Life in a ..well not quite a ...metro

SO here I am and this is me. Driving in the narrow bylanes, getting my car all roughed up, stressed out by the sheer volume of traffic and the magnitude of the lack of civic and traffic sense showed by my fellow beings. Each day I start for my office, I have the same expression "Oh no..not again...."...and each day I remind myself not to get stressed out...after all, stress leads to more mistakes...but it is inevitable when you drive on Indian roads...wonder where all the tax money has gone!!!
Speaking about money, a little birdie tells me that a hike is in the offing...unfortunately, the little birdie does not tell when is it going to materialize..may be have to wait another year or so....
Two interesting news items that caught my attention today..."The World Cup's girlfriend" kept her promise inspite of her team going out 2 stages beforehand...only if this magnaminity would rub onto our government and they would at least deliver on the promises made...but that is life..
The other story is regarding Kashmir...I wonder if there is a solution in the offing..but I hope better sense prevails....
In today's popcorn patriotism, I took time to revisit the Kargil martyrs' stories. I have promised myself not to forget all these great men and women who laid down their lives so that people like me can live happily...if nothing else, at least I owe them a lot...
All these thoughts are very disjointed, but that is how I am feeling...nothing is perfect..and nothing will be..that is true for everyone...but I want to be the miracle I am looking out for in my life...only with positive thinking and a smile can I overcome all my obstacles - inner or otherwise...
As the day winds up, I have got a gut feel that tomorrow is going to be special...I hope it is..my gut feeling seldom goes wrong....

Bandh Bandh Bandh!!

Hmmm..So what started as a call for Bharat Bandh actually went on to cripple the entire country for 12 hours...Throughout the day, news trickled in about sporadic violence, traffic snarls, train delays and flight cancellations...so what was the intent of the bandh? Well, dont go by the above mentioned news makers, the real intent was Price rise...
Now, to put matters in perspective, I - like my fellow millions of brethren - have been pinched by the rising prices. The other day, we ordered food from a local restaurant..I had a menu card that was dated 2 years back...and all my brilliant extrapolations on the expected increase went for a toss..When I ended up paying the home delivery guy, I shelled out exactly double the amount compared to the one 2 years back..Has my salary increased that fold? The answer, unfortunately, is a NO. Come to think of it, if middle class people like me are feeling so much pinch, then surely the poor have been hit real hard by this price rise. So, in a way, to express my solidarity with the Bandh call, I also did not venture out of my home - and definitely it was not influenced by fear of violence. I, as a dutiful citizen of this country, want to see the inflation going down..this price rise is killing everyone..gas is dearer, petrol is costlier, kerosene is higher than ever before...the three pillars on which India's working class is surviving have become a bit more out of reach thanks to the price rise....Wish there was a genie to cure this malaise...
But, here is another side of the bandh...of course seen on my television screen..
I saw trains being stopped. Surely there would be people in those trains for whom reaching a certain place was a matter of life and death...
I saw ambulances caught up in traffic...I cannot imagine myself in such a situation gasping for every breath, hoping to reach hospital to fight another day just to see my last rays dwindle out as I am stuck in the middle of nowhere..
I saw a rickshaw driver watching helplessly as his windscreen was being smashed...
All these made me to rethink on the rights and wrongs of a bandh...but as I have come to know, there is nothing right or wrong in this world..everything is relative..it is the perspective which makes it right or wrong..
All I hope is for the prices to call a Bandh and not increase anymore...

Reality bytes

As another day passes by, I am confronted with the stark reality that today's India is. The headlines in the newspapers scream about justice being done in the Ruchika case, but for every justice done, there are thousands denied. The high, the powerful and the mighty know that they can play around with the law and order. Very few of them ever get caught, those who get caught, manage to get themselves acquitted. So should I be happy for the justice done or should I be sad for the justices denied? I don't know as of now.
The current problems eating away at the very root of our nation are more threatening and alarming than any external threat I feel. We, as a people, do not care for each other. We drive on our roads with scant respect for our fellow riders, we tamper with our environment with gay abandon, and we are least bothered about anyone else. Not sure if this was the socialist dream dreamt of by our founder leaders - that dream seems to have been consigned to the backpages of our history...
No country can be called great if it cannot protect its women and children. And I am afraid we have failed on both the counts. With crimes against women on the rise and even the basic necessities not being provided to our children, we can hardly boast of any feel-good factor. Projection of 8 - 10% growth is not the real indicator. It is our socio-economic dynamic that is a real indicator of our growth.
I write this blog because of the sheer frustration and disillusion that has surrounded me when I look out and look for an answer. Whether we will be able to turn this around and do something about the prevailing situation, I do not know. But the complacency that has crept ino all of us, the "chalta hai" attitude and the fear that this system has installed in the minds of the middle class is something that needs to be addressed now.....