WHO OWNS POVERTY IN INDIA?

Is it the hundreds of millions of people hovering around the ambiguous line, otherwise ‘termed’ the ‘poverty-line’, a line that is as controversial as the second tenure of Manmohan Singh as India’s prime minister?

Or is it the politicians who, in collaboration, with bureaucrats and number-crunchers, define who should be poor and who should not be poor and who should not be ‘so poor’, obviously, more on the paper?

Or is it the Indian democracy that has come to evolve as an exploitative System where the millions of the poor, who are as important in the eyes of its Constitution, the world’s most extensively written Constitution, as the elite politicians hibernating in the plush environs funded by the pubic money, but have been pushed to the extremes of the periphery where they are not seen even as the entities to be co-opted to mitigate the chances of emerging threats?

RIGHT TO REJECT TO RIGHT TO RECALL TO RIGHT TO REELECTION

Suppose a Narendra Modi or Rahul Gandhi gets fewer votes than the overall NOTA (None Of The Above) votes and based on the post-election outcome, becomes the prime minister of the country – wouldn’t it be ridiculous, wouldn’t it be sacrilegious, when a candidate rejected by the majority of the electorate is given the charge to run a democratic country.

Okay, it is not going to be the case with Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi of the moment, but we should not be surprised, if we get an election result with significant number of seats showing significantly higher share of NOTA votes even in the very first election implementing the ‘Right To Reject’ option. Recently, the Supreme Court made it mandatory and asked the Election Commission of India to introduce the NOTA option on EVMs (electronic voting machines) and ballot papers.

On an average, 30-40 per cent voters do not vote in elections in India we find if we carry a voter turnout analysis of different elections. Reasons vary for not participating in the elections but the major reason has been the voter’s apathy to the electoral process where he finds the political parties or the candidates in fray not worthy of being elected.

RAHUL GANDHI CONVICTS ‘CONVICTED NETAS’ ORDINANCE: WHY IT IS PREMATURE TO TRUST HIS ‘DELAYED’ CONSCIENCE?

Because, the Representation of the People (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2013, brought by the United Progressive Alliance’s (UPA) government led by the Congress is very much alive and kicking.

Rajya Sabha has already passed it. Disruptions didn’t allow it in the Loksabha in the Monsoon Session but it is slated to be presented and passed in the lower House of the Indian Parliament in the Winter Session.

Where was Rahul Gandhi when all this was happening?

The ordinance cleared by the Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Manmohan Singh, which Sonia Gandhi was also a part of, is nothing but yet another attempt of political brazenness to subvert the guiding principles of democracy by planting the provisions of the RP Act Amendment Bill ‘immediately’, that would otherwise be in place by December, to save some big political names from immediate disqualification.

RIGHT TO REJECT – NONE OF THE ABOVE – BRAVO! CHEERS!

Right To Reject – None Of The Above – Bravo!  Cheers!

It is evolutionary. It is revolutionary.

It is so soothing to the ears. It is unlike those so many competitive examinations that every Indian of this generation takes or the future generations are bound to go through where ‘none of the above’ option of the multiple choice questions are, many a time, a hard nut to crack, creating line of thoughts and thus confusion to pin-point the correct one.

Here, it is going to be the natural choice in ‘many cases (many candidates)’ - ‘none of the above’ being the correct and so the chosen answer.

It would be the beginning of such occasions, hopefully, if implemented, where we are going to have the NOTA (None Of The Above) option chosen, and chosen correctly by the majority of the Indians and there would, obviously, be no fixing allegations here.

SOME CANNOT AFFORD EVEN THE BASIC TREATMENTS WHILE BUREAUCRATS AND POLITICIANS ENJOY THE LARGESSE

Today’s Indian Express had this news that should make us numb if we claim to be the civilized human beings.

In Assam’s Nalbari district, on Monday (September 23), a couple with their nine-month old daughter jumped into the Brahmaputra River as they could not afford the treatment cost of their daughter who had a hole in her heart. The body of woman has been recovered while father and daughter are yet to be traced. The wife was 28 and the husband 32.

