Let me tell you of two incidents.
- A VIP was to have been honoured and the lady of the house was directed to bring along all the necessary stuff for the ceremony. She made everything available but did not come herself. The VIP got annoyed and passed instructions that she should be punished throughout her life. As a result, where ever she went, people threw her out. She was denied even food and water and was humiliated in a way that can not be captured in words.
- A lady, herself a celebrity, was playing a game with her celebrity husband. She asked one of her ardent fans as who would win. The fan said that the husband would win. However, she won. Then in retaliation, she passed similar instruction as above with similar results ( for her fan ) as above.
Was the VIP/lady right in punishing others in such a manner? Well, before you answer, the VIP/lady in this case was Lord mother Parvati. Both these fables are stories recounted untold number of time in Hindu houses doing the 'Solah Somvar' ( Fasting for 16 Mondays ) katha. I heard it there and then read the booklet from where the punditji ( priest ) was narrating each incident of the victim's humiliation with great glee. It shamed me.
I am a non-believer but I have no problem in accepting God as a kind, compassionate father figure.Is this how I would expect my Gods to show universal compassion?
Do other people have a right to paint Gods/Goddesses in such human or rather inhuman terms? Are we proud of the Gods/Goddesses even if this be their behaviour. If not, why don't we protest?
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
India does not deserve its heros
I have just finished speaking to Col VK Thapar, father of Kargil hero, late Capt Vijyant Thapar, Vir Chakra. It is the 10th anniversary of Kargil. Today, Indian Express has published the letter Vijyant wrote just before leaving for his last mission, in which he said to his mom and dad, ‘ By the time you get this letter, I’ll be dead and watching you from the sky, surrounded by apsaras’. Can you believe it? It is true.
Being an infantry officer of 27 years standing, I have seen many brave soldiers but never one as this. Here is a young man, all of 22 years, going to meet certain death in such a lighthearted manner. All for a purpose called India. You can see the full letter on his site http://www.captainvijyantthapar.com/ . Even enlightened yogis do not achieve such detachment.
Just after I put the phone down on Col Thapar, I switched on the TV and was taken to the NDTV reporter graphically covering details of how a bootlegger in Ahmedabad had been openly selling hooch from a Hanuman Mandir for years, in a state with prohibition. The reporter then showed shots of how branded liquor too was available in all of Gujarat, on a home delivery basis.
The reality of what Indian state has become is not new to me. Day in and day out, I see a failed state and a capricious, money-minded society. I am pretty used to all this and have lost all sensitivity and pain on this account. But somehow the way both these incidents were played to my conscience this morning, back to back, shook me. It actually made me feel sick. Here is a young man with such dedication to the state, and here also is the state and society for which he so willingly dies. And all that at age 22, when most people are still frolicking in their college canteens.
It is not about the one bootlegger. Today, poisonous hooch is in news, yesterday adulterated ghee and milk across 3 states was news. It is what our entire Indian entity – bureaucrats, politicians, and police – has become. The society and the people have not fared any better. The cruelty that Indians are capable of inflicting on other fellow Indians is limitless. And if you happen to be an Indian with some official status, even sky is not the limit.
If our freedom fighters occasionally ask, ‘Is this what we fought for?’, the soldier also asks – ‘Is this what I died for?’ He secures the external boundaries for the people and national institutions to feel unhampered in building the nation, not in ravishing it. When all this happens rampantly, and that too by wilful design, he questions. If he presently does not, he should. There is no need to be defensive about it. The price that he pays qualifies him eminently to inspect the goods purchased.
I sincerely feel we have no right to ask people like Vijyant to die for us. We don’t deserve their sacrifice.
Being an infantry officer of 27 years standing, I have seen many brave soldiers but never one as this. Here is a young man, all of 22 years, going to meet certain death in such a lighthearted manner. All for a purpose called India. You can see the full letter on his site http://www.captainvijyantthapar.com/ . Even enlightened yogis do not achieve such detachment.
Just after I put the phone down on Col Thapar, I switched on the TV and was taken to the NDTV reporter graphically covering details of how a bootlegger in Ahmedabad had been openly selling hooch from a Hanuman Mandir for years, in a state with prohibition. The reporter then showed shots of how branded liquor too was available in all of Gujarat, on a home delivery basis.
The reality of what Indian state has become is not new to me. Day in and day out, I see a failed state and a capricious, money-minded society. I am pretty used to all this and have lost all sensitivity and pain on this account. But somehow the way both these incidents were played to my conscience this morning, back to back, shook me. It actually made me feel sick. Here is a young man with such dedication to the state, and here also is the state and society for which he so willingly dies. And all that at age 22, when most people are still frolicking in their college canteens.
