My own blog

The need for an impartial perspective II

2008-12-29T20:02:00.001-08:00

A good article by Ameya Waghmare (Indian first and a 'marathi manoos' if you will) that gives a good perspective on the issue: http://ameyawaghmare.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/the-menace-of-mns-a-marathi-manoos-perspective/

For all those who still can't figure it out and have to be told again and again, these guys do not support violence. Neither are they supporters of MNS.

The need for an impartial perspective

2008-12-29T20:01:00.001-08:00

The moment you say to anyone that mass immigration of any type is a problem, people jump on you like you uttered a blasphemy. The people from the north immediately think that you are a supporter of MNS. No one is ready to look at the real problem. Because that will mean acknowledging them. I am tired of telling people that I do not believe in violence of any kind but that does not mean I am going to turn a blind eye to the fact that there is a problem and at the root of it are the failed states (slang BIMARU). But I do not blame my fellow countrymen (that is if they still think of us as their countrymen). It is our problem in general. It is difficult for us as a people to understand someone else's point of view. Heck, we don't even bother to pick garbage on the street in front of the house. As long as my house is clean, I'm good. And in this case it will probably be, it is not my state or city that is facing the issues, who cares. Then lets blame it on regionalism, narrow mindedness etc. Have you realized, that anyone who tries to stand up and protest against something very logical but which goes against the majority population is either a whiner or someone intent on breaking the unity of the nation. Minorities (of any kind) have real tough issues voicing their problems in our country. We are 10% of the country (maybe a little more or less). How much effort does it take to drown our voices? And even if we do voice, who will listen? The biased media or the centre at Delhi? I have heard arguments like we are not competitive enough! Seriously? Competitive enough for what? Low wages! The basic rule of competition is to provide the same platform for it and use the right benchmarks. To this day, I haven't figured out how can so many people come up with such a moronic argument.
The other problem, the language and culture problem. Honestly, there was a time in my life, when I loved Hindi. I still like it. But now every now and then I think of it, I twitch. I speak to my wife in it sometimes because it is her language and she has been an exception (and there are quite a few) to the general rule followed by native hindi speakers but then that's it. Had my wife's native tongue been Tamil I would have learnt bits and pieces of it and spoken it too. And the reason for my twitch, it is because I realize that most of the native hindi speakers who have settled in Maharashtra for decades don't care about marathi. It is a burden for most of them. I learnt hindi in 1 year (even less) flat. Honestly, how much effort does it take to learn marathi. It is so obvious that there is no will to learn it. Who wants marathi when there is hindi. That is the attitude. And add to it the arrogance of hindi nationalism, mass migration and we have the recipe for our identity being threatened. The worst part, they all think we are crazy when we express our fear about losing our centuries of culture and language and they also feel that there is nothing wrong with doing away of all of this. I am sorry, but I am not sure this is what we signed up for when we believed in the idea of India. The idea of India was that of all encompassing, that we all had our heritages and our differences in culture and language but we loved our motherland with equal passion. That we would respect each other's identity and that's what made our country special. And believe it or not after this post there will probably be a few morons who will start saying that I am suggesting a separate state. Believe me, I have heard that too. After all the centuries of sacrifices and all the hard work this is what we get. However, I am not surprised, innocent Sikhs got it, innocent Indian Muslims still get it, South Indians are scorned at once in a while. On the positive side it has helped me to empathize with other minorities of various forms in our country better. At the end of it I am an Indian too, I realized how important my identity of being a maharashtrian and preserving my language and culture is to me only after I felt it was threatened. Until then, even I used to be confused when I saw the people of the south resist hindi so much. Now I understand what they feel. And yes, it does not make you any less Indian, if your identity is important to you. Nationalism and Patriotism are two different ideas.
Thank you for your patience with my disconnected talk.

The art of giving.

2008-11-23T22:04:00.001-08:00

The other day I was getting off from work. Sometimes, I park my car on the other side of the building and when I get out from the opposite side I ususally take the walk around. I was walking along with some packaged sweets in a box. They were the leftovers from the small Thanksgiving party that we had that day during lunch. There is another company in the same complex and as I walked by two janitors emerged from the building. "Hey, what you got out there?", one called out. "They are some sweets that I got today. Not sure what they are called.", I replied. "Can I have some?". I paused. I was contemplating if I will be eating them or will end up throwing them. "Yeah sure", I replied after a brief pause. The lady came ahead and took one. "Are you sure? What are they for?", she asked. "Well, we had a small Thanksgiving lunch and this is what I had got." I had got 30 of them in the box and about 7 remained. "Well, thanks.", she said. And then something happened to me. I felt as if I didn't need it anymore. "Take some more if you want.", I said. "Are you sure?"."Yes. I am.",I said. She took another. And again something strange happened in my heart. I actually felt happy. Strange happy. "Would you like some more?", I asked. The woman was taken by surprise by now. She said a little questioningly. "No. I am good.". But then quickly continued, "Are you sure?". "Yes, I am m'aam. Actually you can take all of them if you like." I was not having a single negative thought about this. "Umm...I think I will leave two for you. Thank you." she said taking another one or two. "Okay.", I said, "Have a good night." I started walking from there towards my car. I was still feeling happy. I said to myself, "I think I am a good man." I can give and feel happy about it. Not a streak of selfishness. Then why do I feel so mad sometimes when I have to do something for some one? I think that too has an answer. I think I feel not so good during those times because I get the feeling of being used. That I am not helping someone in need but someone who does not want to work for getting it or someone who is too lazy to do it for themselves or someone who wants things easy (who doesn't?). I don't feel bad when I am convinced that this is someone who really needs it or when I am not aware that maybe they really don't need it. That's why I guess helping strangers to me comes easy. Because I don't know and probably will never know them enough to figure out if they really need it. I wonder at people who can dedicate themselves to a cause. That they can give without judging. That they are so much above the normal people that maybe they do not even feel that bad when someone takes them for a ride or uses them. Maybe 'giving' is an art after all. The art few can master.