Apprehensions Surrounding the Lok Pal Bill:


Intended Audience: For all the citizens who are aware of the present Indian political scenario, who wake up every morning these days to switch on the news channel and witness endless debates on the 'proposed vs drafted Lok Pal Bill'

Some questions surrounding the same:

a) Does any of the versions of the Bill look promising enough?
b) Does any one in this country be it a political leader/ administrator personnel or even the Loka Yukta representative deserve unchecked power?
c) Do the prime representatives of the party supporting the move look fair on their integrity level?
d) If a panel needs to include different people from different backgrounds, to ensure looking at a problem/case from different angles in order to ensure a just move, what is the whole point of involving both Prashant as well as Shanti Bhushan in the committee.. can we expect different views from them?
e) Does democracy mean sitting on a podium inspiring masses to do so without food and water, on the pretext that you are fighting for the right cause .. Be it Anna Hazare or Ram Dev(who many opine should rather stick to teaching Yoga than dabbling with politics !!) , wasnt there a better means to prsent their voice apart from forcing the system to do something.. It is something like a child forcing his parents not to enforce eductaion else he would go without food and water... Or even on the other side to teach them a lesson to invade a huge crowd in the wee hours and start intimidating a mass of gathered crowd. remember we still shun the Jailenwalah bagh tragedy. Thousands of people thronged the premises of Tihar Jail on 16th August in support of Anna.. The activists who got it started in the first place had the Gandhian quality of being able to gather the crowd, provoking the masses.. But how many of them actually knew what it was all about? The big difference between being gandhi and being Gandhi-like lies in the fact that while Gandhi had the will and power to start and start a movement at will, I hardly suppose any of these men can stop the mob if it gets out of hand? Can they? and if in the chaos something goes astray staking the lives of thousands who is to blame?! auto walas, sweepers.. students.. government employees all gave whole heartened support to Anna.. But talking of Delhi Autos.. who refuse to go on meter! or government employees who don't understand what service actually means?? What I wish to point out here is that corruption free attitude begins with one self.. I as a student must have downloaded thousands of free softwares (I am sure even Mr Arvind did in his IIT days..).. am still a regular user of torrent and songs.pk. So am I not corrupt? are we ready to give it up first before raising the fingers altogether at the system. But then again because I am corrupt should it prevent me from raising my voice against corruption? what should my stand be?

Well, its just a grim reminder of the present state of facts. I don't know whether it is appropriate but still I would like to switch on the media every day to find happy and cheerful news which would levitate my spirits..when I turn the pages every morning.. I would rather read about the efforts of our leaders having brought about changes in their respective portfolios(No matter how far that has been overshadowed by their general flaws and fallacies in politics).

I consider myself an aware citizen of the country.. aware of the several scams and consequently the respective committees set up to look into the same.. BUT ! at the the same time I am tired of the same.. I am tired of the parties pointing figures at each other.. (be the charges legitimate or frivolous).. It might sound a tad bit wonderland.. but through my days of life I do want to watch the people striving to improve their lives .. be it themselves or through elected representatives. !!!

Competative Edge

Competition improves performance, is a fact tried and tested and needs no further verification.
However, that competation can percolate down to such levels of the society and such diversified groups
of people to enable and encourage them to work and earn better needs to be stated with an instance here.

I am a regular commuter taking buses to and fro my workplace five days in a week. There are several alike me who take
up the tedious task of aboarding the public transport to reach their workplace. Neverthless there is always a lookout for better buses!
what qualifies them better than others is based on several chosen criteria by the working class.
a) Buses that are predictably on time
b) Who take up the total travel in as less time as possible.
c) Buses with amicable conductors who offer to tacitly provide you better seats on regular travels by the same one (the concept of brand loyalty comes to play even here!)
d) and never the less are a little comfortable and well ventilated for the fresh morning travel.

Satisfying all the above criteria are a few of them, I a witness to two prominent buses namely "Ray Saheb" & "Raj Kamal".
Both of them have a regular group, rather a hoard of travellers eagerly waiting for either of them to arrive and take them to
their destination. By some tacit rule of law, both of them tend to keep a gap of 10-15 mins between them to avoid collision in terms of regular customers (ie: Clients !)
Today by some stroke of the law, both of them arrived in quick succession only to the overwhelming relief
of the fellow passengers awaiting them with a glitter in their eyes. (Options always seem to appeal..)
Thoughout the course of travel both seemed to take over the other one, reaching stops at more or less same time,
The respective helpers yelling at each other with triumphant spirits to express their zeal to deliver better !
What a competation Sirjee !!

Justice delayed is Justice denied !

