Would You Wake Up?

The blustering winds are reverberant with gunshots and loud wails,
And the crackling of the raging fire your own world has been set to.
Colossal castles are now tottering on the verge of their collapse
As here you lie amidst all looking like no more than a corpse.
Why don't any of these perturb the serenity of your ignorant slumber?
Why do you not feel the wet warmth of your own blood
As it gushes down your body from the many wounds
That the demons have inflicted and continue to gnaw into?
Perhaps you think that the anguish is but a bad dream;
That it is impossible and unreal for the evil to have intruded this far
While you sleep forgetting that you have never had any defense.
Perhaps in your friends you trust
Assuming they would dress you wounds if any
Even as you sleep unaware that you have no friends around.
The twitch of your eyebrows suggests
That the twinge of the pain is too sharp not to rake you up;
That your screaming festering wounds are defiling
The inner sanctuary where your very belief in life is ensconced.
You writhe and scowl and you turn around
But would you like always just cover your ears
And slump back into sleep again?
Would you hope that the ominous sounds and sights do not exist
Just because you choose to thus sleep over them?
Or would you for a change, rise?
-Rise and grab the sword from the fiends brandishing it
And wield it for your own survival
Against those who have always known one fact
That they would not have dared inch this close had you been awake.
Would you wake up? Would you fight? Would you live?
Something tells me that this time, at least you want to.
You want to claim back life as the gift it is.

Inspirational Music

Just when I was hailing several Bollywood music directors for some of their outstanding compositions, I came across this site :

http://itwofs.com

To my surprise and dismay, I found that some of my favourite songs right from mehbooba from R.D. Burman to Kya mujhe pyar hai from Pritam are no more than blatant and brazen acts of plagiarism.

The Indian audience perhaps is too naive to make out such deceits. These music directors have been awarded trophies for several such copied compositions. It's good for them as long as the music is a hit and earns them big money. But how good is plagiarism for their creativity as an artist ? Agreed that several of these tunes would have been unheard of here had these people not taken the pains of copying it and selling it away. But the least they can do is to attribute the works (which they say have inspired them ) to their true composers. Or else they should be rightly sued.

Another Working Saturday

The day has ended with the Karnataka Chief Minister congratulating everyone for a peaceful and successful bandh this Monday. I think I badly deserved his congratulations especially since I had to spend Saturday as a working day in lieu of this dead eventless Monday. And how can I forget the exhilaration the day before when I went about purchasing things like bread, milk and any other things that needed to be stocked for this special closed day. Several other people achieved greater feats by successfully rescheduling their travel plans and wasting money. Those who did not had pleasant experiences with the taxi drivers. Naturally, the congratulations come as no surprise.

A spate of bandhs and riots has hit Bangalore in the past year or so.The reason this time is the Cauvery water verdict (Karnataka according to activists has been given an unfairly little allocation of water compared to Tamil Nadu). Other occasions to name a few have been the inclusion of Belgaum in Karnataka, Saddam Hussain's execution and a veteran actor's demise. The cultural, political and humanitarian awareness as well as what I call "state-bhakti" of the people responsible may be remarkable. But even as I am concerned this time about the water supply reaching my home in the future, I really abhor the idea of bandhs happening. One may ignore the pain of working on weekends to compensate for these free holidays. But the inconveniences, disturbances and rampages that result are plain insufferable. And who else but the common ordinary tax payer is forced to suffer the brunt as the activists (who I doubt have paid a single penny of tax in their life time) go berserk burning buses, stopping trains and threatening damages to any one or any organization defiling their call for bandh.

Perhaps one cannot keep people from protesting in a democracy. But whilst these people take undue advantage of their rights, there are many who are stifled. Why should the ordinary citizen bear any risk on his/her life for no tangible reason? Why should we be denied access to basic amenities being neither the victimized nor the victimizer? Why should we have to change plans upon short notices and also have to incur any losses resulting thereof? The administration needs to apologize rather than congratulate for such hateful examples of foolery.

My suggestion for people calling for such bandhs is to first go and shut down the cooking stoves in their houses. I feel hunger strikeswould evince better how grief-stricken they are (though I doubt how honest the demonstrators are about them). That would also deplete their capacities to cause disorders here and there. Should they have the desire of seeing things burning they could go and set their own houses ablaze. I think every square inch of a public bus is worth more than the entire life of many such hooligans. People engaging in such offences should not be merely detained and fed in the jails for they are no better than terrorists and should be penalized as severely.

