The threat of callousness

Today as I sat down to watch the blockbuster, Behind Enemy lines, with a couple other Indian friends of mine there came a moment when I felt like I got the reason to all the problems ailing our confusingly vibrant country.

The scene where the Admiral decides to risk his entire career in rescuing one fighter pilot, Owen Wilson is the one that I am referring to. That scene displayed the idea of how even one life that is American is so precious and needs to be saved! And this is not because it was just another movie and the protagonist had to be rescued but a lot of us must have seen this plenty of times, whether it be the murder of Daniel Pearl or the kidnapping of the American Diplomats in Iran at the time of the revolution. American life is probably the most precious commodity of life there is.

On the other hand compare that to the lives of our own Jawans and officers who give up their lives in the selfless defense of their motherland, the treatment meted out to their death and the insignificance attached to their lives is absolutely shocking. Just today I read in the news that two jawans died in an operation by Naxals in Central India. Yes two jawans, no name no identity. The cameras simply rolled into a 10 second commercial explaining the importance of clear skin. Now the simplest and easiest answer to this apathetic attitude can be the sheer size of our population. For every Jawan that dies, 3 other newborns are born that very second. On the face of it this statistic makes the callous citizen in me even more apathetic. "Good thing a couple people died, less competition for resources...", this is an argument many of us have used at some point in our lives or have at least heard one of our friends use it.

Now think about this scenario. All these newborns grow up to become BPO employees, Gym Trainers, Engineers, Doctors, Businessmen and maybe maybe a soldier. That skews the ratio a great deal. We are already receiving reports of a shortage of officers graduating from officer academies like the NDA and the IMA. The Indian Army is facing a shortage of foot soldiers, the Navy is recruiting non-swimmers while there have been cases of the IAF recruiting less than perfect vision individuals. This does not bode well for the future Defense structure. Every life of the officer needs to be given importance and we need to make sure that we don't take these matters lightly anymore.

It is incredible how that one scene and that one thought created so many more thoughts in my mind. But then as one of my friends said, "So what if one Indian soldier would die like this.. they would simply get two more from Bihar". What if these Biharis too decide to give Engineering a chance and stop joining the ranks of the Indian Military forces. Yes, it is a scary thought indeed.

Jai Hind!
Vande Materam.

What India should aim for: Ramrajya in Kalyug

Only more than a month has elapsed
since you took the sceptre in your
hand, O Raghava! And mortals have
become strangers to disease, death does
not overtake even men worn out with age,
women undergo no labour-pains during
parturition and human beings are well-built
indeed. An abundance of joy has fallen to
the lot of every citizen dwelling in the town,
O king! Pouring down nectarean water
clouds rain at the proper time. Even the
very winds which blow here are capable of
giving a delightful touch, and are pleasing
and healthful. People living both in the
cities and in the country, arriving in the
capital, declare, ‘May such a sovereign be
our ruler for long’, O king!” (Srimad Valmiki
Ramayana, Uttara Kandam XLI: 15-21

Hindutva 2.0

Twitter is really a place where Indian Nationalism is gaining some ground. When I found Kargil trending on 26th of July it filled me with some immense pride. No major newspapers had more than a quarter page article on Vijay Diwas, which was not too surprising, considering the media is controlled by the Congress govt. in Toto.

Another instance was the day #awesomeindianthings was trending on twitter, you could see along with some cynics the true nationalism of Indians come out in open. People mentioned the corrupt administration, the bad roads, but what I saw most was the Indian Tricolor. Wow, the Indian twitterati is actually pretty nationalistic eh?

Now one wonders, what happens to all these people when Amit Shah gets arrested for ordering the shooting of a terrorist? When Batla House gets talked in terms of a "fake" encounter? It's high time there is a non-profit group formed to take up these issues and rake up some pressure on the vote-bank led government. I seriously think that the next wave of hindutva cadre will not be the vandals burning buses and shops, instead they'll be the ones who work in the day and pontificate at night. Learn in the day, propagate at night. This, my friends, will be the torch bearers of Hindutva 2.0

Indian Utopia

1. Strong and robust economy
2. High defense spending
3. Strong army
4. Liberal society
5. Nationalistic people
6. Parliamentary Democracy
7. Independent Judiciary
8. High Literacy
9. Low Unemployment
10. Closed borders
11. No border disputes
12. Strong military might
13. Nuclear weapons
14. Green economy
15. Natural reserves protected
16. Agricultural economy
17. Stringent terrorist laws
18. Quick executions
19. Broadband internet
20. Women Quota
21. Strive towards cultural nationalism

That summer of ten years back,

That summer of ten years back,
The boy in a green jacket attempts to scale
Those treacherous peaks which seem so pale
Those noises of multi barrel rockets want to cry
Those billion voices that hit his eye

The valour and bravado which he did show
The mother of that boy should proudly know
The talk of which runs far and wide
That shall be remembered on either side

The boy looks at from above the sky
These material beings that always lie
The honour is shared between those various factions
The misery is left within those promised actions

That news reporter goes back to the very heights
The mountains that remind her of the bombing kites
The memory is etched in every soul
That was so very close to the boy’s whole

The story, now a legend a folk lore
The Tiger is back where it can boldly roar
Thus, “yeh dil maange more” of the enemy track
That summer of ten years back