Chaiwallahs are collateral damage in a Chaiwallah’s war

As soon as PM Narendra Modi announced that currency notes in the denomination of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 would be demonetised immediately, people ran to the nearest ATMs and began withdrawing Rs 100 denomination notes. And then… the ATMs ran out of money.

Today, as I was going about gauging the mood around town, I stopped for tea at my usual kitli. After the usual pleasantries with my usual chaiwallah, I took my cup of tea and sat down with my phone to check for updates on the US election. Donald Trump had won. OK, no comments.

But then I saw something closer to home. Something I am going to call the ‘short-term collateral damage of demonetisation of notes’.

Photo Credit: Joel George

The chaiwallah was arguing with his stockist. Since this was a small kitli at the corner of residential block, there wasn’t much traffic here and there are lesser customers. Hence, cigarette sales also aren’t that great. So the stockist gave the chaiwallah two boxes of cigarettes and chaiwallah handed over an Rs 500 denomination note to pay for it.

However, the stockist refused to take it, saying that he would not accept anything except Rs 100 notes. Now, the chaiwallah only had Rs 500 notes since he got the news only this morning and by that time, all the ATMs in the area were already out of cash and customers were unwilling to exchange his notes for him.

After a lot of haggling, the stockist came up with a solution. He would give the chaiwallah the boxes on credit instead of either taking the Rs 500 note or not selling the cigarettes to him at all. The chaiwallah, out of options, agreed and put his Rs 500 note back into his pocket with a sigh.

He then turned to me and said, “What have we poor people done? Why should we have to suffer for all the black money these businessmen and politicians have accumulated? We hardly have enough money to run our business and our house.”

And thus, the chaiwallah remains the unwilling and helpless collateral damage in this nationwide war on black money initiated by one of his own.

Ahmedabad, you don’t deserve Diwali

Do you celebrate Diwali by bursting crackers? Do you do so on the street? Then this is just the post for you.

Dear entitled, illiterate, rich leech,

You are quite the explosives expert and you certainly have the means to purchase expensive firecrackers and burst them in front of your family, friends, neighbours and anyone else who would like to compete with you in your little phallus measuring contest.

And just because you can afford these things, you think you are entitled to do so wherever and whenever you wish without a care for those who are too evolved, too mature or just too tired from a hard day’s work to stoop down to your level of utter stupidity.

You are indiscriminate

You are the ones who live in big bungalows and high rises but prefer to burst your crackers out on the street because you either don’t want to spoil your squeaky clean colony or disturb your immediate neighbours because they will actually do something about your ridiculous behaviour. So, you decide to burst your crackers out on the street without a care for either pedestrians or drivers. You are a glutton for punishment.

You are callous

You are the ones with the big cars and thousands of rupees worth of crackers who dare not burst them in your colony and so you drive to the street, far from your house, and do so in the middle of the road, all the while shamelessly laughing at your own callousness and the discomfort of others. Your parents should be ashamed of what you have become.

You are dumb

You believe that since the road is public property, your daddy owns it. Surprise you idiot, he doesn’t. We all, and that includes the people you don’t care about, have paid to have these roads built and maintained and we have the right to safe passage without have to bother about getting set on fire or meeting with an accident just because you decided it was fun to throw crackers onto the road. You need more education.

You are like irritating insects

Just like the drone of a fly or the bite of a mosquito, you are the sound that irritates this city. Just because you have the money to buy a truckload of crackers does not mean you are entitled to burst them till one in the night. You violate the basic right of peace when you decide you haven’t had enough fun and continue burning all the excess money that you have in a spectacular display of fireworks. You need to see a counsellor.

You make the police brutal

You complain about the police chasing you away from the roadside and tea shops at night. You think that they are being too brutal and that if they did their job right, you wouldn’t have to suffer for it. But, what you don’t realize, you little dung beetle, is that the police would rather have you off the streets than have to clean up after your racing matches, your loud music, your vulgar behaviour and your drunken brawls. You are not fit to be left unattended on the roads of this city.

