Virus CASTE,deadlier than H1N1 & HIV!

We come across various viruses in our day to day life like H1N1, HIV, Trojan Horse, Bugbear and Hepatitis B to name a few. Now each of these viruses affects our lives, rather disrupts our lives to some extent or the other. Though some of them are deadlier than others, there are some which we treat as part of our lives and we hardly foresee any threat from them. One such supposedly innocuous virus which all of us have accustomed ourselves to in our routine life is CASTE. Howsoever educated, rich or high profile life we may lead, but almost every one of us is infected by the caste virus. So for all those who are criticizing the government’s move to include caste also in the census should question their own stand on this highly contentious and sensitive issue.

We have this knack of talking big when ever the issue of caste crops up, everyone of us behaves as if we are the most secular people around and we are the ones who fall in the bracket of so called broad minded people by virtue of our education, upbringing or high thinking. But is this actually the truth? On a macro level may be YES because we have friends from all the castes, we visit to diverse places of worship, our favorites range from shahrukh KHAN, sachin TENDULKAR to michael JACKSON and various other similar reasons. But on a micro level things aren’t the same otherwise why do mothers keep separate utensils for their domestic maids? Why are some parents still more worried about the last name of there son’s girlfriend rather than her qualifications and mannerisms? Why do we form preconceived notions about a new colleague with the last name Gupta(bania), that he is surely a big time miser? Why do we hesitate to rent our house to a Dalit tenant? Why matrimonial ads in newspapers and websites are classified caste wise, Brahmin seeking for Brahmin and a Bania seeking for a Bania? Can’t we have ads like ‘seeking a prospective groom who is a BE MBA and say, 6 feet tall etc etc’, why it has to start with ‘seeking a Brahmin guy…’. And trust me these are not the views and ideas endorsed by the parochial and so called narrow minded people, we the broad minded high society people endorse them even more religiously. Following ones tradition is a good thing, but taking a call on a certain issue based on an aspect which the individual has no hand in deciding (read caste) is nothing less than a crime. We do hundred such things and take thousands of caste based decisions day in day out without even realizing the stupidity behind them and all this while our MBA degrees, MBBS tags and self proclaimed secularist alter ego goes for a stroll.

So when the Union Government decides to include caste also in the census, criticism from various corners was bound to come. Our country is already tottering with various communal disturbances and upon that a greater emphasis on caste is not going to do any good to our nation. Though the government officials are backing this move by a rationale that a caste based census will help the government in taking some key decisions and formulating various policies on caste based reservations. But the question is do we really need reservations of any sort at this point after almost 65 years of independence? I personally feel we need it, but we need it for the physically challenged people (read handicapped) because they are deprived of certain important faculties to accomplish their goals, we need it for the freedom fighters and their dependants as a token of acknowledgment for their services and sacrifices for our nation but we certainly don’t need it on a caste basis. We can certainly help the poor section by providing them the amenities to come at par with the well to do section of the society, we can certainly help the vibrant women of our nation by providing them the adequate security so that they don’t feel afraid of pursuing their goals because of a constant fear of assault of any sorts. So a question of reservations based on caste and creed shouldn’t ever arise, all sorts of reservations should be done logically because more often than not the benefits of a caste based reservation system or a community based reservation setup are being reaped by the richer segment of those so called backward classes, the poorer ones never get to avail them and the talented ones don’t seek to depend on such favors.

Hence, unless we get away with this caste virus and eradicate it from its roots we shouldn’t even dream of graduating from a developing nation to a developed one. But it’s easier said than done because if such a thing happens 90% of our politicians with get jobless, as a huge chunk of political parties like Bahujan Samaj Party, Telugu Desam Party, Maharashtra Navnirmaan Sena, Samajvadi Party etc are formed on the caste based politics and are surviving on the sentimental ups and downs of these highly volatile strata of people. Hence these shrewd politicians will never let this caste based division get diluted, after all they have very well learned the lesson of Divide and Rule from their previous rulers. But if leave aside the macro economics of national politics and talk of individual level dynamics, truth of the fact is unless we change our parochial mentality on an individual level we can't even dream of living in a harmonious environment and for that we surely need to move above these caste based cynical prejudices. After all the Babri Masjid demolishers aren't the sole criminals for being involved in the inhuman barbarian act of caste based violence, rather all of us are also equal partners in crime for making preposterous assumptions and decisions based on somebody's last name, community or caste. Because at the end of it we all belong to a common caste called HUMANITY and for those who are further obsessed with the nitty gritties of caste-ism, our subcaste happens to be INDIAN :)!

