Clothes maketh the man - KHADI

The clothes of our khadi brigade. Ahh...yes, now let me concentrate my attention towards KHADI. The Indian symbol of politicaldom, the uniform of the nonuniform ensemble of politicians, the cloth of the common man. Now let's take a look at its history, this simple cloth was worn by native Indians during the nineteenth century. It came into prominanace when it became a tool of revolution against the British rule during the 'Civil Disobedience' movemen. The British cotton was shunned and the Indian khadi was worn by the masses as asymbol of protest against the Foreign rule. It's underlying sentiment was that we are proud of all things Indian and we choose to wear what is made by us than what is sent by you, a symbol of our times, Indianness and freedom. Just like your rule, cotton may be more comfertable, modern and stately but we still prefer to have our freedom and dignity. Thus khadi became the symbol of our pride and revolt. Though it was a political tool it was a symbol of our nationality. Today what needs to be done by the new politicians is to stop wearing it. Yes its not a typo and I sincerely mean what I write, stop wearing khadi. The khadi today, sadly, represents the dirty politician and dirtier politics. Just like our freedom struggle from the Foreign rule, our struggle for freedom from Neta rule requires us to symbolise the fact that we are not a part of the Dirty, anti-nationalist, money grabbing, religious fundamentalist, caste based or any other form of todays politician. We respect our freedom and exercise it to choose our clothes which are not a baggage of our past and cover of our future. Wear what the people you represent wear, clothes that you would wear while roaming the streets, shopping, at home, at work. Its time we fight against every symbol of our rotting political condition.This brings to mind the climactic scene from Mani Ratnam's "Yuva", where the newly elected MLA's walk into the parliament wearing jeans and shirts and seem like small drops of colour on an empty canvas.

Pakistan's Frankenstein

Once again terrorism's ugly face rises in Pakistan and this time too its the unsportsman like behaviour by the Pakistan's official's which is more disturbing than the act of terrorism itself.
Adding insult to serious injury came the instantaneous statement that it was the LTTE that attacked the Sri Lankan team and the blatantly shameful attempt by the Govt. to cover up the security mishap.
To this moment Pakistani officials say that adequate security was provided to the Lankan team. What are there parameters for "adequate security" are beyond logical reasoning, perhaps the fact that police was present at all suffices or probably the fact that five security personnel were killed in the attack provides enough proof on behalf of Pakistan's arrangements.
News reports suggest that a prior warning was sent to the Police about the attack and lankan bus routes were changed and yet a pre-planned attack was executed with deadly accuracy.
The most amazing aspect of the whole event, for me, is the unbelievable fact that out of a dozen terrorist not even a single one was captured or killed by the security personnel, tells a lot about the level of skill of the police and raises questions on their intent. One thing is for sure the only Pakistani officials with "balls" to be found were inside the stadium.
This attack has now once and for all stamped the fact that the Frankenstein called Terrorism that Pakistan has "made" and nurtured on its own home is now out of its control and will lead to is own destruction soon enough. They are again trying to play the "foreign hand" card but they will have to face the bitter truth that their homegrown beast has turned on the master.
I only have pity for the general public who are suffering at the hands of terrorists and the Govt. because they neither hold the gun nor the seat but are victims to both. The only way out for them is probably to start speaking against the Govt., the official and the parallel one, just like we have after the Mumbai attacks because no matter how divided we are in life in death we all are united. Many uncanny similarities are being drawn between the two attacks and let one more be added to the list, the citizens, the people, the common man will not take a bullet or stains of dirty politics lying down. Its time we started cleaning up our homes of these pests. Do not be afraid of the gun or the seat because it's you who wields them both.
Sometimes I feel our freedom cost us too much, a price we still are unable to pay, but I hope that rather than bullets flying across the border white doves will fly, however improbable it may seem today.

50% SOUL!!!!!

Once upon a time there was a boy who wandered the earth, going from one continent to other, city to city, culture to culture. He had been travelling all his life as soon as he was born because he was born to a wandering couple. He didn't belong to any country, culture or religion. He travelled the whole world, knew numerous languages, understood many cultures. He could survive in any landscape and weather. The knowledge of the world was imbibed in his mind. After years of travelling he reaches the top of the world, stands at the edge, looks down on at the sea of clouds and feels calm. He looks around, nobody. He can't share his knowledge, his wisdom, his lifetime of learning's of great stories with anyone. He feels empty, betrayed by nature, by God. He climbs down and on his way sees a monastery. he looks inside and sees a girl sitting on the ground deep in meditation. He keeps his belongings down and sits at the gate looking at her. A few hours pass by, she opens her eyes and looks at him sitting there. she is not startled. She signals him to come near her and sit down. he goes over to her and sits in front of her. She closes her eyes he too does the same. He shivers but feels her warmth near. He can see her face, radiant, soft. He moves closer to her till they kiss. He opens his eyes she is standing with her hand outstretched. He gets up takes her hand in his and they go to the temple and get married. In an year he settles down in the valley and becomes a farmer, they have a baby and all the fruits of a marriage. One day when she is drying the clothes outside with the sun behind her and he stares at her sillouhette, he goes up to her, holds her from the back, engulfing her in his arms he asks "why did you marry me that day?". She turns her face and says "I was born in this valley, lived all my life here, never went out only prayed and read. That day I sat there wondering that I don't have anyone to share my life, wisdom, beliefs with anyone and when I opened my eyes I saw you at the door and I knew for whom I lived and waited". He smiles on listening to this and they kiss.

still trying to figure out blogging, one step at a time, is there something equivalent of an excalator in blogging world so that my first step gets me to the top?? if there is please feel free NOT to share it with me. Its not that i am being arrogant to reject help, I would rather find my own path because one thing i have learnt is that following in others path may be effective but making your own usually turns out more efficient. On the same note never turn down advice because the mantra for success is "use not only your own brain but all the brains you can borrow".
I walk alone
but not on my own
the path is new
but with pointers askew
I climb for a better view
but to see where others flew
a different direction
but one that is a reflection
I know not my future
but History i read for sure
fulfilling my destiny
but it was always meant to be.

First reaction is closest to the Truth

And mine is "o.k. i am finally writing". I always wanted to but I kept waiting for the right time, sounds more intellectual than "had no clue how to". A good advice that I got once was to keep the opening short so as people dont loose track(ever heard of "short public memory") but interesting enough that they should want more. So my first words of inner wisdom to fellow living beings capable of communication, when thinking about if what you should do or did in any situation consider your first reaction towards the situation. That is the closest you'll get to what you feel and then decide what NEEDS to be done because if you look at things in retrospect you'll tend to twist up the facts in order to justify your actions.