भूख (Hunger)

बदला बदला सा है लग रहा वो शक़्स क्यों  

के भूख नहीं जानती तहज़ीब-ो-अदब कोई 

शहर से जा रहा वो छाले लिए पैरों में 

के उसे बुला रहा गांव का टूटा घर कोई 

Last night I saw a very disturbing video of a migrant laborer eating a dead dog on a highway in Rajasthan. He must have been terribly hungry and destitute. This is the story of our laborers who leave their villages for cities to earn bread & butter. Cities have proved them wrong; there is no love for them. Employers have not paid them their dues and government is busy in blame games. The poor migrants are going though a very rough patch. That video shook me somewhere deeply and these poems came out. I applaud people who are helping them. At the end of the day, it is people supporting each other only.

The translation –

Why does that person seem different these days?

For hunger knows not of any manners & etiquettes

He is leaving the city with blisters on his feet

For that tattered hut in his village is calling him

Buddha

This is a rendition of 'Head of the Buddha', a sculpture dating back to 4th-5th century AD which belonged to the frontier region of Gandhara. Ref pic from 'The Story of Art' by E H Gombrich.

Medium- pencil

Adarsh Bahu

I have no appropriate words to describe how flabbergasted I feel at the news of Barkatullah University in Bhopal launching the ‘Adarsh Bahu Course’ (Ideal daughter-in-law Course). It is funny prima facie, but a serious look into it brings to fore some depressing truths. Even in these times when we find a pleasure in our non-traditional views and modern ways, such a course that aims towards training young women to become good housewives and brides is discouraging. We are pushing our women towards rut; forcing them to confine themselves into the space defined by the men with rotten patriarchal mindsets. We are manipulating them psychologically and making them visionless, dumb machines suitable only for domesticity, recreation and procreation. This course is a slap on our society that promises little gender equality. The overall situation remains as grim and gloomy as ever.

Also, the recent gang rape by a dozen men of a CBSE topper in Haryana reflects how low the already fragile male ego can stoop to any low to satisfy itself. The nincompoops who could achieve nothing have exacted this perverted revenge on a helpless girl who worked hard for her dreams. Intellectuals are leaving the country and brain drain is very high, colleges are struggling with lack of faculty and facilities, good health care is too expensive. In a nutshell, we are slipping into a dark one way ditch and the sooner we realize it, the better.

Decline

Hate crimes are on a steady rise. The communal harmony is declining and hatred is slowly darkening the love communities in India had for each other.

Medium- Pitt pens and color pencil

Teachers Day

Teacher’s day is just another day. There are students but no faculty. According to reports* the system of college education is India is worrisome and calls for urgent attention. Of the 2,426 posts for professors in central Universities, 1,301 are still vacant. In fact, in many colleges, there are no faculty members. The best faculty members and researchers prefer going abroad for various reasons that include better research facilities, elevated pay scales and many other benefits leading to a crisis in India’s University education system. The government has turned a blind eye towards this problem. The situation is dismal and there is a complete chaos that is fast spiraling out of bounds.   

*Hindustan Times (30 July, 18)

My Tweet Published in Newspaper!

My tweet on AIMIM Leader Mr. Asaduddin Owaisi was published by leading the Urdu newspaper 'Etemaad Daily News' 

Original tweet has been reproduced below-

Respected Sir, I waited the whole day just to listen to your speech. Sadly, you were given just a minute but even then, your speech was so passionate and eloquent. I loved your poetry as well.

I Don't Give a Damn!

Indian Masses-

Inflation is so high, fuel prices are on fire, unemployment is rising, farmers are killing 

themselves, rape- graph is steep. Everything is haywire

'Oh! where shall I go what shall I do?'

