The Bitter Truth

   Some things I don't want to hear or see. The 'India's daughter' BBC documentary is based on the interview of one of the accused in the 2012 gruesome Delhi gang rape case which shook the entire nation and I think for the first time that the whole of India is united and came down to streets to protest for a social cause. Thanks to the development of Social Media sites like FB, Twitter etc.

   On 3rd of March 2015, My mobile screamed at around 11 30 PM. It was a flash news from TOI about a documentary taken by BBC. I opened TOI app to see the full article. I was astonished after reading it and a sense of disturbance clouded over me. I was sure at that time that this would create a huge uproar among the people of India and also in the Parliament and  that Indian Government would ban this documentary.

   At first, I got so much irritated and angered about that guy for speaking such ugly things without showing any slightest remorse. Then, I thought the problem doesn't lie only with him. It also lies with us. It needs a serious introspection of ourselves. What made him to speak like as if he was the ruler and all the women were his subjects? What made him to think about women in the way that he spoke? Who gave him permission to decide the do's and don't' for anyone, let alone for the women?

   Think about the mentality of an MP who told that the Hindu Women should give birth to at least 4 babies. If your leader speaks like an uncultured and intolerant person, who will blame you when you also speak on the same lines? Think about the mentality of the head of a leading organisation under whose support the present government is functioning and who told that rapes are happening in India but not in ' Bharat'. I still don't understand the difference between the two. I am not sure whether any virtual country called 'Bharat' is present in a different dimension parallel to us.  If your leaders are mouthing words without any conscience or prudence, then that reflects the mentality of our society.

  When I read the news sometime back that girls are not allowed to wear jeans in some villages and the sarpanches of those villages were creating this as a decree, I was wondering whether wearing jeans is a crime in Indian Penal Code. And no one is objecting for those decrees by some illiterate idiots. These cronies and the leaders would point history for the present debacle. As I wrote in my earlier blog, our history respected women and at times ill treated also. The exploitation was because of  the following of blind faiths. SATI is one good example. We should not follow anything just because the same thing was there for thousands of years and we should question the things when we are not satisfied even they are in our holy scriptures. Still the taboo of Female Menstruation is prevailing in many parts of the country. These blind beliefs will get us nowhere.

   When the government banned the airing of this documentary, what is it trying to tell? Is it banned because it will influence the social process? Yeah, may be it will influence. In that case, why the government allowed for the interview in the first place? Or is it banned because it will create social unrest and Law and Order problem? I am not sure about this argument. Whatever the reason, the interview shows the mentality of most men in India towards the women. It is the naked truth. Whether we accept it or not, the fact is just that.

   The most important thing is we are trying to hide our misgivings. It is as dangerous as doing it. when a society doesn't want to accept the truth however bitter it is, there is no scope for it to grow. It is as if closing our eyes with a hand and telling that we have blocked the entire Sun with our hands. The Sun is there ever shining and those who want to get your mist of ignorance removed from you can go out and face the heat.

   I want to quote a few of the great Poet's lines.

              ஆணும் பெண்ணும் நிகரெனக் கொள்வதால்
                 அறிவி லோங்கி,இவ் வையம் தழைக்குமாம்

               சாத்தி ரங்கள் பலபல கற்பராம்;

                  சவுரி யங்கள் பலபல செய்வராம்;
                  மூத்த பொய்மைகள் யாவும் அழிப்பராம்;
                  மூடக் கட்டுக்கள் யாவுந் தகர்ப்பராம்;
                  காத்து மானிடர் செய்கை யனைத்தையும்
                  கடவு ளர்க்கினி தாகச் சமைப்பராம்;
                  ஏத்தி ஆண்மக்கள் போற்றிட வாழ்வராம்;
                  இளைய நங்கையின் எண்ணங்கள் கேட்டிரோ;

Will the great Poet's Dream ever come true? 

The meaning of Death

   I don't know why it took me so long to write this one. I have been meaning to write about this for quite some time. The freedom of expression not only speech is the need of the hour. This has been included as the fundamental right of a citizen of India in our constitution under the Article 19.

