Remembering Allama Iqbal:

For the past many days I have been thinking about Iqbal's two famous quotes,
one being:
Kuch baat hai ki hasti mit-tee nahi hamari,
Sadiyon se raha hai dushman daure-zaman hamara.

And then,
Vatan ki fikr kar naadaan museebat aane wali hai,
Teri barbadiyo ke mashwure hain aasmano me,
Na samjhoge to mit jaaoge aye hindostan walon,
Tumhari dastaan bhi naa hogi dastaano me.

I can't solve this dilemma, if our existence can't be erased easily why should we worry, right from Vedic age people came to India, some settled here and enriched it in someway or other. Even those who went back, they too enriched India. Our cultural continuity is intact while all other ancient civilizations are now a part of history. Or is this plain myth created by scholars.

I am no expert in history but as far as I know stiff resistance and use of force have never been a part of our history barring a few exceptions. What we had in plenty was infighting and small kingdoms, all over the country.

When a poet like Iqbal says 'Watan ki fikr kar naadaan' what does it signify, we by default neglect/ignore our nation and nationality, or we simply don't care about it (use of the word 'fikr'), we are so engrossed in our daily lives that a detached perspective is impossible for us. Did it emerge from the frustration and anger of being unable to eliminate the inaction and indifference from fellow citizens. What was it that made him write this?

Is it not something that I can identify with, a part of me says nothing will change, go back enjoy your life but the other part says have patience God takes tests before granting wishes.

Whatever it is, I can't get past this dilemma, which statement is correct or which one carries more weight if both are true.

Am I fooling myself. . . .

I just recalled this point, Even (if I remember correctly) Gandhiji too criticized this independent nature of the little republics (our villages) being a hurdle to socio-religious reforms.

Are we still living in these little republics or have we made the big republic called India by merging these.

Parliament Attack 2001, Mumbai Attack 2008 and Me !

For the past many days I have been thinking about the 2001 Parliament Attack, today I thought of sharing my views with you.

Starting from the start, Even in 2001, my view was that the brave policemen should not have done their duties, let a dozen of MPs die so that politicians get a sense of reality, I knew or rather we all knew their relatives will suffer, and it happened and is going on. Is it that people shout unnecessarily against government or the government doesn’t do anything for them, Afzal Guru’s example can be used for showing government’s outlook in the matter.

Coming to 2008, the Mumbai Attack never came as a surprise, we all knew it is going to happen, we imagined BLASTS but they used guns this time as they used in 2001. I asked myself, why common people rather than high profile politicians then it came to my mind, in the Parliament Attack the terrorists were five in number and were able to kill seven, mostly policemen or lower staff. This was a failure on large scale for them, first because of the extent of damage and people’s response (I see myself here for I am always ready to spare a dozen of politicians’ life, they deserve it.)

This time they attacked people and not high profile politicians because they knew the people are not bothered by politicians’ death, even more why kill a person who is helping in one’s mission, don’t we all know what our politicians are doing. I can cite personal examples other than that of my social circle and what I have read and saw, for it but I think it isn’t required. (I don't want to rant that the terrorists are cowards, lets fix a day and place and have a war like older days, etc. When time comes it will all be seen.)

But the question is what do they gain from these attacks, they can’t subvert us by these tactics rather they bring us together and closer, they instill motivation in us to eliminate them, what makes them believe that we are cowards, we will never step on the line of fire for our nation, what’s missing in us that makes them believe this.

Is it not our indifference to people like Bal and Raj Thackray,

Is it not our indifference to our surroundings,

Is it not our support of Narendra Modi brand of leadership,

Is it not our support of Lalu Prasad Yadav brand of leadership,

Is it now our ignorance of our fellow citizens’ problems,

Is it not our indifference to Riots,

Is it not our indifference to people dying of hunger and diseases,

Is it not our disregard of fellow citizens when we fail to speak for them,

Is it not the number of NGOs in this country that do what the government has to do,

Is it not the our silence on killings of people like Satyendra Dubey,

Is it not our outlook of life where our pleasures matter even if they cost others pain,

Is it not our belief that nothing can be changed in this country,

Is it not our disrespect to people like Gandhi, Netaji Bose, Swami Vivekanand whose vision and ideas we have burnt in their funeral pyres,

Is it not our lack of will to cleanse our system,

Is it not our apathy to the victims of various crimes,

Is it. . . .

Sorry, the list seem endless.

The second aspect of this is if the politicians can plan and organize riots systematically, why can’t they explode a couple of bombs or pay for a couple of young boys to attack us.

I am genuinely skeptic about this, I wanted to write this point in detail later but, take for example the US War on Terror, Saddam Hussein was captured with ease but the Osama Bin Laden is still not captured. Can’t it be America’s ploy of having a permanent base in Pakistan and Afganistan to guard against Communist states Russia and China. Couldn’t they have paid Al Qaida for the Twin Tower Attack, like they paid them to fight USSR. You may call me paranoid but what can I do if such thoughts come to my mind.

What I can promise to do is to change myself, try my best out to reform the system, I would write about it here, in my blog.

(Swami Vivekanand once said Life's a battle, Let me die fighting, but a non-entity like me have small issues to deal with. My problem is the weight of the guilt that comes from my inaction and indifference , I can't carry it to my deathbed.)