In an era of movies and more movies, where subject of every nature has successfully found its way into the Bollywood, there seems to be an abated interest to portray movies on law and order.
Where is the age where cinema houses saw themselves making remarkable pieces shot in the honorable court of law. Make shift court-rooms remained a vital part of every big studio. Judges and lawyers were held in high esteem and so were their titles 'Wakeel-Sahib' and 'judge-Sahib'. Is all the reverence now lost?
The constitution makers carefully laid down the rules of the constitution such that the judiciary remains separated from the influence of the legislative and executive . Did they actually achieve what they set out for? In the present day scenario, is it justified to entitle better privileges and higher perks etc to judges of High Courts and supreme Court. A couple of days ago, a civil liberties lawyer by the name Prashant Bhushan, son of former Union law minister Shanti Bhusan, raised some doubts over the sanctity of judges. When the constitution declares articles 14-18 valid and meaningful, why are the elite classes so skeptical about the RTI act which should apply to all classes equally. Why cannot some degree of transparency be expected of them, no matter how revered a position they hold and how noble a work they carry out. Even the most pious of women in Indian epic had been questioned on her sanctity, then why is Prashant's statements termed frivolous? why cant the section the government with the discretion to pronounce judgments bear the brunt of public apprehensions?
Are qualities which the public holds in high esteem simply 'imaginary' or they still persist in people who haven't been able to make a mark in contemporary times. Where are the lawyers, who back in those days, in movies in Eastman colours were willing to defend victims of corrupt laws and legislation. Do still some philanthropic officials exist or are they exist species of the extinct era, large and limited to imagination and some archeological findings of bones and skeletons. Where is the age of lawyers , judges and elites who indeed wore their hearts on their sleeves..were pious, just and above all had a human heart.
It just makes me ask myself.. Do we actually live in a social, just, democratic society? or such words used only to camouflage our shortcomings of being able to establish such a society?

........

I know not where my soul is..

My thoughts so numb, my feet so tired..

I look at things, yet see them not.

Even the picturesque looks bleak and blank





Every word heard seems a noise,

whats melody and whats cacophony?

I look around.. blank my gaze,

The world celebrates, I know not why..





Unusually today my eyes are heavy

my spirits so low, and throat so dry

I glance across the windows so dull

The clouds are grey and so the sky



I struggle to walk a couple of yards,

It feels an absolute oberration.

heavenly looks the floor under my feet

I sit upon it, my savior, my friend



what is it....? A passing time in muse

or silent contemplation of thee..

With sombre thoughts in shades of blue,

I close my eyes, sleep..a deep sound sleep

upon which I choose to fall back on !

What's in a book?

Since the time, when I have taken to reading so passionately, I have never had a friend so loyal, so beloved, so affectionate and so understanding. Yes its my best friend.. our best friend "book" as the popular saying goes...



Many a times, I have been in a state of melancholy, in fits of confusion, in yet a deeper state of curiosity of mind, when I have turned to them and found all my answers. To hunt for a suitable book on the book-shelf of the store has been as easy a task as google-ing a question...



How to attain success in Exam?

Headfast Java!

Discover the leader/diamond/blah blah in you (Name varies and depends on what you want to find in yourself) !

Games people play

and the list goes on...



Well, reading is the kind of hobby only those deeply involved will actually understand..

The warmth, the comfort and the company behind those tiny fonts... all cramped together in one bound element is a miracle in itself.

You start off setting a target to be done with another one and once absorbed it makes you its own target !



In the world of virtual reality, when every available book can so easily be accessed through the Internet, I still will not agree that there is anything on earth more pleasurable than lying easily on your back and turning the yellow pages of an age old inheritance or the smelling the crisp scent of the piece straight from the store.



Till date, its been my love of my life..a half an hour conversation in those unspoken words right before bed time, leaves me peacefully asleep for the rest of the night..A first look at it.. in times when irresponsible souls keep you infinitely waiting in those coffee shops or bus stops takes all your worries away..

the utter excitement when I come across a copy of the one I must have been hunting for since days.. takes my breathe away..the way, a long waiting wife's heart leaps on seeing her husband back from work..



I have had many instances when peers and dears borrow my long treasured books and return them in rather dilapidated conditions. The mere thought that it must have been trampled and toppled several times before being safely handed back saddens my heart for quite a while..Its been with me through the thick and the thin.. and i couldn't safeguard it from the kiths and the kins?



They have been.. and would always be a very integral part of my life..

Thus I write this piece.. as a tribute to the most treasured friend of mine :-)

Woman aah Woman ! Are you married? and working too?

