Phew!!!! A lot of venom I had spewed in my last blog, mainly because I was hurt, sorry and disgruntled at the state of affairs in my own state, the place where I was born, brought up and which gave me an identity, of being a Bengali, a proud one at that. Don’t get ideas that I’m promoting regionalism, but one does develop a deep and distinct relationship with his/her mother tongue; no matter how many more dialects he/she can speak fluently. We all are deeply attached to our roots, roots that lie in that cemented courtyard of our homes, that small square patch of grass in the locality, which we proudly used to pass off as a field and brag to other neighbourhood kids about it size, how cricket balls would be lost in the bushes adjoining to it if one hit them far, etc; those snacks stalls in the local market serving up delectable items; which today we wouldn’t dare touch in fear of gaining untimely kilos; then nobody thought of those, as all the fat we would accumulate over one feast, more than that would be melted off in a frenetic game of football the next evening, ending only because of sunset (and not at sunset). Evenings and nights would be spent only planning strategically about how to gain revenge for the days adverse result in the next evening’s game; at the end of it all though, everyone would be bosom buddies once again. I am quite sure that everyone has a secret wish deep within; of developing a power to roll back all those years, just to become child once again. Herein lies the dilemma and contradiction of human psyche; all through our childhood we wish to grow up overnight, just to skip the parental disciplining, to teach the neighbourhood bullies a lesson, to be able to marry that cute looking girl staying two blocks away that one developed a crush on; and now when we have indeed done that, some maturing beyond years, we all want that elusive childhood back. We thus continue to live in a contradiction all through our lives, unable to decide for ourselves what we actually want; continue to live constantly in a state of denial of who we want to be and who we are; trying to act happy and content; but the tragedy lies in the fact that none of us are who we wanted to be in our childhood. That is the only honest and spotless dream we used to nurture, because it was not tainted with the smell of money, not breached by the hunger of power, of trying to dominate others, not fuelled by insecurity or pumped by jealousy.
Of course we cannot roll back the years, but we can still push that little dream of ours off its slumber, and make it walk towards the destination it deserves; because now most of us are not bound down by those fetters which themselves produced the dreams; now we are free to chase them in whichsoever manner we like, as long as we follow them honestly. But then having a re-think, do we really want to achieve those now? Isn't the lure of money strong enough to pull us away from emotional burdens, to take that hard step towards realistic, practical world, which has no place for dreams which can be only termed now as foolish and immature? I leave it upto you to decide.
Friday, July 31, 2009
The anarchy that is West Bengal...
It’s been a really long time since something worthwhile has caught my imagination, which explains part of my forced absence from the blog scene. The other part however and obviously has been my self-imposed laziness; which I have nurtured and fed devoutly for so long, that it tends to devour a sizable portion of my life, simply through sleeping and long periods of inactivity. However, there have been things going around me and everyone else’s life, and quite tumultuous and disturbing, at those. Such happenings finally shook me out of my slumber and forced me to share some thoughts with everyone, thoughts which are simmering beneath the surface, at our disillusionment, at our apathy, at our ineptitude, at our acceptance of the shameful incidents as inevitability….
Where do I start? At the disgustful dance of the anti-democratic forces in West Bengal, all in the name of “aandolon” (revolution)? Or at the ongoing farce in the name of trial, for an event which shook the world, but didn’t do so much so as move us an inch out of our comfort zone, the 26/11? Or shall I spell out the shock, disgust and (daresay) shameful truth of the rape and murder of two innocent Kashmiri women in Shopian, allegedly by Indian security forces; an incident which only came to my notice after the highly dramatized event of an opposition leader in Kashmir Assembly daring to throw a microphone at the deputy speaker, all in the name of protest? The truth is that the list will never end, but will always find a new seed to germinate elsewhere.
