another chance

It is eating into me.
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let me give it another chance (or the first chance??)

kharcha, paani

Khorcha Koro

God chose Netaji's birthday to jolt pagla ladka with these words. God chose a fine spring day to introduce free India's way of working. It should have been no surprise, it should have been no shock. But it was. It struck him.

Twenty pious years, pagla ladka(referred as PL/pagla from now) was kept away from the cruel world by his parents. But for how long?? He had to confront it one day. And this was the opportune moment, when he least expected.

CORRUPTION - huh!!! PL remembers a survey he read somewhere at a time when he was pure. India was placed on a lowly 88th spot out of around 150 nations on the corruption index (1st is the least corrupted). The survey termed it as a 'severe situation'. But where was this devil?? PL did not get a chance to see it. But for how long??

'Source' - this was something PL heard often. There were instances when he saw that one having proper 'source' could actually make things do. Unfortunately(??), this was something PL could never take advantage of. But that was the worst of all viciousness he had seen until the 22nd of January.

PL was now in an institute of repute. A place where his mom n dad would've thought their pagla son would be shielded from the iniquitous world. Sad....they were wrong.

December'07, PL sets off for his first 'sarkaari' mission. To get his passport done. ehh!! not that he needed a passport...it was a just-like-that thing. Maybe to get a feel of doing things for the first time for himself, without the help of his parents.

With the Kolkata tour, begun proceedings. With almost no queue in the passport office and things done with in just around an hour, PL was pleased with himself and the 'system'. Though, the return journey to his home was painful (that is another story).

It is the second step which holds the crux of discussion - police verification. Even after as many as 3 rounds to the police station, the concerned officer was always missing. This guy comes all the way from midnapore(not very sure) on particular days which interestingly turn out to be sundays and national holidays. That too, he is quite irregular. Anyways, finally, on the 23rd day of January, the two - PL and the officer meet. Infact there was a third, the officer's assistant.

The passport officer turned out to be the cartoon of the century. With extremely poor, or no english & hindi speaking skills, he was turning out to be irritating. Adding salt to wounds was his habit of giving unvalued opinion on almost everything. Anyways, somehow, he managed to extricate both PL's and dipa's forms out of the pile he had.

Now was the turn of the assistant, who created a furore over a certain new rule introduced. This rule was supposed to make second year students(PL fell in this category) almost ineligible to get a passport. Though, after much coaxing, he accepted that the rule is often not considered in cases like PL's. Hence he would get the passport unless some other trouble crops up.

This cheered up PL(and his friend dipa who incidentally was also with him). Pagla filled up the form in haste - his name, father's name, village where he was born, the post office and what not. Anyways, after much deliberation with the passport officer over what should be filled in the 'village' column, the form-filling ceremony was over. The officer, thankfully, did not take time for signing their forms.

It is the next thing which is the reason for writing such a long prelude. The passport officer handed over the form to the assistant who took PL and dipa in a corner(for something dirtier than you might think). He straight-away, with no hesitation whatsoever uttered -

khorcha koro

For the convenience of non-bengali speaking junta(though you might have guessed already), 'shell out money'. PL had seen the assistant taking people earlier to this corner, he never guessed it could've been about money (or probably he had thought about it sub-consciously). The money was obviously to assure that your form goes through the police verification part with no hassles. They call it 'bribe'. Yeah, it exists - PL couldn't immediately break out of the realms of his fantasy-India.

200 for each. Whoa!!! PL brought himself in terms with reality and immediately bargained to 300 for the two. The devil immediately agreed. And in no time did the two fools pay and leave satisfied that their passports would reach them soon.

Huh!!! and now pagla ladka regrets. frets. rues. repents. The image he had of the 'system' was no doubt shattered. But why did he bend?? Why couldn't he do something about it?? Why didn't he do something about it?? And, why does nobody do anything about it?? questions, questions and questions....ohh!! pagla's head is in an excruciating pain. he is cursing himself. something needs to be done. but what?? do you do something against it?? do you have the answer??

India is prospering...hmmm

pagla regrets. frets. rues. repents.

Gandhi.....??

This is the speech given by Nathuram Godse in the court for his defense in the case of assassination of Mahatma Gandhi

Born in a devotional Brahmin family, I instinctively came to revere Hindu religion, Hindu history and Hindu culture. I had, therefore, been intensely proud of Hinduism as a whole. As I grew up I developed a tendency to free thinking unfettered by any superstitious allegiance to any isms, political or religious. That is why I worked actively for the eradication of untouchability and the caste system based on birth alone. I openly joined anti-caste movements and maintained that all Hindus were of equal status as to rights, social and religious and should be considered high or low on merit alone and not through the accident of birth in a particular caste or profession. I used publicly to take part in organized anti-caste dinners in which thousands of Hindus, Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, Chamars and Bhangis participated. We broke the caste rules and dined in the company of each other.

