A letter to God

Dear God,

I seek you pardon for anything in here that might offend you but before I begin asking for your ‘blessings’, I need to clarify something. I do not have costly gold ornaments to offer you and neither do I have money. You must be wondering why I am writing such things. After all you are supposed to be omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient being. You do not need the ‘worldly riches’. Those are only meant for mere mortals. I am aware of that and since you are ‘god’ you know that I am not out of my mind.

You see, dear god, the people (your children) around me are behaving in a strange fashion each passing day. Whenever I visit your place of residence (yes, yes I know that you are everywhere but I am talking about the houses created by your children for you), I find that your image is being decorated with costly valuables. So much of the glitterati are there that I am unable to even see your face. Whenever an important festival arrives, you are offered ‘hand’ carved in gold, semi-precious and precious stones, silken robes, sweets made from the purest ‘ghee’, in short, the costliest  of jewels, the finest of clothes and the tastiest of cuisines are presented to you. Your ‘house’ is also fitted with the ultra modern luxuries like AC’s. I think it gets too hot in there for you. Your children try to provide you with everything that they themselves enjoy. You have graced them with lots of moolah and that is perhaps the reason why they can do so much in return for you.

However, I am a humble human being. I am sorry but I have not yet understood why you need ACs, jewelleries, beautiful clothes, etc. I am being told by your ‘ardent worshippers’ that I must ‘sacrifice’ something which has monetary value. In a perplexed manner I ask them if I am standing in your house or the Bombay Stock Exchange, at which they get annoyed and sternly tell me that I should not dare to ‘anger’ you. I sincerely apologize for my ‘sacrilegious’ remark. I hope you are not getting ‘angry’. What I can promise you is only this much that if you give me lots of wealth like you have given to others, I will ensure that there won’t be any beggar in front of your ‘house’. No child shall go to sleep hungry at least in my presence. There will be roof over the heads of them who spend their night under the twilight and the unclothed will have something to wear.

I apologize again for I won’t be able to give ‘you’ anything. Since childhood I have been thinking that god needs nothing. Forgive me if I am wrong. I need your help in understanding ‘your demands’. Bless me and please guide me, dear God.

With thanks in my heart,

Spiritually yours,

Your little child.

In a hurry….to die

 Beep-beep, off goes the blaring horn fitted on a new-age sports bike and a young rider, dressed in a black jacket resembling the one that Nicolas Cage wore in ‘Ghost Rider’, zooms past me. I was going to my work place dressed in casuals in an auto. By the time I reached my office, I had witnessed around 20 such bikers. Sounds of brakes screeching, horns booming, engines roaring and the winds buzzing had by now bombarded my eardrums.

Hey, I am not complaining because I don’t own a bike and I am jealous of these ‘speed stars’. I am not complaining at all. What I am trying to tell is the danger which those who ride so fast will certainly fall into if they do not stop. This also applies to all who drive be it a bike, a car or any vehicle whatsoever.
I have been a silent witness to this commotion for long. I have seen how the young broods, some of whom are still in school, defy all laws meant for their own safety in order to satisfy their false ego. If you are a regular traveler like me, you too must have seen how rashly these young boys drive their vehicles. They try to overtake every moving machine running on the road. This habit is not just restricted to the youth but many-a-times middle aged people too practice this. They sometimes abuse other drivers who do not allow them to pass through.

In 90% of the cases, the one who seems to be in a hurry has no need of it. Still, if anyone, especially a young boy, drives his vehicle at a speed of, say 40 km, he is mocked at by his friends. Many believe that to impress a girl one has to ride fast. I asked a boy in my neighbourhood (who drives his bike at a breakneck speed of 70 km even within short distances) about the reason behind his rash driving. In reply he said, “Mazaa aata hai” (it is fun). I was left bewildered. What and where is the ‘fun’ in riding so fast?

Another reason could be the rise in the number of violent games that attract the young minds towards a virtual sadistic environment resulting in aggressive behavior amongst them (also refer to my article 'All is not well'). However, the biggest culprit has to be their parents. With the rise in the income levels of the people there has been a rise in sales of both two and four wheelers. If for some, it has become a necessity to own a bike or a car then for others it has become a fashion statement. The parents allow their children to drive even if they are underage. Most of them will deny this allegation as lying is an inherent nature of humans. Most of them might never have heard of Khalil Gibran who wrote about children in this manner:

“Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.”

A earlier report by the World Health Organisation read, “Speed is the main reason behind accidents. An increase in average speed is directly related to both the likelihood of a crash occurring and to the severity of crash consequences. A 5% increase in average speed leads to an approximately 10% increase in crashes that cause injuries and a 20% increase in fatal crashes."

It might be difficult for those who are rash drivers and those who allow rash driving to understand what has been said above but it is important for them to know. While I was returning from office, another of the countless bikers curved around the vehicles on the road at a high speed and disappeared. The auto rickshaw driver commented, “Bahut jaldi hai….marne ki.” (In a hurry….to die). I just hoped Yama is on a holiday.

