16 years a Prisoner of Conscience

On 9^th August 2016, the question mark has been finally replaced with a full stop.

On a sunlit afternoon of November 2, 2000, ten persons including a 62 year old women and 18 year old National child bravery award winner, wait at Malom bus stop of Imphal. Amidst the gentle breeze and pleasant winter sun, a vehicle of 8^th Assam Rifles came into view and security men in uniform with coked rifles jumped out; this made the civilians waiting by the bus stop curious. However moments later each of them lay lifeless on the ground with lethal bullets penetrating their bodies.

The civilians killed were evidently no insurgents but this cold blooded killing of innocents was committed “lawfully” under the draconian law of “Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA)”.

The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, and a virtually identical law, the Armed Forces (J&K) Special Powers Act, 1990, have been in force since 1958 in parts of Northeast India, and since 1990 in J&K. The laws provide sweeping powers to soldiers, including the power to shoot to kill in certain situations and to arrest people without warrants. They also provide virtual immunity from prosecution by requiring prior permission from the Central Government before security personnel can be prosecuted.

This incident marks the beginning of an iconic 16 year long hunger strike by Irom Chanu Sharmila, she resolved not to eat, drink, comb her hair or look in the mirror until AFSPA is repealed.

Just after two days of starting her protest, she has been taken into custody on the charge of committing suicide and later she had been released and rearrested multiple times, and had been kept in a solitary confinement in the special ward of J N institute of medical sciences, Imphal, where she was force fed through a nasal tube to keep her alive.

AFSPA has acquired centrality in any discussion on India’s counter insurgency and anti-terrorism strategy. It has been pilloried as ‘draconian’ by some and defended as unwarrantedly ‘demonised’ by others and been assailed on a number of fronts.

In Manipur in July 2012, the Extra-judicial Execution Victim Families Association, Manipur (EEVFAM), appealed to the Supreme Court of India for justice and has asked for an independent probe into 1,528 cases of extra-judicial execution by security forces in Manipur (North East Sun, November 15, 2012). It is alleged that 1,528 people including 31 women and 98 children have been killed in the name of ‘encounters’ with militants by security forces between 1979 and May 2012. Of these, 419 were killed by Assam Rifles and 481 by combined teams of Manipur police commandos and central armed police forces. In 2018 Supreme Court ordered the CBI probe into the matter and asked NHRC to be actively involved in the probe.

In July 2004, in one of the most blatant cases of human rights violation, men of the Assam Rifles arrested, raped and killed Thangjam Manorama, a young woman in Imphal. After killing the innocent woman who was charged with anti-national activities, they fired bullets into her genitals to prevent the surfacing of evidence of rape. The bullet-ridden body of the woman was left abandoned on the roadside. This provoked the women of Manipur to parade naked in front of the Assam Rifles headquarters, asking the Indian Army to ‘come and rape’ them.

In November 2009, Thockchom Rabina Devi (23) and Chongtham Sanjit (25) were killed by Manipur police commandos in a police ‘encounter’ in the middle of a crowded marketplace in broad daylight. There are many such incidents.

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The Justice Jeevan Reddy Committee

The Committee, set up in 2005 following the rape and murder of Thangjam Manorama Devi, reviewed the working of the AFSPA and recommended that it be repealed but its basic provisions be incorporated in another law. The report of the Committee, however, was kept ‘classified’ and never implemented.

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The Justice Verma Committee

The committee set up in 2013 following the rape of a 23 year old woman on 16^th December 2012, said that sexual violence against women by members of the armed forces or uniformed personnel should be brought under the purview of ordinary criminal law, and urged an immediate review of the continuance of the AFSPA, the committee also recommended an amendment to the AFSPA to remove the requirement of prior sanction from the central government for prosecuting security personnel for certain crimes involving violence against women.

Following the committee’s recommendations, new laws on violence against women were passed in April 2013. These included an amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure which removed the need for prior sanction for prosecuting government officials for certain crimes involving violence against women, including rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, voyeurism and stalking. However a similar amendment to the AFSPA that was proposed by the committee was ignored.

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The Justice Hegde Commission

In January 2013, the Supreme Court appointed a three-member commission headed by Santosh Hegde, a retired Supreme Court judge, in response to a public interest litigation seeking investigation into 1,528 cases of alleged extrajudicial executions.

The commission was established to determine whether six cases identified by the court were ‘encounter’ deaths – where security forces had fired in self-defence against members of armed groups – or extrajudicial executions. It was also mandated to evaluate the role of the security forces in Manipur.

