Rape of Democracy: Can we do something?

India! The world’s biggest and perhaps greatest democracy. Doesn’t it feel good to be a part of such a system? Does it not raise your shoulders with pride? Does it not fill you with a sense of egoism and nationalistic pride? Well as far as it concerns with proving mettle with democracy in terms of familiarizing with the protocols of diplomacy, bureaucracy and the process of elections, we seem to have been mastering the art to perfection.

With 58 years of independence and having moved on from a republic with strong influence of socialism and the influence of soviet brotherhood to a state of opening of the Indian markets with jargons like liquidity, liberalization, globalization coming to use, we have proved to be one nation with exuberance and dynamism unparalleled. Going through this roller coaster of transition, we have adapted repeatedly and perfected every nitty-gritty detail about every aspect that would result in us being christened as the World’s Biggest Democracy. Like a fireman having to follow the general protocol every time he hears the siren, or like the monotony with which a bank cashier receives cash at the counter, we know democracy inside out like no one else.

From dirty, petty politics, like a bunch of roadside beggars squabbling for a piece of leftover bread in the garbage can, we have politicians who seem to have left no stone unturned, no situation that they haven’t created and no solution that they haven’t found. In fact I think our politicians should be commended and given a pat on the shoulder in appreciation for their ability to resolve every issue amiably in the most noble manner so that every one derives the pleasure of the orgasm which thy derive ultimately after raping the system. They rape not just system but the people, their expectations, their hope, the morality, spirit and the conscience of democracy, the hard earned money of the tax payers.

This is probably the dynamism of the system. However, scratch the wound and we have merry and gay bunch of problems that still seem to be holding us back from being what we can be. True potential restrained and chained.

Every morning when you read the newspaper you probably have adapted to seeing news of murders and rapes. We might boast of IT and culture. Morality and conscience. The upcoming nation that flaunts a GDP growth of 8%. The sensex reaches new heights everyday. But how does it really make a difference. Is it material at all? When you have the libido of the nation that seems to be dictating and creating future of the nation, such incidents are an eloquent testimony of the virility we possess. When you have the rape of 1 year old girl at Ghaziabad by an uncle. Or the gang rape of women at remote villages Bihar UP MP and other states. Women being paraded naked in the streets of interior villages of Muzaffarnagar district. Being blamed of infidelity after a woman denies sexual intercourse to her father in law results in being tormented, paraded naked in the village and then being burnt alive.

Not just states. We can’t let the states have the credit to them. Our metropolitans are also experts in this art. We rejoice at the fact that Delhi attains the rank 150 in the list of world’s most live able cities overtaking Mamba. We rejoice at Hyderabad and Banglore being considered as more expensive cities in the world than Paris and New York when it comes to providing accommodation to US diplomats. But is it what matters? It seems so fake, when these cities that are being so proudly flaunted also show their dark and ugly face. When foreign tourists as well as college girls are molested, brutally raped and killed. Why? Is it a law and order problem? But we have such an efficient system of law and order.

We boast of the efficiency of the police force but we conveniently omit when a protector of law himself is victimized by his sexual desires and ends up raping a lady in distress who actually was at fault because she had a faith in the system. She makes a foolish judgment that any cop fights to protect the public. And so she innocently asks for help and she is rewarded appropriately. Like the gift of betrayal that Jesus receives from Judas. Like the famous bandit Salvatore Guiliano in Mario Puzo’s Sicilian when he is betrayed by his second in command and childhood friend Aspanu Pisciotta. Do you know what it must feel like? Imagine the days of innocence of you as a child, holding your fathers finger and walking, unknown of deceit and treachery. And the look when for an instance everything changes. The hand that you have been holding in faith is the hand that is selling their daughters from villages of Orissa to villages of Haryana. Its like letting go forever.

It is like the country has gotten into a fetish, wearing leather pants and garner belts with a whip in hand, sadistic pleasure is guiding our system.

Have you ever wondered what would the current decade be labeled as after 20 years. Perhaps the decade of MMS scandals. Where is the respect for law? When the law fails its own people, then these people start failing the law.

