Was having a conversation with a few 'fresh out of college' colleagues. It was amazing to know that they did have an opinion, and a strong one at that, about the problems plaguing this country. They had an especially severe opinion about military action for the Maoist problem.
Most of us are now at a point in time where we have decided to take one or the other side. Some of us have become "Maoist" sympathizers while others have decided to go the way of the government. The news channel beam in news of every attack by the Maoists and every case of mis-governance by the government as a breaking stories and the masses take to one or the other side.
Its but human nature to seek rash, easy solutions to complex problems. The problem of Maoist Violence is just that, an extremely complex problem for which a simple solution like military action will not suffice. Have been reading an interesting book about decision making lately, and it states a very basic yet very easily ignored fact. Complex problems need complex and meticulous planning and solutions. An out an out war is definitely not one. Every now and again we see dumb efforts to estimate the Maoist strength being made by analysts and thinkers. I say dumb, because in a country where so many people live below the poverty line and where the devoid between the haves and have not's grows every day, the Maoists will have more foot soldiers available than we can make bullets.
Without development, without food, shelter, clothing, education and financial security there will be no end to this problem. A lot of people today are suggesting that the solution would be to suppress the movement for now and then provide development. But can such a movement be suppressed. And will the government provide development where it hasn't for 62 years. Its like trying to reverse engineer a building. The development has to come first, only then can the violence stop.
I am not a Maoist sympathizer. In fact some of their acts of violence are deplorable to say the least. Indeed I believe that there are some amongst their ranks who don't really want development for the tribal people, but rather are trying to get their own. Yet, I can understand why one would take up arms in the face of desperate poverty.
We are on the brink of conflict. And a conflict there will be. Its size though is yet unknown. Only we can reduce its scale by making sure that more and more people do not join the Maoist ranks. Those who have joined are in it for good. But there are others facing desperate situations in their day to day life who haven't taken to violence yet. It is for us to help them, by whatever means possible.
Its up to us to make sure that this doesn't blow out into a civil war. Cant help but remember Plato's statement..."Only the dead know the end of war!!".. its for us to decide how many will die!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
oh!! The Poor Bastards!!....God damn them all !! killers !! I hope they die!!
If you are wondering what I am trying to say with the title, well:
The first is our reaction when we see children begging on streets, when we see news about farmers committing suicide, when we see people die of hunger...etc etc ...blah blah...Callous eh !! well I am being callous in my writing cause we are being callous with our sympathies and using them to do away with our guilt.(At least thats what I hope!) A guilt that comes from not doing anything about the condition of these poor bastards..and reasons for not doing anything...well they are many!!...from not having time --> to 'what can I alone do!!'
The second part of the title is again our reaction...when we see our soldiers, and other innocent civilians brutally murdered by the MAOISTS!! Pick up the newspaper in the morning and there will most probably be a news that will make your blood boil. '7 dead as NAXALS strike again'. 'Carnage leaves 74 dead'. It does make the blood boil doesn't it.
But for some reason us intelligent, well to do, sons of the blood soiled soil are unable to connect the two reactions. Are we not as smart as we make ourselves believe, or is it that the comfort of the slick cars, towering new skyscrapers, AC Malls, massive over bridges, and who could forget the 9% growth, made us ignorant (yet all we do is complain!! :D)
Don't know what it is but we just are not connecting the dots here.
So here is a humble attempt to connect the dots.
An economy that is growing at 7-9% a year. But that is growing only for a privileged few. At the risk of sounding incredibly clichéd - The rich in this country are getting richer, the richer are getting filthy rich.
The middle class -- well we have our special ways of living don't we. We save money, we complain about taxes and we complain about toiling hard. We try to buy homes with ever increasing prices, we save yet more, we complain yet more, we get angry at the gate keeper, the "bai", the road side vegetable vendor for selling things at high prices yet we buy label clothing at bullshit prices. We toil further, we save yet more and then one day we die, leaving the next generation with much of the same. Occasionally one of us moves into a class above, yep..I'll give us that victory.
