Mai Modi Badnaam......

I am not a big Mr. Narendra Modi fan. Nor am I a hater. But in India, I’m not allowed to do so. Here, neutrality either means lack of ‘round objects connected to a  necessary reproductive organ’ which half the population literally doesn’t have (an expression which even feminists use, without realising that it is against their basic cry), or subtler terms like diplomacy, running away from the topic and not taking a stand just to ‘save oneself from the debate’. The truth, however remains that I have mostly viewed Modiji as a normal person who has been unnecessarily hyped on either side.

It was one of the reasons I did not care to listen to his twin speeches at the UN General Assembly and at the Madison Square Garden. I have often regarded him as the dramatic and happier version of Nirupa Roy and Ravi Shastri in terms of melodrama and repetitive exaggeration respectively. But the event which caught my eyes was the protests that were held and shown by the ‘alternative’ media, which also blamed the mainstream media for ignoring the ‘Anti-Godhra’ protesters just to keep the PM in a good light. Let me explain the situation in the way I best can.

Movie: Don        Year: 1978          

The character Jasjit (played by Pran) is sitting in jail narrating his tumultuous life- experiences to Kaka (played by probably a real-life Kaka).

Kaka: “Laikinn (sic) Jasjit, Ye hua Kaise?”

Jasjit: “Insaan apni burai chhod sakta hai Kaka, lekin insaan ki badnaami humesha uske saath rehti hai. Maine apni pichhli zindagi se rishta tod liya tha, lekin duniya mujhe maaf na kar saki.”

Now, before you digress by starting to mimic Pranji’s voice by repeatedly shaking your head on the above dialogue, let me come to the point straightaway. Here, in the movie, Jasjit used to be small-time thief. And yet the world couldn’t forgive him for this. The person in consideration here has been accused of genocide. Why would anyone, especially the ones who suffered, even think of anything on the lines of forgiveness? It is a completely different matter that he has been absolved of all the cases lodged against him. The people who further accuse politicians of having the judiciary in their pockets need to look no further than at Jayalalitha. Ironically, it seems that the whole ‘kayanat’ is conspiring to help Modi become the Messiah, which the half of India already views him as.

I, therefore, halfheartedly made it a point to at least listen to his UNGA speech, thinking that maybe it’d make me think better of the man. And this time, I was impressed indeed. Agreed, that his amount of usage of the words ‘sthirta’ and ‘samriddhi’ was equivalent to the amount of abuses given by a typical Indian male aged 16-35 on a 'minutely' basis, but this time, it was different.

No ‘Bhaiyon aur Beheno’ here. It was the official meeting of delegations from different parts of the world on a global platform. The sentences were short, neat and terse. There was no beating around the bush, no sugar-coated accusations. Terrorism was duly criticised; as was the inability of the super powers to deal with it; Suitable messages were sent to Pakistan with appropriate amount of humour*; peace proposals were extended throughout the world; and he spoke and portrayed as if India was a benefactor and not a beneficiary anymore, walking toe to toe with other super powers. He spoke as a global citizen wanting to contribute, not someone begging the UN to help their country/community. When the alleged merciless butcher is extending a baton of peace to the entire world, you know that something is not right. You could even feel the man desperately trying to cleanse his image despite not being entirely at fault. I had a smile on my face throughout.

No matter what the inner realities are, I felt proud, the feeling one gets when someone praises one's family despite it having problems. I could myself feel that my country’s a world leader; the few minutes of feeling like a superpower which it was supposed to be by the end of 2020 were indeed awesome.

To the victims of the Godhra incident, and the people involved directly, who can never forgive this man for the massacre, I say, DON’T. Neither I, nor can anyone else step in your shoes and feel the pain in the same way you do. You have the full right to do so, and perhaps you are the necessary critics required at this and every further stage. To the people who have complained about the media bias, do you seriously think that displaying the photos of the protesters would’ve made even an iota of difference to the blind supporters? To the supporters, I say, ‘CONTINUE’. To the rest, which include people like me as well, I just have one thing to say, "We’ve elected Sleeping Beauties, Mute Buttons, and Corruption Kings as leaders of our nation. I think we can give a chance to the person who’s at least trying hard. The worst that can come out of this is nevertheless not new to us. We've already had 67 years of net practice for that."

Time for a Namaste! Jai Hind! I guess.

*I know it wasn’t intentional but I actually laughed at the clever usage of words when he said ‘UN jaisa itna achcha platform hone ke bawajood hum G badalte rehte hain’ while referring to the history of the G-20 summits.

P.S. A very Happy Birthday to you Bapu. We as a country did not deserve you. But then, neither did the other nations. So I guess it’s ok. Thanks, anyway.

Kashmir Ki Khali

Khalna

/ (ख़लना) /

Verb

Meaning: Getting irritated

                         

             The Following is the timeline of a standard Natural disaster in any part of India over the past so many years.

