Egalitarianism..

I was in search of a textbook and was goosing around the library for about half an hour and at last i found a fresh copy of the stuff.."A thing of beauty is a joy forever",Keats,..i apologise for the flaws in recalling his words.. Still,beauty of the books is always my weakness..i love books that are neat and fresh,..less tampered.. So obviously i went to pick the book,..gosh!the cupboard was locked..I was confused,for thats not the usual practice in the library.. On enquiry,i understood that it was the book bank or in other words,the bunch of fresh,important and 'rarely available' ones,reserved for the reserved category or the so called people who needs a plethora of upliftment to get into the main stream!..And hence they are locked to keep 'em away from the vulturous seizure by the unreserved guys who dodged the occupancy of the mainstream..!I was naturally frustrated..rather petulant,.for that was not something which i could change.. I, like many others, am bound to adapt to the situation and be at the compromising end till i'm buried.. God knows if my burial  ground will also be subject to reservation!

In the present state of affairs,i loathe Mr.B.R.Ambedkar,coz but for him,there wouldn't have been a room for reservation in the Indian constitution..I should be a bit more sensible right?I apologise again.!

Well,1950=!2008..and everyone do know that.. India has striven hard to attain this global status of an upcoming world power..and it did cost a lot of painstaking efforts by the umpteen no: of valuable Indian Brains..1946-47 is the most unforgettable period in Indian History.. Firstly becoz,it was a period when we realised the long awaited poorna swaraj.. Secondly becoz,we witnessed the worst of all communal riots that the country has ever had,and which resulted in utter chaos,bedlam and obliteration everywhere.. Partition did solve the problems for a while and there was peace and tranquility.. and we were set to become a Republic.. 

To develop into a self reliant nation from the ruins of a 200year old foreign occupation was never a task to be belittled..The vast majority of the population was utterly illiterate..and caste system prevailed in every nook and corners of the society..Thus to educate and yank to the mainstream the people who were subjugated by the upper class who were then powerful financially as well as schooling,reservation was inevitable.. When the trampled lower castes were unaware of the importance of education,they had to be dragged forcibly by reserving a fixed no: of seats.. Past is past,and we have labored a long way to success..

We are about to celeberate our 58th anniversary of being a republic in less than 2 months,and what exactly have we achieved?Democracy is a system where people are all treated equally irrespective of caste creed sex and race..Secularism is a set up where people are all given equal regard and respect irrescpective of the faith they practice.. How long have we achieved these goals on which our very constitution is framed?

India developed a lot in the 58yrs..and so did the then under developed scheduled castes and tribes..None of us would ever forget our ex-President,Late Sri.K.R.Narayanan,who belongs to a scheduled caste..We find them in the zenith of every stream in our day to day life.. We see them in the form of doctors,engineers,bureaucrats,politicians,bankers,enterpreneurs,and what not..In these 58yrs,although there were a lot of amendments in the constitution,all that was done about the reservation was an aggravation but not an alleviation of the already profuse one.. We still come across discussions to increase the reservation level and introduce them in the paramount institutions like AIIMS,IIT,IIM,...It is true that there is still a section of the society that is left untouched in this development spree.. But we've crossed the stage where reservation would do any good to them.. There are a lot of tribal people in the suburbs of various states who are aware of neither their right to the reserved seats,nor the importance of being enlightened..The tribal communities in the north eastern provinces are still totally neglected.. All that reservation does is to transform these guys from being backward illiterates to backward literates.. Their morale and calibre(if at all they have) is hence totally destroyed.. Who would prefer to go to a doctor,to risk one's life, who's educated and employed out of reservation?

Reservation is no more a stuff to be introduced in higher education or employment strata,but as a means to provide access to better schooling and hence a strong foundation to literacy.. Entry to colleges must be strictly based on merit,compromising which would imply compromising the quality of indian education.. and if at all promotion of education among the SCs is intended,it has to be through providing financial aids to the poor but merited students.. Now you may ask how does a child of assam or mizoram get access to international schooling and compete with the affluent lot..That's not a snag solvable in a short term.. We need to enhance the education program,introduce new schools at the backward 'areas'.. We can't show our backs to one section of the society and abandon them in our journey.. When we develop,we've the moral responsibility to see that our fellow men develop too..We can never develop as a whole without checking every section of the society take part in it..

