Want to do something for a soldier, be an Indian who is worth fighting for

For the past few days I've been grappling with my emotions stemming from the brutal #PulwamaAttack that has irreversibly destroyed at least 44 families. Families that have brought up their children in a way that made those young adults chose to defend this country and not a seemingly safe job anywhere else.

I have always wanted to travel to Kashmir, now a holiday is planned with my friends, yet there is much trepidation over the politics of violence due to the impending elections. In the next few weeks, it will be a toss-up between the apparent risk of travelling there, against the apparent safety of travelling elsewhere. The safety, our security forces allow us to take us for granted. The safety for which these brave young men died.

When a calamity like this strikes us, how should I react? How should we the people of this country react? How should India react?

Should we strike back to cause equal hurt? Should we strike back to cause greater pain? What then about the pain caused by our actions? What then about the collateral damage? Won’t our reactions then perpetuate a never-ending cycle of violence? As Gandhi said, “an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind”. Should we then decimate our enemies from the face of the earth so that there is no pain or hurt anymore?

Or should we choose to follow Gandhi’s footsteps and embrace our enemies with the message of ahimsa, peace and non-violence? Does that bring lasting peace? Is it still relevant in this day and age? Is peace possible without a dialogue?

In our current political scenario, India stops dialogue, sports, and even business with Pakistan whenever there is an attack. In any dialogue there will have to be some give and take. As a society, do we have the vision of what peace can do, or the maturity to accept any resolution that may seem like we have given up something? How then will the politicians resolve this issue? How then will there be lasting peace?

I am struggling with these questions in a constant state of Rage & Placidity #CalmVolcano but here’s a thought that came out of this befuddlement and pain.

When there is such a mind numbingly painful attack on our country and our people. there is an out pouring of offers to support. But, even in apparent lack of war, India loses soldiers every other day. I feel most families may get some sort of support, yet, there could be some families which may struggle to educate their children. Also, do the children of such brave men need our support only when they lose someone? I am looking for Bhumians, collaborators who would like to join a team
- do some ground research and understand reality, and the need for such a programme
- identify and shortlist children for scholarships
- conduct fundraising campaigns to raise money for these children
- mentor/support these children until they graduate

Want to do something for a soldier, be an #Indian who is worth fighting for #Volunteer

Whose culture is it anyway?

What is Culture?

The characteristic features of everyday existence, the set of shared attitudes, values, conventions, or social practices that characterizes people in a place or time.

What happens when people in a place belong to different 'times'? - India happens!

While there are people of who belong to the older generation who think that life should be lived like this and people should behave like this etc.

There is the youth brigade, almost a third of the Indian population, who think they should have the freedom to decide what's right from wrong and chart their own course.

So who's wrong? Neither! as long as each other sets values for only themselves... When the young don't try to set values for the older people why should they set values for us?

Indian Culture has tolerated prostitution, drug and alcohol addiction for hundreds of years. What's wrong with young men and women meeting up and having a drink at a pub?

If we are old enough to decide what's right and wrong for the country and vote aren't we old enough to decide what's right  and wrong for ourselves? Please leave us and 'our culture' alone!

Who will police the Police?

The High profile Noida double murder case is heading towards it's logical end now that the real criminals have 'probably' been identified. For almost 2 months, in prime time news, the face of an innocent father was flashed across most channels as the killer of his only daughter prompting the Soap Opera crowd to switch loyalties to follow the drama. Similar discussions ensued, everyone turned Sherlock Holmes passing a Judgement on who done it and their motives...

The UP Police created the drama in the first place by falsely charging the Father and holding a press conference to announce possible motives of the 'killer father' - Either he had an affair with his Family Friend which the victims came to know Or the victims (his 14 yr old and his 40+ man servant) had an affair and the father saw them in a compromising position leading to the murder!

If the police in a suburb of the Capital city can make such a blatant accusation against an educated man even in such a high profile media covered case. Imagine the plight of the hundreds of Innocent people the police all over the country could be falsely implicating for crimes they cannot solve. That, the case might drag on for years and the guilty may still walk free is a different matter altogether.

The country is not going to progress unless it's corrupt politicians and bureaucrats are cleaned up. For even that to happen the policing has to be non-corrupt & stronger, the justice system has to be more effective. What this country needs is a revolution... a radical re-haul of the entire system with committed & educated youth leading the way...

Free Tibet!

A casual train conversation that turned into a full fledged political discussions on Tibet... I promised to blog about it so here goes...

