Showing posts with label English. Show all posts
Showing posts with label English. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

When the storm hit

With no weather update, the storm hit in a jiffy


And blew away everything without being iffy


‘Aah! Thunderstorm – a breather from the heat’, the first message said


‘Wow! Lights are fading’, the second one read


‘Fought with my room-mate to grab the LAN, sorry dude!’,


Wireless routers are out is what I could conclude


‘Laptop is dying! Help! Power please!’ - cried a teen soul


‘Sent from iPhone – in the black hole!’,


Said the last message from that blackout zone


Others followed suit zone after zone


It was not difficult to predict the storm’s progress


I saw it coming - of course, with my prowess!


When the jiffy ended, the storm went to the next


And a sound darkness was all that was left


Stunned with that vacuum, they started looking around


Everything up in the sky was normal – is what they found


The stars were not mercurial, they moved at their pace


They did not chase time and seemed to enjoy the space!


‘Nothing is happening man!’ – A poor fellow felt


To him there was nothing that warranted a comment


But, at least he realized - it’s generally very quiet


When a storm abates and for another there is a wait


Before the next storm, a thing was learned -


Updating a status – nature rarely considered!

Saturday, July 24, 2010

उपद्व्यापी खो खो- मावशीबोलीतल्या कविता



संवेदच्या खोखोमध्ये पब्लिक ज्या तडफेनं आणि वेगानं उतरतंय ते पाहून हे लोक पेटण्यासाठी ठिणगीची वाट पाहत का बसले होते, काही कळेना.





***





मी भाषांतर करणार नाही आता, केलं तरी छापणार नाही ब्लॉगावर, येत नाही मला ते करता ह्या मताचा मनात नि जनात उच्चार केला नि संवेदने हा दुष्ट खो चालू केला. वर आम्हांला आग्रहाचं आवताण. आता भोगा.





***





एकंदरीत ब्लॉगविश्वात युरोपिअन भाषांना (युरोपाचा एकंदरीत भाव सध्या उतरला असला तरी) भलताच भाव दिसतोय. आपली सरड्याची धाव इंग्लिश, हिंदी नि गेलाबाजार उर्दूपर्यंतच. ह्या भाषा येणार्‍यांना ह्यातल्या कवितांच्या भाषांतराचं काहीसुद्धा कवतिक नसतं. शप्पत्थ! (घर की मुर्गी ... असो.) संस्कृताचं उठून भाषांतर करावं असा काही संस्कृताचा आपला अभ्यास राहिला नाही, ह्याचं एक राहून राहून वाईट वाटलं. त्यामुळे आमची ही आमचं सख्य असणार्‍या सख्ख्या मावश्यांची भाषांतरं.





***





बॉब डिलनविषयी मज पामराने काय बोलावे. येथे पाहा. त्याचं हे नितांतसुंदर गाणं.






Blowin' In The Wind





How many roads must a man walk down


Before you call him a man?


Yes, ’n’ how many seas must a white dove sail


Before she sleeps in the sand?


Yes, ’n’ how many times must the cannonballs fly


Before they’re forever banned?


The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind


The answer is blowin’ in the wind





How many years can a mountain exist


Before it’s washed to the sea?


Yes, ’n’ how many years can some people exist


Before they’re allowed to be free?


Yes, ’n’ how many times can a man turn his head


Pretending he just doesn’t see?


The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind


The answer is blowin’ in the wind





How many times must a man look up


Before he can see the sky?


Yes, ’n’ how many ears must one man have


Before he can hear people cry?


Yes, ’n’ how many deaths will it take till he knows


That too many people have died?


The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind


The answer is blowin’ in the wind





(चालीतला अनुवाद)





वाटा किती सांग झाल्या पायाखालच्या


की म’ माणसास माणूस म्हणवणार?


नि हो, पाखरू किती सागर मागे टाकले


की म’ काठावर पंख पसरणार?


नि हो, नेमक्या कितीदा ह्या तोफा धडाडल्या


की म’ कायमची बंदी घालणार?


उत्तर, अरे यार, ना दडलंय कुठे आत


उत्तर तर उडे वारियात





किती काळ सांग हा पर्वत ठाकणार


नि म’ सागरात वाहून जाणार?