You are a disgrace to Gujarati society

Gujarati society claims to be one of the warmest in the country, one that welcomes other cultures with open arms and invites them to live peacefully within it. You however, are the boil on the city that is the face of Gujarati culture. You fill Ahmedabad with pus and disfigure it with your hideous ideas of selfishness, uncaring attitude, and blatant disregard for your fellow human beings. It is because of you that the whole country believes that the people of this city just want to make money and show it off without displaying any signs of respect for education, humanity, communal harmony, equality or intellectualism.

You spoil the image of the entirety of the city’s youth. You deserve nothing.

Atithi Devo Bhava? Indian Intolerance is at 100% & Rising…

India has always denied claims of being racist and Indians absolutely hate the guts of those who dare to call us racist. The one argument – that we are a multi-cultural nation – is the defence used to thwart any racism related allegation upon our spotless robe tolerance and brotherhood.

A Tanzanian student was stripped and made to parade around the roads of Bengaluru, the place we proudly call the ‘Silicon Valley’ of India, because a Sudanese man ran over an Indian woman at that spot. She was harassed, beaten; her car set on fire and received no help from the police – all because she was from the same continent as the person who committed a crime.

Political leaders then even had the ever-present audacity to claim this was not a racist attack when African embassies came out in outrage of the horrific incident. Although Sushma Swaraj did condemn the incident, the damage is done and there is no guarantee that it will not happen again. This is not even an isolated incident. Media reports suggest that hate crimes are taking place all over the country.

What is even more appalling and shameful is that the 'Invest Karnataka 2016-Global Investors Meet’ took place in the same city just three days later where N R Narayana Murthy, founder of Infosys, made a statement at that forum which needs mention here because he said, “My request to the state chief minister (Siddaramaiah) and industries minister (R V Deshpande) is to help us make Bengaluru more liveable for all, especially youngsters, by improving its infrastructure and quality of life.”

While the world is moving forward, leaving behind discriminations of caste, creed and colour; our country seems to be regressing into the dark ages of witch hunts, lynching, racial profiling and mob justice. And if this has happened in one of the major cities of the nation, it is shuddering to think of what happens in other areas.

In the post, The Wrong Colour of Skin – I wrote of how hypocritical we Indians are of our skin colour, about how we blame foreigners for racism and how our brand of racism is much, much worse.

Stuck in Smoke: The Fear of Police Brutality

As a journalist, coming home late is so normal that no time is late anymore per se but by normal standards, yes it was. And by late, I mean almost midnight.

This was a good day and since I did come back fast, I hadn’t had anything to eat. So I went to get a vada pav, which in case you’re wondering is a fried potato patty stuffed inside a bun and heated on a pan, sometimes with cheese.

The Incident

I just wanted to get the vada pav and get back home but no, events have to conspire on the one day I get home fast and that’s what happened here.

I got to the shop, ordered my cheese vada pav and then started reading the menu because there really isn’t much you can do while you wait. By the time I read half of it, my order was done and as I reached over the counter to take the parcel, I heard the shutters come down. Turning around, I saw one of the workers signalling all of us customers to be quiet and loudly whisper – POLICE.

I saw the time and sure enough, it was 12:00 am. The police had obviously come to shut down everything and we had been unlucky to be inside the place at that time.

It was then that it began. One of the dozen or so customers asked if the police would beat us if they found us. I thought he must be joking but turning around I saw that he and his friends were earnestly discussing this possibility which amused and worried me at the same time. Then the employees shut the lights off and the murmurs grew louder.

It amused me because I believe that the police could not beat us up for being there but I was apprehensive because I didn’t know for sure what the police would do. ‘Could’ and ‘would’ – the difference between knowing how things ideally work and not knowing how things will actually take place.

Image Courtesy: schmidtgs2.wikispaces.com

After ten minutes or so of this conversation, an employee got an all-clear phone call from the other side of the shutter and he opened it just a little and let us out in pairs. It reminded me of a couple of movies where people are trying to cross international borders.

And I thought to myself,

“Are things really so bad?”

