Sometimes, Old is NOT Gold

64 years of independence, and still a girl doesn't have the freedom to choose her better half.
64 years of independence, and still religion and caste are more important than humanity.
64 years of independence, and we are still developing.

Is love a sin? Is choosing our better half no less than an unpardonable crime? Are we really worth to enjoy the freedom our leaders have given us? And above all, in the first place, do we really have the real freedom?

Religion and caste have been so respected and regarded in our country, that we are unknowingly separating ourselves from the wonderful bonds of love. Now, let me come to the actual point. There is this village in UP that has got the 'determination' to still cling onto the old and mindless tradition. Here, women under 40 are not allowed to marry the man they love, or to use mobile phones, or to go alone to the market. And yes, there is something more; they can't step out of their houses without their heads being covered.

The Panchayat has issued an order that anyone resorting to love marriage or anyone found helping them will be boycotted by the community. And the justification they give is far far away from being sensible.

The Panchayat blames the booming telecom industry in our country for the sharp increase in eve-teasing and elopement. The issues which can be curbed through strict monitoring and rules now seem to come in the way of development.

The question is, instead of catching and punishing the wrongdoers, why do these people bring out senseless laws and lay limitations on women? Why do they still cling on to the old culture and tradition, which in no way seem to be sensible or beneficial to the common people? Today, it is just one village. But as more and more tomorrows keep coming, this 'blind love for religion and going blind for real love' disease will sweep across the entire nation.

Well, the solution for this? Love marriages. I would like to end this article by putting forward that only when there is a rise in love marriages, love that doesn't see religion or culture or caste or nationality, only then people will come together. Only then we can break free from the rusted chains of religion and the so called tradition, and taste the real freedom; the freedom for which our leaders have fought their sweat and blood; the freedom to love and be loved.

We got to remember that, sometimes, Old is NOT Gold.

Fall in love, and out of mindless tradition. 

Naked Laws, Naked Morals

Mulgaon Village, Maharashtra


This is not the first time for such a shameless and immoral incident to happen in our country. In the name of religion, caste and other insane things that divide humanity, for the past many decades, we have been becoming the reasons for such unprincipled acts.


If we turn back the pages of our history, we can find many instances that support the above statement.  A married couple burnt to death by their own kith and kin in the name of 'honour' killing, for the mere reason that they belonged to two different communities; a woman paraded naked in the public with her eyes gouged out for the fact that she had refused to accept the religious differences in a village; a man beaten to death by the mob and a police officer himself, just because he had stolen food out of starvation and hunger.


And recently, we had successfully and immodestly added one more occurrence to the list. 'A 42 year old Dalit woman, beaten, stripped and paraded by five people belonging to an upper caste community just for the sole reason that her son had eloped with their girl. And when the miserable lady had approached the police, all she gets is a lame comment that such incidents are common in the area.'


Sometimes we got to question ourselves, if animals are better than us; for they kill either for food or self defense, and neither in the name of religion, nor in the name of caste divisions.

Our Constitution : A system of laws, or a bundle of flaws?

1924..


A wing of the then Congress party had wanted to enter electoral politics. Desabandhu Chittaranjan Das, an eminent Bengali Lawyer, emerged victorious in the elections and became the Mayor of Calcutta. Regarding official negotiations, he then went to the then Governor of Bengal Province. He very modestly but firmly stated that as he was elected by the people of his city, he would like to choose his own Commissioner.


Amused, the Governor had very nicely accepted Das' request and told him to choose any ICS officer from the British cadre whom he deemed fit and competent. Das once again put forth a modest question stating why he should select someone from the Goverment. He declared that he would like to select his own young men and women, i.e, the brightest Indians.


On the account of the great stature Das had at his command, the Governor instantly offered permission. D.C. Das selected a 27 year old youngster. This young man did an outstanding job for the next one year, and managed to earn immense acclaims from the British Government, the officials, the Municipal Council and the people.


One fine day, it so happened that this dynamic young man was jailed, as he had incurred the Government's wrath and ire by participating in the freedom struggle. He was put in the Alipur jail of Calcutta. As the news reached Das, he again approached the Governor and put across his views that he had not come to him to pick up a brawl. He once again firmly told, that in or out of jail, the 27 year old youngster would serve as the Commissioner.


The British Government gave an extraordinary order saying that the young man would continue to be the Commissioner of the city, and the files for the city would be periodically circulated to him and the orders shall be implemented.


The orders are still present in our present Government archives. That practice continued till the young man was shifted to Mandalay Jail. That very young man went on to become the Mayor of Calcutta city by 1930. By 1940, he became the President of the Congress party in the country. He was the founder of the Azad Hind Fauj, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.


