Hum toh Aise Hain Bhaiyya -6

Remember this?

"Centuries after we decided we were one nation, we still have that to prove.Somehow the fact that the Indian state transcends regional identities has been an idea too difficult for our masses to fathom.And therein lies the problem. A problem so vast and so maddeningly complex, elucidating it feels completely and wholly out of my reach. I can only feel it. And bleed for it."

This mad, mad greed for separate states goes beyond any kind of logic. What goes even beyond that is normally sane, educated and liberated individuals abandoning all sense to give drive such demands.The Centre, removed from this mob-frenzy might have displayed some judgement, but I suppose it's just difficult to disregard all the lobbying that must necessarily have been present.And I also suppose that stating that the Centre should just pack off KCR into nowhere would be too naive. :) But seriously, I thought survival was something every Tom thought off before walking out on his parents.

Clearly, sometimes, some Toms are just too distraught. And desperate.

Being Free.

And so two countries celebrated another year of freedom.

Are we politically free?
Are we economically free?
Are we culturally free?

Are we free to spin our own illusions?

Are we free to at least proclaim that we are free?

Hum To Aise Hain Bhaiyya -5

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Hum To Aise Hain Bhaiyya- 4

"nine out of every ten people on this earth" says Carlyle, "are fools."

" how flawed democracy is as a concept because it helplessly relies on the rationality of the masses who are inherently irrational and are so deluded that they are sure of their own rationality and infallible judgment. "
(quoted out of context)


My search for an understanding of our democracy keeps pushing me into uncharted waters. :)
Sure, principally men are fools but democracy is, very simply defined, a system of governance, that has, through the trials and errors of history, been recognised as the best.Its not a debate on whether men have the capacity to choose what is best for them. Though incidentally , as Dumbledore told Harry, we do have a knack for choosing what's worst for us.
Its a question of the right to choose what we want that forms the keystone of the entire , massive , framework of a government that's by the people. They might for themselves, choose a government that throws them into the 19th century, or go back to the Harappan Civilization in a quest for self- sustenance. But if that means that they are happy at having beaten the recession ,then hey, democracy's worked. Though of course no one's going to like it without electricity, and personal computers and sales and motorcars and yada yada yada.

I remember the discussion a few of us were having the other day, where most of the people present so animatedly favoured congress.Once inside the ballot room though , they might push a thumb as easily for BJP. And that, in my eyes is the sheer beauty of our democracy.We choose freely what we want, without fear or favour.Even if its an extremist, separatist and up-in -the arms agenda that we vote for, we've got only our conscience, or the lack of it to answer to.And India has always, overwhelmingly, and completely chosen moderation over extremism. Throughout.Though its violence that catapults radical leaders. It was Godhra that made Modi.And I fear that 11/26 shall make another one.

Are we really free? I ask. I know that I am.But the rest?? The real India as i like calling them. Are they free?? Is there coercion and force and threats and bullets that, unknown to me force ballots? By all that I've come across, No.Though of course, my memory reminds me, the biryani that a party served at elections last in lieu of votes can be sufficiently called manipulative. But as I think deeper, its probably not.We vote for what's important for us, and if I think that a biryani that I have once in a red moon is incentive enough, I vote for that biryani.Period.


P.S : above quote taken from here

Hum Aise Kyun Hain??

Everyone is qualified to comment and opinionate on the great Indian democracy. The one Great, redeeming factor of the shambles that is our way of life. From rickshaw wallas to peons to the corporate honchos to the industrialist czars, all shall exercise, and all shall decide.

Hum To Aise Hain Bhaiyya -3

My ayah knows more than me about politics and as she told me the other day, she has already decided whom she'll vote for. She's voting for Mamta Bannerjee because Mamta has reduced her monthly train fare from Rs 220 to Rs 25. I'm happy for her. Considering that I've never been much of a fan of TMC, it might sound strange, but for all I care, she can even vote for Shiv Sena, Goonda sena, Mawali sena as long as they work for her upliftment. She is India in majority and I'm glad that the India in majority is changing. Becoming aware. Change, Obama wanted. Change, India needs.And we are but small agencies.

This brings me to another pertinent question: Vote for the candidate or vote for the party??I'd rather vote for a deserving candidate who'd see to it that my locality is not filthy but then looking at the bigger picture, ultimately a candidate will track on his party's ideologies. So it might make more sense to vote for what you believe in. Want.


Still Knowing.

