why everyone want to be on facebook

    I asked these questions to myself today. Why everyone with net access want to be on facebook? What is so peculiar about FB and other social websites like youtube or blogs on internet? Why the virtual world has become so important in our life? What is the biggest difference in our life in virtual world and real world? and the answer that came in to my mind was "Equality". It's this quality of equality that has made social media so popular. No one is no one's boss or superior or subordinates...their are just friends or friends of friends or friends of friends of......friends. And in Equality, a sense of empowerment is inherent. Here everyone is important. Of course all of us has raised ourself to the status of a mini celebrity, which has its side effect too but yet, a common man (and woman and children too of course ) of real world is a really important person. And those who are not so good in real world can very well pretend to be as good as they want to be. The social media on internet give us an opportunity to fill the gap between our 'real self' and 'ideal self', which is certainly a very important factor in giving us a sense of identity. There are certain anomalies and negative sides of this virtual reality, be it net addiction or compromise to our privacy, we still don't want to give it up. This probably tells us what we actually want from real world...a little sense of importance, a sense of care and of course a sense of equality and empowerment. The distance and limitation of the physical world disappear in the virtual world. The freedom of expression be exercised so vividly on the internet. You can say anything about anyone or anything so candidly. The virtual world has transcended the geographical and political boundaries. We have a platform to know the people of the rest of the world, (even if we don't know a person living on the next door but that's a different aspect of the story of our ever changing society). We tend to share our life, express ourself and want to about everything happening to everyone everywhere in this world. At least virtually we are unified.

5 days of facebook: lyrics of new video

Lyrics of the song 5 days of Facebook
Recently i came across this pretty innovative video by Manish jain and Rahul Bhatt! Its awesome..so touching and so novel! Two parallel videos of comparing real life with expectations...its really too good! And the acting by Gaurav Gera is so natural.. and very good direction by Manish. Mixing and editing is also just prefect! Really great team effort! Initially I was so amazed by the concept and the music that i couldn't focus on lyrics. So i thought to put down those beautiful words also down here.
Here is the youtube link of the video!

कल  को  ना  जाने  कोई  इधर
आशाओं  के  रंग  बिखरे  जिधर
आवाज़े  सुनकर .. मन  को  समझाने  चलो 
कल  की  सुबह  ...अब  तो   पहचाने
लेकर  अपनी  तू   मुरादें  पूरी  कर  यहाँ
जो  जीना  था  अब  तो  ज़ी  ले  पा ले  आसमान !

पलकों  में  सोये  सपने  अगर
पल  दो  पल  की  ये  दुनिया  मगर
यादों  के  लम्हें  ...अब  तो  जुड़  जाये .. ..सुनो
जाने  वालो  ..अब  तो  रुक  जाये
लेकर  अपनी  तू   मुरादें  पूरी  कर  यहाँ

जो  जीना  था  अब  तो  ज़ी  ले  पा ले  आसमान!

----
लेकर  अपनी  तू   मुरादें  पूरी  कर  यहाँ
जो  जीना  था  अब  तो  ज़ी  ले  पा ले  आसमान!

अरमानो   के   जब   कटते   हैं   पर
कैसे  भूले  कोई  उड़ना  मगर

ना   सोचे   पंछी  क्यूँ   वो   घबराये

नया ....आशियाना  अपना  बनाये

लेकर  अपनी  तू   मुरादें  पूरी  कर  यहाँ
जो  जीना  था  अब  तो  ज़ी  ले  पा ले  आसमान !

some dohe from kabir, rahim

पाहन पूजे हरि मिलें तो मैं पूजूं पहाड़
ताते तो चाकी भली पीस खाए संसार!
( If one can reach God by worshiping stone, i will worship mountain. Even millstone is better as which is used to feed the world by grinding grain)


काकर पत्थर जोरि के मस्जिद लयी बनाए
ता चढ़ मुल्ला बांग दे क्या बहरा हुआ खुदाय!
( you build a mosque from stone and the Qazi shout on loud speaker from there as if God is deaf)


बुरा जो देखन मैं चला बुरा न मिलया कोय
जो मन देखा आपना मुझसे बुरा न कोय
(I was looking for evil in this world but couldn't find any, but when i looked into myself, i found myself the most evil)


बानी ऐसी बोलिये, मन का आपा खोय।
औरन को सीतल करै, आपहु सीतल होय॥
( Speak good so as to make others happy as well yourself)


पोथी पड़ पड़ जग मुआ हुआ न पंडित कोय

ढाई आखर प्रेम का पड़े सो पंडित होय

(True knowledge is that of love and not of the books and letters)


