indiaunbound

2006-05-12T02:58:00.000-07:00

This is something by the President that was in the TOI editorial yesterday............love the man.......

Conscience is the light of the soul that burns within the chambers of our psychological heart. It raises its voice in protest whenever anything is thought of or done contrary to righteousness. Conscience is a form of truth that has been transferred through our genetic stock in the form of knowledge of our own acts and feelings as right or wrong. It threatens, promises, rewards and registers. Conscience is an unbiased witness. If conscience stings once, it is an admonition, if twice, it is a condemnation. Why have we become deaf to its voice? Insensitive to its pricks? Callous to its criticism? The answer is corruption. Corruption is an assault on consciousness. The corrupt pretend that everything is all right. Do they not have the idea of the law of action and reaction? Have they forgotten how impressions of the sub-conscious mind and their force work? If you take bribes, your thoughts and actions are registered in the subconscious mind. Will you not be carrying forward your dishonesty to your next generations causing them great suffering? It is a painful reality that corruption has become a way of life, affecting all aspects of living personal and social. It is not merely pecuniary corruption but other forms of corruption as well such as female foeticide that is cause for great concern. If you perform wrong actions and sinful deeds and treat them lightly today, you will not hesitate to commit serious crimes tomorrow. If you allow one sin to enter and dwell in your conscience, you pave the way for the entry of a thousand sins. Your conscience will become blunt and lose its sensitivity. The habit of performing evil deeds will pervade the body like the poison of a scorpion. I would like to share with you the experience of D M Sinha, a retired civil servant now settled in Meerut, in promoting spiritual values in society. Sinha has designed a model for individuals, their families and their dear ones. The model nurtures a spiritual mindset out of which arises ethical conduct. In this model, love and affection are combined with spiritual knowledge in transforming the individual, families and other people coming in contact with the group. The Sinha household emphasises two para-meters. First, repetition and chanting the name of God as a regular practice and daily study of scriptures by family members collectively. Sinha also promotes joint family system. These two tasks enrich and empower human life for working with dedication as an agent of God for attainment of perfection at home, in the work place and in society. He also says that the thumb rule for practical ethics is: desist from doing to others what you would not like to be done to you. Every religion has a central component spirituality that is driven by compassion and love. Rationality and logic are intrinsic to science and spiri- tuality. A spiritual experience is the goal of a deeply religious person whereas a major dis-covery or an invention is the goal of a scientific mind. If both the aspects are unified, amalgamated in our own patterns, we can transcend to that level of thinking, in which unity is a cohesive aspect. For this environment the two major components science and spirituality have to interact.

2006-05-08T00:43:00.000-07:00

IITians Turn Politicians!! That's the way I Like It....But How Do The Parents Feel???

The recent news piece on 4 IIT-ians fighting elections sent my heart soaring........finally, somebody's doing what others keep talking about! We need to increase that '4' about a 1000 times to make some impact. Will that be possible?

Maybe a few more movies will do the trick going by how we are influenced by them!!!! Though I don't understand why Yuva failed to "rise the youth" the way Rang De Basanti did. Maybe, because Rang De showed the easy way out while preaching the harder way, while Yuva went for the harder route in the first go.........

Anyhow, the point is that these IIT-ians confessed to have faced a lot of opposition from their parents. Understandable, considering the fact that parents want the best for their children and want to ensure a smooth existence for them. But, I thought we were the youth.....it was upto us to make a difference in this world........you can't always escape what really needs to be done.......what is the point of such a smooth existence?

It is like a vicious cycle.....the educated and aware people don't join politics or other such professions, and those who join already have a history of corrupt guys before them.........all they do is carry out the tradition!

It's hard convincing parents do take anything other than the straight, non-controversial route. For instance, I tried to tell them that I wanted to take a sabbatical for a year and work in an NGO. The reaction was......er.........fairly justified had I told them that I wanted to join the Lashkar or the Hizb..............but for an NGO??? A little bit too strong!!