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Mother's Day - An Occasion to Salute her!

Though I don’t really endorse to the concept of special days to acknowledge the importance of a particular personality or a group in our lives but the hoopla created around each of these days be it Women’s Day, be it Father’s Day,be it Valentines Day or be it Mother's Day compels one to give a serious thought to all such wonderful people in our lives. So what happened on this Mother’s Day was no different, various articles on Mothers Day doing rounds across various websites ( which is a refreshing change in these repeated boring era of Modis and Kasabs), even the TV channels aired special programs through the medium of celebrities to emphasize on the importance of Mother in everybody’s life (celebrities using fake accent and the most dramatic expressions to blabber that their mothers are the best in the world, as if our mothers have been beating us right from our birth till the present day), even the newspapers came up with special supplements to celebrate this day ( which are far better than those matrimonial, property or classifieds supplements) but I was really appalled by one particular write-up/article which said about the sorry state of mothers in India and various atrocities which mothers in general have to face in India. That article even pointed out that out of the 77 countries which were a part of this survey, India stands at a shameful 73^rd in the ranking (these rankings being based on the conditions the society provides to Mothers in India). I was literally shocked with this statistic, though I am not an authority to question the authenticity of these findings, and may be the parameters they might have used to derive such results might be the ones like standard of living, access to basic necessities in routine life, poverty, pollution, foeticides, education etc but one thing which I believe they must not have been taken into account would have been the emotional and sentimental attachment every individual associates with his/her mother. This being a qualitative measure can not be taken into consideration and hence I believe not only me but every fellow countrymen and a proud son will disagree with such surveys/findings/results. I can also proudly ascertain that the importance and respect which we Indians give to our Mothers is far higher than that in any other country, where children move out of their parental house and lead there own life after a certain age thereby not only delineating themselves physically from their Mother and Father but emotionally too. And they term it as being practical, now in India can we even think of being practical with our Mother? We treat our mothers as GOD, so what even if these feelings can not be quantified.

So not only superstars and celebrities, every individual share a beautiful relationship with his/her mother and holds numerous fond memories which he/she treasures for life. Though there are many things which we don’t like being told or instructed to do, even if that instructor happens to be our mother. But when we ponder upon those instructions after a while, which at one point seemed so irritating, they seem so obviously corrective and productive now.

For instance mother seems to be ones biggest enemy when she presses her child on and on to drink a glass of milk every morning before going to school. One wonders what pleasure she derives from her child’s drinking a glass of milk but she relentlessly makes sure that her child drinks that every morning. But one understands this mystery only when he grows up and stays far from her mother when there is nobody to push for that glass of milk which keeps him fit and running throughout the day.

Or for that matter that feeling of extreme helplessness when she forcefully keeps her child inside the house, not allowing him to play in the sun. One really wonders what monetary gain she is receiving by keeping her child inside the house and not allowing him to play outside. But again the rationale behind that strict behavior makes sense only when one gets a sun stroke while going to the office in the extreme heat.

That sense of frustration when she instructs her child with hundreds of dos and donts before taking him to any friend’s or relative’s place. One really wonders if she has done her specialization in the hospitality management with a super specialization in etiquette and social mannerism. But the motive behind those lessons gets clear only when in a corporate party one sees somebody unable to use fork and knife and making noises while eating and giving one a feeling of deep satisfaction and pride that but for those lengthy lessons by my mom, I would have been doing the same irritating stuffs in the party today.

Those puzzled moments when she forces her child to read newspapers, watch informative channels on the TV and yells on him when she finds him spending time with the comics or cartoon network. One questions himself what difference does it make to her even if I know about the world or not, anyways by no means I intend to run this country or this world 20 years down the line. But her intentions get clear only when 20 years later ones friends and colleagues struggle to develop a reading habit and come to you asking for tips to develop it.

