Sea Song

There it was, as broken as I.

More beautiful than ever.

To this I return like clockwork,

when all else fails.

Embrace me with your zephyr always,

during my many travails.

Tell me, will you put me back together?

Shadows around you roam,

begging for things they know not.

I look into you only to forget, what I came looking for. 

The sun and the earth converge with you,

no more is there a duality in nature.

No good nor bad, just you.

Take down my looking glass

and let me fall blindly.

Don't take this revelry away,

lest I feel empty again.

You make me want everyone and no one.

You give me warmth with your gusts of cold.

I don't know if I'm lost or found.

Only you can take me away and bring me back.

Don't make me want and need,

for I fear I won't near what you foresee.

I leave reluctantly,

only to lose all that I found.

Goodbye ol' friend,

my only constant.

I'll return on the morrow. Or maybe not.

Just as I walk away,

reality rears its ugly head,

seeps its tension back into me.

And I long again for your air of salt and mask of ocean.

Education: A Hoax

Education is clearly wasteful if people are still thinking 30 years behind.

The real question is that whether top class education is really educating us on how to lead life with at least some integrity.

You know it’s all just a hoax when a fully educated grown woman allows herself to be cowed down by marital pressure, into thinking that the man (also fully educated) by marrying her is doing her a giant favour, which she would probably otherwise not deserve (according to her). And this man feels extremely justified in having the bride’s side footing the bill at every stage; so much for his Ivy League education!

Clearly, 25 years of so called Education, spanning kindergarten, primary school, high school, junior college, undergraduate university and postgraduate university have taught her/him nothing about fairness, equality or abandonment of the caste system. Never mind them; the girl’s parents go even beyond, thinking “The boy and his family are good, at least they’re not asking for Dowry!”

You try to educate them, tell them that it’s against the law (Dowry Prohibition Act) to ask for dowry, they could be thrown in jail for doing so. But no, “It is that way for YOU!” of course! Coz the law doesn’t apply to us backward people, because we live in a world of our own.

They say that, you’ll see when it’s your turn to get married. All this idealism is all good in books and movies. This is the real world baby! All this doesn’t fly, when you’re purchasing 50 lakhs worth of Stridhan!

I wonder why it is that women are even educated, if this is how they are expected to live. In my opinion, it’s a lot more hurtful when you Know that you’re being wronged and are expected to bear with it due to convention and societal norms. I’d rather just be an illiterate and not know the difference. That way nothing could seem wrong or right, just normal. Right?

So it is my plea, parents of India; Don’t educate your girl child. Seriously, she’ll be happier this way. At least she doesn’t know what she’s missing.

Utterly Different

It’s quite disheartening to have your own father telling you to conform to standards. That he doesn't believe that you have it in yourself to change the system, that nobody as ordinary as you could do that. They say, “You cannot change the world, you must jump on the bandwagon.” This is the way the cookie crumbles.

Now if everyone believed that, we would never have revolutionaries or pioneers or even inventors for that matter. Progress, be it physical, mental, technological, spiritual, in essence would halt.

Belief is indispensable, for the sake of progress. The courage to believe, that someday something will change for the better, it Will be different; that You could be a placard bearer of that movement and that you mustn’t wait for a Messiah to do it.

I hear that everyone would have themselves believe that they’re “Different”, unique somehow; that they aren’t one of the thousands alike. It seems that it’s a wishful notion, but most often considered untrue.

I disagree. They are “Different”, however so similar; they do possess their own personal brand of DNA. A unique identity, which can never be stolen. They are entitled to believe themselves to be anything; nobody has the right to typecast another, to put them down. To showcase to them their unnatural ordinariness.

Revolutionaries weren’t born, they were made so by the times and circumstances they lived in, the hardships and social sickness they faced. They had parents like ours too, ones who told them to live a normal life, not go against the odds, do as the world dictates you must or you’ll be ostracized. But they fought for us, for the faint hearted. They went ahead and faced Social Siberia, all for the greater good, so that one day a parent finally says, “You will change the world, son”

Maybe, one of these days we won’t sound ridiculous anymore when we say, “No, I’m not like the rest...I’m different!”

Maybe, just maybe, one of these days someone will actually believe you when you say that you’re out to change the world.

Material World

In the increasingly material world, one wonders sometimes the merits of an ascetic life.

To think that almost all family disputes are on the subject of property and wealth, what is all this really worth? Is it worth alienation of the people closest to you?

