Thursday, April 2, 2009
God...it has been really ages since I wrote anything!'Was watching splitsville,season two...for the first time and was astonished to see its content or may be this is still quite milder than what I actually thought after watching that. How can such a stuff be shown on TV? Half the time the beep was there to hide the actual dialogue and rest half was not less disgusting by any measure.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
The arrest of an army officer
“If it’s true, it’s shame for the Indian Army”, said one senior politician. “It’s highly disturbing to even know that things like this exist at all in this institution”, lamented another politician.
All these statements referred to Lt Col Purohit’s arrest in connection with the Malegaon blast and the growing religious tendencies of Indian Army.
But I wonder why and what this brouhaha is all about? Is it something which happened out of the blue? I thought this is what our politicians wanted for a long time! They should be congratulated on having been able to penetrate in to the last bastion of true secularism of this country which so far thrived on the spirit of co-existence!!
The politicians cutting across the party lines fed the religious sentiments of common men so much so that today it has turned in to a monster, ready to gobble up anything and everything which comes in the way.
Our ‘respected’ leaders could not do away with reservation even after sixty years of Independence so that their vote bank does not migrate to the opposition camp. They couldn’t bring the single law system for all the citizens of India lest one or the other vote bank loses it’s faith in the party and thus causing the harm to the prospect of the party to come in to the power. They always tried to play safe and in the process divided the country socially if not geographically!
No, I wasn’t surprised at all at the turn of the events! It was something which was waiting to happen for a long time, thanks to our politicians and thanks to us who chose them!
All these statements referred to Lt Col Purohit’s arrest in connection with the Malegaon blast and the growing religious tendencies of Indian Army.
But I wonder why and what this brouhaha is all about? Is it something which happened out of the blue? I thought this is what our politicians wanted for a long time! They should be congratulated on having been able to penetrate in to the last bastion of true secularism of this country which so far thrived on the spirit of co-existence!!
The politicians cutting across the party lines fed the religious sentiments of common men so much so that today it has turned in to a monster, ready to gobble up anything and everything which comes in the way.
Our ‘respected’ leaders could not do away with reservation even after sixty years of Independence so that their vote bank does not migrate to the opposition camp. They couldn’t bring the single law system for all the citizens of India lest one or the other vote bank loses it’s faith in the party and thus causing the harm to the prospect of the party to come in to the power. They always tried to play safe and in the process divided the country socially if not geographically!
No, I wasn’t surprised at all at the turn of the events! It was something which was waiting to happen for a long time, thanks to our politicians and thanks to us who chose them!
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Petty Politics
There has been a lot going around in the media and the political circles of north India and Maharashtra, courtesy Raj Thackeray and his brand of politics. There have been stories of a Bihari thrown out from the bus, A Bhaiyya lynched to death, a police encounter of a youth from Bihar who tried to hijack the bus. So on and so forth.
Yes, there is Raj Thackeray who has been ever bellicose, taking this ‘Non- Maharashtrian’ issue to a new abyss of Indian politics in an effort to garner political advantage. People from rural North India or should I say people of underdeveloped states, particularly from Bihar and UP are being seen as a threat by MNS(Maharashtra Nav Nirman Sena) and are being targeted viciously.
This was a reason, good enough to make a person wonder about the concept called India where people of Indian nationality are free to go in any state and seek employment but what was even more surprising was the fact that it brought almost all the leaders of Bihar together to condemn the wrongs done to Biharis and UPites ,which even a national calamity like Kosi flood failed to do. It’s apropos to mention here that many of the flood victims are still living in makeshift tents.
The leaders were trying to over smart each other while expressing concern for the Biharis who had gone to Maharashtra in search of job and better life .Laluji talked big who ruled Bihar for about fifteen years, Nitish too wasn’t far behind with Ramvilas Paswan in tow.
It’s definitely a crime not to let people of other states come to a state which have more job opportunity in a country but is it any less a crime to rule a state for more than a decade and then leave it in a situation where people hardly find any job. There has been virtually nil development, be it in infrastructure, education, industries or employment.
Today Laluji boasts of his railway achievements but why didn’t he do something to uplift the life of Biharis when he was the Chief Minister of Bihar. Why he couldn’t create enough jobs for them? Before talking about their welfare in other states he should think what the reasons are and why people are leaving their own abode in search of better life and in some cases simply LIFE?
May be he didn’t have the time as he was busy in formulating the caste and religion equation in order to win the Assembly elections!
Raj is to be blamed for the present condition of Biharis but are the leaders of those states to be blamed any less? Give it a thought.
