Today was an important day in my life. I voted for the first time. It was an awesome experience. For the first time in my blog I am going to write only about my personal experience and my thoughts about it.
Today morning I woke up at around 7.45. I had actually planned to wake up and go vote at 7 in the morning. But I slept late. Ok, its better I start from yesterday night. After coming from office at 10 in the night. I checked out Election commission's various websites, jagore.com and many other sites to find my polling booth and also the details of my candidates here. I could not find my polling booth, but in Maharashtra CEO's website I found information of my candidates. There were only 3 working links (each on a candidate of my constituency) of the 8 provided , of which all the working links were scanned copies of their application and 2 where in English and the other in Marathi. EC could not take the pain of getting the transcribed to soft copies or even post multiple Language versions of the applications. So I hit the sack at 1 in the night, not even a little bit more educated about the candidates.
In the morning as soon as I got up at 7.45 I just brushed and decided that the first thing I am gonna do is vote. As I was locking the door, I was thinking of 49-0 as I can't decide who is best for my constituency. I just know that the BJP guy is a semi builder (and Mulund is a gold mine for real estate business). The MNS wants people like me out of here and I dunno anything about the congress candidate other than he is an Advocate. I don't even know his name (Congress campaign was literally 0 out here). kewl!
So, now the mission was to find my polling booth. I first went to the nearest polling booth, who redirected me to my actual one. In-front of the booth I tried to find if my name was in the list with two parties who had set up stalls there. Nobody could find me in their electoral roll. Then one of the ladies there suggested me to go in and she was sure the electoral officers will find my name in the list. So after wasting almost an hour I went to the polling booth. There right near the entrance gate there was a huge crowd around a table. I thought that this was the official electoral table to find you booth and number, but before I could enquire somebody redirected me to the polling room.
Now this is where the fun starts. I went in, nobody was there ahead of me, my number was found in less that 2 seconds (Actually I noticed it on the list first). Now my name was called out aloud. All the representatives of various parties ticked my name in their list. Now, I declared 'I want No Vote'. There was sudden silence. Everybody started staring at each other. Nobody first understood. Then I said ' I want no vote as per 49-0 rule'(of course, in Hindi). Then the lady who called out my name said 'oh Ok' and said to the presiding officer that mine is a no vote. Now the problem was that nobody has come across anybody who wanted to cast a no vote. My name was put on register and remarked no vote. I was asked to sign.
Then the presiding officer asked me to wait there for a minute. People started coming in, all staring at me as if I just came out of zoo. All the party guyz were staring at me with those wryly smiles and that expression saying, if the cops were not here, you would have been dead meat.
I also smiled back in my typical 'I just f****** you' style. Then the presiding office checked all the documents he had, and since he could not find anything he called up his boss and asked "what's to be done if somebody wants to vote 49-0'? He was told that signing in the register is enough. Another lady , an electoral officer also crossed checked in their records and said that's enough. (Actually I had found this information on EC's website yesterday night on a 100 page pdf file). The officer said to me that I am free to go(by now it was 5 minutes since I had signed the register), I thanked him, shook hands and walked out. For the first time, I felt proud of myself after a good number of years. Borrowing words from Mrs. Obama . I am for the first time in my adult life proud of my country. Proud of my country because, how ever worse the condition is there is scope for improvement and that it can be done.
But, one point I would like to make is, what about the victimisation of such voters. One party member each of n number of parties was there, what if I am attacked or some kind of revenge is taken? I am not afraid, I am mentally prepared for any such thing. But, is that a reason for deterring people from going to vote and not asking for 49-0 even if they want to? We need to think. Also, is it not illegal to reveal my vote , even a 'No Vote' is a vote. So I have to reveal my vote at the polling booth? Is that not contradictory?
But, I am proud that I did the right thing for my constituency. I know, this does not change anything in today's election. But I am hopeful that in the long run it will. How? I have done 49-0 no vote. Till now we knew that only from forwards and orkut scraps. Well, here is the real proof. It is there. If you feel that there are no right candidates in your constituency, then use this weapon. Not for you, but for others.
(PS: two things, 1. I could not find any document on candidates being disqualified if majority votes are 49-0. 2. My criteria set for a good candidate was just three things. a. educated b.bipartisan and no criminal records c. who has managed to run a proper campaign - nobody was good enough).
We need to make an educated choice for this country and spread awareness. That's what we can do, to repay the martyrs of this great Nation.
VOTE FOR INDIA, VOTE FOR OTHERS.
VOTE IS NOT A RIGHT, VOTE IS A DUTY.
MUMBAI 26/11/2008 , Lets be prepared. Lets choose the right leaders.
JAI HIND
Showing posts with label mumbai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mumbai. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
BJP Vs Congress
So another week is gone. Today we had the first phase of elections. Its great news that we had 60% voter turnout. The bad news is the Maoist attack on some polling booths. Its regrettable that we could not stop it. But such incidents are expected, considering the number of antisocial elements in the country. I should salute all the polling officials and the security personnel who are ensuring a smooth election. They are the real keepers of this democracy. Even the EC, which has come under severe criticism(including me) deserves due credit for the efforts it is putting in. But we have a long way to go, 4 more sessions. All the Best & Thanks to all of you guyz.