That was the Local Government tradition and Democratic tradition 87 years ago in our country during colonial rule. That was the power the Government leaders had at that time; the power to directly choose efficient people from the common public.


Can't we have at least that back? Can't our own constitution, written by us for ourselves permit the same act which the British Government had permitted? Can we not have the communities govern? Can we not have pride in our cities?



 - Compiled from Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan's speech at Mumbai University

Indian Justice : To execute the wrongdoers? Or to encourage them?

If you had ever been to a court proceeding, or happened to watch such a proceeding in a movie or any other media, you will know this; the huge white figure of the Mother of Indian justice stands blindfolded, holding a beam balance. The blindfold denotes the fact that there is no 'your' and 'mine' when it comes to punishing the culprits. And the beam balance portrays the idea of equality before law.

The reason for this not-really-important explanation of our Mother of Justice is just to enlighten the fact that the denotation and portrayal mentioned above, are being automatically and unknowingly modified by the passing years. Moreover, the modifications are definitely not for the better. And who are the very people allowing that to happen? WE.

What's happening in our country? Can't we ever see the political culprits hanged? Do they always enjoy the privilege of getting out of prison with a bunch of health ailment issues under their armpits and again open up their immoral acts after pretending to be silent for a while? Why does our justice system allow all that? Why is our judicial system so hesitant to execute all such rogues? Is it meant to eradicate the wrongdoers, or encourage them?  

Let's THINK. Let's ACT. 

Why no 'Jobs' in India?

He is the one of the biggest entrepreneurs of all time. His invention had molded and directed millions of brains across the globe towards the idea of thinking big and thinking different. Innovation is his second name. Well, you guessed it right, that's Steve Jobs! The father of 'Apple', the technology company which is now taking the whole world by storm. All is fine, let's now try to print our thoughts on a different path. What if Apple were born in India?


The whole world received him with great admiration. He amazed people of all races with his inventive trait. To the whole world he is the Godfather of modern invention. But pathetically, if Jobs were born in India, if the Apple had popped out of his mind in our country, it would have soon died a rotten death. Why? A single line explains the whole thing : Steve was a dropout.


This very clearly depicts our Indian mentality. Through the decades, we had always wanted top rank holders, high percentage profiles, university gold medalists, and all other sorts of 'academically brilliant' people. We have been so obsessed with the matter in our school books, that we had failed to realize that dropouts too have brains, and when given a chance, they too can prove their stand on the world stage.


We have been developing an attitude that's so dumb and dead, and if we continue to maintain our line of thinking on the same stream, one day India will emerge as a nation not consisting of people, but of walking libraries that had got rusted under the air of decayed education; education that looks only at the pages in between the two covers of a book, and not outside, where the real taste and essence of innovation lies.


Dare to be different. Dare it. Do it.

Protagonist imprisoned, and the rascals on a freedom rambling

We are marching towards a new age, a new era, where the law and administration are beginning to melt on the lands of hopelessness and shameless deeds. For the past 64 years, India has seen significant growth in population, poverty and corruption. And when one or two from the masses emerge to put things on the right place, all they get is insult and imprisonment.

Why is it that the real offenders don't get imprisoned, or even if they were, why is it that they so easily manage to come back to their seats? Why is it that the ones who fight for good aren't largely accepted in this country, and the ones preaching bad are welcomed ? Is this a country of democracy or hypocrisy ?

No matter what, India has been, is, and will be a great nation. But we need to realize that this greatness is being torn by the inevitable blades like corruption and ignorance, with apathy and indifference haunting our minds. 

Things don't change if we just keep sitting and debating on topics, they don't change if just one in a million wakes up and walks out to fight, neither do they change when we think of changing others. 

Things change, only when we change. Things change, only when I change. 

A Disgrace

As the days are passing by, the beliefs and thinking of the government have begun to go the insane way. Seems ours is the only nation, where people fighting 'against' the country enjoy more publicity and support than people who fight 'for' the country. Congress, which has been covering it's immorality and corruptness under the blankets of Manmohan Singh as being the most clean and ethical party, finally speaks out. But wait, after such a long pause, it doesn't speak anything that makes sense.


Those people are now turning the topic, claiming that Anna Hazare is corrupt. And the PM himself has started to request Anna to end the fast as he feels that it is a disgrace for such people to awaken the nation and kindle delicate issues like corruption.


What is the real disgrace, an old and experienced Anna fighting for the country, or we youngsters keeping ourselves off from politics ? I believe the later one is something unpardonable!