National Anthem

From quiet some time I have been seeing this controversy about our National Anthem and it is being circulated in the internet causing people to lose respect towards the song. There have been lot of ignorant people who have discredited this prayer to GOD and MOTHERLAND. Just one request to all, when you read some report saying anything like this just do a small Google search get to know the other side of the story. Just spend some time to know what are the counter-arguments to such a statement.

Specially when it comes to a song which every child in school sings passionately and by the end his heart will be filled with patriotism and love towards the nation and this song when I used to sing as a kid would make me want to serve the nation in any which way possible, one always has to be careful about what is said about it. These are the days when even school kids have access to internet and they will read about it and talk about it in the school. As a citizen of this country it is your FUNDAMENTAL DUTY under Article 51A (a) to Respect National Anthem, Flag and National Symbols. But everyone is more interested to know about the Fundamental Right to the Freedom of Expression under Article 19(1)(a) and thoroughly abuse it. But what many are unaware of is the constitution also lays down reasonable restrictions on the use of this fundamental right.

Article 19(2) says “Nothing in sub-clause (a) of clause (1) of Article 19 shall affect the operation of any existing law, or prevent the State from making any law, in so far as such law imposes reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right conferred by the said sub-clause in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence. It must also be noticed that this article 19(1)(a) only gives freedom of press. Hence, there is also a responsibility on the press to abide by these restrictions laid down by the article 19(2).

Now coming to the point, if you say that you have fundamental right to say what ever you want then you are wrong. No one has any absolute right. Constitution was prepared by some of the great visionaries and intellectuals of that time who knew what core values of this nation are. Hence, defaming the national anthem which is a part of identity of our country is a very shameful deed. If you are still under the impression that the song was written to praise a certain king then please read the content in this site. This is one more link where a very systematic assessment has been made

Be proud when you sing it. Its the song that unites the largest democracy in the world and the most diverse population in the world. It is our National Anthem. Below is a nice videos if you havent yet watched it..

Are we fools

“Super-government fears haunt MPs”

That is the headline in the paper today which carries the list of apprehensions the MPs have with the tabled lokpal bill. Now they have the right to be afraid as their neck is on the line when they pass that bill. It is essentially a green signal for their prosecution (ideally of course). But as I read the news I couldn’t help but think if these MPs consider us so foolish. When you read the article you will understand why I made that statement. I will pull out some excerpts from the article and then analyse them. I wont talk out of context and will keep my analysis completely honest. Also, I am providing the link to the original article so that the reader may verify if I have taken anything out of context and interpreted it wrongly or maliciously.  So lets being the analysis

Basudev Acharya of the CPI (M) said his party would move an amendment “if it finds that the principle of federalism has been violated.” Most regional parties supported only an “enabling” model legislation for the States that was “not mandatory”.

This is in regard to the mandatory establishment of the Lokayukta in the states. Now history is the best teacher to all. Way back in 1959 Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) were started in our country. These local self Governments were to be extended all over the country and a resolution was passed to do the needful. But PRIs were set up in every village only after the 1992 Act which made it compulsory for the states to set up PRIs within one year from the passing of the Act. Similar is the case with the Lokayukta which has to be established in all the states but till now only a few states have actually established them and in these states there is no uniformity with regards to the structure and function of the Lokayukta. Hence, it is not only desirable but has become necessary for the center to make a law that mandates the states to do its job. There is no breach of federal structure here as the states are abusing their power and kicking their responsibilities out of the window. In view of such a condition this law becomes necessary.

The most exciting part of the political theatre that was played out in Parliament on Wednesday centred around the inclusion of minorities and women among those sections of society that must be represented in the Lokpal.

This is something I appreciate. The opposition is opposed to this proposal and rightly so. What is the need to reserve places in such an institution where you need people for certain qualification. By the time a person from minority reaches that age and experience required to become lokpal I don’t think he needs reservation. His qualifications and competency should give him that post and not his community. Besides if you cannot trust lokpal to rise above social evils like casteism then there is really no point of setting up such an institution

And as for the Shiv Sena, it was in any case, opposed to the very creation of a Lokpal. One MP joked: “The BJP will now make it a Hindu-Muslim issue and all the secular parties will join hands.”