The Bane of 24/7 News Channels

The news channels today pretty much occupy half the telecast bandwidth. What keeps them running for 24 hrs a day are rumoring, scandalizing and drivelling that come very naturally and easily to these people. Since it is not possible to invent the "real genuine news" with that frequency, there is not much the news channels can do. And besides, they have to compete with music and drama channels too along with a dozen other news channels. So a typical news channel ( which should be appositely called "Miscellaneous Today") offers the following items on the platter : dumb news for dumb people, scandals for scandalmongers, fashion news for fashion-savvy, recipes for cooks-manque, puppet shows for children, bollywood songs/gossip for movie-buffs , etc etc. In case you are wondering what's for "sharp people" , it is yawns and frowns. And if you love to type SMSs but can't figure whom to send them to, they provide you the best platform (imagine your lousy message scrolling at the bottom of the TV screen).

The latest trend is the "breaking news" wherein the news channels discuss in elaboration e-mails/phone calls/handwritten letters sent by miscreants claiming responsibilities for events ranging from bomb blasts to mobbing. It is indeed a proud moment for a news channel receiving exclusively such confessions since it goes on to prove how much faith the criminals have in them and how much effort they are willing to put in to promote the channel. They purport to set up enquiries results of which are never shown since it would be embarrassing to show the sender traced down to their own office.

The "sting operations" are also catching up. But since they are not as simple as getting an e-mail sent to yourself and involve a lot of acting/ active involvement by a lot of people, they are telecast only once in a while. Each channel has its own breaking news for the day and sting operation for the month (originality is important).

We are also shown frequent opinion polls. A news channel ABC asks its viewers to vote which news channel they prefer to watch. Since most normal people would be watching what they prefer to watch unless they are switching channels at the moment , they would be voting for this ABC channel. The channel however proudly declares itself the clear viewership winner (for the 4th consecutive year).

Live debates shown are farces (The topics given to school children are more thought-provoking than the ones picked by news channels ) . When the host enters, you wonder if some gaffe (like a taxi-driver being interviewed instead of a celebrity) is going to happen. Soon you are shocked to realize that you mistook the interviewer for a potential taxi-driver. Then the panelists are invited. The panel would comprise a politician , a lyricist, a professor, a student, a filmmaker, a film actor, a TV actor etc. Together they would discuss a very relevant topic ( such as "Is Lord Krishna important in our lives?? " on the occasion of Janmashtmi ). The film actor says he is like the modern Krishna since he plays a lover boy in his latest film. The lyricist claims to have written many songs with "kanha" words. The politician would have constructed a Krishna temple. A part of the audience sends SMSs that are shown on the screen ( e.g. "I love you Lord Krishna" -meerabai , " I read Geeta everyday" - seeta devi, etc etc). And you watch and yawn because you have nothing better to do (the other news channel is conducting the debate "Are students becoming gundas ?" ).

However, not all is bleak and there are a few plus points too. For instance, the news channels had an important role to play recently in the rescue of the little boy Prince and his meetings with Sunny Deol etc. (the boy would have liked Shah Rukh Khan better). But then there are so many princes/princesses in India who need to be rescued as urgently. Perhaps, the news channels will have a better meaning if they venture into social activism. They could then advertise "News with a purpose". We would not miss the masala that is already in the menu on MTV etc .

No End To The Bludgeoning

Here comes another disaster contrived by the UPA government.. something that I believe should be a shock to all those citizens who have expressed optimism about the governement's intent behind reservation in elite institutions and its outcome. For us who have been piqued to such extent by only a few other things, this means another bout of angst and helplessness.

The Times Of India link

Such is the lure of votes and power that all political parties had come together clamoring in support of reservation earlier as if it were a universal boon. Not one politician came forward to talk against it. Navjot Singh Sidhdhu who was an exception, has my admiration now despite his Laughter Challenge antics. However, the bill making primary education a fundamental right is not going to be taken forward. The same politicians who until now had been claiming concern over the poverty-stricken undergraduate youth devoid of opportunities (majority of whom are supposed to from backward castes), have now washed their hands off this affair. When the poor children aren't encouraged and sponsored for the basic primary education , how do they intend to manufacture bright yet deprived poor youngsters at the 10+2 and graduate levels to benefit from their reservation policy? Is the luxury of getting a seat in a premier education institution with ease more important than the basic need of having primary education?

Perhaps it is useless to ask all these questions. Such acts of thoughtlessness and ulterior brutality are now seen as natural rather than outrageous. The government blatantly pleads the lack of adequate funds while they are ready to shell out many times the amount in question to increase seats and facilities in IITs and IIMs. That is to accommodate reservation claimants and prospective contributors to its vote bank. The so-called educationists are unwilling to let education reach all and sundry. And we, the silent watchers of this sham, continue to bury our heads in shame while the administrators continue to bury the future of the country.

