Violent Times - A DAY

Sitting here in my hostel room, and watching all that's is happening in my country, I am ashamed to see how badly we are struck between the two extreme identities – a modern citizen of a global family or an orthodox Indian who always carries with himself the misinterpretation of his religion.

Today - 14th of February, the day for Love turned violent in India, thanks to men wearing saffron clothes and calling themselves "moral police", and taking it as their responsibility to teach the modern Indians, the true Indian culture.
Bajrang Dal activists harassed siblings at Vikram University, Ujjain assuming them to be couples. Here in Pune, Shiv Sainiks have forcibly married off two couples near Khadakvasla Dam right opposite the National Defense Academy.
In Bhopal, police rounded up Bajrang Dal activists for causing trouble for couples celebrating Valentine's Day. The saffron brigade was threatening to marry off lovers found in public places. Thirty Shiv Sainiks were arrested in Gwalior, for creating a ruckus in a park with couples.
The worst was the incident where a Sub-Inspector dragged a girl (along with her boyfriend) by her hair to the police station. Jind Superintendent of Police B Satheesh Balan said "SI Moola Ram has been suspended and a departmental enquiry will be conducted by the DSP. The enquiry is suo-moto and the complaint has been filed by the SHO. Abuse of power and misbehaviour with the woman are the charges. The couple is ok and have been sent home. The inspector has committed a grave mistake and will have to face the music. This is an isolated case where a police official was involved and for that he will have to face the music,".

These are just some of the incidents that I got to know through news channels, so not sure how many more innocent people were tortured and harassed just for loving another fellow human being.

When I was trying to find out the root cause of all these incidents, all I could think off are the videos I saw in National Geographic about Taliban and how women are ill-treated in Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan, but then suddenly something struck in my mind and I happened to recollect a famous incident in one the greatest epic of Hindu religion – The Ramayana.
It is rather the reason because of which, Shri Ram and Ravan ended up in a war and eventually Ravan was killed. The incident goes like this –

"Shri Ram, Sita and Laskhman had spent close to 10 years in the Panchavati forests during their exile, but one day Surpanaka (Ravana's younger sister) disguised herself as a beautiful woman and proposed Shri Ram to marry her. Shri Ram called himself happily married and asked her to approach his brother, Lakshman.
Surpanaka went towards Lakshman and made the same proposal. Lakshman said - "I am merely his servant and remain under him. Marrying me, you too will have to be under him. So you have no chance here but you can marry my elder brother since he is a king and a king can have many wives."
She again went back to Shri Ram but was again sent back to Lakshman. Lakshman became irritated and said only such a man could marry her who has abandoned shame. This got her furious and Shri Ram signalled Lakshman who acting quickly severed her ears and nose."

So here are our own Hindu scriptures telling us about the treatment given to lovers and people who propose love to one another.
I was so dumbstruck to note that such an incident quoted in an epic which is one of the foundations of my religion. And now, we have people foolishly following only this part of the story and not all the morals that the story teaches us.

In the technology era, we needn't get driven by our scriptures. With increased interaction and information through various sources, we all get to know what is right and what is wrong. In this free world, one can chose what they want to do in their life; if someone is going directionless, then it should be the responsibility of their parent, friends and relatives and to the max the police force to get a person on right track. Its an individual's choice whether they consume alcohol or not; no one has right to stop him/her as long as he is not creating trouble. We don't need moral police in our country, that too taking violent steps against people who are committing no crime. There are so many criminal and terrorist activities which are happening in our country, violence can be used against them and to stop further damage and bring back peace. What is important as an individual is that, each one of us should understand our duty and be accountable for all our actions. Rest of the things would just follow...

Indian 'talibani' Senas VS Valentine's day! Please stay safe (what not to do on valentine's day) and keep loving.

The festival of Love is coming! And here in India we will again (hopefully not) witness a mass hatred against those involved in the celebrations. The Shiv, Ram, Bajarang, and all other senas and dals will come out on the streets and hit innocent people relentlessly and shamelessly. The numerous such incidents in the past will have no effect on the governing bodies and the festival of love would get tainted yet again.

