A plea to our Judicial System

Two incidents happened in the recent past are particularly interesting.

A public interest litigation (PIL) filed against political parties in India requiring them to file their Income Tax returns has been rejected by the Supreme Court. The PIL was filed by an NGO called the Association for Democratic Reforms. In India, political parties get donations of cash and kind from various sources. These donations are tax exempted. However, the parties do not file their returns and not surprisingly the Income Tax department does not go after them. In other words, while a common man is expected to pay taxes through his nose, political parties go scot-free and do not disclose how much they earn and what all they spend it on. The SC rejected this PIL on the basis of the fact that this PIL has come up right when the elections were going on and it said it seemed to be politically motivated. According to the court, there were innumerable people evading taxes and the courts could not look into all of incidents.

Money plays a big role in politics. We have had allegations of MPs being bought off in the recent times. If the irregularities in the cash flows of the political parties is not looked into by the IT department, then who should tell them to do their job if not the courts?

In another incident, the courts also ruled that power consumers cannot approach the courts on account of any dispute with power companies unless they have exhausted all other channels. According to the SC, a suit against the action of a power distribution company was not maintainable in a court of law if alternate remedies where not exhausted. What alternate remedies? Ever tried going to the police with complains against a power company? For that matter, ever tried going to them with complains for a lost cell phone?

It is understandable that the courts are under a lot of pressure to clear backlogs of pending cases. I on the behalf of The Angry Indian would like to make an appeal to our judicial system and more specifically the Supreme Court. The common man looks upon you as its last resort for justice. Please do not reject these pleas that come to you. People are apprehensive of the law enforcers’ abilities to uphold the law, especially when powerful people are involved. The people have already lost faith in the government, the civil services system and the police. If you also turn us away, where will we go?

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Mera Bharat Mahan…

I like factionalism. I like the schisms that divide communities. I like the differences that differentiate us.

I worked for a call centre long ago, when I was fresh out of college. There we had this orientation on American culture, as if anybody in the world needs any or that there is much of it…, anyhow, besides the point, what I was saying is that these trainers kept telling us that India is a melting pot of culture and that America resembles a tossed salad. That the Americans have retained their differences and that we Indians are all more or less homogenized. Hell, I can walk down the street and tell you which community which individual belongs to in India, I’ll be a little unsure; if I speak to them, I’ll more or less be sure; and if I know their names I can tell you which region, religion, and caste they belong to. What fun would life be if we were all the same?

We all know the problems that arise from these differences, we see them every day. It makes it harder for a single idea to cut across these lines that divide us. But I still love India. It has nothing to do with patriotism, a concept I do not like. I’m trying to build up to something, there are sides to India that I do not like and there are those that I do.
Because of these divides, I find it harder to speak about certain issues since I feel it is not my place to do so.

Since I am a Muslim, there are certain issues that I can speak about. There is one community of Indians that I particularly like. Not always, but most of the time. That community is the Indian Hindu. I think they are one of the best races in the world, generally speaking (the worst I feel are the Arabs). We live in a country that is 70% Hindu, and yet they choose to call this a secular democracy. Hell, you won’t find this in any Muslim country out there; even in Turkey the Islamists are making a comeback. There is no county in the world where other faiths are so welcome, given so much freedom, treated so fairly. And I mean none.

Ask a Muslim to have two wives in the UK; he’ll be in jail for bigamy; in America, he’ll be given a random body cavity search at every airport! Ask a Muslim to visit any Muslim country, and see how minorities are treated. In Pakistan, Hindus are mostly sweepers; in Egypt, Christians are sweepers; in Saudi Arabia, you can’t even profess another faith (Ask the Christian missionaries to try and preach there). Hell, I love India, I got the chance to study, to dream, to achieve, to pray, to be one of them. I feel a stronger sense of gratitude towards the Indian Hindus because my ancestors were not even Indian. They did not convert from some local faith, they were foreigners. And yet, very welcome.

