Better Infrastructure Improves Public Behavior

Everyone behaves well when they are happy or at least when they are not in stress. And what makes us happy is, if everything going as desired or as planned. Better infrastructure does precisely that. It makes thing predictable. You can plan things based on the previous knowledge and it will play out as predicted.

I would like to mention one very peculiar thing which I observed while travelling in Delhi Metro. Even though there are seats reserved for women, elderly and differently abled person, people were happily giving up their unreserved seats when they saw some women or elderly person standing and no other seat were vacant. There was no demand, no grumbling, seats were being offered happily. For someone who is used to travel on Non-AC buses on bumpy roads, that was a rare sight of generosity. And what made it atypical was the label that Delhi junta carries of being insensitive and rude. Even people were apologizing when they were colliding with someone or unknowingly stepping on someone's feet. The sight gave the beautiful picture of cultured and civilized society who are trained to live together. And don't mistake the crowd to be of prosperous and privileged, there was sufficient economic heterogeneity thanks to the low fare of metro.

Then I got down the train and came out of the station. The temperature outside was close to 38-40 degree Celsius, heavy pollution clouding the atmosphere, and here I experienced the stereotyped Delhi. A motorbike guy fighting with the auto driver accusing him of brushing passed him.  A rickshaw wala guy shouting at a female pedestrian "Oye madam dekh ke chalo" and she was also shouting back.  The beautiful picture of civilisation from inside the metro started getting blurred in the polluted, dusty outside.

So one thing was pretty clear, It was not the people who changed from the metro, it was the environment which changed. The timely running metro, with decent cool air inside and perfect cleaning around made people behave nicely in contrast to the outside where roads were dusty, temperature was high, footpath was hogged by shops, motorbikes, autos running without following traffic rules, people spitting here and there.

So creating better infrastructure and civil amenities will improve people's behavior more than any moral science lesson taught in school or imposed rules to behave properly.

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Cinema and Society

Literature is the mirror of society. Well that can very well be extended to cinema as well. And in fact in modern time the latter make more sense going by the sheer volume of audience cinema attracts than a book. Cinema reflects our society back at us. Though sometime we are unable to sense it as there is so much disparity in society itself. A virtually westernised urban audience fails to see it's reflection in movies with rural settings, An urban migrant labourer or rural population cannot be expected to relate with movies based on upper middle class life. And senior citizens do not fully appreciate the new generation films. Cinema shows us what we think, what we want, and what we want to be. It shows us how different sections of population have different set of problems and how they tackle it, and without cinema it seems unimaginable how we could have got chance to observe such diverse lifestyle unless we are adventurer and ardent traveller.

A generation's cinema can be as good as the society is. The term "good" here is relative. We like some films we dislike some other. We like films and consider them good which we can relate with our life or at least are aware that something like this might happen or if it resonates with our fantasy. We dislike films or consider them bad which we fail to see any relation with our life or which is completely out of sync with our wildest imagination. But there is one thing that resonate with all of us, in no matter what kind of film it is, and that is "heroism". The good guy protagonist character around which the whole movie revolves. We relate to this character, we love this character and more often than not we try to imitate the character.

Cinema heroism has profound impact on the society's behaviour, and in that sense it is not just a mirror but torchbearer and guide too. It's not that it only impacts the impressionable mind of adolescent but it has it's significant imprint on the adult's behaviour too. And that makes the task of film maker all the more difficult in ensuring proper portrayal of the "hero" character. But Indian film makers have not given enough care in the carving out character of "hero" figure that it actually deserves. In bid to show the machoism that is associates with "hero" in almost all the movies of recent times or even old time we have witnessed the character flaunting all the norms of civil society and with no legal consequence.  This is bad at so many levels.

An honest and no nonsense police officer beating bad guys in the street and then locking them up and torturing them in jail cell and sometime even killing them is a recurring feature in our movies and is also widely appreciated by the audience. But this is illegal. Police do not have mandate to beat people. A good police officer would be the one who arrests the criminal and produce that criminal in court within 24 hour without even slapping him.

