We vs They

The hate politics is looming large in the Indian political landscape. Our so called representatives are hell bent on adding fuel to the fire and thereby keeping their vote-bank intact. Parochialism seems to be the convenient path to secure the political future and nationalism appears to be a thing of the past. The politicians are on a competitive spree to divide the people on every possible ground a human ingenuity can devise –religion, region, caste, language, region, culture, creed, gender and what not.
However, isn’t it very convenient way to bash only the politicians for all the evils? It is naïve to assume India as a country of innocent people being ruled by tyrant politicians. Politicians are no doubt making inferno out of spark. But the truth is that there exists a spark in the civil society. The spark exists in the form of ‘We are good, they are bad’ attitude. While there is nothing wrong in taking legitimate pride in ones nation, ones religion, ones culture etc. things start taking wrong turn when sense of pride is stretched to the feeling of superiority. Such and attitude convinces the people that their religion is the only way to salvation, their culture is the best culture, their community is superior over all others etc. The politicians only widen the already existing schism between the communities and spread hatred through their propaganda machinery.
So, it does not absolve us of any guilt to single out politicians as demon and treat ourselves as paragon of virtues. We citizens also need to do introspection why there is more hatred and intolerance in the country than ever before. Isn’t it ironic that in the land of Gandhi, the non-violence and tolerance are appearing to succumb to hatred?
It is the historical obligation of the current generation of Indians to keep intact the ideals and values for which our freedom fighters sacrificed their lives. In order to stop the social fabric to rip apart, each of us need to fight the divisive and sectarian forces prevalent in the country by emphasizing on our national identity over all sub-national, regional and parochial identities. It also requires to do away with ‘We vs They’ attitude and internalize the fact that all the citizens of the country have equal rights irrespective of their region, religion, caste or creed as guaranteed by our Constitution. If this attitudinal transformation is not brought about among the people, the existence of our nation will be in peril. Somebody rightly said, “People get the government they deserve”.

जलाओ दिए, पर .....

दीवाली आने वाली है और फिजाओं में उमंग ही उमंग है..परन्तु अभी भी दीवाली की रौशनी धरती से अन्धकार मिटाने में सफल नही हुई है..ऐसे में मुझे एक कविता याद आती है जो मुझे बचपन से ही अच्छी लगती है..लेकिन इसका असली मतलब मुझे अब समझ आया है....

जलाओ दिए पर रहे ध्यान इतना अँधेरा धरा पर कहीं रह न जाए।
नई ज्योति के धर नए पंख झिलमिल, उड़े मर्त्य मिट्टी गगन स्वर्ग छू ले,
लगे रोशनी की झड़ी झूम ऐसी, निशा की गली में तिमिर राह भूले,
खुले मुक्ति का वह किरण द्वार जगमग, ऊषा जा न पाए, निशा आ ना पाये
जलाओ दिए पर रहे ध्यान इतना अँधेरा धरा पर कहीं रह न जाए।

सृजन है अधूरा अगर विश्‍व भर में, कहीं भी किसी द्वार पर है उदासी,
मनुजता नहीं पूर्ण तब तक बनेगी, कि जब तक लहू के लिए भूमि प्यासी,
चलेगा सदा नाश का खेल यूँ ही, भले ही दिवाली यहाँ रोज आए
जलाओ दिए पर रहे ध्यान इतना अँधेरा धरा पर कहीं रह न जाए।

मगर दीप की दीप्ति से सिर्फ जग में, नहीं मिट सका है धरा का अँधेरा,
उतर क्यों न आयें नखत सब नयन के, नहीं कर सकेंगे ह्रदय में उजेरा,
कटेंगे तभी यह अँधरे घिरे अब, स्वयं धर मनुज दीप का रूप आए
जलाओ दिए पर रहे ध्यान इतना अँधेरा धरा पर कहीं रह न जाए।
-गोपालदास "नीरज

The significance of Dusshra for an agnostic

Being a true agnostic, I do not get the same feeling of reverence and devotion on seeing an idol of Goddess Durga or Lord Ram which a devout Hindu normally gets.So, for me, Navratri and Dusshra do not bring any special joy to my life. However, I strongly believe in the message these festivals represent. The victory of good over evil, which is symbolically represented by these festivals, is the root of human conscience.All religions originate with the pursuit of goodness and benevolence.However, as it happens, over a period of time, all religions have the tendency to degenerate into meaningless rites and rituals and the true message and motive behind the religion is lost somewhere.The unquestioned and blind faith in any religion enables the vested interests to exploit the religious feelings of masses for their narrow sectarian ends.
The increasing communalisation of Indian society where there is a frantic race for proving ones religion as the best one is a manifestation of this phenomenon. While the symbolism of the festivals is necessary to reinforce the pursuit of goodness, the believers should also extend this symbolism to their day to day life as well and understand the true message of their religion.As an agnostic, I may not worship Lord Ram's idol, but I definitely try to imbibe the values which Ram represents. This is not because I am accidently born to a Hindu family but because these values of compassion, love,morality,commitment appeal to my human conscience. So when I greet my friends on dusshra, I also wish that the spirit of goodness spreads wide and deep and not just remains confined to the symbolism.

क्या यह गाँधी के सपनों का भारत है?

अहिंसा से जूझता हुआ भारत,
धार्मिक उन्माद में डूबा हुआ भारत,
असत्य को सत्य पर विजयी देखता भारत,
धर्म, जाति और क्षेत्र पर बँटा भारत,
पर्यावरण को नष्ट करता हुआ भारत,
भ्रष्टाचार में लिप्त भारत,
क्या यह गाँधी के सपनों का भारत है?
हरगिज़ नहीं यह भारत तो गाँधी से बहुत दूर जा चुका है।
यहाँ गाँधी महज इतिहास पुरूष बनकर रह गए हैं,
सरकारी दफ्तरों में फोटो लगाकर और
गाँधी जयंती को ड्राई डे मनाकर ही सीमित हो गई है,
गाँधी की विरासत इस भारत में.

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