Prevention is NOT ALWAYS better than cure!

Something changed this time. Eiffel Tower is now caged - it's surrounded by well-guarded fences now. Is it the effect of the last terrorist activities in Paris?

This caging have reminded me of the caging of women in the name of safety. The whole "Purdaa" system in India is a result of this "prevention is better than cure" strategy. When the attackers from foreign lands started frequent and brutal attacks on India, accompanied by rapes and molestations, people decided not to bring out women of the house during such situations. They started hiding their faces and bodies. The strategy might be okay back then, but gradually with persistent foreign attacks, it started becoming a part of the culture.

We gave up the "Purdaa System" long back. Still, there have been several families which continue such practice. Few groups of people are running the "Purdaa system" as a commandment from their religion, few others have made it a matter of family pride.

"Prevention is better than cure" is a good strategy for a lot of avenues but not this one. Especially in a world or country where we claim to have established democratic and republic systems, equal for all. Women and men should be free to roam around without any fear against their peace and safety.

Where have we all brought our civilization to?

15th August - A different perspective. It's comparison with 26th January

"1 million""The widely-held estimate of the number of people killed in the brutal violence that followed Partition of India. Some estimates put the toll at double this figure (2M)." - Hindustan Times

This was one of the last significant gift of Britishers to India.

These people might or might not be the freedom fighters, but surely they didn't die for the Indian independence. They died as a result of the kind of freedom that we got from the Britishers on August 15th, 1947. Actually, they were massacred by the anxious and defeated aspirations of the brutal imperialism of the great Britain.

None of them were the martyrs of the freedom struggle. They were just massacred. They were the collateral damage happened to make an imperialist empire (British) and a small number of power hungry people (in India) happy.

Neither S.C. Bose, Bhagat Singh, or C.S. Azad may have agreed to this kind of deal. In fact, M.K. Gandhi was not at all happy with it, as evident from the fact that he did not participate in the Independence Day celebrations on 15th August 1947.

I am happy to see India independent, I am a patriotic Indian, but 15th August is just an important date in the Indian and the world history which marks our freedom and also marks the deaths and massacres of more than a million of innocents.

15th August is important, crucial BUT hugely gloomy. It would keep haunting the British empire in future and may keep reminding the citizens to realize how bad the intentions of opportunist politicians prove to be.

Happy Independence Day, RIP all the collateral damages.

Vande Mataram!

Waiting for the real "India Day", i.e. 26th January, which actually marks the start of a new SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and ensured that we get JUSTICE, LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY, and all other fundamental rights and freedoms.

लेफ्ट-वेफ्ट, राइट-वाइट

प्रिय मित्र,
सुना है कि तुम आज कल समाज में हो रही उथल-पुथल से बहुत व्याकुल हो। तुम निष्क्रिय होते या अप्रभावी होते विभिन्न रंगों के आन्दोलनों से भी बहुत दुखी हो।

भाई मेरे, ये तो रात है, सुबह का आलम अभी देखा ही कहाँ है। आपने तो चार-पांच रंगो की बात की है। सिर्फ ३ बाइट्स को ले लें तो 512 रंग बन सकते हैं। वैसे तो अनेकों रंग संभव हैं। आज नीला काम नहीं कर रहा, तो कोई नहीं साहब, कल आसमानी बना लेंगे। कल आसमानी काम नहीं करेगा तो बैंगनी किसी और ने प्रयोग थोड़े ही किया है, वही ले लेंगे। आज गेरुवे और हरे को गाली दे लेंगे, और कल इनसे प्रेम करके नारंगी और धानी को गालियां दे लेंगे।

