Stay Unfair!

Beauty lies in the eyes that behold is it??

Then,Why this obsession with fairness??

I was appalled, watching an ad that endorses a fairness cream for the armpits!!!

Blatant and subtle reinforcements that only fair is lovely. The men also have joined the community that campaigns for guaranteed fairness in just a few days. Such pressure, of all the problems a woman faces in a multi-cultural society like India,watching this ads will leave a petty person with low self esteem, facing identity crisis and very few friends!

Hmm.. Racism! If the North East people are driven out from economic hubs like Bangalore, the South Indians are portrayed always dark in the thriving movie industry with a thick Hindi accent, often made fun of! May be it is enough fun. Seeing whats on the inside of a person may be too much to ask for,and sometimes may converge into opposing what they believe in.. yup,I mean casteism and communal-ism  may be not judging them for what they are outside,staying neutral, will have much to do to boost them up! If you don't agree with me, do not comment on the Islamophobic tweets against a PIO winning Miss America(FYI, I think she would not have won over the panel of judges if she were here,she is dark!). When we say unity in diversity proudly,then why try and bleach everyone,we must be ready to take all that multi-culturalism has got to offer.

Anyways, it is not necessary to be sucked up into this statistical view portraying affinity for people to marry fair people, and gaining self worth is something worth waiting for, for one and all(Where is this coming from? -A recent tryst with my cousin's wedding plans).

Just one thing, if the others do not support, it is never too late to stand up for oneself.

Stay Unfair,Stay Beautiful!! Dark is beautiful.. 

After all,chocolate is wonderful! ;)

Gandhi - Guevara

It is always the simple things that catch thy breath.

Before I start, let me make it clear,I was and am not a Gandhian. I don't think  I can ever achieve as high a pedestal as is required to qualify myself to be called or to call myself a 'Gandhian'.

You ask me what I've got?

Recently-I was ashamed to have known this only recently- I came to know about the visit of Che Guevara's visit to India.
I have read his books on Guerrilla warfare and his Motorcycle Diaries,but was ignorant of the possibility of him making a visit to the country that was taking shape from the spoils of the greatest struggle ever know to form a nation.

Che Guevara being greeted by an Indian

Well, the best thing of knowing this interesting trivia is that it makes us dig a little deeper to know that Che actually admired Gandhi and his methods of Non-violence.

For Che,hunger is a violent condition forced upon the hungry and he finds violence an unavoidable method to counter it. For Gandhi, violence is a boomerang, which once unleashed against the oppressor would only return to chase the oppressed.

Despite Che's strong ties to violence his endorsement of Gandhi's non-violence is a historical  and a significant possibility of food for revolutionary thought, not to forget the impending nature of the possibility of changing the views on the intimacy that two ideologies that are perceived to be diagonally opposite can possibly hold.

Well,the fact is, as children we were brought up basing our conscience on the basis of morals that the simple but splendid wisdom that Panchatantras lend us, as an ancient civilization.

We have many adages that have a moral scrutiny on us. I had one doubt after reading that if two great leaders of opposite ideologies could embrace the possibility of tolerance towards the other ideology so much,why can't we?
Why do most of have revolutionary thoughts that are, more often than not directed towards violent means? Why?

Is it that 'Tit for Tat' the most understandable moral we got from our ancestors? Was it that easy to implement? Probably yes. When a highly inferred 'Athidhi Devo Bhava', with a universal domain goes out,the highly self-centric and carelessly construed 'tit for tat' comes in. It is applied,in a crudely reverse-engineered form. Sadly,it is understood as a violent form. Even Gandhiji was not against it, when carefully observed:

"First they ignore you,
then they laugh at you,
then they fight you,
then you win!"

The same holds with religion I guess.
Blasphemy,when not allowed, more often than not gives rise to a new religion. Catholic blasphemy gave rise to Protestant ethics considering the broad contours in which we take religion as a way of living. Blasphemy inherent in the inquisitiveness of certain religions  is one that reinforces the faith in perennial tolerance. Sometimes, asking questions becomes more important than finding the answers. I think this reinforces that change need not always be revolutionary or sudden. It is not supposed to be whimsical or overhauling. May be the best the change can adapt to depends on its subtlety of engaging in tolerance towards  blasphemy.

