Little flowers

In my neighbourhood, the name of schools Rachna (Creation) or Prakash (Light or Radiance) sound just brilliant. When someone calls a school, a sector-two school or Sola school, then also it is fine because they are purely named after the places they are located in. Or, similar are the ones named after saints or freedom fighters. But what, when, in these times of rapid development, when starting and running a school is shit easy, and you see names coming up, such as - Asia English, or Ahmedabad International, or (one so absurd that I cant even recall it and prompted me to write this blog), or democracy school?

The Indian I.D.

Why suddenly I don’t hear about it in the newses anymore? Is the project scrapped or the money vanished? Nilekani (Yes, the chief of Infosys) out of work or he is keeping quiet? No, there is nothing like that, because the thing has existed since sometime (wikip). This issue as news headlines recently, only informed and brought forward that the tax coffers are coughing out precious Five hundred billion rupees on this. Because the need for an individual identity for e-governance is too important to outweigh the much debated privacy issues [try google]. Well, should I say I am not worried, because my name, again like in my passport, pan-card, driver’s license and election card, would be something different again.

If the task takes ten years, the project is asking for 5,00,000 correct entries daily and smoothly done for all ten years. Thus, can’t it be argued that this money and energies is better spent on something more useful? For example – provide ‘City Civic Centers with their own dustbins?'

The other day, the customer service kid repeatedly communicated to me that it will take forty-five days for the mobile phone company (in my case WhaTheFone ) to stop sending unsolicited promotional type messages. Receiving such messages, a minimum of five a day, like other users, err… I mean sufferers; I have convinced myself to enjoy reading what all I receive. The only pain is deleting them. Love, Chat, Dosti, UK-Girls are being offered to remotest tribals across the country too, who, if they don’t own a mobile phone have to worry about their regular daily meal and firewood again.

Wonder what impact this has on everybody’s chillen too?

My muse for Lalgadh

Hey, I am from left, and know you are from right,
I got my gun, and you might have your might.
I warn, I will kill you, maybe blow you,
for my freedom and right,
even if you are my childhood friend, mite.

A few will take the risk of trust,
for their tongues or pens are stronger than any guns, or guts.
Others, a billion behind, they watch but most don’t say a thing,
they prefer yoga, they like to be confined,
evening walks gives them peace.

O’ Mao aao,
-ists,
Come to my land instead, have some sasta vadapao,
if you got some extra cash have some coke too,
forget those tribals through,
let them stray left to right and right to left,
busy they are to understand, any –isms.

And, if you want to understand,
why I call myself left and assert I am right,
come to my land, live with me, for a while borrow my sight,
See my state and then see the state of my state,
land fertile or barren, together we will grow a million cars,
and the real estate.

The poor poor-man

Country ‘A’ has many types of people – hindus, harijans, rich, middle class, gujaratis etc.. As far as I know, ‘B’ has caucasians, aborigines and new settlers. ‘C’ has rich, pashtuns and others. ‘D’ has locals, rich-migrants and slaves.

Recently, A is in conflict with B, because the not-so-poor of A got into a bad sustaining brawl with the poor of B in the latter’s backyard. The poor of B, they complained, “hey, you took away our jobs, mate!” and also used some nanchas and knives. So, the not-so-poor from A, but living poor in B take to the streets and protest before their rich, also hoping to attract attention of their rich in A as well. In response because of some responsibility, the rich representatives of A take the earliest flight to talk to their not-so-poor and also the government of B. Both the governments of A and B when asked, say they are monitoring the situation and are trying their best to get it under control.

The same A is also in some senseless conflict with C which doesn't has any true basis. And also avoids discussing its true relationship with D. So, these rich representatives of A return back from B and get into a more time consuming work of organising high level peace talks with the rich of C, or organising protocol events for the guest from D who loves the exodus of poor from A so he can turn them into local slaves when they move to D.

All these variables, from 'A' to 'D' are interrelated in some form or other. Everything is about the poor man, but it seems the cause is just lost somewhere, somewhere in rhetoric.

Quoted

Who cares about the quality, but, has anybody said this before?

To do something big, you just need that spark you know you can manage. Rest is collecting hay.

Dispensable expenses and lal-batti

(Rewritten)

A cause can be common in two quite different cultures, but the reasoning of the cause would never be.

The exposé by a British newspaper on the issue of public money misuse by their parliamentarians as extravagant personal expenses has sparked off an interest amongst the intellectuals here in India as well.

With this cue, they lament the same issue applicable to an Indian mantri. Hardly realising that he* is the most important man, elected by the aam admi or gaon wala, who doesn’t really cares to know why not their elected leaders should live lavishly. Maybe, he wants him to actually enjoy his victory of next five years. The elected is an important man, therefore has the dispensable Lal-batti on his car; whether the road is crowded or not.

*author's apologies for use of masculine

Australia – the destination

Actually, I don’t feel like writing about this at all. But, will have to. Because? Probably, because, the voices talking about the issue, either of critics or observers, are a little off tangent.

So, I join too.

To an Indian from India, racism hurts, not because he is at the receiving end of it, but because he is not used to it at all. When we don’t communicate by talking, it is only the eyes that see. Colour becomes visible. And this Indian doesn’t take the issue of colour seriously. He is used to other form of discrimination in his own country, much unnoticed- such as religion, region, caste, and sex. Therefore, when the situation, coupled by individual incidents and persistent institutional prejudice, goes out of control and comprehension, mass protests show up.

I don’t agree with a few who say that it is the fault of very Indians who chose to go to Australia after all. First of all let us accept that migration is a normal human activity and the man has moved places to places since he evolved. Australia calls itself a multi-racial country, but is far away from proving it. Towards this, Australia is now thinking about effecting a 'hate law', which itself can be seen as a manifestation of hate. It is well known that the law only impacts the lowest in the society. But this is what ‘subjection’ offers. And, Indians, Aborigines, Caucasians - after all, they all come from somewhere! They must be tamed.

Western countries do fear Indians taking over internally, and like it or not, most don’t like it. Conversely, think, why is Sonia Gandhi regularly dubbed a foreigner?

So, like an infant, with the genes of a great civilization, India is again destined to be in the forefront. In no doubts I will assert that the Indian government is now only recently learning to protect the rights of its own people in different countries, who are like everywhere on the globe. Remember Amit and how he was treated? It will be interesting to see what India (Government and people alike) do to protect the humanity. So far no strong statements is a good sign. But again, at whose cost?