Hoping For Peace and Prosperity

Hope 2009 will be mixed bag of surprises....
Hope all warriors will return home safe...
Hope all Arms factories will shut down due to recession...
Hope there will be no reason to stock arms...
Hope there will be reverse migration and local community will prosper...
Hope world will learn to go global without disturbing the local...
Hope it'll be a green and peaceful world...

Every year people hope and wish for peace, safety and prosperity at midnight
But life itself is a mixed bag of surprises...
It tries to bring some people closer to peace and prosperity by robbing others of it...
Hope world learns to divide and share peace and prosperity...
Hope it'll be a another peaceful round trip around the sun...

Never Die Spirit

'Never die spirit' is oft quoted phrase for people and cities who bounce back to normalcy after a devastating experience. Bombay seems to be forever on the rebound. Cities can't stop. Financial capitals can never stop in tracks.

Last month on this day hundreds were caught in the cross-fires and ires of terrorists. Hundreds were shifted to one of the hospitals with injury. As the camera zoomed in hospital wards, another tale of another day kept coming back...

Many years ago someone took birth there against all odds. It was a sort of medical research history. Mother was ill. The unborn child was not of choice. Conceived in spite of and along with metal contraceptive, it was a rarest of rare case. It was too advanced a stage for abortion without risking mother's life. So non-medical efforts were made to force a natural abortion. Yet the little one survived. Doctors at that hospital made sure the child was delivered safely without a scratch from the metal loop inside. The miraculous birth went into hospital records. That child had indeed showed 'Never Die Spirit'.

It is the spirit present in everyone which makes sure we survive against and in spite of all odds. Battle against odds begins at the early embryonic stage itself!!!

Yet another year passes by...

The silent march of Time continues. Yet another year has passed by. One year added to my age and one subtracted from my lifetime. Many years ago a rebel was born who slowly lost all the will to fight. For there were no battles to be won. It felt better if others won them. It felt even better to hide in sidelines and see the spotlight on someone else. It made better sense to drop out of the race than win them...

Now is the time to lend a hand to little one and I don't know why I am teaching him to win. Can't reach depth within nor can soar high...yearned to be an ordinary next door girl...ordinary life it has been in this extraordinary world...

Ramblers Are Refugees

True, ramblers are basically refugee, seeking a meaning and shelter while being lost in the wilderness of the world. Once home, all the search and seek may end. But what if someone finds meaning in the search itself? Wandering, faltering, getting lost, finding way ahead without reaching destination becomes a way of life. Some are addicted to journeys and have no goals to reach.

Bombay's outrage: Are only politicians responsible?

It been 10 days since the terrible terror attack at Bombay. Probably this is the first time all people of the city, right from pavement dwellers near CST to south B'bay elite are affected and are very angry. People are hero worshipping NSG cammandos and politicians are getting brickbats. Bombay and India seems to be waking up from long stupor and asking right questions but unfortunately its only too late in the day.

We all learn in school lessons that India is a secular country. But not all people of India and specially educated class of India practice secularism and are tolerant about other religions. After more than 60 years of independence and bloody partition people of other religion are held in doubt and hatred. There are very few inter-religion and inter-caste marriages. Majority of Indians are superstitious about religion, caste, creed and even gender! Added to these are class prejudices. So people who are poor, of low caste, belonging minority religion and majority of women across all religions have remained neglected inspite of great progress of the nation.

I believe, we people of India, are equally responsible for the state we are in. We have allowed politicians to manipulate our sentiments. We have allowed politicians and bureaucrats to be corrupt by looking other way. We have bribed police forces to bail us out of troubles. We have allowed fanatic groups to tear down mosques to build temples or vice versa or kill people in the name of religion. We have neglected our children and youth. It is the educated class with unbridled ambition of personal growth and hunger for assets which is equally responsible for the state we are in.

Unless each individual changes his/her mindset and attitude things are not going to change. We get what we truly deserve at the end of the day. We must improve ourselves to prove that we deserve better than this.

