Austerity is the Way to Go!

Going austere is relative. When a rich man decides take a 10 minute walk to his nearby office for the next one month instead of using his air conditioned SUV, you gotta give it to him for going austere. A man who doesn’t have that SUV in the first place cannot belittle the pearls of sweat trickling down the rich man's forehead as he takes a walk down the road.

When a political party decides to launch a similar campaign after its heir apparent has successfully spent 5 years of his life toiling in villages of India (read U.P.), you gotta give it to them too. It is a nice innovative thought to go on an austerity drive and save some bucks that could go in re-innovating your offices or could probably give you a chance to wrap up whirlwind tours too. As for the cynics, whose lives may be fraught with the dangers of recessions, escalating prices and taxes, take a chill pill and watch the Babas and Babus of India's political destiny take control.

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Baffling!

Netaji at Risk!

It also came out in the newspapers that the terrorist being interrogated got 1.5 lakhs to carry out the attack and that poverty forced him into terrorism. My opinion is that his tryst with a troubled life should be ended with his public hanging.

Join the march today December 3rd at 6 p.m. at the Gateway of India in Mumbai to express your solidarity and make a statement.

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26/11 - The Aftermath

A forward I got today read something like this:

“Do not worry about those who have come through boats,Our forces would defeat them. WORRY about those who have come through votes,Those are our REAL ENEMIES!

What a shame and disgrace to every citizen of India that the elite NSG Force moved in ordinary BEST buses, whereas our cricketers travel in state of the art luxury buses. These Jawans lay down their lives to protect every Indian and these cricketers get paid even if they lose a match, we worship these cricketers and forget the martyrdom of these brave Jawans after a candle show in their memories.

An ace shooter shoots and gets gold medal, Government gives 1cr, another shooter dies while shooting terrorist, Government gives 5 lakh.”

I don’t think lambasting cricketers is just here but the fact is that public outcry over the Mumbai attacks has assumed massive proportions. So much so that people have started to react openly to the statements made by the politicians. It is probably the first time that India has seen an open public debate where politicians are made to listen and not speak for a change. I was watching Barkha Dutt’s show the other day on TV and she said that no politician agreed to come to her show as they feared public outrage on live television. In the past three days we have seen ministers lose their positions due to the growing public ire. Thank God its happening!

People are out on the streets asking about the whereabouts of the protector of Marathi Asmita, the Home Minister who loves changing his attire every two hours and a prime minister in waiting who didn’t go for an all party meeting so that he could attend to his political campaigns. What this outburst has caused is that it has left the ‘leaders’ running for cover and passing uncalled for statements in retaliation. Naqvi’s lipstick gaffe, Kerela CM getting shown the door and then retaliating with a dog will not come here are indications of the changing times. Thank God, the politicians are getting it back in plenty!

It’s a shame that 5 days after the fateful 26/11, we are still left fending for answers. What has followed on a strategic and diplomatic front has been a complete disaster. Other than the usual “stern” statements and an “appeal for calm”, there has hardly been a step forward. Resignation of a few ministers is not the solution, its just washing off your hands from taking up collective responsibility and I feel sorry for the ruling party. Sorry because the opposition would have been in the exact same position had it been in power.

The lone terrorist who was caught was carrying an AK-47 and loads of ammunitions. The people who caught him had lathis and pistols in their hands. The bullet proof jacket that Karkare was wearing failed all safety tests against attacks by arms such as AK-47 back in 2004. Probably this was the reason why Salaskar and Amte did not care to wear the heavy jacket that fateful night knowing very well that it was of no use. The NSG commandoes arrived 9 hours after the mayhem started because they had to wait for an aircraft that flew from Chandigarh and travelled slow. Doesn’t the Government have money to strengthen its forces? Well then from where do these CMs get themselves dedicated choppers to travel, conduct conferences in plush five-star hotels and walk with an entire platoon of black cat commandoes citing death threats?

It is time people took to civil disobedience movement once again and stopped paying taxes until a plan was laid out and explained to the nation on how the Government aims to provide security to the citizens. True, the system is rotten. The politicians milk it the way they want to. It is time people did it too. Let us all pressurize the powerful to submit.

For long we have heard about the resilience of people. Why should they face the brunt of the attack day in and day out and then ‘bounce back’ to cover up for someone’s ineptness in delivering the goods? The mood of the nation and the need of the hour are very well summed up in the lines penned by Prasoon Joshi following the Mumbai terror attacks:

"Is baar jab woh chhoti si bachchi mere paas apni kharonch le kar aayegi
Main usey phoo phoo kar nahin behlaoonga
Panapney doonga uski tees ko
Is baar nahin

Is baar jab main chehron par dard likha dekhoonga
Nahin gaoonga geet peeda bhula dene wale
Dard ko risney doonga,utarney doonga andar gehrey
Is baar nahin

