Baba-ism for Dummies

Ajay mailed me a video, an interesting one at that. This is a "How To" guide or "self-help video" to become a successful cult leader.

This refreshed my memories, when on insistence of Shivi, I joined Isha Yoga's spirituality program called Inner Engineering. The difference between me and other participants was that I went there with an "examining mind" and others with "submissive minds." Whatever was being said, shown, taught, their behavior, the ambiance, all was being scrutinized by this tiny brain. There was enormous effort by the yoga teachers (or cult preachers) to make it as logical and appealing as possible. But all this did not fit in frames of my logic and reasoning. Can't help it! This is the problem with people who suffer with OCD of rationality and logic. They just cannot take anything on its face value, just cannot believe in anything.

However, at that time, there was no negative evidence in my possession and there was no reason to disbelief what was told. I was open to all possibilities. I was practicing the Shambhavi Mahamudra , the yoga taught, religiously without fail. Though there was no "positive change" or "feel good feeling"  inside me as experienced by other participants. If you believe in something, your body and mind will create experiences which would fall in accordance with your belief. For example, if you think the medications will cure you, there is a fair chance that you will be cured even if you are given sugar pills and not real medications. This is called "placebo" effect. Similarly, if you practice some yoga believing you will have some strange experience, quite likely you will have "that" experience. Mind is smart!

Meanwhile, I laid my hand on a book called "Inner Journey" by Osho. Though I just skimmed through it, it was enough to prove that all the teachings and preachings of the program "Inner Engineering" came from the book "Inner Journey." Some days past, Jaggi Vasudev visited Bangalore and was welcomed by a houseful auditorium. This was discourse and Q&A session. A question caused quite a bit of discomfort to Mr Vasudev. It was "what do you think of Osho?" He answered "there is no point in discussing about a person who could not be present to justify what is being told about him." It was clearly a diplomatic denial of answer. It is called plagiarism in my language and those who fail to acknowledge others contribution in their thoughts deserve no respect, they are fraud.

These were enough for me to form an opinion about Isha Yoga and its founder. Meanwhile, I googled about cult and came across a marvelous book called "Combating Cult Mind Control" by Steve Hassan who himself was part of a cult before being rehabilitated. There was description of typical traits of a cult and I could exactly match them with those of Isha Yoga. If you analyze any of the fast-mushrooming cults  throughout the landscape, you would find the same superstructure. Same tactics to deceive. Same ways of exploitation.  The above video summarizes all of them pretty well.

Cults feed and grow well in a democratic environment because the authorities fear losing public support  as these cults are considered spiritual and religious, that is until the truth is revealed. Politicians and corporates both can be seen paying visits to the "keepers of the spirituality." In democracy, sun revolves around the earth until moronic majority believes otherwise. And when the power rests in the majority's tantrums, which authority would like to play with venomous cults?

Related Readings:

• Harmanjit Singh's blog offers a lot of insight into religion, cults, et all, including Jaggi Vasudev -  http://harmanjit.blogspot.com
• Colonel Zaysen has done an excellent in depth analysis of Isha Foundation's activities and Jaggi Vasudev's claims - http://zaysen.blogspot.com/2011/04/sadhguru-jaggi-vasudev-his.html

After Effects of Earth Hour

Millions (or say BILLIONS to feel good) celebrated Earth Hour on March 27, 2010 throughout the world. My megacity, Bangalore, participated actively and apart from few scuffles about time of event (8:30 PM v/s 8:30 AM), there were no major incidents of violence.

Some activists got emotional at the end of the event and wanted the Earth Hour to be converted to Earth Year. Few anti-social elements raised slogan that Earth Hour is a propaganda of foreign powers to destabilize Earth. Overall, the feedback from the public was that Earth Hour should be celebrated during daytime. Here is a small list of 7 events that occurred in Bangalore during and because of Earth Hour:

1. There were 7 incidents of major fire at 9:30 p.m. today which kept the fire department busy. The suspected reason is that since all were suppressing fart during Earth Hour (since fart contains methane and methane causes global warming), everybody farted as soon as Earth Hour was over and concentration of inflammable methane increased suddenly at 9:30 p.m. causing outbreak of fire at many places.

