Being political has become derogatory nowadays. If someone calls you liberal or conservative, it feels like it is an insult while it shouldn’t be. Same way, it has become binary. You cannot have different views on different topics but you always have that. Nobody has black or white standpoints. Most of us are just in the gray area. Some are on all the colors on VIBGYOR and beyond too.
Above is one website I came across which can help you judge where you stand, in case you wanted to know, for fun.
I answered a few questions. Few of them were straightforward, some of them were not. I had to think hard about some. Some I just guessed as an ideal scenario. So I got __________________________
To be without a king is better than having an arrogant king.
Kautilya
One of the most brilliant inventions of the human mind is Democracy. It gives satisfaction to people that their own representatives govern them back. At least in theory. In India, democracy is something we all cherish and be proud of. It took us an enormous amount of time for establishing Democracy and with a lot of sacrifices. We love the fact that about 800 million people get to decide the fate of our country for 5 years. 800 million is such a huge number that even managing them to cast their votes is as difficult as reaching Mars.
Democracy is like playing a biased sport. The rules of the biased sport are known in advance though. Sometimes the ideals of democracy go for a toss as well. The rules on which we based our biased sports, get bent. That ensues newsworthy scenes. Some countries have Black days, some have White days.
This happens because Democracy is not the equilibrium state. Chaos/high entropy/anarchy and the survival of the fittest is natural. Democracy is actually the opposite of natural. All the other ways of governing have overtime proved to be difficult or have failed. We all know that Democracy needs patience. It is certainly not ideal and all forms of Democracies have tradeoffs. There is no 1-way Democracy has worked. It evolves, twists and turns, and churns out a new form from time to time.
Only in a Democracy, a Tea Seller, or a Reality Show Star can become the head of the state. We can always vote them out too. Often, we take our Democracy to be granted. It is far from being perfect but the best of what we have. Cherish it!
Alright, I will admit that I have been slow this time. Probably not paying too much attention to news/Twitter has made me so. But finally, I have made my opinion about the ongoing issues of the world which are bothering my brethren, if I may.
In the beginning, when Citizenship Amendment Bill was tabled before Parliament, my initial quick reaction was ‘Alright! This might trigger some disturbance due to it sounding like discriminatory’. Having said that, I had no clue why it was being brought. We all already knew very little about NRC thingy going in Assam. Who was left out, who was kept, what happened finally?
Then I read a bit more and understood that it was to fulfill the long-standing demand of providing safe haven to persecuted minorities of Akhand-Bharat region i.e. Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh who are seeking shelter in India, after all, India is the motherland of all the included religions and all.
Then I made myself satisfied by putting this CAB thing into Things-I-Need-Not-Fret-Over. By this time, Jamia students had tasted the brutal blow of Police Lathi in Dilli ki Sardi, as they say. Now that caused a brouhaha over social media in all shapes and forms. Everyone I knew online and everyone I know offline were divided if you know what I mean. I couldn’t decide at that time as I thought both sides have their valid points. While Govt. was doing what they promised, as per their agenda since time immemorial, the bright young folks of our youthful nation were protesting as it was clearly a cause of concern because of it being a prequel to NRC. Which side to pick? I am still a youth and I am also a law-abiding citizen, last time I checked.
Then some more protests happened, more violent it became, more vocal / creative / loud, the social media became and it became a bigger issue than you could ignore just like that. Then I read more and saw more. Both sides didn’t want to budge down.
I had a few points in my mind which demanded clarification. I am listing them down and providing an argument to them.
Argument
Possible Counter Argument
Minorities in Af, Pak, Ban need our support. We are big-hearted.
Can we first support ourselves properly before supporting others?
Where will poor Hindus come if not India?
They could go to Nepal, and anywhere else. Even the middle east. They are allowed mostly everywhere.
What would happen when NRC gets applied? After all, we should know who is a citizen and who isn’t.
We all remember what Indian Govts. are capable of in terms of mismanaging a reasonable idea? Does anyone remember Demonetization?
Shouldn’t we trust Govt. when they are saying that no Indian citizen would be harmed?
Harm is already done now. People have taken sides. The division has already happened. It has been there since 1947. Why fuel the fire? There are other ways to check borders? We can build a wall. *ahem*
NPR
What?
Yes, one more card.
Please.
And so on. My 2nd last post was about Indian Adhesives. i.e. movies, cricket, and ISRO which gave us reasons to celebrate and be united. Immediately after that, we have to see such scenes where police are brutally beating students. People who have no business and no understanding of the situation are burning buses and thereby making govt. more stern about their plan. The vicious circle has become more vicious and more circular.
So, what have I finally thought after thinking fast and slow? I think that if we align our energies to make simpler things better, we are better off rather than trying to be a Super Power by 2020. We have better aims to achieve. We have better things to create. We have better fights to fight.
We can do better than this.
P.S.: Don’t shut off bloody Internet again and again. And continue to try to avoid Social Media because everyone wants to shout out their opinions louder and the louder it becomes, the less truthful it remains.
