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 end of the month....

Yeah... the month is ending... not news to most of us I know...

As a month draws to a close, how many times have us (read - male Indian bikers living in India) faced the situation of being caught by a traffic cop, just for the sake of filling up his "quota" or to fill up hi pockets for expenses the coming month?

That is the most common and CHEAPEST and UGLIEST form of DEMANDING BRIBES that you can every see on the roads. I have hated and still hated traffic cops just for their cheap behaviour. I have immense respect for the guys in Khakhi, but to be honest, and many Indians will agree with me on this - No respect at all for those cheap buggers.

I live in probably the busiest part of my city in India and I have never ever seen a traffic cop on the road till say the 25th date of each month and suddenly they are omnipresent as they date ticks past 25.

Every single person earns his money through hardwork and here are some assholes which sit at some roadside tea shop drinking tea and eating samosas for free, pocketing a few thousand rupees for not working and earning as much as 5000 Rs. in a couple of days. Taxpayers money goes down the bloody drain like this.


And if you ask why this happens, the answer would be "People give, so we take." People wouldn't want to part with a paisa of their hard earned money unless and until they are forced to do so and in this case -  unscrupulous traffic cops. People would rather part with 100 Rs. easily than go to court and argue their case after losing nearly 5 times the money due to loss of pay leave, transport and hours of waiting at the court for the judge.

Sheer disregard for the people in the largest democracy in the world and we have a republic day too. Shame.

How many times do you notice a traffic cop who is on duty every single day, in proper uniform, performing his duties properly and not expecting the month end bonus?

And the reasons that the give to extract money from you -  atrocious. Speeding when you don't even have a chance to go over 25 kmph. You might be just at the stop line when they decide to pull you aside and take a chance.

As a traffic cop, you are expected to clear the way for an ambulance. How many cops do that? Who knows what happens in the lesser cities and villages....

If you ask a cop to justify his actions - it is a long sad story too. Almost every cop who has donned the khakhi or the white shirt would say this. I had to "pay an amount" to get this job. And I am still paying the interest on that amount. This might even be true.

The root cause of all this leads back to corruption. Bribery.

Well.. who knows for how much longer. Earth's countdown might have well begun???

Something to think about... 2 sides to that coin...

Sir! Post!

அச்ச்மில்லை யச்சமில்லை அச்ச்மனெப தில்லையே

இச்ச்கத்து ளோரெல்லாம் எதிர்த்துநின்ற பொதினும்
அச்ச்மில்லை யச்சமில்லை அச்ச்மனெப தில்லையே
துச்ச்மாக வெண்ணிநம்மை தூறுசெய்த பொதினும்
அச்ச்மில்லை யச்சமில்லை அச்ச்மனெப தில்லையே

- மகாகவி சுப்ரமணிய பாரதியார்.

I do know a lot of people who read this blog do not know Thamizh (Tamil). So, here's a bit of translation.

" Do not fear. Do not fear even when the entire world opposes you.

 Do not fear the cold stares that people give you".

- Subramaniya Bharathiyar. 

Why I began with those lines. The reason is pretty simple -  Mr. Kapil Sibal. Minister for IT and Communications, has asked social networking firms to filter objectionable content, particularly with reference to UPA chief -Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister- Manmohan Singh. The analogy is pretty simple, when a team fails, the captain is the first one to draw flak, and here - well, needs no further explanation.

Well, it is quite apparent that the UPA is full of Taliban people disguised as Indian politicians. Starting off a few weeks ago was planning commission chairman Mr. Ahluwalia, who somehow brought about a random number to indicate the minimum amount of money required per day to survive in rural and urban India. And now, it's the turn of another educated person. 

Seriously. Mr. Sibal. What were you even thinking? And now your loyalty towards the nation as a whole itself is under scrutiny. When you took your oath, you pledged your loyalty and service to the NATION.  Loyalty and service to the UPA chief DOES NOT become loyalty to the nation. A BILLION people are under so much pressure due to your government, which has like every other government before it, forgotten how they got elected. 

We the people can only share kolaveri videos and post good pictures of your youth icon Mr. Rahul Gandhi is it? And politicians who deserve to be ***censored*** are just slapped in this country. You talk so much about censorship and all that stuff, but are you even concerned about the people who elected you? Shame on you for even calling yourself an Indian, living in a free democratic republic.

This is a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black. The government is concerned about the personal image of some very powerful people, while the average Indian struggles to make ends meet. We all get abused by you politicians day in and day out. A few days back, a teacher was slapped in Punjab, by an illiterate sarpanch. The audacity that you politicians have to tell us about abusing you. We the people are abused by you - economically, physically, psychologically, verbally and at times in some cases, even sexually. 

By the way, you said, "Hate speech must be banned."  Why would an ENTIRE nation hate all you politicians? When all you politicians, particularly the government, have done nothing worthwhile for the nation, there obviously will be hatred towards you. And now you say that people cannot vent their ire on a social forum just because one of your colleagues got slapped and that some of you may even be attacked in future? Didn't you know all this before coming to power? And you are all scared despite your Z category security? So lame.

And if you did really want to screen posts on Google, you should have made them get our map correct for a start.

All you politicians make sure that no one else comes to power by doing all sorts of illegal things such as booth capturing, cash for votes, political assassinations and threatening people. And when you do come to power, you indulge yourself by building statues of yourself, amassing huge amounts of wealth and property and all such things.

Honestly, have a chat with your own conscience Mr. Sibal, you too would feel like giving a nice tight slap to certain people. For a few minutes, forget that you ever were a politician, a minister, a man in power. Think of yourself as the common man of India, put yourself in his shoes and think. Would you really feel that you and your government have done anything good for the people? Would you really ask Facebook and Google to screen content now? Learned and educated people like you and me should realize that not all people go off to slap someone like your colleague or throw stones at someone else's house.

Exceptions do not become examples Mr. Sibal. We are living in a civilized society. The world has evolved and so must we, if we are to become a nation greater than what we are at present. Criticism should be welcomed from anywhere, and especially if it comes for the people who elected you.

Do something good for the people Mr. Sibal. The people will respect you.

Jai Hind.

P.S: This blog may not be alive tomorrow. I'm very thankful to all those who have read this blog all these days. Thanks a lot for all your support.

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.