A guy in one sided love with a girl constantly stalking her and following her openly in the street is considered cute and romantic. But guess what stalking is criminal offence and that "hero" guy should be put in jail not appreciated for his indomitable spirit.  Is it too difficult to figure out where these road side romeo in real life derives their creativity from?

All the extra legal steps that hero character takes during movies to take vengeance for the atrocities which he has faced in the beginning of movie are all applauded and becomes the source of inspiration for society. This makes the task of implementing rule of law all the more difficult and dream of establishment of legally and morally upright society far fetched.

 Film censor board will do more good to the society if it will start censoring adulated extralegal features of the films than what it is currently busy in doing, cutting "inappropriate" love scenes and "abusive" language.

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Cheating in Bihar Board Exam

Saw this picture of cheating in Bihar board secondary school exam on twitter on 19th march. When I first saw it I thought someone is cracking joke on Bangladeshi cricket fans watching IND Vs BAN world cup quarterfinal match. Had I not been from Bihar this picture would have seemed to me as unbelievable as the picture of some crowded trains covered completely with people or awfully long traffic jams. But this picture did not surprise me because I have seen this happening all around me since I was a kid, the only thing that has changed is the height of the building and use of rope.  This picture demonstrate not only the minuscule version of citizen's lawlessness attitude who are ready to subvert any institutional norms, which is rampant in Bihar but also it demonstrate the grim picture of administrative failure, shortsighted political discourse which has followed in the state for years.

With Sarv Siksha Abhiyan and other educational initiatives the social mindset has changed in positive direction which value education, literacy, including girl education. Giving free cycles to girl students to ease their commute, giving them free uniforms and money to buy books have actually increased the number of girl student enrollment in primary and secondary schools. And the most encouraging change is the superiority a higher degree holder enjoys in society. 10th pass will have more affluence than a 8th pass, a degree holder will garner more respect than just 12th pass and so on. Even in marriage the same preference is followed. Now the question is how come such a positive change in society is leading us to such an image which is being circulated and tarnishing the image of already infamous state.

As the pressure to attain higher and higher degree mounted, people rode their free bicycle, wearing their free uniform with free books in their bags started going school only to be greeted with free mid day meal.

The condition of teachers in government schools or private schools which are affiliated with state board is absolute pathetic. I have not met any parent serious about their children schooling sending them to state board affiliated schools if they can afford English medium CBSE school.  and even if they do send them to such schools they also make them take multiple additional coaching. Now those who cannot afford even that what choice do they have? Society cares for result not for the way you took to get it.

People are suggesting open book exam to curb this cheating practice. I don't understand why? People are not cheating because they can't remember stuff, they are cheating because they have not been taught. What difference does it make if you will give them book in the exam, why not just scrap the exam all together if you want to stop the cheating in exam. Open book exam is the best methodology when you want to test the analytic skill of examinee and not just rote learning. But analytic skill will develop if  there is someone in school to explain the book properly.

One of the reason for the poor state of Bihar is this also, ignorant people. Even though literacy rate is going up but people are lacking adequate substantive knowledge and still have feudal mindset. Girls are passing exams but are unaware about their rights and are subjected to all patriarchal norms.

So dear chief minister stop appealing to parents to stop this nonsense and please rise above the vote bank politics and take some tough decision on the state of schools and college in Bihar and teachers in them.

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Attacks On Church and Ghar Wapsi

In past 6-8 months we have been hearing lots of news, sometime of attacks on church, christian missionaries, noble christian personalities, sometime of religious re-conversion popularly known as 'ghar wapsi'.  Motive seems to be the one, to assert majority power to correct the past injustice that had been done. For long we have been taken for ride now we are at the driver's seat and will take others to the destination of our suit and route we prefer. Nothing seems to be the flaw in the logic. But is the way in which it is being carried out is justifiable. No, certainly not in a pluralistic society like India which is proud to declare herself a secular state.