“Why is there fear even on a normal day in a busy part of the city?”

“Are these people right in mistrusting the police?”

“Do we need to fear the very people in charge of protecting us?”

“Is this paranoia or years of ingrained reality?”

And the most important thought,

“Is this the fear of one person creeping into all in a distressing environment or is this a mutual repressed feeling being triggered by a mere mention of atrocity?”

The Implications

The latter thought is scarier than the former and if true, needs to be addressed by the Ahmedabad City Police at the earliest because if the people don’t trust their protectors, who are they going to put their faith into?

The Next Step

I hope this post reaches the police department because I figure they should be concerned even if this is an isolated incident, which isn’t very likely.

When Parents FAIL their Children all over again

Some parents I’ve noticed have this annoying habit. A habit they do not realize does more harm than good; a habit that discourages instead of bringing improvement; a habit that affects the psyche instead of the outlook; a habit that is akin to kicking someone who has fallen, laughing in their face, and then telling them how much you love them.

This is the habit of parents showing the whole world what spectacular and utter failures their children are by putting their shortfalls on full display before all to see and then inviting some more people to come and have a good laugh that’ll brighten up their day. This will then probably lead to an innocent either jumping from the terrace or hanging from the fan if they’re not strong enough to take the insult or smart enough to understand its purpose.

Let’s face it, there are such parents. And what’s worse, they are more in number than those parents who like to show the world that their children are the best in the whole wide world. Admittedly, that isn’t any good either, extremes rarely are, but at least it is talked about and ridiculed. However, the other end of the spectrum? It isn’t talked about in the way the adulation is spoken of. It is hardly ever criticized in society that is.

Image Courtesy: theodysseyonline.com

There is rarely one who is strong enough to stand up to the parents and ask them to stop the rigmarole because at that moment, the child is the one who has let the parents down, who has tarnished the family name, who has failed in class, who has lost the competition, who has bunked a class, ho didn’t get into a good college, who didn’t get that gold medal, who didn’t care about what parents wanted. The child is to blame fair and square.

But one would think that parents, before using this innovative method of insulting their children before family and friends, would stop for a moment and think about what this would achieve.

Does ridicule raise confidence?

Does insult dull the injury of failure?

Does shame induce self-confidence?

Does derision ensure better performance?

Does humiliation beget better results?

Does indignity tend to inspire?

These are the questions that these parents need to ask themselves before going out into that party and shaming their children before others because you never know how someone will react to such shaming.

Your children might not understand that you do it out of love or desperation or some other sort of correctional method. In that moment, they just know pain all over again.

For some, it is too late. For others, it is not.

Please find a better way.

I’ve been meaning to write about this topic for quite some time now and a friend fortunately brought it up on Facebook recently. She saw this happening on an Indian soap opera and spoke out against it which led me to ultimately writing this piece. If you do think the problem is real, share this post with either the student who is suffering from this, or with the parent who thinks ridicule only makes things better.

Kim Jong-un's Six news ways to kill Traitors

Pyongyang: After having his Defence chief executed for treason because he dozed off in a high profile meeting titled ‘Dealing with Traitors’, eternal leader and Dictator par excellence Kim Jong-un sent a memo to the Pointless Killings Committee elaborating on six innovative ways to execute future sleeping beauties.

Sources deep inside the North Korean government indicate that Kim formulated this memo on the way to the classified nuclear missile silo where he was scheduled to oversee the execution of the chief scientist for making missiles with rounded heads. These pointers are meant to be taken as an express command of the benevolent leader and are to be inducted into the formal execution methods for all time (and beyond it).

Here is a copy of the memo that an anonymous source sent out to Faking News before mysteriously disappearing two days back. The document contains illustrative photographs to help the committee better grasp what the leader has in mind.

This dude!

Top Secret Document

Six New ways to annilate anihilatte destroy Traitors

#1 Running them over with Monster Trucks

Technique: Two monster trucks gifted to me, your leader, your God, your everything, by my best friend Putin will be used to run traitors over in the garden of my palace.

Priority status: Slaves bonded labourers.