Hum To Aise Hain Bhaiyya- 2

This is in a continuing vein of my quest for political awareness. Turns out that a home upside down has its benefits after all. I found an Outlook dated last November with a cover story on Leftist Politics, which I (not unusually) devoured. Though its kind of embarrassing that I had to turn to that after 18 years of living in West Bengal. And from what I could gather,(which wasn't really much) I think that the Left is prone to dragging the economy towards the 20th century. 19th even, if only they were given half the chance. Though this is not to ignore the CPI(M)'s efforts in singur,and as they make no mistake in crowing about, they probably helped in making India reasonably crisis-proof in these worst of times.

But this might not have been such a great achievement anyways if we regard congress' socialist agendas. That certainly should have helped. Try coupling that with the red-flag waving party goondas I see round my city enforcing bandhs and placing banners and defacing my freshly painted walls, I find it a sorry picture. But in all fairness, had I lived in UP, I might have been saying the same for Congress. Never I mind. I'll just focus my attentions at what who's done and proposes to do.

On hindsight, the election tamasha dipped a scale lower, with Modi calling congress a budhiya and gudiya in turn. Methinks it was directed to Sonia and Priyanka respectively. Kudos to Congress for having always maintained the dignity of the electoral process and high offices. If anything, I can garauntee that we won't ever hear abuses being sent forth from 24, Akbar road.

They just won themselves another point.


Upcoming: An IPL post that has been brewing( like so many other posts) in my drafts for a long long time.

Aur aise hi rahenge.

I'm revising my earlier opinion of Meera Sanyal. Turns out she didn't quit her job at all, but has just taken a leave. That doesn't really take a He-Man courage. Though I stick to my statement that we need educated, young blood. So in a sense I'd still be rooting for this independent candidate had I lived in south Mumbai.

Well, someday......

P.S I think I finally managed to correct my blogger clock. :D ( yay me !!)

Hum to aise hain bhaiyya.

This is going to be the bloodiest election ever in the worlds largest and most thriving democracy.Ask me, I actually feel happy for it every time I cast my glance westwards ho(:D).An added incentive? I've just received my voters Id card. Though I still don't know if I`'ll vote and for whom.Politics in India is pretty disillusioning. Add petty and selfish to that too. Centuries after we decided we were one nation, we still have that to prove.Somehow the fact that the Indian state transcends regional identities has been an idea too difficult for our masses to fathom.And therein lies the problem. A problem so vast and so maddeningly complex, elucidating it feels completely and wholly out of my reach. I can only feel it. And bleed for it.


We don't need Shatrugan Sinha claiming that he is the "asli " bihari babu. We don't need a family of Thackerays claiming that Maharashtra is for the Maharashtrians. We dont need Varun( I find it shameful that he puts Gandhi after his name) wanting to cut hands and gouge eyes to prove his Hindu credentials.We don't need politics of hate and politics of shame. For all the seats that it may win, it only leaves us more bloodied and more scarred than before. Actually Im not even sure of that. It may win some seats at the regional level but to succed at the center we need secularism. Ask Rahul. Ask sonia. Ask priyanka. I don't think they'll be playing any kind of regional card soon. Over and above any kind of practical reason and benefits that it may entail, it is just not the legacy they've inherited. I do think that their beliefs and political ideologies have been shaped right from the pains of being a colony through the trauma of partition and the pangs of the indo-pak wars.


Though that is not the reason we should place congress in the circus at the centre.I just find it extremely heartening that the farmers are given such predominance in all its policies.If you look at the 1.1 billion population of india of which nearly 800 million is rural, I think that makes more sense than hankering after our IT industry which I think will manage to sustain itself anyways. Apparently India Rising and India shining somehow doesn't feed these stomachs and that's why we have all these farmer suicides.


Ive been pro congress since I was 8 I think, though then it was because it was the only name familiar to me. Im still very much pro congress though Id like to see and evaluate the kind of results acheived over the their past tenure before pushing the ballot button. Right now, all Im saying is that their manifesto looks far better than the Hindutva policies I see floating around. The muslims do not stay on in india at the mercy of the Hindus who were kind enough to take them in. It is as much their land as it is of them.


More than the Lalu Prasads ,we need the educated, young blood in the thrones of power. Not that I hold Lalu's lack of eductaion against him or am making a mistake of underestimating his shrewdness. A case in point is Meera Sanyal, contesting elections in south mumbai. for her I say she's got the guts. Not everyone would ditch a high profile career to descend into the murky cess pool of indian politics. ( she used to head ABN Amro) . Its taken her courage to do that without any chance of winning.She'll get what, some 10,000 odd votes from the likes of me?But she'll make herself heard. She's made a start.


