Wednesday, February 27, 2008

A Reason to celebrate..Finally!!!

Railways started in India in 1853.. And we get a train for Keonjhar in 2008..finally..

I am a big fan of Lalu, our Rail Minister . No, not because he ate all the "chara", but simply for the entertainer that he is. Kudos that you've brought railways from the brink of privatisation to the most profit making govenment enterprise.

Another reason to celebrate that our CM, Mr Naveen Patnaik has somehow woken up to the plight of NH 215 and has decided to write to the NHAI. For newcomers that's the road that links my district with the outside world and been a killer of hundreds of people just in the last six years. The wells..err..potholes on them don't even need a mention.More than 15,000 trucks loaded with iron ore on them everyday generating the maximum revenue for the state and the nation but who knows where that revenue gets sucked.The only link to the lives of 16 odd lakhs people who live in this tribal district , people have to get stuck in traffic jams for sometimes two days. Can you visualise the condition of the patients who have to come from those interior areas? You would.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

The V Day , the whos and the cries...

It's Valentine's Day. You ask what's the big deal. I ask the same.

What's so big about it that the saffron brigrade goes lengths to make sure all rose shops are closed and all shops selling cards and gifts are vandalised and gives a damn that not all road side vendors are Bill Gates and not all shopkeepers have an insurance.Atleast not one that covers all its losses. They burn and picket whatever they can and in the meanwhile also manage to annihilate, damage and deface a lot of public property which if they looked closer with their "far" sightedness is the people's money.

And all in the name of saving our culture. So who appointed you as the saviour of our culture? And what i pray is Indian culture to you? Is it Godhra or is it Bilkis Bano? Is it Babri Masjid or is it Raj "Thug're"? So Marathis are not Indians and yours truely just landed from Mars. Mumbai still remains my favorite city in India and i can't imagine my Marathi friends shooing me away with a stick and a broom on my next visit to Mumbai. Oh sorry that was a spear wasn't it?

The things we do in the name of culture. The things we say as being Indians.Why are we becoming such an intolerant lot? Do we really have nothing better to do? At a time when we still have poverty, at a time when people still don't get two square meals a day do we really need all the hue and cry from the "who" and "sly"? Why can't we see through the politics of the political ambitions of one man? I seriously have nothing againt Raj Thakre, the bigger Thakre or the biggest Thakre. Morons being morons will be morons.. But what's with our people? The Indians that make India? Are we so foolish? Or has our sense of humour increased so much that we humour people like these? I have nothing against BJP or agaist Shiv Sena or RSS or VHP or any other Sena. We do have our own Kalinga Sena , locally born saviour of India and specifically Orissa and as Indian and Oriya as Ricky Ponting. But i do have a thing or two against my co-patriots who think this will save India. I do have a thing to say to the people who think being Indian means killing people, burning trains, instigating people in the name of region, religion and if nothing better they'll sure invent something sillier and stupider to fight about.

I still am an eternal optimist but pardon me for saying this, with as myopic a view as one we are going ahead with we just might hit a big big wall ahead and then there would be no going ahead.

We already have loads to be ashamed of. Let's not add regionalism, communalism, shamelessness and intolerance to the list.

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Thank You Baba...


Baba said, "Those who do monumental work don't need monuments."

And he lived and died like a monument himself. Indeed no monument can ever match what he did. His actions , his thoughts and his vision surpassed all a person could dream of. Thank You Baba..For being what you were..Thank you for showing the way where others saw none..Thank you for leading when there were no leaders to follow..Thank you for being an example when all idols were shattered and there was no one to look up to. Thank you for standing for your convictions and giving one the courage to go after the things s/he believed in.

You'll be remembered always..and live in the hearts of people you touched in your special way..

"He came to be known as Baba not because he is a saint or any such thing, but because his parents addressed him by that name," - Sadhanatai Amte (Baba's wife)

BABA's words that still make me proud of ourselves....

"I haven't the arrogance to say I can carry the mighty load of His Cross, but I do try to walk in its shadow. He wants to carve your life like a crucifix. Every calamity is a crucifixion, crucifying your ambition, your lust. Each is a tiny lesson, and then the imprint of the crucifixion is on your life. What is your plan of sacrifice today? You and I, petty souls, sacrifice for our children. Christ sacrificed for tomorrow's whole world. Whenever I see slum-dwellers, with their hunger and poverty, that obscene poverty, I feel He is crucified like that. When I come across a person suffering from leprosy, foul smelling, ulcerous, I can see the imprint of His lips, His kiss. What did they not do to sufferers of leprosy in His time, yet the carpenter's son cared for them and touched them. That hand is an emblem for me, that hand which cared for the loneliest and the lost. The Christian is ... he who not only lights the darkest corner in the world but also the darkest corner in his own heart.

"Charity Destroys; Work Builds." "I believe as a society we have to evolve, through experimentation, a system which combines the principles of individual freedom and common ownership. And this is what we have tried, basically with success, in all our projects, involving leprosy patients, tribal people and the so-called 'disabled' persons.""Consider the honey-bee. Its treasure is nectar, obtained even from the chilly plant. It is not at the cost of the flower. In fact, its act of extracting honey contributes to the progress of the flowers. You need not learn from Kahlil Gibran, Marx or Gorbachev, not even from Gandhi-ji. Choose instead to learn your lesson from the honey bees as your silent partners: they will show you how to develop without destroying.

"I have never been frightened of anything. Because I fought British tommies to save the honor of an Indian lady, Gandhiji called me 'abhay sadhak', a fearless seeker of truth. When the sweepers of Warora challenged me to clean gutters, I did so. But that same person who fought goondas and British bandits quivered in fright when he saw the living corpse of TuIshiram, no fingers, no clothes, with maggots all over. That is why I took up leprosy work. Not to help anyone, but to overcome that fear in my life. That it worked out good for others was a by-product. But the fact is I did it to overcome fear.

"Joy is more infectious than leprosy."

"Our governance is by a gerontocracy. This cataract of history can only be removed by youth. In this common man's century, only the common man can change the profile of this country." .."The war-cry will no more be with Marx and Mao: the spirit of revenge cannot build a new world ... Only a revolution which leads to a higher sense of human dignity can lead to a higher and nobler way of life. Revolutions based on hatred and violence does not really change the situation. They merely transform the people who had been exploited into a new class of exploiters but hatred and exploitation remain. Therefore, there is no substitute for Gandhi's way of rousing the impoverished masses to creative awareness."

"To me, the common man's society is a mask-less society. He does not carry that thick mask which the professional people, the upper classes, whereas they might look nice and beautiful. Very often they do not dare to say what they really think and feel."

On Spirituality"I'm so busy, I have no time to pray! The Lord is kind!" "Wherever God has pointed the way with his finger, he also cleared the way with His mighty palm."

And there was so much much more..