#2 Tying them to Test Missiles

Technique: Any traitor who happens to be convicted on the day of a test launch of our missiles shall be tied naked to the missile and then launched. Sex appeal will get more attention from the world press.

Priority status: All military personnel, my family members.

#3 Air-dropping them over South Korea

Technique: Traitors attempting to cross over to the prosperous hated nation south of our borders shall be air dropped without parachutes in their territory.

Priority status: Civilians looking for a better life.

#4 Making them eat Radioactive Vegetables

Technique: Defectors working in sensitive national security fields shall be made to eat vegetables stored in uranium 238 contaminated storage.

Priority status:  Scientists, researchers, historians.

#5 Feeding them to the Sharks

Technique: Enemy citizens captured within and beyond the boundaries of our glorious nation shall be sent to sleep with the fishes. I have waited to use this line from a long, very long time.

Priority status: Spies, prisoners of war.

#6 Injecting them with the Ebola virus

Technique: Old people and the sick are of no use to the economy (thus becoming traitors) and must be disposed off. However, this must be done with compassion. To give them a natural death, they must be injected with the Ebola virus which our outsourcing partner Boko Haram has sent us.

Priority status: Old, sick, unemployed

Note: This is a Faking News report that I did some time back for MyFaking News. It is to be taken with the humour with which it was written.

Maybe George Orwell was Wrong about Journalism

There’s this quote going around that people credit to the author of works such as ‘1984’ and ‘Animal Farm’. It goes something like this…

Yeah, this quote.

Now, let me confess something right at the beginning.

I don’t really know if he said it or if it means something else altogether or if he meant it as a very complex metaphor to say something that I haven’t understood, but from what I gather from its literal meaning is that journalism is about letting people know about things that other don’t want them to know.

Now maybe he might not have used this quote to convey an absolute definition of journalism but seen and understood on its own, without a point of reference, it does seem like a very confined view of the field to me.

Saying that journalism is printing what others don’t want printed defines only one aspect of the many possibilities journalism holds. Information, knowledge, awareness, peacekeeping, gate keeping and even revolution are some of the various aspects of what one might call journalism per se.

Printing only what others don’t want printed seems to then be a very stunted view which implies that only the bad side of human nature is what journalism should strive to portray.

But journalism, as far as I understand it, stands as a mirror before society, showing it its true face, pretty or ugly, sane or insane, free or enslaved. But always what society really looks like, not only what-must-not-be-said.

Image Courtesy: genius.com

Some might today claim that the media has become biased, that it does show only what it wants to, that it all depends on the interest of those who control the media. Others claim that ‘breaking news’ is all what the media is about today. And still others believe that the amount of bad news being printed and broadcast is more than the good that is happening in society.

Does that mean this quote holds true?

Not necessarily. One has to look beyond the bad to search for the good. It does happen all around us and it is reported. Maybe it’s just that we are so attuned to the bad that we cannot find enough good to make it count.

As someone actually working in this industry, I know how hard journalists toil to search for a good story amongst the murders and suicides of everyday life. These stories then appear in print and are broadcast, but are we open enough to give the good news enough credit?

Are we ready to admit that George Orwell might, just might, be wrong?

Are we?

The Year is New, but are Your Priorities?

Everyone’s excited about the new year that began on January 1^st. Excited about a new beginning, a new resolution, a new twist to lie, a promise to oneself, new changes, new attitudes, new, new, new…

But is that really the case?

Do we really look forward to a new year or look back and enjoy the memories of milestones past. Are we just content to look back and not bother much about what lies ahead?

Image Courtesy: discussionist.com

If yes, then why rejoice for all the things accomplished at the end of this calendar year? Why not think of what didn’t happen this year? Why not think of what more could have been done this year? Why not reflect upon things that still require attention?

Some examples if you please.

Everyone in India went gaga over the fact that the country now has 1 billion telecom users. Yay! The country is now connected, right?

But what about the fact that India’s population is 1.2 billion, which leaves about 0.2 billion people still without a phone?

