Friday, August 30, 2013

A humble note to my fellow beings

“The primary source of Evil is human greed. It is our greed to extract more and more from Good that turns into Evil.”

I am reading the final book of the Shiva trilogy ‘The Oath of the Vayuputras’ by Amish and the above lines are essentially what I got from it.  A mere merge of it in the context of present situations in my country proves it is aptly said. Sixty six years after independence, we still are not free. Our lives are crippled by the shackles of religion, greed, poverty and discrimination. We blame politicians, we blame system. And, we refuse to believe that the actual trouble makers are us. 

In the process of gaining luxury to lead our life, we forget the ill deeds we do to others and environment. To accommodate the dream of having a luxurious bungalow, we snatch the neighbor’s land or violate the building codes of the place. To make money, we evade from the responsibility of paying taxes. To build a swimming pool, you drain the water in the nearby place, which is supposed to be the drinking water for many. We explored earth, extract the maximum from it and now we need to explore universe. To meet our ego of social class, we create discrimination between rich and poor. We discriminate people based on religion, create political parties based on religion and to picture our community high, we degrade others. The environment is dying, the society is diminishing and the life is turning miserable in the country. 

The time has arrived that you need to answer yourself the question, “When will you be satisfied?” There should arise a moment we realize that the land is not just ours, but it also belongs to every other living thing around. Any problem can be solved with mere sensitivity to the fellow beings. No Shiva will emerge as savior and begin a war to end the greed of human race. It is just the Shiva from within us that would end the agonies.

Thursday, August 15, 2013

A dialogue with the dark....

“Switch off your sight
Switch on your insight
And see a brighter world.”*


I did, when I recently visited Hyderabad. The trip to Hyderabad was a journey of surprises with new experiences and exposures. It was a journey where I found traveling with 105 degree of body temperature is not easy. It was a journey that introduced me to the word “ghost writer”. It was a journey I met 300 plus IAS aspirants. It was a journey where I had a dialogue with the dark. The last one I said is what made me to write this blog. 

Copyright - Dialogue in the dark
The dialogue with the dark happened from a place called “Dialogue in the Dark”. This sentence sounds funny, perhaps ridiculous. But I should tell you that it is exactly what I meant. Dialogue in the Dark is a place located in the Inorbit mall of Hyderabad. This place puts you into everyday situation – walking through road, visiting cafes, touching water, feeling objects – but all in complete darkness.

After three tiresome work days in Hyderabad, I decided to meet my friends. Suman Sopori, who was my classmate in Manipal, was the one who introduced me to the place “Dialogue in the Dark”. It was around 4pm that I met her. We took tickets and waited for our turn to enter the exhibition hall. The wait got little longer that we slipped into our gossips and soon forgot about the purpose of visit. In between, we had a talk with the receptionist there and he explained us (perhaps only “me”) about the place. But nothing much interested me. I was happier in seeing my friend after a long time and paid little attention to the place. From the little I noted, the place had the ambience of a modern coffee shop or a pastry shop, with colored walls and modern interiors.

A lady passed by and I just glanced her. Only when she returned, I noticed that she was blind. She made me silent for few minutes because I have never seen a blind lady walking so swiftly across. Seeing my expression, Suman exclaimed, “They are used with their blindness.” But that did not console me. The thought kept peeping into me of how could she walk so easily without eyes. 

Copyright - Dialogue in the Dark
 The moments passed soon and we were called inside. Along with us, four more people from Delhi joined us. They were more in a holiday mood, making noises around. A service girl made us stand in queue, handing us the sticks to hold. She gave us few instructions like ‘walk to the left side of the wall’, ‘sticks not to be stretched beyond a limit to avoid hurting others’ etc. Our bags, mobiles and everything in hand were asked to hand over to them (they allowed us to take money with us). I was pretty bored by then and was thinking “what a bad way to pass time.”

The girl who guided us brought us into complete darkness and introduced to a guy with a soothing voice – Irfan. In the complete darkness, we could not see his face, but his voice made me imagine him like a handsome boy of 24 years old.