   What was your thought when you had heard the news of the death of Mr Perumal Murugan? What made him to announce that he had already died. He had written a book named 'Madhorubhagam' in Tamil which was released some 4 years back. At that time, there were no issues. But When it was translated to English and released last year, some sections of the society raised flag against the book condemning the writer and the book's contents. He was threatened and he had had to run for his life literally.

   I do believe that for an artist nothing is more painful than seeing his art destroyed or desecrated. So when the copies of the book were put into fire, there burnt not only the paper but the man himself. How are we getting identified in this world? The means of identification of a human is by his mind only. The centre of everything is our mind. So when the mind's acts are destroyed , it is as good as killing the man himself.

   Our body is a biological material. It will decay one day or the other. When Mr Perumal Murugan told that he had died, it meant that the society that we are living had destroyed his mind. He is now living just as a machine. The excruciating pain that he had endured and is still enduring has no limits. It is too big a sorrow to express and to assimilate. The society had killed him mercilessly and we are living witnesses of this heinous act.

   This is not one stray incident that has happened. The killing of Mr Narendra Dabholkar is another one that I want to emphasize. He was a rationalist reforming people against the evils of superstitions and black magic. He drafted the Anti Superstition and Black Magic Ordinance in Maharashtra. He was lobbying for the bill to get passed in the assembly for many years.Not a single debate were made on that draft. But, ironically, the Maharashtra cabinet promulgated the bill within 4 days after his death. It took his life to clear the bill. He was shot at point blank and was died on the spot. Still, the miscreants are at large. Long live the Police system of this country.

   I want to stress about the intolerance that our society has. Because of this, we had lost Mr Salman Rushdie, Mr M F Hussain and many more. We didn't spare Mr Kamal Haasan also. Adding to these, there are many who don't want to come out in public about the harrasments they suffered.

   The killing of RTI activists, rationalists, scientists, writers, artists etc is the vogue of our time. After all of them are removed, what are we going to do? Becoming a Saint? Preaching Religious principles? I could not suppress my laugh when I imagined myself as a saint or a religious man. It would be the last thing that I want to do in this world. And if I do that it would be the biggest irony of me and I would become the greatest hypocrite of this world.

   I don't want to criticise our whole society or the government. At least we are not living under a draconian government or military dictatorship or under the rule where all our day to day activities from farting to fucking are scrutinized by the government. We are the biggest democracy and we are proud of it. But we should not  dwell on the past or satisfy ourselves by seeing those who are below us. We are better off than most of the countries. Alas, we have so much to improve.

The Conundrum of Civil Nuclear Deal

I am hearing flash news that the civil nucler deal between India and US has been finalized. If that is the case, India has made history not one but two times.

It all started in 2005. For any country to grow, it should attain self sufficiency in energy sector.Owing to the lack of this, the then Prime minister of India Dr Manmohan Singh initiated a civil nuclear deal with US. Before going into that, let us understand the India's nuclear ambitions and its projects since independence.

During the Indira Gandhi's régime, India tested its first nuclear test called the smiling Buddha. After doing this test, many developed countries imposed sanctions on India. Literally, India didnt get any nuclear material from any country. The sharing of high end technology in this sector was also stopped to India by all the developed countries. The condition worsened with our pokhran tests inviting fresh set of sanctions. As our erstwhile nuclear strategist, Mr K. Subramanyam put this situation as 'nuclear apartheid on India', Dr Manmohan Singh made a point to remove this injustice by initiating the civil nuclear deal.

During his first tenure as the prime minister of India, our Oxbridge Octogenarian Prime Minister risked his job to get this deal done. It took three complete years to get the deal done not without so much drama in our political arena. By mid 2008, India and US inked the civil nuclear deal. That was when India made history for the first time in this civil nuclear deal. I would rather say Dr Manmohan Singh made history ending the nuclear apartheid on India. It means India will get the nuclear material and high end technologies for civilian purposes without compromising India's strategic interests in nuclear research.