नि हो, किती काळ सांग कुणी लोक कंठणार


मुक्तीवाचून कसे थोपणार?


नि हां, कितीदा कुणी सांग नजरा फेरणार


नि दिसत नसल्याचं सोंग वठवणार?


उत्तर, अरे यार, ना दडलंय कुठे आत


उत्तर तर उडे वारियात





मान कितीदा वर लागते करावी


कुणा आभाळ दिसावं म्हणून?


नि हो, कान पाहिजेत किती एका व्यक्तीला


कानी आक्रोश शिरावा म्हणून?


नि हो, कित्ती लोक अजून मेले की म’ कळेल


गेले हकनाक बरेच ब्वा, म्हणून


उत्तर, अरे यार, ना दडलंय कुठे आत


उत्तर तर उडे वारियात





***





The American Poetry & Literacy Project हा प्रकल्प अमेरिकेत कविता जनमानसांपर्यंत नेऊन पॉप्युलर करण्यासाठी राबवला गेला/जात आहे/असावा असं त्यांनी प्रसिद्ध केलेल्या 101 Great American Poems पुस्तकाच्या प्रस्तावनेत म्हटलंय. त्या वरवर चाळल्या नि रॉबर्ट फ्रॉस्टची रम्य रानं नि पायाखाली नसलेले रस्ते सोडून पुढे गेलो तर थेट फक्त १०१वी कविता (अर्थात मधल्या काही गाळून-चाळून तिथे पोहोचल्यावर) वाचता क्षणी आवडली. ती ही W. H. Auden ची कविता (त्याच्याबद्दल इथे वाचा). तर हा मूळचा इंग्लिशमन निघाला! (घ्या...एका दगडात). वास्तविक ती कविता वाचूनच कळतं, ‘हे अमेरिकनाचे काम नोहे’. (जालीय प्रताधिकारमुक्त (बहुदा) स्रोत: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15549)





The Unknown Citizen





(To JS/07/M/378 This Marble Monument Is Erected by the State)





He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be


One against whom there was no official complaint,


And all the reports on his conduct agree


That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint,


For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.


Except for the War till the day he retired


He worked in a factory and never got fired,


But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.


Yet he wasn't a scab or odd in his views,


For his Union reports that he paid his dues,


(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)


And our Social Psychology workers found


That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink.


The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day


And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way.


Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured,


And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital but left it cured.


Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare


He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Instalment Plan


And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,


A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.


Our researchers into Public Opinion are content


That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;


When there was peace, he was for peace: when there was war, he went.


He was married and added five children to the population,


Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation.


And our teachers report that he never interfered with their education.


Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:


Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.





(अनुवाद)





अनाम नागरिक





(अ.त./०७/पु/३७८ ह्यांच्या स्मृतिप्रीत्यर्थ हे स्मारक शासनाच्या निधीतून उभारण्यात आले.)





राज्य सांख्यिकी आयोगाकडे उपलब्ध माहितीनुसार


ह्यांच्याविरुद्ध कोणत्याही अधिकृत तक्रारीची नोंद नव्हती,


व ह्यांच्या वर्तनासंबंधित सर्व अहवाल निर्विवाद सांगतात


की आधुनिक संदर्भांनुसार त्यांची वर्तणूक ‘संत’ व्यक्तीप्रमाणेच होती,


कारण त्यांनी आपल्या हरेक कामात नेहमीच व्यापक समाजाचे हित पाहिले.


मधला युद्धाचा काळ वगळला, तर ह्यांनी निवृत्त होईपर्यंत


एकाच कारखान्यात विनाखंड काम केले नि कामावरून कमी करणं तर दूर


उलट ‘फज मोटर्स’ ह्या त्यांच्या उद्योगसमूहाचे मालक त्यांच्या कामाबद्दल नेहमी समाधानी राहिले.


पण म्हणून काही हे मालकांचे पंटर नव्हते,


कारण त्यांनी युनिअनच्या सभासदत्वाची वर्गणीही नियमितपणे भरली,


(ह्यांच्या युनिअनसंबंधी प्राप्त अहवालात कोणत्याही गैरप्रकाराची नोंद नाही.)