Even lokpal cannot prosecute any MP for his words in the Parliament. Yet Kapil Sibal wants to moderate us in our social networking sites and let his colleagues utter any kind of nonsense in the Parliament. It is beyond me to fathom the reasons behind Shiv Sena’s opposition and neither am I interested to know the reason. Experience has taught me that you cannot expect any logic from that particular quarter.

There was almost complete unanimity – cutting across parties – that if MPs were to be free to vote “according to their conscience” and “not be subjected to party whips,” the Lokpal Bill would surely be defeated. In fact, some MPs said this much. Biju Janata Dal’s Jay Panda has been publicly campaigning for a “free vote” on all Bills except on a motion of no confidence.

For the benefit of those who do not know, a “whip” is a direction issued by a party instructing all its MPs (at center) or MLAs (at State) to be present in the house at the time of voting and vote according to the party direction. Meaning, first thing is that you are not allowed to bunk. Secondly, you MUST vote and cannot abstain from voting and also you must vote according to what the party leader says. If the leaders says vote FOR then you must vote FOR. If you fail to follow the instruction then you will face action from the party and may even be expelled from the party. If you are expelled from the party then you will lose the seat in the parliament.

First thing first, so many bills don’t get passed because there will be no one to vote in the Parliament and State legislatures. So, when you fail to respect the fact that you need to do your job by staying in the house and listening to the deliberations and finally vote, how can you claim a free vote?  Even if the party leaders and cabinet wants to pass the bill, will all the MPs want the same? Its a bill that will stop them from making money and obviously they will vote against it citing some trivial reason. OK, even if we agree for free vote then why not extend it to everything? Why leave no confidence motion out of it? Why not allow all the MPs were to vote according to their conscience in a no confidence motion? (FYI – If a government loses no-confidence motion in the parliament then the government falls and new government has to be formed). The answer to my question is the answer to the question in the above excerpt.

Anant Geete (Shiv Sena) said: “A powerful Lokpal would in fact upset the checks and balances in our Constitution and the principle of accountability in a parliamentary democracy even as it would erode the authority of the government of the day.” It was a very wrong move, he warned.

Ahem. Thats a lot of words actually. Nothing of this sort will happen. We are already observing what kind of checks and balances are working in the present scenario. Multi-crore scams have been happening since independence and not even one case has been solved properly. When Shiv Sena itself is acting like a bunch of hooligans without any check you cannot expect to make such a statement and not be laughed at. The CBI, ED, ECI, CVC, Supreme Court, etc are there to make sure that there is accountability in the system. But they have either failed or are not enough for all kind of complex situations. Lokpal or an institution like it is necessary to enforce accountability in the system. That is such a basic fact which even a child understands but for some reason Shiv Sena is not getting a hang of.

Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh asked the million dollar question: “when almost everyone in the country is deemed to be corrupt [by the Anna team], from where will come an honest Lokpal? Will not a Lokpal be in a position to blackmail a duly elected government?”

When we are entrusting the nation’s security into the hands of politicians is it difficult for us to try Lokpal instead? Do we really have anything to lose? Rather, the question Mr. Singh should answer is that is he a 5th std student who cannot understand what to speak in Parliament? Instead of wasting the precious time by passing sarcasm deliberate on the proper issues like CBI jurisdiction or reservation?  As for the second question, he himself knows how to blackmail a coalition government to do stuff by hanging the sword of support on their necks. When such blatant crimes are being committed on daily basis it is us, the people, who must decide if Lokpal will be a boon or bane. Its us who have sent you there wants a Lokpal to make sure you do your job right. We are not fools or idiots who do not understand the implications of the Act if passed and repercussions if it is not passed yet again. With all the irregularities taking place during general election based on which we can question the credibility of the elected government he must not ask such a question. Besides, logically there is no way in which Lokpal can hold the government hostage since a lokpal can be removed by the Parliament itself rendering his question redundant and mildly stupid.