She doesn’t exist. Get it? It is just a figure of speech. Alright?
How do you feel when I say that Bharat Mata doesn’t exist? Do you feel blood boiling? Feeling of rage? Urge to punch my face and take out some teeth? Edging towards feeling where you need to… err.. *gulp* behead me? If your answer to any of this is yes, then we need to talk.
Come sit here. Let’s have some fun. Now tell me, do you like this tag: Bhakts? I am guessing No. Normally Bhakt means anyone who is a believer. But this Bhakt means that someone who is a blind believer. So which kind of Bhakt are you? See, you have made this word sound so derogatory.
The one who believes that as a Nation should progress and everyone gets equally benefited? Or you the one who thinks that your… I mean our Savior, the Messiah, the one who can’t be named is the best and whatever is happening in our country is awesomesauce kind of good? If you are latter, then I feel sad for you. (Are you the one who sends all those Whatsapp messages which say that India’s National Anthem is #1 as per UNESCO?)
Of course, all those who voted for the present Union Government are not Bhakts. And those who stereotype everyone who occasionally applauds few rare good things (and probably ignores few really stupid things) are plain ignorant minds who draw their inspiration from parrots who just keep repeating things.
But then there are a lot of actual Bhakts who think their savior is here. And this is as true as Ganpati Idols drinking Milk. Do you know that you are overdoing it now? There is no need to keep reiterating that everyone who doesn’t say Bharat Mata ki Jai is some sort of a criminal and deserves to go to Pakistan or such. NO NEED. You can do fine without doing any of this drama. You needn’t go to everyone and make them shout this slogan. We are not at war against anyone. You are not standing on border with a gun and ready to pounce on the enemies. And you are not encouraging anyone by saying this as if one shouts ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and everything falls into place and we become a Superpower. Also, WTF is a Superpower? Is it some sort of Divyashakti or Brahmaastra which will give us some edge over others that nobody else has and with it we can rule whole of the Solar System? Seriously. WHY DOES INDIA NEED TO BE A SUPERPOWER? We just need to do things right. Our things right! We just need to be good to everyone around us. And scare off those who scare us by strengthening our bonds. Slogans won’t help immediately. ‘Saare Jahan Se Achcha Hindostan Humara’. How? Other countries are not participating in this, is it? You just do your things right. It should be ‘Saare Jahan mein one of the best Hindostan Humara’. There surely are people in our country who don’t feel the same like you do. But that is OKAY. Happens everywhere, everytime. You can very well state your stance without poking flags into everyone’s face and challenge their views or standard definitions about patriotism. You need to chill. You are not a Nazi. Or favorite word Fascist. Are you? I am not going to lecture, nor I can, that showing patriotism is a matter of one’s choice, circumstances and context and there is absolutely no need to explicitly show off your patriotism. Please show your love for the country when it needs it. During a Sports Tournament when you are in a Stadium. Or when PM visits your middle east country if you happen to be slogging there. Or just do your job right. It doesn’t take that much. Stop making life of normal people awkward. Stop misusing the word patriotism and stop disrespecting the Saffron color by being its sole champion. Nowadays, it becomes more weird to see people coming to you with Saffron band on their head as compared to LinkedIn requests from your neighborhood aunties. You don’t need to do that. You want to show that you love your country, just be a part of M.O.D.I.
And I am not even going to say like everyone has said that “I say Bharat Mata ki Jai all the time but you are overdoing it”, I will just say that you are making a mockery of yourself and overfeeding the media who loves this crap. I am just going to politely ask you to shut up and do the work assigned to you. Bharat Mata wants you to do that. Thanks.
P.S. I am sure you know that the header pic is a fake?
It takes a huge change of heart to accept your mistakes. You seldom come across people who can admit that they were wrong. I am not that person, generally. The secret of success according to my best-selling-if-published book of ‘How to be successful without doing much?’ is that you never admit you are wrong but successfully pass the blame on someone else.
But today is your lucky day, bro! Today, I am going to remove the spider webs on this abandoned blog place and admit that I’m mostly wrong.
I am wrong about my political alignments and religious beliefs. And you are right. Exactly, I concede that it was so stupid of me to believe something, which was totally off the course, wrong by a 1000 miles, incorrect by infinity on the negative side of iota and so on. I debated with some of you occasionally on some topics which were clearly wrong to begin with. I’m sure you already knew that I was putting forward my points (mostly illogical but a couple of them logical as well but clearly logical were way less than illogical) just for the sake of debating. Yes, the person for whom I voted in elections, won’t do anything good at all. I thought while voting, one should be optimistic, but that is clearly the wrong thing to be. Optimism should be banned totally. Or wait, I might be wrong in asking for ban. Alright, you are the final word in being right in whatever you choose about optimism. When I rooted for one guy in the capital that he would be the revolutionary, we have all been waiting for. I was wrong again. Revolutionary? What is that in this age? Now when that guy turned out to be anything but revolutionary, I started believing that I was wrong earlier, but my wrong was wronged again because I was not only wrong initially but I am also currently wrong about the original wrong. That means, that guy is indeed revolutionary and I am again wrong to believe that he is not. So stupid of me, of course. Also, it was wrong of me to believe that judiciary is far and justice prevails. Of course, it prevails but only in those case when I say that justice hasn’t been done. Are you getting it?
