A tryst with 3 real life Heroes

I had the opportunity to recently visit 3 NGOs in one single day and I feel like I have to pen down these eye opening worthwhile experiences. Without getting into the details I ll go on to describe what I felt .

9:40 a.m .APD-Association for people with disability. Our welcome tour of the whole NGO that is associated with people with disabilities was handled by a person named Mr Nagaraj , who has been with this NGO from the last 5 years. With great enthusiasm and grit , Nagaraj showed around the place and took us through an interactive orientation session about the whole NGO. By the end of the tour, there was only one profound reality that I d like to share . Nagaraj is on a wheel chair and hails from a remote Chintamani Village. With Polio taking away his legs during his childhood , Nagaraj had nothing to support himself except for his willpower. Over the last 5 Years after he came to APD, I found out that he has re-written his life story. Coming from a background where he was not even educated properly , Nagaraj learnt English and got trained in various skills .As he fluently spoke his English, he virtually shook me with his success story.. He is currently a full time independent free lancing web designer and a film documentary maker ,who also manages his small team for projects.And all this, he has achieved just in the last 5 years. Nothing more needs to be told about this inspiring lad who is in his 20′s .
When I started my engineering career 5 years ago after an undergraduation in Electronics, Nagaraj had just begun his studies. And here I am facing a mid life crisis already in my career while there are differently abled Lads who are managing businesses even without a so called MBA!! An ironic Jolt..

12:00 p.m Unnati Centre -NGEF.
Unnati- set up by a conglomerate of IT companies provides vocational training for various jobs and I happened to enter into a Life skill class that was being conducted for Rural youth. There I heard a boy in his 20′s who confidently spoke about his bitter struggle. He had come to Unnati to make himself employable but not before facing major obstacles in his life. Hailing from a remote village of north karnataka ,this boy worked as brick coolie on one hand to feed his family and studied privately for his SSLC 10th exams. Even without going to the school and abrading his hands in the brick factory , he managed to pass his SSLC exam. With Unnati providing him vocational training, he is already looking forward for his next decent job.

While I stood listening to him , I felt a rare stir within my soul . .The boy had the courage to stand up for what he believed in and he met his summit even with numerous obstacles. Where were all my reserves of courage and will power when I failed to give another try even with a small setback?. I better re -evaluate my life skills.

MitraJyoti- 2:45 p.m .I had heard of this reputed NGO which was into helping and rehabilitating visually impaired persons. When I entered the NGO, It seemed an eye catching, well organised , and well maintained institution that was diligently serving, and making the visually impaired independent in their lives. With an ex Indian Army Major as the CEO of the organisation, the institution seemed well settled. But then the reality can only be felt through the mind.

I learnt that the person behind Mitra Jyothi was Ms Madhu Singhal . 20 years ago, she had managed to set up this organization single handedly and has helped blind people visualize and see their destiny. When the moment of meeting her came, I was speechless BECAUSE …
Ms Madhu herself is 100% visually impaired.

How could a completely Blind lady set up an NGO, travel around the world , raise capital from international investors and manage a whole organization?
I felt that rare chill down my spine when I interacted with Ms Madhu, an epitome of pure inspiration.
A short Blind lady had managed to build her own institution and has been the guiding light to so many people,while I still am contemplating on my next plan of action : To plunge or not to Plunge into my passions and my true callings..

At the end of the day, I really felt small when I stood before these Giants.I was finally able to find some real life Heroes in this bustling world .

I have my worthy salute to these people.

InQuilab

State sponsored Terror

Yesterday we witnessed the shocking story from the Beggars Colony of Bangalore that has been there for a while. 20 deaths have been reported in the last 3 days and it seems like the conditions in which the inmates were dead is still under suspicion. Added to that there were new reports from various newspapers linking to many cases where genuine people on the roads of Bangalore were picked up and stuffed into the van only to be found in the Beggars colony. One of them who was found in the Colony was actually an autodriver while another old lady was picked up despite she gave all her residential details and guardian’s address. There was another case where a man was picked up from the hospital entrance just because he was crippled and was waiting for someone.

In my Childhood, I used to be aware of various Kidnapping stories of kids being picked up from schools and stations by the kidnappers. But it is highly surprising to note reports that the Government servants are picking up people on the streets on the pretext of cleaning the city of beggars. The conditions of living inside the colony were probably worse than a slum area according to some reports.