One lady's Kanjeevaram silk saree was burnt as she farted explosively near her husband who was smoking. The sari was under warranty.

2. I myself had an accident with a bat after I switched off my bike's headlight and the bat switched off its sonar while participating in Earth Hour. Bat had not brought insurance coverage and my motor insurance does not cover air accidents.

3. Robbers in the city reportedly had huge difficulty as they had to work without torch during the Earth Hour. However, the president of the country had appreciated their effort in making earth hour a success. Robbers Association of India has requested to celebrate Earth Hour more frequently.

4. Couples who went to multiplex to watch "Love, Sex, aur Dhokha" ended up watching "Black" as projector lights were switched off during Earth Hour. Taking advantage of darkness, they betrayed their love, had sex with unseen person (it was dark), and did dhokha with their lover.

The police registered a huge increase in infidelity cases at 9:30 p.m. Multiplex owners also registered complaint against unknown couples for damaging the chairs. Pharmaceutical stores were finding it difficult to satisfy the demand for I-pill at 9:30 p.m.

5. Because monitors had to be switched off during Earth Hour, employees sent job applications to their present employer's email instead of prospective employer. However, this did not sour the employee-employer relationship as the employers were not able to see the sender's email ID.

Employees are demanding that at least backlit keyboards be provided during Earth Hour.

6. The flood lights at the cricket stadium were switched off during Earth Hour. Today's IPL match between Kings XI Punjab vs. Kolkata Knight Riders was played without ball as it was thought ball could hurt players as they had to play in dark. Deccan Chargers won the match.

Sidhu came out with the idea of radium-coated ball specially for matches during Earth Hour.

7. At coaching classes, students were not able to read or write as lights went off during Earth Hour. So, they ended up reading Penthouse and Mastram which they had by hearted and need no light to read.

Teacher said the students should put same kind of effort to study course material as they put for Penthouse. He also that he will send letter to NCERT for inclusion of Penthouse in the curriculum so that students can improve their grades.

Related: My Take on Earth Hour

Snake Walk 3 - March 7, 2010

Snake Walk 3 was organized by Pramod on behalf of Chennai Trekking Club on 2010-03-07.

My Take on Earth Hour

Technology is invented to ease the life. Ease of life shouldn't be limited to preserve the resource for future's sake. There is no need to preserve a technology/resources. If the demand far exceeds the present availability of resources, then it means the resource is inefficient to meet today's need. If the depletion of a resources scares you, then think it is the time to invent a new technology to replace the old one. Horse was replaced by petrol. Whale oil was replaced by electric bulb.

Those who neither have the courage to stand behind nor reasoning to support their ideology find it convenient to tout borrowed wisdom. There is no risk of being left alone as the army of mindless masses is always at leisure to support a popularized vision. You look into the publications and find a "cause" suitable to own personality and bingo! you are the latest fighter in the crusade of "the cause." Such a wisdom is just that, borrowed. Like borrowed money, borrowed wisdom is used for outer beautification of the body, never satisfies the soul. It is like concubines, can be of pleasure, can signify eliteness, but can never produce heirs. There is satisfaction of life in inventing the theories all over again on our own, there is sense in envisioning the universe by own eyes.

Lets celebrate the advent of new inventions rather than mourn the death of old and inefficient. Lets rediscover the wheel.

Suicide or Homicide? - A short story.

If you wish to kill yourself by hanging, would you stand on the floor and press your neck against the rope? Would you?

March 24, 1931: “He was found partially hanging with his feet touching the ground in his party office-cum-residence." reported The Hindu, in the article describing death of Karam Singh. This particular piece of text caught my attention. It is called "near hanging," i.e., feet touching the ground while hanging. What followed was a common sense investigation, few questions, and rational imagination of the event.