रहिमन धागा प्रेम का, मत तोड़ो चटकाय।
टूटे से फिर ना जुड़े, जुड़े गाँठ परि जाय॥
( Never break the bond of love as its very difficult to join again and even if you do there is a joint (which takes away smoothness of the relation) )


जो रहीम उत्तम प्रकृति, का करि सकत कुसंग।
चन्दन विष व्यापत नहीं, लपटे रहत भुजंग॥
(People of good character cant be corrupted by bad company as sandalwood don't lose its coolness with snakes all around it)

रहिमन देख बडेंन को लघु न दीजिये डारि |

जहाँ काम अवे सुई कहा करे तरवार ||

 (don't neglect small when you see big as sword can't be used where you need a needle)

PMs letter disclosed by wikileaks

If our beloved PM Dr. Manamohan Singh would have got a chance to reveal his thoughts, probably that's how it would have been. प्रिय प्रधानमंत्री जी से मेरी सहानुभूति है और उनके लिए इस काल्पनिक पत्र का असली खुलासा!

विकीलीक्स का एक और खुलासा ..मनमोहन सिंह ने खुद देश के नाम सन्देश लिखा

प्रधानमंत्री मनमोहन सिंह अपनी दुनिया भर की आलोचना से तृस्त हो गए और उन्होंने अपना पक्ष रखने का निर्णय लिया!
पंद्रह अगस्त को अपने भाषण के बाद उन्होंने ये ख़त देश को सुनाने के लिए लिखा था लेकिन वो मौका उन्हें दिया नहीं गया! बारिश में ख़त भीग गया और उन्हें बेमन से लौटना पड़ा!
विकी लीक्स ने ये ख़त उनके घर से निकली रद्दी में से बरामद किया !

"मेरे प्यारे देशवासियों . आज मैं आप सबसे अपने मन की बात कहना चाहता हूँ. मुझ पर हर कोई आरोप लगाता रहता है की मैं कुछ बोलता नहीं हूँ. कमजोर हूँ और एक कठपुतली हूँ ! मुझे भी आज आप लोगो से शिकायत करनी है! आखिर मुझे भी अपनी भावनाएं व्यक्त करने का हक है! पहले तो  आप मुझे समझाओ  की रामलीला मैदान में इकठ्ठा होने से या जंतर मंतर पे धरना देने से देश का विकास कैसे होगा. अगर जो कानून आप कह रहे है वो मैं बना भी दूं तो क्या होगा. इतने सारे कानून पहले से हैं !  हमने सूचना का अधिकार एक्ट बना दिया लेकिन आप लोग हैं कि उसका पूरी तरह इस्तेमाल ही नहीं करते. ये सारे प्रोफेसनल्स जो अपने ऐसी ऑफिस छोड़ के रामलीला मैदान में आ गए... ना तो सूचना के अधिकार का प्रयोग करते हैं न वोट देते हैं..और न ही किसी भी तरह से प्रशासन में कोई भी योगदान देते हैं. अपना एक घंटा बचाने के लिए किसी भी बाबू को तुरंत रिश्वत दे देते हैं.. आधी जनता के पास पीने का पानी नहीं है तो आप सरकार को गाली देते हैं और खुद जाने कितना पानी बर्बाद करते हैं. और मुझे समझ में नहीं आता कि ये कोल्ड ड्रिंक क्यूँ पीते हैं.. उसमे कुछ होता तो है नहीं..मैंने सुना है एक लीटर ड्रिंक बनाने में फैक्टरी कई लीटर पानी बहा देती है. और जिम का कांसेप्ट तो मुझे समझ में नहीं आया. एक खाली पैकेट कूड़ेदान में डालने में आपको आलस आता है लेकिन जिम में घंटो पसीना बहाते हैं. देश में गरीबी है और आप शादी , पार्टी में लाखो रुपये उड़ा देते हैं. दस लाख कि गाडी लेंगे पर डीज़ल वाली ! अरे भाई सब कुछ मैं थोड़े करूंगा ..बिना आप लोगो के एक्टिव पार्टीसिपेशन के कोई बदलाव नहीं आ सकता . आप जो नियम क़ानून हैं पहले उनका तो यूज करो.फिर नए कानून कि दुहाई देना ! और ये मीडिया वाले बड़े अजीब लोग हैं. कोई मर रहा होगा तो उसकी फोटो लगा देंगे लेकिन उसे बचायेंगे नहीं क्यूँ कि ये उनका काम नहीं है! क्यूँ भाई ..आप इंसान नहीं हो क्या! अगर मीडिया वाले टी आर पी बढाने कि बजाये लोगो को और जागरूक बनाये तो कितना कुछ हो सकता है लेकिन आपको तो राखी और कटरीना की पड़ी रहती है ! और बाकी टाइम मेरी बुराई.
आपको इतनी दिक्कत है तो बताओ ...है कोई और आपके पास पी ऍम बनाने लायक. माना मैं उतना अच्छा लीडर नहीं हूँ लेकिन मैंने तो कहा नहीं था कि मुझे पी ऍम बना दो. आपने कोई अच्छा नेता ही नहीं चुना तो मजबूरन मुझे ही ये बोझ उठाना पड़ा. हम तो केवल आपके प्रतिनिधि हैं. हमारे हाथ में सब कुछ नहीं है. असली ताकत तो जनता के पास ही होती है. आप अपने मतलब के लिए किसी कि भी जी हुजुरी कर लेते हो और हम देश में राजनीतिक संतुलन बनाये रखने के लिए कुछ कर दें तो हमें कमजोर कहते हो. अरे आपने खुद ही अपने आप को कमजोर बना रखा है. आपको बिजली पानी सब चाहिए लेकिन इनके संरक्षण में खुद कुछ नहीं करना. आपके सामने कुछ गलत हो रहा हो तो कौन टेंशन ले कह के आगे बढ़ जाते हो. और ये किसान जो बेचारे गरीब हैं उनके लिए हम प्रोग्राम बनाते हैं और जो पहले से अमीर हैं वो बी पी एल कार्ड बनवा के उनका हिस्सा मार लेते हैं. अब ये सब मैं थोड़े रोक सकता हूँ. ये काम तो आपको और मीडिया को करना होगा. ब्लैक में गैस आप लो, और सप्लाई न हो तो हमें गाली दो!  अपराधियों को वोट आप दो और हम इलेक्सन रेफोर्म न करें तो हमें गालियाँ दो. टैक्स चोरी , ब्लैक में बिना बिल के सामान आप लें, भ्रष्ट नेताओ कि रैली में आप जाएँ, मार्केट में होर्डिंग और स्पेकुलेसन आप करें, और इकोनोमी कमज़ोर  हो तो हमें गाली दें. अगर आपके सामने कुछ गलत हो रहा है और आप कुछ नहीं करते तो आप भी उतने ही ज़िम्मेदार हैं. अरे जब आप सब मिलके संसद को हिला सकते हो तो इन छोटे मोटे भ्रष्ट लोगो के खिलाफ कुछ क्यूं नहीं करते! हम सब मिलके ही , मेहनत और ईमानदारी से हिंदुस्तान को आगे ले जा सकते हैं. मेरी आप सबसे अपील है कि आलोचना करने के बजाये खुद को और अपने आसपास के सिस्टम को सुधारने में हिस्सा लें , देश अपने आप आगे बढेगा!
जय हिंद!"

