Life, try not to die today

Everybody believes the race is up against time when in practicality, it is Death we are chasing. The poor florist has to sell his flowers before time smuggles them to Death. No matter what, we are all programmed to end up on the losing side of Life. You see, the problem with Death is it knows exactly what it's up to. Life, on the contrary, doesn’t. In the battle between Life and Death, one of them gives up to let the other survive. Furthermore, Life speaks Death fluently and vice versa. They are made for each other. Ironically, Life and afterlife are conjugated by Death.

A few days ago, I woke up to the news that Steve Jobs has passed away to a place in dire need of technological innovation. I always admired him for the way his Life shaped up and inspired millions not only to touch buttons on their small screens but also give digital revolution a chance. And like the rest of them, I too was shattered. The last time I felt such grief was when Pope John Paul II deceased. It’s kind of a strange feeling to be sad for someone whom you haven’t met but are damn sure about their goodness.

A few hours later, I was confronted with the knowledge that my close friend’s mom has fallen victim to a fatal heart attack amid Vijaya Dashami in a local temple that very morning. This was too much. It was like Death retweeting itself (for those who are familiar with Twitter). She was such a beautiful person. This was not only cruel but also unjustified. But then, who will challenge the final verdict? No one, I suppose. Maybe Death is the most pragmatic thing that ever happens to us. If not, kindly point me down the path that won’t lead to Death.

And then today, dad informed me that Jagjit Singh, one of the finest few Ghazal singers I admire, has left earthly bounds. Of course, there’s nothing phenomenal about people taking birth and then dying eventually. But still, you want others to survive; live one more day; get a better hang of Life. And if things don’t materialize according to your wishes, then you pray or hope the person dies an easy Death. The reason for this concession lies in the fact that there is no such thing as a perfect Death. How can there be a perfect Death when there ain't no perfect Life? By the way, Humpty Dumpty deserved a better Death.

Dying is totally over-rated. So is birth. Both happen every single day. Well, can't say the same about Life though. After all, the most constant side effect of Life is Death. People die in earthquakes and whatnot and term it accidents, either man-made or natural. While doing so, we conveniently overlook the truth that Death is a natural disaster, too. These are the times when all our opinions about Life and Death sum up to what they are indeed worth – nothing. Apparently we face too many of near-Death experiences but very few of near-Life ones to comment. That’s the reason we haven’t come to terms with this reality YET! Give or take, nothing else kills us faster than Death.

Birth gets trampled by childhood that gets trampled by youth that gets trampled by dotage that gets trampled by Death.

Lately, some Tibetans immolated themselves as a protest against Chinese aggression in Tibet. They merely burned themselves to Life, not Death. I fully endorse these sort of protests in which you hurt yourself instead of innocent bystanders. Needless to say, The Burning Monk is my hero. History is rife with such hyped glorious stories, permanent deaths and a little bit of temporary lives embedded in between.

Poets, not philosophers, came close to deciphering the mysteries of how everything begins and ends. They made a habit of romanticizing the experience of leaving this planet forever. I've got nothing against them or the alcohol they were on but I’m sure there must be better ways to die a poetic Death. Metaphors containing myriad meanings had been employed by them which help us get close to the cold truth. I agree with most of these verses and disagree with very few. For instance, economy, not Death, is the great leveler. And sometimes, we do feel older than Death.

Tip: Smile. Death can wait for your poker face.

There comes a moment in everyone’s Life when they finally learn to STFU. Nah, I ain’t talking about Death here. It’s called common sense. The court think it can decide (preferably, on behalf of the citizens and based on human laws) what is right and what is wrong when it comes to sentencing someone to hang till kingdom come. In any case, Death penalty itself is a crime. You can’t go wrong with this. If A kills B and C kills A via legal frameworks, then there is very little difference between A and C. Having said that, I’m not at all in favour of Kasab *enjoying* the costliest criminal status in India. There is no way can he reconcile with the grave mistakes he committed under the guise of ignorance and brainwashed ideology. Perhaps Death is more disappointed in him than Life itself.