Who Karam Singh: Karam Singh was the legend of peasant uprising in Punjab in the latter years of nineteenth century. He was the founding father of Kisan Mukti Sabha, which went on to become the stage for men of the land who took up arms against colonialism, who rejected Gandhian strategy of pleading for rights to survive. Peasant uprising of 1889 was crushed by the British army, which ironically employed Indians soldiers. With two of his comrades dead and 7 years spent in jail, Karam Singh broke and lost the vigor for armed struggle. Once fierce in his youth, he had become frail, lost the flames in his heart, and had publicly renounced the use of violence to obtain freedom. He lived a life of simplicity in a small hamlet named Nabadgoan till his last day. On March 23, 1931, he was found dead, his small body hanging from the ceiling, his bare feet touching the mud floor. "He committed suicide," police said. "He was ill and unable to bear the pain of illness," they added with poker face.

The Execution: Near-hanging is not a good way to do suicide as it is often nonfatal. This is because even if you press your neck hard on the rope and try to hang, you will fall unconscious before death occurs and your body will automatically find support on ground (law of gravity). So, if you want to die, then you have to jump off a height with rope tied tight around your neck. A chair or bed are good options in home setting. Considering the height of chair/bed to be around 2 feet and elasticity of the rope, the body has to suspend in air some 1-1/2 feet above the ground. This will be the perfect setting of suicide by hanging. But Singh was found with his feet touching the ground.

Incidents of near hanging is usually found among the young population with average age of people attempting near hanging being 31. Many cases involve no intention of suicide but only "breath play" mostly involving teens and young adults. People try to strangulate themselves (breath play) for short duration to experience the hallucinatory effect as the oxygen flow to the brain stops. Of course, there are accidental deaths. Karam Singh at 78 does not fit the bill for this method of self murder, at least not statistically.

The minimum height recommended for judicial hanging (sentenced by law) is the length of the body. This ensures that enough pressure is applied by the rope on the neck, enough to cause almost immediate death. In a crude way, this pressure can be calculated as - body weight x gravity + momentum gained on falling. However, a height of a feet or two does a good job even though the death is not as painless as in the previous case. Freshmen in the business of suicide (and acrophobics) do try hanging themselves at ground level or at small heights. Since the body does not hang, the force applied by the rope on the neck is quite small. This situation is more like choking rather than hanging. Death, if it occurs, is quite painful and prolonged. Given the encounters Singh might have had with life and death, he must have known the difference between hanging and choking. Why would he choose a painful death?

Is it possible that he died and then not sustaining his weight, the rope loosened and his body was lowered to the ground? If the rope is loose, will it sustain his weight at the first place when he jumps off the height? Or possibly a holy ghost loosened the rope after he was dead.

Sources:

http://www.writing-world.com/mystery/suicide.shtml

http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0020138303001104

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1342658/pdf/jaccidem00011-0063.pdf

The Note: Statistically speaking, around 35% of people who commit suicide, leave a note behind. Karam babu was a leader, man of the masses, a thoughtful person. He was an ideologist who would not stop himself from expressing his feelings. Given his personality, one would expect him to codify his final words, to the townsmen, to the comrades, before attempting suicide. Yet no note was found.

The Media: The media was quick enough to plug holes of suspicion by announcing it as "suicide" and the reason as "age-related ailments." And they came to the conclusion even before autopsy could be conducted. This is rather a rare behavior of news vendors, they are very curious to know the inside story, always on hunt for conspiracy. And here it was, a bland story of a suicide by a frail old man.

Skim through various brands of news and they all have the same standard version of the story. It describe the event in 2 lines (Karam Singh committed suicide by hanging, police thinks it is suicide) and then quickly shifts the focus to his life history (his involvement with peasant uprising, death of comrades, his imprisonment, release from jail). Then finally as an ending note, they described his renunciation of violent means for freedom.

