I don’t get it. Clearly a lot of people around me are not happy with the Ayodhya judgment… and I’m trying hard to understand why, but there seem to be few clues as of now.
Many of the reactions coming in seem to suggest that something of an injustice has been done to the minority Muslims, while those miscreants who brought down the Masjid in 92 have been allowed to go scot-free. I don’t get it though… was this trial about punishing the miscreants or about the land? And if it was about the land and who it rightfully belongs to, what pray is wrong with the judgment?
Apparently the ASI has clearly stated that they found remains of a massive Hindu religious structure below the Masjid. Whatever this structure may have been, does it really matter as long as it existed and was holy to the Hindus? Would it somehow become more acceptable to the so called secular junta if it was something more believable than Ram janambhoomi or Sita ki rasoi? After all what about Indian mythology is believable? The setu floating across the ocean? Or the vanar sena? Or arrows spewing fire? Yet the Ramayana is one of Hinduism’s holiest texts. Isn’t ridiculing the idea of Ram janambhoomi a bit like standing in judgment? Isn’t it enough that the place was, for whatever reasons, holy for a particular community?
What does amaze me however is the language of the court judgment. They actually seem to mention it as the birthplace of Ram. What I’d like to know is, which piece of evidence proves this conclusively?
Then again, there is no denying that the Muslim community was wronged in 92. The same trial could have gone on and the same verdict reached without the demolition of the dome of the Masjid. That was an unnecessary act of aggression and most reprehensible. And most certainly everyone involved in it, including the politicians who fanned the mob fury should be brought to book. However that is a separate matter altogether and therefore a separate trial.
That bring us to the Nirmohi akhara. Now that I am bowled over by. I read several articles on several sites trying to figure out what this mysterious akhara is. Sadly everyone is more concerned about the Mandir- Masjid argument.
Oh well! Turn the monument into a national monument, I say. Let it not be functioning mandir or masjid… God knows there are plenty of those around in this country! Turn it into a museum with a detailed history explained in multimedia installations. Let the next generation learn from the past and take away a message of religious tolerance.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
What is our country coming to?
No seriously, what’s going on???
Large parts of central India are affected by what our Prime Minister has described as Number One Security Threat. While the alternative media cries itself hoarse over the one sided view of Naxalism being painted by the government and the popular media, the tribals, and indeed the common man in Naxalite affected districts, continues to suffer at the hands of both the insurgents and the government troops.
Read the following for some insights… and there are probably thousands more out there…
Arundhati Roy’s article in Outlook
Priyanka Borpujari’s blog (a freelance journalist)
Javed Iqbal’s blog (a photojournalist with the New Indian Express)
I love this take on the rise of the Maoist movement by The Great Indian Clearance Sale
The North East continues to be marginalized.
And now Kashmir is on the boil again. Its been ravaged in the last couple of months by protests against the killings of innocent youths by India’s Security forces, leading to more action by the security forces, and more killings! And now the clampdown on the media… Is this a democracy we are living in?
Following are a few links, some of the many articles floating around…
Rekha Chaudhary’s emotional piece on Rising Kashmir
Muzamil Jaleel article on stone throwing as a form of protest
A moving piece by a young Kashmiri journalist
In the meanwhile people in our megacities seem oblivious to the plight of the majority of the country- a middle class with ever rising aspirations, blinded by the consumerism, with unsustainable lifestyles, consuming ever more natural resources at a rate faster than Nature can replenish, sending their cities to the dogs by building more… more houses, more malls, more flyovers… more, more, more even in the face of crumbling infrastructure. What is this ostrich mentality? Its so stupid it’s nearly unbelievable…
Is there hope at all for us as a nation?
Large parts of central India are affected by what our Prime Minister has described as Number One Security Threat. While the alternative media cries itself hoarse over the one sided view of Naxalism being painted by the government and the popular media, the tribals, and indeed the common man in Naxalite affected districts, continues to suffer at the hands of both the insurgents and the government troops.
Read the following for some insights… and there are probably thousands more out there…
Arundhati Roy’s article in Outlook
Priyanka Borpujari’s blog (a freelance journalist)
Javed Iqbal’s blog (a photojournalist with the New Indian Express)
I love this take on the rise of the Maoist movement by The Great Indian Clearance Sale
The North East continues to be marginalized.
