Go 2020 Go!

The year 2020 can undoubtedly be blamed on Covid. Everything that was wrong can be blamed on Covid. Needless to say, that all administrators of the world, were unprepared for this pandemic, there was no precedence in the recent past to leverage from, besides the virus constantly challenging our scientific progress. All in all, Covid, administration and the Chinese dietary habits can be blamed for whatever was wrong in 2020.

India, however, had its own long list of what was wrong with 2020. Along with Covid, there was an abundance of arrogance, apathy and delusion adding to the woes of the common people, the same people who vote and elect.

Arrogance of the administration to do whatever they deemed appropriate; bend rules whenever it suited them and not following their own rules made by them. Arrogance to assemble, congregate and meet despite lockdown. Arrogance to pass laws and bills at will, just to push a sectarian agenda.

Apathy towards those detained without trials, activists termed as terrorists, the migrants and later farmers. Our leaders traveled the nation inaugurating temples and complexes, addressing political rallies sparking trouble, despite near-lockdown situation, but couldn’t meet the agitating farmers round the corner.

Delusion, that nothing could shake their ivory tower, due to the absent opposition and the impossibility of the regional forces coming together, ever. Delusion, that rising prices, increasing unemployment and growing hatred towards communities will keep the common folk busy from seeing the looming dark clouds of economic-turbulence in the horizon. Delusion, that an unscientific temperament and pushing people towards religion and rituals will benefit the powers-that-be in the short run.

2021 is ushering a new year, a new decade, and like always the sun rises to give light and bring clarity. Covid is not going anytime soon, but the light can still be used to see....see through arrogance, apathy and delusion. Though the Nobel laureate’s name has been used quite glibly in recent times, I can’t but take recourse to his foresight and optimism, with sincere reverence (of course) –

Into ever-widening thought and action—

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

 

The veil of deception will be lifted,

     and we will see.

The delusional run will end

     and we will see.

We will emerge from darkness

     and the world will see.

 

I wish you all a very true and worthwhile 2021!

A time to question ourselves

Suddenly everything is crumbling, crumbling to pieces; friends, relationships, faith, and belief. It’s time to question if one is wrong or the world is getting close to what should be seen as wrong. 

There was a time when debates on politics and religion were different subjects and every debate ended in just disagreements on the subject. Now they often end in acrimony and enmity. Friends, who grew up arguing over a single cigarette or endless cups of tea, are unable to co-exist in a single group.

There was a time when opinions were sought, sought from people as one would want to learn from them. Now opinions are hurled at you. The objective of opinion is no more just to share one's views, but force one to think in a particular way.

There was a time when religion was mentioned only when one had to tick it in a box in some soon-to-be-shelved form. Now it is worn on one's sleeve, and with misplaced pride. A pride that allows one to look down upon every other religion.

There was a time when our national heroes were hailed for their contribution and shaping the nation that we are living in. Today, it is common to find children who barely manage to learn the spelling of History, criticize them. The contributions are long forgotten and a hero is dictated by one's regional and religious affinity.

There was a time when the word secular was a badge of honour amongst nations and meant a distance from religions. One could practice secularism outside one's home and follow one's religion inside and there was never a conflict. Now, the word is an abuse and misspelled on purpose – sickular.

New words have come to be followed in one's daily parlance – libtart, presstitute, troll, naxal, pseudo-secular, and people don't hesitate to use them, as these words divide the nation into two – the us vs them. 

Social media today is used for the most unsocial activity. It is no more a voice for the voiceless but provides a license to silence and bully. People abuse, criticize, and opinionate with an élan never seen before. This is one place where anonymity and attention often join hands, however contradictory this sounds.

On the eve of Independence Day, it’s time to question oneself –

• Is this why thousands laid their lives to win freedom for us?
• Is this why many who got chance to leave the country, didn’t?
• Do we want to live in the past or move on towards a new nation?
• Do we want to exercise our right to speech to malign everything that we disagree with?
• Finally, do we want to leave our children a world of hate, disgust, and distrust?