It is not about the one bootlegger. Today, poisonous hooch is in news, yesterday adulterated ghee and milk across 3 states was news. It is what our entire Indian entity – bureaucrats, politicians, and police – has become. The society and the people have not fared any better. The cruelty that Indians are capable of inflicting on other fellow Indians is limitless. And if you happen to be an Indian with some official status, even sky is not the limit.
If our freedom fighters occasionally ask, ‘Is this what we fought for?’, the soldier also asks – ‘Is this what I died for?’ He secures the external boundaries for the people and national institutions to feel unhampered in building the nation, not in ravishing it. When all this happens rampantly, and that too by wilful design, he questions. If he presently does not, he should. There is no need to be defensive about it. The price that he pays qualifies him eminently to inspect the goods purchased.
I sincerely feel we have no right to ask people like Vijyant to die for us. We don’t deserve their sacrifice.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Indian reponse to 26/11 - Worst possible
Post Mumbai terror, we Indians are making two extremely serious mistakes.
1. We are content with our government playing games with Pakistan. We send Pak some questions. They reply to some and send us their list of questions. We repeat the process. They accept that some of their non-state actors could be involved. There is almost national celebration over this supposed victory of ours. Is this what the families of those who who were mercilessly mowed down, deserve from their state? Soon, there could be another strike somewhere and even this tamasha (spectacle) will stop. Do would-be world powers behave like this?
2. We ask a lot of questions from Pakistan but none from our own people who failed us miserably in those days of crisis. Policemen seem to have simply run away from the CST station and other places. Otherwise, would it have been difficult for a shooter behind cover to strike at a 5'4" tall target, exposed without cover on a railway platform or hotel corridor for so long? It did not happen because the policemen were busy pointing CCTV cameras and not guns at them. The crisis management from the senior officers was even more shocking. And all this after Mumbai has been the most attacked state in the last decade. The last 10 or so years have already established that being in the J&K or the North East is far safer than being in Mumbai? Despite such heightened awareness of the danger, we simply had no contingency plan to tackle a thing like this. Our security forces, particularly the NSG and MARCOS did a highly inefficient job. That the terrorists finally died is no certificate of efficiency to anyone. If these be our desired standards, we are wasting good money on their training. All that the enemy needs is about 200 more of Kasab like guys to completely paralyze us. By our own admission, he has thousands and not just hundreds of them.
And what if he combines this with a conventional attack or even a threat on the borders?
C'mon friends, get serious. Do seek answers from Pakistan, but do not spare our own either. Actually, seek more from our own. Our tax money goes to them, not to Pakistan. The NSG effort which is pulled out of our security goes to protect our politicians, not those of Pakistan.
By all that I have seen since 26/11, our leaders have again managed to fool us. They say they will act - but when? After we are finished, I suppose.
' Hum ne maana ke tagaful na karoge, lekin
khaak ho jayenge hum, tum ko khabar hone tak'
( Suitor to lover - I agree that you will not refuse. However,I will cease to exist by the time you get to know my plight )
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1. We are content with our government playing games with Pakistan. We send Pak some questions. They reply to some and send us their list of questions. We repeat the process. They accept that some of their non-state actors could be involved. There is almost national celebration over this supposed victory of ours. Is this what the families of those who who were mercilessly mowed down, deserve from their state? Soon, there could be another strike somewhere and even this tamasha (spectacle) will stop. Do would-be world powers behave like this?
2. We ask a lot of questions from Pakistan but none from our own people who failed us miserably in those days of crisis. Policemen seem to have simply run away from the CST station and other places. Otherwise, would it have been difficult for a shooter behind cover to strike at a 5'4" tall target, exposed without cover on a railway platform or hotel corridor for so long? It did not happen because the policemen were busy pointing CCTV cameras and not guns at them. The crisis management from the senior officers was even more shocking. And all this after Mumbai has been the most attacked state in the last decade. The last 10 or so years have already established that being in the J&K or the North East is far safer than being in Mumbai? Despite such heightened awareness of the danger, we simply had no contingency plan to tackle a thing like this. Our security forces, particularly the NSG and MARCOS did a highly inefficient job. That the terrorists finally died is no certificate of efficiency to anyone. If these be our desired standards, we are wasting good money on their training. All that the enemy needs is about 200 more of Kasab like guys to completely paralyze us. By our own admission, he has thousands and not just hundreds of them.
And what if he combines this with a conventional attack or even a threat on the borders?
C'mon friends, get serious. Do seek answers from Pakistan, but do not spare our own either. Actually, seek more from our own. Our tax money goes to them, not to Pakistan. The NSG effort which is pulled out of our security goes to protect our politicians, not those of Pakistan.
By all that I have seen since 26/11, our leaders have again managed to fool us. They say they will act - but when? After we are finished, I suppose.
' Hum ne maana ke tagaful na karoge, lekin
khaak ho jayenge hum, tum ko khabar hone tak'
( Suitor to lover - I agree that you will not refuse. However,I will cease to exist by the time you get to know my plight )
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