A tribute to a dying nation

Ours is a young nation, beautiful and replete with natural beauty and cultural heritage. 60 years from independence, we look at how far we have come. The developments that have taken place. Something to make us all proud. Very proud.

Looking deeper, a part of the society is still in darkness. While the urban locales are budding with improvised standard of living, better jobs, higher number of educational institutions, better equipped with the latest equipment in industry, better health facilities and faster development, the rural parts are still in ruins. Not much help has been meted out to the remote areas; they are still places without proper supply of drinking water, devoid of electricity, sanitation and good health facilities. Unemployment and lack of education is eating the people of our own nation. The vicious cycle of poverty, lack of education and unemployment is leading the rural part of our nation nowhere.

That is just the beginning. The nation today is in peril not only because of poverty or unemployment, but because of corruption that aims at taking down the entire nation. A bad judicial system, illiterate "leaders" heading the states of our nation and the number of scams to which the resources which can otherwise be used for upliftment of the State fall prey to, are a few of the factors.

Every day, the news is outlined with cases of crimes against women. Be it an acid attack or honor killing or murder or rape or female infanticide. It was heartening to see the whole of Delhi erupt in protest of the ghastly crime on 16th December. But again, the system promised to look into the case, promised that justice would be served. Words remained on paper, the nation is back to where it was, and justice remains shrouded.

Lack of education could have been blamed for the rise in such crimes. But again, lack of apathy and the paucity of sanity and compassion cannot be steered away from imparting education. These are something innate, inbred in every individual. The society is ruled with monsters roaming around having no thought, just clear indifference towards the rest of people living in the society. And to top it all, the insufficient political and judicial systems are taking the country to deeper levels of downfall.

Where are we heading? Where is the unity and peace, Gandhi dreamt of? Is this the cost of living in a nation, whose freedom was bought at the price of the lives of martyrs like Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev? A nation, whose name used to make us proud about being an Indian, now brings upon us, at least on me, utter shame. Baby girls are getting raped savagely, girls can’t walk safely during any time of the day, the poor are tormented, people from lower echelons of the society are mistreated like they are outcasts, people standing up for truth get killed, and the truth gets twisted and turned and in the end gets bought for a sum of money. A nation where justice, in some cases, takes years and years to come; Where political parties play on humans and cause schisms in the society; Where people are valued less and avarice blinds the conscience of people; Where nowadays not even a baby girl is safe; Where a rape victim is victimized, while the culprits walk scott free. And in the worst case, the cases get closed and victim is lost in anonymity sans justice. Sad is our plight.

The police force set up for our protection, turns out to be the biggest tormentor. It's members all living for money. Police blames the victim of any crime for the crime, and fails when it comes to catching the perpetrators. If the culprits are caught, the judicial system delays the case and takes months and years of time for trial and a sentence to the wrong doers. In such a case, where do we see hope?

No society is perfect; crime and anarchy have existed since old, old times. But our society is falling to its destruction. Anarchy is taking over. No matter how uneducated the people in a society are, it doesn’t account for barbaric and unrelenting behavior towards ones’ own fellow beings. And even worse are the people who make merry when a part of the society is suffering, and use it for their own benefit.

Last November as the 21st approached, we were talking about the world ending. Many people anticipated that as well, others were afraid of it ending. Amidst that, none of us saw that the world did end. A world filled with joy, humanity, compassion and hope. Now all we have is a world around us sans all these, a place which is plagued with discomfort and apathy. Where people revel in accruing benefits from crime, where females are unsafe and not respected and where children can’t laugh hard and play in joy.

PS: I have focused too much on the dark side; I know that goodness in the society still exists. But we need to know that a major part of our society is at strife. People are suffering. This was just a reflection of the saddening events from our daily national life.

The ugly Indian

Venue: the central bus stand, Chennai

What: a wall, quite old or maybe not that. Just that the remnants of betel leave eaters makes it look shoddy. Very dirty indeed. And needless to say the smell of urine reeking from such public places makes the sight unbearable.

Come rains, major parts of the city can be seen flooded with dirty water with garbage once dumped by the roads, floating on it. We knowingly unknowingly become the part of “nation trashers!” Nation, yes indeed! Because the dirty streets, paan spewed roads, garbage filled nook and corners, leaking pipes, unmanned holes and public urination places are a national shame!

For the international visitors to India, India is a land of beauty and a close alliance to nature. But the truth doesn’t lie concealed – nor does the dirt on the streets, the garbage dumped by roadside which houses flies and feral dogs, and the public urination places leave any stone unturned to lessen the beauty.

