Africans Attacked - Why You Need Not Worry Homie!

I have something to add to the ongoing Africans Attacked debate. While violence really is the tool of the weak, gratefulness is the virtue of every good human being. You come here, work here, eat off our Economy, and then beat up a hardworking man with a chair because he refused to carry 'six' of you in his cab? Can you imagine any Indian doing that to African nationals in their country? How would the local populace react then? We all know the answer to that, we'll be lucky if we get to see his body.

Yes, this country has bid farewell to the 'eye for an eye makes the whole world blind' way of life. We're actually racing towards the 'two eyes for an eye' brand of living. If and when needed. So tell me, if you come into my house and disrespect me, beat me, how should I react? You are crushing my body, spitting on my self-respect, and then you expect me to treat you as a friend? Too much to ask for brother!

But you don’t stop at this; you go ahead and fabricate a mellow-dramatic show of racism. You sing a song the world loves to listen to. You make us look racist and parade on our roads. If this was a movie, India would surely win an Academy Award for portraying ‘supporting actor’ while you executed your drama.

If you haven't forgotten, not too long ago, in a war torn nation, India came to the rescue of African nationals. India evacuated over 4,000 people, out of which 250 were from foreign nations. I was never good at Maths but I count some 63 African nationals on the list of foreign nationals rescued from Yemen by India. Would a 'racist' nation do that?

Ever heard of the West Indies cricket team? They walk in this country as if it’s their own. They feel the love and warmth we happily give. In no other country you will receive a welcome like India. But that does not give you the authority to think of us as ‘soft’ and ‘weak’ people. Don’t forget, we worship you as Gods not guests; but we also recognize the devil when we see him.

Someone has died and death is a vicious hungry beast. Let's not add fuel to the fire and test each other's patience. Indian students too get 'targeted' across the world. But we deal with it, as a few cannot be allowed to represent a rich and diverse 1.2 billion strong nation, that embraces you with arms wide open every single time.

Here’s hoping to a better understanding between us in coming days. Leaving it all behind is nothing new for us Indians. You take the map of Asia and check our bordering nations. We have always applied our brains towards a peaceful and mutually beneficial solution. We know diplomacy and we believe in forgiveness. Cheers to a better partnership homie!

Intolerance in India: Media adding fuel to a fire with no heat

This time when they use religion against us, they will do it very smartly. They won’t make it too obvious. In fact, they will fight against it, only to give it more prominence. These 'controllers' will now create public mood and opinion. Frankly speaking, it has already begun, and the worst part is that it is a huge success.

I’m not too keen on scooping out the author of this horrible narrative called: 'intolerance in India'. Currently, as citizens of this country, it must be our top priority to stop letting them fool us. Let it stop today.

I have one simple question for all of you. Why is it that I get to see intolerance on media channels and platforms only? If it is so evident, why isn’t everyone up in arms? No really, it starts with a tweet, becomes a Facebook post, and runs on loop on every ‘news’ channel in less than half an hour.

We’re being made to watch intolerance, read intolerance, hear intolerance, and even discuss intolerance. No doubt our minds have been convinced that intolerance does exist and needs to be taken care of.

They have created an opinion, a mindset, and now they wait. While intolerance doesn’t really exist in the country, the media is hell-bent on adding fuel to a fire with no real heat. It is sickening to see the media ignore key issues concerning the public forum, and jump to baseless remarks and monotonous commentary about intolerance in India.

They feed us non-sense every day. There’s no intolerance in India, please! We’ve all grown above all this, both as faithful worshipers, and as ordinary citizens. Our faith holds an important place in our heart, but our mind is still clear on right, and wrong. Yes, a few incidents do upset us every now and then, but let’s not allow these foxy politicians to trick us into fighting a ‘war on faith’.

Communal tension bred unrest does not take long to erupt. People here are very particular and highly insecure about their religion. If intolerance in India did really exist, things would've been very different today.

I sincerely hope that my observations helps you see the ugly game being played by some anti-nationalist today. It may be someone in the government; can be foreign parties; or someone else; but yes, there is someone who is trying to fool us again into believing that there is growing intolerance in India. Beware!

If you liked my work and want to read something more, I have a very good suggestion to make. I suggest that you read Mandir Industry: Commercialization of Religion

Nyoma Mutiny: Who takes the bullet?

Justice evades everyone in this world, even the most disciplined gentlemen have failed to be just.