रंग को स्थापित करने से कुछ नहीं होगा, रंग तो समय के साथ फीका पड़ ही जाता है। चटक करना है तो उसे करना होगा जिसपर हम रंग पोतने की बात करते हैं। इंसानों को। जब तक वो नहीं समझेंगे तब तक कुछ नहीं होगा। हाँ उनको समझाना बहुत दुष्कर है। ख़ैर, अगर वो नहीं समझ रहे तो कम से कम हम उनको समझ लें। दुनिया भर के बिसनेस आज कल यूजर मॉडल ही समझ-समझ कर तो अपना धंधा चमका रहे हैं, हम क्यूँ नहीं चमका सकते। रंग तो उस बेलबॉटम की तरह है, जो आज रहता है, कल चला जाता है, और परसों फिर आ जाता है। पर बेलबॉटम पहनने वालों की फितरत तकरीबन वैसी की वैसी ही रहती है।
नीले वाले सफ़ेद के खिलाफ लड़ते हैं, गेरुवे और हरे एक-दूसरे के खिलाफ लड़ते हैं, और बस ऐसे ही चलता रहता है। सब फीके होते रहेंगे और सब लड़ते रहेंगे। 

हमें हज़ार मूवमेंट्स नहीं चाहिए, सिर्फ एक ही चाहिए। प्रो-इंसानियत। लेफ्ट थेफ़्ट नहीं चाहिए, राइट फाइट नहीं चाहिए, बहुजन दुर्जन नहीं चाहिए। हमें इंसानों की नहीं, इंसानियत की मुहिम की दरकार है।

तुम्हारा को-इंसान,
शीतांशु

I am a brahmin and I am not a casteist!

"Brahmanical" System! This is one of the negative jargon in the dictionaries of many elites. They interchangeably use it with "caste system"! The term "brahmin" has profoundly pious meaning in the Sanatan culture. Associating it with any social evil is not only incorrect but also unjustified. It is a fact that there are people who are real brahmins irrespective of their castes.

What do those modern elites want to say when they comfortably use the jargon "Brahmanical" for expressing some social inequality? Do they have such a limited vocabulary that they cannot find anything but "brahminical"? It's also a truth that many pseudo-brahmins have eroded the social equality for years, but that doesn't mean that anyone is justified to synonymize the word "brahmin" with "caste system." I even do not support people using "Mullah" or "Muslim" as the synonyms for "terrorism." Just imagine how a Muslim would feel if someone uses the word "muslimize" as in "Please do not muslimize (terrorize) the humanity." I know this sounds wrong and weird, and this is because "Muslim" is completely a pious word and a lot of good people have their good emotions and faith associated with the word "Muslim." Another example could be using the word "british" as a synonym for "exploiters". So the sentence "Employees in the company are briticized (exploited) by the owners." This also sounds ridiculous and offending to all of the citizens of Britain, because not all of them were the exploiters.

The elite-offenders don't know the real meaning of the word "Brahmin" and they foolishly use it in a negative connotation. If you get into the literature of Sanatan philosophy, we'll find that the word "brahmin" comes from the root word "brahm" which means nothing but "everything". That further implies that the real "brahmins" are those who can never be non-inclusive and can never discriminate the society into various upper and lower castes.

In addition to the real meaning of the word "brahmin" from the Sanatan philosophy, there are many people, who also are good human being (by virtue of being opposed to social inequality and the caste system), and they identify themselves with the word "brahmin" just as a verbal identifier of their lineage. For them being a brahmin doesn't mean being in the upper or lower strata of the society; for them, it just means that their family and forefathers have been calling themselves "brahmins" for many years. How would they feel if they'll receive an assertion that the term "brahminical" means something which they are opposed to? What can the following sentences mean to different people: (i) "One should eradicate brahminical culture from society", or (ii) "one should eradicate the smith, malhotra or khan culture from the society."

It should be noted that social equality and even social justice can not be achieved by just organizing people from the oppressed class, community, or caste. We have to take all the good people together. This may not happen effectively if you keep on ridiculing the identifiers of the individuals, or by attempting to malign the real and auspicious meaning of a word. Let's reform this world without disrespecting the norms of any language (vocabulary) and by trying to ensure inclusivity of all good people.

Is India an independent country? क्या भारत एक स्वावलंबी देश है?