आणि आमच्या समाजसेवकांनी मिळवलेल्या माहितीनुसार


हे आपल्या गोतवळ्यात सर्वांचेच आवडते होते व एखाद ड्रिंक आवडीने घेत.


वृत्तपत्रांचे प्रतिनिधी खातरीलायकपणे सांगतात की ते दररोज वर्तमानपत्र विकत घेत


आणि जाहिरातींवरील त्यांच्या प्रतिक्रिया चारचौघांसारख्याच सामान्य असत.


ह्यांच्या नावे काढण्यात आलेल्या विमा पॉलिसींवरून हे स्पष्ट आहे की त्यांचा हरप्रकारे विमा उतरवण्यात आला होता


आणि ह्यांच्या आरोग्याचा दाखला दर्शवतो की त्यांना एकदा दवाखान्यात दाखल करण्यात आले होते,


जिथून ते सुखरूप बरे होऊन परतले.


‘प्रोड्युसर्स रीसर्च’ व ‘हाय-ग्रेड लिविंग’ ह्या दोहोंच्या मते


ते आपल्या मासिक हफ्ता योजनेचे फायदे जाणून होते


आणि आधुनिक मानवाला आवश्यक त्या सर्व सुखसोयी, जसे की -


ग्रामोफोन, रेडिओ, मोटारगाडी, फ्रीज इ. बाळगून होते.


आमचे जनमताचे विश्लेषक समाधानकारक अहवाल देताना सांगतात,


की ते वेळोवेळी त्या त्या वेळी योग्य अशी मतं राखून होते -


जेव्हा शांतता नांदत होती, तेव्हा ते शांततेचे पुरस्कर्ते होते;


नि जेव्हा युद्धाची वेळ आली, तेव्हा ते युद्धाच्या आघाडीवरही गेले.


हे विवाहित होते व ह्यांनी लोकसंख्येत पाच अपत्यांची भर टाकली,


आमच्या सुमानववंशतज्ज्ञांच्या मते त्यांच्या पीढीसाठी पाच ही अपत्यसंख्या योग्यच होती,


आणि आमच्या शिक्षकांच्या मते ह्यांनी कधीही आपल्या पाल्यांच्या शिक्षणात ढवळाढवळ केली नाही.





ते स्वतंत्रमुक्त, स्वच्छंदीआनंदी होते का?


हा काय अचरट प्रश्न आहे, हे काय विचारणं झालं?


जर तसंच काही असतं


तर आम्हांला नक्कीच कळलं असतं.





***





अजून भोगा. जावेद अख्तर हा आपला उगाच गुलज़ारी जरीची आसमानं आणून चमकदार शब्द न पेरणारा वास्तवाचा कवी. केवळ आपली रुची अभिजात का काय ती आहे हे ठसविण्यासाठी गुलज़ारचं प्रेम असेल तर तुम्हांस ते लखलाभ असो; मला जावेद अख्तरही तेवढाच आवडतो. (एक आकाशात विहरणारा surreal कवी नि एक जमिनीवरून चालणारा real कवी असा एक मोघम फरक वाटतो मला --- दोन्हीही चांगल्या अर्थानेच. वाद नकोत. वादंग तर मुळीच नकोत.) त्याच्या सोप्या गाण्याच्या सोप्या अनुवादाचा प्रयत्न.





तुमको देखा तो ये ख़याल आया


ज़िंदगी धूप तुम घना साया





आज फिर दिल ने एक तमन्ना की


आज फिर दिल को हमने समझाया





तुम चले जाओगे तो सोचेंगे


हमने क्या खोया हमने क्या पाया





हम जिसे गुनगुना नहीं सकते


वक़्त ने ऐसा गीत क्यूं गाया





(अनुवाद)





तुला पाहून काही आत उमललं


अन रोजच्या लाहीत खुप गार वाटलं





आज मन पुन्हा वाहावत गेलं


त्याला मग समजावून परत आणलं





तू गेल्यावर मग करीन ताळा


काय जमवलं नि काय गमावलं





मला गुणगुणताही न यावं असं


काळानं गाणं का बरं गायलं





खरं तर तारकशमधल्या काही कवितांची मागे केली होती भाषांतरं. पुन्हा केव्हातरी. आता पुरे!