In its report submitted to the court in April 2013, the commission found that all seven deaths in the six cases it investigated were extrajudicial executions, and also said that the AFSPA was widely abused by security forces in Manipur. The commission said that the continued operation of the AFSPA in Manipur has made “a mockery of the law,” and that security forces have been “transgressing the legal bounds for their counter-insurgency operations in the state of Manipur.”

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International and national human rights groups and activists, including Amnesty International, have called for the AFSPA’s repeal for years, with little purposeful response or definitive action from the government. The central government, and state governments of J&K and states in northeast India, has also failed to engage in meaningful debate on the Act despite well documented evidence of abuses.

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Army’s stand on AFSPA

Army officials have long held the opinion that the AFSPA is “absolutely essential” to combat insurgency in the country and protect the borders. A former Deputy Chief of Army Staff wrote in January 2013, “In a virulent insurgency, security forces just cannot operate without the cover of the AFSPA. Without it, there would be much hesitation and caution which would work to the advantage of insurgents.”12 Army officials also routinely cite the need to protect the morale and integrity of the army as reason not to scrutinize allegations against army personnel. A retired, senior Indian diplomat told Amnesty International India in May 2013, “If the AFSPA goes, the army will have to go first. The army knows that if the AFSPA is lifted, they’ll be flooded with lawsuits, which are indeed bad for morale, if you deploy the Army, you give them immunity. That’s the narrative the government has accepted from the Army.”

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There is no denying of the fact that Armed forces with their valour and sacrifices have time and again saved the country from enemies and anti-social elements. But can rape and murder be justified on grounds of national security? When innocent people are killed in the name of justice by a state that claims to be a democracy, it is not normal to ignore the violations. Hence the authority and accountability of protectors who turned human rights violators will be put to question.

Irom Sharmila’s indomitable spirit and resilience towards her cause garnered solidarity and support from all Manipuris, and had brought the brutalities committed by armed forces on the national panorama, and had made the authorities take cognizance of the matter which was earlier ignored.

Irom Sharmila is not fasting unto death. Rather she is fasting unto life, to remove a brutal law that allows the murder of innocent people’.

– Deepti Priya Mehrotra (Sharmila’s biographer)

Sharmila, in her teenage years was associated with Human Right Alerts (HRA) group and has travelled across the state of Manipur before year 2000 to understand the plight of Manipuris. Her struggle touches and connects, in its stark simplicity, with common citizens; she speaks for many whose voices fade into oblivion, routinely unheard.

Her continuous efforts and hard struggle against AFSPA, has brought changes, but failed to reap the dividends she desired. One of the major failures of her movement was that, it was unable to take the shape of a public and mass mobilising movement. On 9^th August 2016 she decided to end her 16 year long hunger strike.

“The expectations that a section of the (Manipuri) public has — that I should continue my fast — is flawed. They made me the only face of the fight against AFSPA. They put me on a pedestal, made me an icon. They forgot that I was human, that I had expectations.

All these years I waited for a mass movement, where people would join me in the fight against AFSPA. I did get solidarity messages and public (acknowledgement) every time I was released on an annual basis, but the momentum was not there. The solidarity was not enough.

The iconhood was thrust on me. It was never of my own making. The decision to break my fast was partly influenced by my discomfort and discontent over this mantle that had been put on me.

I am human and have every right to take my own decisions. That’s exactly what I have done.”

-Irom Sharmila

Her earlier endeavours had failed to create an impact on the government, so she decided to change the course of her fight; she founded Peoples’ Resurgence and Justice Alliance party (PRJA) and contested in 2017 assembly elections. She failed miserably having won just 90 votes.

Her defeat has shown that her 16 year long struggle in flesh and blood, has failed to resonate with people of Manipur, they didn’t want her to join politics, they wanted her to be a martyr for the cause, rather than the elimination of cause itself. It’s a defeat of each and every Manipuri.

Well, after long years of hardship, this mother’s day (12^th May 2019) she gave birth to twin girls and has received the greatest gift a mother could ever get on the day which meant to celebrate motherhood.

She is a name to reckon with. One individual, she has taken on the might of the state. She draws power from her unwavering resolve. Her commitment is total, her will strong as steel. Even though her fast has ended but her cause has remained the same, she will neither compromise, nor give up the fight halfway. In staking a claim to peace as a basic right to all people, she has become a symbol, an icon and an inspiration. Her chosen path is original, uncompromising and very tough. Her sacrifices speak louder than words.

Her gist of life can be best summed up in her own poem.

“…my dead body,

To reduce it to cinder

Amidst the flames

Chopping it with axe and spade

Fills my mind with revulsion

The ‘skin’ that is sure to dry out

Let it rot under the ground

Let it be of some use to the future generations

Let it transform into ore in the mines.