• Tibetans travel through the passes of Himalayas to reach India via Nepal illegally in search of a better future/education.
• They have a 'Government-in exile' in Dharmashala, Himachal Pradesh headed by the Dalai Lama
• The Government-in exile has various departments much like our own. For example the education department allots Tibetan students to study at various educational institutions across the country. Chennai has 120!
• Apart from Himachal Pradesh Tibetans live in a few large Refugee camps around the country in places like New Delhi, Karnataka etc
• Children make the treacherous trip via the mountains to reach India to study. They don't see their parents for years together. They have a school in Mussorie where they study and move on to colleges. They can return to the school even during their college holidays!
• Though all Graduates dream of returning to return to Tibet, many choose to work for the Government in Exile in India.
• When the Dalai Lama dies he'll leave a clue as to where his next incarnation would be and the Tibetans will have to go an identify the child.
• Next in hierarchy to the Dalai Lama is the Panchen Lama, the real Panchen Lama was a 5 year old kid when he and his family 'disappeared'!
• Now there's a Chinese government 'installed' Panchen Lama who is doing the rounds in Tibet. He gives 'religious sermons' which at least one person from every family has to attend.
• Considering the Dalai Lama is the only potent force for the Tibetans, wonder what the Chinese will do to the child who gets identified as the next Dalai Lama
• They're happy to have self rule within the Chinese framework
• They're happy with India's neutral stance. But an aggressive posturing from India is like their main hope!
• The Yummy part: There's just one Tibetan run Tibetan restaurant in Chennai, Mount Kailash, near Loyola. Recco: The mo-mo :D

I'm sure at least half of this is news to most people!

Subsidising Regression

Cost of the Chennai's MRTS: Rs.1,000 Crore (over 20 Years)

Cost of Delhi Metro: Rs 10,500 Crore (over 10 years)

Cost of National fuel subsidy: Rs: 200,000 Crore (in 2007-08 - 1 year)

Considering a Bus costs Rs.0.25 Crore approx and the subsidy on petrol is Rs 15/litre (A bus for every 1.6Lakh litres petrol subsidy!)

It's obvious that the government has frittered away a lot of money to prevent a possible loss at the next general elections. While the MRTS and the Metro have been dubbed as part failures because their patronage is not to their full capacity (where again the blame lies with the governments) imagine we could've had Metros across all our major cities and MRTSs across all other major towns and cities and thousands of buses for the whole country just with this year's fuel subsidy.

One of the UPA government's biggest mistakes was removing the Administered Price Mechanism of the NDA which made changes in cost of petrol a mathematical process rather than a political decision. The best news I've heard in this regard has been that the national petroleum companies have started rationing fuel and their impending bankruptcy and closure within a few months if the fuel price subsidy is not removed/rationalised. When that happens, it'll be doomsday for the UPA and a lesson for all selfish power-hungry politicians who come to power in the future.

If the government can afford so much on short-term subsidies they can definitely afford better public transport for all of us.

If people can't afford to pay for the true cost of fuel, they can't afford the true cost of damaging the environment either!

Rapists should be Castrated!

More than 20 Indian Women get raped every hour (This is the Official 2006 Stats, It must be higher now) Considering almost 80% of the rapes aren't even reported that's almost 100 women every hour!

A Google News Search on 'Scarlet Keeling' throws up almost 3000 news items.
Why are we as a nation (or is it just our media?) obsessed with the rape and murder of this one under-aged girl who was high on alcohol and drugs bar-hopping at three am, far far away from her home and family?

It's reasonable to assume that most of these 100 Indian women suffered for no fault of theirs.
Who will get justice for all these women? Why doesn't the media take up each one of their cases?

The conviction rate in India is also shamefully low (8% I think) it's like the government and the law enforcement agencies are actually encouraging men to go on and rape hapless women.
Life sentence is not a sufficient enough deterrent, I don't think Rapists should be put to death either. To make them realise the trauma they made the women go through, they should be let go as free 'men' after they are castrated and/or their dicks amputated!

PS: (Update) If rape is punishable by death (as is being suggested) and so is murder, it might make these animals want to kill of their victims... think about it!

India in Isolation

The largest democracy in the World, surrounded by chaos. How long can we live in isolation as our neighbours continue to suffer?

Afghanistan, continues to reel under Talibanisation years after the Talibans were driven out of most of their land by the Americans. The Americans are fighting those they armed to drive out the Soviets.
Pakistan has spent more years under military rule than in Democracy, a heavy price to pay for maintaining a huge army to match India. Wouldn't peace between brothers have done a lot more good?
Nepal in Transition... Democracy without elections. Maoists in power. A king without a Kingdom.
Tibet where's that? Can China's importance and might make us forget the aspirations of this forgotten country and it's people?
Bhutan, peaceful, yet a blast from the past.
Burma under Military rule for Decades. How long will India take the side of the Military rulers? If peace loving monks can protest and die for democracy, can't India lift a finger to help?
Sri Lanka, the war wages on. Once bitten twice shy but can't we mediate peace?
Bangladesh, the only place where Military rule is probably doing some good... rooting out corrupt politicians. Why aren't we more friendly with these people? Why do they provide haven for terrorists who harm us?