I would like to quote some anecdotes of this deal during the Manmohan Singh period which I had read in the book 'The Accidental Prime Minister' by Sanjaya Baru. After an all party meeting in the prime minister's residence debating this deal, our ex prime minister Mr Vajpayee personally  praised Dr Singh in private for making the country proud by signing this deal for which Dr singh humbly  replied that he had completed what he(Vajapayee) had started in his period. That was the statesmanship of our ex prime ministers who were poles apart in their ideologies but united for the country's sake.
One more interesting incident during a press interview with Dr Singh. The left parties were against the deal from the start as they believe that if the deal was signed anytime then it would meant that India was sold to US. When this question was raised by a reporter, Mr Singh retorted " Do you think any prime minister would sell a country consciously or unconsciously. We know what we are doing. Nobody can teach us patriotism."

Although BJP was against the deal initially, it approved the deal after many debates in the parliament, all party meetings etc. After inking the deal, there came the problem of operational difficulties. There were many clauses in the deal which India and US were not on the same page. So, although the deal was signed, there were several roadblocks in operationalizing the deal. One main issue was with the liability of nuclear providers if any accident happens. If the break through has happened as quoted by the news channels, then our Prime minster Mr Modi also has made history by solving this complex conundrum of civil nuclear deal. It took almost 10 years to complete the deal. I would say this deal as "Man-Modi" civil nuclear deal. Proud day for India. Let this nuclear deal solves our energy problems. Way to go Mr Modi.

Salutes to all the gentlemen who helped to make this proud moment possible.

The MADNESS called the MOB

       In the whatever path, the human civilization has been travelling since time immemorial, there is only one thing that is common. The MADNESS of the MOB.We are taking pride in ourselves that we are the most civilized animal in the world. May be it is true. But I am skeptical about that.

        Life is stranger than fiction, somewhere I red. Is that so? Lets analyse. First of all, What is fiction? How is it getting created? And who creates it? It is the humans' brain that create fiction. It is purely subjective and there is no involvement of the external forces. To create a fictional story or whatever novel or anything, humans have to think. So, how big or how long one could go in this in both Good and Evil terms? There are many Good intentional stories like extra terrestrial life etc. At the same time there are many gruesome stories which are also the product of human thinking. There are many scientific inventions and at the same time there are many fantasy and fairy tales created by the human mind. So to put it in simple words, whatever people do whether it is a rational thing or a very stupid thing, everything is based on their thinking. So, thinking is the source of everything which the human race does. Is it a fair argument?

        Now, lets come to the things which are done by humans while in a group (MOB). If the above argument is right, then whatever being done by the humans are based on their thinking whether they are alone or in a group. Lets take an example of the 'A Train to Pakistan' novel by Khuswant Singh.
It is based on the horrific massacres that had happened during the Partition of India and Pakistan. I still clearly remember one incident. One community Mob had separated a newly married couple and cut the Penis of Husband's and gave it to his wife as a wedding gift and the cut the breasts of of wife and gave them to her husband as his Wedding gift. Do any human in his/her right mind ever think of that when he/she is alone? The answer is definitely NO.Whatever may be the cruel person he is. This is just a random incident. There are many more horrendous and inexplicable things which were done
by humans to the fellow beings all around the history.

       I am skeptical about the man who has done those evils would do the same when he is alone and even when there is a chance to do that.So why are they doing it when they are in a group? The reason I would think is that a sense of madness, absurdity arises when people are in a group
and adding to that there is no sense of individual accountability in a group. That is where the real problem lies, no sense of individual accountability.

      "A worst dictator is better than a terrifying Mob".In the former, we can somewhat conclude on his devious ways but when it comes to the latter, we will never be able to figure
out the outcomes. It is only randomness that will prevail in a Mob!!!
"Monarchy is sometimes better than the absurd Anarchy".

The Lowland

Yet another intriguing novel from Jhumpa Lahiri.

The book recounts the lives of two brothers in Calcutta who were born during the time India had got independence. Subhash and Udhayan were born 15 months apart. They studied in the same class and shared the same room in their house. Udhayan was more brave but Subhash was more reserve.

During the middle of the 1960s, there was uprising among the peasants in the Naxalbari area against the owners of the land claiming for the percentage of crops they had produced. This Naxalbari incident triggered
more protests in the other parts of West Bengal also. Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal, prominent figures in the agitation against Capitalism formed a new party CPI(ML). They influenced the students in the West Bengal Universities and made them to join in their cause.