I’ll spread the fragrance of peace.”

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Most excerpts in this article have been directly taken from following sources:

1. Biography of Irom Sharmila: Burning Bright by Deepti Priya Mehrotra.
2. Article by former IPS officer K S Subramanian – http://infochangeindia.org/42-human-rights/analysis/9355-impunity-under-afspa
3. Amnesty International India – https://www.amnestyusa.org/files/asa200422013en.pdf
4. The Hindu – https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/No-fear-no-shame-no-hate-Irom-Sharmila-prepares-for-life-in-politics/article16754655.ece
5. Sharmila’s interview to Rediff.com – https://www.rediff.com/news/interview/the-irom-sharmila-interview-i-have-become-more-fearless/20160829.htm
6. Institute of Defence Research study on AFSPA by Ali Ahmed – https://idsa.in/system/files/jds_5_2_aahmed.pdf
7. Sharmila’s poetry – https://www.thequint.com/lifestyle/books/irom-sharmilas-poetry-the-ideas-behind-a-16-yr-old-hunger-strike

 

Book Review: The Shadow Lines

Some were dark, some were light, and at some places the strokes of time were heavy and at some places they were loose, some portions of canvas were still wet and some were dried years ago, painting which emerges by dipping time in palette of memory brings various shades to life, at one moment it make you enrich your imagination with lively colours and the very next moment it dwell you into shadows; such is a painting created by the genius of Amitav Gosh.

The shadow lines, is a simple story which involves humor, emotions and tragedies, narrated by an anonymous narrator and set across different times and different cities. Gosh has brilliantly used time as the most important tool in telling this story, he makes the story switch between past and present in a very smooth way and he does it so amazingly that the flow of the plot doesn’t gets disrupted.

The story revolves around a family and their relatives and moves across Calcutta, Dhaka and London before the liberation of Bangladesh, each location has its own importance in the story. The vivid characters in the story seems very real to me, a disciplined granny, a concerned daughter-in-law, a worried father and an innocent child which grows into a timid adult.

The plot takes a grave turn in the later part of the book as the focus shifts to war and riots, but this part of the book is highly compelling and in this part Gosh has expressed a various strong points which holds a lot of gravitas when he talks about circling the map and how geography and circumstances are linked with each other.

On the language front Amitav Gosh is impeccable, the analogies and the description of most of the emotions is just unparalleled, and he is an expert in describing the most complex of thoughts in words with ease, here are the few pickups from the book.

Tridib to Ila

Everyone lives in a story, he says, my grandmother, my father, his father, Lenin, Einstein, and lots of other Names I hadn’t heard of; they all lived in stories, because stories are all there to live in, it was just a question of which one you choose.

Narrator

Every word I write about those events of 1964 is the product of silence. It is a struggle I am destined to loose-have already lost-for even after all these years, I do not know where within me, in which corner of my world, this silence lies, All I know of it is what it is not. It is not, for example, the silence of an imperfect memory. Nor it is a silence enforced by a ruthless state-nothing like that, no barbed wire no checkpoints to tell me where its boundaries lie. I know nothing of this silence except that it lies outside the reach of my intelligence, beyond words – that is why this silence must win, must inevitably defeat me.

This book is for anyone who is interested in different way of storytelling and wants to have a ride along the time dimension.

ACCEPTING THE UNEXPECTED

William Shakespeare once said “Expectation is the root of all heartache”, couldn’t agree with him more, but can we resist expectations to prevent heartache? (In answering the question we are again expecting that resisting expectation will prevent heartache). Well except for saints and sages (real ones are really difficult to find) I don’t think anyone can resist expectations, although we resist expectations when it comes to expecting from ourselves but certainly we can’t resist expecting from others (we all expect others to keep our country clean, but didn’t hesitate to spill garbage). When our expectations meet the result we rejoice otherwise we mourn.

But what if something unexpected happens, something that nobody conceived of? Nobody can answer this question more particularly than Americans.

Donald Trump was elected as president on 9^th November 2016, and America was shocked because majority Americans didn’t want him to win (although most voted for him…”paradox”). What would have been the reaction of America if Hillary Clinton would have won? SIMILAR! Because nobody wanted her to win either (oh…then what America wanted to be president less this year?). The story of American presidential election started much before “Trump” and “Clinton” was projected as candidates. The Republican and Democratic Party both choose the candidate for the post of president through multiple rounds of intense and rigorous debate among their own members. Among the Reds Donald Trump couldn’t perform better in initial rounds and the views of some Republicans were “he doesn’t even deserve to stand on the podium”. But (this article involves a lot of “but”, but can’t help it, it’s an article on unfulfilled expectation) Trump in later rounds performed so well that he finally emerged as a candidate for the post of President, and with this he unlocked the very first gate on his still long journey to White House.