And what about the fact that there are 4 billion people in the world still not connected to the internet according to CNN Money? That’s four times the people who just use telecom services in India.

How about the 1.6 billion people in the world who have no sort of electricity at all if the World Bank is to be believed? How come these people don’t have a light in their homes this new year while we celebrate?

But the best and most apt comparison is that the United Nations claims there are 1 billion people in the world who defecate in the open even today. Well, how about that? What about them?

If you need to think, think of what is still left to do instead of lying back and basking in the glory of things already achieved. These are the things that need to be done this year.

Make a promise to help in whatever little way you can, for every small measure helps in making this world in the words of the immortal Michael Jackson:

A better place for you and for me and the entire human race…

Santa Claus: The Salesman with Claws

Having emerged from the Christmas season, which is not yet over, a not-so changed man, I wonder how many actually did bring about a change in their lives in this year.

Well Christmas is indeed a time of cheer and goodwill among men but it is also the international standard for sales targets, advertising budget overruns, depleting savings and burning through piles of hard earned cash – all in the name of the Lord.

Image Courtesy: batman.wikia.com

Well, that’s at least what I’ve heard some of the clergy say this year what with the birthday boy, Jesus himself, disappearing out of the whole Christmas picture with every passing year. To put it into perspective, there seems to be a feeling that Jesus didn’t get invited to his own birthday party because somebody brought the cake, another brought the drinks, a third brought the food and the fourth brought the dessert and there was nobody left to inform the guy for whom they actually threw the party.

Sounds weird?

Some seem to be concerned that the commercialization of festivals has led Santa Claus to become an even bigger idol that Jesus today. And that should worry the leaders off the church if it doesn’t already. One has to admit, it is great for the propagation of religion but the essence as such keeps losing significance.

To kids today, Christmas seems to mean nothing other than the fact that their parents getting them gifts, for teenagers it’s all about the parties, for young adults it’s a day off of work and the others, some time to spend with the family.

This obviously doesn’t hold true for everyone but observation has led me to believe that the importance of Christmas has dwindled down to just the poster boy of a soft drinks company and means nothing more than just another holiday.

Image Courtesy: www.youthareawesome.com

It is just like what happens to other festivals celebrated here in India that I’ve written about in this post on Durga puja. But well, something needs to be done to drive sales and what better way than appealing  to peoples sentiments that inadvertently force them to show their love towards their family by having them make money for companies.

In the memorable words of Lord Cutler Bekett from Pirates of the Caribbean:

It’s just good business…

Image Courtesy: www.reddit.com

A very Merry Christmas to you and a Happy New Year!

Note: This post is not meant to be disrespectful to any religion, people or God/s. It is just my personal opinion on what I've observed in my vicinity. Any connection to people (living or dead) or Companies (and franchises) or Gods (and Goddesses) is merely coincidental and is not deliberately meant.

Can Meritocracy survive in the face of Corporate Seniority?

There is usually a lot of chatter at different workplaces about quality of work, standards of employees, dishing out of credit and progress of the deserving and the unworthy alike.

Now, it may occasionally happen that a young employee with formidable talent and skill and may come along, one whose talent may overshadow even those with many years of experience under their belts. These suave and confident beings may or may not realize their potential but in a highly competitive workplace, contemporaries, if not superiors, are sure to take notice sooner rather than later.

With enough time spent and hard work put in, these young ones may tend to catch the eye of the boss if they’re looking enough attention. Well, that is a prerequisite for bosses nowadays when even CEO's are out hunting for jobs. The constant need to improve on the workplace and generate better profits for the company keeps even the laziest of bosses on the lookout for those who have the ability to grasp things and climb the proverbial ladder.

This is where the problem occurs.

Image Courtesy: moneycrashers.com

Should the boss promote the underling and bypass the senior?

OR

Or should the boss risk wasting potential to preserve peace in the workplace?

Not all bosses have the kind of rapport with employees so as to understand the dynamics and offices politics playing out under their own noses. In their rise, they leave behind common ploys and play the same game at a higher level.

