Nirbhaya

Tujhse maafi nahin mangoonga
Kahin is dard ko dil bhool na jaye

Shok nahin manaunga
Kahin teri tadap dhundhali na pad jaye

Tere sangharsh ko salaam zaroor karunga
Par tere janaaze ka manzar nazar se utarne na doonga

Lost in Translation

           Recently I stumbled upon an old song kind of accidentally. Why may not be important here. What it provoked in me is more important. The song is an old song from the movie " Poorab aur Paschim", sung by Mr. Mahendra Kapoor. The name of the song is "Hai preet jahaan ki reet sada" the song talks about the various cultural contributions of India as a country, among other things. Most of us must have heard this song I guess. The song has been filmed in the era of '70s. Well I havent seen those times but if there is any truth in the lyrics, it must have been a great time. 

In the last 30 years, India has had its ups and downs, but despite all odds it has shone brightly on the global stage and I am pretty proud of that fact. But, there is a stark difference in the India today and the India that Manoj Kumar talks about on screen in the song. This stark difference makes me ask myself one question. 
"At what price have we attained this globalization?"

Has the price of all this achievement been our values all along? In a bid to be industrialised have we been working towards an insensitive society? Now, when the west has started looking towards east seeking answers, are we still staring at the west for their approval? Are we loosing our values in trying to translate the western society. We all need to ask ourselves these questions some day or the other.
I ask myself this and I get to a conclusion that maybe this is Collateral damage. But then, another question pops up in my mind. 
"Is it worth it?"

The song goes on to say:
"Kuchh aur na aata ho humko, humain pyar nibhana aata hai"

Do we really remember 'Pyar nibhana?' in its literal self?
Have we become so modern and practical that these things dont matter to us anymore? Last but not the least, where does this end?
Does this end in us, the people of India who were proud of the fact that "Jeete hon kisi ne desh to kya Humne to dilon ko jeeta hai" becoming rich, insensitive barbarians who dont care about the pain we cause our fellow human beings intentionally or un-intentionally?

In my opinion, those will be sad and dark times and while this generation might not be alive to see it, our future generations will be. Is this the legacy that we plan to leave for them? I believe just a little compassion by each one of us may avert it, but that has to be a collective effort to make a real difference in a country like ours. 

India might not become the 'Sone ki Chidiya' that it was, but it might just regain the lost legacy of Hai preet jahaan ki reet sada and the next generation may proudly say 

"Is dharti pe maine janam liya
Ye soch k main itrata hun"

That in my opinion will be the true win and the legacy that I would want to leave for my children.

Peace.

The plight of our country part II

First of all lets start with Praying for the departed soul of Constable Subhash Tomar. There are lots of speculations about the cause of his death. But I think the cause of death doesn’t matter for a son who looses his father or a wife who looses her husband. The constant scrutiny of the cause of death and the blame game that has surrounded it, must have only made the family more frustrated. My sincere condolences with the family. Nobody in the mob of protester at the India gate would have wanted this to happen under any circumstances.

Just a thought here, the family of the late constable gets full state honurs and financial help. which is completely justified with him being the sole bread earner for the family, my point is not against him in any way, what I am thinking is what does a poor girl get after being brutally raped? A life full of social stigma and getting cut off from the society because she could not fight for her own modesty? Getting justice is like searching for a pin in a stack of hay at night. Is this fair on the part of the society? While at the same time people like Mr Gopal Kanda, behind bars for abetting the suicide of an innocent girl are given the title of Sher-e-Haryana. For that matter recently elected MLA of Himachal who is on the run from Haryana police for the murder of a girl.

The protesters including Men, women of all ages were beaten up by the Male Policemen on last Sunday, all the papers run images of male policemen beating up women and men with lathis, my first thought was will their children never ask them, Why? Or will they ever be able to explain their stand on this to themselves? Would they have done the same had their children been on the receiving end?

So the very next day the HM justifies the action saying that it is difficult to separate hooligans from peaceful protestors, agreed so instead of taking a call of not hitting them you took a call to hit all of them alike. Amazingly intelligent decision I must comment. When our Mr Home Minister was asked as to why he did not go to India gate to talk to the protestors, he ends up comparing the students and young people to aadivasis and Maoists. Do these people even think before saying anything on National television? Well I don’t think we can blame him after the #theekhai debacle by Mr Manmohan Singh the brunt of which was faced by 5 doordarshan workers.