Among the Blues Hillary Clinton has been a potential candidate in former election but unfortunately lost to Barack Obama, from then on she waited for complete 8 years to get the opportunity once again. But this time to get nominated she had to overcome the biggest hurdle on her way, the mighty “Bernie Sanders” the most veteran politician among the blues. Now, here comes expectation into play, majority Americans wanted Sanders to win and emerge as the nominee, but Mrs. Clinton played it so well that Sanders was sent back to the stands and this was a disaster (at least that’s what Americans thought). Bernie Sanders has outstanding credentials as a politician and every American  imagined him as the next president, but unfortunately he was not nominated and this proved to be the first heartache out of many to come. Now undoubtedly President has to be either Trump or Clinton and Americans had to choose one among them (if they had the choice of NOTA they would have picked it).

Then as per election procedure of U.S.A series of debates started in various states of America, showcasing Trump’s hatred towards Muslims, his highly capitalistic views and his agitation towards ISIS and Hillary’s leaked email showed that she takes two positions on policy issues: one for the public and other for her donors, but still most Americans wanted Hillary Clinton to win as first female president in comparison to Donald Trump (another expectation).

But this election shattered all expectations when Trump emerged as a victor. Now America had to ‘accept the unexpected’ and move on with the unexpected President expecting him to create a better America.

 

CLICK, CASTE AND CRICKET

CLICK, CASTE AND CRICKET

“If the government doesn’t do anything, so much will happen. We have done a lot for 70 years. Where have we reached? Please tell us what not to do. If we decide not to do anything, they (entrepreneurs) will take us places.” massive applauds by young, and enthusiastic entrepreneurs reverberated inside the Vigyan Bhawan as Prime Minister verbalized the feelings of entrepreneurs in above words.

The occasion was of ‘startup India’ meet in the capital, the excitement was overwhelming with audience hanging on to every word Mr. Modi uttered. But what’s stopping these entrepreneurs before? And what had made them rejoice now? An easy explanation would be, these entrepreneurs were tied with several ropes before, then came a time when theses ropes turned loose and now finally some of these ropes are vanished but not all.

The ropes of ‘license raj’, ‘inspector raj’ and ‘stringent tax and production laws’ in the congress government before 1990s held the entrepreneurs tightly. In those days first you need to get your company registered by citing from where you will get the resources and generate capital, the benefits it is going to offer to society, you need make sure that your company doesn’t become a monopoly. This whole process of registration consumes hell lot of time with your file moving from one official to other and then from one ministry to other. Most businessman quote that they got their license 2 years later and by this time most of them turned hopeless and lost the enthusiasm and the project for some of them turned unfeasible as monetary conditions changed drastically.

Then, came a time when these ropes were loosed, this happened under congress government which was in the center under the leadership of P.V. Narasimha Rao. The government relaxed various registration and tax laws which reduced the time frame for registration and helped many businesses to flourish. Two brilliant economist of that time must be credited for these reforms, one is Dr. Manmohan singh the then finance minister and other was Montek singh Ahluwalia the then commerce secretary.

This is 2016 where most of these ropes got vanished and the entrepreneurs are held free but not totally. Let’s discuss the boosting factors.

• 10,000cr fund for innovation-driven enterprise.
• 3 year exemption from tax on profits.
• 500cr per year credit guarantee mechanism
• Exemption from capital gains tax
• Self certification fund for innovation-driven enterprise.
• Approvals within a day through mobile app in the making.
• Exemptions to investments made by incubators above the fair market value
• 4% funding support for setting up incubators.
• 90 days open window to close business in case of failure.

Now, the Ropes that are still an obstacle.

• Indian tax code does not have a definition for digital goods, so those selling digital goods and services have to pay service tax and excise.
• The issue of allowing convertible notes, which allow a startup to raise funds from an investor on the condition that the debt will be converted into equity at a later stage, has remained unresolved (outdated FEMA regulations).
• Some issues are pending with RBI related to foreign capital.
• Concerns regarding raising fund from abroad have not been addressed.

The most successful start-ups in India are running their business online, take flipkart, payTM, snap deal, Zomato etc. just few clicks and you get served. The challenge is for the new ones or the ones, who are struggling, but I am very much optimistic that with following reforms and handling of all remaining obstacles will finally make the entrepreneurs free from all the ropes and will soon have a start-up ready just with a click.

The caste discrimination in India’s most renowned universities (JNU, DU, IITs etc) has always been a ponderable subject but has always been neglected and this time under the scanner is university of Hyderabad.