आपका
मनमोहन सिंह
दिनांक १५ अगस्त २०११
-------------------------

Harry Potter's Magic

so finally the seventh part of Harry Potter series came alive, that too in 3D. The tale of the wizard got a happy ending. A tale, not just about magic but more about love, friendship, trust and determination. All that wizard stuff is great but what appealed most is the way this and such movies encourage children to do big, to take new courses, to lead, to innovate, to learn, to risk and to believe to be larger than life. We, in bollywood also ponder about love but sadly just keep it there. There are few movies with children being the lead heroes. It seems that our system, be it society, family or school, expect children to be just compliant and follow the path they are put on, rather than choose their own or lead. This can also be attributed to the feeling of insecurity and the killing competition. no wonder there is no link in education and profession. However, no doubt children learn a lot other then just study. So if we just let them decide and pursue their identity, may be we will have a wonderful youth making their destiny larger then we can imagine. But Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, or Transformers or Thor or Matrix, its all about two things, love and belief in oneself!

Coming back to Harry, the movie proceed like a hindi movie hero's pursuit, full of courage and determination, also reveals lot of mysteries about many characters, specially Snape. and 3D is really fun! So even if you are not an HP fan...give it a try...of course at least see part one to get some idea.

Evolution of God - Contd...

    The idea of God have many perspectives. Its not just that our fears and ignorance take us to the refuge of God, its a psychological need too. There is no doubt that there is some power which is omniscient and omnipotent, be it spiritual, supernatural or metaphysical or mythical...makes no difference as all are equally beyond definition. We need to have faith in this world and show gratitude towards that supreme power  and this need drives us to find a suitable model of God. This also helps us to keep us modest. Otherwise how will one explain MS Dhoni shaving his head after winning the world cup for India? Its not that the God only made that happen..it was certainly the team's true effort. But this idea of faith and gratitude towards the almighty saves us from developing false pride.....vanity or Ahankar. We know that its was our hard work but we also know that we are nothing before that supreme power. But we are anyway nothing if we dont do anything and leave everything on God. But when we put ourself at God's disposal, we free ourself from pressure of performance....we do our duty fully without being attached with result. Ofcourse winning matters but being attached with the result put immense pressure on us and deteriorate performance. The idea of Nishkam karm keeps us at our best to perform our duties. That's close to the Karma that is preached in SriMadBhagwatGita that is Karmanyewadhikaraste Ma faleshu kadachan. (Do you work and don't worry about the result). But when we become fatalistic and lose faith in ourself...the faith in God is a vain attempt. That's why we say...the God lives within us.