Well, Politics is really high steam right now and there are some nasty comments on the air. First of all, Security. I still believe that Congress is weaker than BJP when it comes to national security. I don't think congress has the balls to protect this country, especially with there vote bank pseudo secular agenda. Well the nastiest of the comments has been made by congress too, when it comes to national security. They are implicating the BJP for releasing terrorist when AI plane was hijacked to Kandhahar. I think they are being unfair to the BJP. Any Indian government would have done that to save its citizens. Congress would have done it even faster. I personally don't agree with releasing terrorists, but any govt would have done that. The congress comment that they had instead killed the 10 terrorists in Mumbai. Let me ask, "Mumbai is inside India. You did not ensure that they never entered, where as neither Nepal nor Afghanistan is inside India. Also You killed 10 terrorists after they killed 168. It took 3 days to clean 10 guyz from our own city. You could not even raise a finger against Pakistan. Your home minister changed suit three times, your PM could not even console us forget inspire. What happened to the other dozen blasts? Have u been able to arrest even one of those bombers?" National Security, i believe BJP would do better. The provocative action after the parliament attack was a clear example to this. where as the PM could not even inspire us, or console us after the mumbai attacks. If there is one more attack and if i survive, i want a PM who can at least give me hope of another day. Though I am not confident Advani will be able to do that, but i am sure he will be better than Dr.Singh.
But when it comes to economics, I think congress is way ahead. I really don't think BJP is even in the same league. Congress not only has really good economists, but also a good strategy till now. Though they have committed blunders and even politically motivated moves, still they have been better that BJP. So for finance my vote goes to the Congress.
Education is another major factor, where neither the congress nor the BJP has been able to impress me. I personally feel that both of them try to push their ideologies. Having done education from a communist state i actually think Communist is better. But with them will come more politicizations of campus. So i will not choose anybody. (SP guyz- if u are ready to ban education and not just English may be i will think of voting for u. lol)
Industries - Again, I think congress has done better than BJP here. But with somebody like modi in the ranks i think BJP is catching up very quickly in this front.
Agriculture - No vote. absolutely no vote. Other than declaring perks and giving free bees no government or party has really made an attempt to solve the problems in this front. Actually, the response of our political fraternity to this field proves that our political and overall administrative system is reactive and not proactive. This sadly, has been inherited from our colonial masters. They had this kind of system because they were not answerable to the people they were ruling, also we were just instruments for profit for them. This interpretation of how the system works has to change, and this has to start from the agricultural sector.
Corruption- All the parties are in the same boat here. But still i would rather go for the BJP, because congress has a notorious ability to infiltrate the not yet infiltrated government institutions. Starting from EC to the President's office are clear examples. What are the credentials of Pratiba Patil to be Indian President? Gifted a shawl to congress president? The so called Hindu Nationalist Party the BJP put A. P. J. Abdul Kalam a Muslim on the president's seat. My vote is for BJP here.
Youth- I would rather go for the congress here. They have been able to push some young blood in like Rahul Gandhi, Milind Deora, Jothiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot etc. But the common thing among all these guys is that they are all belonging to political dynasties. But BJP looses the plot here miserably, calling Arun Jaitley and Narendra Modi young. Arun would be close to retirement if he was in a govt service and Modi would have already retired. They are not young. Of course they are young if you compare to Vajpayee and Advani. But they are not the bench mark. So here i vote for Congress.
I am not considering any other party here because, no other party can form government. Neither does any other party have the resource to run such a huge and fast moving nation. Any one of these parties has to be in the govt. If not, the people who ask now "What can be worse?" would be saying "Oh! it can be worse". If not these two parties, then the communist should be the largest party in the coilation that forms the govt. That would at least have some intellectuals to run the country, though it would be like a car moving in reverse gear on the main road, that too on the wrong side.
Well, Politics is really high steam right now and there are some nasty comments on the air. First of all, Security. I still believe that Congress is weaker than BJP when it comes to national security. I don't think congress has the balls to protect this country, especially with there vote bank pseudo secular agenda. Well the nastiest of the comments has been made by congress too, when it comes to national security. They are implicating the BJP for releasing terrorist when AI plane was hijacked to Kandhahar. I think they are being unfair to the BJP. Any Indian government would have done that to save its citizens. Congress would have done it even faster. I personally don't agree with releasing terrorists, but any govt would have done that. The congress comment that they had instead killed the 10 terrorists in Mumbai. Let me ask, "Mumbai is inside India. You did not ensure that they never entered, where as neither Nepal nor Afghanistan is inside India. Also You killed 10 terrorists after they killed 168. It took 3 days to clean 10 guyz from our own city. You could not even raise a finger against Pakistan. Your home minister changed suit three times, your PM could not even console us forget inspire. What happened to the other dozen blasts? Have u been able to arrest even one of those bombers?" National Security, i believe BJP would do better. The provocative action after the parliament attack was a clear example to this. where as the PM could not even inspire us, or console us after the mumbai attacks. If there is one more attack and if i survive, i want a PM who can at least give me hope of another day. Though I am not confident Advani will be able to do that, but i am sure he will be better than Dr.Singh.