The tragic suicide of “Rohith Vemula” a research scholar who was soon going to turn 27 this year sparked off a wide students protest at UoH and elsewhere, including those at the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the home of HRD minister Smriti Irani. Was it a ‘Dalit vs Non Dalit’ issue? This question needs immediate answer, but the fact must be considered that he took admission at general seat in UoH despite having a scheduled caste certificate.

Earlier suicides by Dalit scholars at UoH have failed to sound an alarm. In 2008, Senthil Kumar, a Dalit scholar killed himself after the UoH did not provide the doctoral student with a supervisor. A committee that probed his death brought out serious discrimination against Dalit students. In 2013, M. Venkatesh committed suicide after his plea for a guide went unheard by the university. A committee formed after his death found ‘glaring instances of insensitivity and lack of diligence’ towards students from marginalized sections.

But this case is too peculiar, strife between Ambedkar Students Association (ASA) and ABVP, over a post about the hanging of Yakub Memon, led to the suspension of Rohith and others for a semester. Now why the university has not suspended ABVP supporters, are they not involved in the tussle?

The university is sure to blame whose ignorance of the matter lead to many suicides had this issue been addressed earlier, many lives would have been saved and solution must have reached to the problem of discrimination on the basis of caste.

The Australia tour of India had caught many eyes from all-round the world, although we were not able to win ODI series but with a 3-0 clean sweep at T20 series we settled the scores with the Ausies. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli batted outstanding in both formats, Manish Pandey’s maiden century lead India to victory in 5^th ODI and what a comeback for Yuvraj Singh, when he was batting on 2 runs for 8 balls he was standing on the fine line between getting cursed for losing the match and crusading the match to victory, with his back to back six and four he jumped to the victory side which every cricket fan must have noticed.

But what we missed noticing is the bold recommendation that betting on cricket must be legalized. Currently, betting in horse racing and lottery tickets are legal in India. So, betting on sports can also be legalized. It is time for lawmakers to mull over setting up a National level gambling regulatory authority along the lines of the UK Gambling Commission, at least for the most celebrated game in India that is cricket.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE SUN NEVER SETS

THE SUN NEVER SETS

The evening Sun on the verge of disappearing has often attracted many eyes and the emergence of it from the opposite direction has always gathered many anticipations.

It was a fine evening; a father pointed his finger towards the setting Sun showing it to his small daughter, “look darling the setting Sun”. The girl looked for a while and then said “the Sun never sets; earth moves from west to east”, the father was totally baffled whether to praise his daughter’s intelligence or to laugh at his own stupidity.

The first news that I read that morning was of the murder of a rationalist Prof. M.M. Kalburgi, the former vice chancellor of Hampi University was shot dead by an unidentified person at his home. There were protests all over Karnataka by his followers who had mixed feeling of grief and anger, alleging right wing supporters (Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad) for the killing.

Prof. Kalburgi garnered much ire of Hindutva groups when he made statements criticizing the idol worship by quoting a section from U.R. Ananthmurthy’s book “why offering prayers in the nude is wrong”. Shatiya Academy award winner U.R Ananthmurthy was himself a left wing ideologue who was also targeted by Hindutva group for hurting religious sentiments.

Two years before Maharashtra’s most vocal rationalist Narendra Dabholkar was also shot dead. He had been campaigning for anti superstition bill and black magic bill which his supporters are still demanding the state to pass.

These are just two instances there are many in death row, this is signalled by a Bajrang Dal leader in his tweet just after the death of Prof. Kalburgi.

After 68 years of independence, freedom of speech and expression is still losing its breath; the cowards who are afraid to have a public debate with such rationales are killing them, our democratic freedom is relegating against vandalism. What these rationales were doing? Writing, speaking, giving reasons to make people understand why they find few things illogical. Some people are so obsessed with their beliefs that either they do not want it to get questioned or they do not have the courage to defend it

We lost Prof. Kalburgi, Prof Ananthmurthy, Narendra Dabholkar but beware the earth is moving from west to east; again the sun will shine, again its heat will scorch you, again its warmth will evoke rationalism because the sun never sets.   

THE TOWN BECKONS

THE TOWN BECKONS

A very special friend of mine, a regular reader of my blogs and a rational critic of my writing, reminded me that I had not written on “pranjalbajajspeaks” for a long time, and I promised her that soon she will be reading something interesting.  I started mulling over the currents events “modi in china”, “Rahul Gandhi’s miraculous return”, “IPL-8” but I was not getting something distinguished to write on. The very next day, I got a call from another special friend of mine, telling me about the reunion of our colony friends and asking me to come but I was not in the city so unfortunately I missed it.

