Dhothi, Saree and Politics

There is one line that is repeated by many during any national festivals in India and that is "India has Unity in Diversity". True. It has Unity in diversity. But why am I writing this post?

The recent episode of a judge and a couple of lawyers who were denied access to set foot into a party in a club because they were wearing Dhothis made me think a little bit and I thought that I should write this down.

The media has infused and planted strongly, certain stereotypes in people's mind and that is the reason for many problems. Should a college student always be shabby, dressed funny and speak only English with words like "dude" or "whats up"? If the college story is around a boy from village should it portray the protagonist as an innocent, English free boy/girl who gets humiliated by the rest? Should a business man always wear a suit? Should a grandmother always be superstitious? Should Ministers and government officials alone wear clean white shirts and dhothis? (Pertaining to Tamilnadu). It has gone so deep that a brand of white shirts and dhothis has the name "MINISTER WHITE". Of course the white ambassadors with lal battis accompany them. But to really think... White and white shirt and dhothi because that is TN's official dress like Thamizh is its official languages. But well before ambassador production stopped, the politicians shifted to luxury sedans/MUVs/SUVs. So the point I want to convey: People think that it is ridiculous to wear something and do something that are not always shown on TV/Media together.

I see a lot of boys play cricket/football with shorts on the streets and some uncles also wear dhothis and lungis, folded halfway, while playing. But will people accept if Dravid went to the pitch wearing a dhothi? NO! But will it be weird if somebody from his family/friends wearing lungi come to the pitch to congratulate him after the match? NO! Cricket is a game with too much physical activity and it is not indegenous. So the gear and everything that goes with it descends from the country/culture that invented it. If that is the case, why should a guest to a party hosted in a cricket association not be allowed to enter because of a dhothi? He is not going to the pitch to play. He is not a member of the association and hence is not bound by the rules of the association. The premises might be that of the association but the event is not under the control of the association. How would it be if everybody turned up at a Birthday party with full cricket outfit including the pads, gloves and helmet just because the party is held in a place that belongs to a cricket association?

There are so many things that I feel need to be learnt from the West and those things might be really useful for the society. Things like individual freedom, freedom to choose one's career, freedom from being afraid of third person/societal opinion, freedom to live one's life. We can still stick to our culture but only change certain things that were valid practices once upon a time but invalid in the present scenarios. Leaving all that, people are so strict about following the clothing and looks of the west, remaining the same centuries old person within.

The government of Tamilnadu has proposed to ammend laws to make Dhothi the dress of TN officially and that nobody can stay someone from entering somewhere within the jurisdiction of the government because they wear the official dress. All this shows that to save cultural elements, India must resort to laws and legislatures. This is a very terrible and pitiful state.

Coming to schools and colleges. Western education has become inevitable as it has become universal and it would only be foolish to go back suddenly to vedic learning. But should children wear the uncomfortable polycot shirt, pants, skirts, necktie and shoes to school in India? Is that the only discipline? Why not an Indian Kurta pyjama or even dhothi; made of cotton? Most of the places are hot and not all schools are air conditioned even though the fees are exorbitant. At least for girls, there is some Indian touch in the uniforms. Shouldn't law make it clear that western forward thoughts and not clothing be taken up by us Indians? Should there be a law to make India realise something like that?

Reserving India's Poor To Be Poor And BACKWARD ALL THE TIME - 1

Disclaimer: To all those who are reading this post, please do not think that I have written this because I am not benefited by the reservation systems in India. I am grieved that there is no quality because of this reservation system and read this in full if you want to know why I say this.

“Reservation is not a weapon for eradication of poverty, but a right conferred by the Constitution on the socially and educationally backward sections,” -- M. Karunanidhi (DMK family supremo)

I will start with these mouthful words of this young man who just turned 90 last month. World estimates show that about one third of all poor people in the world live in India. When we compare this statement with the one made by the young man seen above, we can see that this visionary is not at all worried about development. His only interest seems to be on vote-bank politics. He is looking yet again, for chances to seat all his family members in a place to exploit tax payers' money, put them in his family coffers under the name of his party and the government. Every man has a probability to become greedy but not so greedy that even when unable to walk, needing the seat of power to exploit people's money.

Time for some facts!

One third of world's poor people live in India

Poverty does not know caste or creed

•   26% of Forward Castes(FC) in Chattisgarh
•   17% of FCs in Jharkand
•   14% of FCs in Tamilnadu and W. Bengal 
•   13% of FCs in Maharashtra and Bihar
•   10% on an average for India

These many FCs are Poor.

