अचेत

गिरा करता है शोर क्षिपणी सा
आज भी इन कानो के पर्दों पर |
 होता है प्रहार आज भी
तन्हा, पृथक  से इस दिल पर | 
    हैं सोने को बेचैन ये आँखें
    पर जैसे चुरा ली गयी हो नींद |
    उठ नही पा रहे हैं ये पग
    सारी दुनिया है जिन कदमों पर |
भूल गया है मकसद अपना
पर दुनिया से अन्जान नही
है अचेत सा, अनभिज्ञ सा
पर खोया आत्मसम्मान नही |
   राह कठिन है, किंतु हठ कर
   तू आगाज़ से अंजाम तक चल |
   मंजिल तो मिलेगी ही कभी ना कभी
   बस मंजिल की पहचान तू  कर |

-- सिद्धार्थ 

शीर्षक समझ में नही आ रहा क्या लिखूँ

देख रहा हूँ उस अटल, अद्भुत

अहिंसा के पुजारी को|

देख रहा हूँ कलियुग में इस

नवयुग के सन्यासी को||

       देख रहा हूँ कैसे सारा

       भारतवर्ष आज एक है|

       देख रहा मैं अकल्पनीय

       इक नवनिर्माण की तैयारी को||

एक समय वह भी था देखा 

जब गजनी का आतंक था|

सहमी हुई सी थी सारी धरती

सबके आत्मसम्मान का वो अन्त था|

        मूक-दर्शक सा देख रहा हूँ,

        हजारों गजनियों को करते हुए राज़|

        हैरत हो रही थी कि अब तक

        क्यो ना उठी कोई आवाज||

सोच रहा था किंकर्तव्यविमूढ सा

कब होगा मेरे इस दुर्भाग्य का अन्त|

तभी संघर्ष का बिगुल बजाने

मुझसे आ मिला वो संत||

     गर्व है मुझे मुर्दो के बीच आज

     कोई तो जिन्दा रहता है,

     उस जगह जहाँ कोई मुझे देहली

     औ' कोई दिल्ली कहता है||

-- सिद्धार्थ

The blunder

It has been almost a month since the nation witnessed the so called “drama” involving the high profile Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev and the government of India. This incidence was followed by ameliorated acridness in all the remarks and comments issued by the government of India over the issue. Even the Lokpal Committee was not spared from its wrath and the so called ‘Team Anna’ was virtually threatened by people at prestigious positions. A few statements came from the HRD ministry that clearly reflected the attitude of the government towards common people and corruption.

It was said that the Parliament of India was above the members of the civil society and nowhere in the world is any civil society member ever connected with the drafting of a bill. It was also said that the powers given to a Lokpal, according to Anna’s draft, were such that it would be almost like running a parallel government. Much more was said, but we will focus on these two points for now.

As far as the first point is concerned, maybe it has never happened that any member of civil society has been a part of any bill drafting committee. But then why does India always have to follow some other country. Are we so lame that we can not take a decision of our own or is it the slavery of more than 200 years that makes our nerves shake before we take a decision. There is no answer to why a civil society activist can not be included in the panel as long as the bill was his own idea. He has more insight on what needs to be a part of the bill and how the bill can be prevented from any loopholes. The only reason for not including him in the panel as “it has not happened before” is not acceptable. Mahatma Gandhi was not a Member of Parliament but during the drafting of the constitution he was almost always consulted. But alas! There was no Kapil Sibbal to condemn that at that time.

As far as parallel governance is concerned, I am not sure why that should be a problem at all. If we think of it with a different point of view, we are actually under the governance of two different governments even as I speak. In fact, it is a result of fusion of two types of systems into one: the Parliamentary system and the Presidency system. Hence we are ruled by two state heads viz. the President and the Prime Minister. And the present scenario says that we have someone above The Prime Minister, better known as the madamji. And above all, is the almighty US which interferes in almost all the decisions taken by India. And of course the governance by the God can not be neglected. :P

So how the addition of one more governing body to our nation becomes a problem is still not understandable. In fact a parallel government looks like a good idea to me. Since the present government has failed in delivering results on many issues, it may be concluded that there is a lot of work to be done and the present coalition government is not capable enough to handle so many activities at one time. So, all the issues or the work that is supposed to be done by the government can be classified into two. The first part may contain all the regular work that a government is supposed to do. The second part may contain the issues that can not be solved in one term of government such as corruption, unemployment, black money etc. The second set of job should be handed to the Lokpal, independent of any influence, and answerable only to the Supreme Court. So this would be like two parallel governing authorities inspecting one another. And not only at the center, should the Lokpal have influence even on the grassroots level. It is by the eradication of small weeds that we clean the garden.

Just one question Mr. Sibbal. The Lokpal will not be an elected body. So how can it be compared to the parliament or the government at all? The basic requirement of a democratic government is that it should be elected and that is not the case for Lokpal. In fact the Lokpal is an independent investigating body and should be looked in line with CBI, the only difference being it won’t be answerable to the government.

Although the initiative has been taken, the attitude of the government shows that it will do its best to avoid any strict rule like the Lokpal that will hamper the achieving of their ultimate goal.

