Sachin, why this Kolevari Di ?

Sachin agreeing to join politics has to be his greatest betrayal to all his admirers!No two opinions about it ! Its a fact that Sachin has maintained a great dignity on and off the field. A true gentlemen to the sport of cricket and a prolific record holder of non controversy . However, I believe that for a person of his grand stature, Sachin could have done better in leveraging his popularity instead of choosing to contest for Rajya Sabha. Of course , people might allege that i hold no capacity to judge the individual choices of his, but the fact is that, Sachin has proved to be an emotional element of a large chunk of the national consciousness and thus the least he can do is to submit himself to our freedom of judgement and opinion about him ! Agreed ? For a person , who has received love and affection of a billion indian hearts, spanning the length and breadth of the country, who is regarded as a living 'god' by his fellow indian masses, whose birthday is celebrated more than the festivals of Diwali or Pongal, I believe that there were better convincing ways of planning his future moves than being nominated for RS, that too,under the ticket of the currently infamous Congress Party. (I wouldn't say this were it some other individual other than our beloved Sachin). Politics is different from cricket.Every person has a core competency.Hence, cricketing success cannot be confused with the ability to display political astuteness . Politics is a different ball game all together. Politics demands hard skinned , argumentative and oratory abilities , which i personally believe ,Sachin is not competent in . He must confine his boundaries, or rather , expand his boundaries in familiar waters , if he needs to carry forward the immense faith of his fans and admirers. He can do better by starting a cricket academy to encourage cricketing talent, founding an NGO to charter new found territories like realizing the cricketing dreams of the deprived ,leveraging his popularity to work closely with the centre and state governments to provide awareness/assistance in preventing social and health evils like AIDS, female feoticide, child marriages, etc.He could have done better by lending active support to clean political governance like many other eminent celebrities.Insead he chose to meet Sonia Gandhi and join Congress.Somehow i believe he owes some answer to the public for this, especially after having recieved so much love and blessings from all his fellow indians.Silence is not always the best thing to do;its important to speak up at the right times for the right cause.No one questioned him when he bought a home or invested in fancy cars, as we believe that it is his personal life, however, coming to the decision to join politics, i think Sachin owes an explanation to his people for this social fauxpas ! ( not that he has done something wrong). End of the day,seeing Sachin attain the status of the UN brand ambassador for Global Human Rights ,anyday, triumphs over seeing him joining hands with an infamous party and lobbing for an assembly seat !Period.

corner point: The 'Bad Mouthed ' Indian !

corner point: The 'Bad Mouthed ' Indian !: One thing which we indians can never resist from is our chronic urge to spit in public places.It gets really unnerving to see people carving...

The 'Bad Mouthed ' Indian !

One thing which we Indians can never resist from is our chronic urge to spit in public places. It gets really unnerving to see people carve out various slaked lime cum half chewed tobacco designs on the roads with their incredibly talented spitting juggernauts .We just don’t seem to spare any place from receiving our mouthfuls. Roads, sidewalks, lanes, alleys, stairways, balcony banisters , the list goes on. The whole universe is our washroom, we can spit, anywhere and everywhere we want, Who cares?

The tryst of public spitting by Indians dates back to thousands of years. Paan acts as a palate cleanser, mild stimulant, and a mouth freshener. However what has remained unchanged since then is this tendency of our desi brothers to unashamedly release the leftovers from their mouths in public places.

Have you ever come across a completely pale/white colored side wall /staircase banister or an office railing in any of the Indian establishments across the length and breadth of India (sic)? There are few public places in India which are free from the tell-tale red stains of paan.

Not long ago, I was riding a humble two wheeler on a heavily crowded market road, during the rush hours. Vendors flanked the ever encroached upon pavements on either sides and humanity dashed past me on vehicles and foot. All of a sudden, a bus went past me and before I could anticipate anything, a tiny face popped out from one of the windows and released a disgusting torrent of thick crimson liquid from its mouth, creating a small reddish pool just a few feet from my wheel! This caught me totally dumbfounded for a split second !I Wasn’t sure, whether to be be happy that the guy from the bus, spared me from receiving his ‘blessings’, or furious for his utter indifference towards civility!

Public spitting has finally begun to take its toll, which has turned very conspicuous in the Indian city of Kolkata. The Howrah bridge, that was built over the Hooghly River during the British imperial rule is commuted by nearly 60000 vehicles every day.This 67 year old historic bridge, an object of pride to the city of Kolkata and one of the largest cantilevers in the world has finally borne the brunt of incessant reddish liquids of half chewed betel nuts being spat down on the its metal girders by the commuters every day.The corrosive properties of the lime in the paan, have reduced the protective metal coating of the bridge from its usual thickness of 6mm to 3mm. Infact, a senior government official confesses that if, the corrosion continues at such a rate, the historic Howrah bridge would have to be decommissioned for repairs, as told in the ‘Calcutta Telegraph’, a regional English daily.