It is futile to discuss and write on why the couple had to take this unthinkable decision. Ending life is no solution and such acts can never be endorsed by a sane mind. But it is equally true no one else can understand the excruciating pain the couple was going through.

How cruel circumstances can become? How ironical life can be?

POLITICIANS CLEAR ORDINANCE TO SHIELD TAINTED OF THEIR LOT: WHY DEMOCRACY IN INDIA IS IN IMMINENT DANGER OF DISINTEGRATION?

September 2013

July this year, in two landmark judgments, the Supreme Court had ruled that jailed persons could not contest elections and a convicted politician was to be immediately disqualified. It sent shockwaves in the political fraternity, for future of many politicians, many big names including existing members of legislative bodies, was in imminent danger.  But they had a clear ray of hope, a certain way out of the abyss, in their political brethrens.

In August, the Rajya Sabha, the upper House of the Indian Parliament, unanimously passed a proposed amendment in the Representation of the People Act 1951 (RP) to negate a landmark Supreme Court order that could have brought fundamental (and desperately required) improvements in the conduct of the political class. But, somehow, the amendment act could not be passed in the Monsoon Session of the Parliament due to the sustained ‘political’ pandemonium, over this or that issue.

TENS OF THOUSANDS ARRIVED TO WELCOME HIM OUT OF JAIL: WHY DEMOCRACY IN INDIA IS IN IMMINENT DANGER OF DISINTEGRATION?

September 2013

Thousands gathered outside the jail to greet him.

Tens of thousands arrived in Hyderabad to welcome him, to join the procession to his journey back to home, from the Chanchalguda prison to his palatial house in Hyderabad’s posh locality, Banjara Hills.

As if, a freedom fighter fighting some colonial oppression or an activist resisting a authoritarian government was coming out of jail. But sadly it wasn’t the case.

And that is acidic for the democratic health of the country. This celebration was, once again, representative of a deteriorating mindset of the masses. Yes, it is a deteriorating mindset that owes its sustenance to the continued political manipulation of the masses.

INTERACT WITH LIFE

LIFE - COLORES INFINITUM (43)

Life creates notions – driven by one’s surroundings – the external and internal life energy regulating one’s rhythms – in proximity with one’s age, one’s body of experiences and one’s realms of learning..

Life creates notions – the symbolisms, that we follow, that we ask about – in varying proportions – based on how these notions interact..

ROHTAK HONOUR KILLINGS: IT’S THE MINDSET – THE ROT IS DEEP – EVEN THE ‘EDUCATED’ HOODAS DON’T SEE THE POINT

Two 20-something, well in adulthood lovers, were duped and manipulated by the girl’s family after they fled to get married. The two from the same village and the same ‘gotra’ (clan), but from different families (with houses 1 Km apart), were made to believe that their families were ready to accept them.

Once in the trap, the butchers from the girl’s family, in the most horrible manner possible, hacked the couple to death, slicing their bodies in many parts. Everyone in the village knew it.

In fact, an elaborate spectacle of this butchery was made in the whole village with the severed head of the boy on display, warning others to think of the consequences before taking such a step as this couple had done.

And the spectacle was fully endorsed, highly appreciated, in a village that is in Rohtak, hometown of Haryana’s chief minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Mr. Hooda is a qualified lawyer and his son, who is Member of Parliament from Rohtak, Deepender Singh Hooda, is an MBA from the Kelley Business School, Indiana University, USA.

But do their educational backgrounds make any difference? NO! They are as backward as the villagers who endorse such killings. Villagers or the contractors of the communities do it in the name of social norms. Politicians like Hooda do it for the sake of their political interests.