The Season: Karam Singh supposedly had abdicated armed struggle after being released from prison. Still he was the founding leader and general secretory of Kisan Mukti Sabha, the same flag that waves atop Kanhalal's camp, the most wanted freedom fighter or terrorist, as the British would call him. Kanhalal had taken Karam Singh's place, he was the poster boy of armed struggle now. The same ideology rested in the hearts of both men. Though having rejected violence as means of revolution, it would be foolhardy to consider that Singh had no links with Kanhalal. After all both belonged to the same party, had same ideology, only the zeal of youth had faded in the former.

With increasing activities of KMS, the colonial rulers launched the Operation Black Buck. It was meant to flush out and clean the jungles off the so-called terrorist faction of KMS. With the Operation Black Buck on and army masquerading in the green land to hunt down the red rebels, it would make sense that the British officials had something to glean from Singh. Some information about the rebels, their whereabouts, their strategies, what else, I don't know. Anyway, these are just wild, wild, guesses. In short, Operation Black Buck might have had something to do with Karam Singh and his "timely" death just when the genocide of rebels is on.

The End: All the above facts (actually fiction) turned the needle of suspicion (or guess) in some particular direction, which certainly is not the plain and simple self annihilation. But the history was not to reveal the truth because as of 1931, British ruled the land and the ruler writes the history. Whatever it be, it was a cold matter. Decay of a body which cannot support the weight of its owner's ideologies does not gather heat. By the second day of death, Karam Singh, who once made headlines, was pushed to some obscure corner of inner page of newspapers. Autopsy report could never make it to print. There were other important issues to report. By now, Gandhi's “Quit India Movement” had taken the nation by storm. Emotions were burning high in all directions. Desire to be free was taking shape and form. Independence was imminent, tomorrow if not today. A faint smile had spread itself across million faces, hovering above the scars of loss, pains of struggle. In this chaos, who would remember the death of old ideologue, who could barely lift a handgun in his last days, but yet dreamed of that elusive freedom for the masses. Let him die, let him lie in peace. Who cares whether it was suicide or homicide.

Disclaimer: Everything written above is figment of my imagination and has nothing to do with any dead or living person. Similarity, if any, with any dead or living person, past or present event, would be just by random chance.

Prison Diary

Its good (read fashionable) to save tigers and tress, turtles and culture, but for the sake of your testicles, you should not raise your voice to describe the plight of human and their rights for survival.

My knowledge of Piyush is limited to 2 mails we have exchanged so far. All I know about him is that he is a useless fellow, does nothing to increasing the nations GDP, pays no tax, talks gibberish about human rights and similar nonsense, goes to meet the tribal communities to find their problems, those sort of things. Huh! Who cares! Anyway, if you have not got your daily dose of TV serial, here are some excerpts from Piyush' blog.

 ...Later in the day, I was taken to residence of the Judicial Magistrate to be remanded & for almost one hour the Magistrate outside his home discussed Development, Violence, Politics but failed to record my statement against the Police Inspector who assaulted me. He lied in writing that I had no complaints against the police...

... The Handbills that asked for Peace & Restoration of Constitutional Rights of Lac’s of Tribal’s in Central India was seen as a threat & a conspiracy against the Indian State. The arrest was not smooth. It was a mixture of brutal assault & verbal abuses. The state has empowered its men to act as goons in the very day our constitutional rights were guaranteed & enshrined...

Source: Prison Diary Twenty Three Days of confinement Learning & Struggle , Hand in Hand.

Right of Revolution

Thoreau ruminates on "right of revolution" in the article, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience:

Henry David Thoreau

All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable. But almost all say that such is not the case now. But such was the case, they think, in the Revolution of '75.

What Does It Mean In Indian Context: All in the Indian motherland justify the freedom struggle of India and glorify the men involved in it. Yet they fail to recognize the tyranny of nation on its own men. They disgrace the movements of freedom, which erupt against the inexpedient and repressive regime, by grouping them with terrorist organizations. They call Bhagat Singh a martyr and Khalistan supporters betrayers. Subhas Bose is netaji and Kanu Sanyal is naxal.

