saffron bridage and the hand

with so much hubbub on the forming of a stable government in india by the congress, here are my two cents on it. i have not been following their adherence to promises since their accession to power but i do remember two episodes that shot them in limelight for all the good reasons.

episode #1: the nuclear deal

everybody wanted to sign the deal. everybody in power that is. consequently, the opposition opposed it, despite it being a good thing for india. and upon every opportunity the congress, especially the pm, fielded 'for' the deal and stated its advantages.

what ensued was the dissolution of the government, a vote of confidence in the parliament. fortunately, the government persisted and signed the deal.

people to win : congress, its allies ( dont remember)

people to lose : left, bjp etc..

cost: limelight.

episode #2: the saffron charade

piece by piece the nandigram attacks were unraveled with all the fingers pointing to the saffron parade. the pursuit went cold when the inspecting officer passed away in the bombay attacks.

and this unfortunately for the opposition happened in the very last leg of the government tenure because of which it was fresh in the minds of the voters. hence left failed miserably because of its staunch opposition for the deal and bjp for its negative role in both counts.


just my two cents. what are yours?

cheers,

of age and its hesitance

so lately, i have been putting people in an awkward position. well basically, i was just testing people to see their reaction when their age was slightly exaggerated. what i found was people are a bit touchy when it comes to age.

now ten years ago, when they were in their teens, if you exaggerated the age, it was dismissed as a mistake and the conversation moved on. but ten years hence, its a different story. people are just scared to be considered old in the eyes of the others.

all my test "subjects" were males, whom i thought were impervious to matters of age. but they fell for it and raised issue for the exaggerated guess of their age even by a margin of 2 years. girls are out of the question. they would reach for their sandals or purses and fling one at me. so i aint taking those chances.

what i do is, in the middle of a conversation, i pick up a point where you could put the opposite guys/gals age into the discussion and then slightly exaggerate the number :P and wait for the reaction and take it from there.

its hella fun, you should try it sometime.

thats it for now from me ,

cheers,

roses

small expressions change your life in great many ways. though it may not relate to you, a mere observation of it changes your perception. this happened to me when i was in my teens. a typical boy growing up. a typical house with parents and a brother. a house that needed cleaning. a house with a maid for cleaning the utensils ( mom had way too much on her hands). now as with maids, we had a period where we had to shuffle a bit. and one of those shuffles, i felt something. i could quantify the feeling then and thankfully despite what i have become (not much), i still can quantify it. i am sure, that it if nothing else, it is going to give me the touch that makes us human. we need that feeling sometimes. something that makes you human.

anyway, during one of those shuffles, in came 2 girls, barely at the age of 4 or 5. when they first walked in, i was dumbstruck. i couldn't even fathom the thought of them cleaning the utensils. cleaning for fun is different from cleaning out of compulsion. so unbearable was the thought, that i walked out of the house. mom, who was/is very kind, gave them biscuits and something to drink every time. she confessed that even she felt sad for them, but the work gives them the money they badly need. i still can remember their tiny little hands with a rag cloth cleaning the utensils. it was such a tragic image. their eyes were so innocent. they should be having roses than rag clothes in their hands.

i guess i am thankful for that, in a way. i do my best to support such unfortunate folks, but whatever i do, in a way feels incomplete. the only consolation is that a step forward, is a step towards progress. one of my aims after have a stable life is to setup an ngo for education, especially for girls and the under privilege kids. its their only chance out the rag clothes. so join me won't you, to free these kids from the shackles bound by fate.

cheers,


p.s. : (unrelated but powerful) opening lines from crash:

Graham: It's the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something.