...of round glasses, sandals, pocket watch...and of bad roads, governance...

This one is about how extremely petty things make big headlines in our country. For instance take the recent ruckus about some of Mr. Gandhi's personal belongings, which were being auctioned in the US.
What I don't understand is why should this become a matter of national importance, or pride, which somehow it became, and took significant air time and newspaper space.
So much so that the prime minister of our country, who has been away from the political scene due to some illness, was making calls to make sure that the belongings don't end up anywhere else other than India.
I am pretty sure that among many things that require his attention, this cannot, or rather should not be, on the top of his priority list. But then, I am in no position to decide or gauge what is priority for Mr. Singh.
The other thing being, the fact that whatever values Mr. Gandhi stood for are no longer practiced in the country, neither are they understood, and of course nor are they relevant anymore.
Disclosure: I don't think I ever subscribed to his values, his views or his way of life. I never accepted what he preached, or stood for. In brief, I am not a fan. But, I agree, that he deserves a mention in the history, if not for anything else, just for having an impact on such a large number of people.

Good Use of Taxpayer's Money?

One more thing, India was prepared to do "whatever it takes" to get the belongings to India, even if it meant participating in the auction and bidding.
The collection had a reserve price of $20,000 to $30,000 (which is quite a lot of Indian rupees). This was just the reserve price; the final price at which they were sold was $1.80 million, mind you.
My question is, where would have the money for such purchases come from? Would it have been the taxpayers', i.e. yours and my money, to fund the purchase of Mr. Gandhi's belongings?
Who gives them this right to spend our money on it? I, for one, and millions of others like me I am sure, just don't care whether those things come to India or not.
I work my *** off for 12-13 hours a day to earn whatever I earn, out of which a major part goes to the coffers of the exchequer. I have a right to that money, as much as the other guy.
What I do care about is that this government, or whichever government is in power, gives me a decent living standard. I live in Mumbai, and I can assure you that the standard of living for the common man in this city is not acceptable. And I have lived in three other cities in the past, and the situation is not better there either.
If you are traveling by the celebrated local trains of this place (Mumbai), you can be rest assured that your journey is not going to be something you will be able to enjoy. Rather it will in most cases be a torture.
And, if you are someone who uses his/her car to travel, it can take you 2 hours to travel a distance of 20 kms or so (but you do have to pay a hefty amount to the government as road tax when you buy a car, and there are many places in the country, where no road has ever been built). I feel, that the government should look to better the quality of life in our country.
I think, the government needs to act on it now, and act on it fast, otherwise things are only going to get worse. And it won't be long (I hope) that the common man of this country will take matters into their own hands.
We have been an independent nation for more than 60 years now, and I agree that development takes time, but I am sure that things could have been much better, had our government(s) of today and yesteryears worked more effectively and not be involved in petty politics, or unimportant issues like the one mentioned above.

I have nothing personal against Mr. Gandhi, and I do not intend to offend anyone with this post (I apologize if someone has got offended). All I want is a better standard of living, which is the duty of a government to provide to the citizens of a country. I love my country, and I think India has great potential to become one of the greatest nations in the world.
But till such time the common man of a country is not happy, any greatness is out of the question. A country is great in the eyes of its own citizens first.

War, Terrorism and the economy

Everyone knows how spending is important to the health of an economy. So what does one do when the global economy is reeling under a severe liquidity crunch. Well, you bomb a country, kill thousands of people, destroy billions of dollars worth of property, and then start the rebuilding process.

But you must make sure that the country that you choose to bomb, is not close to any of your allies, but has to source most of the supplies from your country, or at least from your allies. And even if it does not, you really don't have to worry, the ripple effect of any spending in any part of the world can be beneficial in a today's truly "global economy".

It really does not matter if you have to bomb universities, colleges, hospitals. Just bomb whatever you can, destroy as much as possible. Coz, unless you destroy, you cannot rebuild. And please do not even bother to think even once about the loss of human life, be it "civilians", children, women, and rather do not even spare that dog, if it comes in the way. No one is bigger than the noble cause of saving the world's economy. After all if the economy goes to the dogs, many people would want to be killed anyway.