But only those working together actually realize how team dynamics work under the complex hierarchy that modern industry is based on. They know who works well with whom, who works better than whom, who cannot work with whom and who cannot be trusted to work at all. And they often know all this more than the bosses themselves who have glass cabins shielding them from the best and worst their employees have to offer.

So, does meritocracy really survive if the hierarchy is put in danger?

Does the workplace dynamic take a hit in light of a jump in promotion?

Does merit even stand a chance in the face of superiors taking credit for everything?

Or is the cumbersome method of seniority the only way to ensure smooth functioning?

Food for thought, dear leaders…

With Great Power comes Great Responsibility: India & the UNSC

It’s been 69 years since India became an Independent nation. The leaders that formed the government then thought that the time was right for India to govern itself. The government today believes that India is ready to be part of a committee that aims to keep the world secure, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). To this end, they have been looking for support from every quarter with the constant spate of foreign visits Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already made to several nations since his government came to power in 2014.

They feel the time is right for India to take its rightful place, seeing as it considers itself a leader in Asia. It is looked upon by various South Asian nations as a big brother, an insurance policy of some kind, against the threat that an aggressive China poses in the region.

For & Against India’s seat

But India has apparently failed in impressing contemporary world leaders who have opposed India’s most recent bid to restructure the UNSC like its reluctant friend US President Barrack Obama and its long-time ally Russian President Vladimir Putin. The third nation, China, in spite making tall claims of friendship during President Xi Jinping’s diplomatic visit, is still a regional rival along with another claimant to a permanent seat, Japan. However, the other two permanent members, France, under President Francois Hollande and the United Kingdom, under Prime Minister David Cameron, support India’s bid.

Other Contenders

Along with India, the other G-4 nations, comprising of Germany, Japan, and Brazil have all longed for a permanent seat in the UNSC. Germany, because of its GDP, which is the fourth largest in the world, Japan, because of its regional (albeit muted) power status in Asia, and Brazil, by virtue of being the only regional power in South America.

Shortcomings

Although India is slated to be the most populous country in the world by 2022, although its economy is great as an emerging market, although it has a stable democratic structure and although it is a responsible nuclear state, India hasn’t exactly been doing what one would expect members of a ‘security council’ to do.

• India hasn’t sent help to the coalition fighting terrorist groups outside its borders
• India is not involved in helping bring back a democratic government in Yemen
• India didn’t until very recently stand up for or attempt to mediate the conflict brewing in the South China Sea.
• India hasn’t spoken up on human rights issues in the Israel-Palestine conflict.
• India stood passively by in the Iran nuclear deal.
• India hasn’t done anything for the Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.

When you take a look at all these conflicts that India has deliberately avoided, stayed out of, skirted or just verbally condemned, it is hard to imagine that this country is a regional power which will do anything at all, even if it does get a permanent seat at the UNSC.

Favourable Statistic

However, there is one thing that certainly goes in India’s favour and that is the number of personnel it has sent to the United Nations Peacekeeping Force. India has sent 8,112 people and is third in terms of this contribution, Bangladesh and Pakistan holding the first and second positions respectively. The permanent members come nowhere close to matching these numbers.

Unfortunate Reality

However, merely these numbers cannot hide the fact that India has in fact chosen neutrality and made the decision to stay aloof from world conflicts even in this age of co-operation. Although India now contests that it just needs a two-third majority in the UN General Assembly to get a seat, the problem is that India might fall short on its claim to be able to handle that much power without taking on responsibility.

Owning up to the Real Issues at Hand

We see and are a part of a number of things that are wrong in society in daily life. We want to make them better, we want to be better as a civilization and we strive towards that very common goal with the rest of humanity.

But we sometimes lose sight of the bigger picture either by quickly finding someone to blame or getting caught up in unnecessary nuances that hide the real issue, which is then left to stagnate and dealt with at a later date.

Image Courtesy: pinterest.com

These are the issues that really need to be dealt with, the crux of the matter, the questions we should really be asking. Divided by categories, here are the real issues and their tangents we have been obsessing over.