IN THE MARGINALISED GHETTOS - THE CHILDHOOD PARADOX

PHOTOGRAPHY 

THE CHILDHOOD PARADOX

IN THE MARGINALISED GHETTOS

(HUMAN EXPRESSIONS) 

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©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/

IN THE MARGINALISED GHETTOS - CAREFREE JOYS OF CHILDHOOD (VII)

CAREFREE JOYS OF CHILDHOOD - A PHOTOGRAPHY SERIES

IN THE MARGINALISED GHETTOS

CAREFREE JOYS OF CHILDHOOD 

(HUMAN EXPRESSIONS) 

Get interactive with Banaras Calling’s Facebook extension at: 

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Email at: interact@banarascalling.com 

©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/

CAREFREE JOYS OF CHILDHOOD

http://severallyalone.blogspot.in/2013/09/carefree-joys-of-childhood.html

AUSTERITY IS BACK: UPA SHAM YET AGAIN

AUSTERECTOMY=AUSTERITY VASECTOMIED

Heil! Heil! Heil!

Heil the Political Class of the world’s largest ‘demo’cracy!

Heil the politicians of India!

The sham is on display, yet again, in the trademark Indian politics way. After creating the situation to let the Indian Economy bleed, they are here again, to make rough patch-ups that don’t leave any effect.

And very skillfully, like they have messed up the Indian Economy in the last four years, they have kept their lavish lives out of the proposed austerity measures.

The proposed measures on travel restrictions, recruitment ban, guidelines for conferences, air travel, etc., target basically the government officials and the common man.

MUZAFFARNAGAR RIOTS: POLITICAL CLASS IMPLICATED BUT DOES IT MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE ANYMORE?

WHY DEMOCRACY IN INDIA IS IN IMMINENT DANGER OF DISINTEGRATION?*

September 2013

Everyone knew it was administrative inaction backed by political manipulation that led to the escalation of acts of religious violence into a full blown communal riot in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar district and nearby areas.

It took almost two weeks for the violence to escalate, from the initial switch to the final eruption, from the three killings on day-1 to the murder of over 50 lives, yet, the administration looked inept to handle the situation, an ineptness that was politically forced.

We all saw it. We all knew it. And it was reaffirmed again and again.

A fact finding team of some civil society activists implicated the ruling Samajwadi Party and the opposition Bhartiya Janta Party and Congress for the Muzaffarnagar riots. Okay, some valid questions can be raised about the intent of such fact finding teams.

CANCEROUS CONCOCTION OF RELIGION AND POLITICS

My reflections on life – in quotes (LX)

“Politics is supposed to be the sociological function to shape and strengthen the democracy in a country like India. Politicians are supposed to be the elected custodians to serve the cause of the people to support the elements of democracy.

Religion is supposed to be the ideological, spiritual and social function that inculcates a discipline to follow life according to the norm in a society, a norm that intends to promote the humane values, the concept of ‘humanity first’.

But, both, politics and religion are creating effects, events and undercurrents in the society and in the country that are antithesis to these supposed functions.

Add to it the cancerous concoction of religion and politics. It completes the circle of exploitation, of democracy, in the name of democracy.”

©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/  

SLOWLY, A LIFE WAS TAKING SHAPE..

LIFE - COLORES INFINITUM (42)

Slowly, a life was taking shape. Thoughts were coming to assist.

The darkness was witnessing renewed efforts to reconcile with the life to let the light come in.

The call was getting more and more intimate.

The cause was touching the core of the heart once again. It was, gradually, becoming an alternative to a life that was more about pain.

The clear text, once again, was being written in abstract.

The abstract, once again, was getting friendly the way it used to be. It was becoming more and more readable, like it was.

The pain of loneliness was finding its alternative in the state of being alone, like it was.

The words were flowing in greater harmony with the conscience, with the soul.

Expressions were getting more in sync with thoughts putting things in perspectives that, once, happened to be the way forward.

The quest to go within was, again, a sentient pledge.

The spirit of living with the soul, the joy of living with the self, was becoming the driving force, like it was.

Life, once again, was being about severally-alone.

Slowly, a life was taking shape, learning from what the life had been, reading from what the life was to be. 

©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/ 

FOLLOWING A RELIGION

These are my personal views based on my life experiences on how I perceive Religion and my religious obligations. This is not to hurt anyone. It is just a logical attempt to present my viewpoint.

