Cacophonic Diwali

First of all I would like to wish each and everyone of you a very happy Deepawali. Diwali has always been regarded as the festival of lights but places like Sivakasi have labeled it as Festival of Sounds. Interestingly, Diwali (or Deepavali) marks the victory of Good over Evil and is believed to be celebrated to mark the return of Hindu Lord Rama after 14 years of exile  (some also celebrate it for killing of Narakasura), back then people celebrated with Diyas and FYI, they never had any crackers. A festival that was supposed to be innocuous in nature and supportive of spirit of love, brotherhood, peace and harmony has started turning out to be a bane for the environment.

There is a considerable amount of media attention given to this issue every year that starts right in the month of September in the form of media reports explaining the harmful effects of crackers, posters by government agencies asking public to celebrate a “No Cracker” or “Eco-Friendly” Diwali but come Diwali and people are hysterically celebrating Diwali. It is good to celebrate the festival in free spirit but with the recent climatic changes it is important to switch to a Green Mode in public interest. Are we so selfish that we are least bothered about what the future generation are going to suffer?

I may be called a hypocrite for asking people not to use crackers because in my childhood I did use crackers during Diwali. It was like a big gala with kids forcing their dad’s to buy the latest crackers (also called pataka – not to be confused with “pataka girls” – hot girls). Kids deliberately asked the shopkeepers for crackers that produce deafening sounds and bright colors in the sky. It was another competition when it came to rockets, to add to this there was innovation from some kids (wish they used innovation to design a chip or an ipod :D) who used different styles and angles to fire a rocket aimed at someone’s balcony. It was often taken in free spirit just like holi (as they say “Bura na Mano Holi Hai” – “Don’t be offended it is Holi after all”). It was a story of the 90’s or probably 2000’s. Fast forward to year 2012 and you have “Nazi Bomb”, “Atom Bomb”, “Super Bomb” and what not all that promise you one thing “Big and Loud”.  Some kids have gone to the extent of using crackers on animals as well. I am sure you don’t want to imagine what would happen.

I am not here to deprive the young children of the fun in bursting crackers that we as kids enjoyed but things are going out of control now. It is important to note that kids cannot do anything without the help of their parents who are a part of the bursting crackers game after all you need money to buy crackers. Despite Supreme court guidelines of no crackers post 10pm, there were considerable amount of crackers being burst right until 1am. Is this what we call control or self concious? Are parents (mostly working in MNC’s) not intelligent enough to impart education of a greener world to their kids? Are they not hypocrites where on one hand they celebrate Earth Hour by switching off lights and on another hand burst crackers”

As a matter of fact crackers are not cheap, they are expensive but then even adults are unable to resist the temptation after all they are also kids at heart. It is time that elders understand that Diwali is not about competition or having a cracker that keeps producing sound for an hour, it is about celebrating a festival with your family, your loved ones, peace, harmony, love, etc. If you have extra money why don’t you keep some bundles of Rs 500 notes, allow it to catch fire and upload it on youtube (I do not endorse this but have to use this statement). They might as well get a billion views with the title “Currency on Fire”. Trust me, you are doing the same thing indirectly.

Many argue that it creates employment specially in places like Sivakasi that are dependent on the cracker industry. I like to laugh at that statement, if you are so worried about employment why don’t you support employment generating policies of the government like FDI (I wont get started on that one now). Sivakasi should be labeled as a city meant to destroy Mother Earth. It may turn out to be true one day if Government does not have stricter laws. The markets were flooded with Chinese crackers with high metal content and the adults were not even bothered about where it was coming from.

It is time that the Government and the Apex court takes serious note of the issues in such festivals that are only going to cause problems in future. There should be stricter laws for offenders. There should also be a regulatory authority that is able to act as a watchdog for the different type of crackers flooding the market. When you can have a Food Corporation of India why cant you have a Explosives Regulatory Authority.  We are not ingenuous that we do not understand the ill effects of crackers, we are just hypocrites who on one hand support Go Green Campaign and on one hand buy the costliest crackers.

Hope one day we do not hear a single cracker on Diwali, I wish to see a vibrant and colorful Diwali and not a cacophonic Diwali in times to come.