And now Kashmir is on the boil again. Its been ravaged in the last couple of months by protests against the killings of innocent youths by India’s Security forces, leading to more action by the security forces, and more killings! And now the clampdown on the media… Is this a democracy we are living in?
Following are a few links, some of the many articles floating around…
Rekha Chaudhary’s emotional piece on Rising Kashmir
Muzamil Jaleel article on stone throwing as a form of protest
A moving piece by a young Kashmiri journalist
In the meanwhile people in our megacities seem oblivious to the plight of the majority of the country- a middle class with ever rising aspirations, blinded by the consumerism, with unsustainable lifestyles, consuming ever more natural resources at a rate faster than Nature can replenish, sending their cities to the dogs by building more… more houses, more malls, more flyovers… more, more, more even in the face of crumbling infrastructure. What is this ostrich mentality? Its so stupid it’s nearly unbelievable…
Is there hope at all for us as a nation?
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Life is beautiful
Recounting the events of an evening not long ago.
Today was one of those days. A day when things happen. And make your life a little more meaningful. But also a day that makes you question your life.
Saw Deepa Bhatia’s film, ‘Nero’s Guests’. The film itself is not spectacular but its protagonist most certainly is. The film follows P Sainath, a man who has devoted his life to a study of India’s rural affairs, and most notably its recent agrarian crisis. And Sainath is an angry man. Not hard to see why, for the last few years he has been following the trail of suicides in the cotton belt of India, a symptom, he says of the larger agrarian crisis of ‘corporatisation of Indian agriculture.’ It can’t be easy to be faced with the despair and helplessness in those thousands of faces, knowing that there’s little he can do to help them. God knows it was difficult enough to see the film without a lump in the throat.
He is also a good speaker, a fallout one assumes of the many talks he gives regularly. His knowledge of the subject is commendable, and his arguments forceful. I have read Sainath before, even some of the one-liners that he used in the film and later while interacting with the audience. (I guess in this country one ends up being repetitive in order to simply be heard.) He always comes across as well researched, and today was no exception. The pleasant surprise was to see his impressive personality and aura. Though maybe it should not have been.
The film was well made. It was a film about the agrarian crisis as seen through its protagonist’s eyes, and delivered on that front. It is high on emotional content, often resorting to emotion to drive home a point, sometimes to anger, sometimes sarcasm, and at other times to poetry and story telling. It’s the kind of approach I have often found in Arundhati Roy’s non fiction writings. It makes for very interesting reading, in this case viewing, but you come away wondering if you haven’t also been somewhat emotionally manipulated. Be that as it may, it is nevertheless an important film for the message it holds, which is urgent and yet much neglected.
I came back home to see a crowd at the corner of Ahimsa Marg, where our building stands. This street corner has been witness to much action over the last few days because of the attempts of the residents of the corner building to remove a vegetable vendor who sits on the footpath. He’s been around for awhile, as long as we have been. I never knew there was a problem with his location in the first place, after all he is just selling vegetables, like many other illegal hawkers and vendors in the city… how could he pose a problem to anyone? Besides, how do the residents of a building have any right over the footpath outside, even if it is the one adjoining their boundary wall? That is after all public property. A couple of days back when we headed towards the vendor to get some vegetables, we saw his entire lot strewn over the road, and a large crowd gathered around, with some of the ones in the centre looking rather self important. Even then I had wondered if the goons of some political outfit such as the Sena or the MNS were involved. That’s the one thing that makes us Indians brave. Connections. Backing by local rogue elements.
Sure enough today when I was on my way back from the film, I saw a small board with a picture of Raj Thackery and notice about illegal hawkers at the corner. There was also a row of stone seats installed around the corner, in place of the vegetable vendor, and the dosa and pani puri stalls that existed earlier. There was a crowd again, and upon enquiry I realized that there had been some sort of physical fight, and the police was expected to arrest the vendors.
The vendors?
I can’t help but wonder at our apathy. We want all the conveniences that the underbelly of the city provides us, such as our drivers and our domestic helps, and free home delivery of vegetables and groceries from the local kirana shop, but we’d rather not see them if possible. We believe in beautification drives. We’d rather have a row of stone seats at a corner of an intersection full of traffic, than a bunch of people trying to earn a livelihood. Where do they go, you ask? Well, that’s the government’s lookout, isn’t it?