1. Your Religion has to be the evolved one and so it has to be logical. One must not accept because one was asked or advised to accept.

2. There should be a harmony between your conscious and your Religion. When it comes to choosing one of the two, and when you believe in the universal tenets of Humanity, you should go for your consciousness.

3. One should practice a Religion accordingly, and not just observe it as a body of norms inherited to be followed.

4. For your Religion to be evolved and so to be logical you must seriously question its tenets and you must vehemently seek answers. Faith has to be logical. It must not be blind.

5. It is true no one can claim to see God, the basis of any Religion, and so Faith is about your preferences, it is about your believing in God without seeing him, it is, basically, about feeling Him. So it can be argued how to correlate Faith with Logic then? Okay, no one is saying to question God, and so the religious tenets, for the sake of questioning only. But do question the tenets when your conscious says a God cannot allow certain events to happen, events that are ungodly in nature.

6. If you don’t find answers it means you don’t understand your Religion or probably the questions where your Religion is silent are the questions to be explored in the next phase of its journey to evolve. 

7. Doing so leads one to the Spiritual quotient of God, the essence of Religion. You must understand that Spirituality and Religion are not different but are mutually interdependent concepts on the path leading to the manifestation of God, or to say His feeling in our conscious.  

8. Spirituality is not about some big concepts and sacrifices. It has to be, basically, feeling your God inside you while following the universal norms of Humanity that tell you need to take care of the other human beings the way you take care of your family. It has to be the quest within. Be honest to your God within you and you are well on the way to gain the Spiritual wisdom.

9. Your Religion should tell you to respect other Religions the way you respect yours. If it pushes you to treat other Religions as inferior, you are fundamentally flawed then. It says either your Religion has problems or you have indoctrinated it without understanding its essence. Fundamentally, all Religions promote equality and peace - you need to ‘come’ to believe this. 

©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/ 

GOD, SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGION: AN INTERDEPENDENCE WE FAIL TO UNDERSTAND

What Religion should be for us?

Why should we follow a Religion?

What Religion should we follow?

These are the different questions that, many of us, ask, from time to time, without caring for what we know of and how we know the Religion we practice.

The reason that pushes us for this sort of questioning, a process of reasoning in tougher circumstances of life, comes to our thinking whenever we face hopeless situations in life, where we are not able to reconcile with God for the events happening around us, whether with us or with anyone else where we see the events in motion, events that directly affect our way of thinking.

It is true we ask these questions regularly but we seldom realise what this regular frequency says to us for, we seldom think that our faith and so the Religion we follow should be the evolved one.

We ask questions but we don’t seek answers.

HE STILL FEELS YOU

He still feels you

Inside him

Why he cannot say

But you stay

In his eyes

And he knows

It’s real

Like his Present

Yes

He still thinks you

In his thoughts

As if

It was just

The yesterday

As if

You still come

To make his days

Still

OH SO MY, BLUE, GREEN, YELLOW AND RED

Morning ride, evening break

Fun to go, a run to partake

Oh that round shaped happiness

So many of them but why this mess

The beautiful blue, green, yellow, red

He could not decide which one to take

But the pull was so immaculate

He pleaded again to make his case

Why couldn’t he take each of the shade?

YOU ARE LIFE’S CELEBRATION (1000TH POST)

The darkness,

Had a view

Strapped, unseen, ignored

Pushed,

Forbidden of its value

I had to see it,

I had to hold it

Before,

It could get too frenetic

You need to find you,

To meet you,

Yes,

There would be

Reasons to rue

But,

Think of,

What has been,

Your virtue

Believing again,

Life,

Has to be about you

Rewriting again,

What was always true

AND WITH THIS BLISS..

Today, I did something

In the flow of life

Something yet again

That indeed

Was never undone

Today, it happened

As if, it was so inside me

Yes, it was,

So naturally instinctive

Like your memories

Taking me to the day

When I had seen

You first on my way

CHA CHA CHA..CHA BAR

LIFE - COLORES INFINITUM (41)

When I got this sudden call to reach the Connaught Place (CP, in Delhi) on an off-day, it was routine. There are some good, quiet places in the chaotic CP where we can sit and spend some quality time, be it for some professional engagement or spending time with friends or simply for networking.

