Its all about Politics at the end of the day
Few youngsters encouraged and backed by a Politician go ahead and attack a few helpless women in the name of morals. It was sad, shocking and scary to watch women be man handled in that manner.
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Updates from January, 2009 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Alexander
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Alexander
I take responsibility for the attack on Mumbai.
8-12 hours after the attack I logged into Facebook Mobile from my cell phone, as I didn’t have access to my PC and just wanted to check messages.
Everybody had something to say.. about the attack. Someone said it was inhuman. while others said they are sad about this, some others said mumbai will bounce back and the best was this one where somebody pleaded for somebody, anybody to stand up and bring change.
What’s the point of all this. We are quick to condemn such incidents, complain about the security situation, the cop whose just looking for the next bakra to pay him a bribe, the size of that cops belly… who knows if he could run to save his own life, let alone the lives of ordinary citizens… and we do this with all we have and with so much gusto, but only among our peers… not where it would matter or make a difference.
Like in the last comment I highlighted above, the commenter wanted somebody, anybody to bring the change and not herself.
We need to show worthiness to deserve the change we so desperately want. Question what your getting if not you’ll continue to get the same i.e. bad roads, bad cops, bad everything.
Q:Who is to blame?
A: The Politiciansand Q: why I may ask?
A: just because they are elected representatives…and Q: who elected them?
not us… because we don’t vote.How can you expect something from a leader that you didn’t help get elected. and if we have helped get him elected then its even worse, because we haven’t clearly set expectation.
I take responsibility, because I voted but never stood up and questioned those whom I voted for… why this and why not that!!
Never Questioned Mr. Govinda, “where are you?, why aren’t your attending parliament, the same parliament for which I chose you to represent me.”
Never did I question the system of drawing lots for deciding reservations for Women and ST/SC/OBC in the Municipal Corporation, because of which we often see candidates being imported from other areas as there aren’t (or local party strongmen chose to ignore) candidates that fit the profile, what follows is term with virtually no corporator to serve the ward.
For this and many more that I would term my inaction or my failure to be a contributing citizen of this democracy of ours, I take responsibility for the wrongs that have happened including this attack, because at the end of the day it all happened and reached such a stage because of the inadequacy of our City, State and Nation… which was the responsibility of our leaders, whom I either didn’t help getting elected or even if I did, I didn’t look at / question what they did or didn’t do for My City, My State and My Country.
Learn to Question! because you deserve better. Start small and then grow… its something like planting a tree… every small bit would count.
For example, You know how Auto rickshaw guys could be hard to come by and many would just refuse to go where you want to. I decided enough was enough as I wasn’t asking for charity or a free ride, I was paying for it, So a few months back i started this thing where if the rick showed “for hire”, I’m boarding it, regardless of the guys saying yes or no. It hasn’t always gone smoothly, often it takes up time arguing with the guy and after several delays to where I was heading, two really ugly verbal spats and one fist fight… I continue because I know someday people will look and learn and if many start this, it won’t be long before rickshaw guys learn that they are public transport and don’t have the right to refuse.
Similarly we can question the guys who want your precious votes, what they gonna give us in return and what if they don’t deliver… would they like a punch on the face or a kick up the ass. And if you haven’t got a precious vote, please head to Jagoore dot com… haven’t you watched the ads on TV (shame on you if you’ve seen it and continued to ignore it.)
If you have something to say, please do so below.
P.S. Indian News channels especially those shady hindi ones and Headlines today… Don’t run it on your ticker that “One of the Mumbai attackers claims responsibility” this is just a way of expressing myself and my anger at all things leading to this and many other things. I have nothing and will continue to have nothing to do with those MF who have no respect for the life of individuals like themselves… and attack civilians who aren’t armed or trained like them.
Note to terrorists: :) if you think so much of yourself that you can take on our democracy, then just a give us level playing feild come down to any of our mumbai railway stations unarmed and I can promise you that we will take you down with our bare hands… no cops… no secuity agency would be involved, ask any pickpocketer who has ever been caught in the act in our local trains (if theres one who has survived what follows).
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p lal
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Heena
I agree that we have more responsibilties than just voting. Suppose we are questioning the authorities for their incapability to serve properly, what is the guarantee that we will not be man handled by them. You know what happened to the PWD Enginner who disagreed to pay for politician’s bday. So how to handle such situations?
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Alexander
Hi Heena,
Thank you for your comment and sorry for the delay in my reply.
I very well know what happened to the PWD Engineer and mind you he wasn’t one who was killed for standing up to the Minister, but he was one who paid the price for feeding a wild dog whose hunger won’t be satisfied even if it chewed the hands that fed it.
