Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Stupidity II


With malice came last with the stupidity of an individual and the ignorance of the rest. This time it again, it is to share something similar.
Ever thought if the Golden Temple was not golden, wat would it have been like?
I mean will there be any decline in the fanfare of the Golden Temple if it was not golden?
For that matter, do our dedication and respect towards God, the Almighty, depend upon His riches? Is the God sitting in those fancy temples, with all the hi-tech facilities, more powerful than His counterpart sitting in the small corner of my single BHK flat?
If not, why bribing them?
Just the other day I read a report about two brothers planning to donate a Rs4 crore gold mandapam to Lord Balaji (read it here: http://www.mid-day.com/news/2009/jun/230609-Janardhan-Reddy-45-cr-diamond-studded-gold-crown-4-cr-golden-mandap-Lord-Balaji-Bangalore.htm).
This comes on the back of Karnataka tourism minister Janardhan Reddy crowning the Lord at Tirupati with a Rs42 crore, 32kg diamond-studded gold crown the priciest offering by an individual so far (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Richest-lord-of-Kaliyuga/articleshow/4651438.cms). I can't believe that the God has total offerings of close to Rs50,000 crore.
Do the God want that? didn't he had enough visitors without that? Or will He have more fllowers after the nonsense? And I feel bad to say that this is not the first time this is happening.
According to the economic survey 2007-08, some 27.5% og the country's popultion languishes below the poverty line. The poplulaayion of India stand at around 1.14 billion today.
The UN development programme has placed India at 128th place below many South American developing countries in its Human Development Report for the year 2007-08, just above few starved African countries and some war-torn neighbours (http://hdrstats.undp.org/indicators/25.html).
Imagine what good the amount of money would have done for the lives of these poor creatures.

I just can't help myself but remember these lines:

छोटा बच्चा देख के बोला मस्जिद आलिशान
अल्लाह तेरे एक को इतना बड़ा मकान?
अन्दर वेदी पर चढ़े फल, फूल, मिष्ठान,
मंदिर के बाहर खडा इश्वर मांगे दान.....
---निदा फाज़ली

Wake up people. The exhorbitant amount of money we spend on our such stupidities can feed an entire country, at leastone meal.

Stupidity


I wonder to think sometimes that the country is so full of self-obssessed idiots. The other day as I was reading the newspaper, I came across a news piece which reported a senior leader will unveil six statues of her own on 3 July.
The Times of India said Uttar Pradesh chief minister and the Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati will unveil on 3 July 40 statues, including six of her own, at different places in the state (read: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/India/Mayawati-to-unveil-40-statues-six-of-them-of-herself/articleshow/4694772.cms).
The 40 statues has cost the state exchequer some Rs6.68 crore. Also, she is going to plant 60 marble statues of elephants at Ambedkar memorial, which is set to cost some Rs52 crore. A sum of around Rs 70 crore, I will say, is wasted.
The state government, in the budget for fiscal 2009 had allocated at least Rs194 crore for building statues of "great leaders". The entire amount was spent. And ironically, I don't remember any statues pf great freedom fighters being unveiled that year.
I don't really know if the state has ever spent so much cash on the welfare of the public.
Anyway, I think this idea of putting one's own statue is completely absurd. Write to me if you differ.
Last time I remember a politician putting up his own statue was Saddam Hussein. Sadly, that statue was pulled down by an angry mob after the US attack on Iraq. Worse people greetad the face of the statue with footwear and washed it off by urinating on it. I wish these statues don't witness that bad a future.
That she is a self obssessed woman, is well known. Not so long back, she joined the so-called Third Front before the 15th Lok Sabha elections, was also an act of self-appraisal. I wonder if she had not been projected as the PM candidate of the group, she would have ever joined the team.
Why don't the people of the state get rid of her, is a question that remains unanswered. Guess the next best alternative the poor public has, is Mulayam Singh.
I don't blame the janta.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Hungama hai kyon barpa?



I somehow wonder about the sort of mindset we Indians have developed over the years. We are not bothered by a house getting demolished in our neighbourhood because we don't know its owner. We choose to shut our doors to the world and spend careless evenings in our armchairs sipping our Scotch.

