Just for a 'CHANGE': India Today

India Today

Since politics is the architect of any nation, and the election system is the architect of the system of politics in any country, I would like to start by talking about the election system in our country.

I'd call our election system as a festival of bribe, booze and biryani. I say 'festival' because the period of elections is a time of merry, not only for the politicians, but also for the people. For the politicians, it is the votes and the imminent powers and positions, and for the people, it is free food, drinks, household items and services; in other words, election time is a period of festivities where the majority of the Indian population ends up raping our motherland.  Wait, let's raise the first question. Is our country a home for dreamers and leaders or a breeding ground for beggars? Why do our tongues hang out on the sense of getting something free? Empowerment is a sinful deed in our country. 'The rich have to be rich, the poor have to be poor.' - this is the mantra on which our Indian politics is running. And yes, words like 'Change' and 'Development' are words of filth that are highly unacceptable in our nation.

The second question. Are we a true democracy? We claim our nation to be one of the biggest democracies in the world; but according to me, if we call our country to be a democracy, it is nothing but hypocrisy.  We are a corrupt country showcasing ourselves as a great country under the blankets of democracy. We talk high about our past, of how great a nation India was and how our self-esteem and dignity were wiped out by the British invasion. But wait, what about now? Aren't we ourselves doing the same what the British did once upon a time? We are not allowed to select our leaders directly, then in what way is it appropriate to call ourselves a democracy?

You might be knowing the recent arrest of two girls in Mumbai for their posts against the bandh in regard to the demise of  a Maharashtra political icon (I don't want to mention his name). If the demise of a politician has to be marked by a bandh, then I had say there are millions dying of hunger and poverty, what about them? You might say there is a difference between a politician and a common man, a difference of power and prestige, but I would like to remind you that it is the common man who has given that power, it is from the common man's sweat and blood the politician's prestige was born.

There is something called 'freedom of speech' that is present in our constitution. What does that mean? In our nation, if you speak something sensible, you will be behind the bars. But then, if you resort to rubbish talks and ridiculous acts, if your mouth dances to insane issues and meaningless comments, you will be hailed and made a member of the parliament (I guess that's how our parliament was formed). You speak the truth about a politician, about our government, and you will be stamped as a criminal and a traitor. Speaking the truth is condemned in this land of Mahatma Gandhi. Is 'truth' a taboo in India?

Now, let me focus on the current Indian mentality. I am not the President or the PM to really analyse the current state of our nation, but still, I would like to share with you a few thoughts of mine that were born out of my experience. We want India to rock at the Olympics. At the time of Olympic games, it is a general habit of us to compare our country with those of Olympic-hero nations like China and USA. We criticise our country's performance and talk high about other countries' achievements. We say Indians don't have a sporting sense. But then, we don't want our children to get into sports. We brainwash them by discouraging them in every possible way, and show sports as something negative and unsuccessful. Let's come to cricket, which is like a religion in our country, or rather, a binding religion, a religion that unites all other religions. We want India to win every match it plays, to bring home every world cup it is a part of. If we lose a match, we begin to tag our players as useless and irresponsible. We criticise our players in such a way and talk as if losing a game is a heinous sin. But we never want our children to become cricketers. And the explanations we give are far from sensible; saying Cricket is full of politics and one needs a cricketing background to succeed in the game. We will come to cinema, something that is as common as brushing our teeth daily. Comparisons are made between Indian and Hollywood cinema. We accuse Indian Directors for artificiality and lack of quality. We taunt them by saying that all they know is item and duet songs, vulgar comedy and cheap stories. But hey, hold on, are we okay with our children becoming actors or filmmakers? The answer is a NO. We want to watch films, even try to watch pirated versions, but it is a big no when it comes to our children making films. Why so? Yeah, because films too have politics. And one needs a film background to succeed. Otherwise, you would end up on the roads. #whatrubbish!
Lastly, I want to focus on politics, which is like a backbone for a nation. Which can either make or break a nation. For us, politics is an ocean of filth and vermin. The government is corrupt, the leaders are inefficient, lawlessness is plaguing our country etc.; this is what we say. Most people feel politics to be a sin, as a word that shouldn't be uttered. We, as usual, compare our nation's politics with that of USA or Japan and throw tantrums at our own government. We criticize our political scene in such a way, as if we had been researching India's political history for decades. And when it comes to our children joining politics, our mouths begin to spit discouragement and negativity. Serving the nation should be done by everyone else, except us. We are an exception. We have so many problems and lots of responsibilities. And hence, politics is not a good choice.