We had a time when the harijans were not even allowed to face a brahmin.. Then we had a time,when they were just not allowed into temples.. Then we had a time when they were not granted rights to own a property.. Again,change is the only thing that doesnt change and hence all these changed.. We have arrived at a stage when no one asks you what caste you belong to.. Life is moving at an ever fast pace now and anyone has hardly anytime or concern to stop to ask what was the occupation of one's ancestors..When society comes forward to accept a progressive change,it is the moral responsibility of the state to ensure that there is no more any sorts of discrimination(positive or negative) based on caste or creed.. Faith must be a personal affair and not a yardstick for political mileage..

Recently we witnessed a phenomenal event in the History of America,and that was nothing but the spectacular victory of Barrack Obama,who thereon becomes the first afro-american president of the US.. It depicted the changing perspective of the young generation of not just the US but the globe as a whole.. When a community which was once the slave of the white men,finds their sport fit enough to rule the world,why not we accept a similar change here as well and consider everyone as equals.. Afterall,the goal of complete secularism can be achieved only if there's equality without minority appeasement in a society..

Wishing desperately for a 'reservationless' nation..

Khuda Hafiz

~Gayathri~

Souvenirs..

We were up for the betrothal of our friend's brother..

It was a pleasent surprise when Surya suddenly rang me up a day to say i should show up for her bro's engagement the next day..

Usually i hate going for wedding functions..there would always be a flurry of activities going on,ladies moving around as mobile jewellery shops,men having forty winks or boring politics..the bride and groom on the dias as stuffs in the mueseum waiting for the guests to wish them..people at the reception desk ostensibly too eager to host us..

So when Surya called me,my instinctual answer was a 'I'll try' or a euphemism for 'sorry,i wouldnt be coming'..But for some reasons,i fought the urge and said,ok,i'll come..

I rang up aswathy,and all she said was,yaar we'll go.. late in the evening joe and anu called too,just to confirm we all go for that.. 

Well..it was not the betrothal or wedding that did matter us..but we just needed a reason to meet up.. and right from the dawn,phone calls were swarming in,planning and replanning what all to do that day,were to meet up,what else to be done..

Achu came to my home by 11..chandeliers dangling from her ears..lol..Dont scratch your head,but i've the right to mock her for there was none on my ears.."Man,you not ready yet?anu is gonna kick my ass..i've told to wait for us at 11.15"..rofl..reaching the town by 11.15..never..We thought it was better to ring her up.. "Anu,we will be a bit(?) late..well..may be some 10min.."..lol...we wouldn't even reach the close proximity in 10min,nevertheless,it was a good bait..Joe was late too..probably the earliest(!)huh!

Anyhow,we all reached the auditorium on time..prolly before time for not even the groom was ready..

We all rested our ass on the last row for we didnt actually turn up to see someone exchanging ring with someone but to goose around.. 

Memories started gusting in..12th std..man,i never knew school was this awesome until i got out of it..i never knew friends meant so much to me until i had to part with them..

In less than 10min Joe came up with Arjun and Arun.. and Antony and Jinto followed them..Among all these fellas,antony was the only one who was not seen for the past 3 yrs for he became an overseas sport who grew up into a hunk from a thin lean skeleton!

Lunch time you see..well,frankly enough everyone turned up only becoz there was a free buffet arranged!.. But no one did grow up to the expected standards..

Anu and i went to wash with antony..well,we actually followed him..there was no where a wash seen,and then we understood it was a toilet cum wash.. we forked out the way opposite his and was aghast to see a male symbol on the toilet door.. lol..i's not exactly lol but lmao..man,he actually entered a ladies toilet..rofl..he just turned around to see what was happening and suddenly bashed out..you gotto see his face..lol

We finished up our food and thought we would hang out somewhere and Joe suggested the Nehru Park..Not something like a Lal Bagh but the kind of a place where small kids play.. And the boys were close to kicking us for the great choice..Film was the next choice and so every one suggested 20-20..well,we didnt get a ticket for that!and the next option,KV!.."Man,today is sunday and all you would see is the school watchman snoring!"..someone hollered.