After his call I got nostalgic about my past days in “sehore” and I was having Microsoft word opened before me and this is what I produced by unlocking a flood of memories of this town where I had lived 15 years of my life.

“Sehore” a small town situated approximately 40 km from Bhopal; this is the town where I got my first school (I felt so lost on the first day), I rode my first tricycle, I made my first friend, but these doesn’t make this place so special to me, what makes it so special is the friends and the atmosphere that I got when I was in 6^th standard.

I still remember that day when I met a fair kid with fluffy cheeks wearing the water bottle in his neck and I asked his name and the block he lives in, later in the evening I went to ‘E’ block where he lives, trying to recall his name on the way but couldn’t remember and gone for a guess that his name might be “Shubham”, I knocked the door his mummy opened the door and in uncertainty said “aunty is shubham there?” and she nodded in yes and loudly called his name, he came out and seeing the same lad I thought I am not bad at guessing. This is how our friendship started and later on got so deepen that we cannot restrict ourselves to meet each other even for a day.

As the time passed we got more friends and a complete “gang” of brats is formed, going school together in the same van, waiting for the clocks to strike 5:00pm so that we can play together, from cricket, football, zoo, piddi, ice-water to indoor games like cards, business, pokemon, carom I think we had not spared any single game from playing. The terrace cricket was also amazing, the best part of that game is you get 12 runs if the ball strikes three walls successively and the worst part was to go to pick the ball two storey down and the funny part is we used to send “lavi” downstairs to pick the ball by offering him two chances to bat.

The last “Holi” (I mean a genuine one) I played was with you people, “Holi” never remained a fun for me after that and now this festival seems to me a “festival of colors (television channel)” more than the “festival of colours”. I know many of you must have played “Holi” after that, but remember the last time when you crossed all the lines of enjoyment, I am sure your answer will be the same as mine.

Now, comes the best part summer vacations, waking up at 5:30am taking each other out from the carefree sleep and going for a morning walk and used to map different roads each day, now when I think of this morning walk I used to admit that I was having no concern for my physical fitness or health, I just used to do that walk to spend more time with you all and to have fun.

At 9:00am we used to play badminton, from 12:00pm our indoor games get started, form 5:00pm outdoor games and from morning to evening we used to spend 80% of our day together.

I have many more things to quote but if I go on writing and then I will go on writing and things will not end, I know you all must have discussed all these things when you all had met, but given that I was not there I just wanted to share this with you all. If God someday asks me to make a wish that he will he instantly fulfill, I would just ask him to return my childhood.

My golden memories of this town are inextricably linked with you all and that is why this town appears to me as beckoning.

WORDS OF FIRE

WORDS OF FIRE

This chilling December, where relegating temperature has created new records in most part of the country and people badly wants sun to burn at its peak, politicians had found an alternative to beat winter. Inspired by P.M. Narendra Modi’s monthly radio program “Man ki baat” some politicians are also expressing their “man ki baat” to be very precise “Manmarzi ki baat” openly. Politicians in India are heating up the environment of the entire country by creating a hotbed of communal politics and thus mitigating the cold of winter. But this time they created flames by putting sentiments and religious ethics of people to fire.

This month stared with “Ramzade or Haramzade” statement of sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti which was highly criticized by politicians all over India. The “Ghar Vapsi “campaign of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) that was first organized in Agra and then at many places in UP to convert other religion people to hindu (mainly muslims to hindu) by conducting religious ceremonies. Now, what is this? Doesn’t it sound pathetic in a country which is world’s largest democracy, well, let’s look how the patron leaders of these parties support this campaign.

“It is not conversion it is re-conversion, in past the people who were hindu were forced to change their religion to Islam and now we are reconverting them to hindu ” this is what RSS chief Mohan Bahgwat said. Mr. Bhagwat what if the people do not want re-conversion, why you are forcing them, people don’t know you have concern for hindus or not, but everybody is acquainted with RSS’s disgust for muslims so stop defending. Here is another wretched statement given by VHP patron Ashok Singhal

“In most of the crimes, unsocial and terrorist activities people who are involved are followers of Islam, so it is necessary to convert them”. Mr. Singhal would you please tell, their religion is a problem or the crimes they commit and can you take the responsibility at this time that after conversions such activities will not happen.

I am baffled to see that, Mr. Modi, the person who strongly spoke of secularism in the entire election campaign, why is he silent on such volatile issue, well, we can’t forget Modi ji was an RSS member and how can he go against the party’s ideology, how can he criticize Mohan Bhagwat, but Mr. Prime Minister we have elected you to be loyal to the country and to its people, not to Mohan Bhahwat. You must have sincerely expressed your stance on this issue and just because you were silent the procedure of both the houses of parliament gone in vain. Opposition got a chance they were seeking for to blame BJP, they demanded an answer you were not speaking, passing of many important bills were hindered, the session ended and as always common people are the ones, left to suffer.