All is 'not' well

One of the countless problems with this generation is that they are aggressively hooked to their playstations, arcade consoles and PCs playing anything from a simple FIFA to a violent Grand Theft Auto. The increasingly high number of crimes by young boys under the age of 18 is enough proof that the young brood is not in a good mood.

This could be attributed to the fact that spending long hours glued to the screens and concentrating on violent games like Half Life or Hitman can lead to ‘mental fatigue’, which is a term used to describe the tiredness of brain due to no-work or overwork. Mental fatigue gives rise to headache, mood swings, sleep disorder and pain around the eyes. If the problems persist, it may also lead to one of the many forms of lunacy.

When the mental fatigue starts to settle in, it demands that the person suffering should vent out the tension. This leads the person towards things that are immoral, opposed to public policy and even illegal. Thus young children try to emulate what they play on their consoles. They drive their vehicles at breakneck speeds, enter into a fight for any reason, disregard their own parents, steal, smoke, consume alcohol and slowly they deteriorate into humans lacking any productive aims or objectives

With the rise of competitiveness within the society, parents want their children to grow up as fast as possible. I admit that the weight of the school bag too should share the blame but in the end that is education. The desire of the parents to see their children excel over others forces them to pressurize their young ones into doing things they might not want to. This leads to forming of a rebellious nature in a child’s character and the video game thus becomes the perfect place where he can vent out his frustration. To the children, the virtual world of the game gives them satisfaction and confidence which they fail to achieve in their real lives. This makes them play for longer durations and they become addicts.

Countries like China, USA and Australia are already facing unprecedented social problems due to game addiction. The problems in India have not reached that stage but with the rise in the number of PCs and internet users, we can see the signs of the coming scenario. Now, it is up to the parents to decide the fate of their children because a mere good schooling cannot ensure a good character.

Bah! Books

Lucknow October 6, 2010: Yesterday I attended the 8th annual National Book Fair organized by Knowledge Tree Foundation and Wates Vision at Moti Mahal Lawns near one of my favourite malls.

This was the second time I ever visited a Book fair. The last time I did was in 2005 when it was organized at a different location.

              Allow me to come straight to the point. This book fair is better than the last one I visited. As a connoisseur of books this book fair had what I wanted- which is good books- and what I wanted ‘at a cheap price’- which was available. The biggest draw was perhaps the bumper discounts that were being offered. Prices were as low as Rs. 20 for books actually costing more than 10 times of it. The whole idea of heavy offers was solely to attract more crowds. However, it seems only a few were impressed.

I spent a total of four hours roaming around the whole place but saw that 75% of the stalls had no visitors. People of various ages were present but not everyone was buying books. I could hear the expressions of ‘wow’ and ‘how nice’ emanating from cheery faces but it ended at just that.

              Out of curiosity I asked a few stall owners about the state of business. No one gave a positive sign. Most of them had to say that sale was sluggish. Why? I wondered. Is it because the increasing competition of today is forcing the youth away from the hypothetical and largely phantasmal world of fiction? Or, is it because of the fact that Lucknow does not has enough people who simply love reading books.

               I pondered over the questions and came to the conclusion that both competition and lackluster attitude should share the blame. It is indeed true that the rise in competition for education and jobs have left the new generation to think of nothing beyond their course and read nothing beyond their course books. The lackluster attitude is present due to the fact that some well known libraries in this city either had to shut shops or are facing a tremendous shortage of visitors. The youth of today finds it better to watch the latest movie at hefty prices but will have great difficulty in pulling out a 30 rupee note for a book.

              In the 2005 fair I had witnessed heavy crowds of young college-goers. They were busy sifting through books in a particular stall. The stall manager and his helpers didn’t have a second to spare. And no, his stall didn’t have anything on literary fiction or non-fiction. The only type of books he had was of different competitions like CAT, CPMT, etc. In the ongoing book fair too, the surge whatever little was for a stall having books on computer technology and engineering.

              I understood why book-loving culture is fast dwindling and why for people like me this fair was better than the last one that I visited.

The Efficient and the Negligent

Lucknow October 2, 2010: It is really interesting to see how the Indian army not only took the initiative to rebuild the foot-over bridge that collapsed near the Nehru stadium ahead of the Commonwealth games but also completed it in just five days.
That’s incredible, given the fact that men from the civil construction who charged an exorbitantly high price for the project failed in their area of expertise. However, it is also pathetic that for every minor or major incident that befalls the nation, India has to rely on its armed forces. Every time a child falls into a conduit, a natural disaster happens, a road or a bridge meant for civilian purpose collapses or countering internal insurgency, the government seeks the help of the armed forces.
I wonder isn't there any problem along the international border at all and are the army men are playing poker? Then why do they keep complaining about the shortfall of officers? I hope they are not been recruited to build bridges in posh areas of metropolises! I admit that the army is well equipped to meet all the demands expected out of them but if they do everything then what is the need of the civic bodies and administration especially when they are doing such pathetic work.
India must realize that the army has a far bigger responsibility than handling these trivial issues. If the organizations and the departments meant to handle the civilian problems are unsuccessful in executing their work then the dream of a developed India will remain just that- a dream.