Let's Play !

Empowerment in India manifested in more than one way in these recent days.“Chandrayan” zoomed into the skies and the ISRO scientists rejoiced.While some of my countrymen were busy exploring the unexplored..surpassing all limits and reaching Moon…some thought it would be wiser to restrict their energies within the man made boundaries. Gone are the days when Indians used to debate and fight for their borders shared with their troublesome neighbours. The peculiar focus these days are on the lines drawn within the country i.e. states. People like Raj Thackeray continued to capture the Page 1 of all newspapers and performing Indians like Viswanathan Anand (who is marching ahead again in the World Chess Champonship) found themselves in the remotest corner of the paper. I saw some videos of burning taxis of people (who struggle to make their both ends meet) by people who will themselves be paid a meager sum for this act and will head back to a small chawl in Mumbai in the night. Cases in Bihar were filed against the MNS head and the “Maximum” city (as described by the author Suketu Mehta) was under curfew. The status message in “Gtalk” of one of my friends living in Mumbai was “Riots in Mumbai :(” .

Any man who is young, capable of demolishing property using no more than a steel rod or a stick, having a group of like minded destructive friends is unfortunately the most empowered citizen in the country. Such is might of this bunch of people that a government having all access to state police forces, paramilitary forces and even when necessary central armed forces could not stop the hooliganism. Slowly but surely seeds of hatred were sowed by the polarizing forces and the government enjoyed the drama. This is just not about Maharashtra, similar events happened in other parts of the country as well but in different context. Unfortunate riots and brutal rape of a nun occurred in Orissa. The poor people of Singur are languishing in their now infertile land as Tata’s concrete for Nano plant has penetrated deep into its productive soil. This chain of events is surely alarming and puts a serious question mark on the fate of a young nation like ours. Just analyze slightly on the reasons rooting the events. Didn’t people migrate before in search of jobs and better opportunities? The dawn of our great civilization occurred by the footsteps of Aryans (a clan from central Asia) on the Indian peninsula. From Aryans to the New Age Indians who are excelling in offshoring business, it has been always survival of the fittest. Didn’t we learn from our constitution that India is a federal nation where everyone has the freedom to move and settle anywhere he/she likes? Why are the people (who are busy vandalizing) not creating job opportunities, open schools, do community work to uplift their brethren? Didn’t factories were built before? Why did the West Bengal government prefer to give acres of fertile agricultural soil without public participation to a corporate house? Even thereafter, why there were no peaceful negotiations? Why are the unfortunate people left in the lurch now? Unfortunately, it seems that questions like these don’t have answers in the recent times. It always makes me think don’t these people have any other work? Well answer to this question is fairly simple…NO ;-)

Well my idea to resolve this mess might sound odd to many. But here is my novel solution. Most of the antics by these politicians are arranged and focused to grab attention to them. Their stupid one-liners become the thought for the day and unemployed youth easy bait. It might have gone un-noticed but they will never launch an agitation if IPL finals are scheduled that day. This is because their main motive to hog the headlines would not be served. All political agitations are perfectly timed to leverage the maximum.

The bottom line is to create enough occasions/reasons in our country to be together for a cause and to create enough events for the youth to participate than those silly riots. So when did I see the last time our entire country rejoicing together? Hmmm….Honestly, I think Chandrayan’s launch would bring a smile to a few..but yes winning Twenty- twenty World Cup was surely a reason to party for the entire country.
Seriously the enthusiasm that cricket creates in our country is unparalleled.
Imagine, if we become from a one-sport country to a multi-sport country…how eventful will our lives be? Like USA has distinct sporting seasons..first half of the year people are hooked into NBA and second half citizens rejoice NFL. This is skillfully punctuated by baseball season, swimming championships, NASCAR, athletic meets giving opportunities to many and entertainment to millions. Ever wondered why there are so many African – Americans in sports and not much in academia. This is because they have deftly channelized their strengths into fields where they can excel the maximum.
Ever wondered the outcome if we encourage our tribal people who are genetically more strong and sturdy into sports? If you carefully analyze, the parts of our country inhabited by the tribals like Orissa, Jharkhand, the north-eastern states are plagued by naxalites or their own terrorist outfits like NSCN, ULFA etc. Recently, I read from a news site that the meetings between NSCN (the chief separatist organization of Nagaland) and our central government are resumed and is going to be organized in Netherlands!!!!
Imagine the same amount of money (which will be invested in organizing those futile meetings in a foreign country) will be invested in building a sports complex. I am sure all those people who run daily in those difficult terrains to either train themselves or stay away from army won’t mind running on synthetic tracks with a renewed sense of purpose. From athletics to archery, there can be 101 career options.

