On My Mind

India, they say, is the mystical land of the east. The spiritual aura, ancient texts, and architecture from the past just add to the entire mysticism surrounding it. Apart from the overt spiritualism, traveling through the pages of history, the country has acquired many other traits which now qualify as "Indianness". Having lived my entire life in the Indian India, I was hesitant to visit the utopian ideal we would have had otherwise. My reservations notwithstanding, I ended up visiting this land called Unindia - the much talked about utopian ideal. My experience was disturbing, to put it mildly. One needs to take a good look at Unindia to understand and appreciate the nation we have built. ---------------------------- The train had almost reached Unindia. The window was open. I was staring outside and it took me a good 10 minutes to realize I hadn't seen a single soul defecating in the open. It made me slightly nauseous. I knew I had to prepare myself for more o

I n 2005, the Central Government constituted a committee headed by former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, Rajinder Sachar to study the social, economic and educational condition of Muslims in India. The Sachar Committee submitted its report in 2006. The report found a range of disabilities hampering the Muslim community in the country. It placed Indian Muslims below Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes with respect to backwardness. It especially highlighted the poor representation of the community in decision making positions like the IAS, IPS and in the police. [1] To understand the intricacies of the issue, we need to go back to the creation of the modern nation of India.  India was independent in 1947. At the very onset, attempts were made by the state to bring reforms in the Hindu (here it implies anyone who was not a Muslim, Parsi, Christian or Jew) personal laws. The first elected government came to power in 1952 and by 1956 it was able to get Hindu

Long ago, the world was different. It was simple but with its own challenges. In a corner somewhere, lived Pandora. It is said that she opened a box, freeing up all kinds of evils to spread through the society. While violence, dishonesty, greed, selfishness may be some of the "better" known ones, the evil of "Pretentiousness" has its own far-reaching impacts. Things as basic as food can be pretentious today. A box of candies, assorted from the very best of Mediterranean fruits, hand picked by the renowned chef from the exotic country of Luxembourg are basically the candies you purchased 4 of which for Re. 1 from the nearby grocery store. The box now sells at INR 1000/- only, and if you are lucky, you get 25 instead of 24 candies. Golgappas have magically transformed to a delicious serving of Indian Bread made of nutritious whole grains dipped in tamarind sauce with a pinch of salt and filling of healthy boiled peas or potatoes. Sounds yummy! Sports is some

कहानी पुरानी नहीं है, आज कल ही की बात है | यह कहानी मिसाल है बदलते हुए ज़माने की | भिन्न- भिन्न प्रकार की साग सब्ज़िओं में फ़ैल रहे जातिवाद की निर्ममता को बढ़े आसानी से दर्शाती है ये कहानी | कुछ विद्वानों का तो यह भी मान ना है की यह कहानी आर्य पुत्रों का द्रविड़ समुदाय के ऊपर वर्चस्व ज़माने की दास्ताँ है | यह कहानी है चावल की | भारत के उत्तरी भाग में स्थापित जो समुदाय है, उसके भोजन करने का एक अलग ही अंदाज़ होता है | एक आम दिन में ये लोग जो खाना खाते हैं, उसका विभाजन कुछ इस प्रकार किया जा सकता है : सर्व प्रथम होती है दाल | इसको ब्राह्मण का दर्ज़ा प्राप्त है | गरीबों की पहुँच के बाहर इसकी अलग ही एक शान है | रोटी के साथ बढे करीने से इसको खाया जाता है | बुद्धिजीवियों का मान ना है की यह प्रोटीन का एक अच्छा स्त्रोत है, कुछ अकड़ शायद इस बात की भी है |  इसके बाद बारी आती है माँस की | इसको क्षत्रिय का दर्ज़ा प्राप्त है | खेल के मैदान में या युद्ध भूमि पर झंडा फहराने वाले बढ़े फक्र से मांस का सेवन करते हैं | गरीबों के लिए ये यूनिकॉर्न के सामान है, सुना सबने है, पर देखा किसी ने नहीं |  भिन्न-भिन्