I ordered Xiaomi Mi Band slightly before I read the news about nation wide protest against the purchase of China products. Have received it today. Couple of days before I read about a statement from China that India can just bark but cannot built quality products better and cheaper than China.
My first reaction was full of anger against China. But after sometime I realized that the statement is completely valid with respect to a huge range of product categories. Suppose if Intel or AMD stops supplying processors to India, what would happen? Recently I was discussing this with one of my colleague and friend Ashu. He told that China has almost developed their own processor. US defence uses all hardwares, firmwares and softwares exclusively built by them and for them. Now look at the state of India, what does India do?
We can't even do basic VLSI fabrications here in India. My colleagues from Micro Electronics research need to send their fabrication specifications to other countries and need to wait for 2-4 months to get one version of their research developed. This consumes a lot of their research time and continuity.
What should we do then? Should we boycott Chinese products? Would boycotting a product serve our purpose? In fact most of us don't even know what our purpose behind boycotting is. If a poor hawker gets more profit margin by selling Chinese products then obviously s/he would sell the Chinese products even if s/he needs to tell lies to her/his customers. Even we saw this in one recent news report where a hawker was saying that he tells lie to his customers that his products are from India and not from China. We can see a lot of such examples which makes it clear that mostly the exercise of boycotting is purposeless.
As a customer, I would like to enjoy better and cheaper products. If my government has allowed the China to export to India, 6 times more than what India exports to China, then how would I know what has to be done? What benefit would I get from boycotting it?
One nice question at this stage is, "Is boycotting a better response to China or should we do something else?" China is producing better domestic products than us, its a fact of the current time. AND PLEASE ACCEPT that we are DEPENDENT on China for such a fine quality and cheap products. Neither Indians nor most of the other countries are building such products.
So whats the conclusion of the above five paragraphs? The conclusion is that we Indians are dependent on many foreign products. In other words we are not "Independent". So here is the big news: "This is another war for independence" and measures such as boycotting would not solve the problem. The only and ultimate solution is to improve our own qualities and capabilities.
So what should each and everyone of us do? In my opinion, instead of thinking of useless tactics of boycotting, lets pledge to improve our own possibilities. I am an Educational Technologist. I would ensure that in next fews years at least a thousand people around me would become independent as far as their Education is concerned. A medical practitioner should ensure that the patients should be given independence by enjoying better healthcare. A railway booking clerk should ensure that the railway customers should feel being in an independent nation by getting a respectful customer service. Males in the society should ensure that the Females should feel independent while walking alone in any part of the country. A cleanliness worker should ensure that people should get fresh air without getting trapped within the restraints of filthiness. A teacher should ensure that her/his students become better individuals of tomorrow. So on and so forth.
If any kind of product or service is weaker in our country then we would have to dependent on foreign agencies. Mind it! Dependence is not just political in nature. It could be political, it could be economical, it could be innovational, it could even be cultural. "Bharat Maataa Ki Jai" is needed but remember that our Bharat Maataa is still not "fully" independent.

My another friend and colleague Anurag, along with working on his research, he has also been teaching many poor children for free. In this way he has actually been working towards India's freedom for many years now. My another colleague and friend Yogendra has been working on teaching Computer Science and programming in vernacular (Hindi) language through online videos (LEARN BY WATCH). My other research colleagues work day in and out towards their research goals - all their research are towards improving the state of education. All of these people are trying and doing their best to bring independence to everyone with their respective areas of expertise.
Now you decide, whether you want to participate in a "boycott movement" which would anyway not succeed in this era of demand and poverty, or you would like to do your best for this country, for this globe with whatever expertize you have.
Once we become independent in most of our aspects, no one can stop us from entering into UN Security Council's Permanent Members group, no one can stop us from entering into so called NSG, no one can stop us from doing almost anything.
Remember, we already have a rich asset of culture and spirituality. We already have a huge asset of youth citizens. We just need to tune ourselves to the right frequencies. Please don't waste time and go head. As per Swami Vivekanand: "Arise, Awake, Know your strength and never stop till your goal is reached."

Note: By China I mean "People's Republic of China" and not "Republic of China (Taiwan)"

कौन है राष्ट्रभक्त और कौन नहीं? Who is a real patriot?

