This is now becoming a tragedy of epic proportions

In spite of my having told myself and you my dear reader that I shall not post things pertaining to the separate Telangana movement, something or the other happens to provoke me to break the promise I have made to myself and you.  I find it difficult to ignore when somebody who is as young as 30 years in age decides to end his life for a separate Telangana.  In the past when others have committed suicide for Telangana I have expressed my anguish and the pointlessness of it all.  I had said (I am quoting myself from memory) that when there are people willing to spend lakhs of rupees just to keep themselves alive, I find myself being indignant when young people take their presumably healthy lives for a political cause.

I understand that most people who have taken their lives are those that come from the not so well to do families and from a very deprived educational background which has rendered them unfit for employment.  The politicians have made such vulnerable people the target of their campaigns and that is what has given hope to the hopeless because all the young people assume that once a separate Telangana state is formed they will find jobs. When the process is delayed it is therefore no surprise that their levels of frustration mount since their immediate problems and joblessness cannot wait for the High Command forever to take a decision. Needless to say this is definitely the fault of the politicians who will do anything for the satisfaction of their own agendas.

But that is not the real intent behind this post.  What really irks me is how everybody is trying to benefit from the suicide of one person.  Everybody who has killed himself is immediately elevated to the status of a martyr and immediately after a suicide the focus shifts to the mortal remains of the dead person.  Leaders of political parties and other political organization want processions and the Government says no.  This leads to a stand off which in turn leads to a bandh and the paralysing of life.  First of all I would like to state that it is greatly disrespectful to the dead person when politicians and the aspiring ones seek to make political mileage out him/her by wanting to take the mortal remains of that person in a procession.  Second, the bandhs that stem out from such things are disrespectful to the general population at large.  Let me explain that better.

The agitators must realise that those within the general population may or may not have concrete ideas about the cause of the agitation. Meaning some may want a separate state while others may not or it could be that people are not sure as to where they stand. Even in the instance of people having concrete ideas of what they want things to be,very rarely do they act.  That means that despite wanting something vaguely, they do nothing about it because they are not driven to want that passionately enough and so do not really act. Which means that they are passive and so it means by extension that they are not the people who are either hindering or facilitating the realization of the goals of an agitation.  Therefore to inconvenience them when the problem lies elsewhere is not only morally unsustainable but also offensive.

Yesterday there was a bandh call somewhere in Rayalaseema for keeping the state united and today there is a bandh call in Telangana for bifurcation.  These politics are becoming nerve wracking and simply disrupting the productivity of society.  I wish that some other means are used in order to make the powers that be understand the aspirations of the agitators on both sides of the great divide.  Also continued involvements of students in the agitation over prolonged periods of time damages the students quality of education and therefore the prospects of a better life in the future.  The young should also value their own life and not commit suicide, otherwise post their death their mortal remains are just fodder for the cannons of the politicians who are the cause of the imbroglio in the first place anyway.  The tragedy of the situation is not just the loss of life and limb, it is the loss of futures.  I think people should come together to fight politicians and not become accessories to the dirty agenda of the politicians, be they on whichever side of the divide.

My heart really aches for my country and my countrymen

I was with my cousin in the car driving to the Mumbai airport from Chembur when he (my cousin) started receiving phone calls about bomb blasts in three places in Mumbai.  It to just a few more minutes I started calls from my family and friends who were anxious to find out where I was and if I was safe.  On hearing the news Mumbaikers all wanted to go home (and with good reason) leading to huge traffic jams with the car inching its way forward.  My cousin and I were both silent, the conversation that we were having when the news came simply died and both of us were silently reflecting on what had happened.

Neither of us knew any details and people who were calling were giving all kinds of figures about how many were injured and how many were already dead.  But the whole thing shook the very foundation of my being and yet again questions were swirling in my head.  Why do people do this? Why?  Do people not have a conscience when they simply take the lives of so many innocent people and disrupt the well being and happiness of the families of those who die in these acts of violence?  Isn't this the highest form of cowardice?  Using weapons against people who are defenceless?  Killing those who were only just living their normal life and not threatening any one else?  What is the world coming to?  And though there are other cities that have been targetted, none has had the problem that Mumbai has had with its denizens being attacked repeatedly.  What did the poor Mumbaikers do to deserve this?  Even as the questions were circling my head, I knew that I had no answers.  There cannot be logical explanations to act of random idiocy and viciousness that form the basis of these actions.