Nothing represents the essence of Delhi like its metro. It is chaotic while being passed off as orderly. It is hustling and bustling with all sorts of people from all walks of life. But it has something which emboldens you. In its own ways, it prepares you for the life ahead. More importantly, it empowers you to be what you could only imagine once. The subtle transition of human beings from the solid state outside the metro coaches, to the gaseous state inside, trying to squeeze in whatever little is available in the name of space, is mind boggling. On an average day, I find many characters inside the metro. This one guy always jumps the queue, saves 7.6 seconds and then waits for his bag to come out of the X-Ray machine while you collect yours before him, because, well the conveyor belt doesn't allow the bags to jump. Once you check in and wait for the train to arrive, you see another guy. He has identified his coach and he follows it. If need be, he will walk miles to get

Yes ladies and gentlemen, it has happened. Yet again, a promising young man has sacrificed himself at the altar of peer pressure.  We are at the spot where this happened - Nikhil's room. Nikhil was a promising young man with a real life, outside the social media and beyond office gossips. So much so, that after office hours he had enough time at his disposal to study and read. But that's true no more! He was smart since his college days. Be it the urge of smoking, or the ridicule for not watching Game of Thrones, he didn't give into things he didn't like because of peer pressure. However, his spirit has finally been broken. The desire for quick promotion took its toll over him.  As we discuss his situation, he is in a room. Away from the world, he is binge watching the 7 seasons of GoT, learning about Football leagues, and more importantly, learning to hate Bieber and Chetan Bhagat. He has already picked up Ronaldo over Messi. It is possible that he direct

Indian Education System finds a place very often in news, mostly for all the wrong reasons. As India traces its path to development and economic growth, the massive demographic dividend that it carries lies on the borderline of becoming a demographic disaster. Among all the factors of production, the most valuable and cherished, in this era of globalization, is unarguably human capital. Humans are the most productive resources if invested well with education. Unfortunately, our education system lacks awfully in all aspects - coverage, quality, and content. Persistent Problems Enrollment Woes:  The Lower primary education or play school lags in its coverage. As of 2011, the enrollment rate for pre-primary schools is 58%.  [1]   The Gross Enrollment Ratio stands at 99.21% for Primary schools and 92.81% for Upper Primary Schools. [2] While this looks good, a cursory glance at its counterpart - Net Enrollment Ratio - highlights the issue of education system’s coverage and internal

Dear Diary, As usual, I am stupefied by people around me. The world is terribly slow, it barely crawls. I feel constrained, not by the lack of pace in my life, but in those of around me.  Just today itself, when the flight landed, no one stood. I repeat, no one stood. They kept sitting in their god damn seats! I was the lone passenger standing in the aisle, waiting for the door to open. No soul behind me, not one in front! Such was the lack of competition in this race running in my mind.  I strongly feel such brazen display of common sense should be outlawed.  The other day, I stood at the counter waiting for my turn. The receptionist was calling us by the token numbers but how does it even matter! There is no better pleasure than a crowd gathered around, and people creating a ruckus in a system that can be orderly. Luckily, I wasn't disappointed then. The impatience, the constant hovering around the counter, the sweet smell of sweaty humans asking the receptionist w

It is impressive, bigger and better than what I imagined it to be. It is situated in the heart of Delhi but remains hidden. The market of ideological jargon is booming and is filled with teeming buyers for the most part of the day. There is something for everyone here. Much inspired by the penchant of Trump for good deals, my right-wing friend who accompanied me got a great deal himself. The shopkeeper gave him a complimentary list of Islamic countries where people could be asked to go when he purchased a bottle of nationalism. I was amazed and kept looking around. My eyes soon fixated on a big store. I took leave from my friend who by then had taken a dose to test the efficacy of the potion. While I was wandering around the store, I managed to catch hold of a salesperson (no, not salesman! I bought tablets of political correctness myself). He was helpful and gave me a detailed account of this hidden market. I remember a part of the conversation which I have jotted down for your r

If you have read something about Gandhiji, you are likely to have come across the three monkeys. He had a small statue of them. One of them covered his eyes, the message being, "see no evil". The second monkey had his ears covered, urging to "hear no evil". The third monkey covered his mouth who "speaks no evil". I believe we have grasped the message well and are doing the same; the teeny tiny difference being our ignorance of diversity. The three monkey today signify the principle - see no diversity, hear no diversity, speak no diversity; else you're a racist, xenophobic, narrow-minded, et cetera. A simple google search tells that racism is "prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior." Pretty simple to understand, right? Apparently not! Homo Sapiens reside in different parts of the world. Owing to the geographical conditions and lack of

