Reflecting some reflections!

NO!!! I don’t want to be ‘mad’ I can’t afford to be one.

I talk to people who don’t exist at that point of time, but I still talk to them, those whom I like and also those whom I hate, I hear them talk to me and I share every thought, feeling, and emotion with people I wish to share it with, may be you would say I talk to my imaginations, but whatever it is, this is the truth!! You say I am schizophrenic? Do you?

Now slowly and gradually I too think in the same line, ‘maybe I am going mad, may be yes I am crazy’, but I don’t want to stay in those mental asylums, where those people end up because of this so called ‘society’ and then abandoned by the same, No I don’t want to go there for the rest of my life and stay there as subjects of interest for interns.

‘I am unable to trust u, though I wish to, but then all of a sudden I find all scary faces of yours, chasing me, and I end up having a confused drained gray stuff in my head  and not trusting you or any other person anywhere on earth!! I sooo wish I could trust you.’

Yeah rite this is what went on and on and on in one of my friends, relatives head for quite a few years before she went crazy!! God knows why. But there are people with such thoughts in every corner of this world, who are labeled as people with ‘screwed up heads’ or in other words ‘mad’ and treated in different ways, few as animals, and others with sympathy. Knowingly or unknowingly we exploit them, sometimes for our entertainment, and at times our gaze at them makes the whole thing feel like, we are the spectators of the zoo , and have come across some rare species of humans.

Each one of us have seen people with tattered clothes, uncombed hair and talking to themselves on the streets, we avoid them when they approach us, we don’t even care to listen to their words, and walk away with weird looks on our face.  Is this why we call ourselves human? Or are we trying to hide such flaws of ours under words like ‘Human and Humanity’. What is the significance of such words?

Balding and ageing, it approaches its horrendous end!!

"One gray hair and I panicked with fear. The other day I looked into the mirror and freaked out when I found out that, I am balding. I immediately fixed an appointment with my dermatologist, and there he was at my rescue!!
Hair loss and other signs of ageing are nothing less than a nightmare, a freaky nightmare for me."

These words from a friend of mine reminded me of the sphere we live in when I was travelling from one part of Bangalore to another, and found that Bangalore is no more the same old place with its lush greenery, and cool breeze all round the year. Now it is more like a head which is suffering severe hair loss and is ageing with diseases like asthma, bronchitis and pneumonia. The heat is making this sphere, perspire and boil like an egg.

The saddest part is that we don’t have any improved medicine or treatment to cure it from these ailments, hence we witness the gradual and slow death of earth, and we can see it nearing its end with eyes filled with tears.

There are not many well equipped dermatologists or doctors I can see who are willingly ready to save our dear planet.
If we all try to be a dermatologist ourselves and try growing trees and take other necessary measures for this spheroid of ours, I think we will be able to bring it back to its health and shape once again.

Cultural vista of someone ordinary…

11th of Feb., I was in the bus on my way back home... this is when I overheard a couple talk just behind me... 'chello, I am scared, heard about people creating disturbances because of youngsters celebrating Valentines day, they say couples holding hands in public is not in our culture n stuff like that’.

This incident made me think about the chapter of post colonialism, I was studying in literature class, the other day, which spoke about the effects of colonialism in India, about mimicry, how the so called lower class people (the periphery) tried to imitate them who were at power (the center), only so that they could claim themselves as one among the colonizers (people at power), and hegemony (control by consent) how our people allowed them (the center – colonizers) to control us themselves.
It’s a bit confusing, the question that may arise now is, what is the link between these two things, Valentines Day and post colonialism.

Valentines day may not be our culture, holding hands, smooching in public places, gay marriage may not be our culture. But then has anyone tried to question, what exactly is our culture?? The Indian culture?? The answer is ‘NO’ we don’t have the time to think about it.
What would you think about the khajuraho temples, kamasutra, and kaamdev then? These are also a part of our culture, of our heritage, which we proudly showcase to the tourists.

India was invaded by various cultures, and Indian culture is a mixture of them all, namely Persians, greeks, turks, afghans, mughals, british, portugals etc…India has absorbed a lot from all the cultures and now stands as India with opens arms to absorb more, this is one reason, it is India (Hindustan) and not any other country and hence we say there is Unity in Diversity here. (Though only in text books now) but no matter what, it is a fact.

After all it is not reasonable to fight for adulteration in juice (it is already adulterated and hence it is what it is (juice)

Note:
You may agree or disagree… I am open to feedbacks and criticism

Footpaths - more like dungeons covered with flights of ash.

10th of Jan, San walked on the streets of chickpet, along with her buddy Rohan.
San, a chatterbox since birth, blabbered to her delight, Rohan as usual amused and baffled at her tendency to bluff but at the end entertained, he was so much into San that he did not noticed that he was walking on the flights of ash which covered the dungeons.