And last but not the least her spying on every phone call her child is involved in, showing displeasure of the strongest magnitude on the very idea of her child using a mobile phone, giving special attention to all her child's opposite gender friends, literally making the child feel that he is a suspect of a CID probe. But only to realize much later that mothers are only worried about her child not getting into wrong company and there by taking some bad decision eventually spoiling ones life.

We may go on to entice hundreds and thousands of such instances to embrace the greatness of mothers but we will still fail to measure the depth of her heart and selflessness of her love towards her child. No wonder mothers are the epitome of sacrifice who can go on to any extent to ensure the well being and success of their children without seeking any repayment incentives unlike anybody else. Howsoever selfish a child may be, whatsoever cruelty he subjects her too and which-soever necessity he abstains her from, even then in her magnanimous heart, the imbibed feeling of selfless love, care and protection for her child remains as strong as ever. So be it Mother Teresa, be it Mother India, be it Mother Earth or be it our biological Mother there is no denying the fact that human race is blessed to have a well wisher, a true philosopher, a selfless guide and a god sent angel in the form of MOTHER. That is why people from all walks of life love and respect their mothers so highly and can go on to any extent to abide by them, no wonder the tempers scorch so high when somebody swears or abuses by someones mothers name:)

So Mother's Day or No Mother's Day, till the time this planet exist and even beyond that Mothers will always remain to stay on the highest pedestal, irrespective of the rankings, irrespective of the nationalities and irrespective of the atrocities subjected to them.

Happy Mother's Day!

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Heartthrob KASAB!

Whoa, Whatta melodramatic week it was! Firecrackers across the streets of Mumbai and people distributing sweets across many parts of the country, effigies of Kasab burned all across and some people even celebrating the day as the Dussera day symbolically treating the death sentence as the death of last of the 10 heads of Raavan ( some TRP hungry news channel also aired a program comparing this new age Raavan with an upcoming bollywood Maniratnam flick Raavan -- DAMN, nobody can stop them or beat their imagination power ). Government patting its own back by repeatedly reminding the media about this being the fastest trial in the history of Indian Judiciary and they have done a good job since 26/11 as there have not been any major terror attacks since then. Public prosecutor Mr Nikam himself trying to cash in on this tumultuous moment to grab the maximum attention he can by using out of the box literary pearls like Killing Machine, Blood Thirsty Demon, Barbarian Butcher and what not. The human right activists who were jobless for a while also got something to cheer about and a cause again which can give them some media bytes - 'death penalty is unconstitutional; only God can take life', amazing Gandhian philosophy but I still wonder where were these philosophers and their philosophies on and after 26/11, probably they were silent then because everybody was singing the same tune at that time. Some weak hearted people, probably Karan Johar and SRK fans, also felt bad about Kasab breaking down after the sentencing and shedding tears, their point being spare a thought for the young guy who is tolerating all this alone against a 130 crore plus strong nation. Even the police officials were quick to do their maths and they came up with some staggering statistics that over last 15 months they have intercepted and diffused three possible attempts of a bomb attack on and around the cell where Kasab is housed in, I wonder why are these news briefs coming in now and not at the times when these failed attacks actually happened,because anyways such a news item would have garnered as much attention even at those times, probably because of a fear of intelligence breach or may be nothing of this sort ever happened. All in all a state of total confusion where all the cats and dogs have come out of their hideouts to enjoy and claim credit in this supposed moment of celebration.

Now if we talk about the main protagonist of this entire drama, Ajmal Kasab, we can pile up volumes on him. Firstly the dreaded militant brazenly killed hundreds of innocent people, then unfortunately for him got caught alive and then he started the act of toying around with the Indian judicial system, thanks to his alround training that even taught him the ways to handle a possible interrogation. To start off with he refused to have a lawyer as he was well aware that unless the suspect has a lawyer he can't be tried in the court of law, there after buckling under the tremendous pressure and large no. of proofs against him, he accepted his crime, then he went on to take a U turn saying that he is a minor so he can't be tried in the court and should be set free, then he came up with the version that he has never accepted his crime and he was forced to do so by the authorities but the most hilarious counter argument which he presented was, he came to India 10 days prior to 26/11 by the Samjhauta Express to watch Bollywood movies and he was arrested by the police for no offence while he was ambling around in the Juhu Chowpati. GOD! This one was so hilarious that even the judge can't stop his smile when this argument came up. But eventually what happened after several hearings and recording the accounts of scores of eye witnesses was quite expected. The man well and truly deserved the biggest punishment possible in the state of law because certainly those innocent lives can't be brought back but at least the man who was a party in this gruesome crime can definitely be made to experience a part of that pain which those innocent people might have suffered and their innocent families will experience for ever.

