Rage reloaded!!...

Off late, unfortunately, there have been several cases of violence in my country.

Like we haven’t had enough Hindu-Muslim riots, Churches were also attacked various parts of Orissa and Karnataka, a few months back, by Bajarang Dal (a Hindu extremist group).
Bajrang Dal claimed that Hindus are being illegally converted to Christianity in the area. Sources said Hindu groups have long accused Christian priests of bribing poor tribes and low-caste Hindus to change their faith. To which, Christians said lower-caste Hindus convert willingly to escape the Hindu caste system (Source: BBC)


As if we don’t face enough disgrace in Delhi, U.P., Bihar and Haryana, women were molested in places in Mumbai and Goa; the cities considered to be the safest for women, in India.
A New Year 2007 Eve event at Mumbai's most famous landmark, the Gateway of India, made news after it went horribly sour. Drunk revelers stripped and molested a woman in public view, as her friend watched helplessly. (Source: IBN Live)
In Goa, a British tourist; 15year-old Scarlett Keeling's half-naked dead body was found in end of February’08, on Anjuna beach just metres away from the bar where she was last seen drinking with local men. It was later found that she had been drugged, raped and then murdered. (Source: Guardian)

We were all forced to remember Babri and Godhra again, when the recently Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (another Hindu extremist group) in Maharashtra beat up every North-Indian they could.
On February 10, 2008, MNS workers attacked vendors and shopkeepers from North India in various parts of Maharashtra, and destroyed government property to vent their anger against the reported move to arrest Raj Thackeray.[6] Nashik police detained 26 MNS workers for the violence. (Source: Wikipedia)

And when the Ram Sena (yet another Hindu extremist group) assaulted every woman they could in Mangalore pubs.
Sri Ram Sena was founded by Pramod Muthalik, a former RSS member and Bajrang Dal chief. “It’s a small incident and we were only working against obscenity in public. You are not talking about the issue, which is obscenity and inappropriate behaviour,” Muthalik said while speaking on the Mangalore pub attack. (Source: IBN Live)

I have a question; can someone do a simple background check of all these self-righteous, moralists and frustrated-due-to-some-random-personal-trouble-people. I wonder if even a single one can be found, who hasn’t ever lied, stolen, done drugs, smoked, had alcohol, had illicit affairs, broken traffic-rules, evaded tax, if they haven’t committed a bigger crime.

A lot has happened, and all of that had been pent up.
I hadn’t been writing since quite some time. Since, nothing had been happening in my life. Or was it a simple writers’ bloc. I don’t know and don’t think it matters. But I simply had not been able to pen down anything for months now. Hopefully this should break the trend and get me back to my vent-buddy; my dear dear page.

What instigated today’s quick writing piece, was Mr. Muthalik’s statement which I happened to come across on the net. Shame shame!! So, these people don’t believe in the law and order of our Nation either; exactly like criminals, isn’t it?

I love my country and have always been the one to be called a nationalist, patriot, etc. But when I come across such incidents, I wonder what went wrong?
I love my fellow countrymen. But after such sites, I can't even stand such people.
I have always wanted to live and die in my dear dear hometown; Delhi, when all of my friends talk of moving to better/ developed/ safer lands. But as I see the news on TV every night, I don't feel very certain about my plans anymore.
I am a born Hindu and actually, used to be a proud Hindu; due to the heritage, history, culture and all that. But now I feel ashamed of calling myself one. And chose to say that I am a Human/ Indian/ Peace Lover, now.

How much we keep feeling ashamed about. How long we go on shaking our heads at irrational acts of extremism. For how long would we all keep hiding under the safety nets of our own houses/ families/ social clouts?
The day is not very far away, when any of these could happen to you or to someone close to you… Actually if you count 26/11 in, this has happened to us, and we’re still not doing anything.

The least we can do, to create awareness and wake people up, is to talk.
Ponder on…S m i l e

We The People

I recently saw the NDTV show We The People, where the topic was ‘Should Blogging be regulated?; basically arguing about should not the ‘immoral/ offending/ misleading/ other potentially dangerous kinds of blogs be regulated?

Sadly, they kept their focus on blogs that write about sex, sexuality or homosexuality. While these topics have nothing wrong with them, they are not the only kinds of blogs around.

I have been blogging for the past 6 odd years and have come across a huge variety; sports, cinema, politics, current-affairs, social-issues, science & technology, travel, photography, IT, journals, cultural, etc.

Like anywhere else in the world, there are people that do good and people that do bad things, in the blog-world, as well.

Can anyone say, ‘all my neighbours’ are REALLY responsible, moralistic, supportive and friendly people’? No. There are bound to be some, who may even have criminal tendencies, for all we know.

In the same manner, there are good (responsible) bloggers and there are the frivolous, immature, and irresponsible ones.

How often, we come across news channels sensationalizing every day, or sometimes even false occurrences, for instance. And in their main-news sections, at that...sometimes the 'entertainment' segments seem like a repeat of the main-news segment, due to this.