History shows that man wandered from place to place in search of food and other resources, never settling in any one place too long. He was what we would call today, a rolling stone. Unshackled as ever, he roamed vast lands forging new contacts as he went along, collecting fruits, cattle and even women. It is also believed that the purdah system developed due to such reasons; to protect women from the eyes of such lustful wanderers. Slowly, he accumulated his wealth and harem, deciding to finally drop the anchor someplace and settle down. He built a home of brick and stone, wishing it would remain long after his passing. Who would then take over to nurture it? An heir, perhaps. Not just any heir, his own flesh and blood. Thus, the concept of legacy came into being.  Such an heir would carry on his name and his memory in the form of tangible property. Alas, another problem surfaced, how would you ensure that the chosen heir is really the fruit of one’s own loins? Thus, the concept of marriage. The woman was contractually sworn to be faithful to the husband, so that there wouldn’t be any doubt of paternity. Monogamy thus took shape and turned into a moral, the breach of which became punishable by law. The tie of marriage also ensured with it actual symbols of a married woman, viz. Rings, mangalsutra, sindoor. Needless to say, this was outward declaration and projection of the fact that, she’s a married woman and hence, off limits to the roving men! This became one of the ways to ensure monogamy.
As women bore their husband’s children, the children became heirs apparent to everything owned by their parents.
Of course, even a loving happy family doesn’t always agree where it comes to segregation of such wealth. Wars have been fought; lives have been lost while trying to satisfy the thirst of men for power and money. Prince Aurangzeb plotted and killed his father, sister and all of his brothers to usurp the Mughal Kingdom of Hindustan. We see in our everyday lives how most families are torn apart on questions and disputes of inheritance and property.

Is it worth the trouble and all the heartburn?
Or is the prospect of shedding it all to become an ascetic, a yeti so much more liberating?
We have a longstanding reverence in our country for ascetics; saadhus , Sufis, fakirs, kafirs have been revered for thousands of years. The God of all Gods, Shiva was an ascetic, meditating for years at a stretch in his Kailash Parbat. The tombs of Sufi saints, Nizamuddin, Makhdoom Ali Mahimi, Moinuddin Chishti are still worshipped, 800 years after their death.
Such men leave every comfort and shed material living for meditation and prayer, surviving on alms. They’re not beggars, but of a higher spiritual being which has always garnered respect in our sub-continental world.
The bonds and shackles of family, estate, progeny are broken away from, a supreme freedom is achieved . Such freedom is unparalleled, unrivalled and pretty much unattainable for most of us.
One can only but dream...

Religious Progression

It’s strange somehow that, the ancient religions were a lot more tolerant and liberal than the fairly recent ones. Hinduism, one of the oldest established religions, didn’t in any way seem to restrict or condemn any particular kinds of lifestyle; polygamy,carnivorous eating was all part of regular practice.

However, the religions that stemmed out of it were stringent in their beliefs, placing mandatory restrictions on certain practices. Buddhism, the first known offshoot of Hinduism, propogated monotheism and shedding of the caste system and brought along with it tenets of absolute non-violence, meditation and vegetarianism which in turn propogated Jainism which consisted of even stricter dietary and behavioural rules. Islam, Christianity and Judaism (Kitaabat religions) followed, also setting down various kinds of approved and unapproved kinds of practices.

The above analysis truly makes you wonder why society has grown less liberal over the millenia. The true answer probably lies in the fact that due to increase in civilization, it became necessary to lay down certain parameters beyond which one ought not to venture, without breaching morality. The differences between right and wrong started to appear. This system facilitated governance of the masses in a uniform manner. Each religion establishing their own order along with their priests who interpreted the meaning of old tenets, all the while adding to it. It gave a doctrine by which a man could be honoured for a good deed and in turn, punished for a bad one.

The morality laid down by ancient scriptures was only much later converted to legislation; interpreted in turn by a judiciary, turning into a Civil Code of Conduct rather than a religious one. Observance of religious limitations became a moral duty whereas of legislation became a legal one. This ofcourse diluted the originally existent stronghold of religion, replacing it with a secular and generic doctrine that applies to one and all regardless of their faith (common civil code).

So what is religion really in today’s day and age? For most of us, it’s a way of life. There’s no way that it wouldn’t be because it prescribes for the most basic functions that we perform as humans. It hugely influences the kind of food we eat, the manner in which we live and the morals by which we live our lives.
Does that mean that without adherence to these prescribed practices in our lifestyles and dietary patterns, one stops being part of that religious sect? It’s a personal question, really.