However, we cry foul when something similar happens in the outside world. Something that has global dimensions unlike the dead neighbourhood house. Though like that house, we have nothing to do with these events as well.

Why the double standards?

The past few weeks have been disastrous for some Indians living in Australia. They have been attacked over and over again. At least a dozen Indian students have been assaulted in the so-called “racist” attacks in that country and many have left Australia since.

The question is, “Does it change much in the life of around the 1.1 billion population of India?”

Australia is the most preferred destination for Indians (who can dream big and send their kids overseas to study), with over 9.7 million students opting to pursue their higher studies in Australia every year, followed by some 9.4 million who choose to go to the US (read it here: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Special-Report/Our-worldwide-web-of-students/articleshow/4626017.cms).

To be sure, attacks on Indian students must be condemned. And they have been. Thousands-strong groups of Indian students have taken to the streets in Oz to protest against these attacks, claiming themselves to be the backbone of the Australian economy (go through: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/271088,indians-march-to-protest-racism-in-australia.html).

Protests have escalated in India as well. It reached a point where the Indian government as well as its Australian counterpart had to issue statements condemning the attacks (read: http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Australian+assures+Indian+students+safety&artid=gdEK2mCBPjU=&SectionID=b7ziAYMenjw=&MainSectionID=b7ziAYMenjw=&SEO=RACISM,+AUSTRALIA&SectionName=pWehHe7IsSU=).

Even a public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed seeking the security of Indian students in Australia (go to: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Lucknow/PIL-seeking-security-for-Indians-in-Australia/articleshow/4668916.cms).

That’s not all. Arguably the most celebrated actor in the Indian film industry, Amitabh Bachchan, declined an honorary doctorate degree from an Oz varsity to register his protest against the attacks (have a look: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hhC2Ycy4I9dhKjDvtFpqxlQ-WC9Q).

However, isn't this too much fuss over an issue which could have been solved easily?

No one is sure if all those attacks were actually racist. Many agree that this is not new for the large Indian community living overseas. Maybe it is a cost one has to pay in order to achieve something big in life.

And what are we complaining about? Indians should be the last to complain about ill-treatment for we ourselves are not far behind. How many cases of abuse do we read about everyday in the newspapers? And in how many of them, we find a foreigner as the soft target?

Federico Brasola, an Italian photographer, seeking entry in a Delhi pub, was beaten up and his hands were broken as he was not properly dressed. Now, that is a joke. In a country where at least thousands of people have nothing to wear, we are thrashing a foreigner who was sporting a basketball tee and a cargo!!!!!

The two bouncers involved in the case have been nabbed, a report said the other day. Good, I would say.

Every other day, some foreigner, in some part of the country is abused and worse, murdered. How humane is that? Here is another case I got to know about today (see it here: http://www.mypopkorn.com/news/two-arrested-in-foreigner-rape-case-in-himachal-pradesh.html). This is heinous.

Do you remember how in college when someone took admission from the north-east and by default got the name chinki? Remember, how lowly the chinki girl was described and how plans were made in the canteen of getting her laid as soon as possible. For she would not mind it and getting her laid would be easier. Or when someone from the south came and would become a matter of ridicule because of his accent. Haven't we all done that? How humane was that? Has this stopped? Well, from where I stay, I see this happening every day.

Remember, that Maratha Manoos cry by the loser? I think we all know who I am talking about. In the end, all that crap turned out to be just another political gimmick. The person, who broke hell loose over bhaiyyas from Bihar and UP for eating into the space of the Maratha Manoos, did not even have the balls to come out in the open when bombs were hurled by some suckers in his neighbourhood.

He chose to hide himself in his momma’s lap and lick his finger. This time as well, he is nowhere, it seems.

Remember Biharis being beaten up in Assam when they had gone there for their Railways exam? Remember the atrocities on Christians in Kandhamal in Orissa? The examples are endless.

While all the examples cited above were a result of the growing intolerance towards fellow beings, the last one was also motivated politically and on the grounds of religion.