The poor are getting poorer. Terribly hit by price rise. They cant get a decent meal, forget education, a roof on their heads and all such perks. (yes education is a perk in their current situation). And yet they can see us complaining about bad governance, risen fuel prices, pollution etc when they don't even get the basic necessities of life. It must be frustrating!! Damn frustrating. To fight for every morsel, to fight for your very existence when others around seem to be doing not too badly!
Living in the cities we are scared of Bush's terrorist!! And we think of the NAXALS as some distant threats in places like Dantewada, Naxalbari, Gadchiroli. But they are among us are the NAXALS.
The NAXALS in the making!! HOW?
Well imagine if the current state of things continues and gets worse. We will earn; we will eat; we will buy new homes; we will earn yet more; we will complain !! We will turn a blind eye towards the problems of the poor and blame it on governance. We will see beggars at the signal and we will blabber sympathetic words for them to one another.
A day will come when some poor bastard will be driven to madness. And then at the same signal he will stab you or your kid brutally to death for a few bucks. We will be taken aback by such inhumane nature and we will think...God Damn!! And then we will support another large government operation!! A hunt for the poor.
Violent revolutions begin with small acts. Perhaps such an act will lead to one such revolution. What we see today of the NAXALS has been brought about by 40 years of oppression. Today that we may have to put down the NAXALS, cause the situation seems beyond repair. But NAXAL is just a name given to the poor. We have poor all across India. If we don't step up and help them, tomorrow we will have poor all across picking up a weapon and aiming at you, me and our future generations.
We need to help. We need to intervene. If not out of generosity at least as a selfish act of self preservation. And helping is easy: giving away old clothes, left over food, used equipment, helping educate children of the poor. Thats all there is to it. We don't see grand results with these small things because we don't help in large numbers. If we do we will see great results. So please help a poor next time instead of sympathizing. There are a lot of things that you don't use anymore lying around in your house. Give these away. Help educate children by means of donations or taking out time for teaching. All we need to give is an hour a day to stop and think about those around us who need a helping hand.
Time for depending on the government is over. A revolution is upon us. Whether we choose to ignore the early signs or act upon them will decide how brutal the scrolls of Indian History will be.
The first is our reaction when we see children begging on streets, when we see news about farmers committing suicide, when we see people die of hunger...etc etc ...blah blah...Callous eh !! well I am being callous in my writing cause we are being callous with our sympathies and using them to do away with our guilt.(At least thats what I hope!) A guilt that comes from not doing anything about the condition of these poor bastards..and reasons for not doing anything...well they are many!!...from not having time --> to 'what can I alone do!!'
The second part of the title is again our reaction...when we see our soldiers, and other innocent civilians brutally murdered by the MAOISTS!! Pick up the newspaper in the morning and there will most probably be a news that will make your blood boil. '7 dead as NAXALS strike again'. 'Carnage leaves 74 dead'. It does make the blood boil doesn't it.
But for some reason us intelligent, well to do, sons of the blood soiled soil are unable to connect the two reactions. Are we not as smart as we make ourselves believe, or is it that the comfort of the slick cars, towering new skyscrapers, AC Malls, massive over bridges, and who could forget the 9% growth, made us ignorant (yet all we do is complain!! :D)
Don't know what it is but we just are not connecting the dots here.
So here is a humble attempt to connect the dots.
An economy that is growing at 7-9% a year. But that is growing only for a privileged few. At the risk of sounding incredibly clichéd - The rich in this country are getting richer, the richer are getting filthy rich.
The middle class -- well we have our special ways of living don't we. We save money, we complain about taxes and we complain about toiling hard. We try to buy homes with ever increasing prices, we save yet more, we complain yet more, we get angry at the gate keeper, the "bai", the road side vegetable vendor for selling things at high prices yet we buy label clothing at bullshit prices. We toil further, we save yet more and then one day we die, leaving the next generation with much of the same. Occasionally one of us moves into a class above, yep..I'll give us that victory.