I have read the speeches and writings of Dadabhai Nairoji, Vivekanand, Gokhale, Tilak, along with the books of ancient and modern history of India and some prominent countries like England, France, America and’ Russia. Moreover I studied the tenets of Socialism and Marxism. But above all I studied very closely whatever Veer Savarkar and Gandhiji had written and spoken, as to my mind these two ideologies have contributed more to the moulding of the thought and action of the Indian people during the last thirty years or so, than any other single factor has done.

All this reading and thinking led me to believe it was my first duty to serve Hindudom and Hindus both as a patriot and as a world citizen. To secure the freedom and to safeguard the just interests of some thirty crores (300 million) of Hindus would automatically constitute the freedom and the well being of all India, one fifth of human race. This conviction led me naturally to devote myself to the Hindu Sanghtanist ideology and programme, which alone, I came to believe, could win and preserve the national independence of Hindustan, my Motherland, and enable her to render true service to humanity as well.

Since the year 1920, that is, after the demise of Lokamanya Tilak, Gandhiji’s influence in the Congress first increased and then became supreme. His activities for public awakening were phenomenal in their intensity and were reinforced by the slogan of truth and non-violence, which he paraded ostentatiously before the country. No sensible or enlightened person could object to those slogans. In fact there is nothing new or original in them. They are implicit in every constitutional public movement. But it is nothing but a mere dream if you imagine that the bulk of mankind is, or can ever become, capable of scrupulous adherence to these lofty principles in its normal life from day to day. In fact, honour, duty and love of one’s own kith and kin and country might often compel us to disregard non-violence and to use force. I could never conceive that an armed resistance to an aggression is unjust. I would consider it a religious and moral duty to resist and, if possible, to overpower such an enemy by use of force. [In the Ramayana] Rama killed Ravana in a tumultuous fight and relieved Sita. [In the Mahabharata], Krishna killed Kansa to end his wickedness; and Arjuna had to fight and slay quite a number of his friends and relations including the revered Bhishma because the latter was on the side of the aggressor. It is my firm belief that in dubbing Rama, Krishna and Arjuna as guilty of violence, the Mahatma betrayed a total ignorance of the springs of human action.

In more recent history, it was the heroic fight put up by Chhatrapati Shivaji that first checked and eventually destroyed the Muslim tyranny in India. It was absolutely essentially for Shivaji to overpower and kill an aggressive Afzal Khan, failing which he would have lost his own life. In condemning history’s towering warriors like Shivaji, Rana Pratap and Guru Gobind Singh as misguided patriots, Gandhiji has merely exposed his self-conceit. He was, paradoxical, as it may appear, a violent pacifist who brought untold calamities on the country in the name of truth and non-violence, while Rana Pratap, Shivaji and the Guru will remain enshrined in the hearts of their countrymen forever for the freedom they brought to them.

The accumulating provocation of thirty-two years, culminating in his last pro-Muslim fast, at last goaded me to the conclusion that the existence of Gandhi should be brought to an end immediately. Gandhi had done very well in South Africa to uphold the rights and well being of the Indian community there. But when he finally returned to India he developed a subjective mentality under which he alone was to be the final judge of what was right or wrong. If the country wanted his leadership, it had to accept his infallibility; if it did not, he would stand aloof from the Congress and carry on his own way. Against such an attitude there can be no halfway house. Either Congress had to surrender its will to his and had to be content with playing second fiddle to all his eccentricity, whimsicality, metaphysics and primitive vision, or it had to carry on without him. He alone was the Judge of everyone and everything; he was the master brain guiding the civil disobedience movement; no other could know the technique of that movement. He alone knew when to begin and when to withdraw it. The movement might succeed or fail, it might bring untold disaster and political reverses but that could make no difference to the Mahatma’s infallibility. ‘A Satyagrahi can never fail’ was his formula for declaring his own infallibility and nobody except himself knew what a Satyagrahi is.

Thus, the Mahatma became the judge and jury in his own cause. These childish insanities and obstinacies, coupled with a most severe austerity of life, ceaseless work and lofty character made Gandhi formidable and irresistible. Many people thought that his politics were irrational but they had either to withdraw from the Congress or place their intelligence at his feet to do with, as he liked. In a position of such absolute irresponsibility Gandhi was guilty of blunder after blunder, failure after failure, disaster after disaster.