    My understanding of God is developing with time. We can't be atheist or theist without fully understanding the philosophy of God. The blind faith leads to superstition and rationality take us closer to the understanding of that supreme power. But for a destitute, that faith is probably the only hope..as there is no choice otherwise. God is simplistic. All complex forms with all those complex rituals and rules are self-interest driven ideas serving a few and probably exploiting many.

That would be enough for today. May we find the God within.

Meri zindagi pe ek kavita

Zindagi to meri ekdam suljhee huyi si hai..

kuchh jyada hi seedhi saadi si..

ek seedhe resham ke dhaage see..

jo hawa ke sath udata hai..

jisme nahi pada koi fanda ya koi gaath..

bah rahi hawa ke sath mano doondh raha ho apna bandhan ..

meri zindagi ek sidhe bina ulajhe dhage see!

Jaise ek hawa me girta pankh ka tukda...

na to ud sakta aur na girta jameen pe..

bahta rahata apni halki si kaya liye..

chad jata kisi bhi foonk ki sawari

Jaise ped pe ek sukha patta..

jo atka hai ek sukhe huye sire se..

apne vajood se alag hoke bhi..
juda hai kisi jod se..

ya

Ek dhalan pe ludakta hua patthar....

jharane ke pani sa bahta..

kis rah pe jayega wo..

ya ruk jayega kisi tane se takara ke..

ya fir ek pani kee boondh si..

jo chali thi badal se...ek anjani see rah pe..

udegi hawa ke sath ..ya pahuchegi zameen par.

giregi kisi patte pe ya milegi samandar se...

banane ko fir se ek boond...kabhi pani se bhap.. kabhi bhap se pani  !
Meri Zindagi!!!

(Please see previous post for Hindi font version)

(c) Pradeep Singh

मेरी ज़िन्दगी पे एक कविता

ज़िन्दगी तो मेरी  एकदम सुलझी  हुयी  सी है ..

कुछ ज्यादा ही  सीधी सादी  सी ..

एक  सीधे  रेशम  के  धागे  सी ..

जो  हवा  के  साथ  उड़ता  है ;

जिसमे  नहीं  पड़ा  कोई  फंदा  या  कोई गाँठ ...

बह रही हवा के साथ मानो  दूंढ  रहा  हो  अपना  बंधन  ..

मेरी  ज़िन्दगी  एक  सीधे  बिना  उलझे  धागे  सी !

जैसे हवा  में  गिरता एक पंख  का  टुकड़ा ...

न  तो  उड़  सकता  और  न  गिरता  जमीन  पे ..

बहता  रहता  अपनी  हलकी  सी  काया  लिए ...

चढ़  जाता  किसी  भी  फूंक  की  सवारी !

जैसे  पेड़  पे  एक  सूखा  पत्ता ..

जो  अटका  है  एक  सूखे  हुए  सिरे  से ..

अपने  वजूद  से  अलग  होके  भी

जुड़ा  है  किसी  जोड़  से ..

या

एक  ढलान  पे  लुड़कता  हुआ  पत्थर ...

झरने  के  पानी  सा  बहता...

किस  राह पे  जायेगा  वो ..

या  रुक  जायेगा  किसी  तने  से  टकरा  के ..

या  फिर  एक  पानी  की  बूंद  सी ..

जो  चली  थी  बादल  से ...

एक  अनजानी  सी  राह  पे ;

उड़ेगी  हवा  के  साथ  या  पहुंचेगी  ज़मीन  पर ...

गिरेगी  किसी  पत्ते  पे  या  मिलेगी  समंदर  से ...

बनने  को  फिर  से  एक  बूँद ...कभी पानी से भाप .. कभी  भाप  से  पानी   !

मेरी ज़िन्दगी!!

(c) प्रदीप सिंह  

Story of Chandu

Chandu....he is not a fictitious character, he is a poor boy, about ten year old, who, when asked about his age, said he don't know. Till last friday, his father, an immigrant from a village in Bihar used to come to collect the garbage at my home in Delhi. Since two days Chandu was coming to collect garbage instead of his father.

