Bhopal Gas Farce!

1984 was a particularly unfortunate year in the history of our nation... Even in the best of years, India battles at least 2-3 insurgencies, 4-5 droughts and 6-7 floods... but in 1984, it witnessed the climax of sikh separatism, culminating in the daring attack on the Golden Temple, this was followed by the murder of Mrs. Gandhi by her own bodyguards who she had refused to let go of since she wanted to maintain her secular credentials, the bloody and shameful anti-sikh riots followed soon and much of Delhi and the nation was consumed by hatred... And towards the end of the year, just when it seemed the nation was limping back to a sense of pseudo-normalcy, tragedy struck again in the form of Bhopal Gas Disaster...

Apologies for the verbose introduction to the article, but it is important to realize the context in which the world's worst industrial accident occurred.... I sincerely believe that it was never the fault of the Americans which led to the disaster... The Americans might have been a 'little' careless, but that is completely justified, isn't it? After all, they were dealing with a couple of thousand Indian lives...Indians, used to being brought up in poverty are used to fighting hard for an inconsequential existence... Clearly their lives aren't that important... Like a spokesperson for Dow chemicals said as late as in 2002, An Indian life is surely not more precious than $500!! 

Anyways, enough of America-bashing... I genuinely believe that the Americans didn't kill the 20000 who died in Bhopal, It was the Indian government that dug their graves and spat upon their lifeless bodies... The Indian government showed pragmatism in the most unlikely of places... Imagine you are the government and the choice you have to make is as follows- 20000 people from a semi-urban area whose existence is unknown to most countrymen and Rs. 2 Cr per annum from foreign investments that can potentially pull the country out of poverty...

Of Course you'd choose the latter... Who cares about 20000 miserable wretches? Nobody... That is why Mr. Arjun Singh offered a helicopter to Mr. Anderson to help him flee his arrest... That is why, even as people in the affected areas slept, Mr. Arjun Singh fled Bhopal... That is why, committees were set up and dissolved... And that is precisely why it has taken 26 years of waiting for a sentence of 2 years!

The Bhopal gas Disaster was never meant to be a tragedy, it was meant to be a farce played out by those in power... And some people genuinely believed they would get justice! Wake up already if you've deluded yourself so far... Your immaterial and insignificant existence is of use to none... 

Indeed, lucky were the ones who perished that fateful night... At least they didn't live to see mockery being made out of their misery....

Jai Hind! 

An India Forgotten!

I can bet on the fact that 3 out of 4 indians will not be able to tell the capital of Mizoram... I can also bet on the fact that 1 out of 2 indians, when asked as to what people inhabit Nagaland, would reply with the word Chinese... I think, for most Indians, Assam is as far as India goes in the East... Anything beyond that is simply a tribal area inhabited by Chinky looking Chinese people... And without doubt, this is one of the gravest tragedies to befall the Indian State...Even after 60 years of Independence, we are yet to acknowledge the North Eastern States as equal Indians as perhaps a Bengali, or a Punjabi or a Tamil...

Who cares if governments come and go in the North East as fast as the discount offers on newly launched products? Who cares if the secessionists rule the roost in most parts? Who cares if Indians require Special Permits to visit a part of their own country? Who cares if curfews are clamped in Capital cities of these states at 5 PM and life comes to a grinding halt? Lets not even talk about water & electricity. The Indian state has proven less discriminatory on this count. It has failed all peoples and all states equally as far as impoverishment is concerned...

Little doubt that there are hundreds of tiny insurgencies going on in the North East... People are disgruntled with the Indian State... After all, what has the Indian state done for them? If their daughters and sisters migrate to Delhi for education, they are leered at and referred to as being 'loose'...If the boys want to study, they have to leave their parents and families behind... And even after a worthwhile education, Can they ever dream of returning to their 'homeland' and earning a decent living?... No ways...

Its been 60 days, since the Naga insurgents/activists blockaded the highway leading to Manipur... Fuel costs as much as Rs. 150-170 a litre, hospitals are shutting down for the want of medicines... people are in distress... But does the Indian State care?.. Imagine, secessionists/anti-national elements blockading entry route into Mumbai... What would happen then?

Irom Sharmila has been on a fast unto death for more than 10 years now... All she demands is that people be allowed to live a dignified life... And the oppressive AFSPA be repealed... What has the Indian state done? It has force fed Sharmila for the last 10 years, since it is illegal to commit suicide... Where is the national media?... Why the silence on the misery of 23 lakh people, when there is a flurry on activity to get justice to 1 Ruchika Girhotra??

When people are disappointed, they express their disgruntlement in a variety of measures... In the North East, people have taken to arms to vent their frustration...The Politicians will never care, since the entire North East sends merely 25 MPs to a 543 member Lok Sabha... It is the civil society that must raise its voice against the evident oppression of its brethren in the North East!

It is only if we treat all Indians as equals can we realize the dreams of our forefathers who fought long and hard to win us our freedom... As long as we stay apathetic, we are only sowing the seeds for a bleak future, which is best avoided!

Murder most foul!

Of all the Murders that rock this country, the foulest are the murders of the tongue… Every single day, in every nook & corner of this nation, multitudes of people commit the most sinister of all follies…. The murder of the language they speak… And what is the consequence?… Hindi has been virtually eradicated in the South, English in the North… The West speaks a tongue that is unbeknownst to the rest and the East… Well they talk a wee bit too much in the East…

So if you are to converse in Hindi with a "South Indian" (I mean with a person belonging to one of the 4 southern states, so don't start calling me a North Indian racist), you are more likely to be met with the following 5 letter reply-

"मेरे को हिंदी नहीं आता …."

Only South Indians can tell when and where did the Hindi tongue get its Sex-Change operation… Must have been in the sordid by-lanes of Bangkok… Anyways…

While the South Indians butcher away Hindi, the Biharis aren't far behind…. They have gone global when it comes to murdering languages… They murder the Queen's very own tongue… Shakespeare must be turning in his grave for every syllable uttered by these people….

Where magically becomes Bhere…

You becomes Jhu…

Prepositions end the sentences like Bhat Jhu comes here phor?

Verbs and conjugations have since long lost their importance like… Bhen I was came from the Jungle, the Loin roars me at…. (Its always the Loin that roars... never the Lion)

The Bongs aren't too far behind… they take perverse pleasure in pronouncing both Hindi & English in a Bangla accent…

Savour this-

हामको भोत डड लग डहा था ( हमको बहुत डर लग रहा था )

The Lion doad in the middle of the doad (The Lion roared in the middle of the road)

The Marathis give the rest of Indians a run for their money in emphasizing their love for vowels…

Shiv becomes Shiuu…

Give becomes Giuu….

And the Bhopalis… My… Are they a race apart… They make their vowels long and short as & when they desire…

Black becomes Blake

Cake becomes Cack

snake becomes Snack

Incidentally, in Bhopal, Girls don't get raped… They get wrapped!

All this reminds me of a few lines from the movie "My Fair lady", where Rex Harrison utters these memorable lines-

"Look at her, a prisoner of the gutters
Condemned by every syllable she utters
By right she should be taken out and hung,
For the cold-blooded murder of the English tongue..."'

Now that's not a bad option... Isn't it... :D