Let me explain, Before Diwali or any big festival (in this case bheenji’s birthday), you find Officials trying every trick in the book to extort bribe from you, cause they have to meet the demands of their higher ups… similarly this official also had a “target” which he couldn’t meet, but to his dismay it wasn’t a babu on top of him but a hard core criminal who didn’t understand that targets set were unrealistic. A web bribery and corruption is woven all across the system, and numerous have fallen prey, this is just one of them.
Further hasn’t Uttar Pradesh learnt from the Taj Corridor and Previous Mayawati Birthday Gala Events that it re-elected this insane, self consumed monstrous Women, who doesn’t even like birds chirping at her window, in the morning. Or was it over consumed in its upper caste lower caste games.
This very instance you have pointed out, the only reason we are discussing it is because we are aware of it, and all because the widow of the engineer had the courage to report it. This incident should not be forgotten and When you go to vote the next time, be sure to check the Candidates background, his education and how much he respects the law and constitution and not what his caste is… Don’t be afraid as long as you have a vote, a voice, they can’t do much.
UP is the heart of india, one of the largest states, can it do any better than Mulayam Singh & Mayawati… People in Mumbai’s Juhu area had decided they didn’t want politician representing them in the Municipal Corporation and they got one of their own, a local Social worker elected, who acted not on his own, but by taking local residents into confidence.
Lastly as Plato said “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”
I’m not preaching going to war against these criminals, because that way we will only loose our own lives, instead slowly and tactfully, loosen their grip on power by voting against them and helping the law catch up with them…
Regards
Alexander
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Enk.
Hello Alex,
Nice Blog you have here.
I don’t know this is the nice place to talk about or not.
You left a comment on my blog on SEO. Kindly read the reply and let me know if you can write that for me in detail so I can shoot a new post linking back to you.Have a nice day.
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Enk.
Thanks for the reply Alex.
I’d love to write your view and points about SEO as a guest post on my blog. As I really loved what you described.
Please mail me the content on the ID I’m using for this comment.
And I’ll shoot a new post linking back to you.Kind Regards.
Enk., 
Enk., 
Alexander
My reply to a supporter of hindutva
A few days back Saurav our very own funny guy wrote a serious post on muslims and terrorism
The post received considerable response some encouraging, some amazed and one that took the bull by the tail. Though Saurav tried his best to respond politely without giving in, the dude kept on with his rhetoric.
At first I felt that I should give this guy a peice of my mind, but when I discussed this with Saurav, I felt it waas best that saurav took care of this himself… But I had an opinion which needed to be told and hence I commented once I saw that the dust had settled. This guy comes back and replies to my comment.
Surely I couldn’t keep myself from replying, but half way through my reply which was already a page & half, and full of things that may not go down well with a few, I thought if this debate needs to carry on, it should do here, on my space not Saurav’s because a.) he doesn’t quite digg such confrontations and b.) he is fun guy whose better of discussing his bullshit.
And hence this post to set stage for the below text that is my comment.
Hi wassup…
I have resisted responding to you since long as I didn’t wanna upset my fun loving friend, who very well knows what a vociferous individual I am, with my own opinions; for a simple reason that he had attempted to tell us, his friends that see here is great community with a rich culture (not that other communities have a less rich culture) and only because of some misguided souls the entire community is being cornered to the wall with an eyes of suspicion. It’s like saying because there are a few bad apples, apples needs to be wiped from the face the earth, at that point he made a passing reference to certain other groups which we could rightly categorize as equally bad apple; then you come here and tell us otherwise clearly trying to get into fist fight of words or just an attempt to show off your “superior knowledge” on the subject… being faced with smart but subtle replies you resorted to cheap moves like referring your past experiences, which only you know best yourself is true or not (Come on do you expect us to believe some of that stuff like the guy who said “I wish I was in Pakistan” OR even your scholarship, dude refer me to those guys, they should sponsor my education, considering I’m a catholic… Oh I really liked the part where you landed for mass and even went to the Gurudwara. All Religious places have an out of the world thing and therefore you not only have to be physically present there but also spiritually to claim to be there.)
Let me address the points you have raised
“Hindu Rashtra – what is wrong?” — Everything about it is wrong my friends. It takes more than Gods blessings to run a nation, a sound understanding of foreign affair and economics to name a two. Its takes more preparation for things like the recent signing of the N Deal then consulting the stars, or sprinkling holy water or even reciting verses of the Quran. (No offense is meant to any religion, only trying to make a point that religious beliefs are best ones private affair or at most amongst other fellow believers, if brought out amongst other citizens it will only create confusion, leading to hatred and even violence, that until we learn lessons of tolerance.)