Yes, there is Raj Thackeray who has been ever bellicose, taking this ‘Non- Maharashtrian’ issue to a new abyss of Indian politics in an effort to garner political advantage. People from rural North India or should I say people of underdeveloped states, particularly from Bihar and UP are being seen as a threat by MNS(Maharashtra Nav Nirman Sena) and are being targeted viciously.
This was a reason, good enough to make a person wonder about the concept called India where people of Indian nationality are free to go in any state and seek employment but what was even more surprising was the fact that it brought almost all the leaders of Bihar together to condemn the wrongs done to Biharis and UPites ,which even a national calamity like Kosi flood failed to do. It’s apropos to mention here that many of the flood victims are still living in makeshift tents.
The leaders were trying to over smart each other while expressing concern for the Biharis who had gone to Maharashtra in search of job and better life .Laluji talked big who ruled Bihar for about fifteen years, Nitish too wasn’t far behind with Ramvilas Paswan in tow.
It’s definitely a crime not to let people of other states come to a state which have more job opportunity in a country but is it any less a crime to rule a state for more than a decade and then leave it in a situation where people hardly find any job. There has been virtually nil development, be it in infrastructure, education, industries or employment.
Today Laluji boasts of his railway achievements but why didn’t he do something to uplift the life of Biharis when he was the Chief Minister of Bihar. Why he couldn’t create enough jobs for them? Before talking about their welfare in other states he should think what the reasons are and why people are leaving their own abode in search of better life and in some cases simply LIFE?
May be he didn’t have the time as he was busy in formulating the caste and religion equation in order to win the Assembly elections!
Raj is to be blamed for the present condition of Biharis but are the leaders of those states to be blamed any less? Give it a thought.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Another Indian, another Booker Prize. ‘The White Tiger’ by Arvind Adiga has won the elite Booker prize this year.
Keeping aside the suspicion it has created –it is largely seen as an attempt of west to use the ‘The white tiger’ as a mirror to us Indians- I want to again come back to language issue and take it further from where I had left in my post, ‘Status of Hindi in contemporary India’.
It’s quite paradoxical that the Indian writers in English who write about India have their readership mostly in other countries and despite that they get better recognition and appreciation globally including India than their counterparts who write in their mother tongue.
Although these writers write about India but they have hardly any connection with the true India. I have my doubt if Adiga, who grew up in Australia and went to England and US Universities, had any soul connection with India. And they write about the pains and sufferings, the class divide and the widening social gap of this country and get the accolades in the form of ‘Booker Prize’!
What about the Indian writers who did so with true and self experiences and not as a tourist? There are dozen of books published in various Indian languages about the darker side of the Indian society and with much more authenticity. But I doubt if these books or their authors will ever shine like the ones who write about Indian disparity in English and go home with the Booker along with the rave reviews.
Keeping aside the suspicion it has created –it is largely seen as an attempt of west to use the ‘The white tiger’ as a mirror to us Indians- I want to again come back to language issue and take it further from where I had left in my post, ‘Status of Hindi in contemporary India’.
It’s quite paradoxical that the Indian writers in English who write about India have their readership mostly in other countries and despite that they get better recognition and appreciation globally including India than their counterparts who write in their mother tongue.
Although these writers write about India but they have hardly any connection with the true India. I have my doubt if Adiga, who grew up in Australia and went to England and US Universities, had any soul connection with India. And they write about the pains and sufferings, the class divide and the widening social gap of this country and get the accolades in the form of ‘Booker Prize’!
What about the Indian writers who did so with true and self experiences and not as a tourist? There are dozen of books published in various Indian languages about the darker side of the Indian society and with much more authenticity. But I doubt if these books or their authors will ever shine like the ones who write about Indian disparity in English and go home with the Booker along with the rave reviews.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
The job security
Oh!how I secretly wished for my husband to leave his government job and go for that high flying, high paying job which his friends were lapping up! As I had opted to stay at home, and he being the bread winner, occasionally things did seem difficult but more or less it was a smooth running affair, barring a few times when I wished to shop without bothering about the price tag and have a cozy dinner at the best eating joint without looking at the price list and yes wished to go on that star cruise.
But this was all before September, before the melting down American economy engulfed almost the entire world in a chain reaction, before the pass outs from IIT, Kharagpur got a regret letter instead of joining letter from US companies (it happened for the first ever time in the history of IIT Kharagpur) before IIM students looked worried for their loans which they had taken for their education , before ‘pink slips’ became the norm in private sectors and when living out of credit card was fashion.
After September, the old government job which had lost it’s sheen to the shiny corporate sector regained its lost glory and my husband seemed to have the last laugh who always loved his defence job.