While discussing about the place, the idea of the Oxford Bookstore and its Cha Bar cropped up once again. Though the Oxford Bookstore along with its Cha Bar (a good place for quality tea while leafing through the pages of the books carefully selected from the book shop – the old experience) had reopened some months ago and in CP only, just in front of its previous address, the Statesman House, we had not been to the place yet.

And we decided, let’s meet up there. For me, it was always a good time out option with its concept of the previous bookshop (rather a book lounge) in mind – a lounge sort of environment, peaceful and appealing, plenty of good books to read and decide from, with sips of different preparations of tea (coffee too) and some good bites and a good view of the traffic on the Barakhamba intersection that added positively to your time there.  

But, I should say it was a letdown like the Starbucks CP outlet. The reason behind it is the ‘book lounge’ feeling has been totally compromised. Though, it was never too spacious even while in the Statesman House, one felt at ease while reading through and choosing the books and more importantly enjoying the time with the books with a seamless access to the lounge area. There were no lines drawn and the sip of chai (tea, since its Cha Bar, let’s go with chai, the Hindi for tea) blended naturally with the atmosphere.

RIOTERS: WE EVEN PLANNED TO PUNISH THEM

LIFE - COLORES INFINITUM (40)

We were just too young to think the good or bad of that. Yes, we naturally felt elated when, after spending an hour or two in school, we would get the opportunity to head back home, day after day, for many days, that year.

Some of the super-seniors in the school, whom everyone saw as bad characters and so needed to maintain a distance from, would come directly in the class, would throw some religious slogans, would ask the teacher to leave the class and would ask us to go home.

Though, we were aware that all this was happening to build the Ram Temple in Ayodhya in place of the Babri Mosque, the only point that concerned us then was the fact that we were getting an early leave from the school, an added bonus.

Initially, for some days, it all looked so pleasing to us. We had plenty of time to hang-around, to play, to read comic strips, the in-thing those days. As classes were not running, there was no pressure of home work. Cricket, candies and comic strips – the 3Cs - they flowed so smoothly.

But it didn’t last long.

DELHI GANGRAPE: THE VERDICT AND THE CLOSURE?

..for sometimes resolutions and statements of condemnation are simply not enough.. Barack Obama, September 10, 2013 (from his Syria speech) (India timeline – September 11)

I do not have any intention to use these words from yet another highly emphatic Barack Obama speech delivered the Barack Obama way, unambiguous and to the point, but the words somewhere resonated in my thinking while shuffling through the news channels on TV, sifting for the news coverage on the likely announcing of the quantum of sentence in the December 16, 2013 Delhi gangrape case.

In the aftermath of the huge, unprecedented public outrage on the December 16 gangrape, India did pass a tougher legislation but nothing much seems to have changed.

What on paper was done was more than resolutions and statements of condemnation if we go by the printed words, of legislations, of parliamentary discussions, of political promised made in the Parliament, but these measures are simply not enough the unabated wave of crime against women proves.

Closure, the sense of it, the debates around it, if the family of the brave girl is going to get it, if those of the masses who felt at one with the family’s pain are going to get it - the majority is saying in the one voice that only the death sentence to the four accused found guilty of all the charges by a Delhi Fast-track Court can bring closure. The demand was only aggravated after the leniency shown by the System in the case of the juvenile accused, which the reports said, was the most brutal one.

RAHUL GANDHI AND THE OWNERSHIP PAPERS OF THE RESETTLEMENT COLONIES: THE ALL SO FAMILIAR IRONIES OF INDIAN POLITICS

It was a news heavy day yet again. In the galaxy of two sweeping news events, the verdict in the December 16, 2012 Delhi gangrape case and Narendra Modi’s rally in Jaipur, almost every other development was scrambling to get some more elusive space.