Is baar main na marham lagaoonga
Na hi uthaoonga rui ke phahey
Aur na hi kahoonga ki tum aankein band karlo,
gardan udhar kar lo main dawa lagata hoon
Dekhney doonga sabko hum sabko khuley nangey ghaav
Is baar nahin

Is baar jab uljhaney dekhoonga,chatpatahat dekhoonga
Nahin daudoonga uljhee door lapetney
Uljhaney doonga jab tak ulajh sake
Is baar nahin

Is baar karm ka hawala de kar nahin uthaoonga auzaar
Nahin karoonga phir se ek nayee shuruaat
Nahin banoonga misaal ek karmyogi ki
Nahin aaney doonga zindagi ko aasani se patri par
Utarney doonga usey keechad main,tedhey medhey raston pe
Nahin sookhney doonga deewaron par laga khoon
Halka nahin padney doonga uska rang
Is baar nahin banney doonga usey itna laachaar
Ki paan ki peek aur khoon ka fark hi khatm ho jaye
Is baar nahin

Is baar ghawon ko dekhna hai
Gaur seThoda lambe wakt tak
Kuch faisleyAur uskey baad hausley
Kahin toh shuruat karni hi hogi
Is baar yahi tay kiya hai "

Have a look at these pictures that tell the tale. Don’t they say that a picture tells you what a thousand words cannot!

Mumbai Terror through the camera lens!

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Indian Political Drama - A 'Sell' out

What started as a confidence motion by the Government took a bitter turn and turned out to be the saddest day in Indian parliamentary history. Wads of notes were shown by MPs who claimed to have been offered obscene amounts to abstain from voting against the Government. Loksabha TV made merry with a surge in its viewership and we, as audiences, were left spewing venom against the sorry state of affairs in our coffee-room discussions. Come to think of it, the news channels on air ran a footer for two days with speculative numbers on who was going to side with whom in the voting. This was worse than the "Prince in the tubewell" episode a couple of years back.

What happened was not a reflection of moral and ethical degradation we are undergoing. It has been prevalent since time immemorial. It forms a part of our DNA. 60 years of independence is not all that big span of time to understand the real price tag of democracy and governance. Till that time comes, my dear friends, make your bids and buy it at an affordable price. It sold for Rs. 1 crore in 1993 when cash changed hands to save a minority Government and it sells for a rumored Rs. 25 crore in 2008. Blame it on inflation and the booming Indian economy!

"Har shaakh pe Ullu baitha hai Anzame Gulistan kya hoga"....I am not sure if this is the lowest that we have stooped to or we are in some abyss where nothing seems low enough. Is it just the leaders who are to blame? They are a reflection of the billion strong population they represent. They were chosen. They are us! As a nation of people having characters running only skin deep, we don't have a reason to make any hue and cry over this issue. Nothing unexpected has happened and displaying shock and disillusionment is fooling ourselves because somewhere we all are party to this muck.

We never try to perceive the motives behind the acts - our deconstruction ability is very poor. We take things on the face value. That is why we fall for the politics of appeasement and forget things easily. The Nuclear deal lost all relevance in the whole bribing hoopla. What stayed on were the images of defecting MPs, bundles of currency notes on display in the Parliament, allegations, counter allegations and the sad demise of parliamentary democracy.

I remember the school books taught me that Indian democracy is based on three strong pillars of legislature, judiciary and the executive. Legislatures are a breeding ground for anarchy and corruption today. The bureaucracy has been reduced to a showpiece tool playing in the hands of politicians. Blame it on the subservient mindset that we have inherited since the days of the Raj. Judiciary is handicapped and toothless. I will cite you an example - The JMM case. The bribery case saw ex-Prime Minister P V Narsimharao being convicted by a trial court only to be exonerated later. In 1998, a five-member Consitutuion Bench of the Supreme court, in a split decision, upheld the immunity enjoyed by MPs from legal proceedings for their speeches or vote in Parliament. The majority decision, delivered in response to a petition filed by some of the accused in the JMM bribery case, meant that all those who cast their votes in the Lok Sabha, including the bribe-takers in the JMM case, enjoyed the protection of Article 105 [Reference] These 'high-esteemed' public servants have never looked back ever since then. Sting operations have caught several of them accepting money but go and check out the status of these cases. There is not even a single conviction.

Keeping everything under the wraps and burying our heads in the sand is never going to be the answer. Let us have the guts to question ourselves and confess candidly. There is definitely something amiss in the values that we have inculcated that is causing us to become morally bankrupt. There is one silver lining that I can see though. We, as a nation are still young. Despite having a history of being led and subjugated we sure can show the resilience and the will to change. Willingness to accept and mould ourselves for the better - that is what youth is all about. Nothing is going to change overnight. Nothing will change in a generation either. But the transition needs to be made. Setting in the right direction could be a life fulfiling moment. Something that the 25 crore rupees on offer in the House of Parliament cannot ever guarantee.

"Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action–
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake."

An Outdated Poetry or a Dream that lives on? Take your call!

(Inputs from Ajay and Aditya)

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