"If you were on a death row, what would you like your last meal to be?"

"Delivered on time."

Death is beautiful because, unlike most other things in Life, it happens just once. It will certainly smell sweet if one is drowned in a pool full of chocolate or ice-cream. I keep discussing Death as it makes me feel good about the Life I never had. As I’m growing older, I’m realizing how lonely I really am. I don’t fantasize killing myself or anything. I am too selfish for such foolery. But every time someone I look up to or love decides to call it a life, I wonder why. Thankfully, I’ve stopped molesting poetry. Or else I’d have written some miserable verses on the perpetual shallowness of Life and the escapism facilitated by Death instead of this lengthy falderal. Anyway, just because I never had a Life doesn't mean I can't comment on it. By that yardstick, none of us should ever mention Death.

No more INSANE Sania marriage news!

Today is a historic day. Sania Mirza got married. At last. And by any media calculation, it means the end of circus.

We, hoi polloi, on both side of the border were glued to this drama for over three weeks now and no matter how much we hated the futile news coverage, we didn’t dare ignore the charade.

Personally, I’m not a huge fan of Sania Mirza. To me, she had something of a wonder run and then she got caught on the wrong side of fame. She is the first Indian to cover a lot of milestones in the field of tennis but then she could have done a lot better had she stayed focused on her on-court preparations rather than off-court distractions. She could have been the Saina Nehwal of tennis, which sounds a bit clichéd now! Alas.

Coming back to her marriage part, I thought, isn’t it too early for her to jump the wedding gun. She’s of my age and I don’t think 23 is an ideal age to marry considering her incredible “second-round-success” on WTA tour. She should have waited a bit longer for her form to return. Who knows she just could have got her form back, which is almost non-existent just like her alleged wrist injuries. Whatever, who am I to suggest anything and who is she to waste my blog space!

I’m also a bit aghast at her choice of beau. I mean, I’m sure almost all of us must have had this thought, “…couldn’t she find something better??!!”. I too felt the same given Shoaib Malik’s history of tasting his foot again and again with no fault of his for we are born the way we are and some of us learn and some of us just, well, run. I remember his famous gaffe after Pakistan defeated India and he went onto thank all the Muslims in the world for supporting Pakistan, forgetting that there were two active Muslim players in Indian side at that time, if not, millions of Indian Muslims right over the border!

Anyways, it’s her life and in a more generalized sense, she’s doing what very few Indian girls do and that is breaking historically-built barriers. I just hope she finds happiness wherever she is, for she belongs to us.

Microscope on Terrorism

The word “terrorism” invokes fear and panic. It doesn’t stop there. Fear and panic is just the start-push button. What follows these two is what terrorism is all about. Terrorism has been a part of human society since time immemorial. It must have originated in the caves of Stone Age where bellicose, unruly chest-thumping men ruled the roost. Terrorism didn’t die as we progressed from one age to another. It just started adapting itself to the scenarios available be it any part of the world, as far as humans are concerned.

Animal kingdom is bereft of terrorism. I say so on the basis of the unwritten laws of nature that animals adhere to. Terrorism neither applies to a Cheetah nor a Springbok. They are just playing the game of survival and if lucky, get some food in the meantime. The dying Springbok has no contempt for its killer but it will try to run away as far as its breaths allow. Hatred has no place in animal kingdom.

We, the so-called intelligent creatures, have ingrained terrorism through the annals of human fallacies. Destructive and manipulative human activities like war, genocides, espionage, covert practices that affect a large number of people at a single time, has threads of terrorism embedded in it. The only difference is how we perceive this terrorism. Terrorism is not about flying a plane into steel towers or planting a human bomb in crowded marketplace. It could be generalized into finer perspective. For a school going child who is weak in mathematics, the idea of terrorism starts with his report card and ends with his parent’s reaction to it. Similarly, a stowaway youth can experience terrorism if he’s confronted with the ticket examiner. We don’t call them terrorism. We name it disciple or thereof, the lack of it. But to a human mind, any exaggerated fear or anxiety could be terrorism in its nascent form.

