धर्म ?

आज से ठीक 11 बरस पहले , जब ऋतूराज वसंत ने अपना जिम्मा ग्रीष्म ऋतू को सौपने की तयारी कर ली थी, उसे नहीं पता था वो अपने पीछे एक ऐसा काला अध्याय लिख कर जा रहा है जिसे देश की जनता आने वाले कई बरसो तक नहीं भूलेगी। गुजरात के दंगों ने देश की अखंडता पर जो तमाचा जड़ा था,उसके निशाँ अभी भी बरकरार है। जिस धर्म के नाम पर ये रक्त तांडव मचा था, वो आज भी निर्भीक हो कर देश के चप्पे चप्पे पर अपनी उपस्थिति दर्ज करा रहा है। पर इंसान आज भी इस धर्म का सही अर्थ नहीं समझ पाया है. आज भी हर आदमी के जेहन में ये सवाल कायम है, धर्म क्या है?

                                                       धर्म यह भी है,
                                                       धर्म वह भी है,
                                                       धर्म वह भी था
                                                       जो कर मटमैला बेरंग आँसुओं को
                                                       औ' सुर्ख लहू से कर दोस्ती
                                                       बेजान पड़ी इस मिट्टी की
                                                       रक्त पिपासा शांत कर गया.
                                                       वो मिट्टी, बनेंगे जिससे मंदिर-मस्जिद
                                                       औ' सजेगी धर्म की महफ़िल जहाँ,
                                                       मानवता का गुणगान करती
                                                       बजेगी धर्म की शहनाई वहाँ
                                                       उसी प्रांगण से
                                                       चार कदम की दूरी पर
                                                       जो गूँजता सन्नाटा रहेगा
                                                       धर्म वहाँ भी रहेगा !

                                                       धर्म यह भी है,
                                                       धर्म वह भी है,
                                                       धर्म वह भी था
                                                       जो मुस्कुराता था
                                                       राजू के गीता पुराण में
                                                       जो खिलखिलाता था
                                                       रज़िया के अज़ान में,
                                                       उनकी नन्ही निर्दोष मुठ्ठियों से
                                                       वो निकल पड़ा नंगे पाँव
                                                       ज़मीर की उजली चादर को
                                                       हैवानियत के काले रंग से रंगने
                                                       शमशान की बुझी आग में
                                                       औ' कब्रस्तान के सूने राग में
                                                       जब मेरा राम,तेरा अल्लाह हँसेगा
                                                       धर्म वहाँ भी रहेगा!

                                                       धर्म यह भी है,
                                                       धर्म वह भी है...

Society, You're A Crazy Breed!

For past few weeks,a mosquito has been buzzing in my room, creating a squeaky and irritating sound. It seems to me, as if 10 times smaller Reshamiya is making Oooooon Oooooon sound with 10 times higher intensity.Not that, I haven't tried finding the mosquito and shutting it up once and for all, somehow it always gives me a miss. I am baffled, irritated and equally helpless, all at the same time.

Recent turn of events in the country has totally shaken me up to the core. First the brutal rape and murder of young girls, women, then the apathy of a large section of society to such events, indifference of political class(I am sure, hadn't it been for the protests in Delhi and other parts, they would have been quite happy sipping tea and munching pakodas on a chilly morning and terming these as one-off events) and to top it all the freewheeling comments from our leaders and godmen. It's like forcing us to watch a KRK and Rakhi Sawant movie, with a special appearance from Diggi Raja!

My thoughts are completely scattered and jumbled up about whom to blame for this social predicament. But this song gives a wonderful insight -> 

 

Listen to it and try to understand the underlying meaning. It has got english translation in the description.

I used to be proud of our society. It has been a breeding ground for philosophers, scientists, warriors of unparalleled talent. A society which should have been proud of its strength of character, after withstanding numerous invasions, tyranny of British rule, plethora of riots in name of religion is now grinning meekly with a "chalta hai" attitude stamped all over the societal fabric. We are so unwilling to learn from our mistakes and grow up as a society, that even Mt Everest would quip in its fantasy world-"Macha, even I grow up by an inch every year. What the hell do you think you are!"

My recent musings didn't help much in getting a concrete solution for this mess, but I was able to convince myself about few definite facets of our society.