एक राजनेता जनता के सामने पोलिटिकल वक्तव्य नहीं देगा तो क्या बेडरूम टॉक करेगा? जो बातें हमारी राष्ट्रवादी  पार्टी (बीजेपी) नहीं पूछ पायी पीडीपी से, वो बात आम आदमी पार्टी सरकार में मंत्री कपिल मिश्र ने पूछ लिया।
कुछ स्वघोषित राष्ट्रवादी समाचार चैनलों ने इस विडियो का छोटा सा अंश दिखाया और ये  सिद्ध करने का प्रयास किया कि कपिल मिश्र ने माहौल बिगाड़ा उस कांफ्रेंस का। यही काम किसी भाजपा नेता ने किया होता तो न्यूज़ हेडलाइन होती कि "फलाना मंच से भाजपा नेता ने आतंकवादियों को समर्थन करने वाले दल की मुखिया को ललकारा।" अर्णब गोस्वामी कदाचित कुछ इस प्रकार की बातें करते कि "देश के सैनिक जब शहीद हो रहे हों तब क्या एक बड़े (टूरिज्म) सम्मलेन में ये बातें नहीं होनी चाहिए?" समस्या ये है, कि अधिकतर मुखर मीडिया वही बोलती हैं जो उनकी प्रिय पोलिटिकल पार्टी के पक्ष में होता है, भले ही वो सही हो या गलत।

अब इतने दोगले हैं कुछ मीडिया हाउस कि एक तरफ वो बोलते हैं कि अरविन्द केजरीवाल ने जो बोला ("पाकिस्तान के झूठ प्रोपेगैंडा का मोदी जी करारा जवाब दें...") उससे पाकिस्तानी न्यूज़ पेपरों का ऑब्जेक्टिव हल हुआ, और ये पाकिस्तान के पक्ष में था। अर्णब ने तो पाकिस्तानी समाचार पत्रों की प्रतियां दिखाई, और हैडलाइन दिखाई।उन्होंने ये दिखाने का प्रयास किया कि देखो किस तरह केजरीवाल के स्टेटमेंट को "सर्जिकल स्ट्राइक का सबूत मांगना" समझा जा रहा है पाकिस्तानी मीडिया में।  दूसरी तरफ अर्नब स्वयं ये कहते हैं कि पाकिस्तानियों को सबूत नहीं देना चाहिए, क्योंकि उनको सबूत देने से कोई फायदा नहीं, पाकिस्तानियों की बातों पर भरोसा नहीं करना चाहिए, वो दुनिया को कुछ भी झूठ कहते रहते हैं। अरे भाई, एक तरफ आप पाकिस्तान और उसकी मीडिया की बातों को ना मानने की बात करते हैं, दूसरी तरफ आप स्वयं पाकिस्तान के मीडिया के द्वारा किये गए केजरीवाल के वक्तव्य की व्याख्या को सही मानते हैं, और ज़ोर-ज़ोर से उसका प्रचार करते हैं?

नेशन वांट्स टू नो, टुनाइट, कि अर्नब बाबू आप किसके साथ हैं? - भारत के, या पाकिस्तान के, या फिर जो बातें केजरीवाल और अन्य एनडीए दलों के विरूद्ध हो सिर्फ उसके?

आप के जैसे तर्क यदि विपक्षी भी देने लगे तो उनके अनुसार बीजेपी के जिन नेताओं और मंत्रियों ने केजरीवाल के वक्तव्य को "सर्जिकल स्ट्राइक का सबूत मांगना" चिल्ला कर बोला है, वो  देशद्रोही माने जाएंगे क्योंकि उन्होंने सीधे तौर पर पाकिस्तानी मीडिया के व्याख्याओं का समर्थन किया है?

अब आप बताइये कि क्या आप गद्दार हैं जिसने पाकिस्तानी मीडिया के हित में जाने वाले व्याख्या का समर्थन किया और अप्रत्यक्ष रूप से इस बात का ज़ोर शोर से प्रचार किया कि भारत के अंदर सर्जिकल स्ट्राइक पर भरोसा नहीं किया जा रहा? यदि आप देशभक्त न्यूज़ चैनल बनने का प्रयास कर रहे थे तो इस बात पर ज़ोर देते कि भारत के भीतर नेताओं  ने पकिस्तान को झूठा कहा। ऐसा करते तो कदाचित भारत को और मजबूती मिलती, हमारे सैनिकों को और प्रोत्साहना मिलती। किन्तु आप तो वही करेंगे जिसमें आपकी प्रिय पार्टी का लाभ हो। केजरीवाल के वक्तव्य को राष्ट्र विरोधी बता दो जिससे की बहुत से वोट पंजाब में आम आदमी पार्टी के कम हो जाएँ।

