Everyone suckles on this mango called ‘Aam aadmi’

As I stop my car at the red light, this traffic policeman drops in a pamphlet which ‘educates’ people on the Supreme court’s judgment that all tints and films should be removed from car windows and failing which, the police will penalize with heavy fines.

Why are the police so over active about implementing this particular order by the Court? Because this is easy to implement, as it only targets the aam aadmi. The VIPs and the politicians, who in the current times are the habitual and worst law breakers, are privileged to blue beacons and dark tints and what not. The law abiding, tax-paying, aam aadmi can be easily forced/frightened by authorities unlike the politically connected who don’t care for the law and who can get the officers transferred.

The police would not show any interest in the orders of Supreme Court which are tough to implement because it demands true courage, real interest in peoples welfare, and more than anything else, calls for facing political consequences. An example can be the Supreme Court’s order which bans the use of funnel type speakers for religious prayers and prayer calls from Temples and Mosques. Do these police authorities overwrought over tinted cars, care a bit about such orders? Not even the toughest cop would dare take action on such issues. They do not because any action about it can raise political hackles and put them in a spot, get them transferred.

There are ministers who flout all rules and yet the police remains a silent party. Before such powerful people, the police behaves more like a postman than a policeman. The case of ministers who owe lakhs in electricity bills is well known and yet no authority dares touch them. When a poor aam aadmi cannot afford the heavy power bills, the power line is promptly disconnected, as happened in Delhi recently.

The aam aadmi of this country is easy prey for everyone and everything. From a pick pocket to the police and politician, from corruption to inflation, from potholed roads to traffic jams, the aam aadi bears it all. Yet, there is no major violence or revolution.

Isn’t the Indian Mango man more deserving of the Nobel Peace prize than the European Union?

Burfi - a strong mind and a clean heart

It is people like Shruti, who not only make their own lives but also others’ life miserable. These are the ones who cause pain to people around them. How irresponsible, how infidelic, fickle; people, especially some women can be. Being engaged to someone, Shruti did not have any compunctions playing around with a clean hearted Barfi. Are girls impaired when it comes to deciding what they want? Even after they decide on and settle things like engagement, marriage, are they un-trustable?

If Shruti did not have the courage, the standing up to the consequences quality in her, why should she even stoke hopes in Barfi. If someone does not have an independent mind of his/her own, if one can not control ones own life, one should not pretend to be so. They should not go around in society like educated, independent, individuals who are in control of their lives. People like her should not have to right to play around with their own lives, let alone others’.

Be that as it may, what this lady does after her marriage to Ranjit is recklessness of the highest order. The way she walks away when Ranjit tries to stop her, only goes to show how unsettled her mind was even after 6 yrs of marriage, and how spectacularly wrong decisions, women can make.

Shouldn’t there be a limit to impulsiveness; despite the chaos created in mind by the usually blamed fault of hormones.

What can one say of 6 yrs of marriage when Shruti’s mother herself had an infidelic mind even after decades of marriage? How shameless was the mother in going secretly to see the woodcutter even years and years after marriage. Seems like age has no bearing on a woman’s fickle mindedness. This can not be justified under the rubric of womanly, expressive, tender, understanding, matters of heart etc etc.Yes, matters of fidelity in a relationship are to be black or white. There should be no place for grey.

Crossing the lines of wrong decision making and bounds of morality, and even outdoing her mother, Shruti attempts to get back, or rather get in between Barfi and Jhilmil when the two souls were bonding up. Even a differently abled mind like Jhilmil could sense this and she decides to leave immediately. 

Shruti could neither belong to her husband, not to Barfi, not even be true to herself. Beings like these do not have to courage to talk to themselves, question their decisions, their morality, or face their own soul. They live half lives, inflicting suffering unto themselves and to those connected to them.

People like Barfi would still have no ill will for the likes of Shruti, but I have my sympathies for Barfi, Ranjit (Shruti’s husband), the woodcutter (Shruti’s mother’s barfi), and Shruti’s father.

Jhilmil did not have a normal mind, but she had a clean heart. Shruti had a normal mind but an unclean heart.

Kasab, you, I are all equal

Whither Constitutionalism! Kasab, you, I are all equal..!!! It is a welcome decision by the Supreme Court that upheld death for Kasab. But will he be hanged in the near future? Not sure. It is unfortunate that the terrorist; an alien from an enemy State is given all the rights of a citizen of India. The Constitution clearly states that the rights of citizens of India cannot be extended to enemy aliens. Enemy aliens are nationals of a country in war with India. Is it not true that if there is one such country in the world which has been in continuous, overt and covert war with India, it is Pakistan? It is quintessentially unconstitutional that Kasab can still petition for Presidential mercy, equating him to any other ‘aam aadmi’ of this country.