• Acceptance - We are so goddamned hardwired about not accepting our mistakes.I mean, this is the very first step towards changing ourselves for good. It's like the first ODI run of Sachin Tendulkar, which is never taken. This gets even worse. The corollary to the fact "I won't accept my mistake" is "I won't forgive your mistake either and you'll have to pay dearly for it". Our politicians are a classic example of this theory, and not to forget, they are from this very society and they do things which we as a society like them to do. In a fantasy world, habitat-ed by myriad 'excuses' a mother 'excuse' would say to her child -"So jaa beta, nahi to Indian neta aa kar tujhe le jaayega" . From "Vipaksha ki gehri saajish" to "Nakshatron ka dosh hai", they have tested all waters. A recent and welcome digression to this tendency was Jairam Ramesh' apology to the nation on manual scavenging. When will we all learn to do the same?

• Accountability - This is a virtue which most of us lack miserably. No one is perfect, mistakes are bound to happen and will happen as long as the civilization remains. Instead of 'accepting' it and taking corrective measures to make up for it, we are quick to shrug it off our shoulders and find a scapegoat. 

I was witness to a funny incident aptly demonstrative of this theory. A certain Mr X in our office pantry emptied the maggi packet in a bowl. In the hurry of satisfying his hunger pangs,he spilled some maggi and also left the empty packet on the table. Mr Y, who is a big shot at office, was closely observing this drama. Once Mr X seemed content with the maggi and was about to leave the pantry, Mr Y pointed towards the ruined table,
"You see, we live in a wonderland called India, where left-overs and garbage disappear magically. We don't have to dirty our hands at all"
Mr X was quick to reply -"It was there before I even entered pantry"
Mr Y said calmly -"No, my dear. I have been watching you right from the time you grabbed the maggi to the time you belched loudly.It's your leftover"
Mr X gave a funny look and said -"Fine, I did it. Pantry boys are there to clean it up. I have better things to do"

So, even though Mr X accepted his mistake, he didn't hold himself accountable for it. I have another story. Recently, I ran a half marathon, one of the theme for which was "Clean Bangalore, Green Bangalore" To my astonishment, the whole distance of race was painted white with paper glasses and plastic bottles used by the participants(mostly corporate employees). And here we are talking about an educated class of individuals in a comparative civilized Indian city. Just imagine the back seat, accountability takes in other parts of the country.

• Adherence - We are the worst kind of hypocrite. We say things, we believe in them and then we forget them.

इतनी पहुच है जबान की
जितनी दूरी मुँह से कान की 

The reach of our words is exactly the distance between mouth and ear. It even fails to reach the brain, forget about it turning into action. Our non-adherence policies first get reflected in personal discipline and then transcends to breach societal and constitutional discipline. Our laws may be one of the best on paper, but we completely render them useless. The worst part of non-adherence is, it's dangerously contagious. I will take a cue from my own personal experience. I follow traffic rules religiously, to the extent of following even lane driving seriously. So, when I stop at a signal, I try to wait in my own lane.But, when I see people jumping ahead of me by completely disrespecting lane discipline, I give myself an excuse and follow their suit. See, non-adherence is always an easier way out, not much effort and more promising results.

Things are difficult in our society, but times, they say are changing. And being the optimistic prick I am, I don't see a reason not to believe them. With a pint of faith, will and courage, we can change ourselves and hope for the society to follow the same.

You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. And the mosquito buzz is slowly fading away...

Hey Mr. Bakshi! Your cough syrup will not be sweet everytime

When everyone is blogging about the whole anti-corruption episode, I decided to go ahead with my draft lest I miss the bandwagon. But, don’t expect anything substantial over here. Right place would be -> http://clearvisor.wordpress.com/2011/08/23/why-i%E2%80%99d-rather-be-anna-than-arundhati/

So, I have this friend of mine, Mr. Bakshi, who is educated, pragmatic, spirited and ambitious. But, as the luck has it, Mr. Bakshi was suffering from an unusual and chronic cough. This cough had been Mr. Bakshi’s companion for ages. It would not allow him to eat properly, sleep properly and had fettered his growth as an individual. Even if, Mr. Parker tried his best to race ahead of others, and to his credit he succeeded many a times, his honest efforts were trivialized by this demonic cough. As none of the well-wishers of Mr. Bakshi was paying heed to his condition, few of his neighbors decided to administer him medicines. And guess what, all hell broke loose with his so-called well-wishers, who out rightly rejected the whole idea of medication. Now, there is an ongoing debate between the well-wishers and well-wishers of Mr. Bakshi, which is very interesting to say the least. In the meantime, Mr. Bakshi’s health is deteriorating day by day.