Then there is general terrorism. We all read news and learn about how this world functions. Though it may sound normal but we can’t escape the reach of terrorism at our own personal level, thanks to bhais/goons/mafias who *command* respect or simply the corrupt policeman who is no better than the former! These characters are evolution of unchecked abuse of power. Until and unless the hoi polloi join force against these dastardly terrorizing agents, the idea of eliminating terrorism would be just a jolly mirage. This was terrorism at the local level. Now, everyone can say aye to the fact that these are the real terrorizing elements in our society not the once-in-a-while news-maker terrorists who get open visa across the border or sea.

The most popular type of terrorism is nothing but a magnified version of above-mentioned kind. This variety of terrorism is played with full volume. The reason for its unabashed display of belligerence is due to the kind of money involved. These terrorists feel that their lives are worse at the cost of someone else’s prosperity. Poverty and unemployment are the deadly combination for these recruits. So, for them, the motivation has to come from something that is unison in its approach as poverty varies from person to person. The answer lies in undivided faith. Religion is the bogeyman for them with distorted poetic verses from religious book that help model their consequential behavior. It’s like a hopeless case of betrayal and impatient maneuver of a gullible person’s will.

So the solution to this terrorizing menace lies in understanding and making others acknowledge their ignorance. Education is the key. People can’t help themselves any better by taking up arms like the Naxalites and the Maoists are getting used to. Violent tendencies will make it worse. The idea of terrorism can be defeated solely on the basis of proper insemination and literacy. There will be lots of ‘Doubting Thomases’ who may argue that some of the biggest terrorist names have an engineering degree to their credit like Osama Bin Laden who coincidentally, is a civil engineer. These skeptics believe that education has nothing to do with terrorism and indoctrination takes the final brownie. But engineers-terrorist are deviants who had money to waste but the huge following they enjoy is of the illiterate, miserable and innocent masses. The focus must be shifted to those voiceless crowds who may go on to fill the employment form at a terrorist organization!

Now here’s where the media comes into play but sadly, in most cases, they execute a damaging role. They can do a lot better than they are doing right now since it’s the duty of the media vanguards to report the cause and consequences of terrorist displays. They focus just on the consequences. Causes are hardly addressed lest it create a sympathetic view towards the perpetrators. But how can we ever go to the nexus of the menace if we don’t address them.

Media can start their redemption by taking a step or two in this direction. The truth is that common public doesn’t trust anything and media is no different but when the foolproof mixture of fear and panic is consociated and continuously shown on TV and newspapers and broadcast on radio, at that moment, media wins over public’s trust. Now this trust is a matter of time. It has nothing to do with morality or righteousness. Media is the eternal fourth estate that has to preside over grievances and relay it to the concerned parties in power. But that’s not exactly what’s happening, as of late. Media has taken the relaying a too far. It has started designating its stamp of approvals on news that makes views and then sells it.

Being a common stupid person is easy but living his/her life is difficult so its time the common person stop acting stupid and lethargic and start working on his duties, rest will follow. Terrorism is a hot selling idea and it has to be seen in the same way we see any other menace like racism or fascism. There are hundreds of reasons why it shouldn’t be frame worked into something that it is not. Fear should not be encouraged and transparency is needed. After all, the Stone Age men invented terrorism and it’s our legacy that has to be discontinued for our future generations.

Pictures credit: Reuters

Give hope a chance

“We are giving too much importance to Pakistan. It is just a small piece of land. India can’t be compared with Pakistan.”

