New Year horrors

New Year thoughts

When I start the diary of a New Year I will be scratching my head for some
useful topic -- often in the first few days into the New Year.
Usually, the focus will be on resolutions and non-resolutions.
This year though, there is some serious thinking. Where India
is heading for?

Ushering in the New Year has been gala time over the years.
I distinctly remember my childhood years when, during the cold nights of Dec. 31, all our
neighbours in the multi-storied building gather and amid enjoyable
banter write HAPPY NEW YEAR followed by the year in
colourful chalks on the quiet road and distribute sweets
as cheers echo at the stroke of 12 midnight. No new clothes were bought.
But it was the spirit that counted.

Now, things are quite different, especially in big cities. The revelry has turned into devilry as
one newspaper analyst put it. People have more money to spend and they celebrate the New Year as a festival like Deepavali. Dresses are bought, in fact, party wears. Drinking parties
are arranged and the mood swings from cheerfulness to romance and behaviour changes
from hip-hop dancing to downright indulgence in baser elements.

2008 broke with horrible happenings for the country: the molestation, by a lewd crowd of more than 50 vultures, of two NRI women in Mumbai and the gang-rape of a minor girl by four youth in Latur district of Maharashtra.

What has provoked public indignation is the casual attitude of the police and its defence of the accused as well as the crime. To say that the molestation of two women
by a big crowd is something normal and happens everywhere
in the country is the meanest of statements made by police. This will only encourage
more such crimes. What puzzles one is the presence of police
near the hotel and their apathetic attitude when
told about the incident.
It did come as a shock -- the equally callous attitude of
the judiciary in giving bail to them on flimsy grounds.

The incident portends bad times for the social life
of the people and dangers to women even in crowded
places.

To defend the women saying it is their right to go to
the beach at 1.45 a.m. and that too drunk is not
good either. They must realise that we are not living
in Vedic times. To provoke the already drunk men
and that too on a day when they are seized by mean behaviour
is just to invite trouble.

Women also ought to think where modernity is
taking them to? What is appropriate behavioiur
and the circumstances of their social
situations? Whether they are safe and protected?

Irrespective of who the perpetrators are the police must take severe action and
save the dignity of women all over the country.

Barcoding

You're barcoded at launch
Nearly all about you
Are decided

Let into jungle
You mingle
Give all you have

Climb the ladder
On the bar marks
Find value

Milestones are
just footprints
They rubbish
No value addition?

You mark and store
In heart, mind, soul
No one but you know

What of it
Gen next will decipher
And take cue

Another journey begins
Battles continue
Wars surface
All in the watchful eyes of Lord

If it isn't now
Time is marked

Bright shining Mother

That even the realised soul of Mother Teresa felt spiritually empty and dark for years and seemed to question the presence of God -- the recent revelations through her secret letters that she reportedly wanted to destroy -- comes as a shock for believers.

But, she too was human though a saint, said newspaper articles on the 10th death anniversary of the Mother. But she went about doing what God had ordained her to do -- that of helping the poorest of the poor in Calcutta.

While we pray for her, and scores of her followers who carry on her mission with zeal, there is a feeling why the Godly saint herself should have felt so. She was God enough in the unreal world.
In fact, there is God within each one of us -- only that we do not realise it, mired as we are in the mundane things.

The Godly qualities and attributes have to be brought out just like talent and other personality traits. And the whole world is the play station -- each one can play whatever little role in whatever way possible. You will be able to inspire others and take on the mission which the Mother did so well.

Blog thought

Observing the blogs from around the world popping up and disappearing
is simply astounding. It corresponds in my view to the
rotation of the earth -- quiet, gravity-driven motion
that sustains all life forms on it.

A blog is also a quiet revolution going on in the Net
unseen and unheard by millions, driven by thought
process that transcends all borders and plays a
unifying role like gravity.

Let the Net go on and on and on till the earth rotates.

Of ghosts and schools

Two different stories on the same day (July 17) *

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KOLKATA: A three-day holiday has been declared for the Bujrugdighi High School in West Bengal’s Bardhaman district after several girl students fell ill over the past few days as word spread about the presence of “ghosts” on the school premises.

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Nearly 200 students learn their lessons in Urdu Primary school inside a graveyard at Kohari village, Bihar.

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What a pity that the lads should learn rhymes at such a place!

Young ones do not know fear could be the view taken by some.

This will instill fearlessness at a tender age!

The Government and the institution should be taken to task.

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Do ghosts exist at all!

The grown-ups, especially girls, are panicky about such things as ghosts.

What is happening at the school during night?

It's great stuff for a writer or film maker.

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* Why updated this one on Nov. 17 was an interlude about ghosts while at work prompted me to think about it. The desktop theme I had on the day was that of a beautiful woman (the jacket of a book). She looks graceful and beautiful like a moon in a white sari. But as I was thinking about the ghost factor I viewed her as a ghost suddenly! What a terrible thought! Ghosts are in our minds only I felt.

Nearly 200 students learn their lessons in Urdu Primary school inside a graveyard at Kohari village, Bihar.

What the students will become is a matter of conjecture.

How civil it is?

What is a civil society group? This coinage by the print media in recent months relates to NGOs and other organisations and associations who work for the public interest. Some of them are just paper tigers working their way to recognition, awards, prizes and further elite interests.

My question how is it that they only are civil? Does that mean there are no other groups or organisations that are civil in outlook and functioning? For me, a small informal group working for a particular cause is as civil, perhaps more so, as one that is well organised by educated elites.

These groups can be simply called societal groups, social organisations or public interest organisations depending upon their status and work. Or could be specific to their nature or function such as farmers' group, environmental body, Gandhian panel and car users' forum.