Change is Quasistatic

Change has indeed come to America. It took decades maybe. But mindsets did change. May be not all. No society changes overnight. Any change is a quasistatic process. Slow but definite and irreversible. It is visible only when we see it happening all around us. It was visible in America yesterday when people of all colours and nations cheered Obama.

Society can change only when each individual becomes an agent of change and is willing to change his/her mindset and give up all prejudices. We all are equal. Race, religion, caste etc are the tags imposed by society. Our basic identity is that we are human beings. Unless we choose to be beasts.

We need true freedom from hatred which is taking us back to dark ages. I hope we learn to value peace and equality. Lets hope America takes another bold step towards ending conflicts and wars. We are waiting, America.

A walk across the border

Recently I took a leisure walk of few hours in another country without having to sign papers or security checks. We walked freely in to Phuntsillong, Bhutan from Jaigaon, India. Those few hours reinstated my belief that borders are no longer geographical but are essentially political.

Many a dreamers have dreamt about countries without borders (and conflicts). But increasingly geographic borders have become LoC, war zones, breeding ground of insurgents and rebels and political agendas.

Be it Kashmir or Georgia or any other conflict around the globe. The bone of contention is the same: demand for separate state, demand for redefined border or boundary, demand to have control over a piece of land. Political and extremists leaders seem to want new borders only to erect new barbed wire fences, to deploy more army and confine human movements. But path for true sustained peace between countries must lie in increased human exchange and mutual trust. History shows conflicts make way only for more conflicts.

Indo-Bhutan war has been relegated to history pages and what I saw and felt was mutual trust and friendship in the border-zone on either side. Military was present and watchful but not suspicious. I was surprised to see even currencies being exchanged freely. Maybe compulsions of politics, trade and economy have forced countries to have more open borders. But it definitely has brought in peace in the serene hills dotting Indo-Bhutan border.

As I walked away from border I had a new hope and dream that someday world will have freedom from all conflicts and there will be a new dawn of freedom and peace.

Why world loves to hate?

Hitler hated Jews. So he mobilized people and machinery to eradicate the whole race. His concentration camps became death industry. He didn’t need nuclear weapons of mass destruction. He used basic hatred and intolerance to his advantage.

World hated Hitler. So there was war. World wars left millions dead and created a new geopolitical history. America destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki by nuclear bombs. Again multitudes of people died and suffered nuclear holocaust. Hating can be justified but mass killing?

At present Robert Mugabe is using the same time tested weapon of hate. How else can Zanu PF and militia kill and maim fellow Zimbabweans? Only extreme emotion and mass hysteria can carry out such genocide.

Most countries of African continent are engaged in ethnic conflicts. They rape, abuse, kill and butcher men, women, girls and children.

Al-Qaeda’s jihad hates anti-muslim world and has mobilized support from all pro-Islamic groups and has trained them to love one cause and hate another so much that they can blow themselves up along with the targets.

US hates fundamentalists and terrorists and everyone who wants to harm its interest. It declares war and destroys Iraq and parts of Afghanistan. More killings.

There are internal conflicts in many countries all round the world where they breed hatred in the name of god, religion, race, development, politics and even language.

In countries like India, female infanticide is rampant. They hate girl children. Can we call it gender hatred?

Hatred and intolerance leaves millions dead, raped, abused and brutally injured all over the world. Who will curb this WMD used by one and all in present society and politics?
Is human race evolving at all? Why do we need to hate? Why hate works? Technology has only made killing more easy and sophisticated. It hasn’t taught the world to love and heal. It hasn’t taught us to work towards egalitarian goals. Instead of bridges we have wider chasms. Maybe I am looking only at the darker side of the moon…I hope I am getting it all wrong…

The Storm

Light breeze kissing the leaves
Dancing waves touching the shore
Whisper to me
A storm is on the way…
I want to be silent
I do not want to burden the wind
For my words might trigger a storm
I wait silently for the storm to pass
Once again I shall be ready
To throw my words to the winds