Another story that the only one I’ve seen sitting on one of those seats ever since they have been installed, is the security guard ‘protecting’ them.
Got home finally. And found this touching photo essay, (link shared by a talented photographer friend, Zishaan Latif http://www.zishaanlatif.com)
Life suddenly seems beautiful in more ways than we find the time to appreciate.
Today was one of those days. A day when things happen. And make your life a little more meaningful. But also a day that makes you question your life.
Saw Deepa Bhatia’s film, ‘Nero’s Guests’. The film itself is not spectacular but its protagonist most certainly is. The film follows P Sainath, a man who has devoted his life to a study of India’s rural affairs, and most notably its recent agrarian crisis. And Sainath is an angry man. Not hard to see why, for the last few years he has been following the trail of suicides in the cotton belt of India, a symptom, he says of the larger agrarian crisis of ‘corporatisation of Indian agriculture.’ It can’t be easy to be faced with the despair and helplessness in those thousands of faces, knowing that there’s little he can do to help them. God knows it was difficult enough to see the film without a lump in the throat.
He is also a good speaker, a fallout one assumes of the many talks he gives regularly. His knowledge of the subject is commendable, and his arguments forceful. I have read Sainath before, even some of the one-liners that he used in the film and later while interacting with the audience. (I guess in this country one ends up being repetitive in order to simply be heard.) He always comes across as well researched, and today was no exception. The pleasant surprise was to see his impressive personality and aura. Though maybe it should not have been.
The film was well made. It was a film about the agrarian crisis as seen through its protagonist’s eyes, and delivered on that front. It is high on emotional content, often resorting to emotion to drive home a point, sometimes to anger, sometimes sarcasm, and at other times to poetry and story telling. It’s the kind of approach I have often found in Arundhati Roy’s non fiction writings. It makes for very interesting reading, in this case viewing, but you come away wondering if you haven’t also been somewhat emotionally manipulated. Be that as it may, it is nevertheless an important film for the message it holds, which is urgent and yet much neglected.
I came back home to see a crowd at the corner of Ahimsa Marg, where our building stands. This street corner has been witness to much action over the last few days because of the attempts of the residents of the corner building to remove a vegetable vendor who sits on the footpath. He’s been around for awhile, as long as we have been. I never knew there was a problem with his location in the first place, after all he is just selling vegetables, like many other illegal hawkers and vendors in the city… how could he pose a problem to anyone? Besides, how do the residents of a building have any right over the footpath outside, even if it is the one adjoining their boundary wall? That is after all public property. A couple of days back when we headed towards the vendor to get some vegetables, we saw his entire lot strewn over the road, and a large crowd gathered around, with some of the ones in the centre looking rather self important. Even then I had wondered if the goons of some political outfit such as the Sena or the MNS were involved. That’s the one thing that makes us Indians brave. Connections. Backing by local rogue elements.
Sure enough today when I was on my way back from the film, I saw a small board with a picture of Raj Thackery and notice about illegal hawkers at the corner. There was also a row of stone seats installed around the corner, in place of the vegetable vendor, and the dosa and pani puri stalls that existed earlier. There was a crowd again, and upon enquiry I realized that there had been some sort of physical fight, and the police was expected to arrest the vendors.
The vendors?
I can’t help but wonder at our apathy. We want all the conveniences that the underbelly of the city provides us, such as our drivers and our domestic helps, and free home delivery of vegetables and groceries from the local kirana shop, but we’d rather not see them if possible. We believe in beautification drives. We’d rather have a row of stone seats at a corner of an intersection full of traffic, than a bunch of people trying to earn a livelihood. Where do they go, you ask? Well, that’s the government’s lookout, isn’t it?
Another story that the only one I’ve seen sitting on one of those seats ever since they have been installed, is the security guard ‘protecting’ them.
Got home finally. And found this touching photo essay, (link shared by a talented photographer friend, Zishaan Latif http://www.zishaanlatif.com)
Life suddenly seems beautiful in more ways than we find the time to appreciate.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Help, I'm lost!