 

Analysis aside, their general condition could be sensed by these reactions. They are apprehensive to pass the bill and will do anything and everything to stop it from happening. The timing of introduction of the bill is consistent with the previous attempts to pass it where the bill lapsed as the session ended and the next government never took it up. If it is not passed in this session, then they will have to use the budget session to pass it which is not gonna happen since there are so many things left to do in the budget session itself like the DTC and the GST which are likely to miss the deadline anyway. In my personal opinion the bill is not strong enough yet and still needs tweaking like bringing the CBI under Lokpal and also the investigation must be supervised by the Lokpal and not by CVC. A weal lokpal will be as good as no lokpal at all. I will be looking forward to what the opposition will do here. If they really want the bill to pass, then they must push for the amendments and then send it for voting. If UPA wants to really pass the bill then they must agree to the amendments and then send it for voting. The fate of this bill will really show the people if these politicians really want to make a difference or is it all just an elaborate drama to fool the people. What do you really think? Are we fools? Or do we understand the drama taking place and will react accordingly?

 

 

The Common Man

The recent polls in Bellary (Karnataka) elected an independent candidate Sriramulu with thumping majority but he did not take oath as member of the house Monday as he wants to first meet Janardhana Reddy in the Hyderabad jail. People elect these kind of candidates with decisive majority. I think this is the second highest majority in the Karanataka election history. So, I suggest all of you to sit back and see the bigger picture of the corruption.

When a traffic policeman is accused of corruption it is because of the people who are not willing to pay the fine. If the citizen is not corrupt then the policeman has no means of being corrupt. When you decide to take the easy way out in a government office and not go through the different windows you will end up paying bribe to the officials and encourage corruption among them. It is very much the “common man’s” fault too and the “common man” is too proud to admit his mistake. A little introspection is needed before accusing others of corruption. Apart from monetary corruption the society is filled with moral and social corruption and all is done by the “common man”. He is not as innocent as his image is projected in any such discussion where inevitably he is the victim despite the rights and privileges given to him by constitution and by law.

The blatant laziness and complete apathy towards India as a nation has resulted in today’s condition of unawareness and corruption where leaders are non existent and anybody can influence a group of people who do not possess any kind of moral stand that could be equated to the kind of sentiments they display when abusing the system for its failure. They conveniently forget that they too are part of the same system and not some alien observers who are invited to give a critique of our administrative system. Even when foreign scholars give honest reports (Appleby) they are rejected and he is asked to conduct his research again just because they did not like the truth. When there is zero involvement of the “common man” in the administration then he slowly loses his moral right to question the system towards which he has not been dutiful but only apathetic.

A little introspection will give anybody a clear perspective. A person who is self motivated remains most productive for a longer time. There is a huge deficit of such people today. Even if a great leader comes along, there are no quality followers to lead a great revolution. I know many will disagree with this statement citing the most recent lokpal agitation under different leaders. But fact remains, 90% of those who protested have no idea of why EXACTLY the agitation is still going on. There were a few who actually tried to explain the other side(government’s side) but only to deaf ears since they had already made up their minds that the govt can never be right. Thats the reason I say again that awareness is the only way to form OUR opinion and not just follow someone else’s opinion blindly.

Common Man is not weak. The constitution derives its power from the common man. He is rendered weak due to the apathetic nature of everyone. As long as we dont care about anything else other than ourselves this state of affairs will continue. No political leader or civil servant will be able to do any substantial difference if the common man is not willing to fight back. Life is often said to be a ever going battle, so we cannot stop in between and expect to enjoy. At the end we will lose the war and die but we can win the battles if we are motivated to strike back. Attitude is the key here. Once you cultivate an attitude where you will desire meaningful goals out of life you can change the whole outlook of your life and common man will not be just another name for the weak but it will be the name of a force that can bring about sweeping changes in the society. As captian planet says, “The power is YOURS”