Meanwhile our `I am not a quitter` Commissioner calls the beating up of peaceful protestors as collateral damage. So I guess what he meant when he said I am not a quitter was that he wont quit making comments which are wrong on so many levels that I am at loss of anymore sarcastic words for him. Another thought that crosses my mind is that allegedly they found out the Murderers of late Mr Tomar from video footage. Tomorrow if someone files a case against the police for beating up women, they would be at loss of proof because the video tape doesn’t have any.

The best comment I came across recently was from the Head of Congress in Andhra Pradesh and I quote as per the NDTV news dated 24th December 2012. `We say we got freedom at midnight but that doesn’t mean that women should roam freely at night.` So I guess the disease of giving awfully incorrect statements runs in the whole Congress family. I guess congress still hasn’t understood that it is this male chauvinist attitude that the youth wants to change.

Our Lt Governor of Delhi cut short his US vacation more than a week after the incident, and still tries to clarify that he had done so on his own and nobody asked him to come back to India. First of all you did not oblige anybody, it is your duty to do so and secondly, this would have been a good opening line had you reached India earlier, not when the situation has blown out of proportion.

Meanwhile 9 days later our President also wakes up and says that the anger is justified and the necessary actions will be taken. We have been hearing this since 2004 when congress came into power. Till today we haven’t come to see or even hear the actions they are talking about Period !!

As the political machinery and the police machinery keep running pillar to post to get the blame off of each other and making pathetic comments on national Television the protests are still going on and the Govt needs to understand that we need to know time bound actions that will be taken for the rape cases around the country, even for the cases that have been pending since long. Is the top brass of our govt. so high headed that in their Ego they are not trying to pacify the situation but letting it go out of hand everyday? Its time someone woke up because if these protests continue I don’t see a reason why the international press wont cover it. What then Mr Home Minister? What will the world think about us?

We are already the fourth most dangerous countries after Afghanistan, Congo and Pakistan. Need I say more?

Peace

Hindustan meri Jaan

"Power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues and freebooters. All Indian leaders will be of low caliber and men of straw. They will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. They will fight amongst themselves for power and India will be lost in political squabbles. A day would come when even air and water would be taxed.”

These were the words of Sir Winston Churchill in 1947 when he was being debated in Parliament about granting Independence to India. By golly was he spot-on with his reading about the future leaders of a recent Ill- fated India. Sir Churchill was a visionary hated by the Indians. The reason that he stood between India and Independence makes its case for the overall hate for him, on a deeper level it maybe because he was a true critic and the Indian leaders of that time just like today could not take criticism constructively. I believe this thought process of the Indian leaders hasn't changed in 65 years.

Please don't get me wrong I am pro independence thoroughly, but the meanings of Independence are many. What are we seeking Independence from, is the question that each one needs to look deep down.

On September 4th 2012 the Washington post wrote an article on our PM Mr Manmohan Singh " India's ' Silent ' prime minister becomes a tragic figure" well I guess the congress should have seen this coming after the Time magazine had his picture on the cover and gave him the title of " Underachiever"

Lets go back in time a little to the year 1991 when Mr Singh was an apolitical figure and was hired by the then PM Mr PV Narsimha Rao as the Finance Minister to save the country from infamous financial crisis. Since then he has been a highly respected figure not only in India, but worldwide. Come the year 2004 he became the PM of our country. The name of the country started going down together with the image of our beloved Mr. Singh. Why? Thats a mystery.

Lets go back to Sir Churchill's quote and its implications on post independence India.
We are living in a country where the requirements to stand for an election are your age, nationality, declaration of your assets (whether they are disproportionate does not matter) any criminal cases running against you (whether there are or not, doesn't make a difference in your election). Nowhere does it mention the educational qualification for being elected even as the PM of the country. The truth is anybody can learn politics but not leading a country. So what kind of governance do you expect?

A recent incident which is a good example of this is the Himachal MLA. He is wanted by Haryana police in a case of MURDER. He missed the recent swearing in ceremony and is on the run. I do not talk about the disproportionate asset cases because naming all the political leaders will make this article too long. This is just one such case there are enough such cases in the political arena of India.