I feel the NGOs and various committees which organize volunteered beach cleaning, road sweeping events et al do a very commendable and respectable job. The act is a paradigm of success and togetherness at behest of a person’s own will. For not many have the thought of giving back to the society. But again no matter umpteen times the streets are cleaned, the beaches have respite from the plastic and dirt shrouding their beauty, nothing ever changes. It is all back to the drawing board.

It’s time we realize that we have been brought up with the sloppy mentality, the art of keeping our homes clean at the price of dumping trash on the roads and the street corners. It is not the streets, the corners and the beach walk ways which need a sweeping; it is the minds of our very own people. The dirt settled in one’s mindset needs a scraping, for newer and better thoughts to settle there. The thoughts which will force us to think twice before we start littering our streets, with the wrappers of edibles we consume or the paper cups we use.

Why do we not think once before trashing our nation, but the same “we” when go abroad, would not even leave a paper bit on the nicely kempt streets there? Yes, the rules in most foreign countries would ask you to own up even your dog’s poop, let alone leaving you get away with not using the trash bins. If our government can’t come up with such stringent rules, should not we take up the task of being responsible in the li’l ways we could!? There is a lot for the government to do, agreed, but there are still trifling things we can take care of.

By not littering our streets deliberately, to start with. There are dustbins at street corners; we can make use of those. We keep our living rooms spruce and clean, why dump the waste on a roadside and make our nation look sloppy?

Nobody needs to start sweeping the streets or start whitewashing dirty walls, at least we could check ourselves when we are unconsciously or in many cases consciously litter the places outside. We ourselves show a tepid interest in the betterment of our nation, then hell should we expect foreigners coming as tourists to appreciate it. They write about India being hot, polluted, and having beggars wandering all around. True that. But why add more to the list. Doing the small things from our sides would not be a Sisyphean task, then why not do it!?

A cleaner and greener India should not be a distant dream, let us all play our small roles towards bringing that out!



Why SMILE !?

Another day in our life, and we enter the workplace. We meet some faces looking dreary and doleful, right at the beginning of a new day! For some it’s Monday Morning, for others the look is cause of task from the previous day left undone and for some it may be personal problems. No blaming people, for it’s the circumstances! We all face such days! Who does not!?

But looking again, it’s a new opportunity, a chance to get things that weren’t working till yesterday straight in a different way.If we move around with a long face, failing to appreciate the good things in our lives, bored of the routine we go through, or the monotony of the jobs we perform, we are sure to lose joy and interest in our lives.

Whatever we have, is a result of the choices we made! At some point, the jobs we do, the places we go – it all depends on us! Lives change, situations change – but everything that remains with us reminds us of the choices we made. What we have today is something that kept us happy at some point in life.

A smile is a curve that sets a number of things straight – this has been one of my favorite quotes till date. And I surely believe it does. It can make someone else’s day a tad more brighter than usual, less murky than before and dwindle the seriousness of hard-hitting situations.

Don’t ever fail to smile! It might spread one on the face of someone who needs it archly. And moreover, it never costs anything! Does it!!??

And no matter how much towed you are, do ask yourself –



Have a happy day!

So far, but no so good…

Yes! Those are the words in which we can about sum the journey of India from pre-Independence through this era. It has been light years since that time period, since our great great great ancestor’s great great great grandfathers took part in the fight against the colonization of India by the British, and set our countrymen free from their shackles.

And through the years, we have seen the nation developing – be it in the field of agriculture, economics, space, nuclear science, transportation, education, technology, so on and so forth. Moving forward there was a slight improvement in the status of the females in the society. Why I said ‘slight’ has a reason. On one hand, we have come ahead of the time when the majority of Indian population was afflicted by the attitude of looking at a baby girl born as a burden on the family. Now women can walk freely in the society unlike the former days of purdah system and a rampant sati system. That’s something good. On the other hand, though we are living in a modern era, there are some parts of the nation, where female foeticide and infanticide is still prevalent and a widow is seen as a crestfallen human. So despite the education system growing, the rural parts are not reaping any of the benefits. They are still engulfed in the murkiness of past mind frames – the one which causes many mothers to abort their own child when they come to learn it is a girl, many families losing their daughters to the fiendish act of dowry, and surly statistics of the sex ratio in the nation, owing to the number of rapes, acid attacks, male rage acts and domestic violence crimes committed against the fairer sex. Today, the ladies in our nation have come ahead in every field and set an example for the other ladies to follow. Along with males, the females have conquered all arenas – be it service sector, entrepreneurship, entertainment, space, media and journalism, law – you name it – and some among us are already there. And the success gained by these ladies – Kiran Bedi, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Kalpana Chawla, Barkha Dutt, Lata Mangeshkar, Uma Mazumdar Shaw, Arundhati Roy to name a few – is huge and veritable. But that is the brighter side, and definitely something to take pride in.