Source (Ebook): On the Duty of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau

Let's Get Drunk

The State of Gujarat and its citizen have been paying a high price for the legacy of Gandhian values. In a previous post, I've regurgitated my views on alcohol prohibition in Gujarat and how illegal and illogical it is. Memories were refreshed by a recent news item:

"The State government in its bid to make flow of liquor easier for visitors has started issuing permits at the Ahmedabad airport itself... ...The visitor will need to show his residence proof, signifying that he lives outside the state and pay nominal charges to obtain the permit,” an official said. Information about the location of liquor shops would also be provided with the permit..."

Source: Times Of India, Dated 2010-02-16

This suggests that one can procure alcohol, drink, and get drunk in Gujarat if s/he happens to belong to anywhere but Gujarat. In my view, it is just a form of racial discrimination between Gujaratis and the rest of the world. The irony is that it is the Government of Gujarat which is encouraging such discrimination against its own citizens. This law is a violation of the Indian constitution and what the constitution preaches, i.e., that all Indians be treated equally.

Note that the liquor permits are issued at the airport and not at the railway station. Mr. Minister gives the opportunity to drink only to the rich air passengers, but not to the not-so-rich rail passengers. Now, this is another kind of discrimination between the rich and not so rich.

So far, two other species were thought fit for alcohol consumption in Gujarat - foreigners and the army. What can explain the government's stand on allowing foreigners and the army to get drunk? Probably, the alcohol is more enticing to foreign tourists than Gandhian values. Or probably it is important to demonstrate the magical abilities of brewing "foreign liquors in India" (Indian Made Foreign Liquor). Why is the army considered untouchable for Gandhian values and is cursed to alcoholism? Why can't they keep away from liquor? Or does the government have doubts about the vigor of our men in the army and believes that they need the intoxication of alcohol to stand straight on the border?

“We have taken the initiative to ensure liquor is not an impediment in the growth of the tourism sector in the state,” says Gujarat tourism secretary, Vipul Mitra.

Now, this statement along with the action taken (setting liquor permit shops) indicates that the Gujarat government believes a "liquor ban is an impediment for the state's growth." Would that not then translate effectively to mean, "Gandhian values are impediment for the state's growth"? If that indeed be the case - is it not a straight forward insult against a man who can be found everywhere in India, on currency notes, in text books, on hoardings, in speeches (though embodiments of his values and ideologies are a rarity).

Conclusion: A new entry has been made in "the hall of fame of discriminatory laws." Even though this law is unconstitutional and discriminatory, it is a baby step towards lifting prohibition in Gujarat. The Government of Gujarat is hard pressed between the humongous loss in revenue from liquor boot-legging (worth Rs 100 mn involving tribal to tycoons) along with the ever increasing thirst of Gujaratis on one side and a piece of dead morality to defend on the other. It has very limited options to choose from. An outright revocation of the prohibition may sound justifiable and the best way to go, but it is hardly a politically viable solution. Given the circumstances, the baby steps are the only hope with the hope that the state would "keep walking" in the desired direction.

Solution: May be abstinence from alcohol was the need of the time 60 years ago, but now it is a part of mainstream society. And that, is irreversible. Nobody abstains from imported goods nowadays as they did then nor does anybody weave their own handkerchief. A simple solution would be to accept the fact that righteousness of ideologies do not remain the same with passage of time. But recognizing that would amount to blasphemy! It's a dam funny world, isn't it?

Smart Alec says "Thou shalt say nothing but truth, but truth thou shalt hide if it inconvines thee."

Related Post: Double Trouble with Gandhism

Note: When I was not able to give this article a proper shape, Nathan offered to do the job of editing and adding many phrases. My sincere thanks to him.

Have You Tested Your Faith?

Image Source: www.wikipedia.org

Here are few paragraphs from the novel Contact by Carl Sagan. The plot is that of conversation between the protagonist radio astronomer, Ellie and two prominent religious heads of United States, Joss and Rankin.