To celebrate or to introspect, is up to you!

 

 

The Year that was….

Yet another year gone, a new calendar, new resolutions, new beginnings, hopes and aspirations and wishes.

While we welcome the New Year, let us not fear to look back because that is where we are leaving our successes and failures and our biggest lessons.

The year 2019, will be remembered for all the wrong reasons, people lost jobs in fraudulent and mismanaged organisations, many have not got salaries in what they thought was the most secure jobs, lost money where they thought they were the safest, lost lives protesting for what they thought was their fundamental right and lost faith in the leadership that they had brought in with such hopes and aspirations.

We continue to live in contradicting times - environment vs development, democracy vs. oligarchy, rationality vs religion, lives of animals vs that of humans, and I guess one can go on. However, probably the worst of the contradiction is that of generation and its differences.

While the idea of generation-gap is not new and the fact that two generations have never thought alike; what is significant is that two generations have never differed so violently, with the younger generation taking the blow badly. Lord Tennyson, must be ashamed to see that the ‘old order is not changeth, not yielding place to new’!

As a nation we are today a combination of manav and danav. Some are epitomes of humanity and we can still some living examples of them, but unfortunately we can also see the danav’s in their full nakedness. It is said this is prakriti, nature which is a blend of both. Life is all about striking a balance. But as a law-abiding citizen, the layman seems to be having law against it, and the upholders of law, seem to have made a slave out of the blind-folded lady. So what should the mere mortals like you and me do? Wait for Lord Vishnu to don the Kalki avatar or be one himself/herself? 

What if Lord Vishnu is in his cosmic slumber?

It is said – that god helps them who help themselves, and that is the truth behind the delay in Vishnu’s Kalki avatar. We have not done enough for Him to feel that we have done our bit. If as a nation we resolve to do our bit, we might not even need Kalki, the danav’s, asura’s, and the rakshasha’s of our nation will meet their end anyways. This is the time for the might of the mortal. So wake up O Indian and take your rightful place in the limelight. Don’t let any botched hand take away this right of yours. If we do our bit, I am sure as the noted lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi has said – ‘Woh subaah kabhi to aayegi, ….’

Finally to rephrase Tagore’s words from ‘Where the mind is without fear’ –

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost it's way

into the quicksand of fascist forces,

Where the mind is led forward by thee

into ever-widening thought and action.

In to that heaven of rationality and freedom, my  father,

LET MY YOUTH LIVE!”

Friends Wo subaah aa gayee!

This is 2020, Lord Vishnu is not coming! He has left it for you and me.

Let us resolve to take our country to new horizons and march with our youth, I think they are showing us the way this time!

HT Mint dt. 01/01/2020

Let us make this New Year, happy!!

Kannak's Anklet

My new book, "Kannaki's Anklet" is now available -

Kannaki’s Anklet is an effort to bring the Tamil epic Shilappadikaram, by Ilango Adigal, to a larger audience and in a relatively easy prose format. While the epic has been translated by eminent scholars, Kannaki’s Anklet is an effort to make it easy reading for the modern reader who is exploring the hidden gems of regional literature, without getting into the academics of it. This book is an easy translation of the famous epic.

For ordering the book -

Amazon -

https://www.amazon.in/Kannakis-Anklet-Utkarsh-Patel/dp/938550911X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1511524808&sr=8-1&keywords=kannakis+anklet

Indus Source -

https://www.indussource.com/product/kannakis-anklet/

The (In)famous Mumbai Spirit

The idea of writing this is not to provoke, but to spark a debate. Awaken what is dormant and recognise the real virtue.

All of us Mumbaikars feel a pat in the back when we hear or read phrases like – ‘the indomitable spirit of Mumbai’, ‘Mumbai bounces back’, ‘Mumbai’s spirit cannot be cowed down by terrorism’…and so on. Each more flowery than the other, each richer than the other in terms of play of words.