"Nah, this isn't catchy enough.Add something to it. Be a little creative Manoj!" "Ma'am, she's Muslim. Should we draw the image of a Muslim woman beating conservative attitudes?" "Isn't good, besides, it looks communal. Make her an underdog. That sells 100 out of 100 times." "Ok! Consider it done." Next day, newspapers carried the headline of a poor girl succeeding in an examination -  the story which motivates, the story which inspires, the story which unfortunately killed the girl! [1] The story I am talking about is of a girl from Kannur. She scored 1180/1200 in her HSS exam. But she committed suicide. The media gave her the kind of publicity she didn't want. She had been hiding her background from her classmates by choice. Media didn't bother about respecting her privacy, spiced the story up a bit and served a headline which grabbed eyeballs. The girl felt humiliated and committed suicide. For those who ha

Once upon a time, in the land that gave zero, I met a person who had infinite worries. Before the narrative begins, let me introduce myself. I work as a recruiter at Mob. My job is to find people who are passionate about taking the law into their hands and take the society back to the stone age. I recently met an exceptional applicant during the recruitment process. He was a brilliant guy - he was worried about the cultural degradation, open celebration of love, and even better, people not agreeing with his views. As we don't care about privacy, here are excerpts from his interview which I believe I have the right to post. "So tell us something about yourself." - "My name is Chintan. I am 27 years old and I graduated from prison last year. Since then, I have been looking for an opening which goes along with my passion. Apart from this, I love forming half cooked opinions and imposing them." "That's impressive. Why were you in prison by the way?&

Eminent sociologist Professor M.N. Srinivas coined the term "Sanskritization" to describe the cultural mobility in the traditional caste structure of Indian society. To raise their status in the traditional hierarchy of society, lower castes imitated the ways of the upper castes and in the process, quit some of their "impure" ways to assimilate well. This assimilation continued throughout. During the British rule, several reform movements took place. When the reigns of these movements fell into the hands of the lower caste leaders, they questioned the need for the lower castes to imitate the ways of upper castes and rightly so. By blindly aping the ways of the upper rungs of the society, you also acknowledge their justification for being the upper class in the first place. I believe readers would agree with me here for the most part. Now that we have these ideas on the table, let's move to what's called westernization. With the advent of Europeans in

Bahadur Shah Zafar  was the last Mughal Emperor. Accompanied by his wife Zinat Mahal and 2 sons Mirza Jawan Bhakt and Mirza Shah Abbas and daughter-in-law Shah Zamani Begum (wife of Jawan Bhakt), he was sent to Rangoon after the revolt of 1857 had been crushed and that his where he died. Bahadur Shah died on Nov. 7, 1862, at the ripe old age of 87. By 1872 Shah Zamani Begum became completely blind. Mirza Shah Abbas married a girl from Rangoon, a daughter of a local Muslim merchant. His descendants  still live in Rangoon  today. Zinat Mahal lived on alone, comforting her loneliness with opium. She died in 1886. Her body was buried near her husband’s grave. A few years later Mirza Jawan Bakht died of stroke. He was 42. Here in India,  Sultana Begum  lives in a slum area of Kolkata off a pension of around INR 6,000 per month. She is the  wife of Prince Mirza Bedar Bukht, the great-grandson of Bahadur Shah Zafar  who was secretly brought back to India in 1925, hidden in a basket of f

"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." This quote is the focal point of liberalism which is based on the ideas of equality and liberty. There are different variants and schools of liberalism but the forementioned two ideas are more or less common to all, though to different degrees. Not anymore. Liberalism has taken a turn where ideas have to stick to the conformity of the boundaries laid by the upper echelons of liberals. The central ideas which seem to be approved are open world, no boundaries, no discrimination, appeasing minorities (religious, linguistic, sexual, racial amongst others). There is no room left for discussion, nor is any allowed. Take this for example. A recent incident in India involving Ms. Gurmehar Kaur stormed the nation. There were two sets of people, one presumably liberals who supported her call for peace and end of warmongering, and the other set which opposed her ideas. Both sides