Even as my thoughts were still in the realm of imagining what this tragedy could mean to the members of those who have lost their lives and to those of the injured and dying, my mind went on to another issue.  Already the callers who wanted to know if I and my cousin were safe were starting to theorize about who could have perpetrated the dastardly act and some were even beginning to question the nationalist credentials of Indian Muslims.  This issue scared me then (about 24 hours ago) and continues to scare me still.  Why are we so happy stereotyping communities and building grudges even when we are not the ones who are directly affected.  Have Muslims not died in these attacks?  Why subject an entire community to humiliation because these insane and inhuman actions may have been perpetrated by members belonging to the Muslim community.  I have used the word may because we still do not know for sure who has done this. A nation is built on toleration and respect for difference, even indifference to difference is acceptable, but not intolerance.  

The future of India depends upon the people of the country rallying together as one to fight the enemies of peace and prosperity.  I do not know how many read this blog, but I appeal to everyone who is reading to remain calm and sympathize with the families of the dead and injured and not castigate all members of the Muslim community most of whom also desire to live their lives peacefully.  In a strange coincidence I have received an email from one Elizabeth Potter who has requested me to give the link to a particular website in America which is pleading with Americans to not discriminate wantonly against Muslims post 9/11.  The link is pasted below.  If you are interested please visit that site and form your own opinions, especially if there are readers of this blog from America.  I am only putting up the link on my blog because as a cause it fits in with my concept of communal tolerance and harmony.  Beyond that I do not know anything about who Elizabeth Potter is and also if there is any other agenda behind that website.  Please use your own discretion if you visit that site.  Here is the link.  http://myfellowamerican.us/

Meanwhile my appeal to all my brothers and sisters, please pray for peace for the souls of those that lost their lives, shed a tear and extend a thought to their families and those of the injured as well.  If you are in a position to help these families in anyway please do so. Do not cultivate hatred and just treat this terrible act of cowardice as that of only those who perpetrated it and not as that of the entire religious community to which they belong.  I pray to God to give strength to the affected and also to give peace to the country.  And remember there is only one God, irrespective of how you choose to address Him/Her.  Jai Hind.

Bandh is the opposite of Satyagraha

I feel compelled to write this piece because yet again the Telangana issue has flared up and has started bringing with it the usual inconvenience.  I have stated that it is not really important to me whether a separate Telangana State is granted or not.  I once had strong ideas about it, I have articulated them and it makes no sense to go on and on about them.  I am from Telangana and can live here comfortably though I would like to see Andhra Pradesh left as it is so the fissiparous or parochial tendencies don't start taking serious shape in this country.  But one thing that is really difficult to fathom is the concept of bandhs.  I cannot believe that these are expressions of peaceful dissent because people are forced to take part in bandhs and there is nothing peaceful about them.  Just look at the fact that no bandh is ever successful in the old city of Hyderabad and that shows how voluntary bandhs are.  However what is really sad in all this is that a State Capital is paralyzed for 48 hours, daily wage earners lose opportunity to earn their livelihood and one day before and one day after the bandh queues of people fight for fuel.  It was pathetic to see people disembarking from trains and buses and getting stranded in railway stations and bus stations because they could not find transport or found transport that demanded the sky in return for taking them to their homes.

Equally important is the fact that patients who need emergency medicare suffer because no transport is available to take them to hospitals and this time I have personally come to know of at least two people who had to go through tension because they were not sure if they will find transport to take them to hospitals.  Forget critical care, patients suffering from high fevers of various varieties have had no access to doctors since many doctors have themselves not reported to their clinics fearing a backlash.  To make things worse doctors belonging to the Telangana region struck work and that is really sad.  Satyagraha is the righteous anger but the expression of that is not inconveniencing others.

What is interesting this time is that there has been no immediate and spontaneous reaction from politicians of the Coastal Andhra and Rayalseema regions even though so many legislators from Telangana resigned.  But students in those regions have decided to remind their political leaders the responsibility to posture immediately so that momentum does not build for a separate Telangana State.  And what do these "students" do?  Indulge in stopping of trains.  My question is why are people who have nothing to do with any of these issues made to suffer?  By stopping the Navjeevan Express what were the students of the Coastal Andhra region hoping to achieve.  To me there is no difference between hijackers who take over a plane and threaten the lives of people if their demands are not met and those who call for bandhs and indulge in rail roko or rasta roko. These are not means by which the government is inconvenienced.  I hope that people realize that there is nothing peaceful or righteous about inconveniencing lives of fellow human beings.