माझा खो ‘नंदन’ला.


Sunday, November 30, 2008

Dear terrorists,

Dear terrorists,


We tried so hard


To tell Mr. Raj –


Mumbai belongs to India,


And so does Taj


He didn’t listen


And he didn’t care


Someone had to tell


But who would dare?


And there were you -


A dedicated crew.


Then Indians fought for India, as we say


Or non-mumbaikars for Mumbai, as He would say


Now shall he dare


Even a glance or stare


He shall fall flat on his face.


It’s all your grace!



We first saw the ATS


And accusations next


People hard on terror


At hypocritical best


A bandh round the corner


And investigations at stake


You came in Kuber


When all were awake


They came later and made a loud roar


They must be Kuber with a pack of crore


Finest officers lost – we saw the graphic scene


But what followed later – was purely obscene


Exposing this face, all the years spent


You did it in a flash with plain simple bullet



Guarding the home, a spineless minister


Casual behavior and formal attire


Blasts after blasts, he stuck to his task


Morality, resignation was too much to ask


Then a sudden transition, thanks to your youth


Had you not been there, it wouldn’t have been so smooth



And the targets you chose - what a marvel!


I mean - a marvelous choice, not the white marble


Nobody cares when the lifelines bleed


Icons have to suffer before the elite heed


It took us years to reinforce our claim


You took three days – to say the same



Yes, I am angry; but that will be over


I shall be in my senses, it won’t take longer


The heritage I treasure, is not what you burnt


It lies in forgiving, which you hadn’t learnt


A day shall come, when I will forgive you


But not a single day, when I will forget you


And then every day, when I’ll remember you,

With a Buddha like smile, I'll say a plain “thank you!”

Saturday, April 12, 2008

1.2.3.4.

1.

Before the irresponsible electronic media hijacks the issue, before the urban – upper caste – and so called learned people spam my inbox and orkut with ‘apocalypse now’ messages, and before the otherwise proudly apolitical people get selfishly political, let me laud the Indian judiciary as a whole and the apex court in particular for one of the most satisfying, landmark, and just judgments of recent times.


2.

It is always debatable whether reservations can achieve the social justice and equality, we dream for – I mean at least the constitution of India, and many like me dream for. Though I am not hundred percent sure that they can, in the same breath, I must concede that I do not know of any alternative policy that can. In a counter-argument to this, please do not give me vague answers, rather suggest a more effective way – for a simple reason that I do not know any. And yes, please suggest ways that can be implemented affirmatively. I am a thorough non-believer of ways that accept social equality as a principle and then leave it to the social conscience – for I know that they do not work. And since no solution for any social problem will resolve it hundred percent, the fact that - reservations alone may not achieve the equality - is a weak argument to oppose their implementation.

As it is high time that opponents of reservations need to suggest alternate ways, supporters also need to experiment and figure out if there are any better ways. I think we have to admit that reservations alone are not going to help. It is high time we find more efficient alternate solutions for bringing the social equality into reality. Till then, there could be mechanisms running parallel to reservation schemes – that work on keeping the social fabric intact and maturing the social conscience. These mechanisms and experiments may become mainframe solutions when they are proved to be feasible in practice.

In order to minimize the known fall-outs of reservations, make sure that benefits go to those who need them, and improve parallel mechanisms, it is possible to set continuous monitoring mechanisms – continuous evaluation of reservations as a methodology along with its manifestation, encouragement for timely discontinuation of such schemes and leaving the economic elite out of the circle of beneficiaries. I had stated these in my earlier article on digitalization, though in a different context. It is immensely satisfying to see that the apex court’s judgment addresses all these issues. I always believed that such a middle ground - accepting reservation as a policy and optimizing its manifestation – always existed. Though I would have liked to see these views coming out through discussions in the very house that unanimously amended the constitution, I must appreciate that at least the apex court has shown a great character in departing from the bipolar view on the issue and finding out an optimized solution.