Another thing that has gone unnoticed is the feeling of insecurity behind such incidents. I am pretty sure that out of the 10-odd attacks in Australia, some would have been just criminal and not racist. The intolerance has only aggravated in the backdrop of the lingering financial crisis in the world.

Though I am against any kind of violence against anyone and feel sad for these fellow Indians who have been attacked, I think there is too much hype being created about an issue that could have been easily solved by the Australian authorities.

Moreover, what has happened so far whenever we have cried foul? Has the infiltration from across the border stopped after passing so many legislations? Are the women safe in the capital going back alone at 11 in the night from office? Do we not think of laying a chinky chick every time we see one? Do we not make fun of a south Indian colleague or classmate?

Why are we crying so loud? It’s time to change the mindset towards the bigger issues of life rather than spending our energies on the mere beatings of some of the million students in some foreign land.

With love


So folks, here I come again...after a long break I should say. Blame it on my laziness. Actually, this is after a lot of push. Thanks to The Lady. I wonder what I would have been without you around Honey.

And actually, let me use this public space today to thank you. I thank you for coming out for dinner with me today. I was late and you went mad. But you came. Thanks for all the consideration I have enjoyed over the past few weeks.

Times have been tough, more for you than for me. But I am thankful that after all that happened, I can still proudly say, "You are with me". Thank you God and thank you Honey.

I am really, really thankful and fortunate that I have you with me.
Thanks a lot for being there...

Sorry, I could not make it poetic, don't know how effective it is...but this is the natural voice that came out as soon as you asked me to write something.

I love you Honey and thanks for being there...

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Dunno where to go


Damn… Messed up again… How many times now???
Have committed one mistake too many and have repeated them once too many as well… She also chose the different way today… Enough to qualify for crucification.
So get ready all…take your turns and pour the soil…
PS: I spoke, and I did, and would have done even if, this time, You had said nothing…
And she heard it…

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Swinging moods


I am in a bad mood today. Part of it has to do with the fact that the new cooler has successfully given me terrible body ache and fever.
But most of it is due to the situation in which I find myself today. Ten months back I left my first job to come to city I fell in love with, 3 years ago. The decision to quit the first job was a painful but strategic one.
First, I wanted to come to New Delhi. Second, I wanted to learn more about the job I was doing and I felt the new place would be a good place to learn. Right or wrong, but I took the decision and here I am today, sulking.
The cribbing, however, is not permanent. I am prone to these mood-swings at times. And it was frustration and anger, which took over today and forced me to key this down.
I still remember the time we (I and The Lady) disclosed our decision to leave the first company, our boss said, “You won’t get the kind of responsibility and power that you enjoy here in the next company,” and so true it has turned out to be.
I don’t know if he meant it when he said that we were turning to be the assets to the company, but over here, in the new firm, I certainly feel I am not one of the assets.
People over here are nice but too professional to my liking. The irony is that I don’t know for myself if I am improving or not. Tough I have got around 70% in the evaluation process, but somehow, I am not satisfied.
You have all the rights to say that I am confused, and well, I might be.
I miss you nuts and your company…

Friday, May 15, 2009

The art of blogging


Why do people blog... I dont really know.

But “with malice” is the place where I take out my frustration towards one and all. So, it would actually be asking for too much if I expect people to read, and even more, comment.
As The Lady said the other day, “ I to just go through the blogs when I have time। I never bother to leave a comment. It is too tiresome for me.” So true, na??


Even I thought the same way a couple of months ago। But I have read far too many blogs since, many of which make sense to me. So I can’t help but poke my nose in to leave a comment on those.


As for myself, yes, I also want to be known। And yes, when I see certain posts with 40-odd comments on it, I feel jealous (true and human). I don’t know if all the people who comment on a certain blog, know the blogger, but trust me, even if you ask your friends to comment on something you have written, they might or might not do that (I have had that experience already).


So that means either I can’t write or can’t write something that will compel people to key in a few words.

Never mind, "with malice" will keep coming even if there is nobody to notice me.