Does a country of a Billion that ignores it's neighbours deserves a Permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council by right of it's size alone?
Is the American way of 'fighting' for Democracy wrong?
Is the Indian way of remaining a mute spectator right?

Which of these makes you proud that you're an Indian?

• India has it's first women President in 6o years yet, India's first woman IPS officer with near impeccable credentials is pipped for the top job in Delhi Police by a male two years her junior. (Link)

• The UPA government is planning to announce Sonia Gandhi's Birthday as Girl Child Day (Link) yet some women in a village in Rajasthan are not allowed out of their houses under threat of a Rs.10,000 because one woman married a man from another caste.

• When even women IAS officers don't seem to be safe from molesters (Link), no wonder then children continue to be sexually abused all over India (Link, Link, Link)

• We are the second most populous nation, we have 2-5% of our population suffering from AIDS, yet Sex Education is supposed to ruin our culture according to some. Killing the education bit won't reduce the propensity towards sex. But it just might end up killing safe-sex ignorant young people

• While an innocent Indian Doctor labelled a terrorist languished in an Australian jail for a month the Indian government did only lip service (Link), But in the past even foreign nationals convicted for waging war against the nation were pardoned and released on diplomatic pressure from other nations. (Link) Colonial hangover? When our government does little for the millions in India, what's one life in a foreign nation?

• 60 years after Independence, even though punishable under law, we still have child labourers and Manual scavengers (Link)

• The Taj Mahal was selected by a private foundation as one of the new 7 wonders a reason to rejoice? The Taj is surrounded by filth and is dying (Link)

The Indian Railways, the Army and my first experience at Bribery!

Me and my friend K were returning from New Delhi to Chennai after our exams at Chandigarh. After a looong bus ride to New Delhi we found ourselves standing at the end of a short queue at the current booking counter of the New Delhi Railway station.

Standing in the queue was quite uneventful except for a guy or two who tried to jump the queue inviting abusive language from the others. Then there were the women who refused to stand in a queue and considered themselves too big for such formalities. The guy at the counter was fair he sent back every one of those women. Standing in the queue was so uneventful, that even after an hour we found our queue was shorter by just 6-7!

While inside the counter there was so much activity that it could have been easily mistaken for a tout's office, but for the location. There were people walking in at frequent intervals, slips of 'paper' were passed around and the guy sitting behind the counter had booked around 15 - 20 tickets in the same time we had been standing!

As we got closer to the counter we learnt that we had to cough up a few extra notes to get the tickets. Those who did not utter the magic password were told that the chart has not arrived, and to come later! K asked me if I had any 'experience' at bribing, though both had none we were emboldened by those around us and we decided to go ahead.

By the time our turn came someone senior had come into the counter and was watching over things with hawk eyes. So when our turn came we uttered 'Sir urgent, we're ready to pay extra' The counter guy still told us to wait. An hour later when the 'hawk eye' left suddenly the chart appeared by magic and we were all given tickets after paying him some bribe.

Our bribing didn't end there, when we rushed to the train, We found, there were many like us who had obtained current tickets by bribing the counter people but through the back entrance. The TTE came a little while later, we had to then pay a bribe to get a berth to sleep! We shared the cabin with a few army men who were returning home for their holidays which was already delayed by the snow fall in Kashmir causing them to forfeit their previously reserved tickets. We learnt, that even they, had to bribe their way to get into the train and then also to get a berth!

It's bad that our country's government officials are neck deep into bribery and corruption that they're bold enough to accept bribes over the counter in full public view. It's even worse that most departments of our government have powerless vigilance departments.

It's bad that we don't remember or respect the men who brave rough weather and the enemy to protect us with their lives. It's shameful, that our government officials who lead cosy lives, have to suck bribes out of these poor army men also.

So at the end of the day, even before I have earned enough to become a tax paying citizen, I have already bribed twice and become a bribe paying Indian citizen!

The Ugly Roses of Siachen

The World's largest non-polar glacier.
The place of Wild Roses.
The Third Pole.
Siachen.... Definitely deserves a place in the record books
It's also the world's highest battlefield, where, for over two decades India and Pakistan have fought at altitudes of over 22,000 feet in minus 60ºC temperatures.
It's definitely not something we should be feeling proud of.

For a glacier that has overstated strategic significance, India spends a whopping 1-2 Billion Rupees a year!
Not just the enormous waste of money that could've been sensibly used for a hundred other things. Thousands of Indian Soldiers risk their lives every year in those inhospitable heights.
It's considered a great honour to serve at the Siachen Glacier in the Indian Army.
Not without reason...
The Indian Army looses one soldier every other day mostly to the extreme weather!
Many soldiers who return after serving at the Siachen Glacier suffer from psychiatric illnesses.

We are a nation of a billion people and they a nation of a quarter billion. Aren't there enough sensible people on either side of the Siachen to put an end to this nonsense?