But on this news heavy day, there was yet another somewhat stuffy news story. Though it was too on the front pages of many newspapers in Delhi, it did not get the attention that a Rahul Gandhi story usually gets.

But that is not the point here. The point is about the news story related to Rahul Gandhi and the associated irony with it, the irony that has become all so familiar by its abundance.

The newsy stuff was Rahul Gandhi was to distribute the freehold ownership papers to the families of 45 resettlement colonies in Delhi. The promoted welfare measure (read opportunistic electoral step) was intended to benefit 7 lakh (700,000) families who were rehabilitated in these resettlement colonies.

MUZAFFARNAGAR RIOTS: SACRIFICING HUMAN SUBJETCS, ONCE AGAIN

Those who are killed had Religions. Yes, they could have died for their Religions but they would have never thought to die for their Religion in this way.

Those who killed, claim to have Religion. Those who orchestrate such killings claim to have a Religion.

But they, who perpetrate, cannot have any Religion.

So what is Religion for them?

Over 30 are already killed in the religious riots in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar district. On the face of it, if we say ‘how it all happened’ gives rise to the valid points of suspicion, we would absolutely be on the point.

A young chief minister, who was claimed to be dynamic and efficient, has belied all the expectations by the first year of his term.

We don’t need to write on the unprecedented deterioration of law and order situation in UP for it. Even if we take into account on how the administration and the UP government moved on the fresh batch of over 100 communal riots during the Akhilesh Yadav’s regime, it bares all.

WHAT MADE MANMOHAN SINGH EULOGIZE RAHUL GANDHI IN SO CLEAR TERMS NOW?

This is the second time in a fortnight when Manmohan Singh has spoken and this time, the second time, he has created a lot of buzz through his words. Now pundits are busy interpreting what he meant and political folks are busy endorsing, denying or critiquing what he said.

I am not a pundit and I don’t have any intention to be the one but our dear Manmohan, the comfortably-numb-economist-turned-poor politician-cum-weak prime minister, pushes me again and again to write on what he speaks, on what he does.

Manmohanji, my sincere apologies, but as you have the right to speak selectively and be answerable to the nation selectively, I have the right to write on you whenever my urge pushes me to write, and writing on something that you speak that is uncharacteristic of you or something that makes for some unlikely ‘dramatic’ stuff from an expressionless face like you is a natural extension of that right.

RELIGION: IT IS THE SYSTEM THAT SUCKS

We are made to drink vials and vials of religion from the very first day we arrive here.

It doesn't matter whether we are passive receptors or we actively participate in the process.

At the end, the end of which never comes, we are made to assimilate a lot, without given a chance to realise what we needed to assimilate and what we needed to be aware of to keep us away from.

It is a cycle that begins with birth and goes on and on. Even the death doesn't put a lid on its spillover effects.

And we cannot be blamed for it. It is the System that sucks.

But if we are the System or a part of it, we are to share the blame. So, even if we cannot be blamed, we are to be blamed, in a way, by the feeling of a transferred burden, continued unabated, the beginning of which no one knows.

And neither ‘they’ are to be blamed directly, who, unknowingly or unwittingly, become part of this elaborate trap of indoctrination of religious elements, manipulated and wrongly interpreted for ages to the extent that religion, in reality, has lost its essence for the commoners who form the majority of the followers of any religion.

The spiritual quotient has been killed effectively and the fear quotient of religion reigns supreme.

IN THE MARGINALISED GHETTOS - CAREFREE JOYS OF CHILDHOOD (VI)

CAREFREE JOYS OF CHILDHOOD - A PHOTOGRAPHY SERIES

IN THE MARGINALISED GHETTOS

CAREFREE JOYS OF CHILDHOOD 

(HUMAN EXPRESSIONS) 

Get interactive with Banaras Calling’s Facebook extension at: 

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©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/

CAREFREE JOYS OF CHILDHOOD

http://severallyalone.blogspot.in/2013/09/carefree-joys-of-childhood.html

CAREFREE JOYS OF CHILDHOOD

A PHOTOGRAPHY SERIES

Discrimination begins at birth. Children are subjected to the similar levels of social and class cruelties as the adults.