He tossed n fell into it n broke both his legs... San in her own created world realized this after some five minutes…that she was talking to herself, as Rohan was left behind, somewhere… She ran back in search of her mate… as her eyes searched him they got filled with tears… for a moment her heart sank… was deaf but heard only one voice calling out the words ‘ San I am stuck here help me, it hurts, turn back I am here’
And the story ends in the Hospital…
Feels more like a fantasy or a fairy tale isn’t it?? But this is the reality of Indian footpaths, these kind of accidents do occur in real life too… pedestrians have no place on the roads… they have two choices… either walk over the dungeons, or on the roads with moving vehicles. Both are dangerous but they are left with no choice…

If you walk on the roads, the police say… walk on the footpaths. And the footpaths are either broken slabs of stones covering the drains below, where u are scared, if your phone goes into it... you will never get it back, so you hold it tight. Where you step on to a slab and it shakes and tremors under your feet, like an earthquake and your heart skips a beat, or the footpath is the favorite place for the hawkers and vendors where you hang around with friends and family to enjoy panipuri, Golgappa or fuchkas…

The question is where will the pedestrians go?? They think it is better to walk on the roads with speeding vehicles, rather than walking and falling into the gutter below.

It is more like… where ever you step, death awaits..

This is a problem, which should be given a second thought by our representatives, adults may suffer injuries but children and senior citizens are at high risk.

A tribute to the Martyrs - Altered

Terrorism... a curse to humanity... one year has passed after the country witnessed one of the most gruesome terror attacks in history, yes... you are right 26/11/2008, mumbai terror attacks... the pictures and the videos which ran through our television boxes that of the victims aand the terrorised hostages along with the governments blunt attitude towards the issue during that time, are still fresh in the minds as they were before.

India observed the first anniversary of 26/11 by conducting remembrance campaigns all over the country in different places and locations. The question here arises that, what does one expect out of these remembrance campaigns et al, and what do they ultimately find there?? My question was answered…..

Two groups gathered simultaneously at Salem Bye pass, Shivaji Nagar, bengaluru, near the Mahatma Gandhi statue, though for one reason but with different ideas and concepts.

Both their ideas were brilliant, one wanted to donate the net income generated during the campaign period to Police force of our country to acquire better protective gears. And the other just wanted to remember this day and pay homage to those who lost their lives during those 60 hours.

One would have expected to hear about the lives of the martyrs and their heroic sacrifices for the country as a remembrance of their courage and bravery, but it was appalling to notice that the event was turned into a publicity stunt by both the organizers. Though their ideas and cause were excellent, but the only thing which went wrong was that they forgot those soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the country. There was neither a photograph nor a mention about the brave heroes. The event organized by one of them did have the posters of the martyrs and did mention them at the end… for some, one and a half minutes. (Due to the request made by an audience)

Our soldiers who died for us… are definitely worthy of getting more than this… It is hard to swallow that people like Ashok Kamte, Hemant Karkare, Vijay Salaskar, Sadanand Datye, Sandip Unnikrishnan, Shashank Shinde, Tukaram Omble and others, didn’t give it a second thought to loose their lives for our country… a country in which they are forgotten in no time…

The event did accomplish its goals… it made for an incredible publicity stunt for both the groups… It was more about political issues and marketing stunts, rather than words of gratitude for those who lost their lives in the fumes of terrorism. Both the organizers made maximum use of the public presence to market themselves and people (wannabes) used the event to pose for the media. The solemn gathering was ultimately turned into an ad campaign. Though the candles were lit and homage was paid, by the chief guests and others, the thing which was noticed, was that those who genuinely wanted to pay tribute and light candles, didn’t get their chance to do so. Ultimately, people and the chief guest only danced to the tunes of the cameraman and the media.

How the tribute to the martyrs turned into a talk of India – Pakistan rivalry and the partition of the latter is beyond anyone’s comprehension, the two hypocritic hours ended meaninglessly and people dispersed with confused minds.

This incident answers my question... as to what does one get in such remembrance campaigns where they go to light candles and pray for the souls who died in the catastrophe.

Potholes for the roads and loopholes for the system!! everything is planned!!

The other day, I was walking on a road which was said to be prone to accidents, there was a senior citizen walking alongside, may be for an evening walk. He had a sweet smile on his wrinkled face, and the smile was such that it could make anyone think, he had no worries in life, he was leading a life loaded with happiness and there was no room for anything negative.
I crossed the road and walked up to the nearby shop, I was there for about some five minutes, bargaining... in my own world, and then suddenly I heard a loud scream, the next moment was something, I can never forget.. there was a huge crowd on the road, I had goosebumps all over my body, I was frightened, scared and shocked at the same time to see the same old man who was smiling a few minutes ago, lying dead with blood and flesh all over the place, the bus standing there ran over the old man, while he tried to cross the road. the impact of the accident was such that the intestine of that man was all over the place.