I sincerely hope that the valentines day realizes its true meaning in India as well this year. I was watching a movie based on the famous novel The Kite Runner today and could not help but notice the similarity of the Talibani elements in Afghanistan and these self proclaimed moral police in India in the modern times. Hate articles have flooded the Internet and the land of Gandhi is being tarnished by lame and shameless acts of violence in the name of religion, culture. Young boys and girls who should be encouraged to spread love are advised not to venture out on Valentine's day.
While a number of people are thinking of ways to express their love for someone special in the most imaginative way on 14th of Feb, there are others who are busy calculating the political mileage they would get by ransacking a gift shop or a flower mart.
When bhagwan Ram said that a time would come when nothing would be right he may have been right. Contrary to what the opening dialogue of the famous movie Love Actually says love is actually missing from this planet now. Everywhere we go we find messages of hate expressed at the expense of other's lives.

It is sad to say this but there are a few precautions that one must take in India this valentine's day:

• Don't flash your love on the streets.
• Try to stay at home or at best go to a party hosted at a friend's home.
• Do not venture into a pub, disco (even in places like Bangalore we have seen pretty sad things in the past)
• Make sure you leave the celebration, party, date at the first sign of any sort of disturbance, please do not stay back to become a victim.

We need to firm up a political and social will against such acts of cultural terrorism. Signature campaigns, free hugs moments, rallies, blogosphere propaganda and anything else that you can think of and are capable of doing, please do it. We are a free nation we must tell these mentally handicapped culture-less senas this.

The Mosquito Effect

If you are wondering what the content of the post would be by reading this title, then my sincere suggestion would be; please stop guessing could sometimes on CnC we too talk about incredible things (may be someday even we might write on fairly tales and Harry Potter on our blog).

Well this post is coming from a frustrated soul, who is clueless about ways to settle a dispute. Every night me and my enemies drawn our boundaries, sign peace treaties and cease fire; but all these unwritten laws fail in few minutes and we are back at war. I stand tall like a brave Spartan warrior up against a fleet of over 300 enemy soldiers (a lil exaggeration though); I wait and kill them when they are within one yard radius from my body. Fierce battle lasts for hours, neither can I stop and donate blood to my enemy nor do the mosquitoes quit the battle field; they breath through my smoke bombs (don't think otherwise I am talking about mosquito repellents here) and keep trying to enter my territory. It's a complete bloodshed, either mine or others.

The results of this wars are, either they lose their life by getting smacked by me (high success rate of .1%), or leave me with a small protrusion (as if they have filled something in my veins rather than sucking it out; happens 10% of the cases I guess) or the most common, I try to zero them, but then end up hurting myself and they fly away.

It is a never ending war, though I wish to win, I am clueless of the how?? Can anyone suggest a first hand tested strategy which can be of my help??

I tried to get a few solutions from various philosophies from noted thinkers, writers and religions that "love" is the greatest weapon and one can win anything with love. Some went on to say that we can even win over my enemies with love. Even our own Munnabhai quite promotes this concept (remember the incident where a person benevolently cleans the paan strains created by a crook without shouting at him). So does that mean I need to love mosquitoes as well? Will a mosquito stop biting me if I voluntary allow it to bite for more and more times??

This is where I feel all these concepts are not always practical. Just take a simple case of a ring master in a circus; the tigers and other animals perform the necessary tricks only because they are afraid of him, not because of the piece of meat that he offers them at the end of the stunt. If we realise it's the same with most other trainers as well. We learn more when they are strict and we work under pressure. Remember this is the image of boarding schools which most people have - that the teachers are strict and students get punished for all in-disciplinary acts. It's this fear that helps most students do better. I am not sure if others feel the same, but I think I miss my teachers whom I was more afraid of than those who were nice to me. Or may be its just that I learnt it the hard way.

It applies to my mom as well.. She is all nice and loving when I do well but at the same time, will scold me if I ever do something wrong – and I believe it was this fear that still keeps me conscious before I could ever dare do things wrong. So it is this balance between love and fear that helped me grow the way I am and I believe its and in-build art which most mothers possess.