Although my wish list is still intact, I can at least go to bed without worrying about tomorrow, paying any EMI or how to pay the necessary bills .Every morning I get up with a sense of security for my family and this is much bigger than any wish I ever had.
But this was all before September, before the melting down American economy engulfed almost the entire world in a chain reaction, before the pass outs from IIT, Kharagpur got a regret letter instead of joining letter from US companies (it happened for the first ever time in the history of IIT Kharagpur) before IIM students looked worried for their loans which they had taken for their education , before ‘pink slips’ became the norm in private sectors and when living out of credit card was fashion.
After September, the old government job which had lost it’s sheen to the shiny corporate sector regained its lost glory and my husband seemed to have the last laugh who always loved his defence job.
Although my wish list is still intact, I can at least go to bed without worrying about tomorrow, paying any EMI or how to pay the necessary bills .Every morning I get up with a sense of security for my family and this is much bigger than any wish I ever had.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Gandhism
How does it feel to share ones birthday with as great a personality as Mahatma Gandhi? It may be a heady feeling and it may well be a responsibility also as I discovered soon after I reached an age of understanding my surroundings and perceiving the happenings with more clarity .Or may be there is something in that date(2nd October) itself which makes one behave in a particular fashion.
First time when I realized it, I was a seven years old, class two student. Usually, I was considered a good student by my teachers, both in academics and extra curricular .I always found books very fascinating but for one…yes I could never get myself to like Mathematics specially the tables. Nonetheless, I tried hard to get at least as much marks as was required to come in top three positions and more or less always managed to get as much. My final exam was approaching but this time it seemed to be going haywire and I got apprehensive and anxious about the Math paper and in my anxiety did something which I felt would help me score good marks. I wrote the tables on the back of my exam board! The question paper was distributed and everyone started writing the paper in silence. That day our Principal was in our classroom. I did the sums which I knew and then needed the help of that table written behind the board Meanwhile the Principal kept on taking his rounds .when I felt confident that I was out of his sight I slowly tried to turn the board.
“Any problem”?, reverberated the voice of the Principal .I looked up. He was standing overhead and his hand was advancing towards my exam board! I gathered all my guts and said, “Oh no, everything is fine…was just stabilizing the board.”
He looked in to my eyes…“I know, you can’t do anything wrong”, he said and left. I heaved a sigh of relief but the words he spoke kept drumming in my mind… “you can’t do anything wrong”…Yes, I left the sums which required me to refer to the table and came home. The result was announced after a few days. I stood second by a narrow margin but still felt like a winner. Surely I had overcome the temptation to cheat and it was enough a reason for me to feel like a conqueror!
It has been about twenty five years since then and even now when I am on the verge of committing anything which is considered not in sync with society norms or established virtues, a voice seems to echo somewhere, “you can’t do anything wrong ”!!!!
At times I have spoken the truth even at the cost of my own self-esteem and have suffered the embarrassment and awkwardness too but honestly it was nothing if compared to the contentment and gratification I felt afterward.
I may not fight for masses as Gandhi did but still feel a sense of accomplishment by simply standing by the truth…ALWAYS.
First time when I realized it, I was a seven years old, class two student. Usually, I was considered a good student by my teachers, both in academics and extra curricular .I always found books very fascinating but for one…yes I could never get myself to like Mathematics specially the tables. Nonetheless, I tried hard to get at least as much marks as was required to come in top three positions and more or less always managed to get as much. My final exam was approaching but this time it seemed to be going haywire and I got apprehensive and anxious about the Math paper and in my anxiety did something which I felt would help me score good marks. I wrote the tables on the back of my exam board! The question paper was distributed and everyone started writing the paper in silence. That day our Principal was in our classroom. I did the sums which I knew and then needed the help of that table written behind the board Meanwhile the Principal kept on taking his rounds .when I felt confident that I was out of his sight I slowly tried to turn the board.
“Any problem”?, reverberated the voice of the Principal .I looked up. He was standing overhead and his hand was advancing towards my exam board! I gathered all my guts and said, “Oh no, everything is fine…was just stabilizing the board.”
He looked in to my eyes…“I know, you can’t do anything wrong”, he said and left. I heaved a sigh of relief but the words he spoke kept drumming in my mind… “you can’t do anything wrong”…Yes, I left the sums which required me to refer to the table and came home. The result was announced after a few days. I stood second by a narrow margin but still felt like a winner. Surely I had overcome the temptation to cheat and it was enough a reason for me to feel like a conqueror!
It has been about twenty five years since then and even now when I am on the verge of committing anything which is considered not in sync with society norms or established virtues, a voice seems to echo somewhere, “you can’t do anything wrong ”!!!!