“I’d like to remind the enlightened Alex that ‘Word of God’ has been long listed in the Vedas (6000 years before Jesus was even recorded in history). Incidentally, it helps that the Vedas are perceived to be casteist.” — please note that Christianity according to our scriptures never began with Jesus Christ, it was there since dawn of man kind the building of earth in six days, and Adam being created, followed by Eve. My friend there is no point arguing who came first and what is true religion because none of us has a time machine to go back and verify for ourselves. Further it can always be argued that the Theory Evolution states otherwise to what the old testament says abt the world being created in six days or even any other scriptures state about how the world came into being and further this can be counter argued that time is a relative thing what may have seemed like six days to God, may be millions of years of evolution. The point that I make is, religious debate at our level is futile, where we will be just moving around in circles; Losing the essence of our religions and beliefs which we have held on to inspite of some much exposure to science which has told us otherwise on every step, all because we need a higher power that we can fall on in times of crisis (remember the saying that goes something like where science stops, prayers starts it’s work).
“How much of history have you read apart from that listed in our warped textbooks? History has been moulded brilliantly to reflect modern day political compulsions. Hats off to the genius that accomplished. My sorrow for the people that bought it.” — Thank you for acknowledging the fact that I’m a genius. The only education I am proud of is the lesson which taught me to question, taught me that what was being taught was someone subject views, and I have a right to differ as long as I have seen all available aspects of the topic.
“As for the casteist system – blame the interpreters of the system and not the system. It’s like saying India is stupid; whereas Indians allowed themselves to be exploited.” — I was referencing to an ancient time caste system which had the Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishas and Shudras… I understand that till here everything was fine and it was just about setting a social order for smooth functioning; but the problem came when few selfish men started their own belief of caste is something you need to be born in (I believe hymns from the Rig Veda suggest that caste is not decided by birth)… Then there were individuals who went past this belief and has inter caste marriages, they began to be called chandalas, I believe they formed most of the dalit community being ousted for disobeying this hierarchy that didn’t give them breathing space. Now in Free India, they had a right to choose and they choose religions that didn’t discriminate like Buddhism and Christianity; Mind you this was the very learned Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkars idea and a great one that I salute. My point was just to remind you great people like Dr. Ambedkar could never have been enticed by your alledged means of conversion, they have a mind and are very capable of Making an informed decision. I know this family which lives in a hut next to my chawl, they have received a lot of help from our church, which has lead the man of this house hold the quit drinking, and start up a business of selling peanuts in the market, his daughter goes to a decent school now (not the municipal school) they even received ration when this guy was ill; and he didn’t have to convert and hasn’t converted. Why go that far to my neighbours, my family is an example, my grandfathers and great grandfathers never received any monetory gains from accepting Christianity in place of Hinduism, that they were born in. Look what I have done, gone into a debate on the caste system and religion which are like a black hole, a call to go around in circles, I feel sorry for mentioning it especially when my initial point was to let you know there are more reasons for conversion, than just cheap enticement. Further just for argument sake I allege that groups like the bajrang dal are the one doing the forcefully conversion (reconversion) or what they call shudi; after all they are the ones with the weapons.
“Aryans did not impose the caste system on the Dravidas. It well existed before the Aryans.” — Dude seriously, where did you, get this from. It has always been the Aryans who have tried to preach supremacy of theirs over others, take the e.g. of Hitler. And now don’t tell me Hitler is out of context, Aryans have come from the north (Europe). But Arguing about these without us being history scholars is quite childish.
“India minus Gandhi and Nehru would have long been a country with striking force and capability… if it weren’t for Gandhi or Nehru, India would very much be a developed nation and not a developing nation.” — Though I am not one that full agrees with what Gandhi has done… I still feel that if Gandhi would have pushed for Vallabbhai Patel to be PM instead of Mr. Nehru… things could have been different. But that said I don’t believe that a single mistake is bigger than all the right that one has done through out his life. There are a few things that we may not like these leaders but we have no right to belittle them and irresponsibly say that things would have been better… who is to say that neither I nor you have lived in those times or faced the compulsions that they came across. They made some decisions that didn’t go down well, but should we forget the ones that did. If you want know how developed we would be hadn’t it been for them, just make a list of things they have done and just imagine India without them. To give you a Head Start, 1. Satyagraha preached by Gandhi, how much also u would like to deny, has been India’s advertisement for what kinda Peace loving people they are. 2. The Mixed Economy System, this one you may not know, during the cold war Russia and US were trying to get newly formed nations like ours to follow their styles of economies Communist and Capitalist respectively. But India along with a few others decided to take a new approach with the best of both worlds where you had insulation for the poorest of the poor and also space for free enterprise to flourish.