I don't think the politicians are to be blamed for this. It is the general public who vote for them knowing about their credentials. Another one of such gentlemen is Mr. Gopal Kanda, the Sirsa lad is known as " sher-e- Haryana" ( by the people of Haryana) don't get your hopes too high, he is behind bars for making a girl commit suicide. Isn't something contradictory here?

The above cases are the most recent ones, but there are thousands of such cases, cases where tax payers money has been used for ultra lavishly renovating a room to be used by the president for 60 mins. I ask why? Is he not aware of the financial situation of our country? Cases where tax payers money is used for lavish marriages of sons and daughters is a usual thing and too petite to be mentioned nowadays.

We are a country that after 65 years of independence are still fighting for reservations on the basis of caste creed religion etc. well it was OK until some point, but as time proceeds more and more people are coming forward seeking reservations. The latest being the jats. Isn't this country heading backwards? There are reservations in each college, university, govt jobs have reservations too. As if this much wasn't enough a recent bill introduced by our ruling party is seeking reservations in promotions. Do we stop anywhere? Or are we in a reverse gear when the world is finding ways to go full throttle ahead? I don't know whom this question should be asked. I don't seem to know the answer.

India is today the fourth most dangerous country for women only after Afghanistan, Congo and Pakistan. Everyday when I read any newspaper there is at least one case of a minor (there are usual incidents of 3 year olds being raped) being raped and dying the number increases for the adults girls. It disgusts me to the core and I feel ashamed of being an Indian. To make the matters worst, most of such demons go scot free. In a recent survey it was found that only about 20% of rape cases are reported for the fear of social stigma and stuff. The most ironic part is that the victim, the poor girl faces social stigma while the demons roams scott free in the society. The question arises again. Where are we headed? My personal opinion is that we are spiralling downwards.

The one man I would give credit to for at least trying to bring out a change in our youthful country is Mr Anna Hazare. On the fateful day of 5th April 2011 he started an indefinite strike against corruption, a thorough follower of Mohandas K Gandhi, what started as a single man hunger strike soon gained a national support and finally the dormant youth understood the power of the people. Though it could not bring about a tidal change against our totalitarian congress regime, it was good enough to bring a recent uproar in the "rape capital" of india (read as Delhi) against a ghastly gang rape of a 23 year old in a moving bus.
It took more than a week for our beloved MAUNmohan singh (as he is lovingly called) to address the nation that demands not only justice, but safety for its women. Nevertheless, the speech had no emotions or connect with the nation, and to make matters worse for him and 5 poor workers of the Doordarshan, in the end of the video he asks theek hai? This #theekhai started trending on social sites like twitter. Nobody from the top political machinery tried to make a connect with the protesters in their high headedness and more so the protesters comprising of women, men, children oldies alike were lathicharged and tear gassed on Amar jawaan jyoti which is supposed to be the most sacred place in our country. To make the matters worse, our Home minister justified this action of the police; meanwhile the commissioner of police called it collateral damage. While the constitution of India clearly states that women can never EVER be manhandled by male officers, so wasn't the crackdown which comprised of only male officers against the law? As the blame game continues, the protests continue and have only gained importance in the country. These are pathetic state of affairs in our Hindustan. Nobody takes the responsibility and keeps on passing the buck onto the other. Where does it stop? I don't think this will ever stop.

I wish Sir Churchill had given some kind of advice for the youth of this country to make this country the " Sone ki chidiya" which it is pretty much capable of.

Nihonjin wa do- desu ka?