Why voluntarily be part of a sect whose dogma one chooses to violate? Isn’t it those very restrictions/conditions that Make the religion what it is? Perhaps there’s another factor to be considered in this regard; that of community life (samaaj). We cannot forget that  a big part of our existence is at the the community level. For India, the social life of a human being is equivalent to a close knit community life. It includes celebration of births, festivals as well as mourning of deaths. We as a people, have always lived in groups, with a strong sense of family inculcated by the Joint family system. Individuality, was always to remain an alien concept, limited to the the West. Here, personal interests were sacrificed for the greater good of the family or community.

It would naturally then seem to us that community is religion and religion is community. They are inextricably intertwined, where one can’t be mentioned without the other.
Perhaps, this was the inevitable form of evolution of our society. It is a shame though that the original thought behind the faith is lost. It is no wonder then, that we last saw a Messiah 1300 years ago.

Fundamentally Right

There’s a lot of loose talk these days about “Rights”. Right to Freedom of Speech, of Press, of Expression being the flavour of the month. We have our Ministers being crucified over statements made by them to supposedly curtail them. But who really knows the sources of such rights, the manner in which they were achieved and what directly corresponds to them?

Most of us have forgotten that every right implies a corresponding duty.

Man does not live for himself alone. He lives for the good of others as well as of himself.Therefore, awareness of our citizenship duties is as important as awareness of our rights.

No democratic polity can ever succeed where the citizens are not willing to be active participants in the process of governance by assuming responsibilities and discharging citizenship duties and coming forward to give their best to the country.

A democracy, of the people, by the people and for the people is exactly THAT. This is Our country, with our people and our land. Even with representatives that we elect by adult suffrage working For us, we still owe it to our country to contribute to it’s welfare; to make a difference that goes beyond our personal interests.

Where we may demand a remedy to our right, we must also show responsibility towards our duties.

While it would be wrong to call the rights bestowed upon us a privilege, we must keep in mind the nations still struggling with establishing basic human rights for their people. In a relative sense, it is in fact a privilege.

It is this knowledge of what is right and wrong that makes a man responsible to himself and to the society and this knowledge is inculcated by imbibing and clearly understanding one’s citizenship duties. The fundamental duties are the foundations of human dignity and national character. If every citizen performs his duties irrespective of considerations of caste, creed, colour and language, most of the malaise of the present day polity could be contained, if not eradicated, and the society as a whole uplifted. Rich or poor, in power or out of power, obedience to citizenship duty, at all costs and risks, is the essence of civilized life.

The moral value of the fundamental duties is, in the words of late Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi, “ not to smother rights, but to establish a democratic balance”.

The Fundamental Duties are enshrined in Article 51A of the Constitution of India:

(a) To abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem.
(b) To cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspired our national struggle for freedom.
(c) To uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India.
(d) To defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so.
(e) To promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities; to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women.
(f) To value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture.
(g) To protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life, and to have compassion for living creatures.
(h) To develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform.
(i) To safeguard public property and to abjure violence.
(j) To strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavor and achievement.

Pseudo Civilization

We often believe that we live in a modern society, with all the gym memberships, mall and multiplex culture and SUV’s making a strong foray into the urban lifestyle; until one gets out of their air conditioned Gold class seats and witnesses an incident which renders all those beliefs hollow.

I often (read 5 times/day) lay a guilt trip on litterers all over the city and have met with a myriad of reactions from them. They range from resistant to argumentative, rarely apologetic and often yielding. Not too long ago, I met with an unprecedented reaction from an uncouth and barbaric pot bellied, self righteous man at food stall. He decided it was somehow appropriate to lay out death threats on the table after inquiring about my male companion standing alongside me. However, the pleading eyes of his burkha clad wife reached out to me in apology. My horror regarding the situation instantly melted away and was replaced with one for this innocent, Bambi eyed woman. How must this Neanderthal have treated her over the years? The torment she must’ve gone through just attempting to keep alive herself and her young children, at the mercy of this beast.

The bubble then bursts and you just know that the 4 progressive beings you know among a million don’t constitute the world. There’s a whole other million minus 4 out there who treat women like dirt. You wonder whether people have really evolved, socially. It’s as if you’ve gone back to the medieval era where the “Little Woman” was meant to be within the confines of her home, just as the Late General Gaddafi believed. But hey! We’ll rejoice, coz there’s one less evil Arab dictator in the world now!

Without digressing! The truth is that what you see in big cities doesn’t come close to representing the country. The beliefs, the practices, the lifestyles even are poles apart.

Civilization may have come ahead but our people are far behind. So don’t be surprised like I was, coz there’s a lot more of these Neanderthals out there!