The Japanese make it hard for mixed-race Japanese people to resettle in their county, and here the Hindus are allowing the enemies of their faith, the Christians and Muslims in (a bit extreme but…). I can talk of all the problems that religious Christians and Hindus cause, but I feel it is my job to humor my compatriots in faith.

One issue, I feel strongly about is the Babri masjid. I fell it should be rebuilt, because it was broken. But once rebuilt, I feel it should be moved, brick by brick, as far away from Ram Janmabhumi as possible. I feel that the Muslims should move the mosques in Kashi and Mathura as well. We are talking about the most sacred places of the Hindu faith. Imagine being in the same situation, how would you feel. In Islam, it is forbidden to pray on disputed ground, if I do not have permission my prayers are left unanswered. Yet I see scores of mosques in India that are illegal, maybe the Babri masjid is completely legitimate, but would it harm anyone if it were shifted? What a bunch of idiots! In India, as in the rest of the world, the Muslims are living in some sort of imaginary place. They ruled India once, parts of it, and that arrogance has not yet left them. I live next to a mosque, it’s worse than living next to a nuclear reactor. This mosque is a “madrassa.” This term has now become derogatory, thanks to the oil wealth of Saudi Arabia. Imagine the word school being used in the contexts of terrorists and fanatics, when its very purpose is the bang opposite. That’s what the Persian, maybe Arabic, word “madrassa” means: a frikin school!

Ramadan is supposed to be a holy month, but during Ramadan, the beggars association of greater Mumbai descends on my street since all the pious Muslims love to give charity. Bloody hell!!! I had this Sikh friend, at an earlier job, who never gave to beggars; he said “I’ll give to those that work hard, but never to a beggar.” Two things I hate most about us Muslims, our beggars and our suicides bombers. During most of the day, all through the year, Muslim students from the poorer sections of society recite the Quran there. I have not found the recitation of any book to be as relaxing as the Quran, the Vedas come in a close second, and the Sikhs holy book a close third (my local gas station sardar keeps blaring it). There are people who recite it so well, Syrians, Iranians, and Egyptians that it brings tears to the eyes of pious Muslims.

Yet these kids in the mosque next to me, they have found a dialect all their own, borrowed from the BAGM (Bhikaris Association of Greater Mumbai). Hell it makes my skin crawl! I have people parking their cars, in front of my gate. When my watch man stops them, they abuse him; when I have to wait for prayers to end so that they will move their cars, they excuse themselves by saying that they were late for the jammat. Hell man, crazy people! Now I’m a Muslim, whenever my blood boils, I think of all the Hindu families living next to the mosque and I don’t know whether to laugh or to cry. In all fairness, the mosque authorities request people to park their cars properly, but “bhais ke aage been bajake kya fayda.” The mosque authorities do not disallow praying on the streets, which I feel has to stop. Inconveniencing others is not Islam.

I feel it is time for the Muslims in India to reform. There are atrocities committed, but I am sure if the Muslims improve they will have a right to expect more from the Hindus. I saw what happened in Gujarat, I know that it helps terrorism spread. But time and again I see Hindus coming forward, empowering Muslims, helping them, and fighting for them. That’s when I love India the most, that’s when I feel there is so much goodness in India.

In Islam, rains are considered the “rehmat” or mercy of God. It rains so much in India, God loves India. In Afghanistan, it did not rain for ten years while the Taliban were in power; the year they were removed, it rained.

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My Very Own Political Party

I feel left out—there is no ideological, sectarian, or factional group that I can sympathize with. This is especially sad because India offers such a rich array of choices when it comes to choosing a side, but none inspire me.

Not being a religious zealot (as in more spiritual than religious type), I’m not motivated by the Hindu-Muslim divide. In the same vein, I see nothing wrong with tribal folk converting to Christianity after being “bribed with food and healthcare.” So whether it’s Hindu men raping nuns or Muslim extremists bombing the hell out of everybody, I want them all to burn in hell.