Udhayan was influenced to join this party. But Subhash was skeptical about the party's positive outcome. During this time, Subhash went to Unites States to pursue his doctorate. Things got worsened in the West Bengal where many students got involved in the agitation. The movement started too intense.

Udhayan got a job in lecturing. He fell in love with a bookish girl, Gauri. Both got married without their families' consents. Finally they moved to Udhayan's home after his parents halfheartedly accepted Gauri. Udhayan was living a dual life then. Although he was in the lecturing job he was also a active member in the Naxal agitation. He didnt let Subhash know about this secret.

Oneday, police came to Udhayan's home in search of him. But he went to the Lowland, where they usually cross to go to the fields for playing football during their childhood, and drowned inside the water to escape from the police. But the police took his family to that place and asked to show up otherwise they would start eliminate his family members one by one. He came up from the water and they took him inside the jeep. The police asked his family to go to the house. They took him to the place near the lowland and asked him to walk with the hands raised up. Then they shot him and took him  with them. All these happenings were watched by his father, mother and Gauri from the top terrace of their house. They didn't return Udhayan's body. He just vanished .

Subhash got a telegram from his parents about Udahyan's death and he left to Calcutta.  These incidents were narrated to him by Gauri. Gauri was pregnant at that time and Subhash wanted to marry Gauri and want to become the father of Udhayan's child.They got married against their families wishes. Finally, Subhash took Gauri to USA and started to live there.

Initially, Gauri was reluctant in sleeping with Subhash in the same bed. Subhash thought that it might be due to the pregnancy and she would be OK once she delivered the child. After Bela was born, they started to live like a husband and wife. But Gauri was always lost in something and she couldnot concentrate on Bela. But on the other hand, Subhash loved Bela more than Gauri and spent most of his time with her.

When Subhash and Bela went to Calcutta after his father's death, Gauri left  them and went to California without informing Subhash or Bela. They didn't try to find her. Bela became a introvert after her mother deserted her. When Bela completed her high school education, she wanted to go to a job where she would till the land and do the farming. She became interested in changing the lives of the poor. Subhash thought that this attribute must be inherited from Udhayan. She became a nomad and occasionally came to home to see his father. She got pregnant and wanted to raise the child without its father.

The final part of the story was nostalgic where Gauri was confronted by Bela when she came to their house and her repentance for being indirectly involved in the killing of a policeman for which her husband, Udhayan was executed. How an agitation or movement change the lives of people! How one incident change your attitude towards life and ultimately change the course of your life!  

Why this Kolaveri?

Killing. No matter who you are, no one can retrieve a life after it is gone or can create a new one.

Coming to one of the biggest problems in India, RAPE.  There could be numerous reasons we can ascribe for the exponential increase in the happenings of rapes in India. I don't want to argue or debate about the reasons for those happenings. I want to speak about the things that those culprits do after they have satiated their sensual needs. The MURDER.

Why the killing? What made them to kill? 'Two girls hanging in a Tree, Two policemen were arrested' reads a newspaper. People read that and feel pity for those victims for some time and start doing their daily chores. It's not about they should do something to prevent these happenings.

 We are talking about enlightenment and empowerment of women. But what are all these? The need of the hour is not about  upgrading the status or lifestyle of women. It is about the safeguard of women. The very basic Right of a human in this country is the 'Right to Life'. Ironically, that fundamental right is increasingly demolished in the largest democracy of the world. That too because one is a woman and that too, she is in her prime age.

India is a land of multitude diversities. But She embraces each and every difference. If you look at the history of Bharat,  many Roshis and Yogis whovattained the highest level of Spirituality were women. There were many women among the courtesans of many Indian Kings. They had very high intellectual knowledge. So, when did this disrespect and atrocities against women begin? I am not telling that everything was perfect in the past. But, I want to emphasis more on the collective attitude of society towards women.