Government-

The Hungry Man

One in white and another in saffron

Both beguiled a nameless feeble man

On to their sides with much fervor

Tried all they could to win his favors

And preached him respective canticles

Their concepts of hell and paradise

Of death and being and after-life

Of religion, faith and myths

Of society, perks and benefits

And when all insight out they did blurt,

He was asked the side he would convert

Saffron and white, stress both did exert

But he thought for a moment and alleged

He belonged to the biggest assemblage

“I, of the clan and order of the hungry

Can be every color you want me to be

But any day I would surely choose

To thy range of Gods, a mouthful food”

Honestly said the man and glaringly stared

But white and saffron were as if prepared

They tagged him a mole of another color

Cried, nasty seemed his ‘humble’ answers

And for having their ‘pure’ image maligned

The hungry man was jailed, for speaking his mind

Second Book Available in India Also

My second book 'Swati's Marriage and Other Tales of India' is now available in India too on Amazon.in.

Please do visit my Author page 

My Second Book is Out!

I have a reason to cheer. By the Grace of God, my second book ‘Swati’s Marriage and Other Tales of India’ is out.

It has been published by Modern History Press, USA and will be available in India very shortly.  I am extremely thankful to Mr. Victor Volkman of MHP who made this book possible.

This book is a collection of 11 short stories that revolve around the lives of Indian women belonging to all social classes. It is not easy to be a woman in India and this book, through fictional stories, tries to explore various aspects of their lives, decisions and situations.

This book is available on Amazon.com

Speak Up With Montu!

I sincerely believe in the power of team work. After all it is this synergy only that makes the work happen in reality. There are many issues that plague our society at this point of time. Even after the advent of technology, things hardly have gone better as far as cleanliness and sanitation are concerned. The electronic junk and the hell lot of plastic waste that we have been generating for the past few years is posing a serious threat to our eco-system, to the cities and towns we live in. Take a stroll down any busy road and the first thing you will probably notice will be the heaps of garbage lying here and there along with the waste like empty plastic bottles and paper cups, flying like free radicals all along the road. This can be stopped and it will only take few simple steps towards the solution, which is ‘recycle and reduce’. 

There are various ways to make India ‘Swach’ and trust me, this does not involve a long broom and a mask but only some spare time and a dash of creativity. Prevention is always better than cure so it would be far better to avoid the stage when we will be forced to sweep through the streets and before the garbage becomes as toxic as it can, we should recycle the waste first hence reducing its quantity. Let’s start with recycling. As per dictionary this term refers to

•         Convert (waste) into reusable material.
•         Return (material) to a previous stage in a cyclic process.
•         Use again.

So basically, when we reuse a thing, say an empty bottle or a bag, we are recycling it. This not only generates less waste per capita (per head) but also reduces your carbon footprints in the long run that means you end up doing something worthwhile for the ecosystem that sustains you. It is like giving back something to your parents or maybe like donating a helpful amount to your alma mater. Hence, recycling, I think, would be the first step towards ‘Swach Bharat’. 

This is a small fish I made using a waste CD and waste plastic sheet and it was fun! Plastic bottles can be used in gardening and for making decorative vases. The Internet is flooded with such simple and interesting DIY craft ideas. Papers must be recycled and you can use the back of calendars (the plain white side) for book covers and waste A4 papers for random sketching or for making grocery lists. Another important thing is to reuse stationary. It is illogical to throw an entire pen just because you do not wish to take up the gigantic task of buying a new refill! Come on! Imagine if millions of Indians will reduce their carbon footprints and waste every day, we will become ‘Swach’ within a very short span! 

There are many ways to reuse the things we throw into the bin, that too without any segregation, every day. That empty bottle with a wide neck can be a good pen-stand if painted something upon and that old fashioned sari can be a good cushion cover. Donating things that are no longer in use instead of disposing them in garbage is another good idea. Old clothes, old toys and books, I think, must be donated to the needy. This way, in the long run, we won’t be bothered with the heaps of garbage parading themselves on the road sides.

Now, there is no need of bearing the agony within yourself for you can speak with ‘Ab Montu Bolega’ campaign brought to you by Strepsils! Just visit this amazing website http://www.abmontubolega.com/ and say whatever you have to regarding social changes. You can join Montu in speaking against socials plagues at FaceBook and Twitter as well! So, just pop and Strepsils and bolo whatever you wish to and please do not forget to recycle and reduce the waste!