I don’t live in a border state, so the border conflicts bore me. In fact, given India’s growth and Pakistan’s descent into near anarchy and bankruptcy, if Kashmiris still want to be a part of Pakistan, then all the power to them. Enjoy!

I’m not a Marathi Manoos, nor a UPite or Bihari. So I can’t even immerse myself in the current rage. Being India’s financial capital and with all the foreigners and all, I always thought English would be the most useful language to know for Mumbaikers. In any case, the whole thing is a blatant, in-your-face political ploy. And if thugs are to rule the city, what does it matter which group they belong to? Thugs will be thugs.

I can’t even fall back on the age-old traditional divide that consumes most Indians to this day, my caste. My mom has a fuzzy idea that we’re kayasts (spelling guesstimated), though she has no clue where that puts us, except that it won’t qualify me for any reservations. Anyway, my parents are more concerned about whether my (future) husband will be able to cope with my temper tantrums than about matching horoscopes (or however they compare castes), so the question is kinda moot.

But I have found a cause! I don’t know why I didn’t see it before, it’s something that has bothered me for ages, ever since I stopped growing vertically. At a mere 5 foot 1, I belong to the group known as “short people.” And living, as it were, in a world full of tall people, I have been oppressed and disadvantaged to no end. As a child, I dreamed of being a model or airline pilot. But short people are virtually banned from these professions—a socioeconomic issue close to my heart. Whether I’m at a movie theater, church, or temple, there’s always some tall guy (or girl) blocking my view. This is blatantly unfair. They should have some kind of reservation or something that’ll allow short people to always get the best seats or stand at the front of the pack. Short people are discriminated against: the mindset is that being tall means being beautiful; well, I say only short people are beautiful. And unlike my taller counterparts, who get to wear those wonderfully comfortable-looking flat shoes, I have had to wear shoes with high heels my whole life just to be on par, causing me no end of physical agony.

So this is a call to arms to all you short people out there in the world. Our time has come! I propose to form a political party for the short-females under 5 foot 3 and males under 5 foot 6 are welcome. We will beat the shit out of those not like us and who do not immediately fall to their feet in front of us so that they are no longer taller, to show thier respect for our shortness. Our long-term goal will be to carve out our very own state, “Shortistaan”.

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Too poor to live - Poverty in the Indian Context

Though I was not born into a rich family, I don’t remember a single day when I had to go hungry. So am I qualified enough to write on Poverty? Maybe not, but here goes – another long one.

As I started writing this article trying to imagine what poverty might be, my thoughts wandered to the Bengali cinematic epitome “Pather Panchali” by acclaimed director, the late Satyajit Ray. The first of the famous trilogy by Ray, this film looked at the life of a little girl called Durga in rural Bengal. Durga lived with her brother Apu (a part later played by veteran actor Soumitro Chatterjee in the third film “Apur Sansar”) and her parents in a village in rural Bengal.

I remembered one scene where an ice cream vendor would go around on his cycle through the dusty streets of the village in which Durga and Apu lived. The two children too poor to buy any ice cream, would just run after the guy on his cycle, stopping right behind him every time he stopped to sell the goods which were extremely coveted in the eyes of the children. With undoubted attraction on their faces, saliva dripping out of their mouths and the constant ache of hunger in their bellies, the hearts of the little ones would yearn for the delicious ice cream this guy would sell to others.

Their minds would strangely be semi-aware of an entity called money and why they could not have the ice cream because they did not have any of it, something they did not really understand why, but had come to accept it in a strange sad way. Somehow running behind the ice cream vendor would give them the satisfaction of having consumed the ice cream and so they would chase after him throughout the village.

In those brief few minutes in his film, Ray captured and portrayed brilliantly the essence of poverty in rural India. A spectacularly touching scene eliciting such a deep response from the heart that no tear jerking “poverty scene” (if I may shamelessly coin the term) of Bollywood cinema will ever come close to.

Globally what does it look like?

Last year 10 million people died of poverty. They died because they were too poor to live. If they had been each given a yearly sum of $100 each they would not be dead. If they had been given $1500 each, they would have filled their stomachs with enough food to look for shelter, maybe even look for small jobs, a better life. One thousand five hundred dollars to ten million people, $15 billion in all.