Still, there is hope. The IIT-ians have shown us that. So has Vikram Akula who is doing brilliant work for poverty eradication............the youth is waking up.........the next thing to do is to decide how each of us can make a difference.....

2006-05-05T02:33:00.001-07:00

Vadodra = Godhra 2 ???

Gujarat is burning again.......another part of it actually.

The reason : The demolition of a 350 year old Mosque deemed an "illegal constructuion".

The result: Riots and an obvious Anti-Muslim stance by the government.

It is ridiculous.........how can a 350 year old structure suddenly become illegal? It was there way before the city was even planned as it is today........way before the laws came up!!! A gentleman on the 'Big Fight' put it beautifully - " If today you decide to build a flyover that needs to cross the Rashtrapati Bhawan.....will you declare the Prez's House illegal??"

According to the spokesperson for the government, 20 temples have also been demolished.....Now, either the media, obsessed with its Anti-Modi stance, is deliberately keeping the temples out of this, or the official is lying. Any how, biased media reports are only adding fuel to the fire.

Whatever may be the scenario, the leadership definitely needs to act more responsibly.......a mob is made up of mindless jerks who can be swayed with the slightest of incentives and made to do terrible things.........it is independent of religion,caste,community.........the only thing common is lack of brains..........India has suffered in the past because of this....... why does it not learn from its mistakes?

2006-05-05T02:33:00.000-07:00

NBA and Celebrity Activism

NBA for me was all about basketball.....no longer.

Today, it brings to mind an obviously ill Medha Patkar, a mocking Narendra Modi, and a whole lot of "celebrity activism". The Narmada Bachao Aandolan has probably never been the recipient of so much attention before. Getting celebrities to support a cause does work to an extent, especially if they are the respectable sorts. I mean...... Govinda would definitely not have the same impact as an Aamir or Rahul Bose would, right?

But how serious are these people?

Rahul Bose is usually involved in such things. Aamir Khan and Atul Kulkarni were probably trying to show that they can live up to their movies.

But the real star was Medha Patkar...........it amazes me that a person can sacrifice to such an extent for a cause....a cause that will not affect her personal life per se. I almost feel envious of people who believe in something so strongly.....they are on fire for something much bigger than themselves.

And so it's even more irritating to see people like Narendra Modi take up fake fasts just to make fun. If he can't do anything right, he should refrain from doing anything at all.

Agreed it is a matter of benefitting crores of people vs a few thousands..........but those thousands are as much a part of India as anyone else.......you can't just ignore them..........

2006-04-25T06:05:00.000-07:00

Indian idle??

The junta has decided. Sandeep Acharya got to wear the crown..................disheartening for anyone with an ear for music. It wasn't Sandeep, but multiple voting that defeated Karunya. Anyhow, it is evident he'll make it much bigger than Sandeep.

Event after event is witnessing this menace...........isn't it high time that things were changed. For instance, why can't they give 65% weightage to the votes of the judges, and leave 35% for the public? They obvoiusly can't rule out "multiple voting"..............that is what's keeping the show alive.

Indian idol is actually becoming a show for the "idle"..............which sane person who has anything better to do will vote day and night...............this decision wasn't reflective of the voice of India.........it was the voice of the "idle". Down with the Idle Indian.

2006-04-14T01:21:00.000-07:00

Reactions to ….Death??

“ 15 killed in Iraq”

“ Over 60 Dead in Meerut Mishap”

“10 Miners Found Dead in China”

“ Over a 100 killed as Ferry sinks”…………..

The list is endless. Each day as I open the morning newspaper, I seem to be bombarded with statistics of people dead around the globe. What bothers me more than the deaths themselves is the fact that I no longer get shocked by them. It is…..well…….just another piece of news. Worse, it’s not just me. Nobody seems to be unduly perturbed by tragedies till they directly affect them.

But, on the other hand, Bangalore has been rocked by riots in the last few days, ever since Raj Kumar died of a …….heart attack. Going by the reactions of the mobs and their anger against the police, one would think it was a case of death-in-custody.