To sum up… We don’t agree on most things other than the part where you accept I’m a genius, and to prove ourselves we can argue and counter argue leading to nothing other than a bad taste in our mouth, hence I declare that we agree to disagree and end this debate here… if for some reason you feel otherwise and wanna cry about it, I would appreciate you do that here at my space, because I know that Bombi, won’t quite appreciate it cause that’s just beating his purpose for the Blog Post as explained in the start of this comment…
I know I know really long.
Sudarshan are discussing. -
Sudarshan
I do not get offended by churlishness either Alex. Thanks for trying to keep this out of his blogpost.
You must be joking when you say I recognise you to be a genius. You aren’t; neither are people that think our history is as accurate as we could portray it to be.
I will not try to prove my experience to you; it’s factual as it’s as true as I know it to be. Your disbelief does not change my experience. Alex, you have to know this – I studied in a christian school and am quite aware of practices. Simple. I hope you can acknowledge that to be a reasonable illustration of my (deemed by you) “superior knowledge” as opposed by you.
The points made were never to demonstrate superior knowledge; they were made to demonstrate experience and awareness. You have got it blank on all grounds there. I’m sure it doesn’t matter to you. It does not matter to me either.
Another point – I have been a part of the RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal workshops. I’d want you to participate in those workshops and tell me what you learnt in those workshops. If you think that qualifies me to be an extremist, I couldn’t care lesser. Factually, I am not; but I am proud of my practices just as you are.
Foreign affairs eh? Ever heard of Chanakya? Or for that matter of the Trojan issues? They’re older than your and my knowledge and that of this entire population in terms of “foreign affairs” and sound knowledge of “economics”. On the other hand, I acknowledge what you state that we need more than references to scriptures for the modern day world. Yet, I can claim that the epics we have, if studied well, have fantastic material for the modern economy.
We aren’t religious experts and I agree and will desist from trying to explain my knowledge for we may not be on the same page of understanding.
Worldwide, it takes more than declaration that a country is secular to be able to demonstrate equal rights for all its citizens. India has killed merit in all its forms thanks to Gandhi and Nehru once more. The caste system you are referring to exist today and will continue to exist. These systems were formed for a different reason as you correctly point out and have been ceaselessly exploited over many many centuries now. Do we have the answer between us?
Ambedkar would have been extraordinarily sorry to see the pathetic practice of today. He studied and wrote a fantastic constitution for us (which definitely needs a major overhaul). If, between us, we are to believe that the practice to correct the mistakes of yesteryears is right, we probably have to question if we have the right remedial measures in place.
I’m glad you shared the instance of conversion not being forced. It has never been a point to say all try to enforce conversions.
Your accusation on the Bajarang Dal is laughable. I will not bite the bait to post a riposte.
Aryans preach supremacy – sure. They did not introduce / impose a caste system. Are we trying to discuss the same issue here?
Satyagraha is such a super childish version of non-compliance. Analyse a child. It’s frequent statements of not eating if a toy is not bought, of not sleeping if not told a story etc is such a terrible advertisement for the maturity that adults are supposed to display. NBA (Medha Patkar) is plagued by the Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s follies. India is held hostage with a host of politicians and common citizens resorting to fast-unto-death threats as advocated by a short-sighted man. Satyagraha showcases India’s espousal of peace? Man, get something going there! Peace isn’t about non-compliance. It isn’t achieved through non-compliance either.
I wish the VHP, RSS, Bajrang Dal had been as capable as the LeT, IM, SIMI. We would not have been discussing this today.
Do you want to teach me economic theory on the terrible impacts and the retrogade push on India with the credit squeeze and our “wonderful mixed economic system”?
I will support the push for India to be a Hindu Rashtra; only your definition and fear of such a thing is far from my perspective on what we want to accomplish with such a step.
Long, long response too. Good discussing with you Alex. We will never be on the same page.
I reiterate – I just wish the VHP, RSS, Bajrang Dal were as capable. Would you wish so too?
You’re opinionated and very individual in your views. So am I :-)
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Alexander Gounder
Hi Sudarshan,
Nice to meet you… thank you for coming… what else can I say that won’t take us in circles… We both understand where each other is coming from… but neither wanna go that way.
So the only thing we can do is agree to disagree.
i agree we r responsible for the state of mumbai