At times I have spoken the truth even at the cost of my own self-esteem and have suffered the embarrassment and awkwardness too but honestly it was nothing if compared to the contentment and gratification I felt afterward.
I may not fight for masses as Gandhi did but still feel a sense of accomplishment by simply standing by the truth…ALWAYS.
Friday, September 26, 2008
The status of Hindi in contemporary India
The ever burgeoning Hindi channels on Indian television, both in entertainment and news segment seem to consolidate Hindi's position as a preferred language but a close look and you know the reality! Just take a look at today's youth in metroes and cities and the truth will be far more than revealed. Even when they use Hindi for a change,its peppered with English words.
There was a time when a course in Hindi was a preferred subject at higher levels but its no longer so, where as English' growth towards north is manifest.
Its quite apropos to mention one incident...there is this friend of mine who, while discussing the school admission procedure ,recalled his school days and said with nonchalance or rather with a tone of pride that since he studied in convent he had difficulty in clearing the Hindi paper in the entrance test of the next school when his father was transferred. I have my doubts if that nonchalance would have existed at all had he failed in English!
And the trend is reflected not in educational Institutes only, its equally palpable in the other areas of activities. Now its being increasingly associated with distinguishing the class also. The higher the class,the more use of English.Even the literature is no longer an exception.Gone are the days when writers like Mahadevi Verma, Munshi Premchand, Maithili Sharan Gupt, JaiShankar prasad,Ramdhari Singh Dinkar influenced and introduced revolutionary thoughts in many generations. The house stocked with their books usually had a high status in society. Now its difficult to find a person from the upper crust of the society ,buying a Hindi Literary work . whether its a neighbourhood bookstore,a posh library or a railway platform bookstall, its the Salman Rushdis,Jhumpa Lahirihis, Vikram Chandras ,Anita Desais who are ruling the roost.Not that we did not have the writers in English earlier-who can forget the great R K Narayan and his creation Swami, Swami Vivekanand, Rabindranath Tagore or Mulkraj Anand-but Hindi was never sidelined like this.
Is it something to do with the evolving thought process of the educated urban young Indian population who after having been exposed to different cultures and sensibilities find it difficult to understand , appreciate or relate to the restricted thinking of the vernacular writers?
Although there are some who try to stablish the fact that Hindi is growing in popularity by giving the example of increasing readership of Hindi news paper but its simply the result of growing literacy rate in North India and that means the people in rural areas can read Hindi only and have no other option. By no means it can be taken as an indication of growing popularity of Hindi.
It does make one wonder what is there in store for Hindi? Will it ever be able to reclaim its lost glory?May be yes,if the language can broaden its views and its outlook.
There was a time when a course in Hindi was a preferred subject at higher levels but its no longer so, where as English' growth towards north is manifest.
Its quite apropos to mention one incident...there is this friend of mine who, while discussing the school admission procedure ,recalled his school days and said with nonchalance or rather with a tone of pride that since he studied in convent he had difficulty in clearing the Hindi paper in the entrance test of the next school when his father was transferred. I have my doubts if that nonchalance would have existed at all had he failed in English!
And the trend is reflected not in educational Institutes only, its equally palpable in the other areas of activities. Now its being increasingly associated with distinguishing the class also. The higher the class,the more use of English.Even the literature is no longer an exception.Gone are the days when writers like Mahadevi Verma, Munshi Premchand, Maithili Sharan Gupt, JaiShankar prasad,Ramdhari Singh Dinkar influenced and introduced revolutionary thoughts in many generations. The house stocked with their books usually had a high status in society. Now its difficult to find a person from the upper crust of the society ,buying a Hindi Literary work . whether its a neighbourhood bookstore,a posh library or a railway platform bookstall, its the Salman Rushdis,Jhumpa Lahirihis, Vikram Chandras ,Anita Desais who are ruling the roost.Not that we did not have the writers in English earlier-who can forget the great R K Narayan and his creation Swami, Swami Vivekanand, Rabindranath Tagore or Mulkraj Anand-but Hindi was never sidelined like this.
Is it something to do with the evolving thought process of the educated urban young Indian population who after having been exposed to different cultures and sensibilities find it difficult to understand , appreciate or relate to the restricted thinking of the vernacular writers?
Although there are some who try to stablish the fact that Hindi is growing in popularity by giving the example of increasing readership of Hindi news paper but its simply the result of growing literacy rate in North India and that means the people in rural areas can read Hindi only and have no other option. By no means it can be taken as an indication of growing popularity of Hindi.
It does make one wonder what is there in store for Hindi? Will it ever be able to reclaim its lost glory?May be yes,if the language can broaden its views and its outlook.
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