Look at us,in a vacuum, if all the above discussion was null and void,when someone comes and slaps us, if the person next to you says slap back, whether or not you think twice before doing it, you ll never ask him back 'Are you mad?'. But when the same person asks you to show him the other cheek, you surely will.

I never understood the concept of radical change. So here is my question: Is radicalism the first-to-go solution, really? I am confused. Are ideologies mass-driven because they can be easily instilled and retained till the objective is attained?


May be, for the generations to come, Tit-for-Tat will not be a distorted reverse-engineered violence. Hope can never die right...
True, there are no Blacks and Whites, there is always a grey we can never overlook. May be the best medicine is in fact Tolerance, or may be there is no one panacea that holds good. Of-course, War is Qualitatively different from a Struggle, A revolution from a eased-in-change! 

Seriously, Do opposites really exist at all?
What can I say, I am back to square one.It IS the simple things that catch thy breath.

So Close, Yet So Far!

Only 2 days before the journey I was looking forward to recently, I came across this really disturbing article, which got quite popular on the social networking sites, claiming that the death of the rape victim was hushed up for a few days with money. My friends were also a little sceptical about that. However, I chose not to believe some random article to blame the system to be so corrupt, we've seen the protest was profound.I just made peace with people having different lookout on different things and moved on to other articles. May be, I was not ready to accept the fact that those in such responsible positions, by saying responsible, I don't mean the officials alone,will be using such a sensitive issue to take a chance to make money.Naive! That is the only word I can think of for describing myself!

Days after she lost her life,Just when my friend was telling me today the rape, in a two or three days there will be some other thing, we ll turn the pages of the newspaper and forget it, I had to take a cab, the very next day, not so early in the morning, but quite early at 8 a.m and I was glad even though the police stopped the car just 2 minutes after we started and I was getting late, but I was glad because they stopped the cab because the glasses were tinted light grey, translucent vision for the outsiders, not the completely opaque tint, I felt good, as the repercussions of the rape case brought in some really strong measures, and unlike the traffic rules, which are more often than not violated are being strictly mandated and taken care of. I felt proud, to have known that all is not lost. A moment of happiness and reassurance for not taking into the articles. Well that didn't long last!

After about 10 minutes out of the cab, the driver came back in and started driving towards the destination. I was curious to know how he got off from the police. He casually answered 'I gave him Rs 200!' . I can't say I was shocked,but I felt really sad. Just when I thought, we are getting close as nation, a step,though tine, closer to making women feel safe, this incident took me light years away,pushing hope into abyss! Oh! So close, yet so far! Reiterating, yet again, that laws can not be all.. I shut my brain up! Not one is to be blamed. We are all the same, and that is a shame!

Just when I thought the taint of this city, I love like crazy, of being a rape capital can be washed out, with organisational determination, the malady of corruption comes from behind with a dagger,betraying while making space to restate inefficiency in every form possible. Are we really hoping for too much? Can the dreams of the head being held nigh ever come true? Well even if there is a remote chance of that happening, the fare seems to be too high to pay.

Money!! Money!! Whether we sail or drown, whether the terminus will be sought in good shape. Yeah, true but tragic, money, it seems is the one thing that deceives us from dreams and makes vulnerable enough to succumb to the desires! 

Why was I so upset, when I already knew what was going to happen? It was nothing new. Well, I could answer that only with one word 'Hope'. Hopefully, atleast that ll never die. I guess I am too curious to know the power of unity to say 'No'. The collective urge to realise that 'Being Human' just means, a little trust and faith, a little give and take, a little philanthropy and selfishness, a little rage and equanimity,a little sorrow and a tad of happiness, all put together. May be that is the miracle we are all working together for.