PS: There have been considerable media reports that the pollution reports have gone down but I still feel we are far away from a eco friendly Diwali.

Photo Credits: http://www.gogreenguyz.com/

Politics – not so bad after all

My last blog post was related to Team Anna and the fan following. The current blog title may seem too irritating for most people particularly the youth (yes indeed the youth). Interestingly the most popular social networking website “The Facebook” also has a row for “Political Views” in the about section but you will mostly find it either blank or “I DON’T CARE”. Last week’s news was dedicated to Barack Obama’s spectacular win in the US Presidential Election (although I should have written about it, might as well do in the near future). I felt great to see American youth at least discussing about it, making youtube videos – in favour, against or mocking the presidential candidate at least this shows that you do care. Look at the almost adult -teenagers (16-19) or even the new working professionals (age group 21-24) in India, they carry a “I don’t give a SHIT about politics attitude”. I wont say that they are too naïve to understand such things c’mon they are the future business leaders, political leaders, social leaders or for that matter Future Anna’s.

The Indian youth are busy spending hours on Facebook (oh I should call it FB as they do – after all there is a short for everything), spending hours chatting with their loved ones, discussing useless and baseless things, girls gossiping about latest affairs surrounding people around them. I am not an anti – gossip guy but at least you should find time to think about changes happening in the environment around you particularly the political system, the economic system of our beloved country India. Let BCCI or PCB host a India vs Pakistan and you will find almost all the Indians glued to the television supporting their favorite nations. It is saddening to know that they have gone to the extent of calling each other enemies (particularly kids). Is this what we are heading to? Cricket matches are conducted in the spirit of the game and not to incite war among two nations. Imagine these kids grow up and become Foreign ministers what do you expect when there is a meeting to discuss issues. Will they throw rocks or use MC, BC? I hope none of the reader thinks that time will teach them everything because it is these childhood instances that matter the most when it comes to taking tough decisions. Time does teach you a lot but it cannot be with you all the time.

The American teens do have a basic idea about what is happening, Indian teens are not even bothered about politics. People might say it is because of the format of the elections. Americans have a televised public debate between the Presidential candidates as well as the Running mates. In India all you have are a bunch of television ads, campaigns, rallies, etc but none of this touches the eyes and ears of naïve Indians. We call ourselves the largest democracy and proud of the largest youth population but will it make any difference if the youth are ignorant. I use the sentence “Ignorance is a Sin” and my friend does scold me for being too harsh but then don’t you think it is important to be aware about your own country specially when it is going to affect you.

Every step the government takes (I feel like calling it Federal government), does affect you, your neighbor, your loved ones. The terms like economy, fiscal deficit, foreign policy might look foreign to some but can create havoc if they are not addressed.

Let us look at some of the lame reasons that most young crowd gives. The most common and funny one is “How does it even matter if I comment or discuss”. Well if it doesn’t matter then why does price hike matters to you, why does VAT matter to you, why does the Beer Bottle going costlier matter to you, why does Airtickets getting costlier matter to you. If you cant talk about it, I don’t think you have a right to even complain. The next reason is that “I will don’t find intellectual people to talk about it and if I do people cut me out” – well that’s the problem with most Indians. They feel the right age to talk about politics is either in the office (when no other topic about a hot chick in office is left) or when you turn 40. If that was true then why are we even paying income tax before the age of 40. If you cant find like minded people try to discuss it with parents, seniors, I am sure there are many who love to talk about politics. Well the youth can find ample reasons to run away from the real issues but trust me it will one day start affecting you. There are some who go on to the extent of saying politics is evil. If it were so, why have intellectual men and women chosen it as a career. People like Arvind Kejriwall (I like to add an extra “L to make it sound WALL), Subramaniam Swamy, just to name a few. They could have continued their journey of making a formidable career infact Mr. Swamy was a Professor at Harvard what compelled him to come to India (please don’t say money in politics). It is sad to see very few Indians think of Politics as a career option due to the muscle power and bulk cash involved in getting a ticket.

