For a better tomorrow

For a better tomorrow
It should be we and not me
It should be world and not community
It should be hope and freedom
Playgrounds and not prohibitions
Flowers and not guns
Food and not drugs
Love and not fights
Sharing and not snatching
Living and not just existing
 

Pay as you weigh!

A Norwegian economist has suggested that obese air passengers should be charged extra and has propounded three models describing how people belonging to different weight category may be charged. While it may seem like good economics, with majority of people facing an ever increasing waistline, it is doubtful how feasible it might be. Can weight really be a good criteria for grouping people? I am not too sure about it. Most probable chances are that there will be widespread protests if airlines try to implement it. And most important, it might lead to unjust classification and stereotyping based on weight. However, one good thing can come out of it. It might encourage people to exercise and try to maintain an average ideal weight. And that might be good, not just for their own health but for the world at large. Not sure about the airlines in that case!

Hero worship

Justice Katju's mercy plea for Sanjay Dutt seems funny to me. Just because he is an actor does not mean that he is above law. He may be a good actor or a good family man but that does not mean that he can get away by doing that what puts the lives of lesser known, poorer people behind the bars. It seems funny that the man who has studied law and knows the principles of 'Rule of Law' fails to understand the principle of equality that is the most cherished principle of all. It is high time people stop hero worship and get down to real things, like promoting equality for less fortunate ones.

Just like that

Wondering what life would have been like if I had been somewhere else, some other country, some other family. I doubt it being as blessed as it is now. Because I may cry over small things I know that what I have got the vast majority of the world would die to get it. But still, would I be a different person if I had not got this freedom? Would I be a fighter if I had been underprivileged? Would I have surrendered or moved on? No idea what I would have done because circumstances make a man. But I know I would never in any circumstance bend down or compromise on my principles. The only thing is had my principles been the same in different atmosphere and upbringing?

Questioning our neighbours

Sometimes I really wonder what our two dear neighbouring countries gain by killing innocent people. Why is that these countries have so many communal clashes, bomb attacks and mass killings? Is the violence state sponsored or is the state completely helpless in protecting the basic human values? Does the general public support such killings? Or do the minorities have no rights at all? Because a country that fails to protect its minorities is in a very pathetic condition. A country that stifles the liberal voice cannot claim to be a democracy. Isn't it a shame that those who are to be cherished are crushed, those who should be heard are attacked? Shouldn't our neighbours grow up and allow peace to spread its healing touch? Shouldn't they be willing to allow a condition of love and progress prevail instead of generating hatred that kills not just the victim but also the perpetrator? I wish I could question our neighbours.

Believe

I believe that the ocean lies within me
All I have to do is take it out
I believe that the skies open in my heart
Filling it up with mysteries from beyond
I believe there is no void
But only the light that guides
I believe that even that which is empty
Holds treasures unknown

Questions of all time

Some of the basic questions that the human mind starts worrying about from the moment of his gaining consciousness are the questions about his surroundings and about his existence. The very first question of ‘what’ he perceives around him is answered by his sensory organs, but the moment it is answered, it poses a number of many other questions. These questions are the questions of ‘how’, ‘when’ and ‘why’ of the existence of what that is perceived. The questions of how and when can be solved through the various sciences, social, physical and life. The question of ‘when’ it came into existence was answered by the social sciences of geography, history, geology, archaeology, anthropology and so on and the question of ‘how’ it did by the physical and the life sciences. Though even these questions have not been answered completely or in full certainty for new theories have continuously altered or even replaced or overruled the preceding ones, we can safely assume that yes, they have at least some answer to them. But the greatest question of all times has always been ‘why’ it came into existence. This question of ‘why’ has deluded man for ages, from the prehistoric times to the modern world. Why the universe was created and why life was created are the two sides of the same coin, because there couldn’t be life without universe and what purpose of having a universe when there is no life to perceive its presence. So this is the question that religion sought to answer. Religion taught us of an unseen power that is the creator, the sustainer and the destroyer. The power, that is known as the God. So to understand the reason behind creation is to know the mind of the Creator. But knowing the mind of God posed another dilemma. How to understand the thoughts of that what cannot be perceived. For religion taught us that God cannot be perceived by our senses. So is it just useless wanderings of the human intellect. To seek the unknown is more than a herculean task. But then, if there is a question, there must be an answer to it. But what exactly is the answer? Physics has already shown that for changing the state of anything, there must be external force acting on it. It also proved that left on its own, an existing matter can only move towards chaos and never can order be created out of chaos. For creating order, there must be an external force creating it. While there are direct evidences of evolution, there has never been a perfect theory explaining it and again the question comes forth, but why. While religion answers this ‘why’, it comes at loggerheads with science. There are some who try to create a compromise between the two, the majority tends to accept one and reject the other, something that has led to many wars in the history of mankind. And so, we can safely say that this question of ‘why’ has left the human mind baffled since time immemorial and will continue to challenge him, till the time he comes face to face with his creator, the power behind all that is there. For nobody can explain the ‘why’ except the one who did it.