The poor are getting poorer. Terribly hit by price rise. They cant get a decent meal, forget education, a roof on their heads and all such perks. (yes education is a perk in their current situation). And yet they can see us complaining about bad governance, risen fuel prices, pollution etc when they don't even get the basic necessities of life. It must be frustrating!! Damn frustrating. To fight for every morsel, to fight for your very existence when others around seem to be doing not too badly!
Living in the cities we are scared of Bush's terrorist!! And we think of the NAXALS as some distant threats in places like Dantewada, Naxalbari, Gadchiroli. But they are among us are the NAXALS.
The NAXALS in the making!! HOW?
Well imagine if the current state of things continues and gets worse. We will earn; we will eat; we will buy new homes; we will earn yet more; we will complain !! We will turn a blind eye towards the problems of the poor and blame it on governance. We will see beggars at the signal and we will blabber sympathetic words for them to one another.
A day will come when some poor bastard will be driven to madness. And then at the same signal he will stab you or your kid brutally to death for a few bucks. We will be taken aback by such inhumane nature and we will think...God Damn!! And then we will support another large government operation!! A hunt for the poor.
Violent revolutions begin with small acts. Perhaps such an act will lead to one such revolution. What we see today of the NAXALS has been brought about by 40 years of oppression. Today that we may have to put down the NAXALS, cause the situation seems beyond repair. But NAXAL is just a name given to the poor. We have poor all across India. If we don't step up and help them, tomorrow we will have poor all across picking up a weapon and aiming at you, me and our future generations.
We need to help. We need to intervene. If not out of generosity at least as a selfish act of self preservation. And helping is easy: giving away old clothes, left over food, used equipment, helping educate children of the poor. Thats all there is to it. We don't see grand results with these small things because we don't help in large numbers. If we do we will see great results. So please help a poor next time instead of sympathizing. There are a lot of things that you don't use anymore lying around in your house. Give these away. Help educate children by means of donations or taking out time for teaching. All we need to give is an hour a day to stop and think about those around us who need a helping hand.
Time for depending on the government is over. A revolution is upon us. Whether we choose to ignore the early signs or act upon them will decide how brutal the scrolls of Indian History will be.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
My version of the Hitler Machine!
Hitler Machine !!! Thats us. Is it our fault? Well, partly it is. So how is it that we churn out a Hitler? This is my thoery of it.
Common things about all the great villians: they are brilliant, egoistic, hard headed, anger freaks --> well most of them.
More importantly though, they know how brilliant they are and they expect life to shape up in accordance.
In the cut throat competitive world though, talent may not be enough. I am sure a lot of you've experienced UNFAIR treatment. You work hard, you perform well, you do all the things right, you are a thorough professional and then some NEPOTIST SOB gives the promotion, raise, ranking, rating, etc to his/her pet. You are pissed off, you talk to your best friend, your spouse, booze out with your pals, chill out at a party, take a few days off... basically you go do your JIG, and then you are back to work trying harder to beat the system. Luck turns your way, your GOD DAMN manager is screwed and you do well next time around. OR you don't, the cycle repeats. But you are person who is good at finding ways from such situations..most of us are ..I mean we either get used to this crap, switch jobs, find satisfaction elsewhere etc etc...
But our Hitler, nope he/she is different. (will use he here, cause well I am he !!) The thing is he really is this talented guy, intelligent at work, at sport at art(maybe a writer, a poet, a singer etc) at lots of stuff. He is a good speaker, people really like him, some look up to him. He is multi talented. Fortunately or unfortunately for him he knows this. And he sets out trying to make it big, make a change, be a contributor.