3.

For those who are going to spread those ‘I hate reservations’ chain emails, please observe how our educational, economic and social stratification is highly correlated. Obviously there will be exceptions. Obviously there will be upper-caste poor. But these exceptions are exceptions enough to call them an aberration and not a trend. Obviously something needs to be done for them as well. But, to say that economic criterion for reservations is alone sufficient, is being too naïve for the simple reason that the criteria for denying education have not been economic for ages. I am sure that there will again be those emails and communities from the students apparently concerned with the equality and unity of the country. I had received those profusely in the past. They were concerned about the students fighting against reservations. Surely everyone was. They were happy that students were fighting for a cause and morally supported them, if not actually. The sheer feeling of ‘being bechara’ was amazing, thoroughly amazing. The portrayal of this as the sole justice-seeking movement in the country was fascinating and then there was media to glorify it. May be this was something that was directly affecting students, which made you, the concerned, react more strongly. I can imagine that that may be the case. But, I expect that someone, who is so concerned about the state of education and justice, to be equally sensitive towards others, who are fighting with their backs against wall for their rights. I do not expect you to be involved always, but just to acknowledge their struggle and show some sensitivity. But, if you are going to remain completely indifferent to the fact that thousands of slum dwellers walked on the streets of Mumbai for their rights and not a single newspaper or electronic media covered it, and then tell me that media has been forced not to cover the anti-reservation stories (when I am actually getting irritated with 24 x 7 telecast of students’ protests); if you are just going to abuse some people protesting against demolition, and then tell me to show my support for anti-reservation protests; if you are simply mesmerized by the heights of dams and not bothered how government gives false affidavits on rehabilitation of affected people, and then tell me to sympathize with you and express shock for government quoting number of injured students lesser than actual; if you are going to ridicule a social activist by calling his or her fast as a publicity stunt, and then expect me to be sad for students fasting against reservations; then (even though I will be equally concerned and sad for the fasting and injured students) I am going to laugh at you, your ignorance, and your selfishness, loudly and lavishly. So dear folks, I am not a party to your pure acts of cynicism against a step that more than causing injustice, and hampering quality of education, has threatened your dominance and arrogance!

I do not even want to write about media and electronic media in particular, for I am tired getting irritated with them. Forget about looking at it in the light of social justice, forget about exploring models for social justice, forget about emphasizing on discontinuing hatred and discrimination, they seemed keener on telling the story of how “two thakurs (V.P. Singh and Arjun Sigh)” did it. I just hope that they will some day realize that they can play an important role in social experimentations and strengthening the democracy.


4.

With due consideration of my ignorance and lack of knowledge, I think the only approach for analyzing reservation as a policy has been to either point out its drawbacks and bolster the ‘apocalypse now’ view, or quantify how many benefited from it. We need to look beyond and think of it as an experiment. We need to find out, if this can be a model for alleviating social injustice, if we need a completely different approach or a modified approach, and how can the balance between emphasis on leaving it to maturation of overall mindset and forced implementations be achieved. We need to answer these questions, because we need concrete models for alleviating social injustice. This is because the bases for social injustice are going to change with time beyond caste, race, religion, and financial conditions and because we just love discrimination.

I hope that the government and the parliament will look into the remarks of the apex court and establish mechanisms to ensure effective implementation. And I mean mechanisms to not only ensure that benefits reach to the affected people but also make this a dynamic policy and a space for social experimentation. I hope that the definition of creamy layer will be modified to reflect the increase in annual income after the sixth pay commission has been implemented. I hope that the creamy layer will be redefined in terms of ratio of annual income to the cost of higher education. I hope that we will come up with models and methodologies for implementing the principle of social justice. This is not just in this case. It is important we do that now, for we are going to need it in future – for, as I said, we just love discrimination.

We are envisioning knowledge based societies for the future. This may not be a distant future, and hence time is not far when knowledge will become a new basis for social stratification. I fear this, because I feel, as the societies evolve, so do the bases for discrimination. If we are looking at India as a role model for the future plural and diverse knowledge based societies across the globalized world, we better be equally passionate about being a pioneer in realizing social justice in such a society.