Does that sounds like a lot of money? Let me give some other figures then.

This year governments in US, UK, Germany, France and Spain bailed out their banks to save the world from depression, pumping in total of $3.6 trillion. Close to $600 billion will be spent this year by the US on military equipment and operations and the so called war on terror. That’s just the US. The rest of the world will not be far behind.
Now, I am not even considering the millions who “live” in poverty. Can we not spend money trying to save at least the ones that die of poverty?

In India

1943 was the year of famine in Bengal. Still under British rule, millions were allowed to die by the British who very busy fighting Hitler to care. Rainfall and water shortage was cited as the main reason. In 1960 the famine hit again. But this time India was a sovereign nation and the impact was largely mitigated through distribution of food from the center. This was what led Nobel laureate Amartya Sen to his hypothesis that democracies never have famines or rather don’t feel the impact.

Still in India millions die of poverty and the main cause is Apathy.

Apathy of earlier governments towards economic growth

Why I will start with the Government first is because firstly it’s supposed to take care of people and secondly because the Government is an easy target for such critique.

India jumped from an era of British rule, to the state sponsored socialist Nehruvian era to a period of agrarian economic reforms (which had little impact) to a services economy. What went missing in the middle was the manufacturing era. The license-Raj created by the likes of Nehru ensured Industry never developed into what was needed. Permits were needed for everything – to trade, to invest, to set up factories to expand factories, everything. Large units were not allowed to flourish; small scale industries and technologically backward enterprises were given more support. Land conversion to the industrial category was considered sacrilege. Capital investment in large quantities if any was frowned upon and India Inc. chugged along at the “Hindu Growth Rate” of 2% for the next 20 years, the richest people at that time were either the royalty or the “babus”.

The period after that till about the mid 90s was the time of the Green Revolution – primarily through the efforts of Rajeev Gandhi. Income developed in pockets in rural India, though the caste system legacy ensured that rich land owners became richer while the farm laborers suffered in poverty. The early to mid 90s was when Dr Manmohan Singh happened to India, probably the best era ever in its History. Dr. Singh effectively managed to end bureaucratic restrictions on trade and encouraged international investment into the country – taking it to new heights in the last 13 years of economic reform.

But the damage had been done. India Inc jumped into the services business. IT became the buzzword and thousands of IT and ITES companies joined into the “services bandwagon”. Wealth is now being generated in pockets of the country known as cities. While some of it percolates down to rural India, the situation I dismal. The current government has made tremendous efforts to boost income in rural areas with small scale industrial packages, encouraging large industries to set up operations in rural areas (For ex: Tatas in Singur and Ambanis in rural Maharashtra) as well as the recent $15 billion rural loan waivers. Still the apathy of past governments towards India’s economic growth has been tremendous and will take the current government close to a decade more to undo the harm that has been done.

Apathy of You and Me

The biggest enemy of poverty is apathy amongst people who are not in poverty. The biggest sufferers of apathy unfortunately are not people from the affluent countries of the west. Apathy is largely within the affluent community of the same countries in which Poverty is such a large phenomenon.

I seem to be extremely inspired by films. So I’ll take a scene out of another one, the movie “Swades” (note how I called “Pather Panchali” cinema and “Swades” a movie?). A poor low-caste pot-maker (was it?) dared to become a farmer to save his family from complete peril. His apparent change of profession invited the wrath of others in the village. They immediately declared him an outcast and refused him any water for his farm. They allowed his family to suffer in misery and hunger and literally loathed him for having made an attempt to break away from his “caste duties” to try and feed his family.

The actual situation in real life India is worse. In caste system ridden villages of India, millions are allowed to die to uphold age old tradition and maintenance of the strict caste hierarchies. In fast moving urban areas, slums and poverty are looked upon as “dirty areas” and people living there are allowed to live there in the direst of straits – often without safe drinking water in 90 square foot hutments where toilets are considered a luxury.