I was reading this rather interesting article a couple of days back about sign design (http://www.slate.com/id/2245644/) and its importance, and it struck me how often I have complained about the lack of proper signage in this country. It doesn’t seem awfully complicated to get signage right… if at all, it is probably very logical. Why then are we so poor at it.
The best-marked roads that I have seen here are undoubtedly in Delhi. At some point a few years back, the government woke up to the need for these, and we have clearly marked big blue overhead boards announcing where the roads are headed. Even so, every once in awhile one finds a major turn unmarked, leading to much inconvenience, such as happened with us a couple of months back when we were headed to Sonepat in Haryana. For the longest time my parents were talking about this turn they needed to take towards Sonepat. But in the absence of any proper signs, they had to rely on memory to figure it out. Sure enough we missed it, and overshot by several kilometers before they realized their mistake. And this is an experience of someone who has lived in Delhi for decades now, and has in general a very good sense of direction. God help directionally challenged people like me.
I’m reminded also of my recent trip to Japan, a country where the train network is extensive and excellent, and therefore the preferred mode of travel, and where almost no one speaks English. So did we have problems traveling in Japan… not at all! Apart from the fact that the people are extremely helpful, and do all that can to be of assistance in spite of the language barrier, their maps and signs are excellent guides. Tokyo for instance has the most intricate network, of railways and subways. But all the stations have assistance booths with the exact same map with colour coded routes. One may make a mistake like choose the more crowded train, or the longer route, but it’s almost impossible to pick a wrong route… everything is so clearly marked. Then again, in the stations, the platforms and lines are clearly marked. And make no mistake, I am talking about big underground stations here, and long corridors leading from one line to the next… so much so it seems like another city underneath! The assistance counters too are logically placed. The point is there is a standard logic that has been followed in the design. Once your mind gets used to that logic, it automatically looks for signs in the right places. This would be crucial I imagine for the kind of traffic that the Tokyo rail network handles everyday.
(This brings back such nice memories :) Of lots of pouring over maps, friendly Japanese wanting to help out, and walking endlessly in large underground stations. We were staying in Ikebukuro and used both the Subway and train lines extensively in the three days we were there.)
I’ve never really had that much of a problem traveling by Indian railway either, but then I have grown up in this country. I do wonder how foreigner friendly our signages are. Certainly our road signs can do with some improvement, especially in b-tier cities, towns and villages, heck sometimes even in the metros, as we realized that day on our way to Sonepat.
The best-marked roads that I have seen here are undoubtedly in Delhi. At some point a few years back, the government woke up to the need for these, and we have clearly marked big blue overhead boards announcing where the roads are headed. Even so, every once in awhile one finds a major turn unmarked, leading to much inconvenience, such as happened with us a couple of months back when we were headed to Sonepat in Haryana. For the longest time my parents were talking about this turn they needed to take towards Sonepat. But in the absence of any proper signs, they had to rely on memory to figure it out. Sure enough we missed it, and overshot by several kilometers before they realized their mistake. And this is an experience of someone who has lived in Delhi for decades now, and has in general a very good sense of direction. God help directionally challenged people like me.
I’m reminded also of my recent trip to Japan, a country where the train network is extensive and excellent, and therefore the preferred mode of travel, and where almost no one speaks English. So did we have problems traveling in Japan… not at all! Apart from the fact that the people are extremely helpful, and do all that can to be of assistance in spite of the language barrier, their maps and signs are excellent guides. Tokyo for instance has the most intricate network, of railways and subways. But all the stations have assistance booths with the exact same map with colour coded routes. One may make a mistake like choose the more crowded train, or the longer route, but it’s almost impossible to pick a wrong route… everything is so clearly marked. Then again, in the stations, the platforms and lines are clearly marked. And make no mistake, I am talking about big underground stations here, and long corridors leading from one line to the next… so much so it seems like another city underneath! The assistance counters too are logically placed. The point is there is a standard logic that has been followed in the design. Once your mind gets used to that logic, it automatically looks for signs in the right places. This would be crucial I imagine for the kind of traffic that the Tokyo rail network handles everyday.
(This brings back such nice memories :) Of lots of pouring over maps, friendly Japanese wanting to help out, and walking endlessly in large underground stations. We were staying in Ikebukuro and used both the Subway and train lines extensively in the three days we were there.)