The conditions of living inside the colony were probably worse than a slum area according to some reports. The worst part about the colony is one needs to bribe the sentrys to get entrance . Scores of people have been visiting the colony in the hope of finding their missing ones. It sure will take time as usual to find out how much truth is behind all these reports as already a commission to probe the deaths is underway.
In the end I have a few questions lingering in my mind.

Are we living in a State that is indirectly sponsoring terror by pushing the downtrodden to deaths?
Or
Is this a campaign to tarnish the genuine efforts of the state to remove beggars from Bangalore?
Or
Will the perpetrators who were indirectly responsible for the 20 deaths be brought to book or would it be too late before the Bangalore public forgets this issue as usual..

I have my own doubts as the killers of Sanjana (the young school girl who died due to the Wall collapse 2 months ago) are still roaming scot free .

InQuilab

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ARE WE MURDERERS?

ARE WE MURDERERS?
If I happened to ask you this question, Most of you would give me a look of utmost surprise. But if you are wondering as to why this question is relevant, then there is something more serious about this question.
With my daily cup of tea, I read the morning newspaper and it is quite possible that you would have also read about the 17 year old girl who died because of the wall collapse during the incessant rain in Bangalore, 2 days ago. But little do we all know that we are all connected to her death.

The so called magic boxes which the State govt frantically built for saving its face for the airport road is riddled with huge flaws .And the veterinary college’s wall(which fell) near the Magic box also compounds the problem of water logging during rains. And this wall that collapsed on the girl was hardly built just 6 months ago by some wealthy contractor, I suppose. With all the newly built structures. How could the wall collapse is the question? The answer lies in the apathy which we citizens have in taking these things casually.

First of all when the wall collapsed and when the rescue team was on the way to help the girl. There was a traffic jam on the palace road because of a so called politician’s son’s marriage happening in the palace ground. Well, marriages are held every day but the government’s apathy in managing the traffic system and infrastructure is years behind the actual demand. The rescue team got stuck and thus the life of the girl also got stuck in between the wall that was built by an incompetent contractor who had the audacity to build it without a proper foundation.

Is it corruption, is it carelessness, or is it the freedom to roam scot free in India after a crime, OR is it the inability to raise our voice? Whatever be the case, we have unnecessarily lost a life because of our own doing. The Government never built the separate airport road that could have had free flow traffic from the city to the airport. The so called Maharaja of the redundant Palace ground never had the courtesy to give a little bit of his land to accommodate the expansion of the Bellary road (because of which this part is always jammed). Our Bangalore doesn’t even have one air ambulance team to save lives, but can frequently accommodate VIP Helipads wherever needed. And we citizens know all this but crime is not a crime for we don’t care as we feel that we are still safe somehow in this maze of corruption, inefficiency and unaccountability of our machinery.

I appeal to all the citizens that the perpetrators of this crime must not be allowed to go unaccountable. I still hope that our country is running because we still have the good men who do their duties for the country. I hope that we do not have to still wait for another hundred unnecessary deaths before we realise the gravity of the situation.
InQuilab

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When will we learn ??

The last few weeks covered the trial of the most dreaded and psychotic killers that India ever knows. Yes, i am referring to none other than the devil Satan himself, Ajmal Kasab, the terrorist whose hands soaked the blood of dozens of innocent Indians.

On 26/11 , the world witnessed the carnage of Mumbai where 200 civilians simply lost their lives to ruthless killing maniacs. And when we apprehended the lone terrorist who wreaked havoc on the Mumbai’ roads and who mentally disturbs so many Indian minds , we still keep him alive to show the world that India is a sleeping country where any terrorist can strike at will .

What is astonishing and unforgiving is that the Indian government has already spent around 35 crores to keep this heartless killing maniac alive for the last 1.5 years.The irony lies in the fact that where scores of indians die every day of hunger and where farmers die for repaying their debts and where our own silicon valley, Bangalore is at the mercy of monsoons for generating its power demands, we have the audacity to keep a man alive and spend crores for his living .

The U.S ,that went to war in Iraq also never wasted time in hanging Saddam within a short time after he was captured ,but in India, we take our own sweet time to even punish a criminal who is unforgivable even in the courts of Allah, Christ or any other religion. Our sheer inefficency of punishing Kasab and spending crores on him also shows the stark reality of how casual our leaders seem to take this issue. I am sure that if there is a sufficient political will , Kasab can be shot dead in the head within no time . Each day Kasab lives shows the disrespect we pay to our own heroes and martyrs who laid their lives battling for India.

