Where were you?

Like the 9/11 in the US, Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya, India is probably another incident that Indians talk about and ask, 'where were you that day'? (I have quite a few others too, like Godhra and first Iran-Iraq war etc etc)

Today, being the day when the judgment was passed, I can't help but think about that day in 1992. It was a Sunday, my Dad was not home and we were in a small town of Bihar, but now the capital of Jharkhand, Ranchi. Our family friends Uncle V had come over, we were celebrating Auntie's Birthday. I was 12 years old, and my memory is not vivid, but I do remember standing outside, while seeing them off, and the parents talking about the happenings in Ayodhya. Mom was not happy with the way things were going, she is and was a secular. Uncle V and Auntie were also very upset and agitated. But that was that, we big good bye and went off to sleep.

Next day, we all set about in our regular routine. My sister and I rode our bicycles to school, Mom went to work. Not unaware of the riots brewing in the different parts of the country, but thinking we were so far removed, nothing would happen here.

School started, everything was going on schedule, the dreaded Monday test etc. Around lunch time, we started hearing a lot of noise outside, our teachers huddled and we were told to not come out of our class rooms. The windows, though made of glass, were shut and the doors were closed. The noises kept growing. I don't think, we the students, were panicking, or at least, I don't remember being scared then. So theories started forming, I being a staunch BJP/RSS hater, was very mad at the situation. My BF was on the other side. We didn't see eye-to-eye on this one issue. So anyway, for some reason, some of us left the class room and went outside, in the corridor, and we saw this whole mob outside the school. There were young boys, wearing the 'Shri Ram' bandanna. They were arguing with the principal and the teachers and I could see some parents in the far distance too. I then realised what the issue was. The mob outside wanted the principal to close the school down! I remember the exact instance when fear gripped me. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know if Mom knew what was happening, Dad was not in town, what would we do. I hated those boys instantly.

The principal gave in and I think there was a time crunch, and we were asked to leave. This was 18 years ago, there wasn't a policy of kids having to be accompanied by their parents or some such thing. We were allowed to ride our cycles back home. There used to be 100s of us on cycles. I think there were 15 or so of us who used to ride together. So we all took our cycles and I remember not being scared of the mob when I walked past them, my sister close by. I just walked, my head held high, like in my little brain that somehow meant we were not giving into their demands.

We reached home safely, Mom came home shortly afterwards. We got a nice break from school for a couple of days and things went back to normal for us.

Mr Advani did his shameful deed and we all had to suffer for it. Such a useless fight this, there is no winner, so why fight it? There is no answer and the ruling on the case has not given anybody a reason to cheer, THANK GOD, for that!

I have nothing more to write on this account, nothing that will be new anyway. I am just sad that this is a part of our history, and we are going to live the consequences of it forever.

100th Post

Can't believe i have written 100 of 'em!

So right now, I am very pissed off with the 'Right Wing'. I think all sense and wisdom is out of the window. The way they are reacting to anything the President does, has no basis and certainly no wisdom.

I am talking about the Health Care debate
and Mr O's Back to school speech.

I have been told that some schools refused to show his speech but are taking the kids to see Mr Bush speak. A total WTH moment for me. So much hatred and so much anger the Right wing has.
Mr O, I think you should do what Bush did, do not listen to anyone, just implement what you choose to do.
I am not going to say i favor the Bill too much, but I hate the reasons the Republicans are giving, death panel, denial of service etc etc.

Ok so 100th post should be more cheerful right. So here's the cheerful note, I got 2 awards curtsy Anu. Yeaayyy..my first awards..thank you Anu :)





And I'd like to give it to Chandini. I think her posts are fun and keep me entertained :)

Oh bother, I've been tagged!

Anu (grrrr) has tagged me and I am obligated to do the bidding :D

So it's pretty simple, I have write about 10 things that annoy me the most. (I am sure I can well exceed that number ;) ) So in no particular order:

1. People not picking after themselves.
2. Drama Queens.
3. Raisins.
4. Sarah Palin .
5. Rebooting the computer.
6. People who give their opinion about something they know nothing about. ( Like if you've never been married, stop giving marital advice! )
7. Dirty/Smelly restrooms.
8. When the gas mark is near empty in the car, worse if the light is on.
9. Shopping! (Yeah believe it or not, I hate shopping)!!!
10. Someone who insults my country in front of me. I am an Indian. And if someone has seen/read/heard something they find distasteful, I don't want to know. I am a very proud Indian and there is no way you can say something derogatory and not make my blood boil.