Be it the past or present how many Indians would associate the word 'prostitution'..with the gender male. Very few I guess. At least for the contemporary Indian society Prostitution has always been a business for the weaker sex.
Well, looking at the era in which we live on, i too quite believe every woman in some way or the other is born for the same. I do not mean to ascribe any derogatory standard when I say this. But paying a lame glance one would be easy to notice at least every stereotypical woman now working for an earning or not... has sold off her body to her spouse, mind and soul to her children and if any better zeal left still her service to her employer for which she works.
There are many things that a woman is expected to do. Cook for her family, pay sufficient time to her husband, see to whether the children do their homework in time and nevertheless never mix her work and family. The menfolk on the contrary can be late from work on a regular basis, may not care to see what their children are up to and quite expected to miss out on all opportunities to care for their ladies. She comes last on his priority list at least after the wed-lock !
So, indeed a modern woman has become a whore voluntarily or not.. in a way she is !
Does the situation inspire her to be better caring towards the family..the responsibility she so readily takes up... for the children she so..lovingly adores only at some of time to be termed 'a substance with obsolete mindset'...for the husband she has vowed all her life.
Does the situation even encourage a woman to think of marriage as an opportunity of a lifetime.. or rather a mistake of a lifetime rather !
I am not pointing my figures against anyone...because even if I at the end of the day am another woman..n know what it feels like.. to be thrown between multiple responsibilities and also... may not be able to empathise but at least sympathise the plight of all those working...married woman folk..I also somewhere down the corner of my heart expect the women today to shoulder all this...because left to others...God forbid what the world might turn out to be..but is it a desirable scenario or rather slavery of another form?

P.S : the opinions expressed are absolutely personal.. The intentions are not to demean any particular section of the society.

BUS ! Ho gaya naa??

Well how many of you have had the honour of experiencing regular travel using the public transport?

Cause if you are or have been in anytime in the past, I am sure you will be able to connect your thoughts and emotions with that of mine.

To start with a small intro, I am one among the thousands of citizens of India who gets up every morning with the first thing next in mind that of catching a bus!

I stagger my way to the bus stop everyday and while agility has always been on my side take no chances when I notice a bus relatively unpacked and especially vacant window seats. In this manner you can even consider me relatively adament, as in..unless I am really in a haste.. I keep awaiting a bus comparitively larger, spacious and well ventilated (Now the ventilation doesnt last long...as more and more passengers keep clogging the empty spaces in between the columns of seats willing to stand, in an effort to reach sooner their destinations.) It is not surprising however for a city in which I reside (which is already overcrowded and tends to be even more with every passing day ) that there are more number of passengers standing than ones seated.

To be honest, I always take the pain of may be spending a few mins extra but atleast getting a seat.

The account of a bus travel can vary from very annoying ones to really interesting narrations. The most important person in a bus is always the conductor or the helper! He is the person whose sole discretion runs the bus. He is the one who promises and even delivers his promise to offer you a seat even in a bus not only overcrowded but over pouring with passengers.Now after you get one... it actually depends whether you consider the bargain worthy enough.. for the location can vary from... top of the warm to hot engines (Which can really make you spring up with a firey experience !) to seats crammed in with the futile effort of reserving a seat for the conductor himself lierally sqeezed in between the window and the door.. which anyways he never uses himself. (Common the extra bucks matter much more to him !!!)

From a personal point of view the largest menace in buses for me have been stout individuals. I prefer calling them double seaters. If they happen to sit by you.. God forbid.. where will you sit?

The extra pounds keep bothering your hands and legs and you would rather start praying you left behind your own appendages at home if God had created them to be detachable!

Never mind, as long as the conductors comes in with a thick bundle in hand and still refusing to give you a change for a hundred bucks.. change madam change..is what he keeps shouting at me..almost everyday!

Now I agree the runners of such systems keep eyeing at earning some grands extra but it does not stop you from loathing some pathetic passengers as well.. Some keep argueing for hours..as to when did the fare rise...the others took less blah blah... although many a times these faces are mere repetations ! On being threatened to be be thrown out... they give the money in installments a rupee at a time for several minutes (I pity the conductors' jobs that very moment )
Some days ago, I took the honour of siiting by the side of an elderly person who looked decent enough to me.. As the bus geared to a start and i took out my novel in an impulse to complete the ending, he comfortably entered into a converstaion with me..

"Do you study..."

"Do you work"..

"which is your stop"

" what does your father do...?? [:O] "

"what time do you get back home.."

...........

.....

...

in a last effort to concerntrate, I took out my cell phone..plugged in my earphone and started reading.. in an effort to be able to avoid his questions..

the next moment..he touched my arms gently and after i had unplugged my headset... spoke at length for an hour about the potential hazards of use of musical aids like head sets with cellphones...for almost half n hour..

Somehow when i looked quite convined and kept my phone inside with the cord attached, and redirected my focus on my book...he asked me for a look at the book I was reading !!!!



Though things as such might appear dull.. a bus journey has been a delight to me every morning..

When your body and soul refuses to show up at the work place and your mind is clogged.... there can be nothing more refreshing than a bus ride at 100 kmph.. a view of the highway outside the window...the fresh air gushing on your face and the smell of the fresh morning air :-)

Many thoughts cross your mind... and most of them.. happy thoughts..can really pep up your spirits.. and leave you smiling while you get down at your stop!



well...whats your bus story?

would appreciate if the reader shared a piece form his/her experience as well !!!