1947, all over again !

Recently when I read Bipin Chandra's India's struggle for independence, I was touched. Deeply. We can not even imagine the magnitude of patriotism which prevailed in those times. There was this fire within every Indian.Desire to sacrifice everything for her independence. The fraternity amongst Indians was unprecedented. And those visionary leaders like Gandhi, Nehru and so many others. Oh, would love to get a glimpse of those times.If only I could go back.

But then, Anna happened.And this desire to witness 1947 came knocking on the door.The gates of Ramlila Maidaan,Delhi are the time machines which will give you a ride of a lifetime.As soon as you enter, you are awestruck by the amount of patriotism which is in the air.The unity and fraternity is unprecedented. The volunteers from across the nation are doing excellent work to maintain order and dignity. I was amazed to see even small children so willing to go to the stage so that they can hug the old man. People came up with their own patriotic poems and songs to electrify the already super charged atmosphere.One could see Anna struggling to keep away the tears drawn by the immense love and trust by the fellow Indians. I hope our representatives realize that our demand is not draconian, but the prevailing corruption surely is.

Initially I didn't object to the school of thought which claims that no law can end corruption in this country.What needs to be changed is the mindset of people. They further claim, that there is a very stringent law against dowry in the country, but did that help.Their points are valid ones. But then we cannot just sit idle criticizing.

Yes, may be this will not eradicate corruption in totality or even considerably for that matter, but surely it is a big step forward as far as the awakening of masses is concerned. Yes, some of the demands may be beyond the line, but given the extreme penetration of corruption in the government machinery, it's justified. Yes, civil society drafting a bill may be unconstitutional , but a constitution enacted in 1950 cannot be held like the word of God.

People are frustrated with corruption and it the anger shows it all. One man, 74 years of age, has mobilized millions and millions of people. Why? Because he struck the right chord in every Indian. We all already feel and know what he is saying out loud. But this collective voice never resonated with a pitch so mindbogglingly high. This is the time to let the anger come out. This is the time to unite. This is the time to be a part of the second freedom struggle of India. In any way possible, make your contribution. Because it's now, or never.

Anna is India \m/

I & Me

I have been running,
don't know since when.
I remember, turning back,
fearing those ubiquitous shadows.
They have been stalking me,
don't know since when.
They manipulated, I became me.
I struggled, all in vain.
I acted cowardly, didn't resist,
allowed them to paint the world, for me.

But you can never run away,
from the real you.
May be you pretend, or hide,
cannot just run away.
So, it came back, all of it.
I could see my original sin.
But no more of that now,
demolishing those strings, me became I !

Article 78, Personified

Article 78 of our constitution talks about the duties of the Prime Minister with respect to furnishing information to the President.In a way this is only article which talks about the relationship between two most important executives of our country.

Jawaharlal Nehru and Dr. Rajendra Prassad were the first to portray these two roles in Indian polity.And boy, they did set the standards pretty high so much so that no other pair has attained those levels of understanding and respect for each other. What helped was, they were very good friends and had known each other since long and cooperated in the national freedom struggle. Both maintained a cordial relationship between the two offices and maintained their sanctity.

Then was the era of the charismatic Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who undermined the office of the president.She even went to the extreme of making office of the President a mere rubber stamp by imposing on him the advice of Council of Ministers as binding by the 42th amendment act.Later though, the President was given some discretion. So in her tenure, there was hardly any coordination between the two offices. No retaliation came from the office of the President due to weak incumbents. The relationship worsened in the times of Rajiv Gandhi and Giani Zail Singh.They became almost anti to each other which was very destructive for the smooth functioning of the government.

When P.V.Narasimha Rao came into power, although there were no difference per se with the President but there were hardly any exchanges. He was such a deep thinker and silent personality that he would have taken the whole day to update the President on a single matter. And hence things didn't work out at such low pace. Although then came a time when we can say that the relationship somewhat revived in the times of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam. They it seems used to communicate well and enjoyed working with each other.But the press ridiculed it by saying that it is just because of the fact that both are bachelors and have nothing to do at the end of the working day. Whatever may be the reason, the country did benefit under their leaderships for sure.