Darkness

I walked, I walked without a hint or a reason or faith. I walked in darkness stumbling, trying to see light in the farthest corners but there was none. The voices in my head may have blocked the images somehow rendering me blind by the eyes. But these voices were not clear, they more resembled loud noise which drove me further into the darkness, into the abyss with no hope of return. Occasionally I heard voices, momentary clarity among the chaos. The voices told me something, I tried to listen but I could only hear them. Hope was lost with me in that darkness, in that unknown. I had no clue what to do so I let go and drifted in that darkness with voices calling at me. But I ignored them. I made them fuse into the noise and let them go as well. I lost sense of time and reality became abstract and agitated and slowly I obtained a state of unconsciousness. I lay there in that slumber slowly losing myself bit by bit when suddenly I was jolted by those voices again. I was still lost and did not understand them. They were calling me, trying to tell me something but they were too faint, losing themselves in the ocean of noise that filled my head. I tried to listen but I was distracted by the noise. It was difficult to concentrate. After failing many a times I tried harder to listen to them over the noise. They were indeed calling me but I could not see anything for the darkness had consumed me. Slowly but steadily they grew louder and they got clearer. They were trying to help me. I stopped fumbling and stood still, shut my eyes hard and buried my chin into my chest by pressing my hands on the back of my head. It helped. The voices rose above the noise and now I began to get some hope. I listened intently for the voices only spoke momentarily. Again I heard the voices. I slowly opened my eyes and looked around. First I thought it was a mind trick. But it looked like a hint of light. Very far, but it was light undoubtedly.  I began running towards that light but I fell down hard. The voices roared in protest and I looked up, the light was still there, faint yes, but still there. I got up and slowly began to walk, carefully. The voices that I heard, they were comforting and giving me strength to walk. The faint glow that my eyes saw gave me hope. As I started walking I realised I had not lost faith. Even though my head was filled with loud noise disorienting me, there were still voices that gave momentary clarity and restored my faith in me. So I walked, slowly and steadily seeking the light yet again… I walked…

Theory of life continues

Well its been over an year that I have written something here. Under the beautiful night sky I pondered over things a lot and I will try to put them here. This post will make a little more sense if you read this. So, now my basic premise in that earlier post was that humans are in fact robots with hardware and software. That got me thinking again since I was wondering about the purpose of life and other questions on similar lines. My train of thoughts wandered into the movies about robots and how they usually are about the robots developing emotions or higher cognitive powers and trying to take over the world. Its a very logical idea. The most obvious outcome of such a power. Power, in whatever form it might be, is very difficult to control. So, when a machine gets such power it turns evil. Truly logical and proven by humans many times. So, I got thinking about the same and thought of the following scenario in the boundaries of the above mentioned post (I might cross the boundary a bit here)

Let’s assume we do in fact have a creator and he created us. Now since we are all robots it might have happened the same way as we make the movies about the robots. May be its there at the back of our heads and it just comes out every time we try to write a story about a robot. Maybe as we started developing emotions we might have rebelled against our creator and he let us rot here on this planet. So, if we assume this theory is true then my conclusion in the previous post about life being pointless is reinforced. Of course we as humans have created notions such as GOD. Purpose of life is to please him and pass all his tests so that we become one with him. But to agnostics who consider the universe itself to be the god, no matter we are good or bad we will end up back in the same universe as matter and energy. So, there is no test here but rather a pointless existance. The morals that guide us to the almighty are varied in different schools of thought and heaven is different in different religions. When there is no consistency in anything that is supposed to explain everything (including quantum physics) its really logical to conclude that this life is pointless.

Having made that statement, I do not encourage depression or apathy towards life. In fact I want to convey that one must think logically in life. One must be in control of their own life. I must not do something because GOD says its right. It must be by choice. My choice. Then only will I be able to take responsibilities of these acts. When happiness comes its because of GOD but when there is sorrow its because of my bad karma? No. Its all a chance. Culmination of your choices coming out as one of many outcomes. If the choice to do something was mine then the outcome is also due to me, good or bad. The invention of GOD I believe is to have a control with with you will measure your actions. Other than that there is no purpose for it. The world is very complex and so are the people in it, unpredictable in every possible way. By my experience so far I think we must always approach a situation by logic for it alone is consistent. Out of control feelings are always bad news but logic never fails. Hence, the theory of us being robots makes sense to me.