There are many things people already know about the Japanese. But there are still lot many things that the people dont know about them. Lets see.
First of all they are not japanese in japan. Obviously they are normal people in their own country (duh) but elsewhere they like being called nihonjin. Japan is called nihon, the -jin is the suffix for a person of that country. Hence the word nihonjin. I being from India am called indo- jin ( yeah they have a different name for other countries as well). The japanese language is called nihon-go, again go is the suffix for language, hence ei-go, hindi- go etc. It does get pretty difficult at times to talk about different countries as the names differ hugely. I would also like to add that nihongo is one of the most toughest languages to learn and talk in. I have been staying here for almost an year now, but I still am warui ( meaning bad) in nihongo. I cant thank google enough for helping me out in tough situations ( read as everytime I talk to any Nihonjin).
I live in a small countryside area known as Kikugawa in Shizuoka perfecture ( meaning state). The place is really beautiful and so are the people here. I live in a single aprtment and trust me it is only for a single person. Since birth I have been lucky enough to have lived with all the luxuries like a big room, a big bathroom, living room and stuff. Plus I have never had to do any kind of cleaning and stuff which has always been done by various maids. Even when I lived away from home maid was a normal thing. Nevertheless maid is out of question when you are living in Japan (welcome to Japan). Everything has to be cleaned by yourself, hence I started being thankful for the small apartment that I have. But, to make matters worse for a Namakemono ( meaning lazy) person like me, the Japanese give a lot of stress on keeping your place clean. In the beginning I kept it shining but over the months, I have learnt shortcuts for it. We are Indians in the end.
Coming back to the japanese people, the main interaction out of office started when I stumbled upon a small Izakaya ( bar) very near to my place. It is a small place run by a couple, the guy named Hiroki Iwasawa and the girl named Yuka. The first day I went there I was a little scared, because it was the first time I was going to a place run by Japanese people and that too alone. So when I entered there was Yuka behind the bar and her friend (asuka) sitting on the counter. So as usual there first question was "donna kuni?" Meaning which country are you from? So I told that I was an Indo-jin. Yuka got pretty scared and went behind the counter and called Hiroki who also came running, apparently the reason being that I was the first Indojin ever to have stepped into PEEPS ( name of the bar) nevertheless over time I have become pretty good friends with the both of them, or so I think. Since that day PEEPS has become like my second home away from home. Whenever I feel homesick or just low, my first reaction is to go to PEEPS. I might not pour my heart out to them but atleast they can help me take my mind off.
Hiroki is a DJ and hence he knows a lot of people around this place which I think helped me make friends and get to know people. Being an Indian was a help too as people know pretty little about India as a country. People who know even a little about India know about Ganges. How they know about it I dont know.
I made a lot of friends at PEEPS or so I thought. They used to treat me like a you know celebrity of sorts. Maybe it upped their cool quotient, knowing a Gaijin ( foreigner ). However, i enjoyed the attention and never complained about it. The japanese people are pretty easy going and they are always willing to talk when you are sitting alone. Though the talk usually starts with talking about the differences in India and japan as countries but covers lots of other topics as well.
Before coming to this place I was told that Kikugawa is a pretty boring place with nothing to do. Being a pretty introvert person i was scared to hell but, i guess I would say that you have to find ways to make things interesting. Thats just what I did. Maybe standing out in a crowd was a plus point too as people dont forget you easily. So the great times started, I went snow boarding with japanese, went to various parties, came in contact with a lot of DJs overall had the time of my life.
Coming back to the topic which is Japanese people.
First of all they speak only Japanese unless they have some work that requires the need of speaking English. Which I believe is a major negative for the tourism industry in Japan.
People around the world generally think of Japanese people as being workaholics, which is partly true. The reason I got to know from my dear japanese friend Hiroki. He says that the taxes in Japan are so high that if you dont work overtime you cannot lead a respectful life. The taxes that I talk about are living taxes, apparently the japanese people have to pay taxes for living in Japan which was kind of a shock to me. Other than that there are usual taxes like insurance, pension fund, taxes for your car, monthly insurance premium etc. and if you are not able to pay these taxes the govt has every right to recover them from you. Hence the overtime working is prevalent in Japanese industry. Also for small business that dont make a lot of money the owners cant afford holidays and trips and a good life in a bid to make ends meet. So I would say that to make ends meet they need to work overtime leaving little family life which they are not necessarily happy about. And this is probably one reason for the high suicide rate in Japan. The frustration of leading alife filled with only work and no off time. This is just my opinion and not the general consensus here. FYI There is a jungle right under the foothills of Mt Fuji which is famous for suicides.
One commendable thing about Japan as a whole is the security of people here. Usually what I think is that the crime rate in a country is directly proportional to the cost of living in the country, but this is where Japan as a whole beats the trend. Not once have I been scared of walking down late in the night. Or for that matter forgetting my valuables somewhere because I know even if I do forget my valuables somewhere I will find them right where I left them or better yet they will be delivered back to me. I should tell one funny incident that happened with me in this regards. As I do not have a driving license in Japan so I have a bicycle for local commute which is usually parked in the parking space of my apartment. One fine day when I went to see the bi-cycle it was missing, and I was a little taken aback with the incident, with japan being pretty safe and all. Hence I reported it to the police who said that it is very difficult to find out the cycle, which I readily agreed, it obviously is difficult to find a cycle. So I went on with my life without thinking too much about the incident. Lo and behold the very next day in the morning the cycle was standing in the usual place in perfect condition, rather in a better condition than before. I was surprised and astonished on this incident. I mean where else can something like this happen to a person. When I told people about it they called me pure lucky after being able to stop their laughter, which I agree.
Probably this had something to do with following the rules. The japanese people will do everything to follow the rules, no matter how much problems it may cause them. Coming from a country like India I was pleasantly surprised. There are rules for everything starting from the way the garbage is disposed when it has to be disposed to driving on the roads. The thing that surprised me the most was there is a rule for cyclists as well and you can be penalised heavily if you dont follow it. compare it with India where cyclists are not even counted as a part of the traffic. You name something and they have a rule for it and the best part is that everybody follows it religiously and the ones who dont are looked down upon by the society, unlike India where the more rules you break the cooler you are. I know that is wrong on our part as a society and we should change it if we have to be anywhere close to Japan in the next 10-20 years.
I guess this much is enough for part I. I dont want to stop but I guess I should for sometime to ready the part 2 of this.
By the way the meaning of the topic " nihonjin wa do- desu ka?" means what kind of people are Japanese.