So, that is exactly what an ally of the world's biggest and most powerful country did. Israel bombed Gaza, and it did so with a vengeance. Israel bomber Gaza continuously for three weeks, through ground and air strikes, be it night or day, Israel kept bombing Gaza. People kept dying, buildings and homes kept getting destroyed, innocents kept screaming, hurting, dying, but Israel kept bombing Gaza relentlessly.

Even after so many voices from across the world, kept asking, sometimes warning Gaza, people from Gaza kept screaming. I guess they should have known better.

And finally the news everyone was waiting for -- courtesy the British Broadcasting Corporation -- "Rebuilding the Gaza Strip after Israel's three-week offensive will cost billions of dollars, the UN has warned. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been left homeless and 400,000 people still have no running water, it says. Palestinian medical sources say at least 1,300 Palestinians were killed and 5,500 injured during the conflict. Thirteen Israelis were killed."

And yes, I forgot to say in the beginning, please make sure that for every 100 people killed in the country you attack, at least one should die from your own, and of course you are allowed to bloat the figures if the need arises.

And this guy just does not make sense, I am not sure what has gone into him -- quoted in NY Times I think -- "They hit my future with a rocket," said Muhammad Baroud, one of the students at the Islamic University in Gaza City. "This is a university. What does it have to do with war?"

But please do not pay attention to what he says, coz it does not really matter what he says, anyways. He just thinks that he has a right to education, a right to live peacefully, a right to live without fear of being bombed while studying in a college. These are mere pigments of his imagination; and for sure he will soon have to realize that he has no right to an imagination as well.

And what war were we talking about anyways. "On Monday, the first full day of a mutual cease-fire, Gaza City almost appeared back to its chaotic normalcy, with cars backed up behind slow-moving donkey carts and Hamas police whistling and gesturing to keep traffic flowing across major intersections." -- reported by AP.

Isn't it amazing how a place can return to normalcy even after being bomber for 13 days. But then you should understand that what AP is trying to say. Gaza is so used to being bombed that it does not really matter.

Well, and just one more point at the end, no matter what happens in India, she can never do any such a thing. For reasons, both known and unknown. Not that I would want my country to do it, but still.

I just wish that at least the world economy gets back on its feet.

A Local To Hell

This cannot be just a coincidence, he thought. The train was moving fast but somehow he felt that it was not going anywhere.

It was late in the night, and he was alone in the compartment. He did not know it then, but later he was to find out that he was all alone in the train, as he would desperately search for a living soul to get some life back in his own.
As it fast approached midnight the uneasy feeling inside him grew. He sat back and tried to look back at the day just gone by.

It was a futile attempt; his mind would give him nothing. He tried harder, but again only a blank. He got up, went to the door, and leant out of the moving train.

It was a comparatively chilly night, his hair flowing back in the wind, shirt clinging to his body and the I-pod playing ‘Dream On’ by Aerosmith, he looked around. There was nothing but a thick blanket of dark. He looked in front at other compartments of the train, it was pitch dark; he trembled; he looked back, dark again.

He jumped back inside the train. Shivering, he held hard to the back of the seat, not knowing what to feel or how to react. He looked at his watch, eight minutes to midnight; suddenly he murmured, remembering, “eight minutes to 2009.”

“Am I dead,” he shouted. No response! He could not think; his mind was blank. He was very aware of his body at that moment, the rapid movement of the train was threatening. The only sound he could hear was of the train’s wheels pounding on the iron tracks. The I-pod was dead. The sound, which earlier could give him a sense of peace, alienating him from everything near him, was today like a hammer being banged on his head. He started running, trying to get away, but he was trapped.

He wanted to jump, but he hesitated when he got to the door, and he knew that the moment was over and that he would not jump. It was too dark, and the speed was too fast. He went back inside, sat hunched in a corner, between two seats. He was not crying, he was trying to think, trying to calm himself, talking to himself. He kept telling himself that something is not right, but there was also a feeling within that it was, more than ever.

Then suddenly the train started slowing, he shot up, grabbed his bag, and ran for the door. It was still a little too fast, but it was definitely slowing. He prepared himself to jump; to run like he had never run before. He wanted to get to a place where he could look at other people, where he could stand among a sea of people just moving haphazardly around. He had always tried to run away from the crowd, he had always hated them, he had always wanted to get away to a place where he could see as little of other people as possible, perhaps none at all.