But when it comes to economics, I think congress is way ahead. I really don't think BJP is even in the same league. Congress not only has really good economists, but also a good strategy till now. Though they have committed blunders and even politically motivated moves, still they have been better that BJP. So for finance my vote goes to the Congress.
Education is another major factor, where neither the congress nor the BJP has been able to impress me. I personally feel that both of them try to push their ideologies. Having done education from a communist state i actually think Communist is better. But with them will come more politicizations of campus. So i will not choose anybody. (SP guyz- if u are ready to ban education and not just English may be i will think of voting for u. lol)
Industries - Again, I think congress has done better than BJP here. But with somebody like modi in the ranks i think BJP is catching up very quickly in this front.
Agriculture - No vote. absolutely no vote. Other than declaring perks and giving free bees no government or party has really made an attempt to solve the problems in this front. Actually, the response of our political fraternity to this field proves that our political and overall administrative system is reactive and not proactive. This sadly, has been inherited from our colonial masters. They had this kind of system because they were not answerable to the people they were ruling, also we were just instruments for profit for them. This interpretation of how the system works has to change, and this has to start from the agricultural sector.
Corruption- All the parties are in the same boat here. But still i would rather go for the BJP, because congress has a notorious ability to infiltrate the not yet infiltrated government institutions. Starting from EC to the President's office are clear examples. What are the credentials of Pratiba Patil to be Indian President? Gifted a shawl to congress president? The so called Hindu Nationalist Party the BJP put A. P. J. Abdul Kalam a Muslim on the president's seat. My vote is for BJP here.
Youth- I would rather go for the congress here. They have been able to push some young blood in like Rahul Gandhi, Milind Deora, Jothiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot etc. But the common thing among all these guys is that they are all belonging to political dynasties. But BJP looses the plot here miserably, calling Arun Jaitley and Narendra Modi young. Arun would be close to retirement if he was in a govt service and Modi would have already retired. They are not young. Of course they are young if you compare to Vajpayee and Advani. But they are not the bench mark. So here i vote for Congress.
I am not considering any other party here because, no other party can form government. Neither does any other party have the resource to run such a huge and fast moving nation. Any one of these parties has to be in the govt. If not, the people who ask now "What can be worse?" would be saying "Oh! it can be worse". If not these two parties, then the communist should be the largest party in the coilation that forms the govt. That would at least have some intellectuals to run the country, though it would be like a car moving in reverse gear on the main road, that too on the wrong side.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
The celeb talks
Hi guyz,
I know i missed this week's Sunday deadline. It was not that i forgot, just that i couldn't find time to take off work. I know, some of you must have been thinking not even 15 mins off?. Well let me say i have been writing this for some time. Only now i could complete.
Let me start of with a few bashing. The Antulay comments was uncalled for, especially at the floor of the Parliament. It has no doubt affected adversely the Indian case on the international level. If he had doubts, he is a minister he could have asked the PM privately for an investigation. Secondly, this is more of a vote bank politics. The good thing about this comment is that now the smaller parties has lost the game to the Congress , BJP and communists. Why? Now every fundamental or close to fundamental Muslim will vote for Congress and the fundamental and close to fundamental Hindu will vote for BJP. The bad thing is about, this has split again the country on communal lines and now this 26/11 Mumbai attacks are turning out to be Hindu Muslim thought process. The govt does not want to loose the next election so they wont strike on Antulay. BJP and communist are not gonna let this go as they want to win more votes.
BTW, I just saw the TIME Magazines most memorable photos of the year and was very sad not to find even one pic of the mumbai attacks. Its a shame that TIME fails to see th pain of Mumbai and the problem of Indians. It would have helped India to convince a greater number of people on the issue.
Anyway let me come to this weeks topic. All the celebs are saying this and that. But the truth is there is no action. Amir khan has said in his blog and in the CNN_IBN interview that the youth of this country should come forward but he does not see himself as a politician. ie. You guyz go ahead and do something. I will come to the talk shows and encourage and there by not lock horns with the politicos. Shah Rukh Khan has also said something similar. I think if Sharukh and Amir had show some example than talk in front of camera in an a/c room it would have helped a lot.
Why blame the actors, where are the corporates? What are they doing. Lot of them said lot of things. Where are they now. They are still bribing the politicos and the bureaucracy.
In short everybody wants a bit of the air time, But nobody wants to do anything. I made a call for a political party in one of my previous blog. I am ready to start/join one. There are one or two parties that have started. One is "Yuva satta". Thats for the youth. what about the older generation? and the kiddos? Another is PPI. not People's party of India" but "Professionals Party of India". Now let me be clear. We need an all inclusive party A party that is secular by not taking about religion. A party that does not give a dam about creed, sex profession or age.
I posted on Mulund(E) community that we should all get together plan a protest and send the message clear to all local parties that they better get their acts together . Number of replies I got, is 7. All were, 49-0s or "tell me the place and time". Damn, Why don't you tell me the place and time mates?
every body is a celeb in his own right and everybody wants his air time. But nobody is ready to come forward and doing the dirty work. Just one message . If not today then tomorrow, if not you then your children have to clean this gutter up. It better we do it before it gets more dirty.
remember what i said in one of my first posts
"Dont Look for the change, Be the change"
I know i missed this week's Sunday deadline. It was not that i forgot, just that i couldn't find time to take off work. I know, some of you must have been thinking not even 15 mins off?. Well let me say i have been writing this for some time. Only now i could complete.