But the role of our Government, Judiciary and Police has been quite interesting. Government on one hand is thumping its chest by boasting on a fact that they have been very resolute to finish this case as soon as possible, they have also been claiming that they won't let any other 26/11 type attack happen again on our land and by record so far they have been quite successful in their agenda. But they certainly don't deserve any credit for all this as these things are the bare minimums which are expected out of them, so if you are just meeting expectations you certainly don't deserve golden medallions, you only deserve them when you consistently exceed expectations for that they have to adopt a zero tolerance model which US has adopted post 9/11 and have been amazingly successful in their execution. Same is the scenario with our Judiciary and Police, they are overwhelmed with the fact that they have corroborated truck load of evidence against Kasab and have gone down to an extent of filing pettiest of charges against him like entering the railway platform without a ticket, driving a vehicle without a driving license and other such interesting charges. On the face of it such things definitely seem rosy and praise worthy but what value they hold when there is a high possibility that the accused can go on to live for at least 10 more years thanks to a long queue of 50 similar convicts who are waiting for the same punishment. And if we go by our Judiciary's past track record, that 10 year wait won't be a distant reality which in turn will gift the accused a far more luxurious life in the jail as compared to his dismal life style in Faridkot (his home town). Another shocking decision was the acquittal of other two Indian origin accused who were charged with being the co-conspirators in the 26/11 attacks. Though being a lay man we aren't aware of the nittygritties of their involvement but otherwise too our police and judiciary haven't found any Indian accomplices in this plot. And to believe that this dreaded attack was plotted without an involvement of any local help is impossible. Howsoever advanced technology and armory these militant groups might use, but their being successful or unsuccessful largely depends on the local help they gather and use. So by being blind about the miscreants on our own land and by blaming everything on our neighbors the police and the judiciary is doing no good to the long term treatment of this deadly threat.

There have been quite a few strong voices advocating a life imprisonment for the accused rather than the capital punishment citing reasons like human rights and the fact that a life imprisonment would be a more torturous punishment than a death sentence. But a life imprisonment would mean a jail term of 14 years, by that time the accused would be only 37 years old and can plead for the end of his term and by law if he is granted that, what is the guarantee that he will be a changed man? And will that be justice for all those innocent families who will suffer with this trauma for ever? Certainly NOT! Leave apart the life imprisonment aspect, even if our judiciary goes on to award him the death sentence, the pace at which the things move in our country the picture seems quite bleak. Not only will it make a big hole in the government's pocket which has already spent Rs 35 crore on Kasab's security and still spending Rs 2 Lakh every day but it will also pose threats like bargaining Kasab's release in lieu of some hijacked innocent contingent as it happened in Kandahar few years back. So its imperative and prudent in the interest of our nation that Kasab's execution is done on a fast track otherwise it won't be farce to say that Kasab who has been our media's heartthrob for months now will turn out into a bigger headache for our nation and very soon into a Heart thorn!

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From an Inland Letter to Twitter!

I still remember those summer vacation holidays when I used to visit my maternal grandpa's place with my mom for two months and I my mom used to make me write letters to my Dad asking about his where abouts and normal routine, who in turn returned the favor by replying back.Though it was more of a writing practice for me but practically that was the only feasible medium to interact and contact ones out station friends and relatives. As making trunk calls to talk was a herculean task in itself and calls in those days were made only to convey occasions of births, deaths and marriages, as telephonic conversation was an expensive affair and telephone per say was a rare commodity and it was more of an item of luxury rather than an item of necessity. But things evolved at a brisk pace and we are staring a situation where telephones have rather almost gone extinct and are well and truly outnumbered by mobile phones. Also the cost of a phone conversation has gone down to such an extent that the only scheme left with the mobile operators is to pay the customer for using their services:). But fortunately options galore and we have hundreds of mediums to interact and network all across the globe, thanks to the concept of Social Networking!