Everyday when I drive on the roads of Gurgaon and Delhi, I see hooliganism, vandalism and no sense of security or respect for the system. Violators have their day. Jump red lights, drive like maniacs, talk on cell phones and possibly make a mockery of the law of the land in the best possible manner. Who is going to stop them? The feeling of being above the law of the land is just too intoxicating to be forgotten. It gives a feeling of power possessed by an untamed animal roaring to proclaim its rights. People who follow rules are fools. They are too docile and have to submit to these merry men. The protectors are busy making money on weekends by parking a patrol car in the crossing of DLF and stopping every other car and finding faults like lack of compliance in terms of the sun shade put on your car. Of course they are doing perhaps the most important job. They are such philanthropists who let go of defaulters by giving them a warning. Of course pocketing a five hundred rupee note is just the transaction fee.

In a culture where the “Sab chalta hain” ideology has evolved, it in difficult to fight the menace posed by the hapless situation we are in. there seems to be a shortcut for every thing. It seems we are just beating the system that has been made for us in the first place. Vision seems to be colluded but then you have to move. Mist is a part of every winter but that doesn’t mean that the airports are permanently closed for the whole winter. You adapt and evolve. You upgrade.

I could go on and on. Trust me. But then I just don’t intend to criticize. Obvious question would be what can be done. Trust me at times we Indians keep looking back and living on the past and never care to make improve the present so that we can have the best future. You see movies like Rang De Basanti and it makes you think. Of course every nations has its set of problem. But somewhere or the other, you have to introspect and improve. This is what the debate is all about. Can you pin point and figure out one way of solving the crisis. Ask people to point out the deficiencies and trust me you could spend a lifetime of energy in formulating what is missing in the system and how it is lacking. But that doesn’t solve the problem.

I think we as a country and as a society need to understand only one word. RESPECT. If you know what this means, you have made the job easier. What we lack is respect. Respect for ourselves, respect for our system, respect for other people. True power lies in the power of self-realization and not in any other materialistic virtue. You have to start learning the art of respecting yourself, and the people you come in touch with. Remember you can get respect only if you give respect. Respect the system. If there are rules made, they are made for adherence and not violation. We can pretend to be vast and diverse as a nation, we can be the biggest democracy, but lets stand together to deserve what we earn. Try to make a change. And it all starts from you. I might be miniscule enough to do anything, but I get the sense of satisfaction of having followed the system, every time I drive on the road. There are irrational people who tempt you at every corner of your life to say to hell with the system. But then such irrational people can go on but somewhere or the other, you might get back with them but at the expense of making a mockery of the law. And the next time you are subject to an injustice, you would not be in position to criticize the system because you yourself happened to take things into your hand at one point of time. Respect not because you are scared it might hit you back later but respect because you are a part of this great democracy. And if we all start on an individual level, then surely collectively it would reflect.

True power is not the show of force but the show of restraint. Every one can be above the law, break the system, distort the paradigm, but then that denies the purpose of the system in itself.

A system which respects its people would be truly available when we have people who respect the system. The biggest democracy, would be meaningful when women would not be paraded naked or raped, when the girl child is not killed. When a model is not shot down in the middle of a restaurant and the culprits are free men. It would make a difference when innocent citizens are not killed in the name of suppressing insurgency in the northeastern states or curbing terrorism in Jammu And Kashmir. Hopefully we would not have the RAF, Police and Army killing democracy with absolute power exercised to control a simple agitation. Neither would we have custodial deaths and term our citizens as criminals.

I am sure that we would evolve and give a better India to our next generation.

Indian Hypocrites : Why India struggles internally?

For the past few months, I have been on the verge of writing something related to our system. Something concerning our outlook and view about life, the system and the paradighm we live in. If you read my earlier blog Hindustan, you would get a feeling that I have touched the topic. Yet effectively writing on why we are abusing our system and raping it couldn't be concretized as somehow my thought process was skipping certain areas.

Everyday when I drive on the roads of Gurgaon, I see hooliganism, vandalism and no sense of security or respect for the system.

Finally I have got hold of the copy of speech of our venerable President, which is bang on target and inspires me to formulate what I wanted to write. Probably next blog would be on that.


Please read this article by giving 10 minutes from your busy life.really good....

The President of India DR. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam's Speech in Hyderabad.


Why is the media here so negative?

Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements? We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success
stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why?

We are the first in milk production.
We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.
We are the second largest producer of wheat.
We are the second largest producer of rice.
Look at Dr. Sudarshan, he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit.

There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.

I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news.

In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are we so NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with
foreign things? We want foreign T. Vs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology.

Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed India. For her, you and I will have to build this developed India.

You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation. Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance.

Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is yours.
YOU say that our government is inefficient.
YOU say that our laws are too old.
YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.
YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke,
The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.
YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.

YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it?

Take a person on his way to Singapore. Give him a name - YOURS. Give him a face - YOURS. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International
best.
In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are. You
pay $5 (approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to the
parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity... In
Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU?

YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai. YOU would not dare to go out without yourhead covered in Jeddah.
YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds ( Rs.650) a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else.

'YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, 'Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost.'

YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand.

Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo? Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston??? We are still talking of the same YOU.

YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India?

Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay, Mr. Tinaikar, had a point to make. 'Rich people's dogs are walked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place,' he said. 'And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the pressure in his bowels?

In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan. Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility. We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean
bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms.

We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity.This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public.

When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? 'It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons' rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system?

What does a system consist of ? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away.

Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government.

Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.

Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too.... I am echoing J. F. Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians.....

'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA
AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA
WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY'

Lets do what India needs from us.

Forward this mail to each Indian for a change instead of sending Jokes or
junk mails.

Thank you,

Dr. Abdul Kalaam

The god of small things

This is one of my favourite article that i got from one of my friends. though personally i hate useless forwards, but this one is something so god that i decided to publish on my blog...

This one is a must read, it touches your heart.

In Brooklyn, New York, Chush is a school that caters to learning disabled children. Some children remain in Chush for their entire school career, while others can be main- streamed into regular schools. At a Chush fund-raising dinner, the father of a Chush child delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended.

After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he cried out, "Where is the Perfection in my son Shaya?

Everything God does is done with perfection. But my child cannot understand things as other children do.

My child cannot remember facts and figures as other children do.

Where is God's perfection?"

The audience was shocked by the question, pained by the father's anguish and stilled by the piercing query.

"I believe," the father answered, that when God brings a child like this into the world, the perfection that he seeks is in the way people react to this child."

He then told the following story about his son, Shaya:

One afternoon, Shaya and his father walked past a park where some boys Shaya knew were playing baseball.

Shaya asked, "Do you think they will let me play?" Shaya's father knew that his son was not at all athletic and that most boys would not want him on their team. But Shaya's father understood that if his son was chosen to play it would give him a comfortable sense of belonging.

Shaya's father approached one of the boys in the field and asked if Shaya could play.

The boy looked around for guidance from his teammates. Getting none, he took matters into his own hands and said "We are losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him up to bat in the ninth inning."

Shaya's father was ecstatic as Shaya smiled broadly. Shaya was told to put on a glove and go out to play short center field. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shaya's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shaya's team scored again and now with two outs and the bases loaded with the potential winning run on base, Shaya was scheduled to be up.

Would the team actually let Shaya bat at this juncture and give away their chance to win the game?

Surprisingly, Shaya was given the bat. Everyone knew that it was all but impossible because Shaya didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, let alone hit with it. However, as Shaya stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shaya should at least be able to make contact.

The first pitch came and Shaya swung clumsily and missed. One of Shaya's teammates came up to Shaya and together they held the bat and faced the pitcher waiting for the next pitch. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly toward Shaya.

As the pitch came in, Shaya and his teammate swung at the ball and together they hit a slow ground ball to the pitcher.

The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could easily have thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shaya would have been out and that would have ended the game.

Instead, the pitcher took the ball and threw it on a high arc to right field, far beyond reach of the first baseman. Everyone started yelling "Shaya, run to first. Run to first."

Never in his life had Shaya run to first.

He scampered down the baseline wide-eyed and startled.

By the time he reached first base, the right fielder had the ball. He could have thrown the ball to the second baseman who would tag out Shaya, who was still running.

But the right fielder understood what the pitcher's intentions were, so he threw the ball high and far over the Third baseman's head.

Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second."

Shaya ran towards second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled the bases towards home.

As Shaya reached second base, the opposing short stop ran to him, turned him in the direction of third base and shouted, "Run to third."

As Shaya rounded third, the boys from both teams ran behind him screaming, "Shaya, run home."

Shaya ran home, stepped on home plate and all 18 boys lifted him on their shoulders and made him the hero, as he had just hit a "grand slam" and won the game for his team.

"That day," said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, "those 18 boys reached their level of God's perfection."

Funny how simple it is for people to trash different ways of living and believing and then wonder why the world is going to hell.

Funny how you can send a thousand 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding life choices, people think twice about sharing.

Funny, isn't it?

Funny how when you go to forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it to them.