Yesterday it was a brutal rape, today a sewn time bomb inside a jawan's belly.What all we get to see!! And we talk of being human! The only things being constant are corruption and deception, and they always give ample space to the acute veneration for tomorrow. Is any step we take really taking us forward?

Sigh!

Doubts

Doubts, yeah doubts. I have too many of them.

Is today's 'Education' really the panacea we are looking for? Or is there more?

Many things we need can wait, but the child can’t. To him, we can’t say ‘tomorrow’. Because his name is ‘today’. 

Lately, I realized, contemplating comes involuntarily most of the times. A wide smile that lights up a room doesn't always mean complete, absolute happiness. Change can be as minuscule as maximal it can be. But whatever it is, it is good. Because, yeah... I came to make peace with the notion that utopia is utter boredom,there always has to be some place for change. May be it is but an exaggeration, but I am here to throw light on what I came across recently, and I just got caught up there. May be I should get it out of my system to move on,so I write.

As always, I boil down every human problem to the only panacea I realized since childhood, and that was, is and I guess which always will be ‘Education’. I thought education can change everything, as much as I realize I was right I also realized I couldn't have been more wrong. I miss those days where we can run along the corridor, catch up with a teacher who is taller than you, just to ask a doubt.. So that she can bend down to listen and clarify what is bugging a tiny brain. I miss those days where you raise your hand to get the teacher’s attention just to ask a question so loud to be audible enough to get the doubt clarified. Yeah, back then, I had math doubts.. May be languages and sciences.. But now, I cannot even place some doubts into any genre and my mind doesn't stop blabbering. Well, 20 days at home a bunch of movies and awesome food, may be everyone gets many doubts.

• Change doesn't come to us running if we sit idle. It has got some ego, we need to go there and persuade it to come along and join us, and so is success. While we criticize ego, we try to hold on to it, as that is what gives us the identity we crave for,right?

• Whatever the change the visionaries have anticipated, and strove for, I speak now, actually, we speak now, with the benefit of hind sight that it is inadequate, but we take time to realize that it was relevant and that was what has helped us pave the way to reach this day. Why is it that change has never been overhauling? Why is it always in small doses? Is it like a medicine that the societal system can only take as much as it can agree?

• Just because you know it is panacea, it doesn't mean that it will be the right thing to follow blindly. Doing the right thing is not what matters. Doing the right thing right is what beckons change right into the lap. Every idea that is in shape has to be efficient.It is the idea that is the world around us. So we say, Action has to always accompany idea, so there is no such thing as a handicap right?

• Aspirations can never fall short. But they have to spend more time with action. What appears as the toughest time, as Aun San Suu Kyi said the other day is the time when you think success is round the corner, but sometimes, turning round seems like eternity. There are no short-cuts to truth are they?  Why is it that there is no end to where inspiration can take us?

• Does beauty really lie in the eyes that behold? Don’t you think, all our eyes are tied with the handcuffs of stereotyped socialization? Let me tell this small thing.. fair is beauty, dark is ugly or tall is appealing short is not. At least that is what is endorsed in the million dollar ads that are all around us. If it is so, then where does the eye have space,to make a choice of stamping something as beauty, without going into various apprehensions?

• Initially the bell had no religious symbolism. It was used to grab the attention of the masses. Mind is where things are born. Mind is wonderfully weird while being cautiously vibrant. How is it possible that it is always capable of rhetorically giving life to antonyms, while placing side by side, making conflict inevitable?
• Why is fear so timid? It ultimately takes the form of the brave,it succumbs, with no choice,none at all.

Yeah, I got all these ramblings shouting at me from inside my brain after I watched a bunch of movies. Hmm.. Of what, like, say 5 languages. I know, mind is one thing that never shuts up I guess. Well, here is the realization part, these days I answer everything with this: The Sword and Shield analogy.