With the advent of technology and globalization we have heck lot of options to communicate with our friends and relatives. The growth of internet has made our lives very convenient and easy, there was a time when one of the few social networking options on the internet other than emailing happened to be chat on the yahoo messenger. Infact it was rage among my friend circle, we used to go to internet cafes, paid 50-60 bucks per hour just to chat on the yahoo messenger. The concept of chatting across different rooms was too alluring, I basically went on to chat with few of my out station cousins and friends but most of my adventurous friends tried their luck in all the chat rooms like Friends, Love, Sex etc categorized across various cities and countries. And trust me it used to be the talking point in the school too, somebody boasting about his American girl friend whom he as supposedly proposed and wooed over the American chat room, somebody bragging about a holiday in singapore, thanks to the promise made by her new found friend in the Singapore chat room, some rather self proclaimed practical ones happy with the notion of a Delhite girlfriend, thanks to the Delhi chat room and last but not the least some really adventurous ones boasting about growing up into an adult pro by virtue of a video chat, courtesy his Australian strip model friend. Oh, those were the days when things moved really fast, slowly we graduated to some other similar social networking sites too but no sooner that boredom started to creep in, there entered google with a supposedly new concept in the form of Orkut. And Orkut pushed in a fresh breeze in our fun deprived lives. Orkut provided us a platform to not only regroup and chat with old friends but also gave us an opportunity to find new friends through our friend's network, and a variety of other new options like sharing pictures, flashing our favorite videos, giving a brief about ourselves and writing and recieving testimonials much in the school time slam book style. So being in the orkut was THE thing and those who weren't the part of this bandwagon were seen with a tinge of doubt.

But as with the mobile phones, no. of internet connections at home started to increase to an extent that now everybody has an private internet connection at home,consequently no. of social networking sites also plummeted. And people started to get bored with Orkut as they found other avenues like Facebook more interesting, as FB not only provided them with all the features of Orkut but also drafted in various games and interesting tests on its console too, keeping the fickle minded young generation roped in and virtually killing Orkut's business to an extent that now if you are still on Orkut and you don't have an account on FB, people behave as if there is something wrong with you. But none of the networking sites has excited me more than Twitter. Its simply one of the most powerful concept in the social networking arena, it not only provides you with an opportunity to express your views,share photos and connect to your friends but it also gives you an exciting opportunity to follow, explore and peep into the lives of the celebrities whom you have been adoring for years. Following superstars like SRK, Deepika, Warnie, Tharoor,Priyanka, Rajdeep Sardesai, Yuvraj to name a few and knowing their daily lives and plans through their tweets is an interesting and a delicious concept. And these superstars sharing their photos, upcoming plans and views on various matters is really something which was a matter of imagination before this powerful platform hit the scene. Twitter has gone on to to become such a powerful medium that even the news agencies have deployed special personnels to keep a track on the celebrity tweets to give them masala news. The power of a 140 character tweet can be ascertained by a simple fact that it led to the downfall of stalwarts like Tharoor and Modi. But for a common man like me who is a non celebrity the options on twitter aren't that many because the celebrities almost tweet things like 'Off to GYM' & 'Back from loo' and garner rave reviews for each of these tweets. But who the hell will care if I tweet anything like ' Had a good day in Office' or for that matter anythng. So what purpose it holds for me other than following these high profile celebrities and superstars, though even that is quite a boon considering the avenues this tool has opened. But yeah I feel something innovative can be done for the non celebrity class too, in the language of twitter world, for the cattle class too:).

Though the modes of networking have come a long way in last 30 years or so with each one of us having their own moments of joys and remarkable memories attached to them but there is still lots to come and these networking tools will scale newer heights in future too but one thing is for sure everybody is equal here, with equal rights to express ones views and use the medium to express oneself so no one expects or demands a special status neither any one gets it. There's no Taliban, no Pramod Muthalik, no Mulayam Singh either, to ask for a ban on computers and English. No MNS to demand you tweet or talk only in Marathi. At the most you may find a bot that offers you sex and then gives you a virus instead. We have truly come a long way from an Inland letter to Twitter, still miles to go!

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