At present, we have a Prime Minister who has not spoken since he advocated the liberalization process in the 1990s. And to his misery we have a lady President. Imagine how difficult it is for Manmohan Singh to coordinate with the office of President. What is required today, is the presence of strong, statesman and visionary leaders in both of the offices who can rise above the petty politics and assert a dream to carry India ahead on their strong shoulders.

Judicial Activism: Rise of the Judiciary

Any system is said to be in equilibrium when it's sub systems are performing as expected by the conscience of the parent system. A state hence would be balanced if the organs- legislative, executive and the judiciary, perform as per the state's conscience. But somehow that has not been yet observed when we look into various states in general and Indian State in particular.

Just after independence, we witnessed an era of dominance of the legislative. The strong leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru as our Prime Minister(1947-64) and his statesmanship,his ability to hold all the parliamentarians by a strong bond and of course the visionary steering, all made the legislative omnipotent.Neither the executive not the judiciary ever questioned the methods of the legislative. Jawaharlal Nehru maintained the sanctity of the parliament and gave equal opportunities of all.

Then came the era of the executive.When Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister(1966-75), she dominated the functioning of the parliament and thus the executive gained superiority over the legislative.The dormant secretariat of the Prime Minister i.e the PMO, gained importance. Under the control of P.N.Haksar, the PMO started issuing writs to the ministries and departments. Something which was new for Indian polity.

Post 1977, the era of one-party dominance came crashing down and Congress went out of power for the first time since independence. Coalition politics was slowly on the rise which was bound to make the legislative weak. And in the absence of strong leaders like Nehru, the executive too was bound to collapse. This was the time when the judiciary started attaining power. It fought many battles to widen it's ambit and even though the legislative tried to contain it, but that was all in vain.

Then came a paradigm shift with the concept of PIL(Public Interest Litigation). Article 32 of Indian constitution enables us to directly move to Supreme court in case of violation of any Fundamental Right. But then majority of Indian population had no idea about these provisions and this holds true even today. So the judiciary provided that now anyone can approach the courts on behalf of the victims.This was called public interest litigation.And this was the beginning of judicial activism which resulted from malfunctioning of the legislative and the executive. Also, the courts started taking suo moto cognizance of ill practices and wrong doings and issuing orders to rectify them. The overtake of the work of the executive, is something beyond the purview of legitimate judicial activism and is considered as judicial over-reach.

Judicial activism is a welcome phenomenon only in the short run.If it is carried out for long, it may destroy the concept of separation of power and can destroy the checks that provide the balance among the three organs.Hence the judiciary must employ self-restrain and evolve a code of ethics for judges while indulging in judicial activism and shall only use it as a last resort.

ZNMD * *

ZNMD is all about appreciating the smallest of moments in life and living life as you would want and not according to the whims and fancies of your dominating, manipulative, paranoid and bitching would be better half. I mean that's just one dimension of it.Of course, there is much more in the flick than this.It revolves around a pact of three college friends where they planned to play dare and dare on a mega scale before anyone of them gets married.As per the pact, the guys cannot share the dare till they are at the venue and the other two cannot back out.



Amidst the dares, these guys then realize the art of living.And no, attending the art of living course by Sri Sri Ravi Shanker was not one of the three dares.They realize that beneath and beyond their tall office buildings, there lies a world full of beauty and awe to be explored and cherished. The bottom line is to rise above your fears and irrelevant obligations, to live free and happily.After all, you only live once.



As for the individual performances, Farhan Akhtar seemed to dominate the hunk and DevD both thanks to the larger screen space backed with powerful poetry in his voice. Zoya's bias for Farhan is evident throughout.And the myth about Spain is true.The degree of hotness doubles and is very apparent via Katrina Kaif who has never looked that hot.Except for that aam-sutra commercial.Zoya's direction is very mature and she conveys the message with some powerful scenes having less of words and more of facial expressions.But then, our impatient Indian audience who likes to be spoon fed, might not appreciate her intentions.