Recently, Rahul Gandhi commented on Indian Media’s obsession with Pakistan. His quotes were direct and concise, just like his political demeanor. The statement was a breather to a lot of us who are tired of this ongoing enmity, a sort of a political test match that is punctuated by constant terror attacks, verbal ripostes and border altercations. Of course, Media is not to be blamed entirely here. Its just doing its job and blowing something out of reach is one of its jobs too. It can’t depend on transparency alone. There are a lot of paper page to be filled and it has to be done somehow, either by postulating events or predicting future or consequences and so on.

Trust is the key factor between us two nations and sadly, it is also the biggest commodity not found in our EXIM. We cannot rescind our bitter history with this country that happens to be our neighbor. So what we can at least try to do is emulate a model of level-headedness, something that is not being done since long time. The urgent need of the time is peace. Insurgency and infiltration are some issues that are paramount to our defense and can’t be curtailed in any sense but on a more broader scheme, its time to start a new chapter.

Pakistan is not a failed state. It’s a failing state. And if at all, by devil’s luck, it fails; India will have to face repercussions too. India does not choose its neighbors, as Shashi Tharoor noted. Like any good neighbor, we need to take care of our fence but at the very same, make sure things are all well on the other side of the fence. There might be some measures of “clandestine vindication” in some Indians whenever news flashes on our TV displaying bomb blasts or other attacks emanating on Pakistani soil and killing innocent civilians or seemingly brave Pakistani Army personnel. But that pleasure is not only voyeuristic but also vain at best.

Every country has a face. If it has a face, then most certainly, it must have expressions. Now, if one single expression is shown again and again then it becomes difficult to recognize that face by another expression. That maxim applies on Pakistan. We are bestowed by our history of conflict, this cruel expression that is hell bent on disrupting our peace and functioning. Sadly though, I must say, we are missing some others expressions that should be highlighted. These expressions are willingness on the other side of the border to cooperate and coexist in peace and progression. There are students out there like us who want to have a better future just like we do.

If our politicians could bargain a bit better than they are currently doing, then I’m pretty sure that peace can be bartered. Blood and wails don’t ensure anything except vengeance. We had enough of mistrust. Enough of political manipulations. Enough of emotional mishandlings and connivance on part of our leaders and fanatical rebels. Issues like Kashmir will always be there but my best guess is that its time to leave it for future generations to decide what they want for themselves. Let the future Kashmiris decide their ultimate fate. I say so because the people who are representing the Valley are victims of recent history. Their self-interest undeniably supersedes people’s welfare.

Just imagine how prosperous India would be if it didn’t have to worry about constant threat from West in the form of state-sponsored terrorists blowing themselves up in major cities across the Indian mainland. An assured India can focus more on education budget than defense budget that is eating off schools, dreams and opportunities for millions of Indians. Similarly, Pakistan too will benefit a lot if it manages to assure India of its cooperation. Military-ruled Pakistan doesn’t represent Pakistanis. It represents the miniscule men in Olive Green who are having the best of life out there. India can help Pakistan revive its democratic roots. After all, it was supposed to be democratic but somehow staggered down the line of coup.

The question is not about who is right or who is wrong. We’ve traveled a long distance from that burning question. Right now, its time to pause and think and start working towards a healthy future ahead. A future when the sky space over India will have PIA flying with no worry and Air India will land in Karachi. A time when fishermen who stray won’t be hassled and made pawns in diplomatic warfare. A time when Cricket will be back in fashion between these two cricketing giants and both the flags will fly side by side with decent hooliganism that football can only wish for. A time when Pakistanis won’t have to watch pirated Bollywood movies and Pakistani singers won’t be reviled for getting jobs in movies. A time when Dubai won’t be the meeting point or the marketplace between us!

I wish for the best type of border, an invisible border. Until that happens, I’ll be a dreamer and I guess I must be politically incorrect. But I believe being pessimist doesn’t guarantee me peace either. We are passing away and time’s running so why not save some hope for generations to come and stop at once this madness.