amachwe

Religious Tolerance

When I see people in India screaming and shouting to support their religion I feel that they are missing the point. In India we are too concerned with what is happening with other people and we take the freedom we have for granted. That is especially the case when it comes to Religion. Religious co-existence has been a topic high on everyones discussion list. Especially every time a terrorist attack takes place.

I have seen a very different kind of religious tolerance and co-existence here in UK. Few examples I shall present through photographs taken in and around Southall, an area known for its ‘Indian’ feel. There are lot of Sikhs living in and around Southall. It is home to one of the largest gurudwaras outside India (photographs can be seen on my website).

Above: Church advertising in Punjabi.

Above: The gurudwara (Shri Guru Singh Sabha) faces a Christian cemetary. This picture was taken from the Gurudwara entrance.

Above: Shree Ram Mandir next to a Christian cemetary in Southall.

Above: A march for religious unity on the occassion of Christmas.

I think my friend put it really nicely that day… that when you are in your own country you can scream and shout about religion all you want but when you are outside your brain works in a straight line because you don’t have any options.

Could we have a Ram Temple next to a Christian cemetary in India? Would we think of making one?

Maybe religious tolerance is just a question having no options or having too many options?

Property Cases in New Delhi…

Money is the root of all evil and money is at the root of property. Whether it is a house or a flat. Skyrocketing prices of real estate in Delhi has ensured that the worst side of human nature is exposed in family relationships.

How does a typical property case start?

It starts with a family with multiple real brothers/sisters, a property, a doubt in the ownership and usually a builder interested in the property (if it is a house and not a flat).

The various children have ego issues with each other and within themselves. This includes jealousy for the other persons success and simple greed. If that is not the case then a builder comes along who wants that property and doesn’t want to pay full price. He plants the seed of greed in one of the siblings head.

Then one of the brothers/sisters files a suit of partition against his/her siblings. Usually only those people are made party to the suit who have a right in the property and have not explicitly signed away that right.

The person filing the case becomes the plaintiff and the person(s) against whom it is filed are defendants.

Obviously to file a case one has to go to a lawyer. Not many lawyers are going to tell you not to file a case and settle it outside the court. Most lawyers are going to tell you that your case is winnable. The person filing the case is already pumped up and aching to go. Ego rules the brain.

Property cases are good because they take a long time and provide a lawyer with regular income.

The real fun and games begin once the notice is served to the defendants. Especially if they happen to be neighbours. This activates the ego of the defendants. All ties are broken. No one goes to the other persons house and obviously every move is treated with utmost suspicion. From that day all communication takes place through the lawyers.

Initially the plaintiff is really pumped up. Comes to each hearing. Then as the case gets more complicated with the defendant’s lawyer throwing punches and mixing up things a single case gives birth to multiple cases in different courts.

This obviously reduces the enthusiasm of the plaintiff but stil the ego is there. So he starts coming only for the crucial hearings (which happen once in 3-4 months). All this while both the lawyers are pretending to be gearing up for the fight of their life. This also ensures their clients that yes things are progressing.

As months turn into years and a grand tour of the courts of Delhi begins for both the sides, enthusiasm starts waning and the egos start getting crushed. Then only the most important hearings are attended.

After 4-5 years the ego of both the sides is completely crushed. That is when the lawyers start whispering about a compromise. A property case, while giving decent money over a few years, is a bit like a milk giving animal. There comes a time when you can make more money by slaughtering the animal and selling the meat than by milking it. Lawyers are usually expert at recognising this. They know if a compromise takes place they will get a lump sum of cash which would be at percentage of the property value.

It takes about a year for both the lawyers to bring the parties on to the table for a compromise. The most common compromise is everyone gets equal share. Once a compromise has taken place the plaintiffs move the court to pass a compromise decree under Order 23 Rule 3 of the Civil Procedure Code of India.

This puts the courts seal on the compromise. It is not a ‘decision’ by the court so it does not preclude further litigation thru ‘res judicata’.

Once the compromise is achieved and all the paperwork is done and over with the lawyer will do a bit of show off in front of the other side to convince their client that they managed to do a brilliant job and that they were in complete control all the time. Furthermore they will show that it was their side who were sensible and generous therefore decided to give a share to the other side.

All in all in any kind of a case one must always remember:

The judge, the lawyers and the legal staff are all actors.