Let me take 'Education', as I mentioned earlier. I am not here to endorse or criticize any government program. Because I always think that change that is eternal always comes from within and not from the external push. Education, as a shield, can only protect you from what you don’t want to be. It is rout.It can’t change anything, like we know.. It is memorizing and blurting out. A shield is incapable of inducing change. However, Education like a sword,creative, agile and intelligently adaptable, will protect you, while you shape your surroundings according to what you aspire. A sword, it is creative, dynamic and at the same time protectively hindering. It is not a dagger that kills. A sword moulds what is at your disposal to whatever is the best thing that could be at use right then, right there.

I could not help myself from applying that to 'Talking'. Talking, when used as a shield, is just a protection. It will not give you the dauntless valour to defend against the wrong. Most of the time, it makes you end up ignoring or overlooking it, just to appease to the surroundings. But, talking, as a sword it is one thing that empowers you, that is when you actually talk of the ideas, the vibrancy of the human mind is articulated. Furthermore, I could immerse myself in reasoning this analogy for Listening, smiling, relations and everything, and just when I was thinking, everything has two extreme ends of application,I realized,there is always a third option. Not the both, or may be the both. The sword and the shield. After all, the best wars were won where they all had utilized the both. Well, it is time to for us to get out of the stereo type education systems, and socialization. Well beyond the sword and the shield,there is always more to explore, that is where our vision should lead the light to. That is where we can say, aim of life, not of the dreams. Dreams always have the chance of ‘if’, if we really are here to aspire, I don’t think we can leave that little space. I hope, I made some sense, as this is going a little over my head right now. Or may be I have more doubts. 

Yeah true, now I realize it is very simple to be happy, but it is very difficult to be simple.

I think it is time to say Night night now. Adios!

PS:: A really long hiatus beckons.Living sans technology is finally appealing to be fun. <Hibernation mode>

Black and White. And also the Greys..

Just because we look, Doesn't mean we like it..
Just because we like, Doesn't mean we love it..
Just because we love it, Doesn't mean we'll love the whole..
Just because we love the whole, Doesn't mean we'll love it for all times to come..
Because, change is the only thing that is constant, 
The only thing that keeps us going.. 
The way we embrace it is the way we see, 
The perspective, the future.. 
The look might make us love the whites, 
Get awed by the blacks of the picture.. 
But, the thing is we always comfortably ignore the greys 
Only to find that the whole life lies there..

Brought up by the old, 
Growing up with the young, 
That is the rule of the nature..
We have all seen the black and the white, 
The thing is how we imagine the grey.. 
How we start treasuring it..

The bad doesn't get better without a change..
The bad doesn't get to being the best without the greys.. 
We have to pass them all.. see them all.. know them all..
And all we know, is we are comfortable ignoring them..
Though we know,the only way to change.. Is not overnight..

For all those who say, tomorrow is going to be the same..
Millions of people pity you..
Because they know that tomorrow is better..

For all those who ask, what the change was..
Take a hard look at what you do everyday, every minute..
Because,there are a million voices saying that they have seen the change..

For all those who say, no one has done anything to improve,
A billion voices, respectfully disagree..
Only to ask 'Are you the no one?'

For all those who ask, what did the land give me,for me to give back..
Millions of eyes show you that..
A mother gives you birth..
What else would you want as a reason to love her..
And make her live the way she wants?
You are what you are, because she made you that!


There is something unique in this soil, which despite many obstacles has always remained the abode of great souls.

And they are all taking the 66th step.. Only towards a brighter, happier, optimistic and sought after India..  

Where there are accessible, affordable and accountable medical facilities, literacy and education, awareness and employment, and oppurtunities for all.. Free and harmonic social relations with regulated freedom. Now that we are here, it is time to prove that every change has to be towards the better, and that we are the agents of it to happen..

But before we say something pessimistic,Let us remember that..

Shades of grey wherever we go..
The more we find out, the less that we know..
Black and white is what we wish to see..
But shades of grey are the colours we see,
May be it is just an assurance,
The blacks blend to greys.. Only to meet the whites..
Making "Life".. PICTURE PERFECT!
And every second we move towards it.. Strive for it..

-To, my mother India..!!
Nope... May be, I'd want to say,Our mother India! :)