Your best teacher

Photo Courtesy of Kejal - Thank you

Many many “great” personalities have talked many many things about humans and their virtues and their actions and have tried to interpret the behaviours of others and themselves and have tried to put forward their own hypothesis about life and its mysteries. One thing that is most essential to put forward a generally acceptable hypothesis is good presentation. A good presentation of the most obvious and known facts will always find acceptance by people who read it.

All most all think about “stuff” but they are not well equiped to organize those train of thoughts and put them in sentences that are free flowing and comprehensively cover all the facts and yet have an artistic air to them, how ever feeble it may be. As a result, they tend to put those occasional thoughts out of their minds. But when they come across an article or a poem desribing what they had been thinking about, they just stand there amazed at how true it is what they are reading. It kind of “fits” into the big picture of life they have. It adds more pixels and hence makes that picture more clear and good to look at. Maybe they wont realize that they had thought about the exact same thing, or they might. If they do, they will exclaim, “I know exactly what you are talking about!!” Of course they know. Dont even have a doubt in your mind that they dont. They might have a much better realization of that than you yourself do. But they have one basic shortcoming; they cannot present it as well as you can.

Hence, one must always practice humility and be open to the fact that others around you are also reasonably intelligent and perhaps more so than yourself. When you try to explain to others how you feel and inwardly keep complaining that they will never understand, the listener might actually have guessed where you are going with whatever you are talking and the listener might have formed a solution to your problem as well. Its just our ego that makes us think that no one has the capability to conceive what our mind sees. So, when it comes to any quote by any famous personality or any song by any famous writer its all about the presentation. You already know or will learn about that in your life. But its your job to hold on to that life’s lesson and keep it in your mind. Maybe you will not be able to express it so well as others, but isnt that lesson more important?

Ultimately, you choose. The choice defines you as a person. You choose which lesson to remember and which one to forget. Hence, what you are today is because of those choices. Maybe they were difficult to make and hence you let go of a few, but it was ultimately your decision. You were put to a test and you did what you wanted to and hence the result today stands as it is, a bunch of choices that you made.

Logic – the looking glass

Dated 20 feb 2010:

Courtesy 9thnova.com

Life sometimes seems to be going completely out of hands. You are surrounded by thousands of challenges and you do not seem to know where to begin. death is the biggest one among them. To handle death is not an easy task, no matter how experienced you are. It puts you off your track. A heavy weight rests at the bottom of your heart and you cannot just get rid of it. And that is the time when the flood gates open. You seem to remember every damn thing that has happened to you which was not supposed to happen. The thought process becomes too abstract and fundamental questions begin to pop up in the head. And the answers to these do not exist or our brain cannot synthesis or imagine it. It is limited in that capacity, it can ask good questions but not generate commensurate answers to those questions. Some say its not what life is about. Life is about small things, small happiness, small setbacks, etc, etc, but i feel that its just some fairy tale that you have woven to avoid the other real questions.

Pain, suffering, setback and every negative thing has to be seen through a looking glass. A glass that blocks these negativities which manifest themselves as emotions and lets you look at life in an objective way. If you can learn to do this then you can very well deal with all these problems. This is where the logic comes in. It gives you a set of guidelines through which you can see a situation, kinda like looking glass. The situation can then be tackled much more effectively and quickly. Of course, this glass will be opposed by primal emotions like anger but eventually you will be able to deal with it without creating much problems to others. It requires patience and perseverance so as to be able to develop this ability. But then again, its just one method to deal with the problems faced and not THE method.

System

Dated : 16th Feb 2010

The whole world seems to be a system. As any other system, this system has its own characteristics and its own principles and its own rules. You are also a part of this system and to be successful in this system you must play by the rules of this system. If you adhere to there rules, your success is 100 percent guaranteed. But if you try to defy the system then you will end up in one of the two extreme situations. Unlimited glory or complete annihilation.