For The Music-savvy Ghost

A few ghosts in a Gujarat village allegedly decided to haunt the villagers. The decision came after they unravelled the hidden invitation for them contained in Himesh Reshammiya's song "jhalak dikhla ja, ek baar aa ja aa ja " that was played on radio.

The Times of India link

The sinister song naturally was banned. I would have been pleased to have Reshammiya banned for any one of the following reasons:

1>Usurpation of the lyricist's space by having songs with only one/two words(s) dominating each....e.g. aa ja aa ja aa ja, aashiq banaya aashiq banaya aashique banaya, humko deewana humko deewana humko deewana, etc

2>Usurpation of the genuine singer's space and the actor's space obviously

3>Making songs with cheerful lyrics sound mournful

4>Causing interference with high-frequency electronic transmissions

But the ban on this particular song for spiritualistic reasons caused some trouble to my jugular veins and carotid arteries. This is despite the fact that the woman for whom the song was sung in the movie (Udita Goswamy) fell little short of portraying a real-life ghost. I find it difficult to believe that it has always been this easy to invoke ghosts.( As kids, my friends and I used to intrigue one another with learnt ideas involving pencils,candles and open books in this regard).

Apparently, the ghost of today is music-savvy and on the lookout for songs with words meaning "come" being sung. Since, I follow hindi music with more interest, I have decided to compile for the benefit of the ghosts, a list of songs that they might wish to mistake for invitations to them. The list will also be useful for those who wish to invite ghosts. Last but not the least, people who are interested in getting a few songs banned can also refer to this list (and therefore, will not ban my blog hopefully).

Here are some selected ghost-invitation songs:

1. jhalak dikhla ja, ek baar aa ja aa ja : invitation for the ghost to visit only once

2. aaja aaja main hun pyaar tera.. aa aa aaa aaja (the one picturized on shammi kapoor , asha parekh) : this is when you want to make the ghost mad and delirious as it comes

3. jaaiye aap kahan jayenge, phir nazar lout ke yahin aayegi : this doesn't have any word which means "come" but it is clearly a sweet respectful (note the word aap) threat to the ghost against going.

4. saaze dil chhedo na, aao na aaao na: for the musical kind of ghost

5. aaja saawariya , aa aa aa aa, taal se taal milao : this is for the ghost passionate about both music and dance

6. aa ja re, aa ja re o mere dilbar aa ja: this is most ideal for ghosts invoking ghosts

7. come to me , bhool jaye saara jahan: for the modern ghost well-trained in english.

8. aa re aa re aa re ..(Reshammiya's song in Chup Chup ke): this can also be used to drive the ghost wild with monotony as it comes

9. aa ja aai bahaar, dil hai bekarar: for open-air rendezvous with a ghost

10.aaiye aapka intezaar tha: for the unpunctual ghost!!!

I think we have enough varieties to suit the tastes of most of the people. Care must be taken to sing the songs fully..or else they could get misconstrued as open invitations.

Others who would not like to get disturbed by the visiting ghosts, may please try songs with words meaning "go". There has been no confirmation of whether the "go" works. So one can always make it to the news headlines if there are any results.

Plagued By Diversities

Sizeable populations of some 7 religions; 1600 dialects besides 22 official languages; several regions each with distinct culture and traditions ; and numerous castes and sub-castes. All of these huddled together form the tottering nation that India is. Quoting such statistics with aplomb might win an Indian candidate a world beauty pageant title. But are these a source of pride or the cause of a myriad grave problems that plague India ? What have we gained out of such diversities except that impression of a giant surviving despite having a million bleeding wounds? Would the absence of literature in a dozen languages and half-a-dozen mini-film industries have hurt too much when there would have been peace instead?

I have often wondered, how different a place would India have been had their been just one language, one culture, one religion, no castes and sensible people. Perhaps just like any other nation? There would not have been so many easy methods for us to divide and get divided, to exploit and get exploited. Corrupt politicians or terrorists (whoever you perceive as major threats to the country's well-being) flourish only because it is possible to take advantage of the bigoted attitude we have when it comes to these social variables. Fortunately the differences of castes and languages have not resulted in sanguinary riots. This is because unfortunately only religion gives us the drive and purpose to commit such offences.

Groupism is an abhorrent case when people cease to think or desire like individuals and instead try to assume the assumed qualities or responsibilities of a particular group they think they belong to. It is either some people thinking they are superior to some others and despising or competing with them. Or it is some people feeling despised, deprived and oppressed by some others and therefore, happy to have company amongst themselves. One would think it is the poor literacy rate that is responsible for the absence of goals of individual excellence and for the groupism to prevail. But I have sensed such feelings even amongst those called "the cream of the nation". If the highest education can't kill such narrow-mindedness , what can? And for governing such people, politicians who are supposed to encourage excellence at an individual level naturally resort to tactics that will help one group feel superior or not inferior to another. The stress here is on pulling back those in front rather than pushing the laggers ahead.