This irony had been captured morbidly by Stalin ages ago when he said:

" A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic."

Amen.

2006-04-08T06:04:00.000-07:00

Don’t let us down Mr. Manmohan Singh

Arjun Singh’s gone on record to say that his decision is final…………somebody should tell him that there’s an emphatic air of finality about stupidity itself. His logic: give the underprivileged meritorious students a chance…….what happens to the underprivileged who don’t belong to the reserved category? What happens to the otherwise meritorious children who will miss out on these institutes just because of this?

And then they blame brain drain……..Ministers like him will lead to the downfall of the country, as if the situation wasn’t bad enough already.

But nobody intends to take it lying down anymore……….protests have already begun……things will hopefully change. We are the youth……….this country belongs to us, not to a bunch of losers who talk rubbish, take rubbish decisions, and behave like animals ( due apologies to the animals, for insulting them) in State Assemblies.

However, such things are expected of people like Arjun Singh………he’s incapable of showing any intelligence. But what I feel totally let down about is our PM being party to this decision ( if news reports are to be believed). The 2 men I really respect in politics are Manmohan Singh and Chidambram…….they should show better sense. Maybe our President could help…..he’ll understand………he’s not a politician……..

2006-04-07T19:53:00.000-07:00

Reservations: Down With Arjun Singh

It is happening again. the government has nothing better to do. How can they take such a drastic step? Votebank politics??? Screw them. 49.5% reservation would be hilarious were it not so outrageous. Which era are they still living in? Don't the so-called "reserved" classes feel ashamed themselves..........this is so totally a way of declaring that "we aren't capable of better things.......pleeeeez let us in".

The whole drama of reservation started way back when the British were still ruling us. It was for the Civil ServicesExam that WE had asked for reservations coz Indians had trouble clearing it...........no doubt the people who demanded this had no self-respect, no dignity to boast about. I mean, how low can you go.begging the enemy for favours. The British went away, but the practice stuck.

If you really want to have resevations, have just one category........Below Poverty Line Status. I have known rich but useless SCs get into top medical colleges thanks to their reservation. I have also known a boy who made it to IIT ( AIR 64) WITHOUT using the reservation quota, even though he was eligble for it.

If the young are going to be the future of India, I don't think it is a good idea to get the so-called "General" category's back against the "reserved" classes. It's positively insulting to the so-called lower classes too.

This is the 21st Century for God's sake........wake up, Politicians,wake up. We should have well got over the STUPID upper-caste - lower-caste phase by now. Don't divide the country for your selfish interests..........else you won't know what's hit you.........

2006-04-04T21:52:00.000-07:00

Deaf, Dumb and Blind

Back after a while.........it's rather heartening to see that all the protests, blogs and smses worked as far as the Jessica Lall case is concerned......three cheers for the aam junta!!!
Still loads of work remains........Jessica Lall has not yet got justice after all. Other cases like that of Meher Bhargava etc are too getting their share of the limelight...hope something comes out of all this........

In our country...........where on the one hand justice seems to be blind.........the aam junta seems to be dumb and deaf. No earth shaking issue-this- but if you watched the last Results Episode of Indian Idol, you know what I mean ( where Karunya came in the last 2 outta 3 contestants).........they desperately need to change the patters........maybe give 70% weightage to the Judges' votes, and 30% to the public............ what's happening is sooooo unfair.

2006-02-28T02:40:00.000-08:00

We, in India, have been blessed with an amazingly rich cultural heritage. Whether it is the multitude of dances or the glorious ragas…….. we’ve developed it all over aeons. We may have been monetarily poor, but our riches came from intangible things. In a way, we were far more prosperous than the richest countries. Yet, somewhere down the line, we became ashamed to be called Indian. We witnessed a mass exodus of Indians on the lookout for a better life…………no doubt, things must have been frustrating for people trying to set up businesses in the face of the Terrible Days of Licensing Schemes etc, yet the solution is not to run away. We were a newly independent nation facing teething problems……..running away ( which is still going on) is just not the solution. With such an attitude, we’d have never gained independence or improved our condition. But today, we are witnessing a return of “our long lost brothers and sisters” ----- the booming Indian economy has done the trick – alas, it all boils down to money! But what about our culture, our identity…..are we as proud of it as we are of our 8.1% growth rate?