Indians fight for their rights, for local jobs, ethnic identities, regional resources etc. The ‘Sons of the soil’ are ready to agitate against their fellow countrymen for benefits. Maratha against Bihari, South against North, Gujjar against Meena, Telangana against Andhra etc. But there is no movement when this enemy is treated as an Indian.

This is high time that this discrepancy is resolved, lest we have more Kasabs claiming equality with nationals of India.

Housing apartheid

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3613994.ece
Response

A good piece by The Hindu on the ghetto mindedness of the landlords in letting out their premises. Though the bias that exists is condemnable, the author should have gone a little deeper and analyzed the reasons for such discrimination which are not very hard to see. It has been this writers experience that when a few muslim families settle in a new locality, the first community action they would think of is the construction of a mosque even in the midst of non-muslim residences, no matter how inconvenient it is with its blaring five times a day, call for prayers. Another very valid reason is their practice of sacrificing a goat on Bakrid in full public view, with the animals blood forming a long stream, while the animal struggles on the road side before the public which could leave sensitive minds, vegetarians, animal lovers etc disturbed; and the foul smell lingers for days. Another reason can be the Arabization of the locality, with not only the women but also little girls being covered up in the darkness of burkhas and hijabs. If any one denies these points, then he/she should pay a visit to Hyderabad. The discrimination might not end as long as such practices are carried out in public. One cannot expect liberalism in return for public insensitivity.

Prejudice runs both ways?

In response to the piece
Humour is by no means exempt from prejudice in The Hindu on June 8, 2012, about Controversial Ambedkar cartoon
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article3501903.ece

The most convincing piece in the entire article was the statement -‘The whip is inseparable from violence…’ After reading that sentence, the outlook towards the article changed completely. One can not but agree and sympathize with the emotion in that idea. However, one point still remains unsolved, which is, - Why should dalits take the whip in Nehru’s hand to be falling on Ambedkar? The cartoon actually shows the whip aimed at the snail which is used as a symbol of very slow movement. Ambedkar too is helping the whole process by goading the snail to move faster. Why is Ambedkar invariably seen by Dalits as being responsible for the sluggish pace. Dalits need to offload the psychological baggage which almost borders on paranoia, and see things with a bit more balanced judgment. With such a balance, one can realize that Ambedkar and Nehru together worked for faster progress of the Constitution.

The grounds of Dalit identity and pseudo Abedkarites

Ambedkar, or for that matter no one should be above criticism. This prophet-hood being foisted on the great personality is a sign of how divisive the dalit politics is getting.  It shows a very farsighted strategy to acquire unbridled power without responsibility by the so called spokesmen of dalit interests. An attempt to get away with anything (irresponsible statements, violence etc)  under the shield of dalit identity.

Kancha Illiah can only spew venom at anything even remotely connected to Hinduism or upper caste hindus. These are the people who selectively use or abuse Ambedkar’s ideas for their own ends. His ideas are dangerous and only water the seeds of everlasting hatred among dalits and non-dalits.

The ilk of Illiah just do not want the demolition of caste, lest they be effaced to oblivion.  These are the kind of people who would never allow admbedkar’s ideas like inter-caste marriages to succeed.

Illiah supported the beef  fest recently at Hyderabad. He calls it an assertion of dalit identity. The reason is that hindus do not eat it and because Gandhi’s work for upliftment of ‘Harijans’ included urging them to quit eating beef and carrion. By claiming that beef eating was/is a way of life of dalits, they are nurturing a dalit identity; an identity built selectively on those issues which can pinch and  hurt the caste hindus’ conscience. Gandhi also encouraged education, giving up of unclean jobs, hygiene, etc. Why not also give them up to assert dalit identity, if that is how they used to live. Can they not be called their way of life, going by the logic of beef eating? 

May be it's just that they are not divisive enough!

Do India's Muslims need to be represented by Muslims?

The writer rightly raised an important issue affecting Indian polity now. Today’s muslim leaders are showing the same attitude that prevailed during the times of Independence. History tells us that Jinnah insisted on being the sole representative of all muslims in undivided India; to disallow congress from fielding muslims. The Owaisis in Hyderabad too claim to be the sole representatives of muslims and are determined not to concede any political space to other parties. Muslim vote, or for that matter any vote is not a monopoly of muslim leaders. Its time common muslims realized this and break out of this political warp which is holding the community back.

Another paradox about muslim vote is that, when the Shahi Imam openly endorses politics, it does not raise any eyebrows; in fact, the Congress uses his popularity, but when Baba Ramdev speaks with political overtones, the Congress men cry foul that religious men should keep off from politics.