Is this a spirit of bouncing back, or is it stemming from a sense of stoicism? Stoicism not in the sense – Who cares, but more of – What can I do? There lies the subtle difference.

The day after the deluge, for majority of Mumbaikars will be a normal day, to talk the subject, read in details what one failed to catch on TV, and feel sad for those who were stranded, drenched, took shelter in churches and gurudwaras and those who never reached home for the night. But somewhere in a corner of the heart we will feel good that we are back on our feet, back to work the very moment the public transport was available, over the stinking and dirty roads; send children to school to make them look like us, call relatives and tell them that we are safe and have even resumed work, and behave as if nothing had happened, and yesterday was just a bad dream. This is not the indomitable spirit of Mumbaikar, but a concrete evidence of stoicism. It’s our hardened sense of empathy, or the lack of it.

‘What can I do when the whole government machinery couldn’t do anything?’, ‘What can I do when I have so many other responsibilities?’, ‘What can I do when nobody is doing anything?’, ‘What can I do all by myself?’ There is a list of What-can-I-do questions, all leading us to do nothing, except watch the graphic apathy of the system, its meticulous breaking down on TV, read all about them on our way to work and get taken in by the ubiquitous feeling of the great ‘spirit of Mumbai’.

To all the What-can-I-do questions, I have only one answer – ask Why? Protest till the powers-to-be are compelled to give answers. Protest does not mean take to streets and resort to acts of vandalism and communalism. Protest can be in any form that the civilised society permits us. If someone dumps garbage in front of our house, don’t we protest? Why can’t we do now? Garbage is now being dumped in the society, shouldn’t we protest?

Mumbaikars need to realise that it is this infamous spirit of Mumbai which is going against us. As individuals we are being taken for granted. The powers-to-be are aware that as citizens we are only prone to raise our voices within the four walls of our homes and workplaces. They are aware that they can get away with inefficiency, irresponsibility and corruption. Haven’t we pardoned them for the 2005 deluge, the annual drama of potholes, the lack of preparation every monsoons, the regular photo-op-charade of de-silting, and so on?

These are not the times to bear in silence or turn a blind eye. It’s time to speak up. Stop the wheels. Raise a voice. As the famous John Galt of ‘Atlas Shrugged’ did, ‘stop the motor of the world’ and let the inefficient and ineffective make way for the efficient.

Ask questions. Who is responsible for such inefficiency? When is the Government going to rise about its compulsion of coalition-politics? When will heads roll for efficient heads and not replace with another set of inefficient morons? Will the culprits be arrested, and if so, how soon can they be booked, tried and punished? Will we have to wait for another deluge to remind us of the last one? Will it take about 12 years to fix blames? Will this go down in history as another piece of statistics?

As a sincere law-abiding citizen of Mumbai I protest and I ask these questions. Do not hide behind the poetic excellence of the politicians and media alike. Do not get taken in by the blame-game about to begin. My sincere request to all – do not resist from asking questions, just because you might not get answers. Ask nonetheless.

I end with my favourite quote from Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand in the iconic speech, ‘This is John Galt speaking’ –

“To those of you who retain some remnant of dignity and the will to live your lives for yourselves, you have the chance to make the same choice. Examine your values and understand that you must choose one side or the other. Any compromise between good and evil only hurts the good and helps the evil.

If you've understood what I've said, stop supporting your destroyers. Don't accept their philosophy. Your destroyers hold you by means of your endurance, your generosity, your innocence, and your love. Don't exhaust yourself to help build the kind of world that you see around you now. In the name of the best within you, don't sacrifice the world to those who will take away your happiness for it.

The world will change when you are ready to pronounce the oath….”

I decide to stop this display of Mumbaikar’s spirit. Stop the motor of the world! This is my way of protesting - however insignificant it seems to anybody.