     Today when he came, I asked , "School jate ho?".. He said, "Jab baba the tab jate the". Then I came to know, his father died two days back. Poor fellow. He told me that he get just about 100-150 Rs for collecting garbage. He is now alone with his mother, who is also not educated. I asked, "Agar main tumhne sau rupaye doon to kya karoge, padoge?" He replied, "yahan kuchh nahi hoga, Ghar jake padenge". He will be going back to Bihar on fourth of next month. I asked him to wait for a minute and then I gave him two hundred rupee notes and told, "ek se apni kitaben lena and dusre se jo man ho karna". Chandu looked very much obliged and surprised too. When he was leaving, I asked , "Are apna naam to batado yar". He replied .."Chandu". I said to him..."Chandu, Padna...Padae se hi sab hota hai". And then Chandu left to pick garbage from other houses.

I hope this small contribution , which might not do much do help him financially, would certainly motivate him to do good in life.

When first day I saw Chandu, I felt frustrated. All this right to education and child labour laws seems hollow. We all know that the laws see just one side of problem. They don't give an option of rehabilitation of children like Chandu. I am sure his father did not want his child to be a labourer like him, picking garbage from houses. Before education, people need to survive. 

    I, with a feeling of helplessness, thought that what I can do! But that would really be pathetic. We can certainly do, at least a little. And I did what I wanted to and I wish I could do more...or may be I will do more. You never know when this small help can make a big difference. I request all to look around and if you see any young child being deprived of education, do at least something. Those two hundred rupees are nothing for us, it is the price of the movie ticket I watched yesterday.  But for Chandu, it's a Month salary....it can at least partially help him to educate himself....and imagine how much moral support he will get. He won't see this world as a cruel place that gave him a fatherless life with poverty and misery. He will be more optimistic and work hard to fight all hindrances and may be, will become a valuable citizen of the country.

The King's Speech: The Movie

I thought it to be just another Oscar movie but ..its was ..indeed...making of a king! 

The Throne of a king is certainly not the bed of roses. Making your life at the disposal of your countrymen, every step of yours..and every decision ... is made with people as the first priority. The struggle of a prince who is a king at heart but is dragged behind by his inability to speak , to be the voice of the nation. This is, from psychological point of view, a case of psychoanalysis and , also a case showing how lack of unconditional positive regards and forced compliance affecting the personality of a would be king. 

 The confidence of the therapist, Lionel, who is not a doctor indeed, to ask for equality, from a king, is commendable. The role of king's loving wife is amazing and shows how much, the family love and support, is important.

 I found this movie very inspiring and awesome. Other technicalities like cinematography , well presentation of the early 19th century has been specialty of such movies.And of course, a much watch for people interested in psychology.
To know more about the movie, please visit the wikipedia page of the movie .

my favourite quotes 2

The fate of love is that it always seems too little or too much.
Amelia Barr

We either make ourself miserable or we make ourself strong, the amount of work is same.

Before we acquire great power we must acquire wisdom to use it well.

A man is what he thinks the whole day!

Anger is the feeling that makes your mouth work faster than your mind.

Life is run on heuristics , not on algorithms!

A witty saying proves nothing.
Voltaire

All the reasonings of men are not worth one sentiment of women.
Voltaire

The first recipe for happiness is: Avoid too lengthy meditation on the past.

The effectiveness of work increases according to geometric progression if there are no interruptions.
Andre Maurois

Communication gap is the root of every problem.

Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another.

Anyone who has begun to think, places some portion of the world in jeopardy.
-John Dewey

Failure is instructive. The person who really thinks learns quite as much from his failures as from his successes.
-John Dewey

Discontent is the first necessity of progress.
Thomas A. Edison

Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.
Thomas A. Edison

What a man's mind can create, man's character can control.

Discontent is the first necessity of progress.
Thomas A. Edison

The Man and the World!

    This world is full of paradoxes, and the Man, I guess, is the biggest paradox of all. He is both the best and the worst. Its the reason of disasters and also the savior. He is like nuclear energy, in fission it can be an atomic bomb and in fusion it can be the very source of energy and the life, the Sun, and as a matter of fact, we are still struggling to get a hold on fusion while the disasters of fission are as obvious as air pollution. This species, considered to be the most advanced and the ultimate evolution, is the reason of biggest wipe out of other species, be in animal, bird, plant of anything and yet he is the only hope to save the planet too. We are here, to kill each other and also to save us from ourselves. 

    Human is probably the only developed species that kill its own type. The differential value of human life is so baffling.  Man is considered the conqueror of the world and we know about whats happening in stars too but we know so less about ourselves. We don't knows yet where we came from and where are we going. We have such a destructive instinct as wherever we go, all others are in trouble.

