Sunday, January 30, 2011

Of Flags And Flagrantly (Funny?) Fundamental Failures...

I know this post is a bit behind the times, but I do feel behind the times right now.

It is behind the times because it is about proposed plans of Ms Sushma Swaraj and company from BJP Inc to hoist the national flag at Lal Chowk in Srinagar on 26 Jan.

But before I put forth my views, let me make one thing clear. I think BJP is a bag full of stinking donkey excreta, and so is the Congress. I do not think either of them is worthy of my attention, forget about following or affiliation.

Coming to the reason for this diatribe, I was following the story of the B people trying to hoist the flag in Srinagar, and the C (and the NC) people stopping them from doing so. I was following this story, and getting disgusted. My point is, as a free citizen of India, I should be allowed to exercise my constitutionally guaranteed right of hoisting my national flag at any place inside the country, unless specifically delineated out of bounds in the Constitution.

Now, coming to the rationale behind not allowing the flag hoisting. It was said that this is sheer political opportunism, to which I may or may not subscribe but that is, in my views, inconsequential. It was said that this is a law and order disaster in the making, what with the valley just about limping back to normalcy after months of boiling rage. Again, I may or may not agree, but for argument's sake, let us concede this point.

Does the threat of an imminent law and order breakdown allow the government to withdraw the fundamental rights of a citizen? I agree that the citizen in question may not be following his fundamental duties but this does not mean that the government, as the executor and guarantor of the individual's fundamental rights, has the authority to take the easy way out in carrying out its own duty of maintaining law and order by crushing remorselessly the rights of the individual.

A case which comes to mind is that of Rev Terry Jones from Florida, USA who wanted to burn copies of the Holy Qu'ran on 11 Sept 2010. It was stupid, almost entire US agreed. It was dangerous for the troops deployed in the East, entire US agreed. But there was no government intervention except in an advisory capacity. There was no move to forcefully stop him from doing so, even in the face of international pressure.

I am not a fan of USA and its policies. But I do admire its sincerity in upholding the fundamental rights of its citizens. And I do admire its media, or at least sections of it, for presenting the news in an unbiased manner.

After all this, I am left wondering when, if ever, will we mature as a nation and realise the importance of our rights and their inviolability.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

The Half Remarkable Question

I was sitting. And pondering. And that is not a good situation for me to be in, for in such a case I begin thinking of things I have no control over, no means of changing.

But today, Lady Luck was smiling on me, or so it would seem. Cos I chanced upon something that would do all the thinking for me, and let me just drown in it and go off to a comfortable stupor. So, I am sharing it here. Ladies and gentlemen, presenting before you the Incredible String Band.


Who moved the black castle
Who moved the white queen
When Gimmel and Daleth where standing between?
Out of the evening growing a veil

Pining for the pine woods that ached for the sail

There's something forgotten I want you to know
The freckles of rain are telling me so
O it's the old forgotten question
What is that we are part of?
What is it that we are?

And an elephant madness has covered the sun
The judge and the juries they play for the fun
They've torn up the roses and washed all the soap
And the martyr who marries them dares not elope
O it's the never realised question

O long O long e're yet my eyes
Braved the gates enormous fire
And the body folded 'round me
And the person in me grew

The flower and its petal
The root and its grasp
The earth and its bigness
The breath and its gasp
The mind and its motion
The foot and its move
The life and its pattern
The heart and its love
O it's the half-remarkable question. 

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Shades of Deep Purple

Is there a black or a white? Or are there only shades of gray?



What we see all around us, the myriad colours- of nature, of humanity- are they black or white too? And what about our relationships? We try and see so many colours in them, but do they really exist in those many colours?

Okay, to shorten it out, there are in my belief, no blacks, no whites, no shades of deep purple or any other colour. I think the world is a blend of various shades of gray. But the transition of a person from one end of the grayscale to the other, over a period of time, is what fascinates me the most.

The only pure white in this world of gray for an agnostic like me would be the God, by whose mercy there still exist a few who do not change their shade of gray. They turn out to be the ones you choose as your eye soothing, hart warming shades.

So, which shade of gray are you?