Crime

Radhe Maa in a skirt or Radhe Maa abetting suicide

The self-styled ‘Godwoman’ known as Radha Maacame into the news recently for her apparently racy photos in which she is wearing a short skirt or a dress. Although the real issue of her involvement in the death of a woman in a dowry case came to light, everyone was obsessed more about her short skirt than her abetment of suicide. That says more than one thing about the Indian mindset.

Defence

Japan’s new defence bill or Chinese aggression in South Asia

Everyone, from pacifists, to students, to academicians, to the common people are opposing a bill cleared by the lower house of Japanese parliament that will allow their military to help their allies fight threats. This means, Japanese forces will once again be able to deploy beyond their shores. What is not being taken into consideration however, is the Chinese aggression in the South China Sea that is taking a turn for the worse and Japanese self-defence may be reliant on reciprocation of the same to its allies.

Social Issue

Politics or Human Rights in the Israel-Palestine conflict

Political deadlock between Israel and Palestine seems to have become a permanent feature for that part of the world. With uncompromising parties on both sides giving no room for a peaceful reconciliation, the conflict seems in no hurry to end. However, human rights abuses, both by militant groups as well as police forces seem to be sidelined in favour of sovereign territorial disputes, settlements and violence on the streets.

Culture & Heritage

Protecting Monuments or Stopping Conflict

Cultural heritage all over the world is in constant danger of being enveloped into the conflicts that result in their unnecessary destruction or the threat thereof. The destruction f the Bamiyan Buddhas (Afghanistan), the looting of Iraqi national museum (Iraq), the allegations of the Taj Mahal being a temple (India) and the threat to Palmyra’s ruins (Syria) is very real and disheartening. Religious intolerance and conflict will continue to exist till there is a shift in mindset or in vested interests, but heritage will not come back once it is destroyed.

Education

The Porn Ban or the need for Sex Education

Amidst the uproar on whether the Indian government has any right to tell its citizens what to watch on the internet due to them banning over 800 porn sites, the real point of sex education and its despondent state in Indian education has been lost. The government has cited immorality as its feeble excuse to try to get away with its regressive policy but all everyone can be bothered with is the right to watch porn. What about the real bad effects it has on children? The answer is lost in the echoes of morality, decency and the freedom of the internet.

Religion

Fanaticism or Blame Game

Religious fanaticism exists in almost every religion and even examples seem unnecessary in this case. How much ever one tries to deny it, everyone knows that fringe elements exist in every religion, the people who are either too naïve to figure out that they are pawns in a bigger game and those who do so for their own vested interests. But popular concentration seems to be on placing the blame not on these elements alone but on a broader spectrum of people, most of whom abhor these elements and wish to see them wiped out as much as any sensible human being.

Time for a reality Check, maybe?

Hence, to say then that we aren’t actually facing up to the real threat wouldn’t be much of an overstatement. Time to see things in a broader perspective, don’t you think?

Porn Ban: An Alternate Solution

The recent impromptu porn ban initiated by the Union government of India who has advised ISPs to block more than 180 websites displaying explicit content has resulted in a subtle yet massive backlash by the Indian populace, the majority of which comprises of people under the age of 35.

Facebook, Twitter and the Blogosphere is awash with sarcasm, incredulity and outrage against the feeble excuse of those in power attempting to steer the nation away from things ‘immoral in nature’ and not befitting their standards of culture. Others in this list include homosexuality, beef and even language used in cinema. But there is also support from those who believe pornography to be the reason why rapes, sexual harassment and molestation plague this nation.

What is the truth?

Damned if anyone knows!

Image Courtesy: siasat.com

The Case FOR Porn

While some call it a good measure, others believe that this ban will eventually lead to more frustration among people and will result in even more incidences that the government apparently wants to see a reduction in. Just like those who believe that legalizing prostitution will help bring down illegal trade, human trafficking and recognition for those who actually want to be in that profession, they also believe that porn at least lessens the chance of sexual frustration than what it could be in its absence.