Let me start of with a few bashing. The Antulay comments was uncalled for, especially at the floor of the Parliament. It has no doubt affected adversely the Indian case on the international level. If he had doubts, he is a minister he could have asked the PM privately for an investigation. Secondly, this is more of a vote bank politics. The good thing about this comment is that now the smaller parties has lost the game to the Congress , BJP and communists. Why? Now every fundamental or close to fundamental Muslim will vote for Congress and the fundamental and close to fundamental Hindu will vote for BJP. The bad thing is about, this has split again the country on communal lines and now this 26/11 Mumbai attacks are turning out to be Hindu Muslim thought process. The govt does not want to loose the next election so they wont strike on Antulay. BJP and communist are not gonna let this go as they want to win more votes.
BTW, I just saw the TIME Magazines most memorable photos of the year and was very sad not to find even one pic of the mumbai attacks. Its a shame that TIME fails to see th pain of Mumbai and the problem of Indians. It would have helped India to convince a greater number of people on the issue.
Anyway let me come to this weeks topic. All the celebs are saying this and that. But the truth is there is no action. Amir khan has said in his blog and in the CNN_IBN interview that the youth of this country should come forward but he does not see himself as a politician. ie. You guyz go ahead and do something. I will come to the talk shows and encourage and there by not lock horns with the politicos. Shah Rukh Khan has also said something similar. I think if Sharukh and Amir had show some example than talk in front of camera in an a/c room it would have helped a lot.
Why blame the actors, where are the corporates? What are they doing. Lot of them said lot of things. Where are they now. They are still bribing the politicos and the bureaucracy.
In short everybody wants a bit of the air time, But nobody wants to do anything. I made a call for a political party in one of my previous blog. I am ready to start/join one. There are one or two parties that have started. One is "Yuva satta". Thats for the youth. what about the older generation? and the kiddos? Another is PPI. not People's party of India" but "Professionals Party of India". Now let me be clear. We need an all inclusive party A party that is secular by not taking about religion. A party that does not give a dam about creed, sex profession or age.
I posted on Mulund(E) community that we should all get together plan a protest and send the message clear to all local parties that they better get their acts together . Number of replies I got, is 7. All were, 49-0s or "tell me the place and time". Damn, Why don't you tell me the place and time mates?
every body is a celeb in his own right and everybody wants his air time. But nobody is ready to come forward and doing the dirty work. Just one message . If not today then tomorrow, if not you then your children have to clean this gutter up. It better we do it before it gets more dirty.
remember what i said in one of my first posts
"Dont Look for the change, Be the change"
Friday, December 5, 2008
Mumbai Carnage (Defining a new political order)
So, the mumbai investigation has started going murky with all the allegations and counter allegations. Wat else did u expect? Congress fought over a week to decide the new CM. Now its a open revolt. The new CM's first words "There was not pressure on MLAs to support me".... i was just for a second expecting him to rather say "Mumbai has been a lesson, we will not make anymore mistakes". Foolish me!Shiv Sena has asked for presidents rule in Maharashtra, why not . The president is a maharashtrian. So they are not actually going away from mumbai for marathi policy. Very well.
Anyways no bashing and no blaming them. They are trying to survive and we are too. But our survival is different. We are trying to survive as a nation. So Let me get to the topic of this Post. A New Political Order. We all by now are clear that the current political order ( i mean all the parties together) cannot or more correctly 'will not' save us. We are gonna fend for ourself. I want every citizen to consider the anger on this fraternity we have had for years and consider that Mumbai 26/11/2008 is just an immediate cause for the action. And wats the action?? I say lets start a political party.
OUR NEW PARTY
By now 1/3rd of the readers have closed this browser, 1/3rd is lauging and the other 1/3rd is shaking their head(either with support or thinking 'this will never work'). Anyway, For all these groups let me say. We can work and more importantly we have a common enemy. The political order. We must work together.
Why do we need a political party? You know the behavior of a lion. It will toil or fight only if it is challenged in its pride land. Our politicians are the same. There is not doubt that they are capable. The problem is that they are not channelized. So if we can be successful party either we can put these guys out and make a change or give them a strong run for their money and make them really work some good for the people. Anyhow it will be in the interest of the people.
What should the party do? There are a few immediate things that the party should do. First, remove the caste based partisan system in the Indian govt system.As long as it is there the politicians are gonna go back to the vote bank politics, Second, right to call back elected representatives.
Third, separate security from law and order and make it a subject matter of the union while maintaining law and order as subject of state. Fourth, have a regulatory authority for agriculture and agricultural products like the TRAI or RBI for telecom and finance. A politics independent authority that can take issued based decisions when it comes to agriculture.
Finally, a unified controller for security and intelligence forces. Who will have rights to ask questions and give orders to all internal security forces and civilian intelligence agencies. RAW and The Defense Forces must be kept out of their command but should be asked to communicate with any and every other organization through this authority, This will help in keeping track of information passed, action taken and pinning responsibility.