We Indians love the drama, to hold the centre stage, without actually doing anything worthwhile; that iota of spotlight sprinkled on us on a random day, is enough for us to last a generation, to brag to our children and grandchildren. That is why we see our beloved Mamata “Didi” to sit in a ‘dharna’ and hold rallies in the midst of the busiest metropolitan city junction, causing citizens paramount inconvenience, throwing the traffic system of a dismally-administered city, completely out of gear; all apparently for those people’s cause whom she herself is causing irreparable damage. The government and ruling party of West Bengal is a disgrace, make no mistake about it; major parts of the state still hasn’t seen the light of development, corruption is just an addition to the babus’ nameplates, unemployment level is shooting through the roof, inflation is making it impossible for the general public to reach adequate morsels of food to their stomachs, the state capital and one of the nation’s major metropolitan is lurching in anarchy, ill-management and utter chaos; all this while the ministers and white-collared educated fools fill their pockets and gleefully watch the state go to the dogs; but the party trying to projecting itself as a glorious alternative in the nearby legislative elections in 2011 is in fact a rudderless ship and a political disgrace, simply because the woman at the helm is a highly confused, ill-tempered (they call her a firebrand for that!!) and power-hungry lady, whose only goal is the chief minister’s chair in an anarchic state. The logic is simple; enjoy as long as it lasts and fill your coffers. Although Didi herself is too principle-oriented (read foolish) to touch as much as a penny, but her accomplices won’t let this opportunity slip by. Amidst all the humanitarian hue & cry over the Nandigram-Singur issue, it was conveniently forgotten that a powerful and constant-in-the-long run source of income for the poor people of West Bengal had been frittered away; what did our beloved Didi do to provide an alternate source of income for the people? Aah yes!! A train connecting Singur to Kolkata in the rail budget; people of Singur should really expect a preference in the recruitment of maintenance personnel (sweepers & cleaners, in other words) for the aforementioned train!!! A job well done Didi, we are all looking forward to your coronation as the newly-elected chief minister of anarchic Bengal-simply because you will elect yourself, despite more able and sane-minded individuals existing in the party.
Where do I start? At the disgustful dance of the anti-democratic forces in West Bengal, all in the name of “aandolon” (revolution)? Or at the ongoing farce in the name of trial, for an event which shook the world, but didn’t do so much so as move us an inch out of our comfort zone, the 26/11? Or shall I spell out the shock, disgust and (daresay) shameful truth of the rape and murder of two innocent Kashmiri women in Shopian, allegedly by Indian security forces; an incident which only came to my notice after the highly dramatized event of an opposition leader in Kashmir Assembly daring to throw a microphone at the deputy speaker, all in the name of protest? The truth is that the list will never end, but will always find a new seed to germinate elsewhere.
We Indians love the drama, to hold the centre stage, without actually doing anything worthwhile; that iota of spotlight sprinkled on us on a random day, is enough for us to last a generation, to brag to our children and grandchildren. That is why we see our beloved Mamata “Didi” to sit in a ‘dharna’ and hold rallies in the midst of the busiest metropolitan city junction, causing citizens paramount inconvenience, throwing the traffic system of a dismally-administered city, completely out of gear; all apparently for those people’s cause whom she herself is causing irreparable damage. The government and ruling party of West Bengal is a disgrace, make no mistake about it; major parts of the state still hasn’t seen the light of development, corruption is just an addition to the babus’ nameplates, unemployment level is shooting through the roof, inflation is making it impossible for the general public to reach adequate morsels of food to their stomachs, the state capital and one of the nation’s major metropolitan is lurching in anarchy, ill-management and utter chaos; all this while the ministers and white-collared educated fools fill their pockets and gleefully watch the state go to the dogs; but the party trying to projecting itself as a glorious alternative in the nearby legislative elections in 2011 is in fact a rudderless ship and a political disgrace, simply because the woman at the helm is a highly confused, ill-tempered (they call her a firebrand for that!!) and power-hungry lady, whose only goal is the chief minister’s chair in an anarchic state. The logic is simple; enjoy as long as it lasts and fill your coffers. Although Didi herself is too principle-oriented (read foolish) to touch as much as a penny, but her accomplices won’t let this opportunity slip by. Amidst all the humanitarian hue & cry over the Nandigram-Singur issue, it was conveniently forgotten that a powerful and constant-in-the-long run source of income for the poor people of West Bengal had been frittered away; what did our beloved Didi do to provide an alternate source of income for the people? Aah yes!! A train connecting Singur to Kolkata in the rail budget; people of Singur should really expect a preference in the recruitment of maintenance personnel (sweepers & cleaners, in other words) for the aforementioned train!!! A job well done Didi, we are all looking forward to your coronation as the newly-elected chief minister of anarchic Bengal-simply because you will elect yourself, despite more able and sane-minded individuals existing in the party.
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