You are

You are the truth

While all others are myth

You are the beginning

And you are the end

I may call out with other names

But I call out only to you

You are the one I seek

You are the one I find

When I am lost

You guide my way

And you are my refuge

When I am tired

You are my anchor

You are my pilot

You are my guiding star

In all I do, you are there

You are in my joys and my sorrows

You are in my trials and tribulations

Wherever I look, I find you there

Whenever I look, you are there

With my open and my closed eyes

In my dreams and my consciousness

You are the answer to my every prayer

To the every question I raise

Just a wish

Twenty years after the blasts comes the judgement punishing the perpetrators of the crimes. But is it justice? For those who suffered twenty years back have continued to suffer to suffer for all this time. And may even continue suffering, for the past rarely dies. Time and again, every small incident reminded them of what had happened in the past. Not just those who lost their loved ones, but also those who were accused knew that this part of their past will eventually stare them in their face. But is it the right time? Or should it been done many years back? But still the mastermind of the killings roams free. So is it justice?
Why not we build a better society where some traders of death fear to enter? Why can't we have a strong system of love and trust that no outsider can sway us and make us fight with each other? Wishing for a country that has no communal or caste based hatred. A country where nobody can even try to break us, nobody can try to turn us against our own brothers. Waiting for a country that is full of love and equality and justice.

Questioning why

I really wonder why is there a need for people to kill others in the name of religion? Isn't the purpose of religion is to bring about love, peace and understanding? Then why is it that only hate and mistrust is promoted in its name? Why is it that the so called religious people are more judgemental and non-forgiving? Why is there darkness, where there should be light? Neither the scholars nor the innocents are safe in this world full of fanatics. Where is the humility, the kindness, the care that forms the fundamental nature of a human being? Where is the fairness and the faith in righteousness? Why has the human life lost all value? Why are we sitting on this catastrophic time bomb that is ticking away every time an innocent life is lost? Will this world survive if the linchpin is removed? I really doubt that and yet I watch all these voices getting silenced.

Sometimes

Sometimes I wish the time would stop
And I could cherish the moment forever
Sometimes I wish I could fly
And reach to the end of the world
Sometimes I wish I could touch the sky
Or stand on the moon, walk by the stars
Sometimes I wish I could talk to birds
Share a thought with the flowers
Sometimes I wish I could hold colors in my hand
And with the lights as I wished
Sometimes I wish I could blow smiles
And cover all things with a golden mist
Sometimes I think the heart goes crazy
And starts living in a fantasy world
And yet sometimes I think, why not fancy
A dream is also a reality for sometime

Food security

Food is the basic requirement for every human being and in a country like India with majority of people living below the poverty line, malnutition, high infant mortality are a common place thing. Ensuring that every individual gets the minimum nutritional requirements is an uphill task requiring not just a strong legislation but a stricter implementation. However, in a country where agriculture is dependent upon rains, the first step to be ensured is that there is an improvement in that sphere. Better irrigation facilities and providing better qulaity seeds alongwith organic manures and pesticides is the first step towards ensuring that the poor does not sleep hungry. But an irony of this country is that the grower of grains often sleeps hungry, his children are malnurished and he often resorts to suicide to escape his debts. Ensuring food security and providing steps to protect the farmers are much needed towards ensuring equality, but they both require a dedicated work, a collaboration between the public and private sector and a true will to implement it beyond the votebank politics.