Now lets dig deep into these issues. The program where other religion followers were converted into Hinduism is named 'ghar wapsi' which means to bring home someone who went away. Is it not just and right thing to bring someone back home? Yes absolutely it is. Then why so much hue and cry? is it media creation?, or is it the manner and message with which it is being done?

To some extent it is a media hype and it's very nature to sensationalize and cash in on people's paranoia. but to put all the blame on media will not mere be injustice to the media but also trivialize this important issue. Why is there need for re-conversion? because  they converted in the first place. why did they convert? Some converted because they liked the religion they were adopting or at least were feeling safe in doing so, or they disliked their 'original' religion.

History suggests and there is no denying that since medieval time people are either coerced to convert or incentivized to convert or made feel inferior in their 'original' religion. But there is enough evidence of people converting because they just did not like the ills of their original religion, they did not like the methodology, they felt sidelined, neglected, ostracized  from their own 'ghar'. So they went away.

Now 'Ghar Wapsi' can be done in two way either clean up your own practices, make the people who are still with you, in your 'ghar' feel welcome and included and make it enviable. or start burning and vandalizing others 'ghar' to force them to come in your 'ghar'. The unfortunate thing is going the latter's way is more convenient and easy and it's no surprise that it is being pursued. 

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Do Result Justify Means?

Should we accept that everything we did was great, if the outcome was a resounding success? Should we not learn from our successes too, as we are told to learn from our failures?

There is always a luck (uncertainty) factor in every success and once may be your compromises got overcompensated by luck factor, but you cannot always bank upon that. for example you didn't prepare one chapter but still you topped the exam because no question came from that chapter, that doesn't mean you should have not read all chapters and you can always top, leaving something behind.
No success is absolute, life is a race and you will always have bigger competition to participate in and always bigger goals to achieve.

I think that the biggest mistake that one can make is to assume that everything they did to succeed was good, or even worse if they believe that the compromises they made to succeed are justified after success.

So No, result do not always justify all means taken to achieve this.

When they say don't let the victory get to your head, I guess this is what they mean.

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AAP Sweep

The victory, that Aam Aadmi Party registered could not have been more emphatic in demonstrating that honest and selfless work for people ultimately pays off. 10th Feb was a great day, and I hope it becomes and remains a memorable day for decades to come. Let it be the start of change in politics of the country, which will be more aligned towards the aspirations of people.  Let it be the sunrise of the day which will bring a new hope, where people strive to become honest and are praised and encouraged to be one. Let it be start of an era where politicians do not take people for granted who can be swayed by inciting passion of belongings. Societal change is an evolutionary process and let this landslide victory be counted as an important milestone.

Some news papers captures of this triumph. Daily many news paper comes to my office and I took the front page pic of this news and sharing here.

The Hindu

The Hindu Editorial

Deccan Herald

Deccan Chronicale

Indian Express

Rajasthan Patrika

Dakshin Bharat Rashtramat

The Economic Times

This is a progressive mandate and it has restored my faith in people's judgement. Nothing less than this would have sufficed. Delhi you are awesome. 

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Hierarchy, Not a very good thing

Everyone has got some level of stupidity or intelligence in them. Someone has less, someone has more. But when many people interact, this level cancels out and comes down to the average of the group. So if average is more than normal that team performs better and if average is less than normal, things do not go down very well.
However If strict hierarchical structure is created then the stupidity level of people at the top tier magnify as much that it almost nullify everyone below them. Then everything comes down to the people or person at the hierarchical crest. If they are intelligent than normal you will succeed and if they are stupid then good luck to you,  and that is less favorable situation for any organisation which aims to grow.

Don't create hierarchy, create a stimulating environment where people can thrive on their potential and can contribute to their fullest. 