1999

Reality:Real and Virtual

Kamal ghar bagh...
Kamal, see the house...
Thus begins one of the lessons in primary school texts in Marathi (Maharashtra, India). The book carries a picture of a smart girl-child with colourful frock but another picture flashes simultaneously in the mind of another Kamal, one of the many Kamals that we come across in our households as maid servants. They are dutiful and professional as maids, but unfortunately live only as servants. Inspite of free education for girls in Maharashtra and other states and many incentives by government and organisations we have many Kamals and Reshmis today, who by choice prefer to live as maid servants. They drop-out at a very early age from school.
Kamal and Reshmi prefer accompanying their mothers (who too are house maids) at a very early age. They become very familiar to the interiors of middle class and upper middle class houses. They help their mothers clean the houses. School? Kamal's mother general reply, “She doesn't like going to school...she has no brains...she is only good for household labour” and Kamal smiles shyly and keeps making negative gesture whenever school is mentioned. Soon she begins to work independently and earns quite a bit thanks to the enlightened middle class or upper class houses. She will be very fortunate if one of her employers sees a daughter in her and motivates her to continue her education, acquire some skills and slowly make a professional shift. But majority of them continue as house servants...they are exploited and at times molested too...married off at very early age and they get resigned to their fate. Their reality can be much worse if they become victims because of their sex.
These two are the two sides of the same coin; government wants to eradicate child labour, education is free for girl-childs, there are social workers who try to trace the drop-outs and there are adult literacy and sex education programmes and there are Kamals!!! These dropped out Kamals come back to adult literacy programmes after learning the hard way about the need of education.
Why is our Primary education so uninteresting? Even the incentives of free books, lunch can't lure them to schools. They find virtual reality of well to do houses where their mothers work more interesting. They seem to prefer the touch and feel of glass showcases, watch TV depending on owner’s generosity, eat good leftover food than the dull class rooms, dictating teachers, no blackboards and distasteful food. It takes years before the reality hits them hard. Can't we make our primary education more interesting with the use of modern technology?
We need to hold back such Kamals, shape their futures differently rather than have them back as adult learners with very few options and choices ahead. After all not all Kamals return as adult learners; some just get lost in this world.

Foxes in my backyard

Once upon a time outskirts of Kolkata were very green and wild. Some generations of that era are still lurking behind whatever that is left of the foliage. In some parts of Salt Lake and greenery behind Airport one can hear wild call of the foxes at night. There may be more of them in other further outskirts of the metro. As the green patches slowly vanishes one wonders where will they go? Is this the last generation calling out to the moon? When will techno savvy human beings leave some place for other animal life to survive and breed?
Amazingly these foxes never disturb the humans. They live off the leftovers spilled by humans and whatever small animals and birds they can catch. Known as ‘sly’ animals but they can be more appropriately called ‘shy’ animals. Human beings have forever hounded and hunted them. But never read any where about these animals harming human beings. They just walk away and disappear in their holes at the slightest sign or sound of approaching feet. As the famous legend of ‘Belstone Fox’ goes (which was made into a film) they do get acquainted with human movements and learn to elude them in smarter ways!!! They attack only if threatened of immediate physical harm.
Will we ever spare a small thought for them and their habitat before turning city outskirts into concrete jungle? This planet is as much theirs as ours…can’t we preserve their habitat which consists of a small water body and green foliage with singing birds as our backyard? Mind you this will be a peaceful haven not only for them but a symbiotic ecosystem for all of us and can offer a practical insight to school kids who struggle with environment education compulsory lessons. We need to save foxes and birds for our next generation and we need their next generation to save our planet.

A break

Took a long break for no particular rhyme or reason...
Feels great to pause while everything keeps going on perpetually maybe...
Earth moves, blood circulates, planets rotate...all fixed trajectories...
My thoughts seem to have no fixed path...so all the ramblings...