Remember Demonetisation ?
They said -
Look at the poor ! How they suffer ! They are dying standing in queues. You snatched their livelihood !
While they gnashed their own teeth seeing their box beds, lockers, garbage & gunny bags of cold cash turn to cinder.
Remember Migrant Labour ?
They said -
Look at the poor ! How they suffer ! They will die on their trek back home. The lockdown is brutal. You snatched their livelihood !
While they cut off their electricity, stopped water tankers, hoping they’d leave taking the virus with them.
And during this crisis that has engulfed us.
We have heard -
Look at the poor ! How they suffer ! The system is broken.
With no ‘friends in the right places’ they are begging for beds, gasping for oxygen.
Pause for a moment to think -
What would our privileged & entitled do without the poor ?
What would happen to some of our political dynasties who have built fortunes on propagating poverty ?
How would they justify crime, greed, ambition without hiding behind the ‘virtuous’ poor,
their stories, their misery, on which international fame & lucre has been procured ?
So next time they pop that succulent Kabab they might just choke on the curse of those they exploit & when they gasp for air, clutching their throat they might remember oxygen is in poor supply
but hoarded by one of their own.
Karma, they say, never loses an address.
She’ll be with you - shortly.
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Delhi accustomed to Mughal architecture also known as the Architecture Of The Dead, quietly accepted post-Independence acres of prime land dedicated to the dead of one Dynasty - believing this to be the unquestioned right of Rulers.
After all, our Capital is dotted with
mausoleum after mausoleum built by Kings during their lifetimes, for themselves.
And today, in the midst of a Pandemic, that has hit every aspect of our lives & our economy in its gut, peddlers & dealers of the Great Indian Fairy Tale History have actually risen up,
BUT to ask the wrong questions.
To infer the connection between vaccines, hospitals, availability of oxygen with the Central Vista Project is either an embarrassing ignorance of how budgetary allocations are made, or its vile agenda-driven drivel - yet again.
Missing YoYa suddenly appears across all channels.
But ladies & gentlemen, it’s in a green gamcha this time.
Red was for Farmers yellow for CAA protest & blue for....we forget.
Prashant Bhushan is not far behind & files a PIL explaining to us in his painstakingly slow diction that this is an atrocity. Complete atrocity !
India is all about Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam a
& Atithi Devo Bhava - or else I’m outta business.
This new controversy regarding #FreeHinduTemples reminds me of our Supervisor who a few years ago had bought a plot of land on the outskirts of the city & built his modest house.
Slowly as other houses were built & occupied the talk of a temple came up.
That was 5 yrs ago.
The then 30 odd home owners & now around 45 are still discussing, arguing with tempers running high over the ‘logistics’ of putting up their place of worship.
What began as an idea to bring together a community has in fact split them right down the middle with the local MLA
taking sides.
So the plan is on hold.
At the same time, with not even a dozen Believers in the neighbouring area, a small mosque came up almost over night, without much ado.
The adjacent empty plot is used for Namaaz & Azaan is heard 5times a day through the locality.
If you don’t respect the sentiments, the festivals, the places of worship of the Majority community as you do for the Minorities - you can consider yourself Secular.
If you profess not to follow any Faith but are only critical of Hinduism, you can consider yourself an Atheist.
Outwardly symbols of Faith such as hijab, skullcap, turban, kara or the cross are considered liberal & emancipated.
But dare you wear a tilak, mangalsutra, bindi, sindoor, then you can only be of a regressive bent of mind.
It never ceases to amaze how for decades we spawned, accepted as normal, political leaders who were nothing less than Mafia Dons.
We voted them to power, over & over again allowing them to steal, extort, loot, threaten us -
fearful to speak lest they took away our livelihood, our belongings, our lives even.
Pathetically believing all the while that we lived in a democracy because we cast our vote once every 5 years for the same Dons.
As we look around, it becomes more certain that till the old Dinosaurs don’t depart from the country’s political landscape we will struggle to loosen their vice like grip on our throats.
In the days when Letters To The Editor were the only way for commons citizens to convey their opinion on various subjects of governance, I often wrote to TOI & Indian Express.
More often it was the latter that published my letters, with name & address as was the norm.
In 1988, the Bofors scam had recently exploded, the vacation onboard INS Viraat was still in the news, the Baba Log as the term was then coined, in office & out were running amuck.
So most disheartened with the Rajiv Gandhi Govt I wrote how it was unforgivable that
he had betrayed the mandate of the people.
Mostly, a retired person’s pastime I had several regulars who corresponded with me via post with their own opinions & comments.
This particular letter however, seemed to have touched a chord with the young & old alike as my letterbox