वतन की तरक्की तो आवाम से होती है!!

पर आवाम तो अभी भी भूख, भ्रष्टाचार और भय से मुक्ति नही पायी है।

तो क्या चन्द लोगों की तरक्की को वतन की तरक्की समझना एक बड़ी भूल नहीं?

End of "End Of History"

As the Capitalism passes through its worst crisis after its triumph over Communism, the time seems to be ripe for a totally different approach to solving the problems of man kind. Whether the Capitalism will survive the onslaught is debatable, but one thing is sure that the idea of "End Of History" has lost its relevance completely.
Who knows, from the ashes of Capitalism would emerge a new ideology. For want of a better word, we can name it "Humanism". But, certainly, it will not find acceptance before a prolonged period of turmoil in which we are living in.

Reality Check

Are we growing as an economy..definitely yes!!
Are we developing as a nation..probably yes!!
Are we modernising as a society ..perhaps yes!!
Are we preserving our tradition..yes and no!!
Are we becoming better human being..surely not!!
So, isn't it time to make a reality check in this mindless rat race for growth to ensure that not only we grow as an economy and society but each of us become better human being individually??
The question is open...

Rendezvous with Bay of Bengal

This weekend I happened to see the Bay of Bengal for the first time in my life. It was a mesmerizing experience to gauge the enormous force of nature. Actually, I went to Ongole in A.P. to attend the wedding of one my colleagues. Although, I had seen the Arabian Sea in the past, but didn’t get chance so far to see the magnificent Bay Of Bengal. The first glance of the sea itself gave me the uncanny feeling of infinity. The magnificent waves of the ocean were moving towards the shore with perilous speed and in monstrous form. Ongole was one the places hit by the Tsunami in December 2004. I wondered how powerful and magnificent the Tsunami waves would be if the normal waves of this nature. I also realized why it is said that the ocean is the last resort of humanity for its food and energy needs. As the resources at the land get depleted to irreversible extent, ocean is indeed the only adequate source to fulfill the enormous needs of food and energy to sustain the teeming human population. Greater investment is called for to develop technologies to tap the potential of the ocean. However, while doing so, the sustainability of the ocean eco-system should be of the paramount importance. The blunders of the past with respect to the technologies and practices which led to ecological disasters should not be repeated. The exploitation of ocean’s potential in a sustainable manner in the greater interest of the man kind is a compelling need to solve the problems of poverty, hunger and malnutrition.

Indian hypocrisy!!

My recent encounters with some westerners gave me an opportunity to glorify the Indian culture and tradition. However, while I was doing so, I also realised many of the hypocrisies of Indian society, which I could not express with my western friends. I discussed at length about the our respectfulness to our mothers and sisters, but then realised that the most popular abuses in India are also targeted towards the same mothers and sisters. They are so deep rooted in our culture that our 'Bhajji' used them to counter the Australian sledging without realising that Andrew Symonds would not have any context of that. No surprise that he interpreted 'Maaki' as 'Monkey' and the whole issue took the racial turn.I also discussed the ideals of freedom movement and its opposition to racial discrimination.But hold on!!now that we have got the independence,can we say honestly that we are not racist? If we have any illusion of being not racist, we just need to talk to a person from North-East how he feels when addressed as 'Chinki' or 'Bahadur'. We just need to place ourselves in a position of a girl whose skin colour happens to be black due to which she could not marry a person she deserved.It is not to suggest that other societies are not hypocritical, .but so are we.We are not superior to other societies at least in this regard.

Decaying society??

The tragic shoot out in a Gurgaon school has raised my issues about Indian society which is undergoing rapid transformation. Some would say that it is the outcome of adopting western (read American) type of lifestyle and culture. The school shoot out is not very uncommon phenomenon in the USA. The news of a school boy killing his class mates with gun in America used to be a sited as a ground for criticizing American way of life. It is true that after accepting globalization as a means to develop Indian society, there have been unprecedented changes in the cultural trends in India. The western culture in general and American culture in particular is spreading at a faster pace throughout the world as compared to other cultures. However, the positive aspects of the western and American society and polity are not spreading with as much pace as negative aspects. The spread of awareness among the people about the issues such as human rights, gender equality, consumer rights, labor rights, civil liberty etc. which are the hallmark of the western society continue to be very low. The rate of dowry death remains unacceptably high. The divorcing of women on frivolous grounds, the lynching of lower caste people by upper caste, mindless killing of innocent people in communal riots etc. are some of the shameful characteristics of Indian society which are indigenous. Indian society definitely needs to take the lesson from the evolution of western society in all these respects. Unfortunately these necessary adoptions from these societies are not happening with the requisite pace. On the other hand, some of the unwanted aspects such as objectification of women, emotional infidelity, violence, short term relationships and lack of respect for elders are unabashedly emulated by the people especially youth. In this way the Indian society is loosing its characteristic strength and due to adoption of evil features from other societies it’s on the decay course. It is upto the civil society to arrest this decay in the interest of the sustainability of the Indian civilization.

Beginning

I heard about blog 2 years back. It took some time to digest the fact that in order to express ones views on social,political,economic and environmental issues, and also to be heard and read widely, one does not need to be a well known intellectual, a popular journalist or having a university degree or a specialist job in these areas. I believe that the greatest contribution of the Information Technology is that it has empowered the common man to be counted and getting the feeling of fulfilment.We may blame the IT for creating the 'digital divide', but the one divide which the IT has surely bridged is the divide between the common man and the the so called intellectuals. Blog is the best example of this contribution. Besides, IT has also enabled the common people world over to interact freely without any restrictions of nationality, ethnicity,race,caste and colour of the skin. I read the blogs on various topics and by diverse people in my free time, but the idea of creating a blog of my own struck me only recently. So I thought it better to start late than never. I commit myself to regularly express my views on diverse issues impacting the lives of common man and thereby connect myself to the common folks all around the world.

Anand