It is specifically satisfying to see that with the current reservation measures, we have taken a direct step in not only minimizing the caste-based social injustice in higher education but also bridging these two bases of social stratification – caste and knowledge. I hope that this also becomes an experiment to which the future generations can look up, if at all they need to (and I hope they do not need to) address newer forms of social injustice.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

15 Park Avenue

(Note: Watching the movie 15 Park Avenue is a prerequisite. If you have not watched and may watch in the future, then do not read this post, as I may have detailed its suspense. If you are not going to watch it ever, for its too old now, then no harm reading ahead...but no guarantee that you will appreciate what I have written.)

The quest for something virtual – virtual objects, virtual places, virtual people...everything virtual. But, the quest – that is real – absolutely real. Everyone is looking for something, isn’t it? Something that they really want. But does something that you really want must also be real? If not, then does that search for something virtual is also virtual? Or just because you are searching something that exists makes your quest a real one?...

The list of questions goes on...I see the random blogs about this movie…People try to find answers…convert questions into suspense stories and try to decipher their farfetched observations and meaningless conclusions…I remember this dialogue from the movie:

Joydeep:… “She is looking for something, she can never find.”

Joydeep’s wife: “Aren’t we all?”

I smile…

Reality is always relative. We define something as real, if most of us feel the same – quite justified. But, should not we be sensitive enough to accept the fact that for someone that may not be real. What they are searching for might not be real with respect to the defined notions of reality but, that in no way makes their journey in their world less real.

Seeing Saddam hanged on television, surely disturbed me. I surely felt it was a political and legal murder. But, Mithi reacted like losing someone from her family. His silence used to talk to her…and for someone with no trustworthy person around, that must have been surely a hope. She lost her hope and reacted wildly. When it was evident that a person has been victimized and killed politically, wasn’t her reaction of being so helpless the most apt one? And then doesn’t that take her closer to reality than us? Again a list of questions…

End: Mithi finds 15 Park Avenue. She has found what she was looking for…for years. Her sister, her fiancée, her doctor are trying to find her. They are now asking people, “Do you know where 15 Park Avenue is?”

Now, why are these normal people searching for something they always knew was virtual? Or, just because someone else found it, made them think that it may not be virtual? So whose quest finally succeeded…Mithi – who found her virtual world or others – who were living in the so called real world? And why these normal folks suddenly lost all the sense of reality and started searching for something that never existed? Questions with in built answers!And practically where did Mithi go? Or, would she be spotted one day somewhere roaming around like that mentally challenged woman outside their house? Does she also have a tragic story like Mithi?

I stop thinking, afraid to think more about real questions. I click on the Real player icon on desktop...play an old classic…Asha’s voice …as melodious as always…and Saahir at his best…I start humming…

"...जो खत्म हो किसी जगह, ये ऐसा सिलसिला नही..."

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Digitalization

Every other day, I open the ibnlive website to get more and more irritated. I used to think no one could irritate me more than the professional interrogator Mr. Karan Thapar, who almost does both the parts of the show, asking questions and answering them, without switching chairs. To my dismay, there is now Ms. Sagarika Ghose to add to the irritation. I would still bear it if the discussion would bear meaningful food for thought. But, nah…everyday they come up with extremely ambiguous, utterly meaningless and thoroughly convoluted questions that are supposed to have either yes or no answer. The questions are so well targeted towards the jingoistic cynical audience that you do not have to wait eagerly for the host to announce the result of so called SMS poll. Then the panel tries to discuss on that question and the host tries her best to resist them from speaking anything that does not fall into the category of either yes or no. I do not blame them. No one gave them the option of choosing, not choosing or defining the globalization. They now have to live with its repercussions, one of them – “digitalization”.