Many will look at the party idea sceptically, but it can work. If every middle class family in this country comes out to donate 50/- to this organization we can fight any party head on and the corporate houses will then be forced to back it.
But the problem is we should not allow many parties to crop up. It will again fracture and join with the political order. There should be only one party.
And one important thing, in India for a party to be acceptable across the nation it should have a sensational issue backing it. eg:, Congress uses the name of the congress party that was dismantled after the independence movement. It therefore enjoys the support for the original congress especially since its initial members were mostly members of the original one. Then we have the BJP which came to the fore after the Babri Masjid issue(today is its anniversary, and i am sad of the pain that has been inflicted on my Muslim brethren irrespective of whether ram was born there or not. If Ram was alive, he would have happily had a mosque in turn for the peace that would have prevailed in this country.)
These are the only two parties that we can call national others are just there in pockets. Th mumbai is one that is sensational and one that all people are hurt about. This can unite and garner support.
Finally, everybody says "i am in, tell me the time and place". Don't say that. You say the time and place. Don't look for the change, Be the Change.
I tried to start a small rally in my locality by posting in its orkut community. I got three responses in three days. No more replies. How many more such assaults can we forgive and forget. I mailed about this blog to more than 100 ppl. I am sure not more than 30 have read it. Why look at friends, I have around 15 cousins, only one replied, I have not been able to talk about the situation to more than two. This is first time in my life i am being proactive for my nation. For the first time i am resolved.
I DON'T WANT MY CHANGE, I WILL BE MY CHANGE.
with words of Robert Frost, the most suited for this situation let me leave you . I will be back at least on next Sunday if no sooner.
"Woods are Lovely Dark and Deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep "
(I have had some good responses also, some have requested for specific topics. Will be writing on them very soon)
(Plz forgive my mistakes with spelling and grammar, was never good with them)
Anyways no bashing and no blaming them. They are trying to survive and we are too. But our survival is different. We are trying to survive as a nation. So Let me get to the topic of this Post. A New Political Order. We all by now are clear that the current political order ( i mean all the parties together) cannot or more correctly 'will not' save us. We are gonna fend for ourself. I want every citizen to consider the anger on this fraternity we have had for years and consider that Mumbai 26/11/2008 is just an immediate cause for the action. And wats the action?? I say lets start a political party.
OUR NEW PARTY
By now 1/3rd of the readers have closed this browser, 1/3rd is lauging and the other 1/3rd is shaking their head(either with support or thinking 'this will never work'). Anyway, For all these groups let me say. We can work and more importantly we have a common enemy. The political order. We must work together.
Why do we need a political party? You know the behavior of a lion. It will toil or fight only if it is challenged in its pride land. Our politicians are the same. There is not doubt that they are capable. The problem is that they are not channelized. So if we can be successful party either we can put these guys out and make a change or give them a strong run for their money and make them really work some good for the people. Anyhow it will be in the interest of the people.
What should the party do? There are a few immediate things that the party should do. First, remove the caste based partisan system in the Indian govt system.As long as it is there the politicians are gonna go back to the vote bank politics, Second, right to call back elected representatives.
Third, separate security from law and order and make it a subject matter of the union while maintaining law and order as subject of state. Fourth, have a regulatory authority for agriculture and agricultural products like the TRAI or RBI for telecom and finance. A politics independent authority that can take issued based decisions when it comes to agriculture.
Finally, a unified controller for security and intelligence forces. Who will have rights to ask questions and give orders to all internal security forces and civilian intelligence agencies. RAW and The Defense Forces must be kept out of their command but should be asked to communicate with any and every other organization through this authority, This will help in keeping track of information passed, action taken and pinning responsibility.
Many will look at the party idea sceptically, but it can work. If every middle class family in this country comes out to donate 50/- to this organization we can fight any party head on and the corporate houses will then be forced to back it.
But the problem is we should not allow many parties to crop up. It will again fracture and join with the political order. There should be only one party.
And one important thing, in India for a party to be acceptable across the nation it should have a sensational issue backing it. eg:, Congress uses the name of the congress party that was dismantled after the independence movement. It therefore enjoys the support for the original congress especially since its initial members were mostly members of the original one. Then we have the BJP which came to the fore after the Babri Masjid issue(today is its anniversary, and i am sad of the pain that has been inflicted on my Muslim brethren irrespective of whether ram was born there or not. If Ram was alive, he would have happily had a mosque in turn for the peace that would have prevailed in this country.)
These are the only two parties that we can call national others are just there in pockets. Th mumbai is one that is sensational and one that all people are hurt about. This can unite and garner support.
Finally, everybody says "i am in, tell me the time and place". Don't say that. You say the time and place. Don't look for the change, Be the Change.
I tried to start a small rally in my locality by posting in its orkut community. I got three responses in three days. No more replies. How many more such assaults can we forgive and forget. I mailed about this blog to more than 100 ppl. I am sure not more than 30 have read it. Why look at friends, I have around 15 cousins, only one replied, I have not been able to talk about the situation to more than two. This is first time in my life i am being proactive for my nation. For the first time i am resolved.