Apathy of people in Poverty

I never thought I would say so, but poverty at times exists because of the people who are in poverty. Not sure what I mean? Enter Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum in the heart of Mumbai city. With about a million residents crammed into about one square mile of area, Dharavi has been in existence since independence. Post the 1943 famine in Bengal and others in the rest of the country and with Mumbai’s booming industrialization people started settling into Dharavi. Amongst those living in Dharavi are recyclers, tailors, leather tanners, laundrymen, potters, cloth dyers and shopkeepers all crammed into this slum area made of narrow alleys and rickety hutments made of corrugated metal sheets.

In 1976 the state government gave the slum-dwellers limited rights over their hutments. They were recognized as “identified encroachers”, a status guaranteeing compensation in the event that the government bulldozed their shanties. That was the beginning of an interesting situation. Mumbai’s poorest residents were now sitting on some of the world’s most valuable real estate. People thronged to Dharavi, the shanties stated being sold off and rented. In the late 90s, builders started eyeing the land and thus began a three way tussle between the government, the residents and powerful builders. Regardless of the conditions they live in, residents refuse to move out to better concretized structures with better sanitation facilities. These are people who choose to live in poverty today with hope for not only a better future but one in which they’ll be rich. India is a peculiar country, not all poverty that is visible is real poverty.

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Western Influence is not a bad thing

Listening to the War of Words by Karan Thapar, I noticed two words being very commonly used, especially one after the other. The words were “Western” and “Influence”. Of course put together they sounded something like “Western Influence”. The loud voice of the Hindutva brigade comedian BP Singhal was the one frequently mentioning these words. I don’t call him a comedian to disrespect him, but rather because he is very entertaining to watch. The issue of discussion was Homosexuality and the practice of it. Mr. Singhal of course was a vehement criticizer of the practice of Homosexuality and called it a western influence on many an occasion. The intent of this article is not to discuss homosexuality (I’ll reserve another article for that one).  

Watching the debate with me was a friend who has lived most of her growing up years in America. Amongst other things including explaining to me the difference between Homosexuality and the practice of it (excluding the graphical details), she happened to mention that we should learn a thing or two from America / rest of the world where homosexuality has been discussed, debated and laws changed accordingly allowing gay men and women to live their lives without fear of stigma.

Yes, there are things that we can learn from the west. I looked back at my minimal-by-some standards interaction with the western culture and my naïve belief that I understand western values. There are certain stark differences that one can easily see.

Public Awareness in day to day life: We can learn to be less apathetic towards our public duties - in terms of public cleanliness, thinking of the community. In India we keep our houses clean, our society buildings clean, but the moment we step out to the streets we don’t hesitate to throw that cigarette butt or casually chuck from our moving cars the empty coffee paper cups.

Respect for Law of the Land: For some reason, the general feeling amongst Indians is that it’s easy to break the law and get away with it. Though we do have certain colonial laws that try to repress freedom of speech, free thought and harmless action, on the other hand we have people breaking laws and getting away with it (Like the alleged attack of MNS party workers on the house of a journalist or the molestation of women outside a Mumbai hotel). Our law enforcers are busy catching smokers while terrorists are allowed to blow up bombs. While political party “goondas” go around blackening faces on Valentine’s Day, the police go after people who express their personal dislike for Sonia Gandhi on Orkut. While laws need to be changed and law makers need to give people their right to free speech, the people also need to understand that breaking the law is not something you should be able to get away with.

Social Awareness and Responsibilities: Who are the people who blog on Indian issues? Common people like you and me. If you are a visitor to political blogs in America or watch popular American TV shows one often encounters Hollywood celebrities like Alec Baldwin who don the hat of an activist and actively speak out. Sure Amitabh Bacchan spoke out for Animal Rights no one remembers when. But other than some regular activists like Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das, Indian celebrities are just busy minting money. The celebs are busy making movies and we are busy watching them on weekends – when we could have helped out at the local blind school or old age home?