How many of us have not seen how much footage is given to pieces like ‘Paris’s imprisonment’, ‘Cruz’s Scientology’, ‘Madonna’s visit to the slums during her recent trip to India’, ‘Britney’s missing underwear’, ‘Aish & Abhi’s wedding’, ‘the invitee list’, ‘Vivek Oberoi’s fractured leg’, ‘the number of Laloo’s kids’, ‘Ganpati drinking milk’, 'Saif's new tattoo', 'Manyata visiting Sanjay while he's imprisoned', or her 'possible baby bump', ‘this one’s new boy friend’ and ‘that one’s latest break-up’… the list is endless! And all this happens, on ALL the channels, while some head-of-states may be meeting up on the same day, to decide the nuclear fates of their countries; this piece of news would get that last one minute, if there is any air-time left with the channels, after their ‘headlines’, ‘breaking-news’ or ‘specials’... How about regulating all that ‘responsible authorized media’ first, before coming to question the freedom of speech of individuals?

But then again, what can you expect from the community, in which, for God-knows-how-long, we have been hearing of eminent painters being on self-exile, given the threats he has been facing for years…art-students getting attacked, in their university premises, during an examination process...lady authors getting beaten up by ‘honourable’ ministers and their fellow party-workers...news channel offices getting attacked by 'respectable' members of another political-party…Shame shame!!

Or should only artists and media have the freedom of speech? Think about it.

Coming back to the show itself, where the featured bloggers were the ones who write about female sexuality, homosexuality and such; were being presented as a threat to our ‘moralistic society’. I kept wondering throughout, didn’t NDTV do shows on ‘why do we not talk openly about sex’, ‘sex education’, ‘lack of sex in India gives way to sex crimes, again and yet more’, etc.? May be, they didn’t after all. It can’t possibly be the same channel, neh? Perhaps they think regulation/ suppression, (of the most natural human feelings in this context), is the only way to salvation/ progression!

During the show, the only two examples of ‘potential dangers from blogs’ that NDTV presented for discussion, were; sex blogs (moral issues) and a certain one blog (which they could not quote); where the blogger in question, had suggested that Ms. Barkha Dutt (the host/presenter/moderator of the show and otherwise a reknown and highly respected TV journalist with NDTV), may be responsible for the death of a few soldiers, while she was covering the Kargil war (this blog post, was mentioned some 3 times through the show)… As a result, unfortunately, in the entire episode, Ms. Dutt kept coming across as personally hurt by that one post and it seemed like she is thus trying to get back at blogs.

My only response; there are sensible people and otherwise- everywhere in the world. And like a lot of the bloggers on the episode insisted, most popular blogs are responsible and do not indulge in misleading facts...and that is the reason why they are popular.

They also suggested that "free blogging only makes sense for countries where the Govt.s do not allow freedom of speech otherwise, like China etc." Perhaps they do not know that blogging and other networking sites are banned in all such countries. E.g. Pakistan, Dubai, etc.
They continued to say that "a democracy like India, perhaps does need to regulate blogging". But isn't that the idea of a free democratic country? Where people- individuals- have a right of expression?

Another one thing which needs to be clarified is that, when people read blogs, they know they are not reading the post on BBC/ CNN/ an authorized release from the President Of India.

I remember a proverb here, ‘don’t believe everything you hear (/read). Use your own mind before following blindly’.

Why is it that Memoirs of a Geisha and other such materials (can't remember other books to list as examples here, right now), by lady writers are treated as a ‘classics’ then? Is it only because the rest of the world accepted them as classics and we had to continue aping West (the wiser ones)? Perhaps. That is the only way of explaining NDTV’s concern with the sex blogs.

Ms. Barkha Dutt herself, had questioned this, on another We The People episode, sometime ago (the one on the current Bharat Ratna debate); Why is it that a Dr. Amartya Sen gets felicitated by the West (Nobel Prize), before we at home (Indians) can realize their value and contribution in their field (great work they may have done for the entire human-kind)?

Isn’t it high-time already, we start accepting whatever all goes on in our societies, instead of continuing to live in denial? Trust me, if anything is happening in the world, bloggers are writing about it… Since it IS the only medium of free-expression left, where ‘individuals’ can reach out and share information, find like-minded people or create awareness in their own way.

With all due respect to NDTV, Ms. Dutt and all others involved in that particular episode, my first response was ‘shaking my head’ at the sheer immaturity. The theme of the show reminded me of how we humans have always reacted the same way ...Whenever something new begins/ takes place… Everyone goes, ‘this would be dangerous’, ‘this is not the way our society runs’, ‘this defies our values’, ‘this is disrespectful to our believes’, 'this kind of a activity should not be allowed', yada yada.

When would we all start accepting a new phenomena, without calling it ‘dangerous’, ‘immoral’, ‘misleading’, or any other such names? Till when would every new venture face negativity, disapproval and such petty wrath from everyone around?

Till when would we continue to call ourselves progressive, and continue such stone-age behaviour?!!

Why can’t we stop being so regressive already?

When would we start appreciating ‘freedom of expression’, instead of just sitting and singing praises of it ...all, in the name of being ‘diplomatic’?

When Sir Richard Gere came on Karan Johar’s TV show, Koffee with Karan, he said that the most marvelous thing he saw in India is how everyone speaks their own mind, without being scared of the society, authorities, bureaucracy, etc.

Would he still be saying that, I wonder?

Ponder on...S m i l e