    I really am not sure whether to call our "intelligence" a boon or curse to the world. With our developed mind, we are finding new ways to destroy the planet. Just withing few thousands years of our existence, which is not even one-thousandth one percent of the time since the life evolved, we have created so much trouble in the world. The world is not even ten percent as diverse as it were before homo erectus evolved into homo sapiens. Yet we are supposed to be having inbuilt good in ourself. We are both the daemon and the god. We are the classic example of the misuse of power. We keep showing  that the power corrupts. We are like the Bhashmasur of Hindu mythology. The daemon, who wherever put his hand, cause it to get bhashm (burnt down). The power of fire we use not in lighting (illuminate) but in lighting (burn) .
    The power of thinking we use more in harming others in an attempt benefit ourself. How paradoxical it is. We all know life is one and we are all same. We also know the economics that the best is what is best for everyone as a whole and not just for individual. But yet, one try to single out oneself in order to exploit every resource we get, in a fear of scarcity or may be just out of greed. It reminds me of a story of heaven and hell.

    Once in the heaven and the hell, big sticks were tied to the hands of the people so that they could not bend their elbow and thus their hand could not reach their mouth. When super was served, in hell there was chaos. People were trying eat their food by all means like throwing the meal in the air and trying to catch it in mouth but could not succeed. But in heaven, it was all calm. Everybody happily had food. How?? Because their everyone fed each other sitting in front. Their hand could not reach their mouth but could reach the others. The simple act of serving others satisfied them all.

The moral is , we can survive only when we help each other rather than compete or serve only our mean interest. This world will be a beautiful place the day people will start thinking about others and not just about themselves. When we will consider ourself as the part of the universal life . The differential value of life will then be one....just like the almighty is.

value of money!

I was wondering why Gold is so precious. ..generally we cant do anything with it. we can't eat it and can't produce energy with it. Its just a"SYMBOL" of wealth...a converter ..using which bartering is easy...people can exchange goods and services ..but I think its too over priced because it has no inherent value. a kg of wheat or coal or a liter of milk or even a gram of uranium ..these can be used to get energy.. these have an inherent value..but gold..its just a mediator . its symbol of the mediator/broker/contractor class..or symbol of capitalism, who takes the product from the producer and supply it to end user..and for that it takes huge margin making fool of both customer and producer. Unfortunately poor producer is most disadvantaged! The high value of gold represent our social structure. The whole world is governed by few and the larger section is poor and powerless.

marriage and "man vs woman"

The institution of marriage is one of the greatest parts of civilized life. This is an equation which disturbs the equilibrium and tends to create a new one. Both the girl and the boy enter into a life full of responsibility, leaving behind a care free life full of freedom. As it is said that the man loses his bachelor’s degree and the woman get her Master’s! However, this great tradition is loaded with tonnes of expectations from each family. The husband is supposed to be treating the wife as the most important person, jokingly termed as “joru ka gulam” and the wife, who leaves her own family and accept the new house as her own is expected to follow the norms of her in-law's house.

But if husband ignores wife’s need, he is being a good man probably by not being “joru ka gulam” and if the girl tries to look for some autonomy, she is a rebellion.  All the burden of family's pride and respect is always on woman .Our TV serials had played a great role in maligning sas-bahu relations, but that’s not the focus right now. All I need to say is that the girl is expected to adapt with new family while there is no such expectation on the other side. She certainly loses the comfort and independence of what she used to enjoy at her Mayka. Why is she supposed to call even the younger sister-in-law and brother-in-law as bhaia and didi. Why is she supposed to follow the instructions instead of deciding herself what to do and what not to? Why a mature, self dependent girl suddenly treated as naive to take her own decisions and expected to take permission for even small things. And if she doesn’t, she is too “modern” who don’t have respect for traditions. If the boy stay out at office for longer or go out to meet friends, it’s his fundamental right, but if the girl want to do same, she has to inform in-laws and take permission in advance, and mostly her such needs are not an important thing, even if it’s a matter of great significance for her. And generally the opposite sex friends and not welcome. Some people might counter argue here for giving rationale of respect for traditions and wish of elders for these prejudices against the woman. But there is no question of rational here, it’s the situation and it’s so deep rooted that even we can’t dig up to the rationale. Moreover, the tradition and the rational are not always in sync as the rational keep changing with time. If I give example of sati pratha ...contemporary people justified such inhuman tradition. You can say that sati was an extreme case, however the extremities help to understand the direction if not the intensity, and I want to emphasize the negativity of the situation here.

The question is probably too obvious with centuries of exploitation and suppression, the woman is certainly a disadvantaged group not only socially but also psychologically! I don't know what more to write about it. The opinion would be very subjective and a social change is always too slow.