I could go on for a few more pages, but I also wanted to reflect on what the west (read America) can learn from us. I admit it was a bit difficult for me to come up with these and in the process I did learn that maybe I have been too much of a cynic and need to lighten up a bit.

Multiculturalism: Sure America is considered the melting pot of all cultures. But is it really? The country took a few centuries before a black candidate could even hope to run for President. US presidents primarily have been what I call WCMs or White Christian Males. In India, after the last elections a European born Catholic woman (Sonia Gandhi) made way for a Sikh (Manmohan Singh) to be the Prime Minister, sworn in by a Muslim (A P J Abdul Kalam) in a country with 81% Hindus. Now I am not ranting about secularism here, but this does show that we have multiculturalism more deeply imbibed in our culture than probably any other country out there.

Regularization: I am not a financial expert, but the current credit crisis in the US and the $840 billion bailout does give rise to a fundamental question. What was the Government doing while “Market Makers” went around creating derivative products out of thin air and mortgage banks giving half-a-million loans to people who earned less than 3000 dollars a month? (See I told you I’m no financial expert). Take another example – India may not have the best healthcare system in the world, but we haven’t yet sold out our health care structure to the insurance companies – did I mention yet.

I should probably stop now before the naïve nationalist in me takes over. And I’ll end this somewhat longer than usual article on one note. Whatever we are doing correctly, whatever we are doing well, we should keep doing it and make it better and better. But whatever we are yet to learn from the West, let us learn it fast and let us learn it well and let us implement them in small but meaningful steps.  

Watching Sarah Palin (John McCain’s running mate) brag about small town values is torture. Words like “Harvard Graduate” and “elitist” almost sound like derogatory abuses coming from her. Let us not use our “ancient cultural values” as an excuse to be an inefficient race. Let us become elitist and give back to this country what it has been screaming to get for a while now. Is John Abraham listening? Maybe not - for him I guess being an activist is playing a gay character in a movie.

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Infants dropped from 50 feet roofs - A Nation of religious Idiots

Are we truly a country of morons? Hope tells me otherwise, but facts confirm the fact that India does have a bunch of religious zealots who let religious superstition supersede any prudence or common sense.

In a series of rituals that would terrify most people, Indian Hindus and Muslims alike cheer on as screaming infants not more than 12 months old are dropped from 30- 50 foot temple roofs or muslim shrine towers.

This is a rite considered to bring good health and good luck to the children, of course if they survive. The infants are taken to a 50 feet roof / tower and thrown off it. Waiting below are a group of 15-20 people holding a bed sheet to brace the kid’s fall. The screaming infants land and bounce on the bed sheet are handed over to their mothers. Hundreds of mothers bring their infants to rituals like these to get blessings of “mata”

The villagers carying out this ritual of course claim no child has been hurt in the fall, what is astonishing is that the local police and officials watch on as the spectacle continues.

India is supposed to be a religious country above everything else and we have seen communal tensions reach new heights in this country recently. But this beats all else.

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Breaking road laws.

I’m dead…..struck my head, with thoughts unusual. The other day was riding my bike, with just the right amount of presence of mind, it’s one’s need to be, especially on a highway and suddenly out of the blue I noticed this huge truck trying to over take me. I scream. It got a little too close, quickly checking my side mirrors and moving to the left hand side of the road, while the truck driver dispersed in the other direction. There were a lot of feelings rushing through at that point of time. I could have killed him for trying to kill me.  

The idiot (I take pain while saying this) was talking on his mobile phone, which is what angered me. I could go around dancing saying “Shoot on Sight”, that’s not happening though…..and as I travel every day, I notice recurrences.  

What ever happened to obedience to law?  Here is what lies…. A two pronged approach is required. I don’t put the blame entirely on authorities, not that we do have enough of traffics cops stationed in spots relevant but definitely we people have to change our attitude towards the traffic rules. Highly educated idiots (regret using it again) are least bothered about traffic rules.