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शफेद रंग

रंगो से भरे पंख फड़फड़ाती तितली रंगो के पीछे ही भागती है ।
कभी कभी तो ऐसा लगता है जैसे उसे पता ही नहीं
की कितने रंगीन हैं उसके खुद के पंख
काश कभी ठहर कर,
साँस लेकर देख पाती अपने रंगीन पंखो को ,
काश कुछ देर रुक कर आत्मलोकन  कर पाती
शायद उसकी ज़िन्दगी भी रंगीन हो जाती
उन फूलो की रंगो की तरह जिनके फीछे रोज़ भागती है वो ।

मगर इतनी फुर्शत किसे कि कोई ठहरे
अगर रुकेंगे तो पीछे नहीं छूट जायेंगे
लाइफ इज़ अ रेस, एंड यू हाव टु रन फ़ास्ट टू विन
दौड़ो और तेज़ दौड़ो , और तेज़
बहुत तेज़ दौड़ा था वो, इतना तेज़
की सबसे आगे की पंक्ति में खड़ा था
जब पीछे मुड़ के देखा तो दूर दूर तक ज़िन्दगी कही दिखाई नहीं दी ।

पिला रंग
लाल रंग
बैंगनी रंग
हरा रंग
रोज़ तन्मयता से लाती थी
और संजो के रखती थी वो रंगो को।
दिन में चैन नहीं रात को आराम नहीं ,
सांस कैसे ले सकती हैं, जब तक सारे रंग बटोर न ले ,
पुरखो से सुनती आई है सबने कोशिश की
पर कोई सारे रंगो का एक साथ सुख न ले सका है अभी तक ,
मेहनत तो करनी पड़ेगी, दस्तूर के मुह पर तमाचा जो मारना है ।

अंतिम रंग बचा था मिलाने को
शायद ज़िन्दगी का अंतिम पहर भी हो
सभी रंगो की झिलमिलाती रौशनी में नहाना चाहती थी
मगर ये क्या?
अंतिम रंग मिलते ही सबकुछ रंगहीन हो चूका था
आँखो में तैर रहे थे रंग,  मगर चेहरा शफेद पड़ा हुआ था
कहाँ गए रंग?

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Congratulation Aam Aadmi

After lots of ups and down and carefully maneuvering their steps in this knotty race of Indian politics, Aam Aadmi Party against the better judgement of all political analysts has come out to be the faith building instrument of a common man in governance and politics. As rightly said by Mr. Arvind Kejriwal it's not just a win of a Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) but win of Aam Aadmi, who stood up against undesirable practices in governance through a proper mechanism.

The win of 28 seats out of 70 seats with a vote share of 30%  for a party which was formed just a year ago is phenomenal. Now either they will sit in opposition or gear up for re election, they have instilled in common man a faith, and in established party a fear.

The decision of Arvind Kejriwal fighting election against Sheila Dikshit, an incumbent chief minister for 15 years and winning by thumping majority tells us all the story about the motives AAP is build with and support they have.  

The assembly election of Delhi and performance of AAP has changed the political scenario of 2014 general election all together. Now its no more a fight between incapable son of former prime minister and an accuse of mass murder. Thank you AAP for giving us an another option to chose from, rather than making difficult choice of pressing NOTA.

I just want to congratulate Aam Aadmi of Delhi for setting such an example before country that is going to galvanise the Indian democracy in times to come.  

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A Rational Approach To Popular Demands

Since the beginning of 2011 or rather by the end of 2010 when many prevalent corruption and financial irregularities cases in government were surfacing in the public, people's blood were scalding. By the mid of 2011 it took a form of huge movement under the banner India Against Corruption, People were coming out in streets with placards in their hands shouting to stop corruption and to pass Jan Lokpall Bill. Anna Hazare, the leader of this people's open show of discontent, sat on fast for many days. It seemed like whole country erupted in his support.