थोड़ी देर के लिए मान लें कि केजरीवाल ने कुछ गलत बोल दिया है और वो गद्दार है, लेकिन यदि एक गद्दार की बात पर नेशनल मीडिया ज़ोर-ज़ोर डिस्कशन करती है, तो क्या दुश्मनों के एजेंडे का प्रचार नहीं होता? अगर कोई गद्दार चिल्लाता है तो उसकी बातों का प्रचार नहीं किया जाता, उसे सजा दी जाती है। हालांकि केजरीवाल भारत में एक संवैधानिक पद पर आसीन हैं, वो जनतंत्र के माध्यम से मुख्यमंत्री बने हैं, उन्हें आधारहीन तरीकों से "देशद्रोही" जैसी उपाधि देना स्वयं जनतंत्र विरोधी कृत्य है।

लेकिन जिसे देश हित से अधिक टीआरपी और एक-पार्टी-भक्ति प्रिय है, वो हर उस बात को ज़ोर-ज़ोर से चिल्लाएगा, और इस तरह से चिल्लाएगा, जिससे उनके इष्ट-पार्टी का वोट बैंक बढ़े।

Links: कपिल मिश्र का विडियो
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08Bmv_2E-14

Surgical Strike | सर्जिकल स्ट्राइक

वाह भाई! गज़ब है खेल कुर्सी का। भारतीय राजनति में अभी बड़े साहब ने मस्त निर्णय लिया, इससे बहुत से लाभ हुए हैं। ईमानदारी से बोले तो मुझे भी सर उठाने का अवसर मिला है। अब देखियेगा बहुत से अंध-प्रजातंत्री संतुष्ट हो चुके होंगे और बड़े साहब के सारे गुनाह माफ़ कर लेंगे। अब देखते हैं कि छोटे साहब क्या करते हैं। उनके विधायकों पर जितने झूठे केस हुए थे सबके लिए अब सिर्फ हवा जिम्मेदार होगी। अंध-प्रजातांत्रियों से अब उन सब बातों से कोई लेना - देना नहीं होगा। व्यापम हो या ऑगस्टा कोई अंतर नहीं पड़ता। भाई देश लोकपाल से थोड़े ही चलता है, तभी तो अभी तक नियुक्ति ही नहीं हुई है। २०० रूपये प्रति किलो दाल अगर जाती है तो वो भी रिकॉर्ड ही है, बुरा क्यूँ मानेंगे! जो स्वराज, जेटली, सुरेश प्रभु और नायडू जैसे बड़े-बड़े दिग्गज नहीं कर पाए, वो पार्रिकर के विभाग ने कर दिया। अब तो कदाचित बहुतों के लिए राष्ट्र का सर्वांगीण विकास हो चुका होगा।

जो हम ६० वर्षों में नहीं कर पाए, वो बड़े साहब ने २ वर्षों में कर लिया। कल से सब स्वच्छ हो चुका होगा, हाँ और क्या! ना कोई शिकायत ना कोई मांग। जो लोग अभी भी नहीं समझ रहे हैं, वो अपने आप को भरोसा दिला लें कि उनके बैंक खातों में १५ लाख की राशियां आ चुकी हैं, उनके यहाँ बिजली सस्ती हो चुकी है, क्योंकि गुजरात की भाँति देश भर में सूर्य ऊर्जा छा चुकी है। जिन्हें लगता है कि गुजरात में ऐसा नहीं हुआ है वो दुश्मन मुल्क चले जाएँ। चिंता ना करिये, वहां का वीजा बड़े साहब के ही कुछ गण लोग देते हैं।

कदाचित बहुत से मित्रों को मेरा बड़े साहब के लिए ऐसा प्रेम अच्छा ना लगे। उन्हें मैं बस इतना ही कहूँगा की मित्रों मुझे दुश्मन मुल्क ना भेजो, मुझे तो बड़े साहब बहुत अच्छे लग रहे हैं।