‘Kyuki Bin Bole Ab Nahi Chalega’ #AbMontuBolega 
is a campaign that empowers people to speak up, raise their voice to make a difference against the ills that plague our society.   

I agree to ensure (to the best of my abilities and circumstances) that this blog post remains accessible in an un-altered state for a minimum of one year.

 Images From:

http://www.socreativethings.com/9-creative-ideas-to-reuse-plastic-bottles/

http://www.eco-generation.org/ambassadorReportView.jsp?viewID=1110

http://sketchosphere.blogspot.in/2010/09/cd-fish.html

A Toilet for Each Babli

A few years back, we went for a rural India project and, needless to say, on long highways with nothing but wild foliage and occasional eateries, toilets posed a huge issue. When we stopped at one eatery, we realized that the toilet was merely a hole dug up in the ground with a wild fence covered by an old sari. Also, it was really filthy. The boys somehow managed but we girls had come face to face with a nightmare. We found it shameful and offensive to make a circle covering the bare asses of the one whose turn was, waiting for ours. Anyways, with much embarrassment to everyone around, we too managed. At that point, many of us, I clearly remember, had discussed about the lives of thousands of women who have to face this humiliation every day till the end of their lives. Well, bowels, unlike a computer, can’t be programmed and nature’s call can come anytime; worse, when you are having loose motions or such an issue, the matters can take a shameful turn for sure. Even  at railway platforms in the wee hours, one can easily spot women of all ages, sitting because they are forced to do the same, as if a penalty of not having a toilet in their houses.

We Indians are such hypocrites that at one hand we force our women to stay veiled or wrapped in a ‘chunni’ all the time and on the other, do not give a damn about the embarrassment they face every day while defecating in the open. There are still, a whopping 597 million people who do not have a toilet at home. According to BBC, ‘Some 11,000 women would have escaped rape last year if they had toilets in their homes in India’. It is hard even to imagine that 30 women per day were raped only because of open defecation and lack of proper sanitation. A similar data by ‘Sulabh international’ sanitation NGO also accentuates the same finding that in rural India, open defecation is the major culprit behind most rapes.

Another disturbing fact is that lack of sanitation affects women education very adversely. According to a report, more than 30% of rural teenage girls (12-18 years) leave school forever only due to lack of toilets there. The news and sights of open defecation, rapes and lack of sanitation effects tourism too and India, if we have to make a brand out of it, needs a tourism boost and hence sanitation has rather become an emergency for economic development.

Thank fully, there are many such organizations that are working towards making Indian open-defecation free and one of them is ‘Domex’ that aims to build 24,000 toilets by 2015 in rural India. This flagship sanitation brand from ‘Hindustan Unilever Limited’ has started a unique initiative called ‘Toilet for Babli’ where ‘Babli’ represents all the young rural girls forced to defecate in the open due to lack of toilets at home. You too can support and change many lives simply by supporting ‘You Click Domex Contributes’ by clicking ‘contribute’ tab on their website www.domex.in and supporting the online campaign ‘Toilet for Babli’. For every click, Domex will contribute Rs 5 towards making our Indian villages open-defecation free.

So, like clean water, food and sleep, we require sanitation too in order to stay clean, hence stay healthy and contribute towards making India stronger and cleaner.

You can bring about the change in the lives of millions of kids, thereby showing your support for the Domex Initiative. All you need to do is “click” on the “Contribute Tab” on www.domex.in and Domex will contribute Rs.5 on your behalf to eradicate open defecation, thereby helping kids like Babli live a dignified life.

I agree that this blog post will remain accessible in an un-altered state for a minimum of one year.

Image From: http://www.dasra.org/Dasra-in-the-news

Has India managed well in the times of recession?