I was in my fourth year of college and frequent user of social media, so I was updated with the happenings. Lot of people in the campus of IIT Kharagpur also arranged demonstration and fasted in support of India Against Corruption. I too shared the same feeling like any other common Indian at that time, but I was not in support of movements like India Against Corruption in any way. Road blocks, fast, stopping government machinery to function properly never resonate with my conscience. Many people compared Anna Hazare with Mahatma Gandhi and anti-corruption movement with movements of Independence. But what they missed out is, not having power and having power and not executing it, are not the same thing. When the country was British colony there were no way to get your demands implemented through government machinery, there was no universal adult franchise, so intellectuals of that time took way to satyagrah and non-violent protests to get their voice heard and get their demands registered. But situation today is different, we have constitution and we have been practicing democracy for more than sixty glorious years. Now using same method to demand which we used to do in pre-independence era is not only inefficacious but also mockery of all the efforts of our great leaders which brought independence,democracy, constitution and adult franchise.

When India Against corruption website asked for suggestion from the people how to proceed with the movement, I created a account on their website and first thing I wrote was -- make a political party. So finally when Arvind Kejriwal announced to form party on 2nd Oct 2012, and  named it Aam Aadmi Party on 26th Nov 2012 I could't be more happier. But still after one year when Aam Aadmi Party is standing at the juncture of creating history and completely change the political scenario of the country, many people criticise Arvind Kejriwal for betraying Anna and making the movement against corruption weak. To all those people I want to say why Arvind Kejriwal made a right choice.

• Whom are you protesting against? This is your government, you have chose it with your conscience, and you have trusted it with your vote, now if it's not functioning as you wanted, should you not just throw it away rather than sitting on dhrana. What do you do if you hire a domestic help and they started stealing and slacking in work, you fire them, not sit on dhrana. So do the same here too, because you can. 

• You had your excuse of all parties are same whom I should vote for, so lets sit at dhrana instead. Aam Aadmi Party gave you option. They channelised the energy of dharna movement in campaigning for the support of cause in a more constitutional way, in a way our great freedom fighters wanted us to do. 

• If they are the one who are telling the government what to do and how to tackle the problems faced by common people, and we all are agreeing what they are demanding is for the betterment of us, then why not they are one who should go in assembly or parliament. After all it's democracy and no one's manor. 

New born Aam Aadmi party is contesting election for Delhi assembly and with scientifically coordinated campaign, the way they have organised their party and delegated volunteer work, that in just matter of one year they have reached the ears and hearts of people. This has totally proved wrong the hearsay that they are inexperienced and skepticism of how they will deal with the day to day twitch of government functioning.

Now when just one more day is left in campaigning for the election which is due on 4th Dec 2013, my fingers are crossed and I am hoping, people of Delhi, who has got this chance to be able to write this first chapter of this beautiful transformation of Indian political synopsis, would use their vote judiciously. I have trust in people of Delhi, who has against the better judgement of many political analysts have shown tremendous support and enthusiasm for this more rational approach to deal with popular demands in a democracy.  

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Truth Beyond The Canvas

Hanging in the gallery were those paintings

They saw a mirthful girl, with wavy silky hair
playing with the wind as she was marching ahead,
I could see the fear of femicide in her eyes
entrenched since before she was even born.

They saw a boy playing in park
trying to jump to catch a ball,
I could see the weight of expectations
loaded on his back pulling him down.

They saw leafless trees in barren region
standing timidly as silhouette,
I could see the hope of spring
on the those skinny branches.

They saw the resplendent scattered light of
glorious morning sun from undulating river water,
I could see the bitter and sanguinary thoughts
hatched in the darkness before dawn.

They saw a  perennial tree by the side
of a small hut and a old man sitting on ground,
I could see his wife sitting inside that hutch
beside broken utensils and cold stove.