With what face do i answer Mr Ombale’s soul, the constable who took 8 bullets in his stomach while capturing Kasab and saving his fellow policeman.What explanation do i give to Sandeep unnikrishnan ‘s family regarding the 35 crores spent on Mr kasab’s health and security. I wish all this money was spent on rehabilitating the victims of 26/11.

InQuilab

Spineless Cowards

A few days ago , a young girl was shot dead at point blank range in the Paradise of Earth.Jannat [Paradise] is the term that adores Kashmir, which is arguably the most scenic and beautiful place on earth.But off late, we see that the snow in our Kashmir bleeds very often with the innocent blood of our young daughters.

In the name of Jihad, there has been a sudden increase in the attacks by the terrorists on young innocent girls . Gunmen suddenly are entering villages and killing young girls. Reason of these unnerving incidents stems from the fact that around 1.5 months ago, a brave girl named Rukhsana had shown astonishing courage by forcibly seizing a gun from a terrorist and killing him on the spot .A wave of terror has probably spread through the spines of the self proclaimed jihadists for they think that they are avoiding prospective Rukhsana s with their cowardly acts.These terrorists are brainwashed to such an extent that they have lost their rationality by convincing themselves that young girls would be their potential threats..

I only can pity these terrorists as they quickly run away to cover their heads after the killings .And seldom does any terrorist understand that killing innocent people in the name of God and freedom would taint his soul with the curse of the victim forever .According to any religion, If there is an afterlife ,the terrorist must be definitely punished in his Jannat . But I would rather prefer that justice be meted to these brainless monsters in their present lives itself as i dont prefer to wait for another life to compensate their bad KARMA.

May God teach them the true tenets of Jihad.
I wish i were God for a moment ..

InQuilab..

Psychotic blunders.

India , a country touted to be the next superpower of the world, where the biggest democracy on earth runs its course sometimes does’nt look to be as perfect as it really seems.

Unity in diversity is India’s forte but at the same time, this same diversity brings unnecessary and precarious divisions in the common society.livid examples include incidents that happen quite frequently in some parts of the prominent cities of India.

I would like to throw upon some light ON a shameful incident that happened a few days back in Mangalore[Karnataka].When a few boys and girls were travelling on a local bus in Mangalore district,suddenly a pack of goons come and give them a sound thrashing.The craziest of the reason of the beating is that the boys dared to travel along with girls of a different religion.Interestingly , the goons were informed about this situation by some of the locals who were also travelling in the same bus. Unfortunately the self proclaimed saviours of religion are probably unaware or definetly have the audacity to break one of the most important fundamental right of Indian constitution.This uncanny act of breaking the right to freedom and publicly rejecting the principles of secularism is a blatant violation on part of the fanatics who felt it proud to give a thrashing to the innocent boys and girls.In fact, it was later found that the boys and girls were actually going to participate in a sports meet and were in no way guilty of spoiling the so called sanctity of pure religion.And what sort of the religion do these brutes follow when they punish their own brothers and sisters on incredulous beliefs of religious purity.

Why don’t religious fanatics understand that religion is only a path to trace our footsteps towards GOD and all humans are part of elite organisms who are a lucky to have attained an increased awareness of life , knowledge and freedom. Can we really afford to waste time on these kind of dysfunctional issues of communalism while scores of Indians starve under our own shadow.Why don’t these psychotic individuals realise that there are brave soldiers of different religions guarding our border and sacrificing their lives without bothering to see whether their blood compensates for the security of a Hindu, Muslim ,Christian or a Parsi.

I challenge the persons responsible for such dastardly acts to show their bravery on the frontiers of the LOC rather than showing off their so called devotion towards guarding their so-called, self proclaimed unethical tenets of religion.I can only pity those goons as they waste their time on mindless chauvinism.I hope that the snail paced long hand of law gives these brutes a be-fitting punishment.
InQuiLab..

Sons of the Soil

What happens when a poor farmer in India is not able to repay his debt?
What happens when a farmer in India is not able to grow his crops because of failed monsoon or drought ?

The answer is that in India, our sons of soil find a way out of debts by deciding to assimilate themselves into the soil by committing suicide.
63 years of free India still does’nt give freedom to the farmers who till the soil to feed the billion mouths.The only freedom the poor farmer achieves is that his soul gets detached from his body after self annihilation.

Last year the barren land of Vidharba quenched its thirst by the suicides of hundreds of farmers while this year over 40 farmers in A.P have already left this world, for they could’nt achieve freedom from their debts in this lifetime.Taking one’s own life is the last and the most extreme step that one can think of when things go wrong. When one gets totally pushed to the wall and sees no way of achieving solace nor any path of survival, one is pushed to suicide.Unfortunately our govt has consistently been able to nurture this thought and push our farmers to commit suicide by not taking any concrete corrective steps .

