Vehicular Woes

I am sick (again!) of having to wrack my head on buying a new car… Ordinarily, the purchase of first car from "own" money should evoke feelings of joy and pride… but I am just plain sick of having to consider and re-consider decisions… The more number of people you ask, the more number of views you get… And let me assure you that all views are mutually contradictory… First it was Maruti, before it was trashed as being "too conservative"… then it was Chevrolet, before it was criticized for "not being worth it"… Hyundais came and went as did Hondas and Fords and Toyotas… Mostly it was the money, sometimes it was the color… and at other times the shape of the car (Ritz, e.g. appears perennially dented from behind!)… Detailed discussion happened on used cars… Some supported it…others rejected it outright.. The net result is that I am still car-less and at the mercy of Pune's chor autowallahs…

The fact is that all cars are too expensive… unless you go for models such as Wagon-R, which are cheaper, but then "older" so to speak… I know for a fact that my first car will end up being heavily dented and hence I am definitely not in the mood to splurge… If my experience during Engineering is anything to go by, I am expecting ending up at the Hospital, once every 6 months at the very least and at the Service center at twice that frequency… And believe me, I know how much it hurts to get a scratch on a brand new vehicle… With all this playing at the back of my mind, and with the latent interest in appearing "cool", decision-making as far as car purchase is concerned just isn't happening!

Another important decision point which is adding to all the confusion is whether to go in for a high/middle end version of a low end car or for a low end version of a high end car… The price range roughly ends up being the same, but honestly, there is no point flaunting a Toyota Liva with no power windows!!! I've even tried to convince myself to go in for an Alto, but my legs simply refuse to feel comfortable!… I, honestly, tried to think of buying an Indica (knowing fully well that I will be flagged down on the middle of a road and will be mistaken as a Cab driver), before my Boss warned me of poor performance rating (He's not prepared to have an Indica-driving subordinate!)

And to all the confusion was added the new chapter on buying used cars… I am ok with that, but it seems that most used cars are Altos and Zens… Add to it the fact that the "better" used cars cost up to 3.5-4L… I guess it is complete non sense to spend 3.5 L on a used car, when you can get a brand new car by spending another 50-75k!

Anyways, so that is what is keeping me busy these days… Scouring dealers… bugging sales centers on phones and speaking to as many people as I can in trying to reach a "consensual" decision….Sadly though, consensus, in this matter is proving to be elusive!

Lets see what the future has in store!

Khamosh Paani

Probably no other event has caused such widespread human hardship in India as the partition… Millions of people were forcibly uprooted from villages, towns and cities that they had called home for centuries and forced to become refugees in a foreign land that they were now supposed to identify as their own only because of their religion… While millions undertook this journey in search of relative security for themselves and their families, many died and probably many more were left behind in a country that refused to call them their own…

Khamosh Paani (2003) is a story of one such Sikh woman who is left behind in West Punjab after she refuses to obey her father's command and mother's example by jumping in the village well… Soon, she is caught by the Muslims, one of whom, out of the goodness of his heart marries her… She becomes a devout Muslim and raises a family, forgetting her past till one day it returns to haunt her… Her brother, a part of a jatha of Sikhs allowed by Zia-ul-Haq to visit holy shrines discovers her and begs her to return to India to see her dying father… At this point, she asks him " Father wanted me to die… I ran away… Tomorrow when I die, to which heaven will I go?- The Sikh heaven or the Muslim heaven"… At the end, she jumps into the same well, which she had refused to jump into some 30 years ago when she had chosen life over suicide...dying as a broken soul… Rejected by the Sikhs for having forsaken their religion by becoming a Muslim… And discredited by the Muslims, thanks to the rising Islamic Extremism in Zia-ul Haq's Pakistan, for not having rejected Sikhism enough…She was an apostate to both religions in spite of her trying hard to stay true to both her faiths…

This must be the tale of so many women and girls who would have been left behind in "enemy territory"… Used and exploited by the men as the loot of war, they would have been subject to the worst of tortures and when finally they would have begun to accept their fate, they would have been rejected as impure and cast aside… Unlike the comfort women of Japanese occupation of Korea, China and South East Asia during WWII, this topic has never received any attention, due also in part due to the social stigma attached to dishonor of women in the subcontinent … 

As the generation which experienced the horrors of partition fades into oblivion, the stories of these women would probably die with them, with probably no chance of them getting justice and at the very least, a heartfelt apology from their adopted countries for having inflicted unspeakable horrors upon them...

Ides of March

The recent election results in UP, Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa are a clear testament to the declining influence of national parties in the country. Congress and BJP have been humiliated by the voters and obliterated by them at least in UP. The surprising and the seemingly irreversible decline of both BJP and Congress shows the high level of disenchantment of the masses who prefer voting for local parties with regional mindsets than to strengthen the hand of national parties.

Both Congress and BJP have only themselves to blame for their shoddy state of affairs. Congress, marred by corruption, sycophancy and lack of political and ideological vision for the nation also faces a mounting obstacle in the form of a very strong anti-incumbency wave. BJP, sadly has been unable to step into the shoes of a strong responsible and attractive alternative to the Congress and is marred by dissent, both political and ideological, within its ranks. 