As the system starts treating all of us like shit at some point of time or other, our HITLER starts developing traits like anger, impatience. His friends praise him all the time, but the results just aren't there. Knowing how talented he is, he also starts lagging a bit in effort. His interpretation of fair and unfair goes for a toss. As friends begin to get busy with their own life, he begins to see how selfish the world really is. Life begins to collapse around him, betrayal after betrayal from the important ones like - boss, friends, girlfriend to the smaller yet deadly contributors - damn traffic, people around him, shopkeeper!! and he develops a feeling of "WHY DO THEY ALL TREAT ME SO BAD? I AM TOO GOOD FOR THIS!!! arrgh!!!".
Now alone, anger takes over. And that is the beginning. Oddly enough, how evil he really can get from here is down to how talented/intelligent he really is.
I know its his own fault. All of us get treated like trash sometimes. So who gives him the right to get so pissed? But we are all individuals, and we will react in our own unique way. HITLER just gives his own reaction. How is it our fault? We fail to recognize the potential of people around us. We've built a system where OK=good,good=good,great=good,excellent=good. We fail to realize that one wrong can lead to another one.
We may not ever be able to rectify this problem, but if you have a friend who is outstanding, an all rounder and he is not getting places, be there for him/her. You never know, you may be indirectly saving the world from the next MONSTER and giving it a VISIONARY instead. Remember the person and his potential is always same, its up to us - the society - to mould it correctly.
Common things about all the great villians: they are brilliant, egoistic, hard headed, anger freaks --> well most of them.
More importantly though, they know how brilliant they are and they expect life to shape up in accordance.
In the cut throat competitive world though, talent may not be enough. I am sure a lot of you've experienced UNFAIR treatment. You work hard, you perform well, you do all the things right, you are a thorough professional and then some NEPOTIST SOB gives the promotion, raise, ranking, rating, etc to his/her pet. You are pissed off, you talk to your best friend, your spouse, booze out with your pals, chill out at a party, take a few days off... basically you go do your JIG, and then you are back to work trying harder to beat the system. Luck turns your way, your GOD DAMN manager is screwed and you do well next time around. OR you don't, the cycle repeats. But you are person who is good at finding ways from such situations..most of us are ..I mean we either get used to this crap, switch jobs, find satisfaction elsewhere etc etc...
But our Hitler, nope he/she is different. (will use he here, cause well I am he !!) The thing is he really is this talented guy, intelligent at work, at sport at art(maybe a writer, a poet, a singer etc) at lots of stuff. He is a good speaker, people really like him, some look up to him. He is multi talented. Fortunately or unfortunately for him he knows this. And he sets out trying to make it big, make a change, be a contributor.
As the system starts treating all of us like shit at some point of time or other, our HITLER starts developing traits like anger, impatience. His friends praise him all the time, but the results just aren't there. Knowing how talented he is, he also starts lagging a bit in effort. His interpretation of fair and unfair goes for a toss. As friends begin to get busy with their own life, he begins to see how selfish the world really is. Life begins to collapse around him, betrayal after betrayal from the important ones like - boss, friends, girlfriend to the smaller yet deadly contributors - damn traffic, people around him, shopkeeper!! and he develops a feeling of "WHY DO THEY ALL TREAT ME SO BAD? I AM TOO GOOD FOR THIS!!! arrgh!!!".
Now alone, anger takes over. And that is the beginning. Oddly enough, how evil he really can get from here is down to how talented/intelligent he really is.
I know its his own fault. All of us get treated like trash sometimes. So who gives him the right to get so pissed? But we are all individuals, and we will react in our own unique way. HITLER just gives his own reaction. How is it our fault? We fail to recognize the potential of people around us. We've built a system where OK=good,good=good,great=good,excellent=good. We fail to realize that one wrong can lead to another one.
We may not ever be able to rectify this problem, but if you have a friend who is outstanding, an all rounder and he is not getting places, be there for him/her. You never know, you may be indirectly saving the world from the next MONSTER and giving it a VISIONARY instead. Remember the person and his potential is always same, its up to us - the society - to mould it correctly.
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