The global recession is perhaps the most used, or rather misused word today, being quoted by everyone from semi-literate laymen to the ‘hyper-literate’ pundits of financial world alike. There is no dearth of theories, explanations, figures of losses, forecasts for short and long durations, advices, fears, hopes, bail-out packages, job cuts; anything we could think of that is even remotely connected with the recession. The point here is not the technical details, figures or analyses of the situation; they are plenty everywhere. It is the spirit of India and its instinct of survival in this scenario that is the subject.

To start with, the present recession can be considered a classic example of what is known as the ‘butterfly effect’*, or ‘domino effect’**. Briefly saying, the origin of this crisis lies in the greed of realtors in USA who started sub-prime lending, i.e. lending to the borrowers with dubious capabilities of repayments who then resorted to sub-lending the loans. This chain ultimately lead to gigantic bad debts and swallowed the multi-billion dollar US housing-finance giants like Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Their collapse in turn triggered fall of other big investors who suffered losses in real estate investments, finally causing a panic in the financial markets, resulting in heavy selling and pull out of money and consequential free fall of share indices. The reaction grew only worse and spread to other parts of the world. The end result was free fall of global markets, shrinking or total collapse of many a business entities and massive job-cuts all over the world.

While there have been doomsday predictions every where equating the present crisis with the worst ones in the history, comparatively India has managed and fared well, so far. That India is insulated from the global crisis is nobody’s case. There have been visible effects of the global slowdown. But certainly the effect here is much less than the macabre scenario of financial markets that is projected in the more developed nations.

 The fall in the GDP growth rate and loss of jobs has not been as heavy as was initially feared, although the share market indices have since fallen steeply. In some cases, there have even been pretty good fresh investments and job-inductions.

When the USA and Europe look frightened of the future, an average Indian does not seem to be so badly hit. Things are still moving, albeit at a slower rate. The reason is not far to seek. Indians are known the world around for their perseverance and capability to adapt. Another factor is the Indians’ somewhat emotional and social approach in every sphere of life, business included. This explains our way of dealing with the present crisis, with far less lay-offs than anywhere else.

But a rather least noticed fact is that in our country a very major part of population is in fact NOT involved with the investments in share markets, realty or other such financial activities, but is still largely dependent upon the informal trading at local level, say in the small time markets nearby the living places for daily needs- local fruit, vegetable or grocery shop, milk vendor, domestic and other personal services etc, due to lower earning and living standards, and partly because of a conservative approach towards money. These are market systems which are somewhat insulated from the large scale formal financial network of national level, which is affected harder by the global crisis. It is this second level informal social trading system which is still holding strong like a steel framework that keeps us going even in face of the worst global financial crisis.

[* Metaphorically, a butterfly fluttering its wing in one part of the world could possibly trigger a hurricane in another part of the world.

** One event triggers a spate of similar events that propagates like a wave going long distances.]

 

 I wrote this for my college magazine :D

Sarojini Naidu ( 1879-1948)

This poetess also known as Nightingale of India, was also the very first Indian women president of Indian National Congress.

Jai Ho!!! - But Kiski ??

Well I am feeling stuffed, tensed and choked again. As I opened the TV, it was flooded with the news of 8 Oscars the movie Slumdog Millionaire has won. My God! The whole country has gone crazy!!...People have proved that there are only two religions in India– movies and cricket. By the way, except for AR Rehman’s and Pookutty's awards, what exactly do we have for celebration? Their awards are for their own technical skill apart from the story. Only these can be called the ones truly bagged by Indians. Otherwise, what are we so excited that we are celebrating... for the parade of our country’s black side to the rest of the world? What are we so proud of? Should we really do so?

But my point is, making money and popularity by showcasing our penury is definitely not digestible. This movie has shown all the poverty and distress in details to outside world giving the ‘real’ picture of India. Agreed, we have slums, we are still juggling with penury and hunger, but then does even the USA not have its own slums, its dens of crime? There are a lot many countries worse off than India. And India has brighter faces as well.