I DON'T WANT MY CHANGE, I WILL BE MY CHANGE.
with words of Robert Frost, the most suited for this situation let me leave you . I will be back at least on next Sunday if no sooner.
"Woods are Lovely Dark and Deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep "
(I have had some good responses also, some have requested for specific topics. Will be writing on them very soon)
(Plz forgive my mistakes with spelling and grammar, was never good with them)
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Mumbai Carnage (Part 2)
Well Well, am back, a little bit cooler after all that politico and media bashing. Let me not get into that anymore though kerala CM and other politicos deserve some more. Straight to the point.... Where do we go from here? What do we do now on?
We all have been crying from last Thursday night against the politicos. Will change of heads be enough? What policy changes do we expect? Which party is gonna help us out of this? Do we as citizens have a role to play? What abt the media? and most importantly... are u ready to sacrifice some freedom for more security. Before i get to these stuff let me put to rest the most hot topic discussed these days every where. "Are we gonna hit Pakistan"?
That is an non existent option for me and i don't think any govt for that reason would be foolish to risk that or for our bureaucrats allow that. Why? simple. We all know there are hundreds of sleeper cells in India maintained by the ISI. Do u think they will sleep when India and Pak are at war... The enemy will bleed us from inside. Also the naxals, the terrorists in the North East and most importantly the chinese who claim Sikkim, Arunachal and wat not will not sit quite.... every damn opponent will try to strengthen their position. We 'll loose the war not from outside But from inside.
Secondly, how long can we sustain a war when the world is at financial crisis? Do u think US will really back us when they want the pak army at the afghan border. Neither is Russia as close as it was to us earlier to help us keep the Chinese out of the chess board. Even if we get a truce with the other terror groups inside India what garuntee that they will honor it? Lets be very clear ...... we are cornered..... We can't go and start hitting around...
So wat do we do now? We need Change.. and not in one front
1) Political - either the mentality of the politicos must change or we the people should push them out. We need rules and regulations for who can be a minister and who cannot (would a 10 std pass be recruited as s/w engg?).. he must be some where close to understanding the system. This is the rite time for a CITIZEN MOVEMENT.
2) Media- They should be more responsible. Follow stuff, not let things slip out of memory..... Media has proved its metal by doing this... Priydarsini Matoo, Nitish Katara cases are apt examples. And must play a constructive role via reports and editorials. Must inspire the citizens.
3) Security forces - Should be better equipped, should create specific forces for specific tasks (no more NSG as black cats), Restructuring of intelligence teams, more importance to ground level intelligence. Better use of Technology ....we have the supposedly 3rd largest pool of professionals and still our armed forces have to shout and signal orders.... We should make better use of softwares and hardwares. If we had used softwares and hardwares that can identify people in rooms from outside the army could have much more easily saved ppl earlier. Or they could have relayed info amng various teams inside the hotel. I sometimes feel that the defense forces of India some how are averse to computers. look at the vacancies for IT/Computer engineers. And lets pay them more money damn it!
4) System - There must be a process in the Indian system. If a intelligence input is made there must be a system to track and update. Not just intelligence, whether it be planning, new projects, initiatives. we need smtng at least like a project traq in Indian governing system
5)Corporates - The Tatas, Birlas and Reliances and the big corporate houses need to stop accusing the govt. They have a role to play here. Why cant we have a system where if a software company gives free software for security or govt the govt not give them tax perks or free land in return... rather than paying real money? Why cant instead of the corporates making donations in cash...donate in kind like a hardware company come up with security devices, textile company with clothing (fcrse let them have their name as a logo...no ads plz... i dnt want my army advertising ).
6) Citizens - We have a a much greater role. We should be ready to give up our freedom for more safety. Ready to be frisked every now and then. Have a social security number. Lets not just demand more but do more. One immediate thing that we need to do is not to vote for wrong guyz. If all ur candidates are wrong just dont vote (i think there is smtng called 49-0 or No Vote...will check and blog on that). lesser or greater the devil is he is a devil at the end of the day. We say youth should act, but we are the youth, we should not say but act. Why not a political party to counter all the devils... to clean the system lets get to the system. I am ready for it. And this blog is part of such a campaign.
The great martyrs who gave their life don't need your condolences or need you to attend their cremations. They need your action. By action i don't mean going out on a protest rally, blaming the politicos or anything. What i mean is that we have to work even harder now, in what ever you do from a coolie to a corporate king. We need to double our efforts. To make India a super power in the world. Economically, security wise, medically development wise and what not. We should drive hard for a day when our enemy should ask us for the money to buy the bullets that he is gonna fire at us. This should be the tribute to the martyrs. There can be no greater respect.
I will keep writing on ways to be a better citizen on this blog and do my bit to not let the mumbai carnage slip out of memory.
While writing this blog i created a mail id indiaagain@gmail.com and thought of asking all of you to mail to that email address and say that we will create a political party and send petitions and all.. Spending another moment on it i feel, its not worth it. If u still feel like joining me, mail me at indiaagain@gmail.com, lets get together and do our little part. Remember the story of the squirrel when Ram built the bridge to Lanka. India now needs hundreds of such squirrels. We cant start mass movements by signing petitions or sending emails. What we need is to be proactive.