At the same time, I have to agree to the fact that the numbers are much higher when it comes to finding out the percentage of poor in the backward castes. In 2000, about 30% of Indian backward castes were below the poverty line.

When we know very clearly that poverty reflects the economy, shouldn't we have tried to alleviate poverty? Dr. B. R. Ambedkar who was the chairman for the draft committee could have believed that since lower caste people were being treated very badly and that they were not given opportunities. So it was a five year plan to give a boost to all those who were neglected to come up, make a decent living. But there was one thing that he had done by mistake. He allowed extension of that allowance if needed, thinking that 5 years will not be enough.

Even if there were reservations, then should they not be based on some values?

In Tamilnadu, if somebody from the so called backward caste or class even passes the standard 12 board exams (a stupid one about which we will talk later), he or she can be admitted into an engineering college and become an engineer.

Coming back to what Karunanidhi had said:

I would like to say that those backward caste people, when denied reservation because they are rich, can't they arrange for arrange for a tutor or more to increase performance? What should we focus on? Politics or the real reason behind why politics and democracy were born?

Subramania Bharathi, A great revolutionary and freedom fighter from Tamilnadu wrote that new India must be free from caste and communal divisions. He was born in a forward community or caste and was repelled by the way people treated the so called low caste people. But the reservation system devised based on caste seems to have aided the politicians more than alleviating poverty.

If the national surveys found out that most of the backward castes are poor, why could not have Ambedkar made a provision based on financial divisions and not caste divisions? By doing this, has he created a war against progress?

Politicians like Karunanidhi would want to have the so called OBCs, SCs and STs alive and poor so that he could win elections! Shouldn't such open statements by a political leader of his age be of some sense and dignity?

Your views?

Women – Human Resources or Just Resources That Humans Use?

Crime Against Women In The Name Of Crime Prevention! Why?

Like many other things in India, started with some reasons and the reasons were lost. When the average life expectancy of Indians was only about 30 at the time of Independence, it was not right, but OKAY to have marriages early in life. It somehow seems fitting! But life has changed so much in the last sixty odd years. India has grown in healthcare and we have an average life expectancy that has more than doubled. With the third largest population housing in the state of Bihar, with about 60 per cent of the people in their tweens, it is still shocking to hear that Child marriages are rocking with high favourability in Bihar. This only reflects one fundamental thing and that is: Illiteracy!

Numbers Matter Indeed!

One might state facts like about 63% of Biharis are literate. Literacy in India is dimensionally different. It is not just about enrolling in a school. Literacy is to develop someone’s brain. But the Indian education system is so corrupt by the politicians that there are shameful reports of making the exams easier and foolish to get higher literacy rates. In reality, it is all a game!

With the literacy rate exceeding the population percentage that is in their tweens, it is evident that education has not done any justice in the state at all! Almost all those people below 25 (58% of the population) would have been to school. What has the school taught them? Even if the women are forced to enter into marriage, what has the education done to the men? Don’t they know the basic law that Child Marriages are offences in the country? What is the state government doing except for creating political havocs?

If the entire populous is brought in under proper education that makes them free thinkers, increase their capacity to think and act according to what they had learnt from the books, then all social evils should come down. In fact, this is not just the problem with Bihar. This is the problem with all the states in India.

In fact, statistics and numbers are the only things that any government is worried about because only those things can have an effect on their elections and bring them back to power and hence start over the process of looting public money. With such a literacy rating what has been achieved? Neither the poverty has come down nor has the ambience improved in any way. It is shameful but it is the truth about our nation!

Lack of Self-Motivation

With the Rao-Manmohan singh’s model of economy that we are following, the one that is devoid of the License Raj, our economy is open and vulnerable. This is what the people think and this is also the line that the governments use for their propaganda. But the truth is that, with the economy being more open, with the economy being more capitalistic, there is also the chance to fight and do business, make loads of money. With the open economy, the chances for making money and being able to afford quality life has become more. But people of Bihar and many other parts of the country are content with a simple, regular, animalistic life of Being born, eat, sleep, shit, marry, reproduce and die! From where will that self-motivation come? That can only arise if there is proper exposure to actual education to people. Men must be educated. There is a saying in Thamizh that says that there is no cure for theft except when the thief himself quits thieving! So, it is the men who are blamed for all the crimes against women. So the male force has to be properly educated. Their mothers should teach them what women are. They must, at home, teach their children to respect all women and not just the mother and the grandmother! There is no better place to learn than at home isn’t it?

Poverty Is The Cause – What Are The Explanations To Make This Crime Legal?