-Chanchal Prakasham

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मिनरल वाटर

कच्ची सड़क से धूल उड़ाते हुए गुजरते
कार के शीशे से बाहर फेंके जाने पर
उसे अहसास हुआ कितनी गर्मी है बाहर,
शायद वातानुकूलित पिंजड़े के अंदर
सूरज की भी मर्ज़ी नहीं चलती |

कारों का काफिला गुजरने और
धूल का गुबार पसरने के बाद उसे दिखा
सुखतीं फसलें , फसलों को आशाहीन नजरों
से देखते किसानो के सपाट चेहरे के पीछे
छिपा हुआ दर्द और उनके मुरझाए हुए सपने  |

उसने अनुमान लगाया शायद यही है
ड्राउट प्रोन कंट्रीसाइड,
जिसके बारे में कार के अन्दर के लोग बात कर रहे थे
घिन आने लगी थी उसे अपने बोतल में कैद जिंदगी से  |

कुछ कर गुजरने की तमन्ना लिए
कर दिया खुद को समर्पण
सूरज की किरणों के सम्मुख |

भाप बन उड़ चला था गगन को चूमने
ठंडक और सुकून था ऊपर की हवावों में
बस अगर कुछ नहीं था, तो वो थी संवेदना  |

बादलों के बीच पहुच कर सुना दिया उसने दर्द भरा वृत्तांत
कहानी की वेदना से धधक उठी थी चिंगारी आकाश में
उमड़ पड़ी बादलों की सारी फ़ौज उसके आह्वान पर

अगले दिन खबर आई, सूखा ग्रस्त इलाके में जम कर हुई बारिस
सैकड़ो गाँव बाढ़ में तबाह |



- चंचल प्रकाशम्

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Babies Born Behind Bars

Once upon a time, there was a king who feared
his death from babies of next generation,
apparently some astrologer told him so.

His life was dear to him, so he issued an order
to put behind bars all the gravid ladies of his kingdom.
He could have killed those women but sadly
that would have lowered the "human rights index".

Women were arrested and kept in possible farthest jail.
They delivered babies, took care of them for few months,
babies were chained and mothers were forced out. 
Babies started growing in the darkest jail of that time.

As they were human babies they maneuvered themselves
in the darkness  and started aging happily,
dark was their god, dark were their thoughts
They even dreamed darkly.

The only ornament they had, was their chains
They took care of it as their vital body parts.
They used it for music they used it for war
even organized  competition to determine mightiest so far. 

During competition, chain of a puny man broke,
He was labeled challenged and was out-casted.
He started spending his time in other things, at other corner,
with the broken piece of his chain he started scratching the wall

While scratching, the chain got hot and he got brunt finger
He unleashed his frustration on the wall,
hit repeatedly with his hot chain until it sparked
He told his few friends about this new blinding thing.

Words got out and mightiest of them came
and crushed him with their mightiest chain
for discovering something blinding and unfaithful.
He was thrown back in the same distant corner.

Forgetting his pain he again started scratching and hitting the wall
really the wall was not too strong and not too thick
it started cracking, he kept on scratching and hitting,
Finally a stone came out and prison was filled with blazing light.

People came running towards it covering their eyes
they were scared, they were terrified, puny man was leaping,
as he had seen the outside world with his watery eyes.

Mightiest of them came all frowned on this light of disbeliever 
They killed the puny man with their mightiest chain and
stuffed his bones in the vent, again there was darkness all around.




 - Chanchal Prakasham

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Conscience Vs Legality

After the hectic scheduled first three weeks of December, finally I was going home to spend remaining days of the year with my parents. There was sudden surge in chill and I had to catch train from Howrah. From Kharagpur I boarded a 2:30 PM local which was bound to reach Howrah at 5:00 PM, and my train to home was to leave Howrah at 5:45 PM. I have unflinching faith on the local trains which are famous for their strict commute time, that's why I had kept a buffer time of just 45 minutes. The train reached close to the station at 5 O' clock but stopped few hundreds of meters away from the platform. After my lot of praying it again started and finally I reached the station at 5:30 PM.

