Book Review – Bapu Kuti: Journeys in Rediscovery of Gandhi, Rajni Bakshi

Ever since I first saw the Shah Rukh Khan starrer ‘Swades’ and happened to come across the title of this book in the web as one of the sources of inspiration for the film, I was bent on reading it. Years later, with the help of Page99.com website, I could lay my hands on the book. And, the book has lived up to my expectations and eagerness!

All of us know that this country suffers from a lot of malaises. Each and every one of us can list out a myriad things that are not right with this country. But when it comes to girding the loins and getting our sleeves dirty with the efforts to bring about a change, few of us pass muster. And this book lists a lot of names that have actually started making attempts without just stopping at raising voices.

An IAS officer (Aruna Roy) that took to working in the villages and protecting the interests of the marginal labourers – and whose fight has culminated in bringing the RTI act for the common welfare, academicians and scientists (Karunakaran T & Seshadri C V) who want to bring the benefits of science and technology to the rural masses while working towards goals of sustainable development, an aging artisan (Ravindra Sharma) that is really striving hard to protect the dying crafts that are the colorful threads in this country’s tapestry, a group of friends that are trying to protect the holy rivers of the country from turning into huge channels of sewer (Ganga Mukthi Aandolan and Narmada Bachao Aandolan), people that really believe that the soul of this country is only in the rural areas and many such people who have stopped waiting for the government to do ‘something’ and rather started doing whatever little they can do on their limited own.

The book takes us on a journey across South and Central India, from Devdoongiri to remote hamlets of Andhra to Madurai to Chennai to Madhyapradesh to Gujarat or wherever else these warriors are silently toiling to bring about positive social changes that can spell real progress.

On the verge of forming a charitable trust myself, I found this book to be of great inspiration and guidance. The basic lesson that I have managed to learn from this book is that anybody can raise their voice, cribbing and complaining about all those things that are wrong with this country. But it takes nothing special to start changing whatever little we can, wherever we are.

Overall, an inspiring work by Rajni Bakshi that can prove to even the worst of Gandhi’s detractors as to why and how Gandhi becomes all the more relevant amidst the mounting chaos and mayhem of liberalization, industrialization, privatization and globalization!

Touch-Me-Not!

Ticket, ticket!

The conductor’s monotonous drone broke my train of thoughts. I gazed at my watch and went into panic mode! I had to reach my class in less than ten minutes. Have I completed all the assignments I was supposed to, was I supposed to read something, I started ticking stuff off my mental checklist, all the while gazing out of the window. Suddenly I felt uneasy, something felt horribly wrong, I looked beside me and realized...Some random guy had placed his hands on me. For the next two seconds I froze...Then I gathered my wits and started protesting...the guy had the audacity to gesture me to stop screaming, and then he kept quiet for a period of three minutes. I moved afar and before I could relax, he did it...again! I’d had enough...By this time the conductor who had been a silent spectator motioned him to get down...This whole incident left an ugly footprint on my mind and put me into perspective.

As I confided in my friends, they confirmed my worst fears - that this happens on a regular basis and was not a one-off incident. I was aghast. I started wondering why hasn’t anything been done about this, why do girls have to bear this humiliation day in and day out. More importantly what makes a guy think he can get away with it? Was it just our male-dominated society which puts him on a pedestal and justified all his doings to be blamed? What they justify as ‘fun’ – the catcalls, the stalking, the not-so-accidental brushes, do they even have an idea how deeply it leaves an impact on the girl’s psyche and leaves her wounded for life?

It is not only the so-called thugs, who resort to such acts. Guys hailing from supposedly ‘decent’, affluent and well-educated families are no less. Buses, malls, temples - are girls safe anywhere?! Can a girl even walk from her home for ten feet without that perpetual fear of name-calling, getting ‘accidentally’ brushed by a bunch of guys hanging like a invisible noose around our neck? While the moral outfits continue to blame the girl for ‘revealing’ and ‘attracting’ the guy, I can just say it is a case of kettle calling the pot black, because I have come across married women in traditional attire who were also not spared.

So I would just like to say one thing to such guys out there, ‘We are not your property. We don’t belong to you. Most importantly, get this straight, we DO NOT like being touched by YOU!! Remember that you have a sister too. You have a mother too. Is this the way you want them to be treated? Do you want them to live in perpetual fear? So please spare us and TOUCH-ME-NOT!! Don’t you dare!

(This is a plain, simple, succinct article about eve-teasing by my good friend Bhuvana.)

The ‘Other’ Uses of IRCTC’s Website!