The tag-line for all the situations similar to the above ones is advising our children to study well, get into a good job, and lead a safe, secured and settled life. 'Someone has to come and Change India. But that someone doesn't include me' - This is the mantra that is penetrating through our breaths. We say India has to develop, but we often forget that today's children of ours' are tomorrow's citizens of this country.

We got to remember this; we don't have the right to blame the system unless we are ready to do something for it.

Enchanter Market - Part II

Where summer ripens at all hours?
But ever in the moonlight
She pined and pined away;
Sought them by night and day,
Found them no more, but dwindled and grew gray;
Then fell with the first snow,
While to this day no grass will grow
Where she lies low:
I planted daisies there a year ago
That never blow.
You should not loiter so."
"Nay hush," said Laura.
"Nay hush, my sister:
I ate and ate my fill,
Yet my mouth waters still;
To-morrow night I will
Buy more," and kissed her.
"Have done with sorrow;
I'll bring you plums to-morrow
Fresh on their mother twigs,
Cherries worth getting;
You cannot think what figs
My teeth have met in,
What melons, icy-cold
Piled on a dish of gold
Too huge for me to hold,
What peaches with a velvet nap,
Pellucid grapes without one seed:
Odorous indeed must be the mead
Whereon they grow, and pure the wave they drink,
With lilies at the brink,
And sugar-sweet their sap."

Golden head by golden head,
Like two pigeons in one nest
Folded in each other's wings,
They lay down, in their curtained bed:
Like two blossoms on one stem,
Like two flakes of new-fallen snow,
Like two wands of ivory
Tipped with gold for awful kings.
Moon and stars beamed in at them,
Wind sang to them lullaby,
Lumbering owls forbore to fly,
Not a bat flapped to and fro
Round their rest:
Cheek to cheek and 
Locked together in one nest.

Early in the morning
When the first cock crowed his warning,
Neat like bees, as sweet and busy,
Laura rose with Lizzie:
Fetched in honey, milked the cows,
Aired and set to rights the house,
Kneaded cakes of whitest wheat,
Cakes for dainty mouths to eat,
Next churned butter, whipped up cream,
Fed their poultry, sat and sewed;
Talked as modest maidens should
Lizzie with an open heart,
Laura in an absent dream,
One content, one sick in part;
One warbling for the mere bright day's delight,
One longing for the night.

At length slow evening came--
They went with pitchers to the reedy brook;
Lizzie most placid in her look,
Laura most like a leaping flame.
They drew the gurgling water from its deep
Lizzie plucked purple and rich golden flags,
Then turning homeward said: "The sunset flushes
Those furthest loftiest crags;
Come, Laura, not another maiden lags,
No wilful squirrel wags,
The beasts and birds are fast asleep."
But Laura loitered still among the rushes
And said the bank was steep.

And said the hour was early still,
The dew not fallen, the wind not chill:
Listening ever, but not catching
The customary cry,
"Come buy, come buy,"
With its iterated jingle
Of sugar-baited words:
Not for all her watching
Once discerning even one goblin
Racing, whisking, tumbling, hobbling;
Let alone the herds
That used to tramp along the glen,
In groups or single,
Of brisk fruit-merchant men.

Till Lizzie urged, "O Laura, come,
I hear the fruit-call, but I dare not look:
You should not loiter longer at this brook:
Come with me home.
The stars rise, the moon bends her arc,
Each glow-worm winks her spark,
Let us get home before the night grows dark;
For clouds may gather even
Though this is summer weather,
Put out the lights and drench us through;
Then if we lost our way what should we do?"