I read ‘The Week’ on a regular basis and have been trying to keep it that way. Why? Well, mainly because nothing can replace print media in this world. The digitization song NDA is trying to teach will surely echo till eternity, but may rhyme only for a while. There’s still a newspaper over my doormat every morning; advertisers still spend on newspaper ads and flyers; and bookstores continue to walk shoulder to shoulder with shops selling a Kindle.

The Nyoma mutiny was extensively covered by the digital media, but somehow, escaped a few of us. I stumbled upon an updated version of it on The Week. Allow me to rewind the clocks back to 2012 when a nobody sepoy Suman Kumar was allegedly beaten, harassed, and set to trial by a pretty lopsided bench of ‘Sahab log’. The officers argue that Suman Kumar tried to molest a senior officer’s wife. But the other side of the story carries more weight and genuineness.

Suman Kuman was sexually harassed by an officer’s wife, as per his version. What followed was an endless phase of physical and mental torture for Suman who had cold water poured on him while he was naked, in Ladakh. Just the thought of it can freeze you to death. But Suman lived to tell the tale and to live what was left of it.

The ill and unjust treatment handed out to Sepoy Suman Kumar (no they’re yet to court-martial him) ignited anger and disgust among others. Brawls between the two groups started as Suman was found in a make-shift hospital and not an Army hospital (as per reports, this was done to cover up the assault).

Some 119 jawans have been accused of planning a ‘mutiny’ against the senior officers, and might as well be court-martialed in some time. This is the first mutiny of independent India which has been carried out by jawans against officers.

Suman’s version was supported by a certain Subedar Mahender Singh who told the court of inquiry that Suman had mentioned it to him that a senior officer’s wife was misbehaving with him. As per Suman, the officer’s wife did objectionable things like removing her top in front of him, and even asked him to join her in the bed.

Why would a sepoy make the effort of stitching together such an elaborate cover-up? That too, after being punched in the face by Major SK Sharma, who did not even think about questioning him first? The other two officers who beat up Suman were identified as Major AD Kanade and Major Kapil Malik. Also, Naik Amresh Tiwari has already told the court of inquiry that he saw Major SK Sharma, Major AD Kanade, and Major Kapil Malik pouring cold water on Suman after taking off his clothes. But this statement was rejected on grounds that Tiwari’s eyesight was weak and he couldn’t see beyond 10 meters. I don’t know how much truth that carries but I sure hope that Naik is not the only one left with ammo when the enemy surrounds Major SK Sharma and Co. in the battlefield.

It’s outrageous to jump to conclusions, but after three years of courtroom chatter, there’s enough evidence (for the sane bunch) supporting Suman’s claim. The jawan-officer divide has plagued the army for long now. A batman is technically meant for helping out with official clerical and non-clerical work. But some officers, like Major SK Sharma here, have been sipping on too much whiskey and have forgotten that slavery was abolished years back.

I refrain from judging the situation, I leave it to the reader. You may argue that the manner in which this write-up has been framed seems to favor Suman. To this, I quote Voltaire, who once said, "I disagree with what you say, but I shall defend to death your right to say it".

Rebellion and Journalism: Two Sides Of The Same Coin

Every journalist is a rebel and every rebel has a journalist twisting and turning within.

Rebels and journalists are two sides of the same coin. They’re both trying to bring attention towards issues which must not be ignored, but are unfortunately ignored. Every journalist is a rebel and every rebel has a journalist twisting and turning within.

We often view rebels and even journalists with a skeptical lens. The idea is to locate and exploit fallacies in their conduct. But in the long term, their actions are mostly constructive in the context of the social sphere. Come to think of it, raising an issue and discussing it at length is the premise of every rebel and journalists’ conduct. The way they operate might allow you to question them and their ways, but in a nutshell, the very nature of their operations is a synopsis of their intentions.

History has been kind enough to introduce us to several rebels and journalists. From Bhagat Singh to Malcolm X, supremacy leaders fought the war for justice and equality by amalgamating the traits of a journalism and rebellion. The synthesis is a product which puts your perception on a platform with concrete understanding and logic backing it. Journalistic potential can be traced from day one and that has been the case with rebellion as well. You can spot a rebel from miles away and you can sense a journalist from blocks away, at least.

But is there a thin line which separates the two? Is there a veil which hides the USP of rebels from journalists and vice versa? It’s hard to say actually. There’s no David-Goliath going on here. It isn’t all black and white really. The idea is to develop a basic understanding of these two very different yet extremely similar constants of the society. It may have been spoken before but the fact needs to reverberate. Rebels and journalists are two sides of the same darn coin. It doesn’t really matter on which side the coin really lands. Or does it?