Why i wrote about the evolution of God

     Why a middle class Indian youth constituting our country’s intelligentsia is so indifferent to the burning issues around. Be it starving poor, or naxals or Kashmir or corruption. I get probably the answer by looking at my own past. During my college days I was bothered by disarrangement at hostels and pathetic conditions of toilets and labs. But I knew I could not do anything about it and I ignored it with my helplessness.( I said I could not because we tried and failed.) Then I got into job and got busy with life. And in rest of the time thinking about a good pass time, so called enjoyments...making friends and socialising. Still not much concerned about the society and having no tension from the family.  When did I have the time from my leisurely luxurious time schedule to think about others? As the psychological principles say that we don’t feel empathy for the event happening at distances far away. Like we may not kill a person in front because of our human instinct but we may not hesitate much in firing a missile that would kill hundreds of man a thousand miles away. Even the animals don’t kill their own species. This instinct is unique to the great highly developed human. Till I had  job/family/friend/social networking related responsibilities and pursuing my hobbies, I hardly get time to think about any issue bigger than the traffic jam on way to office or bad food at office canteen. I never bothered about political, economical and social problems of the world or the nation. May be I was not aware of or may be my psychological defence mechanism to save myself from the frustration and information overload avoided any attention to these issues. We, specifically people earning good enough like bachelor software engineers seems to be living in a pseudo reality....a world of the air conditioned offices or the big Malls or multiplexes and we think that everything is so good....we don’t see the things happening outside.)

But now, now I am in an identity crisis. What I am here for! What’s the purpose of my life...why I am what I am? What role I am going to play in this world. If things keep going like this, what will be the future or will there be any future at all? This put a big question before me questioning significance of every moment of my life...for me and for others.

 I can feel a little pulse of how the youth might have felt during the British rule. ..The frustration and the helplessness...the quest to find a way to do something...to make a change! But it all looks in continuity. Oppression and exploitation be it by British or American or our own natives, how does it make any difference to the poor. May be that’s how life is. Or maybe now the rosy picture of the world is getting clear and it’s not so colorful at all. Now I understand why the subjects like religion and philosophy are so important. We can’t make sense of our life without them. That probably why we created the thing we need most..... the concept of God..to save us from ourselves!

Ideas for India

1.      For drinking water issue

Essential commodities like water should not be left for exploitation by private industries. I see no rational why drinking water erstwhile available free should suddenly become 12 Rs per litre.  It’s because of lack of political will and ignorance and hopelessness of public that we are ready to pay 12 Rs for bottled water but we want our domestic supply free. We can pay 10 Rs for a cold drink bottle which may not cost even 2-3 Rs to the company. The govt. should impose higher taxes on such industries and should give open declaration that money collected from such tax will be used in supplying pure drinking water for domestic supply. Govt should not interfere much with market but it should regulate it strongly. I see no reason why Railneer was also 12 Rs per litre. If govt sold Railneer at 5Rs per bottle, the prices of other brands would have immediately come down.

If natural resources like water, air, land, minerals, spectrum etc. will be left unregulated and uncared for, the few influential people will exploit it and the people of India won’t get anything from it, and we will remain a rich country of poor people. Most of such ideas are rejected as wishful thinking but they are not so. We need to restore public trust in the govt. and need a leadership with such vision.

We should have local level water treatment plants to filter at every outlet of a local sewage/nala to a river.

Increase awareness among public not to waste and pollute water.

MNREG schemes should be used for employing people for cleaning of rivers and water harvesting projects.

2.      Increasing transparency and accountability

RTI is one of the biggest act passed by legislature. It has tremendous potential to ensure accountability and increase transparency of the system. Currently our bureaucracy (Babus) take it as a burden and it s not being used them as a tool to fight corruption. If all departments and offices make suo moto disclosure of their work including implementation of programmes and the account of the way public money is spent, even a corrupt person can’t dare to make money on loopholes of the system. The suo moto clause of the RTI act empowers officers to save themselves from the pressure of corrupt system and it will put a check on victimization of honest officers.

The finance is the backbone of any country. The weak payment and banking system can’t check while money getting converted to black money. A lakhs and crores of rupees starting from the center level are siphoned out before it reaches the grassroots. A direct payment system is a solution to remove such obstacles.

In this direction, including post offices in the banking system can be a major step forward. Thus govt. can be directly sending money to the beneficiaries to their post office accounts. India has a very huge network of post offices and every village have a post office. We can have a central database connected to state database further to district database and village database which will be connected through  post offices. All records of beneficiaries will have account info, and their money should be electronically transferred.

Moreover, all the financial transaction should be made online. All payments for contracts and purchases should be done online so that all transactions are recorded in the bank statement. This will also help in accounting and auditing and will increase transparency.

