Why preach when you can threaten

Smoking is cool. Smoking defines machismo. Smoking helps you calm your nerves. I totally buy all that logic. And after all, it's your life and your fucking lungs. I am really not bothered.

But then you don't let me be. You walk beside me on the road and blow smoke in the air around me. You stand next to me at the chai-wallah and light a cigarette. You stand in front of me in the queue at the station and defile the air that I breathe. I am not asthmatic. But I hate inhaling smoke like thousand others who do. And I definitely don't want to die of passive smoking. That would be stretching imagination a bit too far, no one dies of passive smoking, you would point out and laugh. So let me explain my problem in an alternative way.

How would you feel if we are all standing in a queue, and suddenly I take out my bottle, gulp some water, gargle and then spit it out all around. Obviously I do it in a way so that drops of water fall on your body. Disgusted?

Better, we are all sitting in a restaurant and I stand up, turn around so that my bums face your nose, and let out a nice, smelly fart?

I can take it to the next level, but you should get the drift by now.

You may say it's not the same thing. I would agree with you. And add that what you are doing is actually worse. The smoke that comes out from your mouth has possibly traveled across all your innards and would carry with it (in addition to the toxic tobacco fumes) traces of all kinds of germs that reside in your body. My spit or fart would be less harmful by a long shot. I am no doctor or scientist. I am just using plain logic.

So, next time you are in company of people who don't smoke, or in any public place, and you itch to light a cigarette, just be warned that I may be lurking around the corner, waiting to offer you the wettest of my spit or the smelliest of my fart. I never liked the concept of 'tit for tat' more than now. Good luck with that.

Bring out the Gunda in you

There are very few things in life that I am really touchy about. Actually, I can consider myself pretty much emotionally dead otherwise, but some topics get me talking.

Calcutta has always been one of them.

It's laid-back, but it's warm, I would argue. People are nice, I would tell anyone who is willing to listen. Men are lazy, but they are progressive, I would coerce them. And most importantly, women are safe here, I would make them believe.

Not like Mumbai where passers-by don't care if you lay writhing on the road in pain, where your neighbors don't even know you exist. Not like Delhi where even women spout abuses in every second word, where the men consider raping any woman they see as their birth-right. Not like Bangalore and Chennai where the auto-wallahs can make you repent why you were born in the first place, where the local populace's antipathy towards North Indians will make you squirm.

But time had to catch up eventually. And it did.

Women are raped, and then they are mocked by the Govt and police for daring to lodge a complaint. Anyone trying to act as witness is also molested, and officers trying to investigate the case are transferred.
Co-passengers turn their head the other way as a child falls off a speeding auto.
People on a busy street in the heart of the city couldn't care less as a gang of rowdy auto-wallahs molest a lady and beat up her husband for daring to protest against their rash driving. Even after the media highlighted the issue, the auto drivers walk free due to political clout, whereas the couple is being tormented.

Ask any person on the road, and he would seem worried. Calcutta is not the same anymore, he will tell you. He is scared, worried and anxious. He is concerned about his own safety and that of his family's.

So, if we have become more and more like the other cities in India, does that mean that we have re-arrived on the commercial landscape as well.. and that like Mumbai, Delhi and other cities, we too will see growth in industry and employment.

The answer is a big fucking No.

We never deserved that, and we don't deserve even now, as I found out today when I tried to enter my bank's premises in the morning. It's an All-India strike called by some union of bank employees. Funny thing is neither me nor any other employee of my bank is member of the union and yet, we were not allowed to enter office by flag-bearers and slogan-shouters. Colleagues in other parts of the country found it funny, it's a fucking strike of PSU bank employees... why is your branch shut? And then they would themselves answer with a smirk, that's Calcutta for you.

THE GREAT INDIAN PUPPET SHOW

In the corridors of power in Delhi these days, the ministers have found a novel way of amusing themselves. That is pulling the strings of a very old and ragged puppet and seeing it dance to their tunes.

First, it was the HRD minister. He needed to demonstrate his skills at puppetry. So he went ahead with his plans to implement Quotas for backward classes in the realms of higher education. The puppet did a lovely dance.

Next in line is Meira Kumar. She feels that the Quotas for Scheduled castes needs to be increased too. (This lady had already announced earlier the imminent implementation of Quotas in private sector jobs). The puppet is expected to perform splendidly this time again.

However, what remains to be seen is how will the Govt. repeal the SC ruling that reservations cannot exceed 50% limit. With the current 49.5% plus the proposed 1.23% (plus the Minority Quota which the UPA Govt would eventually bring) the reserved seats would be much more than 50%.