Image Source - Google Image Search

I am one of those innumerable people that had been driven to the end of their wits and made to split hairs attempting to book a ticket (under 'tatkal') through the Indian Railways’ website, popularly known as IRCTC. While making an unsuccessful attempt recently, waiting with nail-biting anxiety, sitting at the edge of my seat, I was wondering as to why this website can’t be put to better use instead of for simply booking the train tickets – which in any case has a success ratio of only one in a gazillion!

I could think of only some of the uses like below. Those who can give more such suggestions are most welcome. We can compile all these suggestions and send them as a petition to the Ministry of Railways. What say?!

Suggestions:

1.    The students that remain anxious about their approaching exams or the exam results can be made to book a ticket through IRCTC, especially under ‘tatkal’, which can show them what real pressure is all about and put them at ease about their examinations or results.

2.    The expectant mothers can be asked to book a ticket under ‘tatkal’ during their labor, which can make them forget their pains and ease their labor.

3.    A person who has made a proposal to his/her beloved and is quite anxious about her/his acceptance can be made to book a ticket – again through ‘tatkal’ - to help him/her overcome that pressing anxiety.

4.    We can also ask an estranged, saddened lover to use this website to make him/her realize that there are worse pains in life than just ‘love failure’.

5.    Anti-social elements can use the website for gambling. A person who makes 10 bookings in a row, without any time-outs, disconnections, system or communication errors, can be given an award of one lakh rupees! Wait a minute, doesn’t this sound like a lucrative betting business?! Any volunteers for partnering with me?

6.    Any politician, who is out of favor with the people and media, can use this website as a reason to go on fast or agitation, demanding the improvisation of the website. Trust me, he will fetch more votes in the next election that he contests.

7.    A hyperactive teenager or any adamant/arrogant/egoist person can be given a challenge to book a ticket through this website. Trust me, this will definitely put him/her in his/her rightful place.

8.    We can ask Ajmal Kasab to do at least 100 ticket bookings per day to earn his food. He will easily commit suicide and we can thus get rid of an unwanted terrorist, keeping India’s holy-cow status untainted. But, I am not responsible for this suggestion if Human Rights organization is going to blame me for his death!

9.    We can include the design of this website in the syllabus of Computer Engineering students under the topic ‘How-not-to-run-a-website’.

10.    We can use this for meditation or concentration practice. Ask any person who has attempted booking a ticket – s/he will tell you how calm, still and motionless one is supposed to sit staring at the monitor, uttering those miniature prayers within for the success of the attempt!

11.    We can form a commission to study the structure of the website and give out suggestions for improving the same. This way, we can give employment to some retired government employees who are in need of financial support a means to support themselves for the next five years.

12.    We can use this website in the campaign against population increase. We can tell people that this is what will happen when such a huge population tries to access and attain such a limited resource!

13.    When Windows proudly brags so much about its ‘Blue-Screen of Death’, we Indians can tell them that we have our own version of the ‘White Screen of Dread’, i.e., ‘Service Unavailable’!

14.    And, to wrap it all up, the IRCTC’s failure to maintain a proper website can feed idle people like me with something to make fun about and write about!!!

I have quite a few more ideas thronging my mind, but let me take rest for a while as I am so exhausted after my attempt to book my tickets at IRCTC. Will refresh and renew my energy and get back to you soon with more ideas!

Another favorite by Mirza Ghalib!

This is another of my favorite ghazals, by Mirza Ghalib. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!  :-)

// कोई उम्मीद बर नहीं आती
कोई सूरत नज़र नहीं आती

मौत का एक दिन मुयेयन है
नींद क्यों रात भर नहीं आती

आगे आती थी हाले-दिल पे हंसी
अब किसी बात पर नहीं आती

है कुछ ऐसी ही बात, जो चुप हूँ
वरना क्या बात कर नहीं आती

हम वहां हैं जहाँ से हमको भी
कुछ हमारी खबर नहीं आती

मरते हैं आरज़ू में मरने की
मौत आती है पर नहीं आती

काबा किस मुंह से जाओगे 'ग़ालिब'
शर्म तुमको मगर नहीं आती! //

Meaning (my naive translation)
// No hope fills me now
No face appears in sight
My tryst with death is arranged for some day
Then why am I awake all night
Earlier I used to laugh at my heart's plight
Now I smile at none
I am at a place from where I get
No news even about my own self
Wailing for death am I waiting for it
Death comes but not for me
With what face can you visit the temple, 'Ghalib'
But, after all, when have you felt ashamed!//

Mahatma Gandhi's words to Jawaharlal Nehru

Love him or hate him, but you can never take away his visionary zeal and saintly foresight for the future of this Nation. This is from a letter written by Mahatma Gandhi to Jawaharlal Nehru -

// "I believe that if India is to attain true freedom and through India the world as well, then sooner or later we will have to live in villages – in huts, not in palaces. A few billion people can never live happily and peaceable in cities." //