Rahul Gandhi was expected to turn the fortunes of Congress around in UP. Sadly, he cost them even the sure shot government slot in Punjab. BJP, bereft of a strong regional leader in UP was bound to lose, but the nature and the extent of loss, that is decline in number of seats and the overall vote share is a slap in the face of BJP-UP stalwarts like Rajnath Singh, Kalraj Mishra and many others. Even the belated arrival of Uma Bharti did little to improve the situation for the party.

The states which are ruled by Congress and the BJP are those wherein the local units of these parties have become strong regional parties in their own right. For example, the BJP of Narendra Modi in Gujarat or the Congress of Taurn Gogoi in Assam do not represent the state of decay and degeneration that their national counterparts face. The victory of Parrikar in Goa and Ibobi Singh in Manipur must be seen in that perspective. Both are capable, state level leaders and the voters have voted them into power, not necessarily the parties that they represent.

Going by the way things look now, 2014 will deliver another United Front type government- cobbled up by various parties opposed to both the BJP and the Congress… Given its likely narrow vision and focus on regional issues, it is likely to mark the arrival of another era of political instability at the national level which does not bode well for a strong, confident and stable India claiming its rightful place at the international stage

Never Again!

Imagine being stuck in a small room which you are not allowed to leave… The small room has only one solitary window from where you can see the lives of the rest pass by… some shopping, others playing with their kids, still others taking a leisurely stroll, many enjoying the light breeze, some enjoying the sun … but you can never be a part of all of this… you are only a spectator… you can watch by the sidelines… but you can never be a part of this life…

What would your reaction be? Probably you'd be jealous, eventually you'd curse your fate, sometimes you would cry, at other times you'd howl, but to no avail… In the eyes of the state you shouldn't be where you are... you should have been dead since long… you don't exist for the state… your existence has been obliterated… If they discovered that you were still alive, you'd be packed off to Auschwtiz or Bergen Belsen or Dachau… Your neighbors and friends, aware as they might be of your existence choose to forget you… Its safest for them that way… You are a part of their life that they have long forgotten… Some who still care drop off food and drinks once in a while, but they know that they do it at a  great risk to themselves… 

Of what use would such an existence be? Some would say that it is better to be incinerated or gassed at once rather than live through the pain of having to die through a million cuts… But you still want to live don't you? You want to see that sun shine down on your face, that gentle evening breeze ruffling your hair, that friendly pat on the back, that smile on someone's face when they greet you… But would you be able to see all that? You don't know… It is a constant battle between the will to survive and the unending doubt on making it through… 

And then one fine day…. There are knocks on the door!

Anne Frank's diary is one of the most read books in modern times… The life of a teenage girl as she grapples through a plethora of complex emotions may not make an interesting read but the fact that she had hopes, aspirations and the dream to see the sunshine make her diary one of the most touching books… The knock on the door that sent her and her family and friends to their deaths in Nazi Concentration Camps is an example of how men can trample on someone's hopes and desires and how there is always more to it than the seemingly simple stratification of society into us and them, Palestinians and Israelis, Hindus and Muslims, Jews and the others...

If only the we had understood Anne's story, there would be no Congo, no Darfur, no Rwanda…They say that history delivers the most powerful lessons, only that we choose to ignore it!

I crib, therefore I am

I am not liking this settling down business one bit...2 years of free, unencumbered existence has suddenly come to an end... All of a sudden, I need to worry about food, grocery, laundry, house rent, commute and god only knows what all... Let me be honest, I really don't care about all this! All I want is everything to be in order so that I can do whatever it is that I want to do...What is the point of working hard (actually hardly, but whatever) the whole day if you have to return to a dump in the evening to run around for grocery and stuff...

I am not exactly a big fan of change (although I do feel that I cope with it well)... And I hate the fact that I am so very jobless at this moment... After a very exciting previous stint, my experience here so far has been mind numbingly boring... If it were not for the fact, that my office is covered with glass instead of a brick wall on 2 sides, I would probably have arranged for a nice afternoon nap everyday! All this bloody free time leads to, is reminscing about days gone by which again I hate, because it seems very retired people-y to keep talking about what is past!

Although one thing I am loving so far is the city! It is good to be back to Pune! I loved the 2 years I had spent here last and I hope I love this stint as well (well,eventually!)... Its good to be only 2 hours away from home (I have already been to Delhi once and by the looks of it, I will not be home only once in 6 months anymore!) and its good to have options to hang out and meet people... 

Another thing that I am loving is that the 1-hour commute from Pune to Ranjangaon gives me enough time to catch up with my books (my precious!)... And now that I am in a city, I can purchase a book whenever I want to!... My already decent collection of books has now become decently large and assuming that I don't get tired of reading, I will have a huge collection of books by the time I move out!

It is difficult to forget Munger though... The last few months were awesome, the people, the parties, and the general timepass and I think that is the period that I will remember whenever I think of Munger! Like they say... 'You can take a man out of Munger, but you can't take Munger out of the man!'... Deep emotional scars- I say ;)