Do people realize the importance of life? I’m not really into statistics but then again after a little research got to know that the number of accidents that happen because of irresponsible drivers is quiet high i.e. 12 lakh people the world over (yearly). (Got the statistics from the website of the department of road transport and highway, government of India.)

Talking on the mobile phone, drunken driving or over speeding, would any of it have enough an excuse for “an unintended murder”.

The experts from Ontario Medical Asociation complied studes from around the world, pointing to the dangers of combining mobile phones and derving. They say that mobile phones affects the drivers cognitive function, visual cocentration, speed of processing information and reaction time, in short a major distraction.

Either way the case would be, ending up hurting somebody or an individual hurting himself. I or You being irresponsible would conclude to You hurting I, I hurting You, or I hurting I. Don’t we already have instances of road rage piercing through our brains like a sword, enough to bring in change? Or are we asking for more.

My Prayer: “Please let people understand, that they should not be breaking the law, while driving or riding. Help them understand that the next “Einstein” could be history. 

I’m a commoner, here to spread light.  Sunshine.

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HOPES ABORTED !!!

Todays newspaper carried something more than regular parliamentary chaos , scams from across the length and breath of nation and reappearing stories of terrorism in one state or other. This news startled me and made me stop and think over it . The news read about a normal mumbaikar couple , haresh and nikita mehta.

Niketa , a 25 week pregnant , soon to be mom , was diagnosed for her still to be born baby’s health. The results were shocking. Doctors reported problems with heart and arteries of the child.Moreover they were worried about after birth health of the child like breathing and swallowing in his early stages of life.

Worried couple has taken the legal path to find a way to abort the foetus . But it seems the Indian constitution has nothing in those books for this disheartened couple. On the other hand they have been denied to abort the foetus on the grounds that accordng to indian constitution a women can legally abort before 20 weeks of pregnency , that too if pregnancy conditions are proven fatal for the mother.And in niketa’s case ts already 25th week.

Now the hopeless couple are repentng to go the legal way to fight it out . They could have been to a local quack and removed the foetus without all this fuss.But as responsible citizens they moved legally and had to face the wrath of unaltered semi century old laws This law against abortion was written down some 30 odd years ago when there was no scientific aid avalable to lower down the risk . since then many medical advancements have taken place . So similar changes should also be implemented in the old laws.The lawmakers are considering it as a case of mercy killing so they haven’t probed into this matter.Legal people involved say no parents want imperfect children , everyone wants perfect babies . So there is always a fear that more people will go for late abortions if this case is given some air.

Why don’t the laws be changed with time to help citizens develop faith in the constitutional functioning .This is the only way people like them could be rescued from such situations.

Now Who’s to be blamed - the government , the society , the lawmakers or finally the GOD.

The laws are in hands of legislators all we can do is hope for some change.

Lets hope that the pregnancy goes normal and the most slightest chances of perfect child turn out to be true.

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The Aggressive Indian

There comes a time in all walks of life, in all situations, where people suddenly realise that the ways of the past, the ‘methods of our forefathers’, have to be retired. Perhaps it is the ever growing ‘western influence’ or the ‘changing cultural mindset’. Nonetheless, the time has now come for the Youth to show some action.

It should be kept in mind that brutal violence is not an option. It will only result in severe punishment such as jail time or separation from society. However, Controlled, calculated rigidity is what will reap results.

To illustrate which actions are useful and which useless, let us consider for example the case where a man shot his neighbour over a parking space in a ‘posh Delhi colony’. Instead of use of a gun, a number of alternate methods could have been put to use:

a) He could have gone on hunger strike.

b) Thrown away his keys, and refused to ever drive again.

c) Woven A LOT of cloth, and buried the car where it stood.

d) Convinced all his neighbours that they’re messengers from God, and stage an uprising.

e) Got women and children out of their homes to help him silently protest.

spectacular ways to make a big fool of himself.

In another case, consider the ’sealing drive’, when the Delhi Municipal Corporation went around closing shops in Delhi. Let us examine alternate ways shop owners could have acted:

1) Gone on hunger strike (which I think they did).

