My absence from my blog has been a result of chewed up wires courtesy my cat Begum, and sudden power cuts that keep the towers of my server elusively out of reach! So if things come tumbling out rather frantically, as I stuff my face with my prawn salad lunch, don't be too harsh on me please!
From the last few days, my emotional pendulum swings from outrage to depression and back, as I see the abuse of power occur repeatedly in India; and be rest assured that all such incidents go unheeded and unnoticed, nine times out of ten. This is because nothing today is uncorrupted in India and we are content with this as the image that represents our country. Even a conversation that presents ideals will have onlookers wincing in agony over the "naivety" of the speaker, and the topic will get changed quickly because who is really interested in the betterment of anything, except if it is about getting something for oneself! Teenagers get assaulted and the perpetrators get high-ranking police jobs! Wow, what a brilliant equation that makes!
Instead we have "serious" debates on TV channels about Tiger Woods' infidelities! Though I do not condone his behaviour as it appears that he views women as mere objects for his sexual entertainment; it really is not my business to react more intensely than feel sorrow and compassion for his family. His wife and children and mother will, I am sure, be the most impacted and will appropriately find ways to convey their response to him on the matter. Where do I or "we the people" of this nation fit into this episode of his private life, and do we need to be looking to observe these aspects of life rather than take care of what needs urgent attention in our own back yard?
We make innocent children stateless from surrogacy issues, yet encourage this "tourist trade" without caring about legal pitfalls that become nobodies issue when it ruins the lives of those who trusted our system! Our nations motto is to let the dreams of others get crushed at the callous feet of indifference, as sycophancy runs rampant in the corridors of power where elected representatives of ours short change us at every opportunity.
Today guns blaze, but not metaphorically as alluding to acts of bravery or heroic deeds. No. Today guns blaze as people shoot one another like comic book western robbers come to life.
You don't get served what you want in a public place. Shoot to kill.
You don't get your kick back from a project. Shoot to kill.
Your sexual advances are not accepted. Shoot to kill.
You can't over take on a road. Shoot to kill.
Bang-Bang-Bang. It's so easy.
My heart goes bang-bang-bang as I lie awake at night some days, tense and angry from the news items that wash me with despair. The knowledge that so many stories of anguish are not even reported, is heart wrenching. The poor remains voiceless as we make them dance to our tunes decade after decade; and as we lavishly celebrate weddings with a display of wealth that is so useless, do we even for a moments at such occasions even remotely consider using the finances at hand, for something more human and vital.
The new year is ticking closer. Tick-tock, tick-tock. Which mouse will run up the clock? The old brigade still holds the reigns of power, and the new just pretend at being different. Mochi-Gucci is the game. So as Mayawati's statues stand tall, another farmer will kill himself in some remote corner of our country. Hey, it's the new year, so cheers! What will the nominated baron pronounce as the remedy for us this year? A glass of beer perhaps!
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