The Case AGAINST Porn

There are adverse effects of porn too like heightened expectations from the real act of sex, the desire to try unrealistic things, act out dangerous scenes that border on line between the legal and illegal, and children getting sexual education from there in lieu of schools and colleges.

Is there Another Way?

Are these reasons enough to ban porn entirely or can other measures be taken to counter their side effects without trampling all over the freedom of the internet as is done in regressive nations like China and North Korea?

The Possible Solution

One possible remedy that comes to mind is to introduce actual sex education in Indian schools to tutor teenagers and adults alike in the ways of sex ,safe and unsafe, legal and illegal, realistic and unrealistic, what to expect and what not to, and how to prevent sexually transmitted diseases.

Sex Education can go a long way in preventing the misuse of porn and instead can better the knowledge of what sex is, what it does and how to safely engage in it. Do you have a better way?

Don’t Spit in your Boss’ Coffee Maybe?

Internships are prerequisites for jobs in India today. Whether you attribute this trend to increase in competitiveness or blame it on overpopulation, internships have entrenched themselves as precursors to jobs in every field today.

Medicine, law, journalism, IT and in fact every private sector job opening requires the completion of one or more internships before the offer of a job comes your way.

I know this because I interned at two national newspapers, two magazines, a regional television news channel, a web news channel and a Public Relations agency before landing my first job. That’s seven internships in five years of my under-graduate and post-graduate studies.

Of the seven internships listed above, I had a disappointing experience at only one. And this too was only because my potential wasn’t fully realized due to mismanagement and faulty delegation of authority. This account may sound one sided but it is diluted by the fact that I received recommendations by every other place I went to. You see, that’s why I actually have a job as a journalist today.

Bad experiences are part of internships but one has to learn not to overreact to them in the spectacular way that this person has, whose note to his/her boss speaks of unmitigated hatred and revenge for unrealized potential.

Image Courtesy: youthconnect.in

Read about why you shouldn’t overreact to your Boss and just suck it up or quit the internship instead of making a mistake that jeopardizes your career in the field. The entire opinion piece is here on the Youth Connect magazine: [He reacted to his bad internship in the worst way possible. Here is why it is better to suck it up]

Change that Channel: Putting on Blinders or Protecting your Children?

Growing up in a household where Doordarshan was the only channel on television in classes X, XI and XII, I know how hard it is to be relegated to a monotonous voice saying something while you attempt to “make” something out of your life, “work hard now to reap fruits later” and “study hard, college is all about fun”.

Parents regularly attempt to contain their children’s consumption of television content by locking channels, unsubscribing to them, denying permission and deriding their choices if they watch channels they think are unsuitable or “not good” for them.

Putting on Blinders

Image Courtesy: goldenbuddhayoga.com

Now, is it not possible that the parents, by restricting access to content, are limiting their children’s exposure to the wider range of experiences available to the next generation? Are they not putting on blinders on their children? Are they not letting them see a partial worldview by limiting the content that they watch?

Apart from the news, there are many such topics which have a variety of opinions and each need to be viewed and heard to have a complete understanding of the same. By restricting half of the content, a partial message is conveyed and ideas that are developed then tend to move only in one direction. There is a certain lack of objectivity, and in some cases, radically and disastrously so.

Protection from Bad Influence

Image Courtesy: brainhulklogicsmash.blogspot.com

It is not always that parents restrict content to their children based n their own prejudices. It may also be so that they may actively attempt to curate television content in a way that only the best things come across. But this is also based own personal experiences and prejudice. Subjectivity would probably hamper the development process; however, that does not in any way lessen the importance of good intentions.

However, it must be noted that content on television is monitored and not a lot of content is actually there to subvert young minds. But, a check definitely needs to be kept. How? Now that is the real problem. Also, who can decide what is good and bad? Isn’t that too subject to personal prejudices?

The Million Dollar Question

How does one objectively curate content for children in such a way that it protects them from supposed bad influences while giving them an impartial worldview of all that television has to offer?

Do you have an answer or perhaps an opinion or observation you’d like to share? Well, let’s hear it.