The much awaited movie of this year “pk” was released on 19^th December and along with the release came another issue, hindu religious organizations demanded ban on the release because film discloses the real face of the “dharm gurus” and this was not digested by the hindu religious organizations. They were complaining why movie exposes only hindu “gurus” why not other religious organizations. Well, “Asaram”, “Rampal”, “sadhvi Pragya” are the answers to such questions.

At the end the funniest of all statement is given by politician Azam khan he concluded a statement that made the experienced historians shy, he plated water on the years of research of historians by quoting “Taj Mahal was the part of ancient hindu temples”. If Shah Jahan would have heard this he would have died once more.

With all that, this year is coming to an end, every year brings some hope and bliss expecting that these “words of fire” next year get transformed into “words of soothe”.

Ahead in 2015, India is looking forward to the visit of American president Barak Obama on Republic day and our very own former Prime Minister Atal Bhirai Vajpayee and freedom fighter Mahamana Madam Mohan Malviya receiving Indias’s highest civilian owner “Bharat Ratna”.

On ending note I wish you all a very Happy and Prosperous New year ahead.

    

THEN HELPLESS NOW AUDACIUOS

THEN HELPLESS NOW AUDACIUOS

You cannot resist being carried away by the aroma of espresso even though clocks are striking 11:00 PM, the smell of coffee and the ambience of the area can easily pull you there. It is a dimly lilted area with square and circular tables arranged across the road,there are couples romancing, group of youth chatting, playing games, stringing guitar, singing songs and sipping coffee..!!

Students of Mumbai here were making and serving coffee to the visitors and commuters entire night, who would have thought that once deserted and horrible compound of “Shakti Mill” where a journalist got raped had emanated into a place like this.

The youth of Mumbai is creating a difference, instead of night outing (which is a common trend in Mumbai) at marine drive, they chose to stay awake at “Shakti Mill” compound so that no women can become helpless and no rape case be repeated again.

A very strange fashion show was held in Mumbai a few weeks ago, the reason I am calling this pageant as peculiar is the absence of any models, and instead the ramp was adorned by the role models for many victims like them. The ramp was walked by the victims of acid attacks, for the very first time they are not hiding their visage in public, the audacity in their body language was showing that they did no wrong then and they are no wrong now.

In India a rape happens every 10 minutes (that is what statistics say) and most of the time or every time males are the main culprits because of such males the so called “MARDANGI” of all men is put to question.

The above two live examples of coffee shop and the pageant were the ideas of males and are supported by many. They truly admit that we were helpless then but now are bold enough to raise a voice against women assault and will try much harder so that no rape or acid attack victim lowers her eyes in the public.

To participate in a candel light vigil, claming that what happened was horrible and blaming the system is not the solution, the change will happen only if every man triggers every another man to stop all sorts of violence against woman, then they will justify the word “MARD”.

In India the women get raped twice first at alone place and secondly by the society which is not lone but makes her lone, we are against the latter and youth of Mumbai is an epitome for this.

Here is a short poem by the actress KALKI KOECHLIN on the “TRUTHS OF WOMENHOOD”…

Dear men..!!

Will you let me stand in your place?

Will you let me laugh on your face?

Or will you arrest me for the blasphemy?

Label me as sexy, slutty, loose or crazy?

Call me basanti, pinkie, sweetie

And whistle at me?

And wait a minute!

Not just dear men,

Dear Aunty,

Will you stop gawking at me?

Dear Didi,

Will you stop telling me to shut up?

Dear Maa,

Will you stop ignoring me?

Dear women,

Will you at least stand up for me????

Support the MARD campaign-(MARD-Men against rape and discrimination.)

TYPES OF “DIL”

TYPES OF “DIL”

Here I come with the most used and darling word of all “DIL”, the word without which every Indian song is incomplete, it’s the word which make the soft toys and flower market to flourish during entire valentines week by flushing out your pockets, those who are in a relationship know it better, even idea ads can’t help such “ullus”. Well our young generation has the ability to define their hearts preceded by an adjective, so let’s talk about some “dils”.

Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that he will deliver the speech in Hindi at U.N. general assembly soon going to be held in New York, after Atal Bihari Vajpayee he is going to be the second Prime Minister to deliver the speech in Hindi, we all know that Mr. Modi is a eloquent speaker, it will be a bang up moment for we Indians to hear our national language taking a stand among the English speaking countries.