First thing i would like to happen is a PIL asking for a law to allow me to recall my elected representative or say that none of the candidates deserve to be my representative, because democracy is not a Yes or No question.
(plz forgive my mistakes with spellings and grammers, was never good with them)
We all have been crying from last Thursday night against the politicos. Will change of heads be enough? What policy changes do we expect? Which party is gonna help us out of this? Do we as citizens have a role to play? What abt the media? and most importantly... are u ready to sacrifice some freedom for more security. Before i get to these stuff let me put to rest the most hot topic discussed these days every where. "Are we gonna hit Pakistan"?
That is an non existent option for me and i don't think any govt for that reason would be foolish to risk that or for our bureaucrats allow that. Why? simple. We all know there are hundreds of sleeper cells in India maintained by the ISI. Do u think they will sleep when India and Pak are at war... The enemy will bleed us from inside. Also the naxals, the terrorists in the North East and most importantly the chinese who claim Sikkim, Arunachal and wat not will not sit quite.... every damn opponent will try to strengthen their position. We 'll loose the war not from outside But from inside.
Secondly, how long can we sustain a war when the world is at financial crisis? Do u think US will really back us when they want the pak army at the afghan border. Neither is Russia as close as it was to us earlier to help us keep the Chinese out of the chess board. Even if we get a truce with the other terror groups inside India what garuntee that they will honor it? Lets be very clear ...... we are cornered..... We can't go and start hitting around...
So wat do we do now? We need Change.. and not in one front
1) Political - either the mentality of the politicos must change or we the people should push them out. We need rules and regulations for who can be a minister and who cannot (would a 10 std pass be recruited as s/w engg?).. he must be some where close to understanding the system. This is the rite time for a CITIZEN MOVEMENT.
2) Media- They should be more responsible. Follow stuff, not let things slip out of memory..... Media has proved its metal by doing this... Priydarsini Matoo, Nitish Katara cases are apt examples. And must play a constructive role via reports and editorials. Must inspire the citizens.
3) Security forces - Should be better equipped, should create specific forces for specific tasks (no more NSG as black cats), Restructuring of intelligence teams, more importance to ground level intelligence. Better use of Technology ....we have the supposedly 3rd largest pool of professionals and still our armed forces have to shout and signal orders.... We should make better use of softwares and hardwares. If we had used softwares and hardwares that can identify people in rooms from outside the army could have much more easily saved ppl earlier. Or they could have relayed info amng various teams inside the hotel. I sometimes feel that the defense forces of India some how are averse to computers. look at the vacancies for IT/Computer engineers. And lets pay them more money damn it!
4) System - There must be a process in the Indian system. If a intelligence input is made there must be a system to track and update. Not just intelligence, whether it be planning, new projects, initiatives. we need smtng at least like a project traq in Indian governing system
5)Corporates - The Tatas, Birlas and Reliances and the big corporate houses need to stop accusing the govt. They have a role to play here. Why cant we have a system where if a software company gives free software for security or govt the govt not give them tax perks or free land in return... rather than paying real money? Why cant instead of the corporates making donations in cash...donate in kind like a hardware company come up with security devices, textile company with clothing (fcrse let them have their name as a logo...no ads plz... i dnt want my army advertising ).
6) Citizens - We have a a much greater role. We should be ready to give up our freedom for more safety. Ready to be frisked every now and then. Have a social security number. Lets not just demand more but do more. One immediate thing that we need to do is not to vote for wrong guyz. If all ur candidates are wrong just dont vote (i think there is smtng called 49-0 or No Vote...will check and blog on that). lesser or greater the devil is he is a devil at the end of the day. We say youth should act, but we are the youth, we should not say but act. Why not a political party to counter all the devils... to clean the system lets get to the system. I am ready for it. And this blog is part of such a campaign.
The great martyrs who gave their life don't need your condolences or need you to attend their cremations. They need your action. By action i don't mean going out on a protest rally, blaming the politicos or anything. What i mean is that we have to work even harder now, in what ever you do from a coolie to a corporate king. We need to double our efforts. To make India a super power in the world. Economically, security wise, medically development wise and what not. We should drive hard for a day when our enemy should ask us for the money to buy the bullets that he is gonna fire at us. This should be the tribute to the martyrs. There can be no greater respect.
I will keep writing on ways to be a better citizen on this blog and do my bit to not let the mumbai carnage slip out of memory.
While writing this blog i created a mail id indiaagain@gmail.com and thought of asking all of you to mail to that email address and say that we will create a political party and send petitions and all.. Spending another moment on it i feel, its not worth it. If u still feel like joining me, mail me at indiaagain@gmail.com, lets get together and do our little part. Remember the story of the squirrel when Ram built the bridge to Lanka. India now needs hundreds of such squirrels. We cant start mass movements by signing petitions or sending emails. What we need is to be proactive.
First thing i would like to happen is a PIL asking for a law to allow me to recall my elected representative or say that none of the candidates deserve to be my representative, because democracy is not a Yes or No question.