But every day through the media, is exposed news of atrocities committed on the ladies in our society despite the advancement and milestones achieved in the past decades. We say we are growing, but daily there will be news of a female killed for dowry – her child gone motherless for the rest of its life. Every day we hear news about a slain couple – for the sake of their families’ honor. Does anybody think about the importance of the human life lost? Daily we hear how India is becoming unsafe for ladies by the day – how women irrespective if their ages are raped and their bodies shoved down a drain. Every day the media also misses a number of stories as to how a woman was beaten up by her husband or how a jilted lover threw acid on a girl to destroy her life. We bask in the glory of the pride earned by the famous ladies of our nation, but aren’t we missing out on the lives of the less fortunate ones. Every person born on Earth has the right to live a privileged life – then where do the males who commit atrocities on females, get that right from? Why can’t a woman moving on the street move around freely, without a lecherous glance from so called stronger males?! The strength of a male doesn’t depend on how brawny he is. It depends on how much of a protector he can be, how safe a female can be when around a man. His power doesn’t come when he can overpower a lady and take pride in her misery or haplessness – it comes when he is able to take her misery away, and make her feel protected. A father is the giver of life, he is supposed to protect his daughter – and not kill her in order to protect his “honor”. If the overall sex ratio of India in 2012 is 940 females to 1000 males, then it is mainly because of the ghastly crimes against women today, if we keep aside the lack of proper medical facilities and insufficient number of infirmaries in the rural areas and also if we rule out the suicide and post-birth deaths. The government owes its people a major fraction of the awareness spreading schemes, but a part of it can start from us. If only we move past the segregation between the sexes – we realize that we are all humans, with an infinite potential to achieve and prosper in life. There is nothing that a man can do, and a female can’t – that is the pettiness of out mindset that refuses to think past the male female separation. We need to rise above the pettiness, think of each of us as human – and put the inhumanness at a caesura. The males owe it to the ladies to be able to walk with pride and not ridden by shame. Women are at par with men today, but some souls find it hard on their hubris to take it. If women are at par with men (if not, they are only better – for they can give birth to a child, something a man would never ever be able to do – and it is something which makes a female a step ahead of a man), that is something a man in this nation, and around the globe should take pride in. And it is her who completes his family – as a daughter, as a sister, a friend, a wife and a mother. If the males take themselves to be the stronger sex, so be it – your strength should make it possible for you to protect the opposite sex, not torment them with it. There lies the real strength of a man. Together we can improve the quality of life in our otherwise developed India, and make it a happier and a better place!

The art and joy of giving!

The dawn gifts us with another beautiful day in the course of our life. The sky brightens with the sun shining to light the world, the azure sky smiles at the world with a flock of birds flying through and the plants look bright and green after the darkness took to a hiatus.

The nature puts forth a beautiful example of giving in front of us. The sun shines through the day and brightens and lightens the world evading darkness. The trees give fruits, and shade much as a succor from the blazing heat. The skies rain upon us filling the wells, and underground reservoirs to maintain an unremitting supply of water. The raining skies give relief to the dust and dirt-laden plants, giving them respite from the heat and pollution. It makes the world look beautiful and new!

And neither of the sun or the trees or the clouds expects anything in return of what they give us!

These are beautiful lessons from the ubiquitous parts of the natural life we come across daily, and seldom take notice of. Isn’t it beautiful?

Giving others from what we have indeed is a beautiful feeling, for what we give others may play a significant role in their lives! Quoting the writer Hafez who says, ‘Even after all this time The Sun never says to the Earth, “You owe me.” Look what happens with a love like that, it lights up the whole sky.”’

Whatever we get in life becomes a privilege for us, we are thankful and proud owners of our health, wealth, jobs, assets, happiness, contentment et al. Giving a part of money we earn in no matter how wee an amount, helps the needy and spreads a smile in their life too.

What good comes from the joy of amassing wealth if we cannot share it with the penurious? Sharing happiness doubles the joy, it is said! Giving some of what we have to the destitute can help them in ways we might not know!

“What we earn makes a living, however what we give a life!”

Let nature teach us all the art of giving, and the joy trailing it.

No gratitude here!

I still remember vividly, during my childhood - I just had two simple endeavors. Either to be what my parents wanted me to be – a doctor. Or to be what thought I will be in love with - a teacher. Today I am neither of these.

The reason for not going on the path to medicine had its own reason. And the aim to be a teacher was done away, I don’t know why. A derelict plan it remains.

During my years as a sprat, I loved the idea of reading out aloud in a class full of dolls, writing on the chalkboard, signing the li’l notes, caning for fighting…and what not! I sorely miss those days, when I dreamt of moving ahead and taking classes for children, and not elfin dolls and teddies.