The journey began. We were asked to walk with the help of our senses except vision. We listened to sounds, recognized objects, touched them, played cricket, bought things in a cafe, traveled in boat, walked through hanging bridge – all in complete darkness. As it progressed, my boredom was not to be seen, rather I was busy being attentive and involved with the darkness around. The journey was initially slow, later turned fast because we got the grip and confidence to walk smoothly in darkness. Irfan helped us when we were about to scatter.

After one and half hours of journey, we were guided outside and Irfan too came out of darkness to reveal himself. He was a blind boy of 20 years old and is a meritorious national judo player. I wasn’t surprised of how he lives because I myself lived in darkness easily for one and half hours. I also lost the thought of how could the blind lady walk so smoothly. I no longer felt sympathized to them. They are just like any of us.

I cannot end this blog without saying a BIG THANK YOU to two people – 1) my friend Suman Sopori for introducing me to Dialogue in the Dark and 2) Dr. Andreas Heinecke, founder of Dialogue in the Dark. The place not just sensitized me towards blindness, but also let me explore the strength of my other senses.

(For those of you who wish to visit the place, http://www.dialogueinthedarkindia.com/, http://www.dialogue-in-the-dark.com/venues-worldwide/india-hyderabad)
*tagline of Dialogue in the Dark

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Telangana: Issues to ponder

More than four decades battle for a separate Telangana state is nearing to its closure. The recent political developments confirmed the formation of 29th state in India. On a positive note, the years of bloodshed happened for this reason is finally proving worthy. But for people like me, who look from outside, the situation raises few concerns.

Firstly, the success of Telangana could heavily promote other sectarians in the nation. There could be more wars demanding their own states (Already voices are being raised for a separate Rayalaseema state*). This purely questions our own Constitution that calls for unity. The political parties totally ignored the nation’s priority of ‘Fraternity’ and argued for a divided state. The ‘separate Telangana’ surely wouldn't have been a loud shibboleth if they did not support the movement.

The political gains parties get out the issue are the much hyped topic of today. Discussions are held on whether Congress made a right move by forming a separate Telangana. In fact, are these talks necessary? Citizens’ would soon declare their opinion in the 2014 general election.

Future of Telangana
Rather, it is crucial to talk about the betterment of the lives of people residing in Telangana. There are communities, especially the tribal sector in Telangana who are constantly neglected and deprived off their rights. Their exploitation of other classes of people is an often raised issue of the region. Will the formation of Telangana resolve this? Will the region sees a development in its education and healthcare aspects? An immediate emphasis should be given to such can of worms.

Telangana is a region that showed GDP growth rate better than Andhra Pradesh in yesteryears. Moneycontrol.com* says that during the years 2001 to 2008, Telangana excluding Hyderabad showed a GDP growth rate of 60% (including Hyderabad the growth rate was 63%). On contrary, Andhra Pradesh showed a growth rate of 58% during the same tenure.

The data highlights two things – a) Telangana is a region that can stand by its own and b) Economic backwardness is not the reason for the demand of separate state. Whatsoever, let us hope that the development may not be a problem in that sense.

Hyderabad as a joint capital
Hyderabad, the princely state of Andhra Pradesh is now destined to serve as a joint capital for Telangana for the next ten years. Hyderabad is a region of utmost importance for Andhra Pradesh. Most of the revenue outcomes of Andhra Pradesh owe to this place. Currently, Andhra Pradesh as well as Telangana equally needs Hyderabad for their development. Under this scenario, will there be another fight between them for sharing Hyderabad? Chances cannot be ignored. Minor issues on sharing taxes or transport can activate another scuffle.

In order to avoid further bloodshed, people must be cautious about their political positions. Through the time, energy and amount wasted on war, it is their lives that are becoming poignant. Political parties can play their regular scoop games in the region, but it may provide another social stagnation.

On an overall note, let us hope that the formation of a separate Telangana state is beneficial. New government can come up with strategies that can erase the alienation existing in the place. But for this to happen, the agendas designed should focus on the people residing in the region rather than for power and money gains. 

*Link to Moneycontrol.com article - http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/economy/with-new-statehoodhyderabad-will-telangana-grow-faster_930052.html
* After Telangana, demands for Rayalaseema state get louder - http://www.firstpost.com/politics/after-telangana-demands-for-rayalaseema-state-get-louder-1004815.html