The brouhaha over bans

There might have been countless rebuttals already to the nearly famous Suchitra Krishnamoothys blog post (not her autobiography, surprisingly) about how the BJP is the worst idea since Hitler’s. This, nevertheless, won’t deter me to write another one. 

First things first:

1)  Let me start bottom up. In this blog post I talk about my views and my views only. I don’t talk on behalf of the 130 crore Indians as Ms Krishnamoorthy conveniently and unapologetically does in her own.

2) This blog post will lack the finesse, charm, use of metaphors and adjectives. This will not be a literary masterpiece. Far from it, actually. So if you are looking at reading something worthwhile which might give you a shot at GRE/GMAT, I would advise you to move on to some other, rather diligently written with that intent, blogs. I can point out some if you want.

3)I wish the BJP paid me to write this article. Unfortunately for me, it doesn’t. Quite a bummer that we bloggers have to do what the spokespersons of the BJP should be doing in newsrooms.

4)There will be a lot of grammatical errors. Grammar Nazis can have their fair share of laugh at my expense. I will be more than happy to grant you the little sadistic pleasure you might get after dissecting this post.

Now that I have set the expectations let me start with disagreeing respectfully with Ms Krishnamoorthy. The article is a mere reflection of how the media has been able to set the narrative that this is a ban-friendly government. Not only it is factually incorrect, it also puts forward her lopsided views and the unreal expectations she has with the government. The write up reeks of stereotypes that have been pushed down our throats in the last one-year or so. But I won’t blame her for the misguided non-egalitarian view she has of the government. If I had suddenly woken up from a slumber and watched the news channels day-in day-out without bothering about any sort of fact checking, I too would have held a similar view.  It’s a perfect example of Goebbels Law. 

I will skip the rhetoric and get on with the points she has put forward.

People have varied views of different political parties of India. BJPs hard-core supporters remember ABV’s 6-year rule that gave India the much needed push in development of physical infrastructure. It’s detractors however remember it for the infamous rath yatra carried out by its patron Lal Krishna Advani followed by his, and in turn BJPs, alleged role in the demolition of Babri Masjid and the riots that ensued. But I don’t think anyone remembers BJP for its mishaps in Karnataka. Karnataka, did you say?

Anyways, the battle of perception can go on forever. The sooner we move on the better is the probability of not losing the context.

Beef Ban

Let us not get swayed by facts. Le us just believe the rhetoric about India turning into Banistan under Modis India. Beef ban has been in place in majority states before the BJP even took it’s first breath. But let’s for a minute assume that it was the BJP who had enforced the ban in most of the states. If they are in fact doing it, they are fulfilling their poll promise. The BJP promised an end to the pink revolution. It was a part of their manifesto. Frankly, I would have been disappointed if they hadn’t taken any action in this regard.

Anyways, the debate around cow protection has been going on since ages. Let’s not go so long back but to the post independence India. This is what Mr ZH Lari of the United provinces had to say:

It is interesting to note that even a Muslim member, Mr. Z.H. Lari of United Provinces, in the interests of maintaining communal harmony, stated that “ Therefore, if the House is of the opinion that slaughter of cows should be prohibited, let it be prohibited in clear, definite and unambiguous words. I do not want that there should be a show that you could have this thing although the intention may be otherwise. My own submission to this House is that it is better to come forward and incorporate a clause in Fundamental Rights that cow slaughter is henceforth prohibited, rather than it being left vague in the Directive Principles, leaving it open to Provincial Governments to adopt it one way or the other, and even without adopting definite legislation to resort to emergency powers under the Criminal Procedure. In the interests of good-will in the country and of cordial relations between the different communities I submit that this is the proper occasion when the majority should express itself clearly and definitely.”

Source: http://dahd.nic.in/ch1/chap1.htm#item10

Most of the Indian states except a few in north eastern states and Kerala have a ban in some form or other in place.

Meat Ban

Let’s first look at what was banned, irrespective of the time it was banned. Open slaughterhouses had banned the sale of meat on the days where Jains celebrated their festival. What does this actually mean? That you would not have been able to purchase your meat from these places. Would you have been able to eat your meat at home? Yes. Would you have been able to eat your meat in the restaurants? Yes. Would you have been able to purchase the meat? Yes, but only at places where there was no slaughter of animals. The previously stocked meat could be easily purchased just like any other grocery item.

Now look at the history of ban. It was in the year 1964 that the resolution was first passed the order. Later on it was reaffirmed in 1994 and 2004. BJP didn’t exist in 1964 and wasn’t ruling in either 1994 or 2004. All the three years it was either the Congress on it’s own or in alliance with NCP had ruled the states.

http://www.firstpost.com/india/bmc-bans-sale-of-meat-for-four-days-during-jain-fasting-season-congress-dubs-move-anti-democratic-2424618.html

 http://www.scoopwhoop.com/news/meat-ban-maharashtra/

http://www.opindia.com/2015/09/meat-bans-in-maharashtra-rest-of-india-a-fact-check/

Sedition

What should a state government do when it is ordered by the High Court to implement its orders? Defy it or comply with it? I guess a sane mind would definitely go with the latter. This is what the state govt did. It translated the court order, which was a result of an affidavit filed by the then Congress led govt in the Bombay High Court, in Marathi and circulated it across. The Bombay High Court later asked the govt itself to not act on the order given by them.

http://www.firstpost.com/politics/bombay-high-court-asks-maharashtra-govt-not-to-act-on-sedition-circular-state-says-its-lost-in-translation-2442656.html

http://www.hindustantimes.com/analysis/why-meat-ban-devendra-fadnavis-replies-to-rajdeep-s-open-letter/story-DHAL53eQHBaxpIQMINRWJN.html;jsessionid=6D79489B16EB0A6BB3DBC83739588753

The so-called fear of ‘fascism, despotism, and dictatorship’ has become boring. It has become a fashion by the self-declared intellectual class to demean the govt without knowing the facts. It has become agenda driven. In their hate for Modi, they have started oppose anything for the sake of opposition.

what does the mind tell you on a sleepless night?