I am happy that the Anna movement and Team IAC (although I don’t blindly support them) has been able to shake and wake some Indians from their sleep but still many are sleeping. I can only expect that in the near future, the Indian junta can come out of their shell, think and discuss about issues that surround our country. Independence day and Republic day are not the only days to show your patriotism.

Politics is really not that bad after all.

Photo Credits : http://www.toptenz.net/

The Anna Effect...

If this article was written a few years back many would have thought it is about “Anna Kournikova” – the sizzling Russian beauty cum tennis star but this is indeed about Anna Hazare and his team members commonly referred to as Team Anna.

Majority of the news in the recent past was revolving around Team Anna and Baba Ramdev particularly in the backdrop of their anti corruption movement. It was great to see “the young India” coming ahead and supporting the moment. At the same time it brought to light a very important question – “Why was the support so less compared to last year”. There have been numerous theories to justify the claim particularly by the government, media and noted political activists.

In this article, I bring forward my opinion about the whole “Team Anna Movement”. It will be interesting to note that until last year I was supporting Team Anna including Anna Hazare, Arvind Kerjriwal, Kiran Bedi, Manish Sishodia particularly their views. Lately, I have started taking keen interest in the world around me and how it is dynamically changing every day.

The young crowd, however, are mixed in their opinion. I am glad to see that many young Indians are supporting the movement, but have we asked them why are they supporting the movement. It is interesting to note that most of them support for the “Cool Factor” associated with this movement. They feel they are a part of the “2^nd Independence Struggle”. They do not have an opinion of their own rather they feel “Anna Hazare”, “Arvind Kejriwal” and others are the future of New India as I call it and that they we will follow them blindly. This brings about an interesting question “Are we Blind”? I am not here to criticize what they say as at one point of time last year, I was supporting the movement to such an extent that I skipped office and participated in the movement.

It is difficult to be on the other side of the table where you are alone and the entire world has a different opinion. Some of my friends have even gone to the extent of saying “Are you supporting Congress (read Indian National Congress)”. First of all, I would like to justify, I am not supporting INC or BJP for that matter but yes I do not follow anyone blindly. I appreciate Team Anna for bringing a matter of deep concern for majority of Indians in public domain but I question their timing.

Today when I look at the chronology, why did Anna’s movement start right after the world cup despite the fact that the 2G report by the CAG was out in January. Did it take 4 months to create a POA or read the report or were they busy in supporting India in the world cup? I know most of you are so obsessed with Team Anna that you would just say that “It seems you are happy with corruption”. Can’t the “young Indians” introspect a bit and then support the movement?

Team Anna has changed a lot since last year. They were previously fighting for a single cause the Jan LokPal bill. They came out with their own songs about the Jan LokPal (it indeed had a catchy tune “Lokpal lokpal pass karo janlok pal”). They had mass support through the entire movement and according to them the media was singing to their tune (although it is wrong, media does not support anyone).

This year things have changed, along with the Jan Lokpal bill they have a new demand : SIT against 15 ministers that includes Hon’ble President of this young vibrant country (ironically he is old). Btw have you ever thought about the fact that majority of Indians are young but Indian leaders are quite old. (Although with the recent cabinet reshuffle the average age of the cabinet has come down but it is still in the 50's). According to various sources, there cannot be any proceedings against the President of this country while he holds the office. According to the constitution (although I have not read the constitution and plan to read it by the time I turn 40), he is immune from any criminal proceedings while he is in office. I do understand the fact that Team Anna are unhappy with the way things are going in our country but you cannot hold the government at ransom. I leave it on the readers to introspect before blindly supporting anyone.

I am not against Team Anna or Arvind Kejriwal's political party (as they call it) but they still have a long road to travel if they are to reach the Parliament. I will definitely support the party provided they answer other important issues i.e. their views on FDI, Unemployment, Population, Literacy, Maoism, Bilateral issues, etc. A political party cannot be formed on the sole objective of Jan Lokpal or Right to Education, etc.

Update: I am glad Anna Hazare has distanced himself from Arvind Kejriwal’s political ambition.

Update 2: Anna Hazare has decided not to vote for Aam Aadmi Party. 

Photo Credits: Midday