Vote for Change OR Wait for Change, Choice is ours!

Stranger are the ways of the world. The world asks us to make a decision and evaluates us on basis of that disregarding what choices we had to choose from. But the fact remains: We are limited by the choices in the decisions we make and yet we have to make best out of it. General Elections are just a couple of days away and the whole of India, at least theoretically so, is excited to cast it's vote to elect the government. But we do have a serious problem.

The problem is most basic: Whom to choose? Development is a serious issue. Corruption is a serious problem. X Party is talking about Leadership and Development. Y Party is talking about ending Corruption Shurruption. Z Party does not know what new to do this time, though they are firm believers of ongoing 'Bharat Nirman'. Sab saala hawa hai. 

We are a country with all variety of citizens and intelligentsia and hence we are a confused lot. Our daily life is stuck with problems as small as buying vegetables to as big as keeping at par with our neighbors and relatives. There are a majority of us who have to struggle to make their ends meet. Corruption is a petty issue with an empty stomach. And development makes no sense if it does not change the fate of those among us who are living in hunger and ignorance.

What are we really doing at our ends to change that? A big Zero. And we are expecting some His Highness from X Party to change all that. Having said that, I know the functions of a Government, but how much heed do we really pay in exercising our duties as citizens. Once in a while paying a penny to a beggar does not make a difference. It never changed anything, it never will. 

Believe it or not, We, the educated lot, has been educated at the expense of the part of India that we call 'Bharat' pejoratively. We can decide it to boom or to doom. One thing is certain, our politicians, no matter from which party do they belong, won't change much of it. The change has to come from us. Why wait for it?

One Hindi critic Harishankar Parsai once famously said-

"इस देश के बुद्धिजीवी शेर हैं, पर वे सियारों की बारात में बैण्ड बजाते हैं।"
(Intelligentsia of this country is capable enough but they have learnt to follow, not lead.)

We need to change such an attitude. We need to make a difference. Yes, There is a need to vote for change but not just in a general election but equally in our lives.

Spread Love this Independence Day and ever after!!

A friend of mine on Facebook is asking boys to respect girls. She is asking them to behave better than ''bloody villagers'' or ''illiterate people''. By the time i am writing this post, she has already garnered more than 50 likes with no objection over the remark. Many of us might equally agree with her statement. There is nothing bad in the partial agreement that Girls should be respected. No doubts about that. But there certainly should a question arise that why 'villagers' and 'illiterates' are treated in the manner as they are. We might simply ignore it as a non-relevant issue. But a dangerous ignorance that will be.

Since when does being a 'villager' or being 'illiterate' means disrespecting girls? It is doing the same mistake which one wants to rectify. It is equally bad to disrespect a person because of his literacy level or his locality as it is to disrespect someone based upon gender. We must question ourselves that why we gloriously ignore such disrespectful attitude and keep on behaving with our general prototyping of people based upon caste, creed, gender, religion etc. Now i understand why Gandhi ji said,

''Be the change you wish to see in the world.'' 

We all deserve respect irrespective of caste, creed, gender, religion, region, economic status or literacy level. We must respect to be respected. Spread love, not hate. It's high time we change from within. It is the spirit, the moral fiber, which makes a nation. Spread love this Independence Day and ever after. 

हर भारतवासी को स्वतंत्रता दिवस की हार्दिक शुभकामनायें !!

Just Be Yourself !

Sometimes it feels so strange to be just yourself. You just do not have an idea where you are headed and what you aspire for. All that you ever felt about things is shaken by your own observations and you are alone. You just don't want to be in such a situation, but you have to face it.

These are the times which testify the real YOU. These let you know your weaknesses, your strengths and above them all that you exist and can really make a difference. These are the times you need to prove why you are here. Don't loosen up. Stand for the right even if it leaves you all alone. Masses might not be right, but one right person can lead masses. After all that is what Rabindranath Tagore meant when he said, ''Ekla Chalo re..''.

And before i end, it is imperative to say the least-

''अच्छा दिखने का सुरूर जब से छाने लगा है,

अच्छा होना गैर-ज़रूरी नज़र आने लगा है।''

What we see is not what we are!