The train continued to slow; he leant out to look if he could see anything. He could see a light in the distance approaching. Sighing with relief, he decided to wait for the light. May be, he thought, the train will stop there. It looked like it, definitely.

The train stopped, he rushed out to the platform. There was one light lit there, the one that he had seen before. But no people, not a soul! He started running towards the engine of the train, hoping to find the driver. As soon as he reached there, the train started moving. He managed to get a glance in; and shock! He looked around and saw a stairway. He moved quickly towards it. Reaching it he started descending and suddenly saw three big, bold and extraordinarily black letters to his right.

At that very moment, his cell phone rang; it was a message from an unknown number. He looked at the message and looked at the wall, and realized what was happening.

And he just sat down at the stairs, smiling gleefully for the first time ever, really happy and content…remembering “May be tomorrow good lord will take you away”

Cell Phone said – “HAPPY NEW YEAR”

Wall said -- “HELL IS HERE”

Thank God 2008 is Over -- May God Bless 2009

This was written on a banner in South Mumbai, and is perhaps the true sentiment shared by the common man in the city. Personally, I always feel depressed as a new year approaches, and this time too it is not different. It is always a time for me to reflect back on the year passing by, and think of all the things that I did not do, or did not accomplish, or probably could have done differently.
I have never planned in advance, neither have I ever made any 'new year resolutions.' I have always looked at the past and then hoped to do things differently in the future, if I feel something has not worked out. Making resolutions, I feel, is a sure shot way of treading a path that is most likely to lead to disappointments and sometimes even disgust with oneself.
This time, however, it is different. I am not sure about other cities, but in Mumbai people are kind of relieved and hopeful at the same time that the new year will be 'newer' (of course) but better as well. The financial capital of the India, indeed did not have a good 2008.
From the beginning itself, when the stock market tanked. If you have ever been to Mumbai, or live in the city, you would know that stock market is the lifeline of the city.
So many people depend on it to make a living. Just like you can see a tech company in every nook and corner of Bangalore (IT Capital of India), in Mumbai you can see a stock broking company (known or unknown). So, a falling market is never good for the city.
What is also contributing to the mood is the recent terror attack. Since they are just about a month old, it is still very fresh in the hearts and minds of the people here and is bound to play right up when they try to rate 2008.

Let us all just hope and pray that God does bless the new year.

I wish all mankind a splendid new year and a wonderful life ahead!

The War That Never Was

It is time for Indian politicians to introspect and perhaps hang their heads in shame. Pakistan, as it has done on numerous occasions in the past, has again managed to outwit India.
Not only did Pakistan take away the focus from Mumbai terror attacks and its alleged role in it (I have no authority to say whether it had a role or not), but it also made the rest of the world tell India that it needs to "calm down."
Although, I believe that no calming down was required on part of the Indians, but the whole episode has just left Indians more helpless than they already were.
It is a well documented and stated policy of our country that it will never initiate a war. India has always responded in a war, and Pakistan knows it too well.
So, if anyone was thinking that India was going to take the terror attack in Mumbai as a declaration of war on it, and it will reply befittingly, they were highly mistaken. Nothing of that sort was, is and perhaps is never going to happen.
"India is not the US, and Pakistan is not Afghanistan or Iraq." This statement could not be truer, for India can never emulate the US and armtwist the rest of the world to wage a war against any country. And Pakistan is certainly not going to take anything lying down, especially if it comes from the side of India.
I say, why not mobilize the army and take a stance. I am not in favor of a war, but how can our leaders let Pakistan get away with such a lousy trick.
But then, knowing India and our "democratically elected leaders", the only way I can see any kind of strong rhetoric coming from their side in the coming months is if Sonia Gandhi at some point thinks that it would be difficult for UPA (United Progressive Alliance) to come back to power. That will be the time, perhaps, the government will start talking tough (mind you only talking then also) in an effort to garner whatever mass support they can get, which might convert into a few extra votes.

But, India will continue to be a target of terror attacks in future and Indians will continue to lose their lives in the most derogatory fashion.