There is a girl in the house. There are many men who are dangerous to her on the streets. They do not have any money to run the family. But they do have money to get drunk and find a young girl to rape and sexually assault. The parents fear that something of that kind might happen to their girl under their watch. In one way it is the transfer of responsibilities and they want to do it sooner, for it would be better. Another point of view from the parents’ shoes is that people do not mess with married women. There is yet another condition. When they plan to give their young women in marriage, if there is an elder boy in the family, he also gets married because the poor families have to get dowry to give dowry for their girl to be accepted elsewhere. Thus this is not just a simple problem, but a structural problem itself.

What To Do?

Well, simply, we must try to educate the people. We must teach people to be obsessed with higher life goals rather than just a simple life. Competition is the key to development in this capitalistic (so called mixed) economy. There are many Biharis who work everywhere around the country and that only proves that they are not people who are lazy. They just need the right direction. If the minds are occupied with desire to achieve more and want more (which can only be put into their systems by proper education and exposure to the outside world) in life than just silly things, if the minds want social status, better living conditions and the desire to explore, meet new people and learn more things, then all these unwanted problems can be settled. Let us PROPERLY EDUCATE THE KIDS AND NOT JUST GIVE THEM THE OPPORTUNITY TO GO TO SCHOOL AND MAKE SYLLABUS EASY TO PASS THE EXAMS! LET US TEACH THEM SOMETHING OUT OF THE CIRCLE. THIS IS A MAJOR STRUCTURAL CHANGE THAT CANNOT BE BROUGHT OVERNIGHT! 

Thanks for the indiblogger Ring the bell to have motivated me to write this!

JAI HIND!

When STDs Became Long Calls Indeed!!!

Revolution is to turn around things literally. What has turned around? Seriously, Virginity was something that was not only dear to countries like India, it was so for the so called FORWARD America as well. There are a number of things that have been attributed to the amelioration of ideas related to sex in the American society. One among them is the PILL! 

There are many articles that say that the pills made people feel safe about sex and having intercourse without having to worry about pregnancy. Well, the reason for people hesitating to have sex prior to marriage was not just pregnancy, but also about the Sexually Transmitted Diseases or STDs! People were afraid of Neisseria gonorrhea and other microbial infections. Being a microbiologist myself, it is a wonderful feeling I know, to discover how some antibiotic works. But still, what is the point in making antibiotics that will damage the society?

So what is the connection between the Birth Control Pill and Antibiotics then?

Yes there is! You should have found that out by now! Even before the Birth Control Pills or the Blue Pills were introduced, the World War saw the scale up and extreme use of Penicillin that protected people against STDs caused by bacteria. But wait, why is it not good? You need to hear me out. 

We boast about being the super animals, having the ability to control the world. We say that we are a society. We talk about surrogate mothers to maintain lineage. But what about intimacy and virginity? Should we be like animals in that aspect? There are NGOs that call for the people to get closer to nature and I am sure that this is not the way to get closer to nature at all. 

Next...

From the 50s till late 80s, people were happy with these antibiotics and the Pill. But then, there was someone else, the HIV!!!

So sex was not just about getting pregnant anymore. It was all about the various cocktail of diseases that HIV could bring along with it. Then came condoms and medical tests to confirm cleanliness in all aspects.

 

But should we fight against these diseases? With all the progress being made in finding cure for HIV, it would only make people free to indulge in adultery. I think that it is bad. One might advocate that with the cure, we could save all those who got the disease unknowingly because they trusted their loved ones. One could point out the new born babies that got the disease through the trust channel. But if at all there is a cure, then the crime would only increase. As time goes by, adultery would then become as common as a hug or a kiss! Nothing would then be a crime. People would be okay with that and the law would also permit things that are evil today. So the society would not have a stable family at all. Who would know their father and mother? We would only be increasing the revenues for diagnostic labs to find the real father and mother. Would we even care to find out? Would we even have a family? If so, how big would it be and who would take responsibility for which child?

When The Robot Got Its Own Mind, It Was Killed and When Lotus wants a New Face, The Arrow Hits Its Face!!! :D Hahahahaaa!

Problems in India seem to be only helping the press and the media to make money apart from irritating the common man and nothing more when raised. Those who raise the problem also do it for the sake of popularity. I am very happy to point out yet again, a finger on the old, so called Gandhian, Anna Hazare. Where the hell is he now? What the hell happened to the Lokpal bill? Suddenly it is all about IPL and the frauds by Meiyyappan that is selling through the country. I am ashamed that more important News like the setting up of an interim cauvery water board, PM's visit to Japan to strengthen ties as a precaution to Chinese attacks and new passport security features have been put back to make this IPL a huge issue. Should gambling be given so much importance in this nation full of problems?

