Basket Case

One thing common to almost all the front line pro-quota arguments is an image of one affluent, well educated, greedy boy and another of the most underprivileged, oppressed guy you can imagine and as you can very well guess, the first one carries the label upper cast and the other one OBC/SC/ST. Please note the second label, it is not SC/St or OBC. It is SC/ST/OBC. This is an ad that has sold its product like no other. It sells you reservation. In oppressed, it manages to create anger, in well to do upper cast, it manges to create a sense of guilt and they all buy the idea of reservation that would help the underprivileged kid get his due share from the bad guy. And the the get busy, get along with life, bothering little to ask what happened to the poor kid. I don't need to tell you what happened, you already know if you care to think beyond your false sense of having done something. It is the same story that is repeated any number of times everyday on every red light crossing of...

Despite thinking about it many items, I never ended up writing a post about reservations. But today I must write for even though whatever happened was bound to happen, the callousness of the government never fails to hurt. Yes let me say today that I am against reservations, in letter and in spirit. The reasons are many and I have collected a list of my questions and observations during last 15-20 days but I won't raise any of them today. Only thing that matters at the moment is that in a country and society like ours, reservation are almost irreversible and that is enough for me to be against them. There has to be affirmative action, there are people out there who require special help from the establishment but reservation doesn't make the cut. And I am against reservations because they force me to be casteist even when I don't want to. At one level they assume that only Dalits will care about dalits. That is why they need equal representation in everything. It says that o...

I am a sad man today. Coming to Bangalore, one of the best things that I got introduced to was, The Hindu, newspaper. Apart from having a lot of quality content, what I liked most about it was its social and cultural commitment. It is a paper which feels so connected to things around it. After TOI, it felt good not to find front page covered with all the sensational news which 8 out of 10 times would be related to sex or women or something like that but with things more important. And good and informative articles on the editorial pages always forced me to think. I didn't always agreed with them but I found myself thinking about them and questioning my assumptions and believes. It was a healthy process. Yesterday night I came to know about what all happened in Bombay with the medical students. The belligerent Arjun Singh was all over the news channels . But even after watching all that, I wanted to read it all in the next day's newspaper. There is a kind of satisfaction associa...

( There is a window right behind where I sit in my office through which I can see a small patch of sky. ) मेरे पीछे की खिडकी मे रहने वाला, अम्बर का छोटा सा टुकडा, मुझसे बात किया करता है । सूरज की किरणों से तप कर, श्याम वर्ण जब हो जाता तो, अपने कुम्हलाये चेहरे पर, फ़ूट फ़ूट रोया करता है । अम्बर का छोटा सा टुकडा, मुझसे बात किया करता है । कभी कभी अपने संग अपनी, चिर प्रेयसी वायु को ला कर, फ़िर वितान मे छिप लज्जा से, टुकुर टुकुर देखा करता है। अम्बर का छोटा सा टुकडा, मुझसे बात किया करता है । कभी जो धुन्धलाती शामों मे, मन एकाकी सा हो जाता, खोल पिटारे,ला कर तारे, साथ मेरे खेला करता है। अम्बर का छोटा सा टुकडा, मुझसे बात किया करता है । पूछा नही कभी पर अक्सर, ये सोचा करता मन ही मन, कभी सुना होगा इसने भी, मेघदूत का प्रणय निवेदन? समझ सकेगा क्या ये अल्हड, मूक वेदना मेरे मन की? और कभी क्या झांकेगा ये, दूर देश,उस घर की खिडकी ? और कहेगा आतुर जन से, दूर देश मे बसा अभागा, तुमको याद किया करता है। पास नही तुम हो तो मुझसे, दिल का हाल कहा करता है। मेरे पीछे की खिडकी मे रहने वाला, अम्बर का छोटा सा टुकडा, मुझसे ब...

पंख लग जायें मेरे, आज मैं उड जाऊं कहीं, राह खो जायें सभी, मोड वो मुड जाऊं कहीं । हवाओं वक्त हुआ अब यहां से चलने का, पडा रहा तो इस ज़मीं से जुड ना जाऊं कहीं । ना पानी डाल बुझा खाकज़दा शोलों को, बने जो जान पर, फ़िर से दहक ना जाऊं कहीं । लो आग भर दो मेरे दिल मे, जलन आंखों मे, मैं चार पल के सुकूं मे बहक ना जाऊं कहीं । किया है जब से घर सागर सी उनकी आंखों मे, यही है डर मैं अभागा, छलक न जाऊं कहीं ।