Wednesday 17 December 2008

Jattan

It was power cut once again."Jattan! It seems out phase only has blown up, no one else is at home now, go to the main pole and get it fixed now. Its too very hot today."

Ram Jattan, a pseudo servant serving his master , in gratitude of a government job of peon arranged by his master , ten years ago, was completely unaware of the process to fix that blown up phase. He though at once of refusing but his inner self chided him at this thought. This mere idea of insolent behavior on his part was utterly unacceptable to his self.He had seen other people fixing it by poking their stick at the wire junction on the electricity pole, but, he had never done it himself, and more so he wasn't sure if this would work as well. However, bound by his obeisance to him he decided to give it a try. It was getting late anyways and he had to go back to his home as early, as he had to go to railway station early morning tomorrow to fetch his sahab's elder son.

Saturday 13 December 2008

A letter to editor.

Sir,
Referring to the editorial by Mr. Harish khare, I would like to second the concern raised by him. These tendencies towards a "fascist" rule supplanting a democratic rule must be avoided. The bourgeois class of India has no faith left politicians post Gandhi/Nehru era, and it just serves to disseminate those tendencies, however, the way out is for them to take part into the mainstream democrcay , rather than standing on the sidelines and intermitteltly raising slogans slamming the system. Politicians come from our society itself and they are as good as people themselves.
Its time that the self-indulgent middle class looks beyond its immediate personal interests and be an active participant in the building of the nation.If the voices are to be raised ,they should be raised for a more efficient, inclusive and non-corrupt democracy. That would serve the purpose better than cutting itself out and giving rise to fascist tendencies.

Friday 5 December 2008

Indians and their gods.

"God is an infinite source of energy", said a plank put up by our physics teacher. During those adolescent days, when questions had begun to unrest the soul, it seemed as a perfect haven for peace. Being born in a Brahman family, I was close in quarters with this idea. Daily prayer after bath, reciting chalisas to elders, listening to the daily litanies of elders shaped my faith. It built in me a notion of an unknown supreme power moving along , to whom if I paid daily reverence through my prayers and right conduct , I shall be rewarded with His blessings. I am the story is almost the same for almost all middle class Indian households, more so in middle and lower middle class.

Wednesday 3 December 2008

Bombay attacks response - A sham or a sincere outcry?

Mumbai has been under attack once again, no, not by Raj Thackrey and his goons, they are hibernating for some time now, rather its an attack by other terrorists , purportedly , sent from our neighboring country, belonging to a certain “difficult to be pronounced” militant outfit.

Newspapers, TV channels, Ministers are on a roll, doling out their condolences to the nation and pledging to avert this next time. I guess they are pledging to take the vow of eradicating it if it happens again. That’s not a small gesture on their part. People have been held hostage in Taj and Oberoi, however, their round the clock status is reaching us every moment. Thanks to our “responsible” media. All the technical as well as political aspects of this attack is being vociferously debated on News channels by hyperactive hosts. They are fighting a parallel battle as NSGs are in Taj and Oberoi, in terms of who could pose the ,most difficult question, most witty remark and shout at the top of their voice. In their small TV studio they seem to reach a final consensus which they believe represents Indian masses. All the future “to be done” steps have been finalized by them together with some eminent dignitaries. Huh!
Enough of this sham! Put it off!

With the Indian masses it has been always the same. At any time when their vested interests have been hurt , their has been a huge uproar. Responsible citizens would come to the fore and criticize the government. They will light candles to commemorate the dead. They will gather together to pass there message to the government. And everyone will shout at the top pf their voice, “ System needs change”.

My intentions over here are not to rebuke any such person who mourns for the dead. I too sympathize with the victims from the very core of my heart. However, I am pointing to the other problem. The problem that the Indian Middle class doesn’t budge until and unless it hits them directly. Our country isn’t an affluent country and a vast swathe of population is still very poor. Around 35-40% of them are facing acute food shortages. But these problems don’t attract their attention.They are not vehement in their demands of change at that time. Where were these eminent citizens lying when Raj Thackrey and his goons were committing atrocities on the poor mass of Bombay , in which few succumbed to death as well . There wasn’t even a single public demonstration. Where was this public anger when vast swathe of farmers committed suicides in Maharashtra and in several other areas. There is no uproar from our eminent citizens when our country is ranked 66 out of 88 countries in GHI (Global Hunger Index). 17 Indian states have an acute food crisis, but they never gathered the attention of our “sincere” and “concerned” middle class. With every passing day I seem to concur more and more with Pavan and his findings. This Indian Middle class, is so much engrossed into its own vested interests that it will only serve to destroy what has been earned by our forefathers.

Put this pretense of being “concerned” citizen to back burner and go and have your drinks. You were never concerned for the nation.

Tuesday 2 December 2008

Nehru - A Revelation.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, our first prime minister of sovereign India , has been my object of study in recent weeks. It was a rewarding experience to go through his autobiography. The rewards cannot be materialistically listed by me, but one of the primary gift that it had for me was "revelation". Revelation of Nehru himself, revelation of an India before the years of Independence, revelation of Gandhji's ideals and his social standing in that era, revelation of socialistic values , revelation of the bourgeois nature of our Independence movement, revelation of liberals etc .. the list would be too long to put in here.

His appeal primarily lied in the fact that he had a wider view of the world while at the same time he had a cognizance of the plight of peasants. He bore an open mind towards Industrialization and socialism , unlike Gandhji, and more so he was a staunch supporter of Poorna Swaraj from the very beginning. It was rather he who bought this idea into forefront.

Throughout the book , he has questioned existing order of our country then and he also drew himself into the ring of debates. He had been in gaol seven times till 1935 and it was during his last jail visit that the got into writing his autobiography. This book , I feel to be important to me as it revealed to me an India before that D day of 15th August. It revealed to me an India that existed before it , and the importance of those days which led up to that momentous night.

He was an avid reader of books , and it is through these roots that he gained an impartial view of the world and thus could identify strongly the position of India. He had largely differed with Gandihjee on several issues and has revealed it thoroughly into this book .
Throughout this book his soft spot towards animals and nature has been amply demonstrated during his stays in gaol. He made friends with many of them and those were his chief companions during his stay there.

Besides these, going through several topics that he has dealt with in his book would convince you that he was a visionary .Even when the country was creeping under the mighty British dominance , he saw India in future. He saw the future of country and its social upheaval. He was largely against the existing social order of country, opposite to Gandhijee, but he thought gaining independence was of foremost importance at that time for our country and other changes will then gradually follow .

His sacrifice and diligence towards that single cause moved me very much and I can certainly say that I know him better now as a person. This is always the case if you read autobiographies. The enigma created by mass disappears and you know the person in its pristine form. It was a pleasure knowing this man , after I have already read about Gandhijee, and I hope that the ideas that he had so strongly endorsed encourage us to look beyond our own personal selves to the greater social good and in the process an upliftment of personal soul and knowledge and experience.