Recently there has been much hue and cry over the proposed reservations for the OBCs in IITs and IIMs increasing the seat reservation to 49% (some idiots on TV have talked about reservation infact being decreased to 51% for upper castes!!). Having finished my degree a couple of years before this disaster has been planned, I am not going to be directly affected. But my heart bleeds for that struggling student who would be the sufferer. The anti-reservation protests have made me happy about the youth of India willing to fight injustice. But I also wonder how many of these protestors would have refused to reap the benefits themselves had they been amongst the beneficiaries of this poisonous scheme intended to divide the society further. Most of them would not have complained. In that event, how just or unjust can any such act by politicians be called if the people themselves are clueless and blinded. The setup and our refusal to shrug it off are just as unjust.

Our claims to opportunities for individual advancement ought to be combined with a pledge of indifference to all these shackles and barriers. We have proved in recent history that we can do nothing constructive with them. If castes were for division of labour we have used them as a tool for despisal and abuse. If religions were to show us the path of God, we have used them as motives for violence and bloodshed. The coming August, we shall proudly celebrate yet another anniversary of Indian independence. Let us also be aware that the struggle of excellence for freedom from these shameful fetters paralysing the country is far from over.

Meter Down..Pleease

Human life involves a lot many inter-dependences and dependences several of which one would love to do without. My dependence on these auto-rickshaw drivers falls pretty much in this category. Normally I would ask a person I grudge to go to hell. But it doesn't happen so with this exalted class of people whom I curse more when they are not there than when they are there. Surprising as it may seem, but working for a company where automated incriminating mails are sent to managers if one arrives a moment later than 10 a.m., I have found myself gazing wistfully at even lorries passing by in the morning. It is almost an interview that I am subjected to every morning when I endeavor to seize an opportunity to get an auto-ride to my office. I have to explain in detail to the interviewer (whilst other prospective interviewers carrying prospective opportunities slip by) the destination, that i know the way to the destination, that there is a preferred path to the destination, that I everyday go to this destination, that there is a certain tolerable maximum fare that I would like to part with, etc etc. But unlike most interviews, rejection here is almost a cinch (so I recommend travelling on autos when you are going for some grisly interview..sort of prepares your for rejection ).About three hundred days spent in Bangalore and interactions with as many members of this esteemed class of the society (the ones entitled to rebuke their own customers) have given me great insight into the different sub-classes existent in this class.

There are a few auto-drivers who seem to be going somewhere and yet nowhere because they say no to any destination name that you propose to them. I have been inclined to ask them where actually they want to go instead of being asked where I want to go. Amongst them, there are some who add a personalized grimace and twitch to the 'no' as if to say "What a pauper! wants to go this close when I am ready to go to Chennai". But I will be unfair if I don't admit that I have had the fortune of polite refusals as well and even acceptance from one amongst say twenty.

There are some drivers who get genuinely offended if you know the way and you acting smart try to make them follow it. On such occasions ( for example if I ask the driver to take a left turn and not a right turn because the left leads to where I want to go), I have even been asked to get down and look for some other means. But then if saving time is what you want , it is better to close your eyes and be seated rather than getting down and starting the interview process all over again. But then there are also some who reluctantly follow my dictated directions while either complaining brazenly about what he would extract out of this deal if he doesn't take roundabout routes or rebuffing me in Kannada (some prefer Hindi too, the language I understand).

But the best part of the entire affair is the discussion over the fare (I guess somebody fixed a fare-meter into auto-rickshaws just to avoid the same). But the poeple of this class have a serious dislike for the fare-meter and your liking for it. I have always seen something written in bold letters inside autos about your calling the police if the driver demands extra fare. But I suppose, you can only intimidate kids using the police threats. The drivers are too grown up for that. So after showing the displeasure over the place you want to go to, the driver pretends to be making a sacrifice. Only that he would need anything between one and a half times to five times the actual fare. There are some who don't like this multiplication business and simply shock you with round figures like Rs.50 /Rs.100 for small distances. This figure goes up unimaginably in the event of rainfall, strikes or if you appear to be in a great need of transport.

The story doesn't end if you have persuaded an auto-driver to use the fare-meter (without multiplications). Triumphant as you might feel, but the meters can get as crooked as the drivers themselves. Despite following the same route everyday, I have noticed differences in the fare that are more significant than what can be introduced by just taking wider turns. So you never know if the fixed price deal or the meter deal would be inappropriate.

Yet even with all the follies and fuss, I cannot downplay the importance of the auto-rickshaw in my life. If I do not see many of the familiar black and yellow objects passing by, I get to know it is either me or my job that is not safe.