Saw the interview of Chidambaram on CNN-IBN.. and saw how he managed to avoid all the questions in his patent diplomatic style. Damn, what the Supreme Courts's ban on protests has done is strengthen the Govt's position all the more. I wouldn't be surprised if the SC fails to curb the Govt in its dirty measures. Mind you, it has already given the permission to go ahead with the Quotas while the matter is still subjudice.

The Y4E people had already foreseen this. That explains why they are forming a co-operative society under the name "Youth4Equality". So we will be seeing more active protests soon. The greatest achievement of the UPA Govt in two years of its rule has been that majority of the youth of India have lost their faith in democracy. And it is only a matter of time before what little faith we have in the judiciary is lost too. And yes, we all have lost our taste for puppet-shows as well.

LINKS TO INTERESTING ARTICLES ON THE NET:

1. RAJIV GANDHI AGAINST RESERVATIONS

2. NEHRU AGAINST RESERVATIONS

3. RESERVATIONS - ONE-WAY ROUTE TO STAGNATION

~SOLDIERS for a different cause~

The medical students in the capital have started what promises to be a revolution in the making. The protest against the proposed hike in reservations for so-called backward classes is all set to gain momentum what with the Govt. acting in an irresponsible and despicable manner. The police action on a group of peaceful demonstrators shows that the Govt. is trying to nip this movement in the bud... lending a deaf ear to the voices of the youth of India who believe in Equality, Meritocracy and Excellence.

The police fired tear-gas shells and water-cannons on the group of medical students on a peceful march without as much as a warning. This has prompted the Indian Medical Association to declare a strike in the capital. This agitation is all set to spread like a wild-fire.

A recent report on NDTV showed how easy it is to get an OBC certificate in India. The NDTV correspondent got it made for a mere Rs. 1000 in Amritsar. I agree that the burgeoning vote-bank that the OBCs present is very tempting for the politicians to resort to such pathetic measures which divide the country on the basis of caste and creed, but should we, then, believe that not a single of our leaders refrains from playing dirty politics.

A question that naturally comes to our minds is whether these reservations actually benefit those who need upliftment most. The answer is a plain and emphatic NO. 60 years of reservations in India have done little to remove the inequality from the society. To truly uplift the masses, the Govt. needs to work at grassroots level... universal primary education, aid to the needy and free coaching for the backward class students can be viable alternatives which would not compromise on quality.

Most of the students from backward classes who go for higher education are considerably well-off and need no reservation. The fall in quality of output at the IITs and IIMs would adversely affect India's Brand value as Indian talent is renowned world-over.

It is shameful that our Prime Minister and the President, who are both among the highest-rated intellectuals of India, have chosen to ignore the agitation by the medical students as well as the thousands of mails sent to them in this regard.

We hope that some sense would prevail in the end...

Death to Merit, Long live Mediocrity!!!!!

At a time when the need was to scrap the reservation-system in higher education altogether, the UPA Govt comes up with yet another populist measure with impunity. In higher education, where the most important factor that counts is the 'quality of output', the sole criterion for admission should be merit. Reservation, if at all, should be need-based and not caste-based. It would be stupid to assume that the policy-makers don't understand this. But, for them, Populism is the key.
Needless to say, this measure would spell the end of meritocracy and promote mediocrity, not to mention the resurfacing of the brain-drain bugbear. When half the class has sought admission without fulfilling the criterion of merit, the brand-value of the hallowed portals of higher education in India like the IITs and IIMs would come down drastically.
Further, a backward class person has already benefited from reservation till graduation level... now, if he still needs reservation for higher studies, then for jobs and then for promotions... this effectively means that the reservations till graduation have been fruitless. The Govt. should work towards improving the standards of Primary Education rather than come up with such useless but harmful tactics to win instant support. By doing this, the UPA Govt. is admitting its failure to ensure development at the grassroots level.
And, increasing the number of seats is not going to help. In Institutes like the IITs ans IIMs, there is a dearth of good faculty. If increase in the number of students is forced on them, this would lead to a fall in the quality of education, which would reduce their appeal and the meritorious would be more willing to go abroad.
Further, rather than promoting equality in the society, this move would actually create a rift between youth from different communities. A talented student who has lost a seat just because it was reserved would hate these communities for the rest of his life.
The Govt should give aid to the needy and remove this caste-based resevation system.

I am writing on behalf of all the students of India who don't care as to which caste they belong to, but solely believe in MERIT.

I request all those who are against the move to sign the online petition at~
http://www.petitiononline.com/obcrev/petition.html

In addition, you can write directly to the PM at~ http://pmindia.nic.in/write.htm
and to the President at~ http://presidentofindia.nic.in/scripts/writetopresident.jsp.

Regards,
Yogesh