Ellie: "So far as I know you've never tested your faith? I'm willing to do it for mine. Here, take a look out that window. There's a big Foucault pendulum out there. The bob must weight five hundred pounds. My faith says that the amplitude of a free pendulum­­how far it'll swing away from the vertical position­­can never increase. It can only decrease. I'm willing to go out there, put the bob I front of my nose, let go, have it swing away and then back toward me. If my beliefs are in error, I'll get a five­hundred­pound pendulum smack in the face. Come on. You want to test my faith?"

"Truly, it's not necessary. I believe you," replied Joss. Rankin, though, seemed interested. He was imagining, she guessed, what she would look like afterward.

"But would you be willing," Ellie went on, "to stand a foot closer to this same pendulum and pray to God to shorten the swing? What if it turns out that you've gotten it all wrong, that what you're teaching isn't God's will at all? Maybe it's the work of the Devil. Maybe it's pure human invention. How can you be really sure?"

Source: Page 91, Contact by Carl Sagan

Mera Bharat Mahan

On March 10, 2010, Sajjan Kumar and 9 other accused in 1984's Sikh massacre get bail and walk free out of Delhi High Court without even being arrested. And the security pledged was paltry Rs 50,000. The cost of 2733 lives slaughtered in 1984 is just Rs 500,000, thats Rs 183 per life!


On the other hand, Dr Binayak Sen was incarcerated for almost 1 year before he could get bail. What was his crime? Suspicion that he has connection with Maoist. Few letters supposedly written by Maoist leaders and some other article. The Government of Chhattisgarh (India) thinks that reading these letters and articles makes you criminal. What Dr Sen did in the rural villages of Chhattisgarh? Treated the tribal and poor villagers there whom government failed to provide even the basic medical facility.

It took almost one year, protest by various human right activists, and intervention of international bodies before he could be granted a bail. All this drama even though there was no evidence against him.

Now, as August 15 comes, you will roam around with a Rs 5 batch of tricolour and sing "Mera Bharat Mahan." And of course, you have to vote to change the society, change the system, just as you have done for the last 60 odd years.
Related Post: The Lesser Devils

Atrocities of Authorities

Few minutes back, Vinod Varghese, pinged me with the wikipedia link of Irom Chanu Sharmila who has been on hunger strike for 10 years now seeking withdrawal of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958. This reminded me of a picture that has remained vivid in my memory with passage of years.

This was a protest held in Imphal, Manipur on July 15, 2004. They were protesting the custodial rape and killing of a women called Thangjam Manorama, who had been arrested by the paramilitary troops on July 10 on the suspicion of having links with militants. Her body was found later pierced with bullets and marked with torture.

Source: www.deccanchronicle.com/neutral/naked-protest-846

Another news item that passed down memory lane was the article about Kabir Suman, the revolutionary singer and now Trinamool Congress MP.

"I will demonstrate in Parliament premises. It will be peaceful, I will take my guitar and sing, against state-sponsored atrocities perpetrated through laws like UAPA. Whoever wants to join me in that is welcome,"

Suman has decided to sing outside the parliament to protest against Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The act has shot to fame for being Unlawful Activities Act, not an act to prevent unlawfulness, a tool to terrorize the tribal and aadivasis.

Sources:
www.deccanherald.com/content/56095/a-musical-protest-against-atrocities.html
ibnlive.in.com/news/trinamool-mp-to-protest-operation-green-hunt/110456-3.html

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I'm accepting and expecting constructive creative criticism.

The Lesser Devils

Government of India has stepped up its rhetoric on two fronts, towards West and East directions.

Delhi has been demanding to Islamabad that it take action on Hafiz Saeed, supposedly the mastermind of 26/11 terrorist attack in Bombay. "We have given the dossier containing all evidence against Hafiz Saeed and Pakistan is yet to take any action" shouts the minister over the microphones. "Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Tuesday criticized Pakistan for allowing Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed to make provocative anti-India statements despite New Delhi having given clear information of his role in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks." becomes the headline of Indian dailies.

Going East, the office bearers and the media alike have been barking at the highest pitch of their voice, claiming that Australian government has done very little or nothing to protect the people of Indian origin from racial attacks. I do not know how racist the attacks are in reality, but certainly the Indian government seems to be quite concerned about the well being of Indian nationals and people of Indian origin.