Now, it is worthwhile to also admit that my religious beliefs are wrong. And yours are totally spot on. I mean it is wrong of me to assume that there is no destiny and only your efforts (multiply by some constant and environmental factors and probability of occurrence and a thing called chance) factor eventually. Of course I am totally wrong again. If your religious beliefs say that things happen this way or that, you are right. I am also wrong to believe that God (I could be wrong and there might or might not be a God in fact) doesn’t care about my life because there are better things to worry about, so there is no need to pray and being selfish. But again, I am wrong. God (who can never be wrong), might actually have a plan perfectly laid out about my (and yours) life and if I recite some prayers, that God might uncheck some of the privileges from my life. Totally possible. So I would again concede my incorrect assumptions. Your belief and your God (sorry, our God), is the best and you are perfectly correct. We should all follow your definitions henceforth.
So from now on, please spare me with the gyaan about how wrong I am. I myself admitted that. Your belief and point of view is totally correct and I would follow that religiously from now on. Even if sometimes I might make sense, but let’s chuck that, you are right in the end. Let’s follow whatever you say.
I would conclude by saying (wrongly) that “I can agree with you, but then we both would be wrong” and then turn around and wink at the camera.
Islamabad: As a spontaneous reaction to the 31st May’s Bharat-Bandh in the friendly neighborhood country India because of the Petrol Price hike, Pakistan has decided to call a Nation-wide Open on 1st June in their country. They have decided to keep open all the roads, cinema theaters, schools & colleges, restaurants, shops, hospitals, Courts and their Senate and National Assembly which usually are closed owing to the threats from local nuisance creating groups. Also, the government institutions are generally shut down because of the callous and laid back attitude of the people working in these places as they don’t know who is in charge, the government or the army, rightly so, they shouldn’t be blamed. All the mentioned places and institutions will resume their services at wee hours of the morning and continue to remain open till the late hours of 1st June 2012. The local police authorities (heh) have cascaded this information among all the facets of the society, both terrorists and non-so-harmful-civilian population of the state.
A majority of the civilian population has welcomed this gesture by the government because they are happy that for the first time Government has decided to open and work. Prof. Qureshi, a well-known name in Pakistan’s Political Studies forum, and a regular in Times Now show with Arnab Goswami, from Lahore had this to say, “These Indians are always up to something notorious. Creating all possible measures to make Pakistan look like a minion. Which we are not. Yes. So this move by the government to open up against Bandh in India is a great way to show to the US that we want development here! They might give us some economic aid as a result. Nowadays, khafa khafa se sarkaar nazar aate hain. Hilary came to Asia but didn’t announce anything good for us. Tcha!”. Hina Rabbani Khar has decided to do a road show in Karachi to attract camera persons from media from all over the world and especially from India to let know that Pakistan can do whatever Indian can in a better manner and with a pinch of glamour too. But certain eminent personalities in the society are afraid that Indian Government might use up this working opportunity to create some mischievousness again. Mrs. Fatima Rehman, a women’s rights social activist said that “This useless Government always wants to compete with India. What is the need? They make missiles, we will make 2 missiles. They make Agni, we will make HATF, Arrey WTF, what was the need of this Open-Day? We are trying to be peaceful since some days now and now when everything will open, people will come out on the roads, some body mua from RAW will again disrupt the peaceful country of ours. We are happy this way!”.
Ex-Pakistani Cricketer, now a British citizen was also wary of this Open day concept. He has rather suggested to counter India by creating a Cricket league of their (Pakistan he said to clarify) own and try to attract the sponsors. He said that whatever he is saying, it is because of the fact that he considers himself a brand ambassador of Pakistan in the UK. He said that he is getting lot of moolah by playing in IPL as an export from England but he feels that Pakistan can compete with India by creating a League where no Indian Cricketer is allowed to play. Though he suggests that Pakistan should not be showing too much arrogance and should allow Ravi Shastri as a Commentator and Mohinder Amarnath as a bowling coach because IPL also allowed Rameez Raja and Wasim Bhai there. Imran Khan has appreciated the ex-Pakistani and now a British citizen (like most of the Pakistani cricketers).
The terrorists clan of Pakistan has welcomed this decision and have issued a fatwa to not to kill anyone just like that, only if needed. They want to show that Pakistan can do a better job in Kashmir so they have planned to show off their strength by spilling petrol on the roads of POK, which they call Azad Kashmir, because petrol is just around Rs. 60 there in Pakistan.
(Disclaimer: It’s only a rumour that Pakistan is trying to stage a Pakistan Khulla. Their actual motive is to make India buy fuels from them and topple the Indian economy face first)