A major Natural calamity à Floods/Landslides/Earthquakes in the whole area à People  caught in the waters/Land à Livestock dead; increase in the no. of human casualties à Failure of local administration despite Multiple warnings à Army relief sent à Safety of the tourists ensured first à Appeal for philanthropy from the population à Few Voluntary donations à NGOs’ assistance à Emotional Outbursts à Water receding/ Stoppage of the earthquake à People saved à Announcement of cash ‘prizes’ for the families of the deceased à Start of the rehabilitation program for another few months. à Things back to normal.

            Whereas the following is the timeline of the recent Kashmir floods over the past two weeks. (Note that this also involves participation from people of all religions/states/creeds working tirelessly from behind their computer screens to contribute just filth).

A major flood after 60 years à People  caught in the waters à Livestock dead; increase in the no. of human casualties à Failure of local administration despite Multiple warnings à Army relief sent à Glorification of the army by the media à Criticism of the army by the locals à Criticism of the Indian media by Fanatics on one side à Criticism of the Fanatics on one side by Fanatics on the other side à Glorification of Locals by other Locals à Criticism of the other Locals by some other Locals à Hate Messages from one side à Hate messages from the other side à Safety of the tourists ensured first à This spread by some as being a step to deliberately sabotage Kashmir à Rumours flowing even more than the waters of the flood à Blaming India à Blaming Pakistan à Blaming the Abdullahs à Blaming Modi à Blaming Gilani à Innumerable Political Statements à Appeal for philanthropy from the population à  Wave of Unity à Voluntary Donations from all over the world in both cash and kindà NGOs’ assistance à Water receding à Emotional Outbursts à People saved à  Announcement of cash ‘prizes’ for the families of the deceased à Start of the rehabilitation programme for another few months. à Things back to normal.

                 The Qur'an describes the Day of Judgement/Resurrection (Qayamat) as follows: 

'When the Deafening Blast comes, that Day a man will flee from his brother and his mother and his father, and his wife and his children: on that Day every man among them will have concerns enough of his own.' The Holy Qur'an, Chapter 80, Verses 33-37 

                     Pretty much spot on, I guess. This tragedy although was nowhere close, but the reaction of the people involved was. The flood was a severe one. One of the worst in Kashmir’s history. Not severity wise maybe, as we’ve had worse ones during the Tsunami or the Uttarkashi floods etc. But the damage caused by the unpreparedness of the authorities converted it into one of the most damaging disasters of the decade. This could’ve been and was being dealt like every other calamity. But then, the state of Jammu & Kashmir is a superstar. Like Shah Rukh Khan, or maybe Narendra Modi. Love it or Hate it, but you cannot ignore it. Each and every Indian/Pakistani has an opinion regardless of knowing any fact. The ones who continuously suffer are the common people who’ve had enough and are tired of this stardom which the higher authorities enjoy at their expense. Throughout these few days, I think I’ve seen it all. The level to which the people can stoop to spread hatred and negativity instead of lending helping hands is appalling. The journalism throughout this incident has seen so many shades of yellow that even Rakhi Sawant or KRK can be put to shame.

                    But, when all hope was destroyed; from the ashes, rose the phoenix in the form of the good Samaritans. The Kashmiris from all over the world, came together to save their motherland from the wrath of the floods and the fiends. From the clutches of extreme evil, forces of even greater good have emerged and spread calm all around. For every single person who has continuously exploited the hapless locals for monetary gains, there have been at least 2 heroes as well. The army? To a great extent, Yes. The locals? Definitely, as they were the ones who coordinated the relief work in different areas. But the real paragons of virtue were the countless people working behind the scenes to stop the madness from spreading. My classmate, who single-handedly organised the collection drive among 1000s of people even though his family was safe; the people in my hostel who had no contact with their families stuck in the worst affected areas for 5 days, but who were still able to provide neutral and pragmatic inputs devoid of hatred; the bunch of girls in my class who had no relation whatsoever with the incident, but still donated insane amounts in cash and kind; the organisations which volunteered and successfully transported the relief when the govt. failed; and the Indigo Airlines who allowed 1000s of kgs of cargo to be sent to Kashmir for free. – these were the real not-wanting-to-be-labelled heroes who were just concerned about Human Life; and not Human Type.

               The Water level is now under control and rehabilitation might start in two weeks. So, the last two steps in the timeline above will take some time. But believe me, the end result will be the same. The situation over there unfortunately, will neither progress nor regress. Lovers will love, haters will hate; all with the same intensity. The John/Jane Doe will have lost a lot, and will have to start all over again, but no one will care. Perhaps, the only thing we can do here is put all of this behind us, help people move on with their lives, and hope that Kashmir rises again, to be the heaven again, which it is always supposed to be.

P.S. - Meanwhile in another world, the DUSU (Delhi University Student Union) elections were held with pomp and fervour. As usual, a stunning victory was recorded by #Seriously_no_one_cares.