Ok, I am done!!!! That was actually fun.
I would really really like to hear from these people:
1. Jeremy
2. Akansha
3. Anyone who comes across this post :)

After supporting the Congress party in India for as long as I can remember having any political acumen (if one can call it that?), I have decided that I no longer understand the congress party. This should not mean that I support BJP now though, because that party I will never support.

So back to Congress, I clearly remember the day I became a congress supporter. It was 6th Dec 1992, I was in 6th grade and Mr L.K Advani had led kar sevaks upto Babri Masjid and demolished it. I remember sitting down infront of the TV and learning about the events of the day. What I saw, made me very very mad. It made me very sick.

Though Congress didn't really have a clear leader. PVN was a sad case, he brought about the economic changes in the country, but then he was engulfed in scandals after scandals. The Nehru-Gandhi family has collectively rulled over India for 38 years out of the 61 years of her independence. I cannot say if India would've been better had Indira been brought to justice for all the things she did. I am sure communal violence would be lesser, Punjab would probably be more progressive. I know for sure though that if Nehru had so much as listened to the people and to S.V Patel, Kashmir would probably have been a non issue. PROBABLY. But then the steel plants, the airways, the industries would they have been better or worse? Would we still have not fought over religion and region? One cannot be 100% sure.

On the other hand BJP was flourishing, when Mr Vajpayee became the PM, Kargil happened, I was very happy with the way Indian Military might was displayed. It was very heart warming to see images of Indian flag atop Siachen glacier again! I had started to think that if Mr Vajpayee was a congress man, I would have been very very excited. I remember thinking right man, wrong party.

Those were not the best of the times for Congress at all. They were playing political games, withdrawing support at the drop of a hat, being in power meant more to them than the money that the country was loosing holding elections every now and then. I wasn't even convinced that Sonia Gandhi should be allowed to make crucial decisions. Not because she was not a natual citizen of India, but because I couldn't understand what her credentials were. I still don't think she has any.

And then Godhra happened and I was once again very mad. Very pissed and I wanted Narendra Modi, Advani and that saffron wearing woman from MP, her name escapes me right now. Oh yeah Uma Bharti, I wanted all of them put into prison. Again I was sure Congress it was for me.

Then the party elected Manmohan Singh to be the PM. I have a lot of respect for this man. Very well educated, intelligent and smart. But as PM? Would he have what it takes. And my worst fears came true. MMS is a puppet PM, the reigns are in the hands of Mrs Gandhi. The man dare not do a thing to offend her or displease her, she'll have his chair in the second! It's a spineless government.

It's a party without direction. It will always look upto a Gandhi to lead them. If not then they will fight within, because politics is not about the country, but about their pockets. The party will divide like it did when it didn't have a Gandhi at the helm. It's full of corrupt politicians. Old politicians who are hankering on caste and class to get votes. Not one of them says that caste system politics hurts the economy, Pseudo secularism is at it's best when a Congress politician speaks. I am tired of thinking someday they will change, they haven't in the past 16 years and I don't see why they will going forward.

So today on 6th Dec 2008, I am no longer a congress supporter. Phew, I am relieved.

Pensieve

So much's been on my mind lately. My new niece, my mom's visit, work frustrations and then some more thoughts.

On 5th Nov. 2008, my sister gave us a brand new niece. Tanvi got a baby sister and Gourav and I, another little girl to pamper and love. She's the cutest little thing and I cannot tell you how much we love her.

This Diwali, Gourav and I took the day off to be able to celebrate the day properly. We cleaned the house, put lights in the front yard and made rangoli. After the usual pooja and temple visit, we gorged on some typical Indian food. There were lots of parties before and after and it was a fun festival. It was fairly close to the Diwalis we celebrated at home. But sans our families and the fan fare and the hustle bustle. There is one memory I have from my childhood, that keep coming back to me. It was of the mud doll house (Gharonda) we used to make every Diwali. We were very young and neither my sister nor I were very capable of building the doll house, so our gardener would assist us at this and then we'd help him paint it. Then we'd decorate it with rangoli and diyas just as we would decorate the house. So much fun it was. I miss this little aspect. Of course I am not that young anymore to play with a doll house, but I do miss the doll house. :)

So another thing on my mind is, Sarah Palin. Why is she now on every news channel, doing all these interviews, what's this obsession? Why does anyone care what she's doing now? Suddenly, she has all this respect and faith in Obama. Who is she kidding? I think this is just a publicity stunt and an effort to repair the damage she had done, which of course she fails to see!