And at last we left for the vilangan hills which is a so called tourist spot(!) near our school.. The 2 hours we spent together was incredible i should say..one of the best of all days i had in recent past..the chit chats and schmoozes..teasing,joking,laughing,pulling each other's legs,..God!I really miss my school a lot..

School days are the golden times in one's life..Never do we realise it's value until we slip out of it..Neither did i..When i were at school,all i wanted was a bit of a peace from homeworks and exams..all i wanted was to grow up and be bestowed the freedom to move around..But now i desperately wish if i were back to that innocent world.. I really miss my school a lot..

We met to part and parted to meet again!

Khuda Hafiz

~Gayathri~

2008-Honor or Stigma..'?'

2008 is trailing to its full stop..and on retrospection,i find it hard to generalise what kind of a year it was for us.

We were at the zenith when Abhinav Bindra brought home the first individual olympic gold when we were not even in the far proximity to a gold medal,let alone individual one after 1980..We were  triumphant in the 20-20 world cup to not just to prove our mettle but to say that we are not the one to spar with.. Never has Viswanathan Anand brought us surprises,coz he promises only victory and hence his championship of 2008 was not a matter of astonishment..

2008 marked its glory in Indian history when She landed on moon being the 4th unmanned mission to be successful!

2008 was a year of great strategic improtance in the case of our foreign affairs,for although there was a lot of fuss about it,NUKE was for sure a matter of inexpicable importance for us not only as a better source of power but as a means to cement the relationship with the US (or in better words,to hob-nob with the world's strongest power!).. And of course,India is a world power and we don't exactly require a nuke to corroborate it.

4years of the 'unity' that the UPA carassed,suddenly seemed to have become calloused when the nuke was at stake and the tragic climax was the withdrawal of support by the left..But the Congress doesnt seemed to have given it a damn,for they managed to win the non-confidence move by appeasing Amar singh..

Economic crisis was yet another snag..not yet another,but the fiercest of all..But neither do we find a specific reason,nor do we find a specific course or solution to it.. Inflation reached its peak squeezing all the bourgeouis.. We saw stock markets tumbling down and closing abruptly,every now and then.. The abating inflation rates,the victory of Obama,non of them seemed to solve the pirroueting sensex crisis.. Still,these days,situation seems to thaw..

2008 was a year of terrifying terror strikes too.. Samjautha express, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, New Delhi, Modasa, Malegaon, Kanpur, Imphal, Mumbai.. it was an era of terror and fright.. Among them,the attack on Mumbai was the most noted and unprecedented one in terms of its intensity,the modus operandi and the targets..It had been a general convention that the attack points are railway stations and bus stops,.or crowded markets or streets..May be for the first time ever the affluent bowl was made to stand face to face with the demons..Not just an air raid or a shelling,but a real war for more than 60hours..Although Assam was less noticed,it was struck hard too,.and for very brief time,the explosions did help to bring the neglected eastern province in the limelight!

No matter where,no matter how,no matter what kind of people..but terrorism clouted hard on everyone proving India is just not a world power,but a total imbecile when comes to intelligence and curbing terror.. As usual,the attack was followed by a series of resignations and reshuffling of the ministry,Shivraj Patil,Deshmukh,R.R.Patil,were all resigning although they did try a plethora of hare-brained justifications for their lapse..

"I did have some intelligence info but not a specific one..",Vilasrao Deshmukh(did he expect the terrorists to ring him up to say the exact time and location of the attack~!) ; "In big cities as Mumbai,such incidents are common",R.R.Patil(if this was the diminutive casual one,what in his yardsticks are the dire one?) ; "If it was not Sandeep's house,not even a dog will stop by your house!",Achuthananthan(such an unparliamentary comment!),were all some of the most stupid of all comments from the schmucky politicians..

In spite of all these barricades,life still moves on..with 22 days left to wind up 2008,the impending days are met with suspense and horror like Dan Brown's Angels and Demons..And more than ever our fortitude and rectitude is put to question.. "Arise,Awake and stop not till your goal is reached!"

Khuda Hafiz

~Gayathri~