2) Weave a humungous sheet, and cover the mall… to pretend it was never really there.

3) Embark on a ‘Fancy Fashion’ March, and come up with a way to show that they don’t need lousy land from the government.

4) Get hold of the lock, cloth, and seal; seal everything, including their mouths- so as to confuse authorities about the main task at hand.

5) Boycott all the shops being sealed, to show that ‘we didn’t need them anywayyyy, ha!’

Wonderful ways to not achieve anything.

People need to see that Gandhian principles and Munnabhai methods no longer have any say in matters. The fault is not entirely of the means themselves, but because of the ever adapting aggressive society. Neither will banking on the other end of the spectrum- pick up a gun and let all hell loose achieve anything (though it may seem otherwise).

It is said that mimicking the behaviour of your opponent will lead any battle your way. Meeting aggression with aggression, passiveness with passiveness, etc. In the increasingly aggressive society today, the old notion does come back to being~ survival of the fittest.

Do you disagree with me? I’m six foot three, have learned tae-kwon-do, and have a whole lotta pent up frustration over my exams. Just thought I’d let you know.

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Reservation - The Four dimensions of Reality

What is reality? This is a much debated philosophical and psychological topic. We accept it as a fact that reality is really just a perception and that reality is all in our heads. But reality in India, to be rather scientific, occupies whole new dimensions unknown to man, and maybe even to God. Take, for example, our reservation policies.



First dimension of reality in India: We hear from our political leaders that reservations will correct all the ills of our social history. That the caste system, which has denied a good life to so many for so long, needs to be abolished. The downtrodden turn their faces up to these great people, who give them hope that they will get to lead a better life because they have the unprecedented opportunity of getting into university, of getting respectable jobs that take out of the thankless and grueling cleaning and serving that is currently their only means of obtaining a livelihood. They are told that they will now have an equal place in society, next to the great Brahmins and the rich industrialists. And they believe it.

Second dimension of reality : Despite the fact that most people see reservations for what it is, political bribing, these politicians continue getting elected. While most of the people who are actually backward, the ones who need the reservations, hardly even get the chance to get educated enough to sit for an exam or apply for a job, the children of babus, politicians, and rich shopkeepers who go to expensive private schools are the beneficiaries. So, poor Brahmins continue to starve. Rich folks continue to be the primary beneficiaries. Meanwhile, everyone seems to ignore the fact that the government is doing nothing to establish good-quality schools and universities. Consequently, the majority of Indians, regardless of caste, cannot get a decent education.

Third dimension of reality: There is caste segregation wherever there are reservations. At the IITs and IIMs, the students who got through reservations are looked down upon. A doctor who is known to belong to a SC/ST/OBC is immediately viewed with suspicion. The first thing that comes to mind when we see an incompetent person is “must’ve gotten through because of reservations, saala.” So there’s now a growing social stigma around those who get a college seat or job through reservations. The only result is that the caste system is growing stronger, not weaker.

Fourth dimension of reality: We have people actually wanting to become a backward class. Most recently, we saw the Gujjars destroy 50 crores worth of public property to force their way into being listed as a backward class. Being of “a higher class” is seen as a disadvantage. So have Brahmins become the new Dalits, and Dalits become the new Brahmins? This could be considered as a kind of poetic justice, so maybe the reservations have resulted in justice, albeit in a twisted, mind-boggling way.

This is the summary. We have politicians promising to grant everyone equality and abolish the caste system through reservation policies. We have the not-background classes growing more class-conscious, not less, due to reservation policies. We have people who lobby and become violent so that they are regarded as a backward class. Finally, we have everyone completely ignoring the fact there are very few good-quality schools and colleges in India, limiting the number of people who can actually get a decent education in the first place, reservations or no.

Einstein figured out the space-time dimension. We need another such genius to figure out these brand-new dimensions created by our reservation policies. I, for one, have given up. But I continue to hope. Maybe one day, we will all be a backward class. And then India will have equality.

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