But, the childhood innocence and the childhood joy are the great differentiators when it comes to the issue – how do they deal with the discrimination that the life creates, and that their social and economic status exacerbates.

The purity of smile on their faces even if they do not have access to the comforts of life that even the kids of a lower middle class family have is as innocent as the smile on faces of kids from the well-to-do classes of a social set-up.

The childhood innocence is a great savior and leveler here. It is not that these children do not realize where they do come from but the universally carefree expression of the childhood joy makes anywhere and everywhere its playground; creates and converts anything into a toy to play with, obliterating the class divides.

The careless joy in their eyes is inspirational and it chants unspoken hymns about living a life with the sense of freedom even if the life is not with you circumstantially, when they ask for one more camera click, with eagerness and genuine smile on their faces that pulls me to them, again and again.

CAREFREE JOYS OF CHILDHOOD - is a themed photography series on my experience of the shared joy of life that I have, whenever I have the opportunity to spend some quality time with them.

©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/  

POLITICAL REFORMS: STILL ABOUT RHETORIC AND EMPTY WORDS

Writing about this problem doesn't make any difference on its state of perpetual apathy. The almost of who are in the fray are beyond redemption. They all are same under the skin, an illicit brotherhood to further their common interests.

Ignoring or maintaining a distance from the epidemic cannot help either. It is heading for a systemic failure and the best fight back to it can be while being in the System, while being a part of it.

And so, the fresh thinking and new entrants with a vow to fight the wrongs in the System are in urgent need.

Sadly, that is not happening. Reform, there, is still about rhetoric and empty words and even the beginning of the process, that no one can decide, define or conceptualize, sounds like daydreaming.

The grip of rotten values and insensitive politics has spread so deep and wide that it rapidly co-opts almost of such entrants. Those who still maintain the stand are made ineffective, cornered or wiped out.

If we look back to gather some names in the recent past, when the process of deterioration has frighteningly speeded up, we don’t find any.

But even if we go back into the history of the post-independence India, we don’t find many names. All we have is apolitical Vinoba Bhave or social and political icons like Ram Manohar Lohia or Jayaprakash Narayan.

But continuance of Congress as the major political force in India, during and after them, and its sustained rule even after the Emergency of 1970s tell nothing much has moved in the name of political reforms in the country.

GOVERNMENT NEGATING RTI AND ELECTORAL REFORM DECISIONS: WHERE IS ARVIND KEJRIWAL?

Writing about this problem doesn't make any difference on its state of perpetual apathy. The almost of who are in the fray are beyond redemption. They all are same under the skin, an illicit brotherhood to further their common interests.

Ignoring or maintaining a distance from the epidemic cannot help either. It is heading for a systemic failure and the best fight back to it can be while being in the System, while being a part of it.

And so, the fresh thinking and new entrants with a vow to fight the wrongs in the System are in urgent need.

Sadly, that is not happening. Reform, there, is about rhetoric and empty words and even the beginning of the process, that no one can decide, define or conceptualize, sounds like daydreaming.

The grip of rotten values and insensitive politics has spread so deep and wide that it rapidly co-opts almost of such entrants. Those who still maintain the stand are made ineffective, cornered or wiped out.

WE, THE INDIANS, BUT WHO ARE WE?

We are to be blamed. We cannot shirk the responsibility. And so we are rightly to be condemned.

But who are we?

Are we the idiots, the nonsensical stuff, who are tailor-made to remain so.  

You may disagree but, logically, I am correct.

What else should we be when we, so foolishly, elect the set of corrupt and criminally tainted politicians year after year, election after election?

What else should we be when we blindly follow the godmen who defy every tenet of godly behaviour?

Who else could we be when fail to identify what is good for us, what is bad for us, what is practical for us, and what is logical for us?

Who else could we be when we repeat the mistake, again and again, not learning from the innumerable chances that our mistakes, that our errors of judgement, that our misplaced sense of discretion, give us, again and again.