My thoughts

We have systems,

and to fit in them, we ourselves have become systems, programmed machines,

Lost our humanity somewhere, there is no point in looking for it in temples, its not there,

The fight for basic survival has stripped us of our humanity, empathy, hopes, aspirations, dreams,

The scarcity has reached our families and seeing no solutions or support outside,

We have turned against each other. The family system itself has become a machine ostracizing its weak , vulnerable and different,

Blaming and shaming the ‘not so successful’, ‘not so good looking’, ‘different from the rest’.

And we call ourselves ‘progressing’, ‘developing’, ‘growing’.

 

There is a lot that needs to be said, a lot that needs to be changed,

But a certain numbness has set in, a certain apathy, a certain tiredness,

What exactly is the ‘poverty’ we are talking about? The amount of money we possess?

What about ‘poverty of thought’ and the consequent ‘entitlement’ to produce ‘poor work’, to lack integrity of character, to have no commitment to one’s work?

Is it not ‘poverty of thought’ that leads families to keep producing kids until a boy is born? Four girls and then a boy. So five kids to look after even when income levels are low. Now the girls will be neglected and the boy will be fawned upon and he will grow up thinking that he can dis-respect the feminine gender because that is what he has seen in his family.

Is it not ‘poverty of thought’ that we refuse to produce ‘good quality work’ even if we can just because it takes extra effort?

Is it not ‘poverty of thought’ that we keep buying cars even when there is no space to park them, all the while talking about ‘climate change’.

Is it not ‘poverty of thought’ that we need to spend crores on a temple while millions are unemployed and are struggling to make both ends meet?

The dirt, the squalor, the police constable openly urinating on the roads, the growing garbage dumps, the noise on the roads

Do we need ‘money’ or do we need ‘wealth’?

Do we need ‘religion’ or do we need ‘culture’?

Of course we are getting poorer by the minute.

Are you happy Mom?

Reasonably yes, she said,

“I wanted a ‘house’ and a ‘son’ and God granted me both”

Yeah, I said, shrinking and becoming smaller,

Suddenly aware of the origin of the feeling of being ‘less than’ all my life,

Its not her fault at all,

I guess ‘daughters’ are always ‘less’, right from birth,

A bane of our patriarchal society,

So much for ‘development’, ‘growth’, ‘equality’.

Such nice words.

Hollow and shallow.

 

 

 

 

How can words flow from a frozen heart,

How can tears flow from eyes who see too much,

The manipulations, the machinations, the cruelty of humans towards humans,

The mask behind the mask, the fakeness, the numbness,

Advertisements selling emotions, reality shows marketing feelings in exchange for TRP’s,

The politics behind the politics, the criminals behind the politics, the police and criminals serving the politicians,

The noise and fury of the multi crore packages, signifying nothing,

‘Talking’ is not ‘walking’

And ‘We the people’

just busy ‘paying the bills’

Its like a TV soap opera,

The ‘police’ being the legal ‘wife’ of the politician,

And the ‘Goon’ being the illegal ‘mistress’ of the politician,

Both supporting the same man,

Both fighting each other for the attention of the same man [ politician ],

Both killing each other because of the same man,

Not realizing that both are being manipulated and used,

Not recognizing that the real culprit is the ‘politician’ , the ‘Man’ controlling and abusing both of them.

Recently, I heard the word ‘clown’ and it resonated with me a lot.

Maybe its because we have all become clowns dancing to the tune of a few pipe players,

And we are so busy dancing and twirling just to pay our bills,

just surviving in this mad world,

Just trying to keep our sanity in the surrounding insanity,

We have forgotten who we are and who we could be,

We have forgotten the simple pleasures of life,

And ‘money’ which was supposed to be the just the ‘means’ has become the ‘new God’. The new ‘puppeteer’

Omnipresent, omnipotent

I sit here in my office today, agitated , upset and angry.

Our youth is our future, our hope. And education is the only wealth we need. Not religion based citizenship.

Uniformed police entering Jamia Milia University and hitting the students indiscriminately is the last straw on the camel’s back. Our country has hit its rock bottom in all ways: morally, spiritually and financially.

December 15, 2019 will be remembered as the darkest day in the history of Independent India. A day when the protectors turned abusers.

It is like we are back to British Raj, or even worse. Beatings, tear gas, oppression, division based on religion, rising unemployment, loss of freedom of speech.

We are under dictatorship of the worst kind. Darkness has descended. We cannot see, we cannot breathe, we cannot speak.

India has lost its soul.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The vulgar and hungry dance in politics for power,

what a shame, what a loss of faith,

Everewhere in the system, it is ‘personalities over principles’,

All the glamour, all the jazz, all the noise, all the advertisements, screaming for attention, for votes, for seats,

The truth, sitting so far away in a long forgotten corner, gradually dying for lack of attention,

Welcome to free India, Independent India

There are no words to descibe the hooliganism, the arrogance, the brutality and the violence of the Delhi police against common citizens,

To see the police behaving like goons, unleashing violence as a pack  of wolves on a citizen and his teenage son is gut wrenching.

This is the state of law and order in our country,

This is the ‘Shanti’, ‘Sewa’ and ‘Nyaya’ that the police sells as an advertisement of its hollow services.

The only ‘mission statement’ of the ‘police’ seems to be to prove that ‘ they are the Bosses’, no matter what. If you dare question their authority in any which way, all hell is will break loose.

The Police should stop claiming that it protects the citizens. The police in our country is a team of legal goons for serving the politicians or the top bureaucrats who write their confidential reports.

What will we do with development and infrastructure when our basic dignity and self respect is under attack by the very men who are supposed to protect us?

What will we do with ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwaas’ when we are not safe on the roads of our country,

We the citizens of this country have no respect for the ‘Police’. The term ‘police’ is nauseating and a symbol of opression and extortion.

When the police is for sale what can it protect?

When the police can beat a man and his son mercilessly on the road in full public view and drag them to the police station, what does it reflect about our country?

Speaking for myself, I have more respect for women forced into ‘prostitution’ than the ‘police force’.

Our heads hang in shame.

 

 

 

Friends, countrymen,

we have chosen and how clearly,

but maybe we need to pause and think about the choices we have made,

in place of choosing ‘principles’ above ‘personalities’, we have chosen ‘personality’ over ‘principles’,

And ‘personalities’ can fail us, they always do,

Only ‘principles’ endure.

A country needs to run on ‘principles’, ‘ideologies’ based on  a solid rock foundation of ‘integrity’, ‘honesty’ and ‘truth’,

And sometimes the voices which cannot be heard are more true than the ones which can be heard,

But maybe we are continuously searching for a ‘patriarch’ who can make everything right,

who can protect us from external threats with his belligerance and aggressive attitude,

But what about all the internal problems, the divisive forces within us that keep growing, the stress in the economy,

Our leaders can only represent us and the larger question is,

“Who are we becoming’?

There is always a ‘cost’ for the ‘choices’ we make.

Cultural, economic, political.

Are we ready ?