Similar is the case with 2008 Man Booker Prize winning book ‘The White Tiger’ by Arvind Adiga. The very concept is strange prima facie; the protagonist, a slum urchin rises all the way through all possible means including robbery and murder to become a white collar entrepreneur. Then he writes to the Chinese Premier giving graphic details of his ‘successful rise’ as well as of the countryside’s dark life. It might seem interesting for the foreigners, but for us the stark realities of slums are everyday sights. And other countries don’t have better or no slums. We don’t need entire (and so depressing) book to understand it.

Slumdog Millionaire is not Indian but a British movie shot in India and was released here later. Lovleen Tondon, the assistant director was roped in to get the local flavor. Even the lead actor Dev Patel is out and out an NRI.

Also, an amazing movie like Tare Zameen Pe (TZP) was packed home. I feel TZP showed how cinema can be used as a powerful medium to the benefit of the society and changed the way every parent, teacher and even our sleepy government looked at the school children. The government actually made amendments in the existing rules to give dyslexic kids half an hour extra in Boards.

We have a mental block that ‘west’ means ‘best’ and crave for its approval for our best. I strongly feel Oscars are over hyped. We need to shun chasing them and maintain our self confidence. Though India has gained independence long back, we still continue to be mental slaves to the white skin.

EATING ALONE ??? HAWWW !!!!!

We keep reading about the independence of women all over. Each and every magazine and newspaper publishes something related to this topic every weekend. But is it really so in actual life? Except for a few Celebes, are Indian women really confident enough to face the world? Well, we actually have no logical and straight answer to this question, given all the different cultures and societies in a huge cultural melting pot known as India.

But my point is based on a thing I have noticed: why are we so paranoid about eating out alone. And why do we give mixed reactions of surprise and awe when we spot someone who is doing so? Is it a crime? Is it illegal, very outlawish, attracting a penalty? Why do we make our faces in protest when we spot someone, specially a girl, eating alone? We tend to jump to many conclusions, like

· she is devoid of all the friends in the world,
· she is very much single, willing to mingle
· she is depressed (poor soul),
· she has a lot of chutzpah, and yes,
· she is very western.

That poor girl (eating out alone) might not have any of these qualities. Are we really schizophrenic??at one hand we push our girls to step out alone, telling them to face the life and on the other pass strange looks?

WE, THE HYBRIDS...aren't we???

For last few days I had been thinking of writing again. But the traditional paper and pen thing is too tiresome for a lazy bone like me so it got delayed. There are a lot of things to write about, where should I start from... From Oscars to Obama-mania, from Slumdog Millionaire to SRK over-hype, from terrorism to extremely irritating and disturbing peace marathons (wow! busy Celebes have time to run, but have to time for worthwhile things!).

India is changing that’s true. We are the hybrid children; I mean to say the hybrid generation. Because when liberalization, privatization and globalization (LPG) happened in 1991, we were quite small and while we were really growing up; the changes were too fast to keep pace with, and too dominant to ignore, no matter how much our parents wanted to insulate us from new fads. Like the pundits of consumer behavior have classified generations as baby boomers etc, I too have a management jargon ready: ‘The hybrid kids’. By definition these are the people born between 1980 to 1990. We have been a witness to all the changes and developments, actual and proposed (though their ratio is never balanced!) and the small changes that have been taking ever since India opened up her veil to face the entire world. These developments have been interesting and reflect the changing India. From cinema to small screen and from the way common people now dress and eat to the gizmos even the kids use with remarkable dexterity. Children now have a strong mentality of their own and are followers no more and this has been a dominant factor in shaping the consumer behavior and consequently, the strategies the brand retailers now apply. Well, actually that’s not the main focus of my article; it is, do hybrid kids feel some sort of identity crisis?? Yup, I feel so... That’s where we crib of the generation gap.

Is it true?

