Reader's Quotient:Transforming the DNA of Society

In the course of my life one of the things I wanted to do was meet people from pakistan. It has come up as an instinctive response to a series of grudges that we have against them I guess, but then let me assure you there is absolutely no difference between the people of either countries. I have had the privileage of playing cricket with a few of them here in the US, and I seem to have made quite a few friends. Ofcourse most of the men on the team were at at an average age of about 40, and there was one youngster who looked exactly like zayed khan. They love bollywood more than we do. They love chattering just like we Indians. As a matter of fact there is no difference at all in the people of Pakistan and India, Both sets of very gullible people. I guess thats why our politicians have managed to succcesfully fill hatred in both the sides of the border with a relative ease.

Cricket is another common factor that binds Indians and pakistanis together, shahji, waseem and pervez have a passion to the game that keeps them going even in The US. It doesn't take much time for them to appreciate good cricket irrespective of what country you are from. We were playing against a team that had a couple of australians and an english man, and some how we did manage to get under their skins with our onfield chattering and constant pestering. India pakistan is a great combination and very fortunately or unfortunately on both sides of the border we have the stupid common man combating hatred.

Aggression is a form of expression that is present in varied amounts in all individuals. But it's usage in day to day life is very limited, in fact there is absolutely no where one can use this except for driving ( which again causes a lot of fatalities on the roads). Hence the huge market for war games ( Big fan of "call of duty") on playstations and Xbox. One other place where this form of expression can be displayed is sport. Obviously like most people from South Asia, Cricket is the only real sport for me. And being a fast bowler ( I would cut that down to medium pace now) aggression is something that I look forward to. But there is a thin line between being aggressive and being stupid. Bowling at the batsmen's ribs and intimidating him to hit you out of the park are some of the easiest ways of grabbing wickets considering the lack of character in today's batsmen especially in a league that I play in. (which is the Carolina cricket league-carolinacricketleague.org). But going a step further by calling the batsman names and using derogatory language at him is not only unfair play but it is the worst form of disrespect that an individual can inflict on the game. This I have learn't by experience and having done the later because of aggression combined with revenge I was completely out of bounds as far as the spirit of the game is concerned. After the victory when I go home take a nap and get up, a huge sense of shame looms over my sober consciousness. There is no way to redeem myself of this but to acknowledge the fact that there is more to learn but not from a society that lives to take down every opportunity fair or unfair but from a few individuals who believe in doing the right thing.

"it ain't how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done. Now, if you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit" - Rocky Balboa (the movie)

Role of Women in our Society. We have been reading through the history of past many centuries,how ,in many societies,women and girls have been discriminated against. Right from the beginning of birth of a girl in a family ,a lot of discrimination was observed. There used to be a vast difference in the attitude of parents themselves towards the girl child and the male child. I was very upset to see that even the mother ,in many cases, gave differential treatment. This might have been due to the social atmosphere prevailing during that period. Women were deprived of many rights which men enjoyed .Males did not seek or listen to their advice on matters of importance for the family. Women were considered as goods or objects  of sex-gratification. They were  kept under purdah (veil) or confined to the four walls of the house. Exceptions,of course, were there but very few and those too in high class families. I have seen that they were even denounced in some books on religion/holy books.

This is a poem that I wrote while I was getting bored in a 4 hour long training. I updated this on my blog on 14th Apr 2009: http://pradipz.blogspot.com/2009/04/chosen-one.html

Here I sit in the training class,
Like a blonde learning finance
They are talking about architecture and design
Seems like everyone’s plotting to make me resign.
They are talking Verification, Validation, Designing and Planning’s
Oh God!! Why are they using Greek, French and Latin wordings?
Sitting in a corner keeping my fingers crossed
Hoping to go invisible before questions are asked
Surrounded by Smarty’s in their late 30’s
I feel like a kiddo still in his chaddis
Wishing a small unharmed earthquake
Or at least a fire without any life at stake
Anything, to make the training stop
I SMSed the almighty back to back Non-Stop
Before the SMS reached the Intended Lord
Trainer caught me totally off-guard
He started bombarding with questions
To embarrass me, being his sole intention
Miraculously, answers poured out of me
Everyone was taken aback, including me
That question woke me up far and wide
While the trainer proceeded to his next slide
I was awake for the rest of the class
And tried to participate with the mass
After 4 long hours the training was done
With little “Gyaan” I got, I felt I am “The Chosen One”

Since independence, the politicians of our country are playing with the reservation policy. The main idea behind the reservation is to provide the privilege to the under privileged people of our country, who are discriminated on the basis of caste, creed, sex etc. which is prevailing in our country from centuries. After the independence it was decided that this reservation would cease to exist after some years.  But now it’s become a part of the vote bank politics of avaricious politicians of our country. Reservations for other backward classes, reservations for gujjars, for meenas etc. In fact every politician plays the card of reservation without knowing the fact that he would get his votes in short term but in the long term he is sowing the seeds of disgust among the other communities, which act as a catalyst and next time other politician would take advantage of that scenario and in this way with the aim of decreasing the disparity we are increasing the hatred of one community against the other. Its finest example is the gujjar agitation in Rajasthan for the schedule tribe reservation which is opposed by meenas who has this privilege.   

To reduce the social disparity in our country the reservation is must, as the people of backward classes would socially able to stand if they are economically sound. The economy is related to education as a well educated person would have status in society and is in a position to bring out his family out of the social disgrace which they have to face.  So is the reservation policy is right for the future of our country. In fact the under privileged don’t know even about that and its benefit is taken by the people who are already benefitted out of that. Should caste and not the economic background of a person is the basis for the reservation?  The answer is no, as the reservation is the means to reduce the social disparity. So what sort of reservation structure would be there?   

I realize that you are the most beautiful flower that I have ever seen in this alien territory. I was drawn in just for you. Your incessant smile is pouring hopes and dreams in my weary life.

I can see the iron fencing that separates us in this dingy path. The sight of you swaying along in this gentle breeze makes me desperate and draws me ever closer to you. But the fact remains I can never have you and this makes my legs stutter.

I know I can break these iron fencing by myself. Such an endeavor will leave me bruised and bleeding. But I will accept that pain with all my heart and never ending pleasure