Next, Chetan bhagat is coming with his new book “Half Girlfriend” story of a bihari boy madhav who fells in love with a hot shot girl riya, he wants her to be his girlfriend but riya agrees to be his half girlfriend just because he can’t speak English, the teaser of the book had left the readers with an anticipation of where the half love story of madhav and riya lends, does madhav ends up by learning English or riya accepts madhav with his bihari hindi, whatever happens, the term “half girlfriend” is soon going to get added to the rich lexicon of GEN-Y phrases, but the synopsis of the book had also left us with a question to ponder “Is speaking English defines status ?”. chetan bhagat is popular for his blunt and revolutionary writing and most his readers includes the English speaking section, and this time he is coming with the burning topic “Hindi”.

So, both Modi and bhagat are trying to uplift hindi with there “hindibhashi dil”.

Can women be a boxer, can she be a world champion, can she be a world champion after giving birth to two children. Yes, Marykom is the answer to all questions, this lady has broken all the stereotypes of women boxing. “Passion will lead you to your destiny” are the words of Marykom and you all know where the zid (stubbornness) of Makrykom had made her landed. Thanks to umang kumar for making us aware of the hurdles that she crossed being a women challenging pain, society and circumstances at every step. Hats off to this “Ziddi dil”.

“Love jihad” another prevailing malpractice in the society. Converting of a girl’s religion by making her fall in love, especially hindu girls. I heard a person confessing in an audio on whatsapp that they trap the hindu girls, marry them and force them to change her religion so that her children will now adopt the changed religion, out of which hindu population is getting reduced and that is what some pathetic organizations and people want, I am craving to use a slang phrase for such people but due to moral reasons had to satisfy myself with a decent adjective for such hearts and that’s “Badtameez dil”.

SPEAKING CRICKET

SPEAKING CRICKET

How much cricket do you know? , he was asked this question in the very beginning of his career, it was the time when elite cricket players of their time used to rule the commentary box, and among them there was this guy with gaps in his teeth, wore large glasses, had played cricket only at university level and had no prior exposure to international cricket, but had a passion to speak cricket and a self confidence that he can make players look good on the field through his vocational skills. He didn’t replied to the question verbally but testified with every commentary that this question was asked to a man who knows nothing other than cricket. In 1992 he was rated as the possessor of “sexiest voice on radio” and recently voted most favorite TV cricket commentator by cricinfo. This chemical engineer and IIM-A graduate had brought cricket to a fresh perspective. Yes, you guessed it right I am talking about a person who talks cricket, walks cricket, laughs cricket and above all lives cricket, the very exceptional Harsha Bhogle.

Covered over 100 test matches and 400 one day internationals along with the football world cup of 2005, Harsha broke the stereotype that commentating is privileged to experienced players only. He was quipped many times that he doesn’t have good looks, no fashion sense and often suggested that he has the face for radio only, but he again broke the myth by hosting popular school quiz Olympiad and his own chat shows Harsha online and Harsha unplugged on ESPN, which made him the face of ESPN for a while. He often says “for a better part of my career I was defined by what I wasn’t – not a cricketer, not a model, no colour sense”.

Few people have the courage to follow their heart and to deny what fate brought them Harsha Bhogle is one of them, who quitted his job to do what he loves, when asked him was it difficult for him to leave the job and go for something uncertain, he candidly says “investment bankers of my time were not paid lavish packages in contrast to investment bankers of today so it didn’t mean a huge amount to me, but now it would be difficult because the opportunity cost would be too high, salaries are seriously good so giving it up would require a great mettle”. No doubt that the courage he showed then, had brought him to a place where he is today.

“I knew what not to do but didn’t always know what was right, and so I had no choice but to learn by making mistakes”. Harsha had always believed “making mistakes is not a crime but repeating them is a crime”, when he was a young lad he always feared form making mistakes and failure but later he realized that you cannot learn things if you don’t screw some of them, “what the worst thing can happen, I have to apologize on air, but I will be apologizing for mistake not for crime”. One best thing I like about Harsha is that he learns from people around him, he learned professionalism from the editors on crew, he learned to knot a tie from cameraman, he doesn’t has a class of people to learn from, for him learning is important. Most of his ideologies were derived from the game of cricket, only he has got that intellect to equate the complexities of life to the game of cricket, and all what he calls is learning from sports. Sachin Tendulkar says “I have realized that speaking to him sometimes opens up completely different perspectives in addition to the ones I already have… ”.    

Coming 19th july is his 53^rd birthday, being one of his biggest fan and an admirer of his philosophy, I wish him a very Happy birthday and would like to end up this article by his words “if mistakes, if failure, could ruin people, then I would never be in television”.