(plz forgive my mistakes with spellings and grammers, was never good with them)
Monday, December 1, 2008
Mumbai Carnage (part 1)
Well, my first blog is here. Would have really loved to start off with something brighter but lets just say the time has forced my hand to start of with a much sadder note. After all being a mumbaiker cldn’t just turn a blind eye to what my beautiful city has had to go through again. Well I will also join the chorus to say “THIS IS THE LIMIT”. Bu I would like to differ at a many a good no: of points.
From a Carnage to a Circus
Let me confess. I committed a lot of murders in last few days. And my victims, our soft spoken PM , L K Advani, Modi and Deshmukh at least 10 times each (while I was in the toilet, while hitting the sack at nite, or while traveling in the Mumbai localllll). I am sorry but I think I can now write a new blog on “how to kill politicos”..lol. But the politicos never stop to amaze me, “Bade Bade shehro mein aise ek haath hadse ho jathe hai”….. wat a comment… Well that comment would have made the LeT feel as if they hvnt even been able to say “booooo” to the indian politicans. Wat a reply? And I applaud Mr. Deshmukh for his great ideas even in the face of adversity. After the great indian innovations of religious tourism and medical tourism here he presents a grand idea called “Terorrist Tourism”. He could start letting people go into Taj to take a peak after paying a ticket of 10 or 20 bucks. Well what a way to show respect to your able officers. But BJP nevers shy’s away from competition. If congress makes a blunder they will not be far behind. Mr Naqvi is the great leader of BJP who is now going to decide who can offer condolences and prayer meetings and who cannot. May be BJP should try adding that to their election manifesto, that they would enact a law not letting reporters with lipstick cover terror situations or westernized girls to offer condolences. Well thanks but no thanks, I would rather prefer the shariah law.
Hey BTW, I just forgot to ask, where is Laloojii, Mulayamji and Paswanji. Neither did I hear from Sir Chandrababu Naidu or the great Communists (whether they be L M N O P or Q or even be without a Q). Lalooji can think of taking a leaf out of Deshmukhji’s book … he can make more profit for railways by running train via Jaipur, Ahmadabad, Surat, Mumbai, Hyderabad. May be even extent it to kannur in kerala. The Home ground of SIMI. Marthi Manoos Raj Thackerayji… now u can come out of ur house, some Maharashtrians , south Indians and north Indians together have killed the terrorists 3 days back so that u can safely pursue ur holy war. Let the circus begin. I am sorry to say this but MNS guyz,,,, ur Raj Thackrey is not half the maharashtrian Hemant Karkare or Vijay Salaskar turned out to be. Jai Maharashtra( with full repsect and a feeling that I too am a maharashtrian… may be born a south indian..But I live here… this is my home and I like maharashtra as much as I like my mother…).
Well, why blame the politicos alone, even the media was not far behind.And by writing the next few lines I am gonna ensure that no media house is gonna read my blog any more. Well at least not NDTV and Mumbai Mirror. What I am talking about? Well Barkha Dutt screwed up big time while otherwise meticolous coverage of this carnage by NDTV. Well she was standing at the door steps of Taj on the Saturday morning when NSG had just done taking care of all the terrorists ( I hope the took good care ) and shouted up to the NSG guy on the first floor who was looking out of the window “Any more terrorists”. I just blurted out “Sweatheart, do u think NSG is drunk to let u so close with a terrorist alive?”. Well my second fav statement was a whole article from Mumbai Mirror. The article carried how smartian a paper it was by not carrying messages of various B list stars and wanna be starlets. Lemme just ask.. What are you guyz then doing now by writing four columns on these stars and their PR people? Look who is crying foul at others trying to take mileage out of situations. Anyway Times Now, CNN-IBN , Headline Today had their share of blunders, with one of these channels saying ( I think CNN… not sure) saying that they had warned abt sea routes almost a year back.
Let me be frank here the media is though lesser but still a culprit. Wat do they do once they have broadcasted these stings and operations? How many times do they back up, revisit and update ppl on the status? They make as much money as possible with the initial hue and cry and then just let it go. We need a strong media to build a strong nation. Not a media that just sensationalizes news but ensures that the common man does not forget it. A media that loads his guns as the common man fights his wars. Asks the right questions to the right ppl and more importantly repeat the question till an acceptable answer is received.
The Indian media I am very sad to say is not mature enough to self censor and self direct (I still remember the images of a police officer begging a reporter not to go into the hotel behind the terrorists folding his hands and shouting “Please, Please…..”). I some times fear that Indian media will try to broadcast live the rape of a girl than try to stop it. That too is rape. A rape of morality of us viewers, a kind of thinking that pen is supreme that sword. Its strong but not supreme I should remind my friends in the media. Though after saying all this, I should say that they were far better in covering this carnage than previous times.
Well I just wanted to write a few good ideas on how to deal with the current situation and how to fight this war… Not the “War on Terror”… But an internal war….a war for security, accountability, focus, use of technology and most importantly a better leadership. But all this bashing just took up al the space.. So please wait for my next blog. I am not asking for a fan following or smtng. Just ready my blog. Sleep over it and use any idea that I give if u can…..and fcrse gimme some that I can use (other than the idea of “Stop bloggin”…lol). Looking fwd to some good encouragement.
(plz frgv me for the spelling and grammatical mistakes...never was good with them)
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