Terrorists and us

It’s not even a month since the terrorists attacked the economic heart of India and we, the sufferers, have begun to forget the incident. The celebrative spirit has overcome the fear and terror and all the promises that were made to us seem to have lost somewhere. Only a blur image of whatever has happened remains somewhere in mind of all, but no one seems to care about it anymore. And the bitter truth is that even I do not want to remember that incident anymore. This is how things have always been; may it be the attack on parliament or the half acquisition of Kashmir by our neighbor; we always forget the bad things and forgive those responsible for it. But whenever I think about this, I feel ashamed of myself. At that moment a question arises in my mind: do we have the right to forgive anyone? Are we just a bunch of cowards, acting brave by doing that? A great poet has said in Hindi that only those have the right to forgive who have the power to destroy. The question is: do we have the power to destroy?
Our neighbor responded to the terrorist attacks in a very diplomatic way. At first it seemed that they were actually not involved in all this. But they are showing their true colors now, first by denying the fact that the terrorists were not their aborigines and now saying that they will not hand over the most wanted terrorists to India. They had even made a statement that if needed they will send the ISI officers to India for further investigations. But as soon as the Pak army intervened, our dear neighbors even refused to accept the fact that they have even made a statement like that. And as someone truly said: our neighborhood is suffering from anarchy in the monarchy of its army.
And with LeT warning for beach party on new year and declaring Christmas as evil, and at the same time Taj rebuilding itself and preparing for the new year celebration, I can smell the blood which is yet to be shed and I can see the eyes which never sheds but only makes promises and increase their vote bank. But I still hope this event will bring some rage among our people and will help them build up a mentality of not forgetting whatever happens to them. But I can just hope..

Vande Mataram! A slogan, an emotion, a zeal, that led India to its freedom. Emerging from Bengal, from a book (Anand Math), it spread all over India, proving that India is one despite of its diversity. This slogan was often accompanied by a dress which included Gandhi Topi (or Nehru Topi). This dress can be seen even now: some politicians wear it. And some non-politicians wear them too: in Maharashtra. A symbol that represents a unified India can now be found in any street of Maharashtra and probably one in the streets of Maharashtra. But all at once something happened. Some political figures (I wonder if they really are political figures because their party has never won an election) have classified this state as something different from rest of the India: it’s now called The West India. And in this state only, people from other parts of India (now called North India) are treated as aliens. In a united India, the place which has most number of the people wearing its symbol, Gandhi Topi, has started distinguishing itself from others. Now a days, such a situation has been created that a so called North Indian feels unsecure while even stepping into the state. But those so called politicians have never given a thought to what all this is leading to. What is going happen is that the state of Maharashtra will be ostracized from this country and a time is soon to come when people from this state will feel an equal amount of insecurity while stepping out of their state. All this leading to social and economic instability and who knows, maybe to a civil war. I can see a state of chaos arriving and I can’t do anything to stop it. :(

Obama and Kashmir

The remark that came from Obama is quite surprising. I am not sure if it was just to attract the attention of people and increase the vote bank or if he really meant it. As this dispute is one of the oldest, nearly 61 years, a senate speaking on such an issue will always create noise. But since everyone was so sure that he only was going to be the forty-fourth president of US that I feel that there was no more need for him to attract attention. So did he really mean it?Let me give you an epitome of what he had to say about the issue. He said that he will try to resolve the dispute between India and Pakistan based on Kashmir so that Pakistan can focus more on fighting with Taliban and terrorism. A very valid point made. But let us stop for a moment and ask three very simple questions: Does Pakistan want the same? Does India want the same? Does Kashmir want the same?I know these questions look like somewhat stupid, but when I am referring to India and Pak, I am not implying common people but the leaders. If Pakistan could have wanted, this issue could have been resolved long before. After all, where are all the terrorist camps located? Even if Pak government tried to take some steps towards friendship with India, the Pak army, with an autonomous authority, was always a hindrance. Whatever aid it received from US to fight Taliban and terrorism, it used it against India. So was US helping Pakistan to spread terrorism? A question that Obama must think before taking any further steps to help Pakistan.But Pakistan was not the only culprit. If India has wished, this issue would never have aroused. Only if honorable Pt. Nehru would not have approached UN, the situations would have been different. A Kashmir with no LOC but a border would have made a lot of difference. But let bygones be bygones, what is India doing now? Every political party remembers this issue only when elections come. This has become a political issue, used to create vote bank. This is like if you can’t assure people anything that you are capable of, just pique a sense of discontent in them and become highlighted. Only if India shows the same attitude that China showed on Tibet issue, this issue can come to an end. But that will require lots of courage and will. And I can’t see anyone in current scenario that has an abundance of both. I think Obama’s eyes are sharper than that of mine and he must have recognized someone with that potential. And what about Kashmiries? It is about 61 years and India has not been able to provide peace in the valley. So it does not come as a surprise if the aborigines demand a separate state and complete freedom. But what Hurruyat has been unable to see that once Kashmir is separated from India, this will lead to instability and even more chaos both economically and politically. Instead of separationism, they should cooperate with India to help them and fight the current crisis. Many Kashmiries in the valley and outside the valley have supported Obama’s and welcomed his intervention is this matter. I would only say that “Dear Obama. First watch out your home, fight the financial crisis and if after that you still don’t get enough enervation, come to us. You are most welcome.

A movie. A book. A movie based on a book. Ya right. The book is ‘One night a call center.’ The movie is ‘Hello’. (What else did u expected form me!!)? And one good dialogue in the movie (that’s the only one thing good though.) “Bore wo hote hain jo bore hote hain!” A very beautifully put truth, that we come across in real life. I see many people who enjoy almost everything that they get in life. May it be good or bad. They like to enjoy every moment. At the same time I have also seen people who are never happy. You give them good, they demand for better. This phenomenon is a good practice as one should never be satisfied with oneself, but this is done in such a way that it irritates others. And that is what we call bore. I personally feel that one should avoid being a bore and one should realize when others are getting bored with them. I hope those people read this soon!