Now when I say all this, I am remembered of the buzz around the country. What should be our next step to counter terrorism?? Is war the solution?? How to resolve Kashmir?? Are we prepared for the War?? What would be extent of damage?? What could be the outcome?? So many questions but very few concrete answers…

But then here also mosquito effect stands to explain the international relations..

Why is Pakistani government under greater treat when the United States of America pressures it and comes up with statements against them?? At the same time India, which has been highlighting the epic centre of all the terrorist activities, it was not at all catered to?? And now look even Pakistan is trying to take a few steps by capturing some key members of the militant groups??

Now all this is definitely not because of love..

It's not that I am trying to prove that love is not powerful and only fear rules the world. There are instances where problems which otherwise failed, were solved by love. Take for instance the relation between Indians and Pakistanis; keep aside all the terrorist and political activities, I think the increased communication between common people is serving as a big step to bridge some of the differences between "aam admi" of both the nations. The apple traders were the happiest when the trade was restored this year.

So the mosquito effect tells us that love and fear are both equally powerful tools and should be used according to the situation. And just as the war between me and mosquitoes seems never ending, where sometimes I win and sometimes they, similarly the success of love and fear will be never ending sometimes the problems get resolved by love while at other we need to use fear.

And regarding Terrorism and countering it, its an issue with so many complexities attached to it. I am dying to see what step our politicians take and bring long – term peace and tranquility back to one of the most beautiful part of the planet.

A Ray Of Hope............

Last night i had a conversation with a friend of mine and we happened get into a discussion as to how the mentality of people can get very conceited, and how people tend to start behaving wierdly.
Just a little while ago i came across this poem which i had penned down a few years back and it seemed quite relevant with all that we discussed .so i thought i should probably put it up here.
so here it is..........

I still remember that day,
When things were not this way
The lovely gaze of those eyes,
Would stealthily pass by

The past seems to fly like
A frustrated butterfly
And nothing else will ever comply
To the request of dear thy

Witnessing someone in distress,
Has become something very blessed!!
Grabbing someone’s joy,
Is all that people enjoy!!

Talk about the selfishness,
That fills the world’s breast.
Talk about the envy,
That one’s face can convey.

Just when the fact gets to be known
That, one is greater than what he is shown
People begin to bloom with hatred,
And relatively cease to do things that are sacred.

Oh God, thy ought to know
How people could be so low
And cross all limits somehow
To be the lowest among the low!!!

Where is that love??
That shows people do care
Where is your dove??
The peace propagator when allowed!!!

Hatred has become the thing of today.
The waves of kindness having flown away
Only thy ought to know the birthday,
Of yet another wonderful day……

A day which is promising,
Amusing and encouraging.
A day which will make
A lonely man’s day……

A time which will come,
And make one’s life handsome..
And fill once again his soul
With all the happiness that it stole…..

Head bowing low
I pray to thee dear lord
To make some broad way
For the dawn of that new day.

Love your nation not for what it is......but despite what it is!!!

Well this being my first post I m a bit nervous if I will be able to match up to the standards of CnC…but anyways I will try to do my best!!!! And so here it begins….

I would like to start with a recent experience of mine which has had a profound impact on my thoughts and my feelings. Last week I was just back from a trip to Dubai (now don't think that just like any foreign return guy I would start bragging about it…..but yes I will talk a gr8 deal about it as I ve noticed several points during this visit which made me think deeply.) I tried to enjoy every moment of my stay there but always there were constant nagging thoughts in my head which kept pestering and annoying me. When ever I saw a sky scrapper there it pinched me that there are hardly any comparable buildings in the whole of our country, the lush green road sides and parks made me wonder how they could maintain them at temperatures soaring past 40 degrees on a daily basis when our own parks and city gardens are in a pitiable condition despite abundance of water, how is it that in a matter of 3 years they have built the tallest building in the world and are well on their way to building buidings as high as a kilometer and a mile(refer burj dubai and al burj on wiki)when we are struggling to build something even one quarter that high, the quality and cleanliness of the rods there made my head hang in shame when I compared them with our own roads back home, how is it that despite the depletion of its oil resources(oil now contributes only abt 3% to its GDP) the economy of UAE is still booming, and the fact that UAE has shown such tremendous economic growth without charging a penny of income tax(or sales tax) from its residents made me wonder where all the taxpayers money of our country is going, how is it that Dubai international airport can manage a landing and take off every half a minute when we are struggling with to provide even basic amenities at our international airports.(when I landed at Ahemedabad Int'l airport it was a total chaos. There were no basics facilities like trollies, the toilets were horrible, there was no AC we were sweating at 4 in the morn though it was raining out side, the conveyor for luggage was spoiled. all this made our exit very difficult and my parents, both about 60years had to literally run for the fear of missing our domestic flight to chennai)