Also the logic says the political parties will have enough days in their calendar ( Superbowl like event for Cricket, hockey, soccer etc) not to start their agitations or create nuisance because firstly there won’t be much people watching it and also not much people participating into it. There will be different teams for different sports having members from different parts of India. We will be creating unity, jobs and reasons to celebrate.

May be this can sound frivolous to many that we can solve problems as complex as ours by playing. But we need to think laterally to streamline our strengths and to minimize the negative energies around us. This approach might not wipe away our worries..but still would provide hope and ambition to many and of course help in keeping the socio-cultural fabric of India intact. So I would just say “Let’s Play!!!!”

A starry night

A starry night…a million stars beaming bright..a crescent moon..and a solitary girl enjoying the celestial configuration. Well…that’s me sitting beside the poolside accompanied by a million emotions, ideas, questions. I was busy trying to spot the seven stars forming a question mark pattern on the sky. My father used to tell me how the seven stars were named after the seven sages in Hindu mythology. This lead to one thought followed by another. The human brain works relentlessly searching for memories, details etc. Wonder sometimes how fast and accurate it works…what algorithm must be powering it. As I started analyzing I realized, we are almost 99% of the time searching for something. Day begins and I search for the mobile to switch off the alarm..then search to know the accurate time (based on which I can sleep sometime more)…then searching and scanning the road to spot the bus…then searching for information at office …coming back home and searching something to eat, etc..The search never ends….what ends is Time.

Moving fast from this thought…I jumped to another…recollecting a song which suited best in that ambience i.e. “Yeh Tarra woh tarra” from Swades. The movie was brilliant, real..so positive. Positive should be underlined because half of the movies these days are either highlighting crime or the other half moving away from reality. Recent release like “Welcome to Sajjanpur” deserves kudos because it touches all crucial issues in such an entertaining tone. Without being preachy, it tells a lot about the issues plaguing India.

My busy mind maneuvered again and started analyzing the recent news flash which I had read just a couple of hours before. Stock markets crashing and recent communal violence in my state were the only pieces of information which managed to stay back after I had read them. The news website was flooded with images of faces in despair. Looking at their faces and the figures that markets are losing each day, I thanked my stars not to have invested in stock markets. I recalled my dad’s favorite poetry “Miller of the Dee” where the king questions his subject ….a miller what is the secret behind his happiness. He answered politely that he has hardly anything to loose and explained him that “Uneasiness lies in the head that wears the crown”…I felt like the miller that night and was strangely contended with my limited materialistic assets. My happy self suddenly realized if I am too selfish to be limited in my little world and ignoring the bitter truths. The part of the world which I call my home is being ripped apart by communal petty people. Uneducated, misguided people are becoming pawns of the evil political powers. It made me think if it was the same place where I grew up.


Perturbed by these thoughts, I preferred to rather focus on the sky above and for the time being ignore the trivial things happening on earth. The heavenly arrangement always made me ponder over how infinite it is. Like I am currently in a country which is in North America continent, which is in Earth, which is again placed in solar system , which is again in Milky way which is again in Universe.Then…..what holds the Universe…how illimitable can things be. As the nature shows, everything has a boundary. Then what is the limit for Universe?

The more you reflect, the more you will realize how insignificant you are in this spatial array. How little are our worries…how trivial are our fights. I don’t know why is the earth and other planets are revolving the sun from time immemorial or why is the stock markets plummeting ..why I and others like me work day & night. But one thing is clear…We all are a part of the same ethereal design! We are all playing a part in this cosmic drama.This cognition made me feel so connected to the stars above and felt as if they were scintillating in affirmation. I too smiled back at them and decided to give my busy brain a break and quietly headed towards home.