And that heralds new beginings.

THIS DAY........of all days.

India and all her military might.......such grandeur and pomp...

today, nothing seemed a bigger joke.

A Month Later.

Some ghosts refuse to be exorcised.
The horrors of Parition returned to haunt.
Even half a century and a decade later.

The Singur Saga.

It seems quiet after the storm.....and there's a strain of sadness in this quiet.
Bengal has just missed out on an industrial rennesiance that would hav taken it back to the glorious 50s.... wen it was the hub of industrialztion. Just before the naxalite movement, trade unionism, and a certain Jyoti Basu reared their heads.

The Nano was crucial...for a revolution....something that Bengal has needed for nearly 4 decades now, with is economy stagnant and incapable of generating new avenues of employment and wealth.
The Nano was crucial....to realise somebody's dream of Amar Shonar Bangla.

And yet....i found it difficult to bat 4 Bhattacharya every time i heard him abused.and so very colourfully at that.For u see...i dint see Mamta Banerjee as the opposition.

I saw Mamta Bannerjee and Medha Patkar and Arundhati Talwar and Arundhati Roy and Aparna Sen and Shaonli Mitra. I saw feminism demanding its right to be seen. To be heard. To be able to make a difference. Which they did. And three cheers to that.

Chauvinism in beauracracy plagues India.It was overcome as im sure its dentined that it must. Thats a start. A start that heralds newer beginings.....Beginings which promise greater equality. Its utopian to believe that complete equality is in sight.

Its been exhilirating to follow this Saga.....and overwhelming to watch it end. This was DEFINETLY one, long ride. And the gang of girls did everything just perfectly. As im sure P wud hav said........ "way to go gals!"

i saw indomitable spirit, inflexible covictions and tremendous will power. Never before, i believe, has the destiny of a collective mass of people been shped so decisively by women.Or maybe im just forgetting Indira Gandhi.

Foolish though the cost might have been, and heavy though the price, the Tata's goodbye seems to hold up a message- bold and clear.....Bengal has finally come of age.

A Phoenix's rebirth.

The olympics exemplifies the very ideals that man has stood for....over centuries.

Man's eternal quest to overcome nature....pushing himself, excruciatingly, punishingly, inch by inch, beyond boundaries that are only human.the spirit to achieve.....to shine among a galaxy of millions....to posses the olympic halo that pronounces one the ultimate victor.

The greatest show on earth.

A personification of all that man can, ever, achieve. An embodiment of man's ultimate aspirations,dreams, desires.............

But my blog is not about this already talked to death about topic.No. its about another talked to death about topic.

A certain Abhinav Bindra.Who sent billions into a celebrating frenzy.

A socerer who reincarnated a whole nation.he has come to symbolise that eternal hope for India. Awakening a long awakening spirit; a victors will to conquer.

Maybe brought us those few precious moments when the quaint, ancient tunes of

Jana Gana fill us with a passionate pride.

Somehow, very strangely, economics, business, five year plans, public sector....

all fade away beside the figure of this slight man. Or maybe we just choose to ignore all else beside him. its a rare enough indulgence.

i have always believed, india with its teeming populations can stand tall....... a giant dwarfing giants. my country's strength.....its youth.

Watch it rising like a Phoenix. For though India has the makings of a shambles, it also has the potential to be a celebration of life.

I LOVE MY COUNTRY............

Cynicism is as easy to catch as malaria and far more dangerous.especially for the young people.we pick it up like an echo from professors, from movies,from one another.

it sounds adult. sophisticated.worldly wise.One who knows.

Another 15 august is upon us.The daily papers have daily news of daily disasters.This horrible country. Why cant we be like England? America? Australia? Canada? Anywhere?you see, its all these filthy politicians.its all because of our education system. its all a matter of population.its all because we are a tropical country. Its all because we are simply illiterate.All the stuff about helping the poor-what can you do with millions and millions of them? what are we paying taxes for? stop right there.

There is indeeed a lot that is wrong with us.The thing is, that there is a lot that there is wrong with every country in the world.I would not like to be in a country that despises me because im brown. In a country where everyone has a gun and is likely to shoot me because they feel like it. Where i would be treated as contemptibly inferior. where they havent got a language they can call their own and little enough culture.whre my religion makes me a terrorist.

No. i think I would prefer this country that I live in. On. With. For.

I am proud of my roots.Of a country that defied empires to arrive at freedom,even if we have made a bit a mess of that freedom, freedom it still is and we are working at it. This land flows in my blood, breathes in mylungs, pumps in my heart.

Welcome 15th August.