It is a shame to live in a country where the hands that feed the country themselves cannot feed their own families .On one side, i read a daily report in the newspaper that keeps a count on the farmer’s deaths and on the other side, i read an article that highlights the surplus rotting wheat grains in the state of punjab.I would somewhat agree that 63 years ago, it was probably common that we did’t have the technology nor the ability to contain farmer’s deaths.But at this age of technology where we claim that India is going to be the next superpower,we are not able to stop the continuing suicides of our own farmers.

We continue to achieve a sense of satisfaction by looking at our GDP growth rate . On every independence day , i do find a lot of people who are proud to be born as Indians . I appeal to all those people to proclaim the same in front of the lifeless bodies of the sons of soil.

InQuilab.

The Naked Truth

India, the nation that supposedly treats women as Goddesses ,a country where women are worshipped as devis and given exceptional respect ,a land where the inhabitants bow to Lakshmi ,Saraswathi, and Kali is astonishingly approaching a state of naked paranoia.

Since the last few weeks, i have read around 3 reports of manhandling of women by unruly mobs .Yes, our motherland is turning into a victim that sheds tears of blood whenever a woman is disrespected.Last week a woman in Patna was publicly disrobed by a mob of senseless hooligans.The woman was publicly molested and manhandled for an unconfirmed theft that she supposedly committed.And we had the so called educated brutes watching the tamasha as if a public stage show was going on.The so called socially responsible TV channel that aired the footage made sure that the lady ‘s victimisation is carefully taped to cash on its revenues.Thankfully the lady’s face was blurred ,albeit her soul would have also been blurred by the heart wrenching experience she had on the holy soil of India.

I was left wondering as to what is the exact reason for common citizens to behave as sexual perverts.Does our religion teach us to punish the women by stripping them naked? Does our Indian tradition preach that the dishonouring of the lady be a means of achieving justice.The surprising part is that the barbaric Taliban also does’nt consider this brutal stripping as a form of punishment but we Indians don’t bat an eyelid when we strip,molest or humiliate women in public.The worst part is that the perpetrators of these kind of crimes continue to roam scotfree for the fact that our Indian law takes its own sweet time for punishing the criminals.

Every one of us seems to have developed this inherent feeling of apathy towards these kind of crimes .If at all ,there is a God or a Goddess, i sincerely pray that the brutes responsible for dishonouring the woman be publicly flogged till their blood cleans their dirty sins.

As i end this blog , i get an unpleasant feeling of utter helplessness .
I wish ,i were a dictator .

InQuilab

Azaadi meri Dulhan Hai

”AZAADI MERI DULHAN HAI”, This immortal statement by the well known Bhagat Singh always strikes a sense of patriotism in my veins..But today, i would like to highlight an immortal incident in another revolutionary’s life..
Yes, this excerpt is about AZAD himself.
A very interesting event had occured in the life of Azad during his childhood.This incident was actually a lesson in our Hindi textook during my school days and this scene is very vividly etched in my memory. The description of the scene is as follows.

Azad was a teenager[15 years] when he was caught by the police and produced before the magistrate for a hearing .Azad was accused for demostrating in rallies against the British govt. When Azad was produced before the judge, the following dialogue ensued between the judge and him.

JUDGE; ‘Bachhe, tumhaara naam kya hai.’
[Boy, what is your name]

BOY; ‘AZAD’

JUDGE; Baap ka naam,
[Name of your father ]

BOY; SWAADHEEN
[self motivated and self-dependence]

JUDGE; Kaha rehte ho.
[where do you stay]

BOY; Jailkhaana
[prison].

The magistrate sentences Chandrashekhar that he be awarded 15 lashes on his bare back .Chandrashekahar kept shouting ‘BHarat Mata ki Jai’ as each lash from the whip ripped through his flesh until his young blood became visible.
After this incident , the name ”AZAD’ got attached to Chandrashekhar and from then on , the name ‘ Chandrashekhar Azad ‘ became well known .

Such is the courage of our great revolutionary that even after 80 years ,i feel a sense of awe and respect that i belong to a country where AZAD was born. I would be happy if i could emulate even an ounce of CHANDRASHEKAHR AZAD’S courage and patriotism..

So, the next time you face a situation where you have to decide what is right and what is best for your country, draw on the raw courage which AZAD thrived on and deal the situation with an iron fist.

”long live the revolution”

InQuilab