Meerut Gang Rape - Thank God She Was a Hindu

Meerut Gang Rape has more implications than you can imagine. But I for one am very happy that the girl was a Hindu. Oh no, I'm not a Muslim. I'm not even a complete Hindu. I'm one of those who are going to take some time before they end up categorizing their Gods.

So now that you have already judged me as per your own naive perceptions, let me insert my opinion on this shameful incident. Some of you have not even educated yourself on this topic yet. After all, your favorite TV 'news' (pun intended)channels failed to air this story. Maybe they missed out on covering just another rape. Or maybe there's more to the Meerut Gang Rape. We'll find out.

But first, let me narrate the incident to you. A girl in the city of Meerut, India, was allegedly kidnapped, beaten, raped, and was even forced to convert. Wait! Let me write that again subtracting the tone of secularism. A Hindu girl in Meerut, India, was kidnapped, beaten, raped, and forced to convert to Islam. How does that sound? If your offerings go into a mosque, I'm sure you'll either stop reading now or you'll start judging/crucifying me. But if your offerings & prayers are delivered to a temple, chances are that you'll continue reading with a gush of anger & aggression. This is what religion does to us. This is what they use against us.

We live in a country inundated with minorities. More than the number of minorities, it is the sickening insecurity which can be seen bubbling over and about. Hindus in India have never felt outnumbered. If they have, they've been quick to change that notion. Even Christians, Jews (handful), Sikhs, and Buddhists have never really felt that pinch of insecurity emanating out of their minority status. But when it comes to Muslims, and I'm not generalizing as most of my dear friends are Muslims, they tend to get carried away quite easily. They forget that injustice & misfortune latches on to you irrespective of your religion, region, caste, sex, race, or ethnicity. If the Indian Hindus really wanted the Muslims out, it would take them less than a month to force them out. But no, that's not India. Friends, that's not us. We've lived in harmony for centuries and have displayed immense courage & co-operation in adapting to changing times and cultures. Why let a few political scumbags run away with our peace?

Now why am I so concerned about the religion of this ill fated girl? How does it matter to me? Or to you for that matter? Yes she's a Hindu. So what? To be very honest, you know the answer yourself.

Now, had this girl been a Muslim, riots would've been unavoidable and unstoppable. Selfish and opportunist political commentary would've been inescapable. An avalanche of global remarks would've been expected. And a wave of hatred against Hinduism was sure to follow. But no, none of that fell in place this time. Why? And how? The answer, unfortunately, lies in the religion of this poor soul. She was a Hindu and thus could not be exploited properly.The government forced itself upon all mediums to let this issue pass. The girl was kidnapped. The girl was raped. She was beaten and then forced to convert to Islam. She was kept in a Madarsa in Muzzafarnagar for five days. But all this fails to impress our lords as her religion does not require media & political bull-whacking. Can anyone explain this behavior? Can anyone disagree with me when I say that the same case would've made headlines for weeks had the victim been a Muslim? No you can't.

A while back, a Shiv Sena MP, fed up with the poor quality of food being served by IRCTC, tried to force feed one of the supervisors. The MP didn't even ask the supervisor about his religion. When the MP came to know that the supervisor was a Muslim and was observing Roza, he immediately apologized. The media did everything it could to garner TRPs. They blew this small incident way out of proportions and even started a debate on secularism and its presence in India. The scene was similar to that of Aamir Khan's 'Peepli Live'. The media acted like a clown and those who could see through the vast veil of bullshitt, laughed their heart out. A couple of days back, Indian railways fined 9 caterers for unhygienic and poor quality of food. A cockroach was found in a meal provided in a Rajdhani. IRCTC was one of the caterers fined. The media let this incident pass unnoticed. Yes, we're all ashamed of the Indian media.

Though I'm really surprised that people are blaming the media for not covering the Meerut Gang Rape. What's wrong with you guys? What do you expect? Do you expect anything at all from today's media houses? They're all profit based entities functioning on the directions of several interested parties. Were you on Mars all this time? Journalism died a slow and painful death in the last decade. Yes, they murdered journalism with smiling faces and fattening bank balances.

If you switch on your TV hoping to watch news, then kindly change the channel and watch a mindless sitcom instead. And if you unfold your daily morning newspaper expecting news stories, hen please fold it back after reading the comic strips. They're all filled with paid opinions. None of them carry news in its truest form. Media is a pet. It has been reduced to a tool. Media today is a medium for selfish endeavors. Again, I'm not generalizing. There are a few journalists who bend their backs and practice the true form of journalism. I know one such journalist and have worked with him. With an experience of more than 30 years, he warned me about the pathetic state of today's media. And I must say, he was spot on with his observations.