Don’t find it easy? Set yourself ablaze.

I really question the modus operandi adopted by some people to establish their viewpoint. Violence is of course one form. Beat up others who don’t support your school of thought, vandalize and use all other potential means of destruction. But is burning up oneself the ultimate step that is left, to show your support and your outburst? Is death the means to achieve an end? Would burning up your body give an impetus to the process of achieving the end result? Is your life worth that issue you stand for?
Everybody has forgotten the case of Rajiv Goswami setting himself on fire, during the Mandal agitation. As for the very latest incident, take the example of Yadaiah, a university student, who set himself on fire to voice his stand on the Telengana issue, in Hyderabad. He could have been as well alive and support the cause rather than set himself afire. Did he achieve anything out of this act? No. Is he being talked about anymore? No. Will he be talked about anymore? Perhaps, if the electronic media at some later phase feels that the issue is significant enough to be discussed on TV.
He would never know what became of the issue. He would never know whether his act actually helped in achieving the goal set by his party. He would never know the joy of winning. Neither the gloom of losing. He would never know anything.

Cheque De India

Shahrukh khan had tried to set an example. Chak de India did set an example. One aspect of the movie was highlighting of a highly doubtful phrase, atleast in the current phase, ‘Unity in Diversity’. Another thing portrayed in that movie is about the plight of Indian women hockey players.
A report appeared recently in one of the leading newspapers in Delhi carried the horrifying report about the plight of the women in the hockey team of India. Most of them come from the lower strata of the society and are also, sadly, the breadwinner of their family. The team goalkeeper E Rajini’s plight was brought to light recently. Her father is a carpenter with an income of Rs 3000-5000 a month. He needed a surgery for his kidney which meant raising a whooping amount of Rs 20,000. Rajni’s father was in no position to meet the expenditure; neither she or her three siblings and mother.
Ironically, the men’s team had been handed over cheques by Hockey India (HI) after Rs 1 crore came from Sahara. This money was also earned after continuous protests. Interestingly, the women were told there was not enough money for their achievements.
The question here is not whether hockey, our national game, is given its due status and prestige. Of course it’s not. And we all know it. The debate is more than that. The question here is why are the women players not given their due status and prestige. If the men’s hockey team can be awarded a huge amount of one crore, why not the women players? After all, they had won Champions Challenge II and made to the finals of Asia Cup last year.
Here is one country, where cricket players are bought. A huge sum is invested in cricket. A cricket match raises the TRP’s, leads to over hype and excitement. But with all due respect, there isn’t much respect left for our national game. And even more less respect for the upcoming women hockey players. For that matter, even the women’s cricket team. What is not digestible is the fact that though some of these women have proved their mettle in our national game, and also represented India in the international field, still are being paid a meagre 10,000.
They say we live in the 21st century. They shout out slogans about women empowerment. But this outrageous incident makes us question whether India is really on the path of liberation, especially for women, as it claims to be.

Salute to her

This is one incident I would never forget. It wasn’t anything extraordinary, just a simple gesture, by someone whom I had least expected to act that particular way. Of course it was her duty, her responsibility. But then, we don’t often get help from people executing that nature of job, which she was.
One of my friends stays in Faridabad. She has to take an auto daily from our college, till Badarpur Border. By meter it would have cost her Rs 80/-. But as a habitant of Delhi, one would know only too well, that the meters don’t work. Never. Most of them have technical problems. Apparently, the meter production isn’t done in right way. All the manufactured meters have faults.
So, the onus lies on our poor auto-wallahs. They have to act as meters, and that to a high-speed-running one, and decide the cost. So my dear friend, after half an hour of arguing with auto-wallahs, to drop her to Badarpur Border, since they didn’t find it attractive enough to agree to go that place, finally found one. He asked for Rs 120/-. We shooed him away. Then another. Same story. Then another. Then another.
All this time, I had noticed a woman traffic police officer sitting there and watching all this drama taking place. And all the time I was just cursing her, about how passive one could be. Then the green light shown. A fleet of cars and buses and already hired autos started moving. Then came another auto, which had no plan of stopping for us.
And the unexpected happened. That woman police officer, whom I had been cursing, ran towards the auto and stopped it. She told him to activate his meter, and take my friend to wherever she wanted to go.
We couldn’t thank her enough. She just smiled, like this was nothing great she did. Of course, the auto-wallah was bickering all the way to my friend, but it was worth it. And this, my article, is dedicated to her. To women as well as male police officers, who posses the sense of responsibility, just like her. JAI HIND.