Now I had to take something to eat and catch the train. If you have ever been at Howrah station you must be aware of its atmosphere. Around 23 platforms and that's too divided in old and new station, and thousands of people on the station at all time like there is some mela going on. My first task was to search from which platform my train was scheduled to start, luckily that wasn't tough, thanks to continuously updating electronic boards. Since failing to catch train is one of my nightmare so I had to drop my idea of eating egg roll and vada pav at the store by the side of Food Plaza, which is by the way one of the perks of catching train to home from Howrah and not from kharagpur directly.(though there are two trains daily from Kharagpur to Dehri-on-Sone). I hastily reached to my coach walking briskly 200m, put my bag on seat and came out looking for some vendors. 3 min was still left, luckily I found a vendor very close to my coach, bought chocolate chip cookies and bottle of water, ordered tea, but train had blown its horn so after canceling the order, I returned to my seat. 

It was already dark outside but the coach was glowing in its numerous tube-lights. As the train started moving, cold wind gushed in, first I found it refreshing may be because I was feeling warm, owe it to my brisk walk, but suddenly I felt the chill. People hurriedly started lowering the window pan, in a couple of minutes the coach was almost sealed. After seating for about 20 min on the side lower seat as no one had yet arrived at that seat, I went on to my seat, ate cookies, drank water, set alarm and went in deep sleep lulled in the lap of train.

Around 8 O' clock the TTE came, wake me up and asked for ticket and ID card which I showed, then he moved on. I tried again to go back to sleep then I heard some noise, when listened carefully it was the discussion going on between TTE and some passenger in my next compartment. There were two ladies one around 30-35 and other around 60 years. The TTE was asking to produce photo ID card along with ticket and the both women were saying vote photo nahi hai humare pass kaha se dikhaye, station par bas ticket hi diya (We don't have photo identity card, we got only ticket at the ticket counter.) The TTE said "without photo identity card your ticket is invalid and either you pay fine or Rs. 1100 or get off the train". I was kind of getting impressed with his honesty. The elder woman said "sahab pahli bar reservation bogi me chadhe hain humko pata nahi tha ki vote photo bhi chahiye hota hai ticket ke sath aur humko koi bataya bhi nahi aur humare pass itna paisa nahi hai fine dene ke liye" (Sir for the first time I am traveling in reservation coach and I didn't know that we need photo identity card along with ticket and no one even told me so and I don't have that much money to pay fine). The TTE said look, this is not my fault that no one told you, you don't waste my time pack your bag and get ready to get down the train. The younger woman said almost crying kaha jayenge shahab hum itni raat ko? (Where we will go sir, in this night?) The TTE said it's none of my business, you get ready with your bags, I will come when the train stops. His voice seemed as icy as was the gushing wind when train had started moving.

When TTE left the coach the old woman came to me sobbing and said "babu tohra pass vote id hai? dekha na humara pass ticket hai phir bhi ye TTE bol raha ki itni raat ko train se phek dega".(Babu do you have the photo identity card? See I have proper ticket but TTE is saying he will throw me out of train.) She told me she was from some village near Mirzapur and the lady accompanying her was her daughter-in-law, and her husband was traveling in general coach in the same train. I told her since 1st of December 2012 its a rule that you must carry identification card otherwise you ticket will be considered invalid. She hopelessly asked other passengers too. Many of them were not aware of this rule but since they had ID card so they had been spared from TTE's " harassment". Just to console her I along with other passengers said "theek hai aap jaiye soiye apne seat par, phek kaise dega humlog hain na, chinta mat kijiye" (you go and sleep on your seat, we are here how can he throw you away ? Don't worry, we will talk to him.) Of course that pacified her a little bit, she went to her seat and sat there.

Now it got me thinking what would I say to TTE when he would finally come.  He was not wrong but surely he was being inconsiderate. No way a rule enforced just 20-25 days back would be known to a village woman. Who was at fault?  The women? The TTE? Ticket-teller? Or the railway authority? The ignorance because of illiteracy is not a crime or is it?


P.S:- Finally when TTE came, we requested him and said that her husband is in general coach and he might be having the ration card. After lot of persuasion he left after giving them warning to be careful from next time.  I told her to spread the word in her village so that next time no other person from her village get in trouble.
       

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Since When "Aadmi" Doesn't Mean Women Too?