It’s not just about preferring jeans over salwar kameezes, English over Hindi, or Linkin Park over Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia --- such influences are bound to creep in with globalization. But, doesn’t overindulgence in everything “foreign” at the cost of everything “Indian” defeat the whole purpose of globalization?

Globalization is not about a merger of identities. It’s not about looking alike, thinking alike and talking alike ( read American….probably the most copied accent today!). It’s about the coming together of different countries with different ways of life, in harmony. It’s truly about “Unity in Diversity”.

But that is not what is exactly happening. What we export as “Indian culture” are jazzy Karan Johar flicks and Yash Chopra babies. Are these truly representative of what we are all about……ha! They may just touch upon the lives of the ‘elitest’ of the elite or maybe some amazingly rich NRIs, but they don’t go beyond that. And on the other hand, we have movies like Paheli…the other extreme of the ridiculous.

Of course, renowned artistes like Pt. Ravi Shankar and our classical dancers are gaining popularity abroad, but here in India, people would rather be known as proponents of Salsa than of Bharatnatyam. Though it is unfair to club the entire country under such a generalization…….but that is the way we are heading.

As for language --- the fact that this blog is in English says a lot!!! Here we have something to learn from the Chinese. While training their own citizens to become more proficient in English, they are, at the same time, undertaking a program to spread Mandarin in certain key nations. It’ll be a shame if they become world powers some day, and we end up slogging over Mandarin, while totally forgetting our own language!! Sanskrit – that we actually started out with….is indeed a beautiful language……but how many of us have actually bothered to learn it, or even read our scriptures for that matter.
I’ve met many a people who’d rather talk in the “AMAAAARICAN” accent than be caught dead talking in Hindi. Can’t blame them entirely…..we are brought up to believe that if we don’t know English, we are probably just losers.

To wind up, I believe, that it is not wrong to learn Salsa or to speak in English, or to even live in jeans if that’s what makes us comfortable…..as long as it does not make us scorn at everything Indian, and does not reduce us to mere a**-kissers of everything firang. But to take up exotic stuff, and wrinkle ours noses at our own culture seems nothing short of a second wave of colonization….not only of our country, but also of our mind and spirit. Believe me, this is one battle for “independence” and identity that we are going to find extremely hard to fight.

2006-02-27T04:10:00.000-08:00

The verdict of the Jessica Lal murder case was chilling to say the least…….the message was clear….if you have money, you can get away with murder. And that scoundrel Manu Sharma has gone to Vaishno Devi to “thank” the Gods for his acquittal……..if I were God, I’d blast him to bits, right from the heaven’s above. The media is playing a rather constructive role though, and the public response is quite strong. But is that all we are capable of? Why didn’t the people of Chandigarh boycott Manu Sharma’s bar-cum-restaurant? Are they willing to do it now? Are we just capable of talking, or can we really make a difference. That SHO who is supposed to have bungled the case is still roaming scott free.

Sadly, this isn’t the first of such cases. Even Priyadarshini Mattoo’s killer is a practicing lawyer in Delhi today. Justice seems to be blind, deaf, dumb and incredibly heartless.

Enough of depending on these institutions. What can we do is the question that arises. I, myself feel lost. Can all our sms-ing to support the cause make a difference? Will it put Manu Sharma behind bars forever? I doubt it.

It is the young people that are the strength of the country. What about ours? In a country where the young people are either slogan-shouting , or pub-hopping, or simply indifferent as long as they are getting their hefty pay packages ( hate that word)…….where, then, lies our strength?