Gandhi’s pro-Muslim policy is blatantly in his perverse attitude on the question of the national language of India. It is quite obvious that Hindi has the most prior claim to be accepted as the premier language. In the beginning of his career in India, Gandhi gave a great impetus to Hindi but as he found that the Muslims did not like it, he became a champion of what is called Hindustani. Everybody in India knows that there is no language called Hindustani; it has no grammar; it has no vocabulary. It is a mere dialect; it is spoken, but not written. It is a bastard tongue and crossbreed between Hindi and Urdu, and not even the Mahatma’s sophistry could make it popular. But in his desire to please the Muslims he insisted that Hindustani alone should be the national language of India. His blind followers, of course, supported him and the so-called hybrid language began to be used. The charm and purity of the Hindi language was to be prostituted to please the Muslims. All his experiments were at the expense of the Hindus.

From August 1946 onwards the private armies of the Muslim League began a massacre of the Hindus. The then Viceroy, Lord Wavell, though distressed at what was happening, would not use his powers under the Government of India Act of 1935 to prevent the rape, murder and arson. The Hindu blood began to flow from Bengal to Karachi with some retaliation by the Hindus. The Interim Government formed in September was sabotaged by its Muslim League members right from its inception, but the more they became disloyal and treasonable to the government of which they were a part, the greater was Gandhi’s infatuation for them. Lord Wavell had to resign as he could not bring about a settlement and he was succeeded by Lord Mountbatten. King Log was followed by King Stork.

The Congress, which had boasted of its nationalism and socialism, secretly accepted Pakistan literally at the point of the bayonet and abjectly surrendered to Jinnah. India was vivisected and one-third of the Indian territory became foreign land to us from August 15, 1947. Lord Mountbatten came to be described in Congress circles as the greatest Viceroy and Governor-General this country ever had. The official date for handing over power was fixed for June 30, 1948, but Mountbatten with his ruthless surgery gave us a gift of vivisected India ten months in advance. This is what Gandhi had achieved after thirty years of undisputed dictatorship and this is what Congress party calls ‘freedom’ and ‘peaceful transfer of power’. The Hindu-Muslim unity bubble was finally burst and a theocratic state was established with the consent of Nehru and his crowd and they have called ‘freedom won by them with sacrifice’ - whose sacrifice? When top leaders of Congress, with the consent of Gandhi, divided and tore the country - which we consider a deity of worship - my mind was filled with direful anger.

One of the conditions imposed by Gandhi for his breaking of the fast unto death related to the mosques in Delhi occupied by the Hindu refugees. But when Hindus in Pakistan were subjected to violent attacks he did not so much as utter a single word to protest and censure the Pakistan Government or the Muslims concerned. Gandhi was shrewd enough to know that while undertaking a fast unto death, had he imposed for its break some condition on the Muslims in Pakistan, there would have been found hardly any Muslims who could have shown some grief if the fast had ended in his death. It was for this reason that he purposely avoided imposing any condition on the Muslims. He was fully aware of from the experience that Jinnah was not at all perturbed or influenced by his fast and the Muslim League hardly attached any value to the inner voice of Gandhi.

Gandhi is being referred to as the Father of the Nation. But if that is so, he had failed his paternal duty inasmuch as he has acted very treacherously to the nation by his consenting to the partitioning of it. I stoutly maintain that Gandhi has failed in his duty. He has proved to be the Father of Pakistan. His inner-voice, his spiritual power and his doctrine of non-violence of which so much is made of, all crumbled before Jinnah’s iron will and proved to be powerless.

Briefly speaking, I thought to myself and foresaw I shall be totally ruined, and the only thing I could expect from the people would be nothing but hatred and that I shall have lost all my honour, even more valuable than my life, if I were to kill Gandhiji. But at the same time I felt that the Indian politics in the absence of Gandhiji would surely be proved practical, able to retaliate, and would be powerful with armed forces. No doubt, my own future would be totally ruined, but the nation would be saved from the inroads of Pakistan. People may even call me and dub me as devoid of any sense or foolish, but the nation would be free to follow the course founded on the reason which I consider to be necessary for sound nation-building. After having fully considered the question, I took the final decision in the matter, but I did not speak about it to anyone whatsoever. I took courage in both my hands and I did fire the shots at Gandhiji on 30th January 1948, on the prayer-grounds of Birla House.