The whole Anna episode reminded me of Mr. Bakshi and his cough and his well-wishers. I totally agree that few of the points in Team Anna’s draft were too idealistic and would have led to unwarranted centralization of power. That is no surprise for me, neither am I going to discuss about that. What totally baffled me was the reaction of few educated armchair intellectuals, who couldn’t even get their facts right. Instead of getting angry over their comments, I was more in a state of shock. Have a look:

1. Team Anna’s draft is not the best way

Agreed on this. But, what were these intellectuals doing, while Team Anna was out in the market asking for public’s opinion on Lokpal Bill. Oh, I get it. They were looking for the best way! Does that mean we out rightly reject the whole idea itself? I am very sure, few of these intellectuals would have pleaded to their professor for partial marks in examination, when their answer was totally wrong. And they would have surely cursed the professor for being mean and always looking for the best solution. But alas, sanctimony runs in our blood.

2. In the name of democracy

A system is good till the point it is doing good to the cause it was meant for. If we wait for the parliament to take its course of action, we will be left in the lurch for sure. Since, democracy could not do anything for all these years, action has to be taken on some front. Sample this,

Nov 27^th, 2003: Death of Satyendra Dubey, an IIT alumnus

Sep , 2005: Law ministry decides to frame Whistleblower Protection Bill

Aug 9^th, 2010: The Whistleblowers Protection bill(Public Interest Disclosure (Protection of Informers) Bill) was passed by the Union Cabinet

This is the gift of democracy to a young, gifted and honest individual like Satyendra Dubey!!!

3. This is not the right way of protest

If one has been following the news closely, particularly, the timeline of Government’s remarks, one would know this is not only the right way, this is the only way to protest. Government is playing all kind of games to sabotage the issue, with its dirty political melodrama. If Anna would not have been this adamant, the whole saga would have been a history by now. And, NO, no one can arrest the democracy in this way. Look at the kind of support Anna and his team is getting. People feel associated with the cause and that’s why they are coming out on the streets in such a huge number. Tell me one single issue, which will bring nation’s anger to forefront on such a magnitude. You can’t, because you’ve never thought of it. Swaying in your office armchair is much cooler than contemplating on national issues.

4. Do it through proper channels

Way easily said than done. Now, this is an open question. Please enlighten me. I want to know about a proper channel, through which I can voice my opinion and if suitable, see to it that it meets its end. One intellectual goes ahead and says that, this so-called channel can be proper only if we elect better representatives. In that case, my dear moronic friend, I urge you to go to your constituency and check the background of the representatives who contested last elections. Where are the good guys??!!! I totally agree that electoral reforms are another need of the hour, but that is a different issue. And, NO, Anna and his team are not going to fight the election and then take this issue to parliament. If you have slightest common sense, I am sure you would not want to argue on this.

5. This law can’t end corruption, instead reform other institutions like CBI, CVC

Now, you are talking some sense, sweet li’l child o mine! This law can’t end corruption for sure, neither it promises to. What you have to understand is the need of hour. If Anna goes on fast, asking for reforms in CBI, Police, Judiciary, blah blah, he would surely die in the process. Instead, Team Anna has come out with a definite agenda, which can be implemented in required timeframe and can be the initiation point for the fight against corruption. I reiterate, there are certain flaws in the Jan Lokpal, but that can’t be made an excuse for its total uselessness.

From here on, the logic of these intellectuals gets murkier and intolerable. It would be wastage of resources, arguing against these points. Just a note of caution to those still reading through, India has lost a lot arguing and reasoning. No law can change the system and make India shine overnight. We have to get involved in the process, get our hands dirty and wait patiently for the results.

And for the armchair revolutionaries, your secret is out buddy! Cynicism is no more a style statement. NOW, do something different ;-)

And for my dear friend Mr. Bakshi, his well-wishers need to understand that cough syrup needs to be administered in right manner depending on the nature of the cough, and not nature of syrup.