 

3.      Utilising tax revenue for social upliftment

The tax burden should be well targeted and directed for specific schemes. Tax can be used as a tool to regulate market and direct public money to where it should be spent.

1. Tax on soft drinks  --> use for water treatment and free drinking water

2. Entertainment tax on private channels --> to increase education expense

3. Tax on alcohol and tobacco  --> health expenditure

4. Tax and penalty on polluting industries --> for keeping air clean and river water pure

5. Either remove subsidy on diesel or impose higher tax on diesel cars/SUVs. Subsidy on CNG/LPG and electric cars and on public transport (not just metro but also better bus service for villages too)

4.      Improving the system: Transport, health, education and administration

i.  The market highly depends on the transport and supply.The increased cost should be handled by
-making better roads so that less fuel is spent and less pollution
-making the supply system faster by removing bottlenecks on roads like making functioning of toll plaza smooth, bypasses from crowded cities, fencing NHs
ii. Removing role of middleman as much as possible specifically for agricultural products and making storage facility for products so that supply side bottlenecks can be managed
iii. More expenditure should be made to provide better teachers. More incentives should be given for rural school teachers.
iv.The routine functions of the district administration like issuing certificates etc should be fully automated and computerised so that IAS officers can spend more time in planning and development.
v.All data starting from panchayat level should be digitalised; it will make data handling easy.
vi. UID, census, land revenue management, certificate issuance and other public service can be directly served by such database.
vii.Higher education and research should be made more attractive by increasing the scholarships and stipends for research students.
viii.Video clinics should be established in every tehsil/sub-district level so that specialists can provide consultation to patients.
 

With cleaner air and water, we will have less diseases and load on health facilities will be less.

Natural resources should be utilised in a sustainable manner by public, the private companies should be regularised so that people's money is spent on people. Let us take back the public money to serve the people.

5.      Understanding People

Suppose there is some garbage on the road. Now there can be five kind of responses

1. people see the garbage and start throwing more garbage there...making it worse just like people spit exactly where its written not to or park at no parking.

2. people see it, curse the other people and the system but don’t do anything. However, they, at least do not add to the problem

3. people see it, condemn it, and make effort to clean it by themselves...that’s out NGOs and active civil societies

4. there are the people who create awareness and lead people with a vision to keep it clean..our leaders, which are very few there for creative issues like this.

5. and finally people who make the structural arrangement to get it clean and make sure it do not get dirty again by strengthening the system. That’s the executives..our bureaucrats.

These last two have most important role and we need to include the civil societies with us. With a participative system we can easily get support of second and third too and then the first have no reason to make it worse.

Ultimately all power lies with the public but it is too ignorant or unorganised to use it.

Movie Review: No one killed Jassica

     In the times when the cinema halls are flooded with pathetic soulless movies like "Tees Mar Khan" and "Yamla Pagla Diwana" etc, I started to think that Bollywood has lost it to just masala and cheap comedy..and they just want to make money by fooling viewers, "No One Killed Jassica" turned out to be amazingly good movie restoring my faith in film industry. Not just because its based on a sensational real life episode, but because it has lot of things that a good movie should have. The casting itself was very impressive and background music through out the movie was catchy. Very good performance by Rani Mukherjee and also by Vidya Balan. Coming to the storyline, this movie has very realistically depicted the whole episode. Its neither a documentary nor there is any overacting.

     We all live in a world of our own and deny that anything wrong is going to happen to us.But when it happens in front of our eyes..we just can not sit and watch things to go on. Jassica episode was a symbol of how influential and powerful get away even after committing a heinous crime. The poor state of judiciary and helplessness of the police, everybody knows but no one does anything about it. The frustration of the inspector for not being able to convict the criminal is well represented in the movie.

     How a small idea can become a nation wide campaign gives us a hope that if the public is made aware then public opinion can bring the accountability and check the powerful from buying the system. The inspiration for candle march as India Gate is one such example.

     Some of the small scenes are superb. In one scene when a man teases Jassica's sister, She runs after that man and beats him to his embarrassment. At this her sister says .."Jaane do" (Leave it), she replies.. "Tu kahegi to chhor doongi...Ye dilli hai...ladna seekh..aaj chhoo ke gaya hai..kal rape karke jayega."

(I won't let him go unpunished..this is delhi..you should fight..today he has just touched you..and if you don't fight back..tomorrow he can rape you as well.").

     This movie make us think that if we don't  react and fight back...what kind of future we are going to have. When mistrust and insecurity are there, how can one say that "Viswas pe duniya kayam hai".(The world is running on trust).

I would say "Must watch" movie. I give it score 3.5 out of 5.