"What we see is not what we are, we all know it and yet we simply despise it. "

The post 4th in the order and yet so much the first seemingly matching the title of the blog that it represents on purpose. Blog talks of change, but what is change? To start with an example, When a baby girl is born, she is X. She grows and becomes a teenager and then into a old woman. During the process, as we generally say that X changes a lot physically, mentally, spiritually. But despite all these changes she remains X as we call her. Then She stops breathing and we no longer say that she has changed but rather we say that she has died. From her birth till her death, She changes and then in a moment she is no more. What defines 'X' and what defines changes undergone and what change exactly resulted in destruction of X? This has always been a question and has time and again been critically examined. This is similar to 'Ship of Theseus Paradox' which is as follows:

Suppose, We have a wooden ship and with time due to deterioration of it's planks we keep changing planks time to time until all the planks it was made up of are completely replaced. Now the question is whether it still remains the same wooden ship which it was originally?

Let us twist it a bit further. With all the older planks of the original ship, we try and make a ship looking exactly the same as the original one. And we also  have this ship which has been transformed plank by plank into the present condition. Out of these two ships, which is the actual wooden ship we originally started with?

And if the answer is that none of the both ships is the original wooden ship, then the underlying question is at what exact moment the ship went from existence to destruction?

This Ship of Theseus actually represents us. The real problem is about what makes us who we are. Is it about the material that makes us, or is it about our form/structure, or is it because of our thoughts, feelings and the soul. Even the thoughts and feelings can wipe out with a loss of memories and yet we remain the same or do we not?

Now think again that if you could be duplicated, Will you remain the same or will you have an existential twin or will you cease to be?

Such all types of questions form part of the puzzle that exists. I am equally puzzled and really have no idea how to go about it possibly. May with time, the answer comes from within.

Change begins from Within

Some moments create confusions and some others are void and simple, inspiring and enlightening. Right now feeling much of these in a mix. Life has multiplicity of choices, yet one hardly has a choice than to live life. But do we really live life or just pretend to do it on pretext of Falsity.

Adi Shankaracharya said-

 ''ब्रह्मसत्यं जगत् मिथ्या, जीवो ब्रह्मेव नापर:| '' 

i.e. Brahm is ONLY absolute reality but then it is also anirvachaniya (cannot be described). But Jagat sure is mithya (neither real nor unreal) i.e. false appearance of Brahm. Brahm is absolute truth, goodness-in-itself. Jagat is not really so. Even if there is really no Brahm, yet this concept does give an insight of what ought to be. What is moral and ethical and what is practised ostensibly. Jagat is full of false appearances because of inherent material disposition in it. May be matter-in-itself is nothing bad, but ownership of matter is an evil and it propagates further evil.  In some way, Communism is not all wrong. What is Ethics? What is Morality? What is Right? These are too difficult questions to answer, but whole life depends on it. So they seek an answer since the day mankind are on earth. Reason tries to search for an answer to these questions, but are they really worth a quest of reason at all?

Reason can only apply to reasonable fields which are empirical in nature i.e. based upon observations and experiments. What can’t ever be experienced, can’t ever be truly rationalised. But this does not answer our questions. Philosophy has been, since time immemorial a quest in search of answers to these questions. We can keep on finding facts, principles, laws of nature and improve upon our scientific pursuit; but what will a scientific society do without moral individuals. Morality needs a definition. To be true to it, Morality is beyond definition and any definition of morality limits it and hence is incomplete. Yet for the sake of defining it, it must be defined. So the quest went on... Here I am not going to enlist those definitions. 

But I have a question-

Have you ever defined Morality for yourself? Think again, Have you defined morality or have you defined limitations to it? Well, Defining Morality is as important as practising it. And if you claim to be a moral individual, define morality for yourself. Why? May be once you do, you will find answers to certain questions like why individuals turn immoral when they do? Why we do what we never meant to?

Now one might doubt, and a reasonable one, that an individual definition of morality won’t go far in best interests of society. Yes, it won’t but it will certainly reach somewhere and once it reaches where it will; the path ahead would be easier than as it is today. It is easy for a state to regulate it’s citizens by rules and procedures prescribed by it but is it not breach of freedom of will of an individual? Solution lies in the question.

A state is made up of it’s citizens and if we, as citizens,  choose to be moral, it would be far easier to abandon inhuman regulatory acts which breach our freedom of will. No point begging the question all time regarding conflictual situations of all types – individual, social, political, religious or economic. It’s time we should justify our stand one-by-one, one step at a time. Justice has long been delayed to many of us. It is our due to them, it should be our ultimate concern. God will not come on earth to give them their due. The earth has well been ours for exploitation of resources, it is equally ours to make a fine balance and to do justice towards all.

To conclude, There is a Doha by Kabir-

"हद चले सो मानवा, बेहद चले सो साध|

हद-बेहद दोऊ तजै, ताकर मता अगाध||"

 (Ordinary men follow the limited, the saints follow the unlimited. But the deeper minds go beyond both of them.)