India beat the Australians 2-0!!!! yeayyy, way to go! But this also brought about two fabulous careers to an end. Ganguly and Kumble retired. I have always found it hard to imagine an Indian batting line up without Ganguly. But it is what it is and it's time for the new players to shine.

Meanwhile, more people loose their jobs. More industries need to be bailed out and yet there are lots of ex CEOs who sit on a mountain of wealth, who created this whole problem. Who knows what will happen tomorrow, the most optimistic of us are now shaking their heads, so we'll see.

This post, really was a means to get things out. To write about mundane and yet things important to me. I didn't mean for it sound like i was perusing the headlines, but I think it well has. Oh well. Tomorrow is Friday and Mom will be here! Smile.

Let's not call bad taste Humor.

So, just a few minutes back, someone who shall remain nameless, showed me a picture of Obama polishing Palin's shoes, obviously it was a mail forward with the title, "The best picture". And this person looked at me and goes come on it's funny. I smiled, spoke about something else and walked away.

And this is what I should've said and didn't . Had this been a picture of Mrs Obama and Mccain, would it have been funny then? I really don't think so! It's not funny to share picture like this, it really is not. Let's not call bad taste, humor. It's very distasteful.

I have seen very bad, untrue and misleading email circulating around. I am very ashamed of humanity, that such things would be shared and laughed at and thought of as true. And what is even more shameful is when people forward emails withou fact checking. It's not about this picture, but about the million emails out there about someone being from a different religion and such, I hope you get my drift.

Sarah vs. Hillary


I am not going to beat around the bush (no pun intended). I prefer H to S any day. Not to say that I am a big Hillary fan, but ...

I am not ashamed to say this that if she reflects what today's woman represent, then we've really reached nowhere (every single pun intended).

She talks about being a soccer mom, and being the governor and all that, yet somehow she never talks about the beauty contest she won. Is she not proud of that? because that is not something which will get her the backing of the evangelical conservatives? I heard on the radio the other day about this soccer mom who feels very small and insignificant infront of Ms Palin. I was stunned, how can someone just belittle their achievements!!! And how is that Ms Palin is great because she is a soccer mom??? So is Hillary not a good mom, because she never played that card? Palin once said, 'anyone can be a VP', really, is that how you want to put it?

She talks about abortion, like it is her right and duty to decide for the rest of the country what is right for them. She talks about knowing about energy because she knows about the energy situation on Alaska, but it is worthy to note that she didn't let a wind energy farm be built in Alaska. Is that even something we need to talk about, clean coal??? How about alternative sources of energy, but then how would she know about that if the wind never blows, the sun never comes out and there aren't any rivers in your state! She's against stem cell research, but is all for capital punishment and guns! isn't that weird, an embryo is more important than a human being? She doesn't think the Big Bang happened!!!! and is all about teaching that in schools!



On the contrary, Hillary has experience with everything, she has a grown up daughter, who didn't get pregnant when she was 16. (Since this is the only thing apparently which matters to the masses). I am sure she'll be all for sex education in school, and not just abstinence education. So she doesn't have a down syndrome baby, but i know she cares about the poor and the neglected and the sick and the healthy equally, becuase she has brought health insurance to babies and kids. She knows about foreign policies. She knows that the Iraq war is not a matter of pride or success anymore.

I am so tired of people telling me how great Palin is and that we as woman should support her. Come on, there have been much better role models in my life. My mom, my sister, Mother Terresa. All of them very educated individuals, all of them very smart and caring and loving. They weren't VP of any country, yet they believed in the better things in life, don't belittle them by saying that Palin will bring more woman's liberation! she's definitely not going to rock my world in any way.

I am only comparing them because I am hoping someone reads this blog, someone who is a die hard Palin supporter. I want to have a discussion with you. I really do.