Sunday, November 30, 2008

Reaction to reactions on mumbai terror attack

30/11/2008
Just about an hour back I was viewing the later part of probably 'we, the people' on NDTV 24*7 being conducted by Barkha Dutt. Dignitaries and common people were participating and in between a spokesperson of the ruling party was also plugged in. People were venting their frustrations, suggesting solutions which would loose all significance even before the day was over as has been happening with such programmes day in and day out. I doubt if, though well meaning efforts, these have served any purpose other than time pass for persons like me and running of and earning for the channels and intellectuals and morons employed by them. Anyway, this is not the point. A peculiar thing happened. While the usual talk of cursing politicians and resolve to act unitedly to fight terrorism despite politicians and so on was going on, there was a verbal fight among the participants on the set there and then, that too with religious overtones.
That is what we are, we the Indians. Good for nothing. We keep on blaming politicians all the time forgetting they have not come from moon and they can not be where they are out of their sweet will. We have elected them through a proud democratic system for them to be where they are. Why do we forget simple things like one gets the government one deserves? Where was our anger when a prime minister appeared on TV channels not long ago flaunting 'V' sign with his fingers and then winning vote of trust through infamous 'vote for cash' scam. The whole media hailed him and his victory. No one afterwards bothered as to what happened to that scam. Even a fool like me could see that whole exercise was to ensure nuclear deal with USA. And one has to be very very naive to think that it all was meant to light the houses of Kalawatis. What was at stake was trade of billion of billion dollars in nuclear fuel for USA and resulting kickbacks for the powerful ones, be it politicians or be it bureaucrats in both the countries. It was really so simple but made to look so complicated by my enlightened countrymen. Where then was the anger of the masses or the intellectuals or the media? Where was their anger when cabinet ministers openly came in support of an organisation whose complicity in terror blasts killing scores of innocent countrymen had been established by the investigating agencies?
I couldn't believe when day before I saw thousands of people and the media again hailing killing of terrorists as a great victory. Have we lost sense of victory? Ten misguided and exploited young boys cornered by hundreds of trained commandos, could there be any other outcome for them. The devastation they could inflict was their success and whether we like it or not, our failure. Why should even a single tax paying citizen loose life the way thousands have lost during the year? And just now I see another newsitem that the President of ruling party has told them not to sit back any longer, when they are at the fag end of their tenure. Could there be anything more laughable? So their sitting back so long and doing nothing was in order.
We need to have a lot of introspection, create and develope leadership other than traditional political parties or to continue to suffer as we have been.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

25/09/2008

“ April 8,2003

So the latest volume of my spiritual recordings begins on this new kind of diary. What is it that has compelled me to repeat what I think I have stressed all along?
I feel I am the centre of the whole universe. What are all the events of the past and present worth except that I feel cognisant of them and am affected or influenced by them. My past flashes before me in strong kaleidoscopic images. The memories of Dickensian childhood and youth clash with the romantic visions of my amorous experiences that have become the very stuff of life for me. How do I pass through alternate experiences- sometimes living the past totally and at others being able to look at it in the manner of a disinterested observer analysing the thoughts and feelings of some other person.
The world-view has become radically different from what it used to be. It seems the Darwinian law of struggle for existence and survival of the fittest is the ultimate and final one and compassion, pity, recognition of the rights of others are concepts that are merely tolerated as a symbol of our advancement towards civilisation. It seems to me that there is never a conflict between justice and justice- it is always one between justice and injustice or one injustice against another. This is the conflict that rages eternally in the human soul and war is a large scale manifestation of it.
How glibly do we pass from professing high moral ideals to the mundane task of doing all we can to protect and promote our self interest? With the bard I feel compelled to exclaim “ What a piece of work is man?” ”
Above is the last scribbling of a 77 years old man, who died about a fortnight after. He was a non-entity, an unknown person among the seven billion of the species. A teacher all his life, a retired Principal of a college, without any provision of pension for sustenance in old age, the scribbler was my father, Late Sh. Om Prakash Mital. I mention about pension as it was a subject he passionately felt was unfair, needed to be addressed by society, as his many letters to 'The Statesman', his must newspaper, would bear testimony to. Today, on this day of Shradh, I pay my tributes to that great soul, my dear father and my forefathers and start this new journey.