India First!

After having dinner today, I and a friend of mine while reading through posters saw a poster of 'India First'. He asked me, Why India first and not the people of India? Well, i tried to explain him but he was adamant on his so-called ''Universal Brotherhood'' Approach. This post is just how i understand it. 

India, as we name it, what really is India? Is India the natural resources, the part of earth from this to that latitude and longitude. Is India the landmass east of Indus or South of Himalayas. What constitutes India? And why country first? We could well put the whole of earth first or humans first or as our intellect allows.

India is not just a country. It is country but none of us just live in a country which is a mere geographical territory. It is much beyond. India is the culture that spans more than 5000 years. India is a way of life. India is tolerance. india is Universal Brotherhood. India is Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Parsi, Buddhism; all in ONE. India is more ancient than 'Ancient India' and more modern than 'Modern India'. India is not just all that we love. india is also poor, hungry, searching for life. But India is.

No, It's not just a landmass. India is more than 130 Crore lives altogether. India First does not mean negation of Universal Brotherhood rather without India First, there can not exist any universal brotherhood. We have to start somewhere. Yes, Love has to spread from one to many and to many more. 

I started with loving my mother, then family, relatives, friends, enemies, my village, town, state and then India. Yes, Mother Earth is next on the list. 

A Mother loves her children unconditionally, they are always first. Why? You can say , it is selfishness. Yes, It is selfishness. and when was it not supposed to be selfish? From the moment you took your first breath, You started being selfish. Knowingly or unknowingly you have been selfish at all times and used so many things, animals and even human beings to attain what you wanted to. I don't support it. But Selfishness was always hit and it will always be!

What matters is how selfish is not 'selfish'. If you do not care even for yourself, then i have doubts if you could ever be so for anything else.  So care and spread love. love your fellow beings. Love your neighbours, friends, everyone around you. Care for them. Forgive the wrong ones but do not forget the right ones.

Acknowledge the importance of those close to you in your being what you are. Acknowledge the importance of the environment in shaping you into a better human being. And once you do this, No matter which nation you belong to; You will start loving your country. And as loving your mother does not mean hatred for other mothers, but it increases the love and respect for motherhood. In similar manner, Loving your country in general and countrymen in particular does not mean hating others but it gives the sound ground to universal brotherhood. 

So for me, India will always be First!! 

Hindus in Pakistan - How Safe are They?

Hindus in Pakistan are minority. Their population has decreased from 22% in 1951 (It includes the population data from Bangladesh as well) to roughly 1-1.5% i.e. close to 2 millions at present. Seeing this, Question comes to mind that what exactly might have been the reason behind such a fall of population? Hindus have become critically endangered population in Pakistan. These are the times, when we even care for the animals when their population falls below a level. This raises the concern what Pakistan Government is doing for the Hindu citizens belonging to Pakistan. On papers, It might be doing something but the reality is brutal.

Had a meeting with a few Pakistani Hindus yesterday. I was literally shocked. Pakistan has sucked life out of them, They are just so afraid. Since last 5 years they have been trying to get their visas ready to visit India for Kumbh Mela. 480 Pakistani Hindus have come. Only one person from a family has been granted a visa in most of their cases. Though their family members are in Pakistan, yet none of them wants to go back to Pakistan. Even a mother with her children in Pakistan wants to stay in India! This brings us to the question what exactly they have been facing?

Their condition in Pakistan is like a second-grade citizen. They being in such minority are not a vote bank for any party. Hence nobody cares about them. They while going out from their homes cannot wear or have their hindu symbols otherwise they are harassed in various ways. A Hindu Male in Pakistan while going out has to wear a Taqiah ( short, rounded cap worn by Muslims). A Hindu Female cannot wear Mangal-Sutra, have Bindi aur Sindur. Rather in many cases, She has to wear Burqah for her safety. There also are no Hindu religious books easily available in Pakistan. Even when they go to market to purchase something, they are disallowed from touching it in many cases.

Their religious places have been dismantled. They are facing atrocities in various forms. Families are afraid of sending the female children to school for they are afraid of them being kidnapped and being forced to change the religion and marry a muslim forcefully. Even in these cases, Pakistan Judiciary has taken partial decisions.

Last but not the least, I also would take this opportunity to appreciate Mr Nahar Singh, the person who has well managed stay of all 480 Pakistani Hindus with his single-handed efforts.

Indian Government has yet to take a decision on their future whether they will be staying in India or they will be deported back. But given a chance none of them wants to go back, come what may. They are over brothers in distress. Their basic human rights are being violated. They need our help. If we won't, then who will?