I do say that my shots were fired at the person whose policy and action had brought rack and ruin and destruction to millions of Hindus. There was no legal machinery by which such an offender could be brought to book and for this reason I fired those fatal shots.

I bear no ill will towards anyone individually but I do say that I had no respect for the present government owing to their policy, which was unfairly favourable towards the Muslims. But at the same time I could clearly see that the policy was entirely due to the presence of Gandhi. I have to say with great regret that Prime Minister Nehru quite forgets that his preachings and deeds are at times at variances with each other when he talks about India as a secular state in season and out of season, because it is significant to note that Nehru has played a leading role in the establishment of the theocratic state of Pakistan, and his job was made easier by Gandhi’s persistent policy of appeasement towards the Muslims.

I now stand before the court to accept the full share of my responsibility for what I have done and the judge would, of course, pass against me such orders of sentence as may be considered proper. But I would like to add that I do not desire any mercy to be shown to me, nor do I wish that anyone else should beg for mercy on my behalf. My confidence about the moral side of my action has not been shaken even by the criticism levelled against it on all sides. I have no doubt that honest writers of history will weigh my act and find the true value thereof some day in future.

-NATHURAM GODSE


I do not have much knowledge about the exact situation. But, reading this has made me think out of the box and really ponder, did Nathuram do the right thing??

I invite comments from all of you. Let us have a constructive debate. Was Nathuram Godse justified in assassinating Gandhi??,

Should I....or shouldn't I ??

There are crossroads when you don't seem to understand which way to go. Which one to leave, which one to follow. There are people around you who are moving in every direction. And they have positives to speak about the way they follow, and negatives for the others. For each one, the path they tread along, is the best. Not that they are wrong. They are right...but in their own way.

For the last few days, I was kept so busy by activities around me that I even used to fail to note if the hall canteen (where I am often found ideally) is open or not. Suddenly, I was in everything. And at each place, I had someone over me to answer to. Each one wanted his job to be done, no matter how stressed out I was, no matter if the work assigned to me by others is done or not, no matter if my priorities get over-ruled by the work being given to me.

And, stressed I was. My acads evidently suffered (something which did not bother any of those who gave me all that work). My health deteriorated (again something which had no relevance to the same people who made sure that I was over-burdened with work).

They said, "These things build up PERSONALITY. They give you a sense of time management"

huh!!

All they wanted was that the event which they were working for, should be a success. Nothing else mattered. Not me at least.

Thanks to di....she helped me out when I needed sincere advise. When I was feeling lowly after getting reprimanded for the umpteenth time (for shirking work, as they said) inspite of me slogging my ass the whole day to get the job done, she comforted me. And golden were here words. Just the right thing. Here I quote what she said exactly -

takin part in activities is grt....cause it helps u 2 develop al parts of ur personbality.... but prioritise them firstly...secondly take part in activities which u lyk or which interest u rather than takin part in al cause 1 or other fren is doin so....thirdly the most imp...figure out wht u want @ end of ur iit.....wer u wanna b or wer u wnt it 2 take u...once u figure tht out....keep ur goal in sight n don't get sidelined by al other things..... in short know wht u wnt....but njoi things while not losin sight of ur destination...detour once in a way r good fun....but they should not get u lost!!!

Since she wrote this thing on Orkut, hence this form. But I guess, it is good enough to send the message across.

On basis of what di said, I prepared a flowchart. This I believe, is more than sufficient to summarize a great deal. I dedicate this to all those who are unable to decide at any point of time what they should pursue, and what they should leave. It is very important to realize what our priorities are - just as di said. It might seem to be very simple, too crisp; but then this is what you could resort to at all times, and the result would be for you to see.

She further said :

hey pls tc of urself...n whn in doubt ...or confusion or so...pls sk ppl or frens or teachers etc....who u think wud make sense...but sensible ones...n don't b rash....this time is the best time of lyf but if not dealt wit in rite way can bcum....worst time 2!!! so njoi...but don't think its end of world n do unnecessary stupidities!!!!

She made a very good point here. Ask people, friends or teachers - who you think would make sense, but SENSIBLE ones. Not anyone is the right person to ask for a suggestion only because he or she is a senior. The person you talk to should be sensible.

Luckily, I have a di like this who is not only sensible, but also caring and loving. We never met. It is only Orkut which connects us. But still, I feel she is near me. She cares about the guy to whom she is talking even if he is only just-another-boy she found wasting his time on Orkut. Thanks di....thanks a lot.

And you, yeah you....are you still reading the blog. Leave this, and go for the flowchart. Enjoy LIFE !!!