Let me explain, what is digital, for those, to whom its meaning is not so obvious. The entire digital revolution has its basis in the use of binary number system. It has only two numerals 0, 1 or in general, it represents everything under the sun using only two basic states as the decimal system would use ten states from 0 to 9. Fortunately, the nature does not restrict itself to such constraints. It manifests itself in the form of a continuum, which comprises of every possible state. Therefore, the whole attempt is to describe things, in the best possible manner, using some combination of two states. Now, I know it works nicely for machines but I have my reservations when it comes to humans. It was fine to an extent to think that this era is a digital-age. However, it saddens me, when I see that everywhere around everyone is so impressed with this digitalization that they feel there are only two answers to any question and you have to be on one of the sides. Everything under the sun is posed as a choice between just two options. Things are either black or white. There is no room for gray. There is either sunlight or moonlight. The beauty of the twilight is invisible.

Someone defines terrorism for you and you have to be either with him or with terrorists. If you doubt his definition, you are a deterrent in his anti-terrorism attacks and if you challenge the extremist ideology, you do not have the right to live in that society. The definer of terrorism will try his best to instigate the terrorism. He needs terrorism, otherwise who will support his definition. The immediate reaction to it is the surge of irrational radicalism. Now, if I want to be rational, the irrationals see me as an enemy and if I were to oppose the so-called anti-extremists, I become an extremist. I do not have any other option and neither the anti-terrorism camp nor the fundamentalist camp wants me to have any other option. I wonder if anyone envisaged that globalization would make even the self-centered diplomatic strategies more global.

You should either support or not support
the reservations. If you take a stand that you support the reservation as a policy but not its current manifestation or if you feel that there should be a continuous review of this policy and it should be introduced with a time-line for discontinuation, then you are being too diplomatic. Your stand is also politically incorrect. Since this policy favors those who need a favor, no one would support it. Only the policies, which benefit classes are implemented and masses have no other option. And if you thought your stand was justified, no please, you were not inline with this digital world. Who gave you the option to think on your own and come up with a third option?

The digitalization has not even spared the most eminent of the society. I recently read an article on some news channel website that quoted President Kalam. It referred to one of his speeches in which he advocated the need for rapidly evolving into a stable “two-party” system. Though I do not know the context in which he said this, with due respect to his stature, I was completely shocked to read that. It not only reinforces my opinion that the person from socio-political background should hold the political post but also displays this unreasonable craze for boiling down to just two options. I have had few chances to speak with people of democratic or socialist ideology in US. Democrats did not fall short of any words to criticize republicans. Socialist were in real precarious situation. They were all in joy to see republicans lose a state after state. I asked them a simple question – I know you are anti-republicans, but you are not pro-democrats. So whom do you vote for? They said – we sometimes support independent candidates, we support the people who support democratic candidate, but we generally abstain from voting. The most crucial right in a democracy that of voting is not used because the person does not have a third option. I am talking about a nation with more than two hundred years of democratic establishment and proud of its democratic institution. Just look around the nations with two-party systems. Just see how much representation the traditionally oppressed sectors, minorities or women have in the government. It is a separate issue to discuss pros and cons of parliamentary or presidential democracy but we must cherish the multi-party system for it represents the essence of diverse societies in the best possible way. Now this digitalized, globalized world delineates the picture that progress equals political stability (which is fine to an extent) equals two-party system (sorry please) and even the eminent in the society tend to accept this equation without questioning it.

This happens every now and then. US secretary of state publicly says that NAM has no relevance now. India has to deny this statement. I appreciate the immediate and strong denial but I wonder if there is anything more than that in NAM. No one seems to want non-alliance. The examples may be political. But, that is because that is the worst hit sector of digitalization and most dangerous outcome of digitalization. Just think and you will realize how we want to trivialize every other issue to two diametrically opposite viewpoints. We forget that a diameter has no meaning without a circle. It is just a line otherwise. And we need infinite points to define a circle.

I keep thinking about this digitalization. I wonder that some day I would hear Ms. Sagarika Ghose posing a question on Face the Nation: Is Digitalization irreversible? Yes or No. I would again stumble to find a digital answer to it and before I would think of any other alternative, the verdict would be out. I will simply keep comparing the high pitch of her voice to the pitch (and no way melody) of Kavita Krishnamoorthy and failing to find a convincing answer even to that, start reading a book on “Digital” Signal Processing.

Saturday, June 2, 2007

Welcome

Welcome to this journey into realms of my own senses, replicated for you to get a glimpse of those through your senses!

:)

a Sane man