What made them to rape a 14 and 15 year old and hang them alive? Still, I could not assimilate the enormity and magnitude of the crime they had committed. Is being a girl in prime age is a crime in India? Or being a woman itself is a crime? Ironically, We call our country as 'Bharat Matha'. I feel that I have failed as a citizen of this country in maintaining the honor and dignity of our motherland. It is not only the matter of those two 15 year old or their families or the culprits who had done this inhuman crime. We failed as a society and note my point, if these atrocities and crimes against women continues, then the society will crumble totally. I am having a feeling that we are again going back to the forest where the rule is 'Might is Right' and there would be lawlessness. Our civilization is just beginning to melt. Someone told that 'India is a well developed country and it had the highest Spiritual and intellectual knowledge. The saddest point here is that "It is in the advanced stages of decay"' I am afraid that it would become true.

What is our role in the society in curbing or at least attempting an effort to overcome these hurdles in our way? Sitting back and lamenting ourselves will not solve any problem. The thoughts should be converted into actions. As a layman, What could we do? A general question. I am having the strong opinion that 'Education' and sensitization would be the main weapon in neutralizing these untoward incidents.

'Giving education to the able and unaffordable young girls' will be very helpful in improving their knowledge at-least in a small margin. It is just a simple and rudimentary step. But, the seeds of our action will borne fruit someday. I wish that everyone should give back something to the society. May be a 1% of our monthly salary. I don't think it would make a big hole in our monthly budgets. May be a little, a small at-least for the sake that we are humans.

The curious case of Yuvraj Singh

  Humanity always wants the success. No matter what you have done in the past, when you are failed even after 100 successes, people would talk about that one failure only. Sachin was one of the best examples for it.
  6th April 2014. T20 World Cup Final. India Vs SriLanka. India batted first. After the wicket of Rohit, Yuvraj came in to the crease. People thought of the wonders he had done for his country. They expect that he would repeat the same that day. Even the opposition respect him. On this fateful day, he came to the crease at 11th over. He got his first run in his first ball faced. He has scored 6 runs in 11 balls. Everone thought that he was taking time to go for the big hits. After the end of 17th over, he was at 9 with 16 balls faced. People started frustrating about him for wasting too many balls in the short format. But many believed that he would very soon start hitting big shots.After the end of 18th over, still no big hits from him. He was at 11 from 20 balls. The problem with his batting was not that he could not hit big shots but with his inability to take a single and give strike to Kohli who was in a blistering form at the other end.

  Still two overs remaining. He was facing the 1st ball of the 19th over. He was gone. After making 11 runs from 21 balls, he was gone. The fate of him has been decided. He would become the scapegoat of the Indian fans if India lose the match. Exactly, the same thing has happened. India has lost.

I too felt sad for the loss. I red from the newspapers next morning that Yuvraj's house has been stone pelted for his poor performance in the match. That made me to write this blog. A basic question. How should we take the loss or win in a sport? For the people of India, cricket is not just a game. It is a religion. People will make you a demi god if you are constantly bringing glory to India. The moment when you lose, the same people will see you as a mad street dog.People doesn't just want to see India lose. In other words, they don't have the tolerance seeing India lose. They want to show their frustration in one way or the other. They don't endure when their religion(Cricket) is losing and their so called demi-gods are on the losing side. They don't understand that losing is just a part and parcel of the game. The result of a sport should not be taken personally. A sport is like any other job but it has a wide range of viewership where the work is encouraged and cheered. But, it should not go beyond a particular limit like harming and abusing the sportsperson personally.

Look at the case of Yuvraj singh. he is the only player in India who has won the U19 world cup, T20 world cup and 50 over world cup. He was the Player of the Tournament in the U19 world cup and the 50 over world cup when India wins. He was the major contributor to the  T20 world cup win. His six sixes in a over is unprecedented in International cricket. He brought many laurels to the country. His batting style and his timing is well known. His fielding is impeccable. He gave 200 percent to his game. He came back to the Indian cricket team after successfully won the Cancer which, for me, tells his greatest mental strength and will power. His love for the game and his love for the country is unquestionable. Yet he was the victim of so called fanatic following of sport when he was abused and his house was stone pelted. When will all  these shallow things going to change? When this fanaticism will end? See, Sport as a Sport!