Laura turned cold as stone
To find her sister heard that cry alone,
That goblin cry,
"Come buy our fruits, come buy."
Must she then buy no more such dainty fruit?
Must she no more such succous pasture find,
Gone deaf and blind?
Her tree of life drooped from the root:
She said not one word in her heart's sore ache;
But peering thro' the dimness, naught discerning,
Trudged home, her pitcher dripping all the way;
So crept to bed, and lay
Silent 'til Lizzie slept;
Then sat up in a passionate yearning,
And gnashed her teeth for balked desire, and wept
As if her heart would break.

Day after day, night after night,
Laura kept watch in vain,
In sullen silence of exceeding pain.
She never caught again the goblin cry:
"Come buy, come buy,"
She never spied the goblin men
Hawking their fruits along the glen:
But when the noon waxed bright
Her hair grew thin and gray;
She dwindled, as the fair full moon doth turn
To swift decay, and burn
Her fire away.

One day remembering her kernel-stone
She set it by a wall that faced the south;
Dewed it with tears, hoped for a root,
Watched for a waxing shoot,
But there came none;
It never saw the sun,
It never felt the trickling moisture run:
While with sunk eyes and faded mouth
She dreamed of melons, as a traveller sees
False waves in desert drouth
With shade of leaf-crowned trees,
And burns the thirstier in the sandful breeze.

She no more swept the house,
Tended the fowls or cows,
Fetched honey, kneaded cakes of wheat,
Brought water from the brook:
But sat down listless in the chimney-nook
And would not eat.

Theism and Atheism?? Which one is the best?

Better be "The Curious" !!!

     “Faith means not wanting to know what the truth is”, quoted a German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche. Faith should be rewarding and not disappointing. Blindly trusting anyone or anything no matter in what context that may be, is complete foolishness unless you know them far too much. I personally think that the only person being the most qualified to be completely trusted is YOU. Yes, it’s not God, it is you. Why is that people are so keen and ignorant in believing something that is non-existent rather than the things that are scientifically and logically proven? People who come out of the box to raise this question of arrogance (as some people may call it as such) belong to one type of static entity in this world. We call them Atheists.

         Coming to an equal and the opposite side of Atheists, let us consider a chimpanzee, not because its DNA patterns and ours match by 95%, it’s that it has less questioning and cognitive skills than humans and it’s just some random animal I could think of. Chimpanzees don’t understand the way a tube light works even if you try to explain. Apparently, in the chimpanzee’s world a glowing tube light is an object that is bright when looked at, nothing more, and nothing less. Compare chimpanzees to humans and God to the light bulb. We can’t understand the way of God. He is Omnipotent and some believe him to be the ultimate creator of each and every atom in this world. People who accept this totally absurd statement blindly belong to the other type of static entity. They are called Thiests. I am neither trying to promote theism nor talk ill of it, just trying to answer the most basic question that may possibly arise while reading this.

            Now that we know of the two extremities in this world, there is something that we are missing out. There are always things that do not fall under any classification or sub-division or anything what-so-ever. The dynamic entity, people who are uncertain of what they believe in, include three types of people, the reluctant (the ones who don’t care about any beliefs and principles), the ignorant (the ones who just take things as they come and do what others ask of them to do), and the curious (the ones who remain silent to observe things that happen around them on the urge to know more). Neglect the first two kinds; it’s unlikely of them to participate in these kinds of argument. Consider the third kind, the curious ones or in this case the neutral ones. A perfectly balanced system is highly unlikely to be thought of because it’s because of the curious ones change begins. Change is something that occurs in an imbalanced system because of the rapid increase in the principles and actions of either of the two extremities. You are not allowed to judge a show if you are a participatant. That would be completely absurd. You have two choices, Theism and Atheism. You always lose something when you pick a choice. Go with Theism and you lose practicality, and if you go with Atheism you lose spirituality. What if I say there is a third one? A choice that makes you skip the necessity of picking either of the two choices. The choice that is not considered as a choice and which makes you stand nowhere but at the centre making you look at the two extremities on both your sides with fascination and awesomeness, that is “Staying out of the show”. Remain neutral, observe the happenings, arrive at pros and cons but instead of picking a side apply the pros to your life and repeat the process from the beginning once the change occurs. That is smartness. Better be the curious!!