How independent is independent thinking after all? 

Adwitiya

men with polarity get famous, men with duality get anonymous, but its only the advaita who becomes one of Him  

A moment of respite in an otherwise inhuman life

Random musings of an under-occupied mind

"Understanding women" is the greatest oxymoron ever used.

The little blocks

Yesterday came across an article on Facebook (how much more sadder can it be? *sighs*) about the photographers block. Fancy name for utter laziness, I tell you. A handicap nonetheless. Over the past few months I have realized that I am dealing with not just this one, considering the number of boats I have planted my feet in, rather loosely, but a multitude of others. I have a great urge right now to describe them and flaunt them as to how many things I am dispassionately passionate about. I might give in by the time I am finished writing. I might (un)knowingly be doing that right now,  trying to make it sound like you might have missed something or you weren't smart enough to read between the lines (the small sadistic pleasures in life).

I am trying to make sense out of it. I really am. Where am I going with this, is the question I ask rather than about the blocks I described above. And then they say there are no stupid questions. Whoever said that didn't have to deal with a bad student I guess.

Dealing with these blocks however can be fun. Or can be made to look like it. First step could be anything ranging from identifying what all you could be blocking advertently or inadvertently to actually doing something about it. But the great heroic lies in transitioning between these steps. Once you identify and brood over them, over and over again, and then some more then you realize that you had realized it long ago that if the realization had to come it would have already been realized. But hey, isn't the first step identifying the problem? This is where the fun comes in. Overtly thinking about them makes the clock work like a sprinter. In no time you fast forward so much of time that you can't help notice the relativity and elasticity of it, conveniently branching your thought process into a cosmic dimension triggering a whole new level of imagination which, at the end of it, leaves you with an air of superiority over the mere mortals. The smirk on the face is almost palpable as a first person. As for someone who might be obliging you by taking a note, a chipmunk would have fared better if a tabular comparison was to be made between the two of us, by the obligator. And the chipmunk would win, hands down, on all accounts.

I actually achieved the objective of this little note. I started writing it some 6-7 weeks ago. I started with a photographers block and ended up with a writers. Talk about living up to your expectations. I never fail to not surprise myself. I sometimes wonder how many lifetimes Premchanda had to take to complete Gaban if he were in my shoes?

Kill the hippies?

If I am allowed a bit of an exaggeration (of course I am) organised behavior leads to an ism akin to what was prevalent in the Nazi Germany or more recently in say a North Korea. Or on the other extreme leads to a pretty mundane and boring lifestyle that falls apart like a house of cards if a single element goes awry.  What I may sound like might be a naysayer but it is certainly not without a justified reason. It obviously involves a little generalization. You may well point out the exceptions but it will go on to prove the rule.

There is a question asked as much by people as I ask myself. Why exactly do I love India? Am I a nationalist? No. Patriot? Hell no. Does India provide the best possible lifestyle to its denizens? Not by a mile. Are people honest in their entirety? We have consistently been rated one of the most corrupt nations of the world. Why then? Why exactly do I love my country when I list a plethora of negatives about her?

There has to be something, right? What is that something? Is that something intangible? Mystical may be? And the ones fascinated by the grossest form of porn available? Please. It’s certainly not the poverty. Then it dawns on me as it always does when I least expect an answer smack in the middle of the road listening to my favorite song only to be woken up by a screeching car and a ship like honk backed up by a slow motion of events like turning the head around only to see the middle finger raised high up connected to a contorted face screaming the F word (listening to Pink Floyd helps btw. Trust me). We have strangely but beautifully versed to organize ourselves in the chaos that’s India. It’s like an interspersed web of craziness thorough which anyone and everyone that makes this country as his/her home finds a way out. Nothing goes exactly the way it’s supposed to be. The end result? The awareness level is pretty high. The brains always open, receptive to say any untoward happening that may stand right in front of you staring point blank trying to scare the life out of you. In most cases it can’t. I mean where else can you have the liberty to board a running train knowing a slip might prove fatal but still doing it or driving on a national highway on your side still keeping in mind that it might still not be yours.  Google will achieve true greatness the day it is able to map each and every street, nook and corner if it is able to achieve it even in Beta. Where else can one start worshipping the stone knowing that the divine is formless though worshipped in forms that number in millions which to the developed world looks downright insane?

If you still remember something I wrote some notches above right after the “you still trying to figure out the title” you might have made a connection there. If you haven’t still, well try again. It’s not that intelligible or is it? Not that I completely disregard everything the west has to offer. In fact there are many pluses to its stable. The quality of life in certain “developed” nations is certainly better. Now I am using “quality of life” in the most stereotypical fashion here. It is pretty easy to live and spend your life in the west to a certain extent. What it does end up making though is caricatures or humanized robots (the Japs and Germans can take a cue). The knowledge is straight from the book and not contextual. Practically in most cases it works like magic. But if something goes a little out of control it’s a ripple effect that spirals up and down every level and strata.

Every one has his/her own way of living. As nature’s way everything has to be balanced. The above description might just be enough to substantiate it.