Tag Archives: Youth

Thinking Fast and Slow.

Currently, I am reading the book Thinking Fast and Slow and as of now, it is amazing. But, this is not about the book, I just wanted to use the title.

Man thinking of which of the 2 directions to take
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

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.

ArgumentPossible 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*
NPRWhat?
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.

Save the 80s People

Man! We’re seriously in trouble. We as in people born in the 80s (and 1-2 not-so-smart ones born in the very early 90s). The things which are happening nowadays are totally going out of the hands. Just look around! Everywhere you will see a total devastation, purposefully or naturally directed towards the people born in the 80s. Here are some examples:

  • Old people dying. Not that old people didn’t die earlier but the rate is alarming. This is seriously sad and happening too often lately. All the icons which we idolized all our 20-ish-year-old life are dying. The whole era is ending as if everyone is rushing for some sort of party up there. Is somebody attracting them to come there? Some set of new Menakas in heaven or what?
  • Weddings. Heh. Everyone is irritated because of this social issue and I’m no different. I mean I am an earning, 25+,  unmarried (read available for hush hush general friendship purposes), better looking than many South Indian Lead Actors and a fairly famous man. And being a person with such elusive credentials is criminal. Despite being not-so-famous, so are most of you. I totally know how you feel when every time an old friend pings you and asks ‘When are you getting married dude?’. Nonsense. You go home on holidays, hoping to eat homely food and before you put one helping into your mouth, all your family jumps on you asking you to get married. To top that, Facebook is not helping either. ‘Me and my hubby on honeymoon’ albums have ruined the lives already. I am not going to elaborate on this dire straits situation because I am not that evil.
  • Sachin Tendulkar retiring from ODIs. Now, this is a killer. Whole life is finished with this 1 sentence. What is there left to see on TV now? Who’s name will be chanting now? That straight drive, who is going to hit that Straight Drive down the wicket? Although, lately he used Adidas’s sticker on his bat, but whole life, we craved to get that red MRF sticker on our bats. Although I am a technically sound text-book type cricketer like Sir Rahul Sharad Dravid but even Dravid would have wanted to be Sachin-like. I have been crying to him to retire earlier for obvious reasons that I don’t want any mortal person to raise any finger against him for not performing but when he won’t be there, who will hit that non-stoppable 4 towards extra cover uppishly. Who is going to come out of the crease and hit that 6 down long-on which made Tony Grieg lose his vocal chords in 1998 at Sharjah? You must have read Sidvee’s post so I will leave experts to comment on his career. For me, it is like removing the heart out of my Cricketing body.
  • Government going berserk on young people. Those who were born before India got independence had a cause to fight for. They had the blood that boiled and they finally achieved what they wanted. Those who were born in the 50s knew that country is building so they cooled down a bit. Those who were born in the early 60s didn’t know what was going on, whether to be angry about the government’s stupid policies or to jump into the sea of corruption and make the ‘system’ what it is now. The 70s born finally noticed that the country is not going in the right direction so they did try to do country-building stuff by improving India’s standard on the world map. But till then 50s and 60s people had ruined it so much that they couldn’t change much. Complacency you can say. But then the people of 80s, who have seen Black and White TV and Internet, Cricket in White gears with red cherry to T20s and IPL, Atari Video Games and iPhones, Goldspot to Redbull, have had enough. They have seen the contrasts and the changing world. There are opportunities but they are shadowed by overgrowing corruption, reservation and sadly, molestation. The ‘System’ has been damaged beyond repairable. So people of the 80s stood up against the government to protest. 2006’s medical student’s protests, Anna Movement and on-going protests against Bloody Rapists are good examples. But what do they get? Lathis? These lathicharges and water cannons will only help the 80s people to think and cast their votes appropriately come 2014. We will finally be kaamyaab ek din. Phew.

There are helplines for Children, why cannot be there any for people of 80s? The whole India wants answers from them, who can they approach at this moment?

P.S.: Sorry I should have started the post by saying ‘Woman!’. We must respect Womenfolk as well and this mindset cannot change until we start it now!