India. My India today.

Ha ha ha.. We are all still alive.

Well, the news is that the world hasn't changed a lot overnight. Thank god for that. The snow in the balcony is still there, our dear victim of the monstrosity of the Delhi gang-rape is still alive with people supporting her and still calling for death for the rapists. And yes of course, which should be done - which should teach all rapists a lesson for now. And, all mothers in India to raise their sons a little better rather than "kuchh bhi karo, meri monu ko kuch nahi honi chahiye" ("Do anything, I don't want anything happening to my Monu.")

My heart goes out to that poor girl and millions of other girls who have been raped and have been denied justice. To quote No One Killed Jessica "Justice delayed is justice denied." I read an article a couple days back, about how quickly Delhi police have acted in this case arresting the rapists. Well, kudos to the cops. And also, I noted how interesting it was to see that the judiciary was also taking an active interest in questioning the cops when they thought the reports needed to have much more detail. Kudos to the judiciary too.

Why do we have rapes happening in such alarming frequency in India? I would think that rapes might have been a lot less in the times when man roamed naked. Ask people in India, even the educated would try to say that it's a woman's clothing that provokes one to rape. Answer this - if your sister dressed herself in a so called provocative dress, would you rape her or would you allow another man to rape/leer/pass lewd comments at her? So, now, dressing provocatively is a cause for rape?

We always tell our girls at home to dress properly and not to stay out late. Has anyone ever not told/not been told behave properly with a girl? Food for thought.

Spare a thought for all those martyrs whose sacrifices to win freedom seems all in vain today. Spare a thought for all those soldiers guarding our borders, sacrificing family life just to ensure that we can sleep in peace. That too seems to be in vain. All of them made/make such sacrifices each day and I feel ashamed that we are a country which calls itself a civil society, where there is nothing civil. Rape of a country. India is crying and bleeding, will there be hands to wipe the tears and stop the bleeding?

And sad how the world's largest democracy treats its peacefully protesting citizens. Lathi charging and tear gassing. Truly sad. Looks more like a throwback to the British era rather than of Gandhi's dream of a free India where Indians will be respected and treated with respect in their own land. The common man being treated like criminals, while criminals get all amenities possible.

The 63 years that never were...

Yeah. You are right. You guessed it absolutely right. This post is about the lady who turned 63 just a few months back.

A nation ruled by the British, who dominated not only India, but also most part of the world for the better part of the 19th century, gained her independence in 1947. What for? To still be marked as a "developing nation", when nations such as Japan which was nuked in 1945 zoomed upward making itself as a world leader. Singapore, a nation not bigger than the city of Bangalore now standing as one of the world's best country, while most of our cities are languishing with poor facilities.

I hate to damage my own country like this. I love my India and I'm sure everyone of you, which ever country you maybe from LOVE yours.

Why is India like this? Well, some of the most obvious reasons are listed here:

1. Corruption -  Ah, yes. That is number one and I won't hesitate in betting that we are number 1 in that. The age old vice introduced by our British rulers and imbibed in our system ever since then has become a national practice. Thanks to this  we have hardly seen much of a development, except for the swelling bank accounts and the sprawling villas of our netas.

2. Indifference -  Thanks to the 1st cause, this one has also evolved.  When have we ever cared about giving or taking bribes to government officials, politicians and of late even educational institutions which demand huge amounts as donations to secure admissions. We have grown used to bribes being taken and given.

3. Reservation - Not railway ticket reservations, not air ticket reservations and certainly not reserving seats at restaurants. It's about reserving a HUGE chunk of seats in educational institutions for people based on CASTE, RELIGION and not based on economic affordability.

4. LACK OF RESPECT FOR THE PEOPLE AND THE NATION. Very evident among our netas. Ever remember an Independence day or a Republic day, when the entire nation, 1 BILLION Indians standing up for the national anthem? There has always been an occasion where a politician or a police chief or a government official has been caught sitting or disrespecting the national anthem or the flag. Lack of respect for the people who vote for them is utterly disgusting. Our politicians come begging to our doorsteps for votes and after the election, people are treated like shit.

5. A judicial system which tries a dumbass terrorist to show the world that we will give him a fair trial, while politicians who swindle lakhs of crores of Rupees are let off with just a commission of some "eminent" politicians investigating the matter. Neither will the commission give their reports early enough to prosecute the perpetrator, nor will the terrorist be hanged soon.

6. Power and money talk, more than the voice of the common man. Police fail to prosecute criminals backed by politicians. Agony, disgust are all that people get when they try to file a complaint with the police. There have been cases where just because the perpetrator has been a big shot's relative, the case just has to be dropped. Pity. Apart from that, only people with power enough to change election results at will, by rigging polls come to power.

7. Incompetent leaders who feign ignorance when something as huge as a multi million crore scandal happens. Leaders who FAIL to show themselves as a true leader. Some are puppets in the hands of some other leaders. Such leaders not only prove themselves incompetent, but also prove themselves to be inhuman. They rig elections, win them, eyewash the stupid common people of India, with promises that never will happen. They even go to the extent of making sure that the traffic stops for them and their useless bloody lives, while a much more worthwhile life dies in an ambulance that is stuck in traffic

7 reasons why India is like this. 7 main reasons. Reasons that matter a lot more than common people like you and me ( I am assuming that the people who matter DO NOT read this post). 

The Stupid Common Man...

Ah.. yes. That's all of us. Not you netas, ministers, MLAs, MPs, bureaucrats and party chiefs. It's us- The Stupid Common People of India. It's us, who have to bear the brunt of price rices due to the artificial inflation that all you idiots have created for your own selfish ends.

Imagine, a kilo of onions costing an ABSURD Rs. 60-70 per kilo? Fuel prices going up every 2 weeks? Such things are unheard of even in countries poorer than India. If prices go up so high, only people who have ammassed (Pun- very much intended), so much of wealth that at least 10 more generations of their family need not bother about working, can only afford even the luxury of a sambhar cooked with onions.

Well, not to mention media coverage for this issue, which is as of today on the front page of a newspaper. Tomorrow, this news will be obscure and will obviously be out of peoples minds and our great babus and netas, will once again hatch plots to make money for themselves.

This is a vicious cycle isn't it? People have to slog their asses off, pay taxes (if not entirely honestly), at least people do pay taxes. These people are us- common people- IT company employees, BPO employees, Government employees, small time business people, growing companies. Where does all the money go? Oh, yes, it goes all the way to keep Ajmal Kasab and rapists alive.

The value of a common man's life in India is worse than shit. A minister's daughter is held hostage, the entire universe gets into action to rescue her. A common man's daughter is kidnapped, raped and killed, the police hardly even takes notice of it. The perpetrator? At most times, the son or a relative of a politician or a politician himself.

A minister swindles a nation of crores of money and roams happily in his Benz car, while a common thief, who would have stolen not more than 100 Rs, is beaten up mercilessly and later sentenced to 6 months imprisonment. So, as far as we are concerned, the greater the magnitude of the crime, the lesser the punishment.A corrupt and illiterate minister can get away with a multi crore Rupee scam, while a government employee of the lowest order gets kicked for asking for a cup of tea as a bribe.

In India, lives are lost when ambulances are held up in traffic jams, which have been created due to the passing of a ministerial convoy through that route. A life of a common man is lost and the minister won't even know about it and even in the rarest of events, if he does get to hear about it, he will feel no remorse.

When will all this end? The largest democracy in the world has no respect for the people who make it. SHAME.