Such stark contrasts made me realize how far behind we still are in very many aspects even in comparison to countries like the UAE and I thought that I will never be able to love my country again and was worried that I might even develop aversion to it. But when I landed back home I was surprised to note that I in fact felt very happy to be back. Not that I missed some one here (because my whole family was with me) but I really did miss my country. Yes our country has several defects and is very very backward in some respects but despite everything it still is our own country, our very own homeland (mathru bhoomi). (Though polluted) it has given us air to breath,(though contaminated ) it has given us food to eat, (in spite of high levels of pesticides and germs) it has given us water (And pepsi) to drink, (though lowly paid than abroad) it has given us lively hood to raise our families. how can u ever hate u r own country. I ask of everyone that would you dare hate your mother if God forbid one day she gets mutilated in say an accident. I think that our mother land is mutilated by some selfish people who ve hampered her from exhibiting her full potential for their own gains and the onus is on all of us to love and take care of her(ya I know I m sounding too boolywood or even tollywoodish but this is how I really feel). I m not telling that India is the best country(or mera bharat mahan!!!) in the world because I know that it is not but let this not deter us from showing our love to her.
and now I wonder that when a selfish boy like me (I always as a child dreamt of becoming an American citizen) could feel this way how can our politicians and bureaucrats who have sworn their lives in the service of this country hate her so much that they often commit despicable acts of crime which bring shame upon the entire nation???i guess like all my other questions I will never find answer even for this question of mine!!!!!!

DOES IT HAPPEN THIS WAY ?

A lot of my friends have been writing about love in their blogs. The reason is perhaps that we have a lot of time on our hands and it is one activity which can make a century of time evaporate in a moment (they would of course like to think that time indeed stands still). I was talking to a friend a few days back to ease him out with all the complexities in his life, though I’m not much of an adviser but I speak a lot and some of it does make sense at times. I told him how he would find ‘the one’ made for him one day and from that day his life would start to head towards a journey which he has always dreamt of. His efforts would then start to have a meaning and he would start to build memories which would seem to last for ever and ever. (Actually I was reading ‘One’ by Richard Bach some days back and it was one of the themes of the novel). I went on for a long time giving him convincing reasons as to why he should really believe that his true love was somewhere out there in the wild and while it may not be very obvious that he would meet her, but if he did he would start to feel like a successful man.
He is a patient listener (unlike most other people who are never listening, just waiting for their turn to talk you out), and I would like to think that I made sense in what I said. But then came this one line which completely put me off balance, made all my heavy words and fancy speech disappear into my own head. He said, "PJ, if you do meet her one day, how would you know?"I said that he would just know and they would soon fall into love, ‘cuz this is how such things happen. He said again, “Even if I do fall in love with her and she does the same, and we start moving out and stuff, start seeing each other all the time, how would I know that this love of mine is the love that I’ve been looking for and not something which may exist because of the natural attraction that both of us are bound to have?” I remained speechless for quite sometime and gave some stupid comments like I always do to emerge out of the discussion on a victory note.
I had this discussion in my head for quite sometime and it erupted once again when I was walking with Sourav in Trichy a couple of days back. I always like to believe that I’m a very practical head and reason is my biggest virtues. But this one was indeed simple and I missed it completely. Sourav said, "Buddy this is why we have words like 'break-up'".
It’s easier said than done but yes how true!