Apart from causing structural damage, the acidic lime in the paan is the cause of various infectious diseases and casts a grim shadow on the environmental safety too. The Government of India has finally awoken from it slumber and has commissioned teams to clamp down on spitters in all major public establishments, just to begin with. Civic teams have begun spreading awareness drives in the Mumbai locals and the impoverished northern states of India, to name a few.However, this 'slap on the wrist' measures leave a lot more to be desired, especially considering the gravity of the situation and with so many roads and buildings lying soaked in bucketfuls of spit all across India.

Why are we Indians so thick skinned and inconsiderate in public? Surprisingly, the same Indian, when on a foreign soil, would not dare spit in public but in fact ensure that he abides by all the rules of public decency in the highest spirit. Civility is one thing, which has always eluded us. Wasn’t the 200 odd years of the English rule good enough to infuse a sense of public civility into us ?

Independence ...still a far cry !

On the eve of India’s 63^rd independence day, I somehow feel a lot far from patriotic, because I wouldn’t like myself to be deemed as ‘unpatriotic’ ,or at least in the eyes of the public. As the Indian nation yet again unfurls its tricolour, I find very little reason to actually cheer about. All those speeches about how India achieved her independence, those mundane parades in the capital, showcasing India’s heritage, etc, bring a creeping sense of hopelessness and a feeling of ridicule in me.

Seriously, what have we as a nation achieved since independence? Abject poverty, skyrocketing corruption , rampaging violence in its every corner, an incompetent judiciary, female feoticides,farmer suicides, honour killings, raging political goondaism ,vandalism,....what has changed ? From an ailing body, which India was at its independence, it has gradually, but surely transformed itself into an infested one, which I believe it, now is.

India with its burgeoning populace, has about 250 million poor, which is a little less than the size of the united states. Nearly one third of its people still survive on less than a dollar per day. Beggars throng the roads, every time we stop by the signal, blaring at us their brazen display of poverty. Street urchins, slums, shanties, with their proud residents performing their daily ablutions are very much a common sight in our towns and cities.And if i need to talk about social conditions of India’s remote villages ,spare me the horror..because after all this , i desist from dwelling into those details.

W e boasts of being the largest democracy in the world. But I ask you, what kind of a democracy are we ,if we cannot ensure that even the most basic fundamental rights of our citizens are implemented in their true spirit ?With our politicians fleecing money like bloodthirsty hounds from the common man and the laxity of the public officials in providing the basic facilities like foodgrain, clean drinking water , quality education, the condition of the common man has far from improved in this impoverished , malnutritioned and ‘ forever developing’ country of ours.

We have consistently hit rock bottom on the annual global transparency index.We stand 128 in human resource development index(1^st being considered the highest) and 133th in woman empowerment index.India ranks among the top five nations with the highest aids concentration in the world. India has the highest concentration of the poor in the world. In fact,some states in our country are poorer than even those of the sub-Saharan Africa.

‘Satya meva Jayathe’ , meaning truth always triumphs.This is supposed to be our national slogan.But, in reality ,truth and justice in most of the cases,have always been denied to its common citizens.Be it the case of the Bhopal gas tragedy which has been dragging on for almost an unbelievable two and a half decades now ,or the horrendous recent Mumbai terrorist attacks, the victims and their families have since been living in the delusions of hope that justice would be done to them. On the contrary, armed with money and political clout, the perpetrators of these crimes are let off with a slap on their wrists, while the aam aadmi continues to languish behind the bars of utter helplessness .

All that we care today is to only achieve a two digit growth.This has become our sole plank to measure development.While the post ’91 economic policies have resulted in the nation’s industrial and economic progress ,improper administration and ineffective implementation of the welfare programmes by the all the governments since then (and upto now) have made the rich to grow only more richer, and the poor poorer. Hence it should come as no surprise to know that while India Inc. continues with its oversees acquisition spree, 40 percent of our country’s children flourish under severe malnutrition.

We are a country where hypocrisy has become our birthright. The colours of our national flag have never stood for what they actually meant ,green for prosperity, white for peace and orange for sacrifice. Democracy in India has failed miserabely.So, what kind of independence are we celebrating about ? I suggest that,on this independence day parade, instead of showcasing our military might ,cultural heritage etc , why not we parade our corruption, poverty , naxalism, poor infrastructure, etc to the entire world, so that the entire world could get a glimpse of our ‘Incredible India’ which it sure is !