The courtroom is the stage.

The case is a drama.

The poor people caught up in litigation are the hapless victims/spectators who see their fortunes rising and falling without having any control on the acting or the script.

So remember… before you file a case make sure you have tried talking to the other person.

The Constant Dreamer…

The ‘terrorist’ attacks have become painfully regular. Another thing that has become painfully regular is the Government of India (and the various State Governments) being caught with their pants down.

There is now talk of establishing four more NSG hubs across India to deal with such terror attacks (especially because the NSG took 9.5hrs to arrive on the scene in Mumbai) in the future. I mean you could have sent commandos from UK in that much time! That is like increasing the dose of the medicine just because you cannot find any other way of attacking the disease.

What about improving the quality of the State police?

What about providing them with automatic weapons and bulletproof jackets instead of new cars.

What about improving the physical fitness of the police so that they are capable of doing something more than just relax at the Police checkpost?

What about improving coordination between the different agencies both at the State and Central level?

What about spending money to buy things like unmanned aerial surveillance platforms to patrol deserted stretches of the coastline?

On the political front the so-called ‘unified face of politics’, which Mr. L. K. Advani talked about before highlighting the fact that the attacks pointed towards the total failure of ‘State and Central administrations’, did not last long. In fact it did not even last 2 full days. How could it when some of the largest states in India (such as Rajasthan. Jammu and Kashmir, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh) are going in for State elections? In fact these attacks couldn’t have come at a better time for the parties currently sitting in the opposition. Delhi (where voting took place on the 29th of November) got hit by a series of bomb blasts recently. Looking at what happened in Mumbai I am sure the people of Delhi are not going to be very happy with the current State government.

RSS has also grown silent after the attacks in Mumbai. I think they have conveniently forgotten how they were targetting non-Marathi Indians working in Maharashtra till about two weeks ago. It is parties like these which must be inspiring the terrorists. I mean if we start attacking our own people surely troublemakers from abroad are going to be able to find at least a few friends there! We should remember that the Central Government controls approximately 5,00,000 crore Rupees through the budget. I am sure everyone wants a crack at that.

The people of India can only respond in one way. The only way which will ensure that the political parties learn a good lesson. Demand the immediate resignation of the Chief Minister of Maharashtra along with all the Ministers responsible for security and saftey of the population. Shivraj Patil the Union Home Minister resigned. That is not enough. There should be legal proceedings against him and it should be ensured that he does not hold any position in any elected body in India ever again.

Similarly there should be negligence proceedings against all the associated Ministers and administrators. That is the only way they are going to learn.

But none of this will happen. I dream of this.. that is why I am the constant dreamer… waiting for the day these dreams turn to reality.

The Mumbai Joke…

From there, they mandated to kill indiscriminately, particularly white foreign tourists, and spare Muslims split up into five batches.

Click here for the article.

There are a few questions that came to my mind, being a citizen of India, after the Mumbai incident:

1) How can you shoot people ‘indiscriminately’ while making sure Muslims are spared? Is it written on a persons face whether they are Hindu or Muslim? Do they check their passports before shooting them ‘indiscriminately’?

2) How can the press be so irresponsible? How can they start launching the ‘religious’ angle so quickly.

3) What was Narendra Modi doing at Oberoi Trident? Did he go there to look at the building out of curiosity? Was he there to look at his handiwork? But mostly why did he go to a sensitive area and further pressurise the security service to give him cover.

4) How come three top cops in Mumbai were shot by terrorists? What were they doing there? How did the terrorists get so lucky? How come one of them was involved in investigating the Malegaon blasts where a ‘Hindu terrorism’ plot was being revealed.

5) Why did the NSG and Army not stabalize the area where the terrorists were hiding instead of just rushing in? Why did they not try and buy time to further investigate the situation? This has been suggested by security experts throughout the world not just me.

6) When the Indian Airlines flight was hi-jacked (IC-814) during the BJP government how come they decided to negotiate and then release the prisoners? This time how come there were no negotiations? Not even to stall for time to allow the forces to prepare?

7) Did BJP help out the terrorists back then and now the terrorists are helping out BJP by creating chaos just before general elections and by killing of people who were investigating acts of ‘Hindu terrorism’. This operation could surely not have been done without inside help. Landing a boat with arms and so many people on the Mumbai coast is surely not a joke. Advani said this operation must have required 2 months or so of planning. That is what came out in the investigations!