If there is some model that is working at the topmost hierarchy, then the same would transcend to the lower levels. Well, with the words robot and mind, one could have guessed that I have come here to combat with the Honourable Prime Minister of India.It is sad that one has to read articles about the Prime Minister being humiliated in the party as there are differences in opinion between the party chief and the former.What is even more sad is that the decision to change or modify the cabinet also comes form a foreigner party chief (the media says). Adding more to the Agony, the PM says " There is no difference in opinion between the party chief and myself. We are and we have been working together on all the issues of importance to the nation." Isn't it shameful for a nearly 100 year old party to be openly admitting to have a remote controlled Robot for PM with the controller always telling him what to do and what not to?

When the nation did not want a foreigner to be on the seat of power, the modification of the constitution to allow the foreigner to influence the nation's policies through the planning committee was a disgrace. Now that the PM himself says in public that he has to abide by the queen in all the issues, what could be worse? Why working together with Party Chief and not run the government by working with the Ministers? When the Robot got its own mind, the controller did a great job to shush everything. Why can't the Prime Minister do the right thing? Why should he be doing the right thing for his or her Party and not the people? Of course, the present PM is not answerable to the  people as he is only a Rajya sabha MP. Do the people really want this PM? Should he part ways with the people or the queen?

It is too bad to have a party that is based on one person and his or her charisma or the family name! The BJP, that was boasting about itself being a fully democratic party has also fallen into the pit. They want to use the false projections of growth in Gujarat (which is not inclusive at all) to win the elections. Are they trying to take revenge for not letting them loot in the past 10 years and that so much money has already been looted away by the Congress led (Foreign beauty led) UPA?

There are posters everywhere with Modi as BJP's face and Rahul Gandhi as Congress's face. Are we voting for distinct people like the presidential elections in the USA? If there is no democracy even within the political party, where will democracy be when they come to power?

It is not really surprising that the arrow has hit the Lotus! In this world of opportunism and coalition politics, it is not a big deal when Nitish Kumar splits the NDA when even the senior BJP leaders are unhappy with the way their own party is functioning! Poor LK Advani, should not he at least be given the title of PM candidate of BJP once?

 

Coalition politics or opportunistic pathogens?

Should we all laugh....? Is cinema no different from Indian politics? I am saddened!

Where Human Is an External Hard Drive…

Krishna came home very tired and irritated. He looked at his watch and it was 6:00 pm. When he had left  home to school, it was 7:00 am and he had been nowhere else but tied to his seat in the classroom except for a few recesses. He sighed very badly and shouted at everybody at home, for his tuition teacher would be  there any minute. Why is he pushed to attend tuition? Because the school teachers do not teach anything and if they do it, they do not do it well and if the students raise doubts, they scold them and make them sit for their  incompetence. Though they did not clear the Teachers’ Eligibility Test the government had conducted a few months back, they still shamelessly bossed around at schools, bullying the children, not doing their duty properly. Yes they have failed. But why has not the government taken any action on them? Why are those unfit people holding on to their seats yet? But that shall be a question to the government. What about Krishna now? When  should Krishna attend tuition classes? Well, it is only a matter of two hours after school, every day in the evening.

What kind of a school is that? Why should he start so early? Is the school too far away? These might be the questions that might arise in our minds. But what was really happening? The school had stopped teaching the IX grade syllabus to the IX grade students where Krishna too belonged and have started teaching them  grade X syllabus and extra time! In our great country, especially in Tamilnadu, education is very important and particularly the end of grade X and the end of grade XII examinations are very crucial. The more marks you  score, the more chances you have to become a doctor or an engineer. Other professions are not even in the list. Even if the child wants to become something else, the parents want their children to be either doctors or engineers. Why? You will get more money!!! – They say. There is no need to understand anything and learn in India, at least if you are in Tamilnadu. All that you have to do is to show the numbers. How can someone get good marks in grade X exams when they have not learnt grade IX portions? Oh! We are forgetting something, you just need to get marks. It doesn’t matter whether you understand what you are learning or not. The parents here, at Tamilnadu love their children a lot. They cannot see them suffer by learning but they should somehow get good marks. So, they would vote any party into power that would diminish the standards of the syllabus and encourage  the teachers to ask solved examples from behind the text book as the questions. If the person setting the question paper changes even the punctuation mark in the question while preparing the public exam question paper, then there are parent teachers’ associations that are ready to file cases against the exam control under “out of syllabus” plea. So it is all about memorising and reproducing and that is what people call in India, at least in Tamilnadu that is strictly being followed. All hail democracy and the government! We have all become nothing more than external hard drives for computers that can store information in memory and exactly reproduce the same.