You do get a lot of wisdom though from the movie.One- If you feel like kissing somebody, do it, otherwise the regret will make you chase him/her all the way, so why not do it at the first place and avoid all that jazz.Two-Never show a ring to a girl just like that, there can be a disastrous butterfly effect on your life.Three- adventure sports is not the only way to live your life fully, it depends from person to person.So don't feel bad if you haven't done all that and even if you don't plan to.Four- Running ahead of bulls is not an adventure sport, believe you me.Five- The strategy of working your ass off till 40 and then enjoying is bull shit. For such people i have some words - holocausts, tsunami,earthquakes,genocides,Kasab,Brevik 9/11,11/26 and mother of all is 2012. Dudes, kya pata kal ho na ho. Live life king size.Everyday.Every second of it.So go for it, if you like Spain or Katrina or if you have forgotten how to live.



दिलो में तुम अपनी बेताबियाँ लेकर चल रहे हो, तो जिंदा हो |

नज़र में ख्वाबो की बिजलिया लेकर चल रहे हो, तो जिंदा हो ||





P.S. I know its ridiculously late,but couldn't resist.

childish aspirations

I could not take my eyes off that bird. How effortlessly it flew amidst the clouds and over us. As if the winds were made for them alone.Then another one came chasing from behind and teasing with his levels of acrobatics.I love looking at the birds up in the sky.The realization of absolute freedom i can only envisage through their flight.I voiced my feelings.

The other voice teasingly remarked- he is still in his childhood.I would not deny that. In fact, I do not want to part ways with that little child in me. All of us have been through those days. How innocent,pure and noble are the thoughts then. No bias, discrimination and favoritism.That is when we are fair to others.Just and real. Growing up and owning the responsibilities is one thing, but who said you should let go off that innocence and that zest to inquire more and more.And I think not giving up your childhood keeps you sane and cuts down on your rage.

There was another voice which wanted to know which one super power I would ask for. For me, it has always been the desire to embrace the sky. To attain that absolute degree of freedom. Some wanted a note printing machine, some the power to read minds. I just want to play amongst the clouds.

Saplings of corruption

There are couple of places in Delhi which can be called as the most fertile fields of the country as far the crops of civil servants are concerned.Along with the green revolution in the agriculture, there came a coaching revolution in civil services.Green revolution is often criticized for the crop and regional disparities.Similarly, the revolution in civil services preparation was restricted to Delhi, more or less.

Now from such crowd, it is expected that the visionary ones will rise above and ergo will be given the responsibilities to run this country.So one might expect super keen youngsters yearning to dedicate themselves for the service of the nation with unlimited and unbound dedication.Given the scales of responsibilities, one expects strong shoulders immune to corruption.

Unfortunately, this is just idealism at it's best.It is disheartening not to find people with the zeal to play a role in the development of our nation.And at the same time, it is disappointing to see the majority striving only for an ambassador, life long security, unbound power and a license to corruption. With such already infected seeds, only saplings of corruption will rise and someday will grow into a full fledged tree of corruption with deep and thick roots sucking out all the public resources and eventually numerous such trees would spread the already huge bureaucratic jungle.Whats more shocking is the fact that people here are talking outright about there plans to set new horizons of corruption.They even sometimes exchange their ideas on the best and secure ways to facilitate under the table deals.

And you cannot deny the fact that many of them will be there tomorrow feeding on the public money and ridiculing the office of civil servant. With such people given the control of bureaucracy, the old dream of trickle-down effect will remain a dream.And the policies of government to bring equality will be scribblings and nothing more.

Lizard of ooze

When you spend most of your time in a single room whose four walls are very close and there is hardly any room to move, you observe things.Things which normally are not tapped by our consciousness. Lizards have always accompanied us as if inspired from that Hutch commercial- where ever you go our network follows! So that day, I noticed one on the wall defying gravity and brunching on teeny tiny innocent insects.Like many, I hate lizards.They are ugly,spooky and they multiply rapidly.

But then in these rainy days, it's the flies and insects that bother us more, i thought.And that hungry little reptile was doing a great job.So that called for a choice.Either a lizard or zillion flies.Ain't a difficult choice at all. Status-quo maintained.

Sadly, like some humans, lizards too don't understand the rules of status-quo. You respect other's space. You don't interfere. And most importantly, you don't shit around when the other is at point blank range. That little jackass wagged it's tale and i thought it was just a celebration of another catch.But it was something else.Something gross.It shitted on my books.That was the end of cease fire. It violated the treaty.I picked up my broom.No not to play Quidditch stupid , me not Harry.And with a bang, the lizard of ooze was out of my room.Peace.