Ab jaag gaya hoon main.....!!!!

Tere jhoothhe vaadon aur dilaason se,

Mujhe phoo phoo kar behlane se

Oob gaya hoon main…

Ab jaag gaya hun main….

Har roz ki yeh peedha jhel

Meri behnon ki izzat utarta dekh

Koti koti mata pitaon ki durdasha dekh

Chhatpataa utha hun main

Ab jaag gaya hun main…

Teri chuppi ki goonj se

Teri bhavnaheen bataon se

Tere gair khshamaprarthi ravaiyye se

Ab Aankhen nahin moondonga main

Ab jag gaya hun main

Ab samay aaya hai badlaav ka

Tere soch, vichar aur ravaiyye ki yeh jhoothi deewar girane ka

Iss thande paani ki bochhar se

Aansoo bomb ki tilmilahat se

Teri lathiyon ki maar se

Ab aur nahin daroonga main

Ab jag gaya hun main

Har jhoothe vade aur dilaase se

Ab apna dil na behlaunga main

Ab jag gaya hun main…

The plight of our country

So many days of protests, clashes, sloganeering and Mr MAUNmohan Singh says `The anger of public is genuine` dude we never asked you if it was genuine or not…. It would have been better had you remained your usual Mute self.

We asked you for action and as usual all the congress chief could say is we will take action against those responsible for the lapse in security…. And as usual the brunt was faced by the poor constables being suspended. Being the chief of the ruling party she couldn’t even give a timeline for action against the culprits let alone amendment in law.

Mr Rahul Gandhi calls himself a youth icon of our country… Im sorry but the real youth of the country was on the other side of the barricades… On the receiving end of the lathis, tear gas, and not to forget the water in the chilling cold of Delhi… The youth wasn’t sitting inside waiting for Mom to decide what to do next.

I heard lots of news reporter people telling the protesters that India is not a mobocracy but Democracy….Is it? Really? According to what I learnt in school, democracy is by the people, of the people and more importantly FOR the people. In the recent past it seems the govt has been only for those who have a direct relation with political parties. Rest everyone doesn’t exist for this totalitarian regime. And they call it Democracy. If the govt isn’t answerable to the citizens then whom?

Mr Home Minister…. You are so worried about the Russian president`s visit…..Had you been a little more worried about the citizens who look up to you for a sense of security, this protest will not have arisen.

Oh and meanwhile, our commissioner is not a quitter, so does that mean the poor citizens who peacefully protest will again be beaten up sir??

For all the people who are trying to get political mileage out of this National Issue…. Please let this protest be only for the Women who face harassment from our side of the sex. Protest peacefully as a concerned citizen of our country…

Otherwise please stay away….

I am just a normal citizen of this country and feel strongly that its high time this should stop…. If you cant help the cause please don’t hijack it. Think as a brother, a father, a son, not as the president of a party who has to win. Because resorting to violence is not the way.

In the end I think it comes down to each one resorting to give women the respect they truly deserve.

` We all come from a Woman and so we have no right to disrespect one`

Peace