In the purview of the events and rhetoric by India that followed, it would be worth to dig the Indian government's emotions and actions a little bit. One would not be surprised to find that all that glitters is thin foil of aluminum and beneath lies the darkness of dead and decayed emotions, infested by inaction and reluctance.

Government of India does not feel ashamed to ask other nations to take action even though it has hardly done anything to bestow justice to the people of its own land who have been gunned down and buried in the same soil. Hardly anybody has been grilled for anti-Sikh riot of 1984 even after 26 long years. On the roads of democratic India, 2733 throats were slit in 1984 and so far, only 13 have been found guilty!

Most recently (Feb 2010), one of the accused, Sajjan Kumar, associated with ruling Congress Party of India, was issued a non-bailable warrant in connection with 1984 riots. He escaped miraculously from being arrested (is that possible without favors?) and the immediate next day, was granted bail by High Court. All of this seemed to be part of a movie, planned in advance.

Many accused, of great political stature, still continue to enjoy the breath of freedom in an air-conditioned ministerial office, holding posts of national importance. Yet many others high rankers have never been named in the dusting files of the case, who need no introduction to the Sikh child born decades after the incident.

Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya and the riots that followed in 1992 were no different. 2000 lives were sacrificed in this holy city, staining the bank of Sarayu in blood. We still see the masterminds of the act waving hands, shouting speeches, winning elections, and ruling the land. The complete attack was video filmed and surprisingly that evidence falls short to prove anything in the court of law.

Then it was Godhra, Gujarat, in 2002. Two compartments of train filled with Hindu pilgrims were burnt alive, strong smell of roasting flesh filled the air. What followed were retaliatory attacks on Muslims spearheaded by .... um, I guess you know who. 1106 humans were butchered in a state where it is illegal to slaughter cattle. People were charred to ball of flesh, throats ripped off, minor girls rapped, wombs torn apart. And still after 8 years of 365 days each, still, still you find "Honorable" prefixed to those names, names which should have been replaced by a number given to the jail inmates.

Bombay has seen the racial abuse of South Indian restaurant owners when Marathi right-wing leaders could not tolerate growing population of South Indians in the city. And Mumbai saw the same being done with North Indian laborers. People speaking languages different from Marathi were beaten black and white, their property stolen and destroyed. Rights of the citizens were reduced to sobbing and blaming their fate. Now a days, very few individuals in Mumbai have the right to decide what to say, what to do, what to wear, and whether to make love or not. Life had been held hostage time and again by the saffron captor. And the state government, even though ideologically diagonal to the saffron brigade, has no courage to take even baby steps towards epicenter of hate. Its an irony that in this country, the law-breakers are the ones who promise that rule of law will prevail if they are chosen as the representative.

Christian community has felt the nervousness of existence in this country as minority. They and their dwellings have been burnt alike in Orissa. Places of worship destroyed and civilian rights diminished in Karnataka. Weren't these acts of racism, the same racism that inspired attacks and killings of Indians in Australia?

May be Hafiz Saeed's political and religious importance in Pakistan is similar to that of bosses of saffron brigade in India. If India cannot arrest and prosecute prominent Indian leaders for the crimes committed in India, how can Pakistan touch Hafiz Saeed for 26/11 attacks in Mumbai. Hafiz Saeed may be the reason for death of 209 Indians, but what of those who were responsible for genocide of thousands and thousands of Indians.

If India cannot check on racism in Maharashtra, Karnataka, or Orissa, then how can it dictate to Australia about safety of Indians there. Racial abuse in Australia can be counted, but same cannot be said about Maharashtra, Karnataka, or Orissa. The incidents in India vastly outnumber those in Australia.

But the answers of the questions asked are hardly coming. Is anybody listening? Is anybody even interested in seeing home bread and home fed terrorists prosecuted? If the nation cannot protect its citizens and provide them justice on its own land, then it has very little right to ask for justice on the foreign land.

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I'm accepting and expecting constructive creative criticism.