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are here with the famous YouTuber Firangi Gora and we intend to present his success story which is sure to inspire you. Firangi reacts to videos, which sounds really interesting. Let's see what he has got to say. "Good afternoon Firangi. We welcome you to our show .  How do you feel about this journey and eventual success of yours." Well, this has been a long journey. I started almost 5 months back with nothing. I happened to come across this trailer of a Bollywood movie while browsing, not to mention the old and terribly slow MacBook I had using since 8 months. So I watched it and thought it would be cool to upload my reaction to it. I was all meh. Next day, I realized the video had gone viral and it's been a heck of a journey since then. "Tell us more about your business model, this innovative stream you have opened up for others." It took me some time to perfect my business model. It sounds complicated but it is very

Indian Judiciary has come a long way from being a colonial institution to one that serves as the guardian of the Constitution of a sovereign India. The journey hasn't been easy and it's only imperative for us to judge one of the pillars of our democracy at a time when the distrust between executive and judiciary is paramount. Indian Judiciary has no doubt done a commendable job but it faces certain inherent problems, which show the weaknesses and defects of the system, and which require immediate reforms and accountability. Challenges faced by the Judiciary Judicial Backlog : A mindboggling 3 crores cases are pending at different courts in India. Over 21 lakh cases being at least 10 years old. This doesn't inspire confidence in a judiciary which is the hope to many in a country marred by corruption, inequalities and what not. Vacancies : With so many pending cases, it's only logical to believe there must be lot many vacancies in the courts which indeed i

Development of Jainism as a religion is seen as a response to the then Brahmin dominated Hinduism. It attracted followers initially but soon lost the steam. Some of the major reasons are: Austerity : Jainism is a tough religion to practice. Apart from the very tough conditions for monks which included absolute control over senses, renunciation of physical objects etc., the households didn’t have it easy either. Lack of Patronage : Jainism initially had the patronage of some great kings including Chandragupta Maurya, Kharvela and Ajatshatru. But it isn’t easy being a king and strictly following the ideals of nonviolence and hence Jainism soon gave way to Buddhism and Hinduism. Advent of Buddhism : Buddhism rose at the same time as Jainism. Thus Jainism had to compete with a religion which was less demanding from the followers. Buddhism looked more practical to those who wanted to escape the Brahmin dominated Hinduism. Division into sects : Jainism divided into two sects: Digambar

Has it ever happened to you that you are involved in a discussion and find yourself losing? Amidst the barrage of rationalities and facts (true ones, not alternative), you find yourself helpless and in disdain? If yes, here are some ways which will help you bounce back and claim the victory. Appeal to Authority :  “Generic quote.” - some great man  Oh yeah, that’s right. Use a quote. Do you know what it means? It basically means that you don’t need to say anything else. The quote says it all. It proves that you are right and the other person is wrong. If they question the quote, condemn them for questioning the intellect and stature of the great man; if they don’t, well, you have already won anyway. Anecdotal Evidence:  "Share an anecdote which is in line with your point. Then substantiate and extend it to the entire human race. Based on this, you win." Forget data and stats. If you can recall any anecdote in line with your point of argument, use it and if you don'

This is coming straight from DC where in a bizarre turn of events, White House correspondent has briefed that Donald Trump has in fact reduced using Twitter. After it was almost one complete day without any tweet from President Trump's twitter handle, people from all across the world had started speculating if he was critically ill. Initially, it was assumed that President Trump was busy with Golden Shower but the matter received considerable attention when he didn't retweet  a 12 year old kid's tweet praising him. The kid reported the matter to FBI which immediately reached out to White House to issue a clarification to the public. At least 786 people are reported to have died following the mass hysteria generated by the prolonged absence of their beloved leader. This disruption to the new normal caused discomfort to several other stakeholders including News Channels which had gotten so used to being labelled Fake News that they resorted to claim the same from their t

If you happen to work for someone who is under the scanner of public a lot, you would've realized how important it is to have a well-functioning Public Relations cell.  Central Government of India comes first to my mind in this regard. Ours is a welfare state, where apart from the necessary functions of maintaining law and order, the government takes care of the welfare of its citizens. Besides passive subsidies, there are more active plans in the sector of education, health, financial inclusion, food distribution etc. It is in view of spreading awareness about such schemes (I know, political gains too) that government has been allocating a good chunk to Advertisement and publicity. Have a look at recent data. (src: https://factly.in/the-central-government-spent-more-than-6000-crore-on-publicity-in-the-last-11-years/) Taking into account the size of the economy, this isn't an amount to cringe about. More often than not it is one of the most important parts of the sc