This is just one incident, this happens every alternate day in some place or the other
When this sort of an incident takes place.. we find people fighting and blaming the driver of the vehicle responsible for the act. There are times when we see people throwing stones at the vehicle.
If the driver is solely responsible for the act, it is reasonable to blame him, but what about those accidents where the drivers fault is very less, some times negligible, what if the roads are the major cause of the accident, what if the road plays a major role in the brutal death of a human or an animal?? It will make no sence in throwing stones at it.. right??
We say that the road is prone to accidents, have we asked ourselves the question as to 'why?' ??
May many of you know the answer, you may say that it is because of those innumerable potholes, the bad structured roads, roads are not taken care of, or because it was not well planned.. when it was built and why is it that the roads are not planned or well structured or have pot holes??
It is because of the simple reason that the people responsible for the work, are irresponsible themselves, because of the word called corruption which is eating up everything, corruption is that organism which eats up our economy.
People pay something called tax, thinking it will help in the development of our country.
When a commodity is bough, be it anything from an eraser to a refrigerator, from a safety pin to the mechanical instruments used in the factories and industries, we pay tax.. and then income tax VAT and what not... It is all paid thinking our country will develop.
We all have studied in our social studies books when we were kids that India is a developing country, and even today we say the same thing. Even today we find villages without electricity, water and the basic amenities of life there are millions of people who are unemployed and jobless, who are under the poverty line, there is a huge number of child labours in our country working day and night in order to earn their living, even after the ban.
This was about the Villages and it also implies to the cities, metros and towns, in these places we can still say that things are improving, there are flyovers and highways, huge beautiful buildings coming up every day but again we see the beauty and strength of the buildings but forget about those who work behind the scene as it is said in case of cinema... yes I am talking about the labourer have you ever looked back at the condition of those poor people who work for long hours and live in unhygienic conditions, unable to send their kids for their schooling, they end up making their children child labours, and after these hardships they stay in those tents made of plastic covers, clothes and bamboos, along the road sides, near those plots where people dump there garbage and their daily house hold wastes.. without water and food for their kids.
It is the responsibility of the higher authorities to look after the basic needs of their people(labours), but what is found an the stark reality is that the labours do not even have a roof over their head, their children are not looked after once their parents leave for work, they live in unhygienic conditions and are prone to diseases.

People who build those beautiful, strong and heavenly buildings, they themselves live in conditions unimaginable and heartrendering......


Now I guess this will make your brains ponder over these issues, and will atleast make you think for some minutes as to... 'where are the loopholes in our system'

Serial blasts!! Loss of innocent lifes!! Panic spread across!! Gunshots!! What next.... to be 'endured'..???

Terrorism haunts Mumbai once again. We have been observing terror attacks not only in India but across the world in the last few decades, but the question is, what have we learnt from our past experiences?? The answer is in one word 'nothing'.

We the 'public' or the 'aam janatha', what do we do in these situations? Let me tell you, we sit in front of our television screen or read the newspapers in our safe and cozy shelters and comment on the issues to no one else, but to our selves and we tend to forget everything in a few days.
We blame our government saying they do not take precautions before hand, securities are made tight only after there is a bomblast, they only wait to give away compensation to the families of those dead and injured, and after a few days, they shamelessly come to our doorsteps ,to ask for votes, we complain that the government does not work properly, but all in vain...
We look at those with powers as superior to us and hence we are scared to raise our voice, either because we feel they are superior, or because we know that the system works like this, where the voice which is raised, does not reach, where it should have reached, where those who have ever tried to make a change is lost and is never seen again anywhere in the crowd.
It is high time we realize that, it is in our own hands to change the system, It is not the government who has the power, but it is 'we' the so called 'aam janatha' who have given them those powers. It is 'we' who have to decide it right, whom the power and authorities should be given to...
We know that India is a country where there is unity in diversity, But it is true only to some extent. Even now at this age, people are being discriminated not only because of the castes and creed but also because of one's religion and region.
We fight among ourselves over small issues, but why cant we solve these peacefully and look up at the bigger problems in a bigger way...??
Communal riots can be seen everywhere.... we fight mindlessly and we forget that, it is 'we' again who are at a loss. We differentiate people on the basis of, which political party they favor...
Is this what we call UNITY......?? We say India has unity in diversity... Is it only because there are different kinds of people with different thoughts and notions, living in one country only because they are born here...
We call each other as our brothers and sisters but actually we dont believe in it from within, because if we would have believed it, then it would have not been possible for us to sit idly and see our own innocent brothers and sisters being killed brutally in these terror attacks.
Why is it that we have to realize the effects of these inhuman acts, only after our own family members have witnessed it..??
What else do we have to wait for to take an appropriate action..??
Are we going to wait to see, another cruel and brutal terror attack, where our own family members name will be in the list of people killed and injured...???
If not then join hands and let us remind those at power that it is we who have given them those..

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