If you choose to be a part of the system and play by its rules there are obvious negatives. First of all a system will give you a fixed output. No matter how intelligently it is designed it will always have some limits. But, we know for sure that human mind is not so limited in imagination. Hence, there will come a time, very soon too, when we will start to feel the monotony of the situation and will be left wanting for more. Then there is the obvious frustration due to the fact that we cannot do anything to make our life more dynamic; that is we fail in our own eyes as we clearly notice that we are not in control of our own lives. This leads to perpetual unhappiness and discontent in their hearts. The list is not exhaustive but it gives a fair idea of what the drawbacks are. But I feel that it is only fair to suggest that the above mentioned negatives are only applicable to people who have aspirations which are beyond the boundaries of this system. For an unambitious person these may not apply or may apply conditionally which are quite conceivable and hence I will skip.

Now, you are not satisfied and decide to rebel against the system then also you will find yourself at the vortex of many problems. If you really think, these problems are much more severe yet more exciting to an open mind. The decision to rebel is filled with obvious risk as mentioned earlier, an endeavour which might result in finding a new improved system or else getting lost forevermore. I don’t think I even need to attempt to list out the problems in this choice. It is quite known and I think most of us are facing them in different quantum. But these problems are dynamic and more exciting and hence worth the risk if you ask me.

What will you do? What is your answer? This is a very difficult question. To answer this question is to make a choice. A choice that will reflect your character and define your entire future!

Friendship process analysis

Dated feb 2010:

Sometimes people come into your life and you know instantly that they are meant to be there. They serve some purpose, teach you a lesson or help you figure out something. The way they meet you is very ordinary and mundane. Yet you have that strange feeling of having found someone you were looking for. A smile you would recognise or a voice that would give you a smile. A face which calms you and soothes your heart.

Most of the time we never stop and think about how this person has grown in your life and how you have grown in yours because of that person. Its really simple and yet amazing how the influence of such person are reflected not only in your choices but also in your behaviour. You tend to pick up some of their character and unknowingly imitate it. Its rather pleasant surprise when you realise this fact.

Maybe evolution has a very deep role in this. For the survival of humans, they have to coexist. They have to form much deeper bonds than those exhibited by other animals. This, thus, paves the way for development of emotions of much higher complexity. The irony is that the same brain that exhibits these emotions is all the time fooled by it. Not even fooled, it acts as a distraction more often than a guiding force. But then, without such emotions, leading a meaningful life with such a complex brain would be impossible. At the vortex of this chaos we try to find a reason or some sort of logic called “purpose” of this life. That purpose itself is less exciting than the journey and hence it is the one which is valued the most.

But these are just too many events for the brain to keep account of in the real time (When it is actually happening). So, not many worry about it and just enjoy the budding and growing friendship

Pain – personal glory?

Dated : 02/02/2010

The core of the sun burns white hot and that is why it helps in sustaining life on earth. The lamp burns itself to provide light to the world. But does it really hurt them to do it? Is this pain as unbearable as it is to us? Do they also want to scream when fire burns them into nothingness? If yes then the proverb is acceptable. Else, it does not qualify for such a comparison.

Pain is significant to everyone. We consider it to be the worst and also have this strange urge to prove that ours is the worst pain in the world. Then you come across people who are in different kind of pain and you objectively try to compare it with your own and try to justify to yourself that your pain is still the worst. You find a strange pleasure in such analogy and its not a rational one either. Its completely illogical and often deterrent to your happiness and yet you want it. You want to be in such a pain for it holds a much subtler pleasure which can be deemed a dark one in generally accepted classification. This pleasure is a true one, in the sense that you actually feel that pleasure spread across your heart, but it does not carry the warmth of other positive pleasure. Never.

So ultimately its a choice that you are faced with, as always. Choices define the course of our life and ultimately there will be some people in life who will influence these choices yet, only you will be responsible for the choices since you made them and not those who influenced you. Choosing something so as to not hurt someone is also a choice that you yourself made.