8) We must remember that who could be the best friend of Hindu hardliners? Obviously Muslim hardliners. If there are no Muslim hardliners then there is no justification for Hindu hardliners. So obviously they are going to help each other. If we remember that in India Hinduism is not just about religion it is also about the Central and State Goverments and access to billions of rupees.

Who is going to answer all these questions? The media? Nope they are busy selling their news. The politicians? Now ways can we trust them.

Where do we go to get these questions answered?

The Indian Reply – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Watching the response of the authorities, the media, the common man and those in the line of fire made me realise that the Indian reply is made up of the good the bad and the ugly.

Let me start with something that really made me VERY happy. The statement issued by Taj Group of Hotels. Their premier hotel in Mumbai, operating out of a heritage building has sufferred a lot of damage. But even as the army operations are in progress to flush out the terrorists Taj Group issued the following statement:

“….we will rebuild every inch that has been damaged in this attack and bring back the Taj to its full glory,”

Amazing!

At the other end we find the Government shutting down the city. Wanting people to hide in their homes scared and terrified instead of going about doing normal days work. They pretend as if life is otherwise so normal and safe.

This has also shown how news hungry our media is. If media had their way they would stick a camera right up the ass of the injured and the army people and ask ‘apko kaisa lag raha hai’ (how are you feeling now). The silliest bit was when Barkha Dutt tried to approach a foreigner (a diplomat from the Canadian High Commission) again and again using ‘sir’ and almost ready to lick the persons feet for a sound-byte.

This has also shown how deeply are the Mumbai underworld, the Police and the Government are connected. Three senior police officers being targetted all of whome with a connection with the underworld. Police says that the terrorists came by boat. No way can you land on a boat in a busy city like Mumbai without anyone noticing. I am 100% sure terrorists had help from the authorities.

In this case I think the terrorists made use of the fact that many objectives converged into one big mission. Dealing with cops who attack the underworld, killing cops involved in investigating major crimes (like Malegon blasts), causing chaos, targetting foreigners, destroying a few more buildings and making some silly demands to launch the Kashmir Issue onto the World Stage.

Who knows, maybe Hindus and Muslims are cooperating in terrorism as well! Who benefits from all this? Only the hardline organisations. The Muslims will feel threatened and would increase hostility. The Hindu hardline organisations will use this to spread ‘Hindutva’.

They picked a very bad time though. The world is reeling under the weight of a financial crisis. No one has time for terror. In fact maybe that is why they combined so many operations into one. Maybe terrorists get affected by recession too!

Mumbai Attacks – A Lesson for We Indians

Things are going as I predicted earlier. Terrorism, a failed concept, has taken a desparate turn. Hostage situations, random firing and widespread chaos. All leading to a desparate attempt to stun the people of India.

Again what are 100 dead people? I would say the terrorists are stupid. We kill 1000s of people a day because of corruption and ignorance. People who die of hunger, illness and cold. Food grains after a disaster are diverted. Aid money used to increase personal bank balances.

Furthermore a few hundred terrorists can’t kill a country of 1billion+ people. There are not that many bullets in the world!

Finally this incident reminds us of a very important fact: ‘There are no guarantees in life’ Live the day and do what you have always wanted to do. Pursue and achieve your dreams. You never know when you die!

Radio Taxis in Delhi

Yesterday, for the first time, I travelled by a radio taxi in Delhi. The journey lasted about 40 minutes. The experience of travelling from South Delhi to Connaught Place (a distance of about 15 kms) was quite pleasurable.

I had to travel in to Connaught Place at short notice therefore had to take a taxi. A friend suggested I take a radio taxi. He gave me the number of Ezee Cabs (Contact Number: 011-43434343). Knowing how things sometimes work in India I kept my expectations really low especially when it came to the booking service and the cost.

The first pleasant surprise was the taxi booking process. The Customer Service Representaitve was quite helpful and the taxi was booked within minutes. She asked me whether I knew about the fare structure and when I said that I did not she explained it to me clearly. I got a confirmation sms on my cell giving me the details of my taxi. Within minutes the driver of my taxi called up to ask for exact directions to my house and confirmed that he would be there in some time.