It has always been a trait of civilized society to rummage the odds, and eliminate it if it can be, or inculcate it in life, like it would no longer remain odd. Humans have ruled the only planet with existence of life (as of now) not because they are the mightiest but because they have what it takes to rule. Using their gifted mind they overpowered some really vigorous animals in those initial days that sometime seems unimaginable. But when it came to interact with their fellow human beings they used their physical strength.  Unfortunately the beautifully crafted and filled with dearness idols lost their battle in the war of physical strength. But the game winning tactic seems to be changing now, we are in the twenty first century, an era of science and technology and now again what it takes to rule is nothing but intelligence and women are nowhere less than their men counterpart provided they are getting same opportunities.

The millenniums long strong foothold of men have engraved very deep foot print on the surface of civilization. Be it literature, crafts, nomenclature, religion, no matter where you see you can get the glimpse of masculinity. Leaving Hinduism aside, no other religion have given proper recognition to women in deity. Why prophets of all religions are only male? Did it never occur to god to send any female messenger? Why it is assumed that word Aadmi (as in Aam Aadmi party) means women too and not just men. Why only father's name of male and female(unmarried) and husbands name of female(married) is required in case of filling any form? (I was going through the voter list of my constituency to find my name and what I saw was very bizarre. In the list along with the name of elector, one name was also mentioned and it has to be male's name, in case of male it was always father's name, dead or alive and in case of female it was father's name if unmarried and husband's name if married). May be many women don't care about it, that's not because they are happy with it but because they are facing far too more differences to care about such "nonsense stuffs". But those women who have got their scores settled in other dimensions of life would certainly point out these minute things no matter you label them as FemiNazi or Female Chauvinist.
Well, the deep engraved foot print of masculinity can be obliterated if women walks over it with even firmer foothold, but then level of civilization will get even more down so its better to help each other in filling the dent.


Recent hyped cases:

Controversy regarding Mr ShriPrakash Jaiswal, the then Coal Minister, Govt. of India arose when during attending a cultural event in Kanpur he made sexist remarks against women by saying A new victory and a new marriage have their own importance. But as times passes, the memories of a victory go old and as time passes, a wife gets old, the same charm is not there. Female protesters went down on roads and later the minister had to apologize.

Chief Minister of Gujarat Mr Narendra Modi during his rally in Himachal Pradesh amidst talking corruption, made a sexist comment about Mr. Shashi Throor's wife as "has anybody seen 50 crore girlfriend". He was slammed for his remark. and I don't remember he even apologized (well some people lack humility).

A news in foreign media was much hyped while defending her party member on some sexist message, Australian Prime Minister Ms Julia Gillard quoted her opposition leader Tony Abbott's ditch the bitch remark and commented  “I will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man .... if he wants to know what misogyny looks like in modern Australia, he doesn't need a motion in the House of Representatives, he needs a mirror.”

A twitter war of word over why Arvind Kejriwal named his party "Aam Aadmi Party". A female pilot twitted-- sir please change the name to something like "Aam Junta party", or "Rastriya Kranti Party" or " Rastriya Vikas party" as it doesn't sound proper. Then many started tweeting "here another pseudo feminist, FemiNazi , Female chauvinist started again". 

To those who thinks women should not care about these words:

If you are the youngest in your siblings how will you feel when some one asks your parents about children and your parents only mentioned the eldest one, even if they love you the same but the mere not being referred there wouldn't hurt you? I think in most of the case it does. and clearly eldest son doesn't inherently mean youngest son too. 

To self proclaimed women protectors: 

This is for someone with Taliban mindset. Have you really given a thought on your self proclaimed protector attitude. I fully agree with your noble intention to protect and preserve the dignity of women by keeping her in burqa. . But isn't it important to take care of what she really feels, does she really need a protection or not. Remember your early teenage days when parents thinks we are still kids who always need their umbrella of patronage and we feel we are old enough to fly solo. How does interests clash then. Let her endure the heat and dust of the road if she really thinks she can.    

Liberate the women

Let them fly

If they will use their wings too

We all can fly high.

              

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