Oh screw the system I say! What about the teachers? Can’t they at least oppose the system? After all they are the ones who are ru(i)n(n)ing the system. Aha! When they are ineligible for the job, how can they oppose anything? They would not even understand the system in the first place, for their logical brains do not  exist. Who is the root cause of all these stupid problems? PARENTS!  - Simple answer. If you are a parent who is scowling at me right now for blaming you, then think about what you are right now. Don’t you keep telling your kids to either become an engineer or a doctor? Have you not

set any one of these as your child’s target even without his or her knowledge? Are you okay with whatever career your child wants to pursue? Have you ever questioned the government about such a bad system? Have you voted the right person? You are the ones who are setting examples to your kids aren’t you? You claim to be the reason for what your kid is today and what he or she might become tomorrow and only if the kid grows  up  to be a handsome money earner. To you, success has always been earning more money isn’t it? If you are a rich parent who has enough for generations, you might not have such trains of thought or if you are a very poor parent, even then you would not have any such thoughts, for whatever your child wants to be, you would have been supportive. But the majority is the middle class families or as the buzz word goes today, the clan of “Aam aadmi”.

How does this affect the quality of the system and the education in the country on the whole? Well, here it is. There are kids who work as per their parents’ intentions and there are kids who have their own individuality who do not perform well under that amount of pressure that the PARENTS put on them to improve the numbers on the report cards. The former ones are the loved children and the latter ones are not liked by their parents that much. Today, like education, parenting has also become a business. I pay for you to go and attend the best school in town and I want good returns in terms of marks, so that I could tell my peers gladly  about the same and boast about paying so much for that prestigious college or school or whatever it is. Everyone cares for what the others would think about them. What does my child want? What would make him or her happy? What talent has he or she got and how can we help him or her build that? Not all parents think on these lines. Of course there cannot be a world without understanding parents. But India, at least Tamilnadu is one place where this prestige issue of having a son or daughter in medical or engineering college could be seen very commonly.

So how does this affect the quality of teachers anyway? Only those who fail to gain an entry into the engineering and medical colleges, the ones who have no scores on the card and on the bank pass books have to search to become someone else in the society. Yes! There are no entrance exams, critical and logical thinking is prohibited in this state! Yes, if you do not get the marks, if your parents have a heavy wallet, you could become an engineer or a doctor! Everything is based on numbers dude! I have a few batch mates who bought their way  into medical seats and engineering seats. No wonder why bridges suddenly collapse, why treatment fails and  patients die, wrong disease diagnosis, etc. I am scared to even go to a doctor these days. Would he know anything at all? How will I know? So, when both money and marks do not help, parents want  their children  to  go in search of the  next best profession. Since education is the next big business, they say “My child, go  now and get a science degree, get a B. Ed and then join the school to teach little children. Teaching is a holy profession too. In fact, it is holier than being a doctor. They are paying well these days!” So, people who do not have a choice become teachers. Since they are never used to “understanding”, they are unable to make people understand and the chain continues to rust. I am so fortunate that I belong to one of the last batches of students who had at least few inspiring teachers at school and at the university who shaped me up. Now I go to my school, all those teachers I had have either retired or have left the job because it is not that rewarding in terms of satisfaction.

I have no superpowers to change things overnight. Not I have a political or monetary backup to influence those who are capable of facilitating the needed reforms. I am just a stupid ENGINEER who

loves science, stranded in the streets, not certain about anything! Nor can I call myself a crusader and have people behind my back to support my cause. This is a cursed land, Tamilnadu. We are scared about changes. We do not want any alternatives and however ad the present options are, we prefer to be with them. We want a peaceful life. We do not want to experiment with lives. We want it all easy going. No wonder all revolts and riots for any social cause including the freedom struggle had so much effect in this land. We would only change if those so called LEADERS of ours change. When they announced the Teachers’ Eligibility Test, I expected a change, a scrutiny, a reform. But nothing seems to have changed. Is everything a political stunt and nothing else? What happened to the case on the private schools in the state that collected more money from the parents? They are  still happy and collect the same fees. Nothing happened to them. What is change? Where is the way? I  wonder… All those students and parents out there who are reading this, can we bring about the real change and not just talk about it?