 

As I came to pass high school, I remember one of my friends telling me, “I am never ever even going to think about being a teacher.” Upon being asked why, came the rapid reply “Bohot gaalian khane ko milti hai!!” (You get to face a lot of abuse from the children, maybe not face to face, but yes definitely behind your back).

If it could be true six years back, the conditions have only become worse now. The appalling act by a 9th grade student in Chennai stabbing his teacher to death comes as shock to the entire nation.

 

We look forward to someone to put the blame on – the student, the rich parents of his, the school or the teacher who did nothing but performed her duty.

And true to the fact, now the takers for such a lowly paid and impudent (Yes, very much) job will definitely abate.

The perks associated with this job aren’t vey great, neither is the pay! But most of the people who opt for it do it because of their proclivity towards children. It isn’t a small task to do such a job, and especially if the teacher is dedicated in his/her efforts, their efforts go unacknowledged. It isn’t no sweat to look after 25-30 students in a class, teach them, make sure they have understood, to be strict when needed, correct their mistakes, and in the end to bear the brunt of the children as well as the parents.

Unlike other professions, teaching invariably requires oodles of patience, and there is no selfishness attached. Or at least there is some selflessness attached. Like parenting, teachers also play a major role in moulding a child’s future.

There are plenty of things my teachers have taught in life. Not all the teachers have had the same impact, but all have had some and some have had verily a much bigger impact.

Where I stand today, it is just not because of the school I went to, or the way my parents have brought me up, but also because of what I have learnt from my teachers back at school. I’m not talking about Math equations, or chemical equations or Physics laws. Even the university professors fail to gain a footing over what school teachers teach you. Every teacher is human, and does instill values in a child.

The ghastly murder of a teacher who took her job as her passion, has taken away all faith in people who think about opting for teaching as a profession. It has become a job which barely has any respect attached with it these days, and PTMs being the days when the teacher has to face the ire of parents for “not explaining notes clearly, or being fast, or being strict…”

I just have one question. Where is gratitude in this era??

Long gone are the days when a Guru was hallowed. Gone are the days when a teacher or a Guru was considered on an equal footing as parents. No matter how strict a teacher used to be, there was no rancor in the student’s heart. On being scolded in front of a class, feeling bad was normal, nowadays it has been adumbrated by the feeling of humiliation. How many students to be specific – middle school students have committed suicide in the past one year itself?

What is to be ashamed of if your teacher scolds you? Childhood blossoms with innocence, ego breeds only with age. But the scene today is dismal. They grow up as brats pampered by their parents and with their whims and fancies catered to. How can brats who hail from families who have only pampered them, grow up to be individuals in such a world? They need sagacity to live life up and it is a requisite to use their gumption to survive. Affluent grooming and an ostentatious lifestyle may just make you comfortable in your tiny little gory hole. But life doesn’t pass that way; it has always been and will always be a rat race. And only the fittest survive.

Fitness comes not only from physical strength. Mental strength is equally important to garner verve to live life. And proper grooming of one as a child gives that! Parents are the ideal choices for their children; they have to prove to be the best role models ever. Proper upbringing of children plays a vital role of how a child behaves when (s)he is not under her/his parents’ nose.

Parentship is no cakewalk either, but a balance between love and pampering had to be maintained. Loving a child, and never saying a NO to his/ her fancies does not really do much good to his/her growth. It only hampers it in a way and is perilous for the society too. History stands proof

An ounce of optimism..!!

Back at home, I always happen to hear these lines from my sister:

“Li’l bird in the sky,

Dropping shit into your eye,

You don’t worry, you don’t cry,

Just thank God that cows don’t fly.”

Cute, aint it? Or personally I feel so :)

Every time I feel there is something bothering me and taking away a major part of my attention (undeservingly, though), I find these lines really buoyant to keep myself from fretting over the smaller things in life. I strongly believe that everything in life is a part of a Higher plan, and that everything that happens has a reason to it. Life has its own set of ups and downs, for every scorching summer is followed by the monsoon and the winter comes with a promise that spring would follow soon.

Life is beautiful, and happens just once. All of us have many promises to keep and a lot of dreams to fulfill, but the biggest promise to keep is a promise to be happy, and to keep others happy. As it goes, life comes as a circle, whatever you give comes back with a full swing! So, don’t worry about things which went wrong in the past, for better things await you in future. Being optimistic helps us move the petty things out of our sight and lets the bigger picture come into our view. For, we all live with the hope that life is always changing, nothing is permanent, not even the tough times. An optimist might not win the race, but he surely has a happier journey.

I truly believe that life never gives you something you can’t handle. If it is good, it’s wonderful…if it’s bad, call it experience :). Both help you grow through life, and are essential. So, next time you see yourself passing through a dark tunnel, don’t close your eyes, just move ahead, for you’ll definitely find light at the end of the tunnel.

All is well :)