I’ve never really had that much of a problem traveling by Indian railway either, but then I have grown up in this country. I do wonder how foreigner friendly our signages are. Certainly our road signs can do with some improvement, especially in b-tier cities, towns and villages, heck sometimes even in the metros, as we realized that day on our way to Sonepat.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
On the Women's Reservation Bill
Why is it that in our country reserving seats, for SCs, STs, OBCs, other minorities, and now women is seen as something of a ‘solution.’ Is it really a solution or an easy way out of a problem we no longer know how to address because it is too steeped in history, and complicated?
I am all for women’s empowerment, and if reserving seats can indeed lead towards that goal, then sure enough it’s the way to go. But where is the evidence to support this claim? For years now we’ve been relaxing entry requirements and reserving seats in colleges, and even in government jobs. Has there been a study to show much exactly this has helped?
My argument in this case is not very different from what it was regarding reservations in schools and colleges. The challenge is to create opportunities so that people from disadvantaged sections of society can rise up and compete with the rest on a level playing field. Spoon feeding jobs and seats in educational institutions, or now elected bodies, to undeserving candidates cannot and should not be the solution.
Women’s empowerment will be a reality when the men in our society learn to respect every woman, not just the elected representatives they must. It calls for a change in mindsets, a socio cultural revolution that can hardly be brought about overnight. But we do need to identify steps that we can take right away that might eventually lead to this miracle, even if it takes decades to fructify.
Is reservation then one such step? I’m not sure. We have seen enough puppet women leaders, being used as affronts for their husbands and fathers who are really the ones in charge. This is a dangerous phenomenon, though a natural extension of the gender hierarchy prevalent in society.
On the other hand, thanks to the reservation for women in local government bodies, many women have been elected to office in the last decade or so. Even if a small percentage of these women have subsequently realised their potential and assumed power the way they were meant to, the move could then be called something of a success. It should then be replicated yes, in other government bodies, but more importantly the success stories told and spread so other women can follow in their footsteps. And it is this that needs to be studied and offered as evidence that reservation actually works.
It is not a small job that we offer these women, we are talking about running the country here… a job that has admittedly lost much charm because of the dubious credentials of the many men who hold public office. Nevertheless, its importance cannot be undermined. And so it should necessarily require a certain amount of competence to be elected to a governing body, being a woman should hardly rank as eligibility criteria.
I am all for women’s empowerment, and if reserving seats can indeed lead towards that goal, then sure enough it’s the way to go. But where is the evidence to support this claim? For years now we’ve been relaxing entry requirements and reserving seats in colleges, and even in government jobs. Has there been a study to show much exactly this has helped?
My argument in this case is not very different from what it was regarding reservations in schools and colleges. The challenge is to create opportunities so that people from disadvantaged sections of society can rise up and compete with the rest on a level playing field. Spoon feeding jobs and seats in educational institutions, or now elected bodies, to undeserving candidates cannot and should not be the solution.
Women’s empowerment will be a reality when the men in our society learn to respect every woman, not just the elected representatives they must. It calls for a change in mindsets, a socio cultural revolution that can hardly be brought about overnight. But we do need to identify steps that we can take right away that might eventually lead to this miracle, even if it takes decades to fructify.
Is reservation then one such step? I’m not sure. We have seen enough puppet women leaders, being used as affronts for their husbands and fathers who are really the ones in charge. This is a dangerous phenomenon, though a natural extension of the gender hierarchy prevalent in society.
On the other hand, thanks to the reservation for women in local government bodies, many women have been elected to office in the last decade or so. Even if a small percentage of these women have subsequently realised their potential and assumed power the way they were meant to, the move could then be called something of a success. It should then be replicated yes, in other government bodies, but more importantly the success stories told and spread so other women can follow in their footsteps. And it is this that needs to be studied and offered as evidence that reservation actually works.
It is not a small job that we offer these women, we are talking about running the country here… a job that has admittedly lost much charm because of the dubious credentials of the many men who hold public office. Nevertheless, its importance cannot be undermined. And so it should necessarily require a certain amount of competence to be elected to a governing body, being a woman should hardly rank as eligibility criteria.
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