yourself. My closest encounter with Gandhian ways was the movie "Lago Raho MunnaBhai", where I got a chance to see the effectiveness of Satyagrah.
I also noticed a few positive changes around me when people started to behave courteously to each other. The instances were rare but I couldn't stop myself from being amazed when I notice a teenager looking for a dustbin to throw away his chocolate's wrapper. It gave me a kind of belief that things can and will change.
However, the magnanimity of the non-violence was yet to hit me. It took a 74 years old man clad in a plain white attire to convince me that this is the only way to success. I came to realize that even a non-violent man gets angry and his anger is even more dangerous than a violent man.
A violent man may commit a crime in his frenzy, however, a level headed person with deadly tools such as hunger strikes and mass support, can bring an entire nation on to the streets. He can bring down the government to its knees and can change the future of the generations to come.
I can very well understand government woes here. They have to face the public wrath, first for its inaction against corruption and then for its harsh action of arresting Shri Anna Hazare Ji.
What works in favor of Anna and works entirely to the disadvantage of government is the clean image that Anna carries. The very notion of maligning his image is like wishing for harakiri. And the  govt's strategy of terming the civil society representatives as Frankenstein Monster has been a flop shop.
There are a few intellectuals with a few extra gray cells are calling this movement a dangerous precursor to future where people will be able to hold the government of the world's largest democracy to ransom. However, it's a absurd notion to compare issue of corruption to any other issue. In fact, to the people of our country nothing is more important than Politics, Bollywood and Cricket. And I doubt the later two will ever be able to generate so much of public ire. Yes, in politics, there is a chance that people may take to streets again as it touches upon their day to day life. Issues like land acquisition, demands for separate state and lots of other sensitive issues are capable of creating a public disorder. However, to address such situation, we have voted for public representatives and allowed them to form a government.
These public figures have been entrusted with the responsibility of catering to the hopes of a great society. So, such agitations serve as a reminder to the members of the parliament who sit in the sanctum-sanctorum of the democracy that this game is not entirely theirs.
In fact it is a very healthy sign for democracy that such large gathering have been totally peaceful and have been able to convey the public message in a strong and effective manner. I hope this movement's focus stays on the Lokpal and its effectiveness rather than debating on the length and venue of the hunger-strike. May this man succeed in his campaign and the hopes of millions see a bright sunshine in the next few days. Amen!!

OH No, Yet Again

Look Mom, What I have found, the child ran into the house showing his prized possession to all his family members. His mom screamed at the alto of her voice. Put that plastic bomb down, right now. Don't you remember, your elder brother has torn his two pairs of pajamas playing with these stupid things. Your daddy cannot afford another pair of pajamas in the mid of the month.
I wish these little devils in the forms of IEDs and other forms of detonators would have been as harmless as apparent in the above story. Sadly, they aren't. They are destructive enough not to just shatter the bones and splash the blood and flash but they also posses an innate quality of spoiling millions of happy dreams. The news flash may have reported the death toll as just 20 and keep repeating about the same old crap that we have been bored off. Yes, you are bang on!!  the so called spirit of the human race to get back to its usual routine.  However, what these greasy palms of TV channels failed to touch upon is that each number which is reported as a casualty leaves hundreds of lives changed forever.
No marches, no political assurances can alleviate their grief. Ask a teenager who has lost his old buddy with whom he used to share each and every detail of his life. They started they kindergarten together, they shared their water bottles, lunch boxes, common interests and sometimes common crush too. Ask a fiancee whose would-be better half had promised her a life full of dreams. Ask a teacher whose years of hard work has been invested in creating a good human being. However, dare not ask a mother about her perennial loss.
Each time such situation occurs, we dial a few numbers and once we find all our acquaintances safe and secure, we get back to business-as-usual. I am not sure, what can be done and must be done but such re-occurrences make each of us feel impotent and question each value and virtue that we have been inculcated with.
The bitter icing on the already gross cake of democracy is that each Indian know that justice is not something that they can really hope for. However, all we can do is to pray for the souls of those ill-fated who unwillingly killed the bucket and left home never to come back. I Wish getting them back had been as easy as ordering a new pair of pajamas.