The rate of change has been exponential. Since around start of nineteenth century the machines won over the traditional labor and ever since, have not stopped churning millions of units of homogenous products. The trend has since been on acceleration, particularly after the WW-II. To absorb all this new tactics of selling, branding, creative advertising, etc., or what we can call ‘neo-marketing’, etc was created. The still young and potential markets in the countries like India and China are being targeted by the marketers the world over. Luxury brands that once considered coming to India an insult and down gradation are now flocking as their snobbish markets are now facing recession and saturation.

What I wish to convey in this article is that though changes have been exponential, gaining much force and momentum with each passing year, month and even week, the generation that has observed and felt both the pre- and neo-changes is us, the children born between 1980-1990, for we have seen combined and nuclear families, docile and fiercely independent women within the same families, Hamara Bajaj and Hayabusa, Ek Chidia to Shakira, Mile sur mera tumhara to Rolling Stones rock concerts, no to full makeup, long to micro minis and what not !

I mean, no other generation have seen changes so paradigm. The previous generation saw changes taking place slowly without disturbing their existing balance but we have been on a roller coaster ride ever since we were born.

And our growing up years have witnessed a changing environment outside and a tiff between traditional and modern lifestyles at home…

isn’t it true that we face an identity crisis? What do u think?

Uncle Sam too in queue for free lunch!!

Is it really a fact or we just perceive it that way. Was the USA always a superpower or it has just behaved like one, I mean here the attitude. Brand America is perceived as a very strong, individualistic and dominant economy. Such brand personality has helped Uncle Sam maintain a reverend authority (perceived or real) since decades.

We have always taken west as a benchmark in everything we do, commercial or non commercial, and consciously or subconsciously look for stamps of approvals of west, particularly USA even for our own accomplishments. We are decades past the colonial rule but the ‘white is superior’ mentality still prevails. But, now slowly the tables seem to be turning. The year 2008 saw a new version of USA. The Wall Street failed and became the fall street. Even the US Government’s enormous bail out package is not proving of much help; instead, it has won US a jocular title of being a new USSR: the United States Socialist Republic! So, watch out, all those fans of Ayan Rand (the self proclaimed salesperson of capitalism)! there is a clear proof that capitalism too is not perfect.
(NEHRU OF INDIA & LENIN OF USSR)

India adopted a socialistic model that was very heavily inspired by the USSR (now this big entity has broken down). Nehru was impressed so he cut-pasted the formula here too; it failed miserably. The corrupt government officials hampered the nation’s progress. Poor became poorer while the black money market thrived. Public sector became synonymous with bribery and corruption. Though Indira Gandhi did some things very effective, like self sufficiency in food production, looking from the marketing and consumerism point of view, the business and entrepreneurship had literally no scope in India. Sabir Bhatia, Laxmi Niwas Mittal, etc are few examples of how people became successful when they went out of India. License permit raj ruled the roost. A 5 years waiting for a phone, bribery at each step, etc were rampant. They remain even now but, if seen in juxtaposition, the once-upon-a-time humble Indian consumer now commands the market and makes the even the biggest MNCs dance to his tunes. These ‘magical’ powers have come because of the LPG- liberalization, privatization and globalization. Though I am not finding flaws in the socialism but my point is that it failed USSR and India as well.

(DR. MANMOHAN SINGH & PVN RAO)

At last, the sleepy Indian government woke up, played a gamble (we borrowed heavily from the World Bank) and luckily, won, courtesy the Narsimha Rao govt. in 1991. It was a push factor rather than a choice. So India ‘had’ to open her gates wide to the rest of the world. Thus the poor and humble Indian consumer was made aware of his magical powers and he got a choice like never before. India got a fast makeover, and faster in the later part of this decade. Thus, it can be concluded that socialism flopped but this does not means that capitalism is infallible!

The salesman for capitalism, USA saw its biggest nightmare come true. Though India struggled a lot to stand properly after independence (if we compare to Japan, then we have performed poorly) the reverend king USA has also not been an A grader. Most people do agree with socialistic model of the government but to say capitalistic model is right, I feel is not appropriate.

At last everyone seems to be turning to a mixed economy model, may be with minor modifications.