The taxi arrived 10 minutes before the booking time. Again the driver informed me of his arrival.

The taxi itself, while not luxurious, was clean and well maintained. All these taxis have satellite navigation and GPRS datalinks. The jobs are sent via the GPRS datalink. The meter was very clearly visible and it gave both the current cost of the journey as well as the distance travelled.

The driver was curteous and soft-spoken. He asked me straight away if I wanted the A/C switched on (there is no extra cost for the A/C). He also asked me to confirm that the meter was set to zero. The journey itself was quite pleasant with the driver neither rushing nor taking any risks.

I arrived at my destination a satisfied customer. The fare was what I expected it to be.

The fare structure is very simple: for every 1 km they charge 15 rupees. Waiting costs are extra as are the night charges (applicable after 11pm).

There is a funny twist to this story. The driver did not know the directions to Connaught Place (CP) or how to use the GPS equipment to get the directions since he was new to the job. While this might be a bad thing for someone new to the city I felt quite pleased with myself when I managed to navigate to CP without making any mistakes after almost 1 year.

On the whole would recommend radio taxis to anyone as well as would pray to God that future experiences remain positive!

Quotes from Journey to the West

Journey to the West is a Chinese classic. It is an epic (fictional) story about how Buddhist teachings were brought to China.

The English Language version (Chinese Foreign Languages Press edition translated by W.J. F. Jenner) is full of amazing quotes. I will be posting my favourite ones here.

Quote 1: Chapter 26

“If you don’t fight, you can’t make friends”

Quote 2: Chapter 31

“If a man has been your teacher for a day, you should treat him as your father for the rest of his life”

Quote 3: Chapter 33

“A tall tree invites the wind; The wind then shakes the tree;

Whoever strives for fame; destroyed by fame is he”

Quote 4: Chapter 44

“In the dust under one’s eyes are three thousand worlds”

Life in a few lines…

The roar of life is in my ear,
The roar becomes a song.

Life is a blur,
The blur becomes a painting.

I go deep within myself,
I become the egg,
I become the shell.

These above few lines were written by me on the 15th of October 2008.

The Great Indian Truth: Ignorance is Bliss

“In 2008, stampedes have killed 360, blasts 156” – A news item on the Times of India website (1 Oct 2008, 0354 hrs IST) (Click here for the article)

Still thinking why we should have to die from a terrorist bomb?

Death has many forms and one cannot control it. Every form of death has a cause.. and more often than not another human is the cause. With respect to terrorism there is just a clearer connection between the hand holding the smoking gun and the bullet which killed the victim…

This terrorism nonsense is highlighted just because it has deep political implications and for some reason people are scared of bombs. This can be used to focus people’s attention and to increase your votebank. It has another handy side-effect: people give up their civil liberties without much of a fight. It makes people easier to control. Entering a PVR theater in Delhi feels like entering a high-security prison.

More people die every year because of smoking cigarettes than bombs. But we don’t see politicians making a universal smoking ban a hot issue. That second hand smoke you are breathing in while partying in a nightclub is more lethal than a bomb.

If one dies of a heart attack sure enough the cause of death can be traced back to things like bad eating habits, smoking and alcohol abuse. All these point the finger at the person’s parents who could not prevent these bad habits from developing within their child. So how different is the above incident (see link) where surely a local politicians as well as civil servants are to blame along with the temple administration and local police authority. What makes them so different from the so called terrorists?

The funny thing is we GAVE these people the power to kill us. We ELECT the politician and the civil administration which then kills us slowly day by day. At least in case of terrorists they were not given power by us, voluntarily.

In the end I think that is what really hits us. Terrorism is like being stripped naked in public where you know you are being looked at by 100 different people.

Whereas failure of civic machinery is more like a hidden camera movie of someone changing clothes taken by people they trust! The person remains blissfully ignorant of the fact that within hours 1000s of people are downloading a video of them changing and life goes on normally till one fine day when they find out what has been happening behind their backs. But by then the excitement is over, ignorance is bliss and the incident is best forgotten.

In case of a terrorist attack we undergo both the incidents described above. We feel naked and exposed when terrorists hit at familiar everyday locations like a market. We get angry. But for some strange reason we don’t get angry at being decieved by the people we trusted to take care of us.

Ignorance is bliss. Life goes on. One day at a time. Till the clock stops ticking.