Hindi Diwas X Hindi Imposition

Yesterday happened to be 'Hindi Diwas' and as expected there was some cacophony about Hindi imposition especially in some pockets of southern states. Being a Hyderabadi is being in a state of perpetual dichotomy as all through my life, I've been exposed to Hindi literature, movies, music et.al on one hand and equally acquainted with anti-Hindi sentiment and #StopHindiImposition movement which I believed was more of a brouhaha, much to the chagrin of my fellow south Indians.

We all love our own language and hate if others impose an alien language on us by force and it's quite natural but is Hindi really a native tongue of majority of North Indians who want to impose it on us Southies?

When PM Modi (or many of his predecessors) addresses the nation on Aug 15th or at international fora in Hindi, do we ever wonder that his first language was Gujarati but he put forth Hindi as a unifying language to represent the indigeneity. Mumbai being a Bollywood hub and a commercial focal point promoted Hindi more than any other city still retaining their Marathi ethos. Just that they did not cry foul about Hindi imposition. 

If you need more data, Biharis speak Bhojpuri, Himachals speak Pahari. Punjabi, Kashmiri, are languages of North Indian states. Awadhi, Marwari, Haryanvi are distinct dialects of Hindi spoken in regions of North India, North Eastern states have their own languages and hence...

Hindi, as we know, is not a universally spoken first language of all North Indians. But they all have risen over their egos and accepted Hindi as the common bridge for communication because 57% of Indians speak and understand the language. The basis of civilization is when two people do not speak the same language, one of them adapt the language with wider comprehensibility or both accept a more commonly spoken language. 

Now let us talk about the elephant in the room. Why Hindi and why not make Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam or Kannada a unifying language for the whole country ? As mentioned earlier Hindi is officially understood by 57% of the country's population and the number could be more as many might have denied their intelligibility despite their familiarity. Guess what % of Indians speak Telugu ? barely 8%, Tamil - 6.5% or Kannada or Malayalam less than 5%.

There could be a possible counter argument that number of speakers should not be a parameter to decide that. Touché. If number of speakers should not be a parameter, can Karnataka drop Kannada as the sole official language as there are pockets that exclusively speak Tulu or Konkani ? If Hindi is being imposed on South India, isn't Kannada being imposed on whole of Karnataka ?

Kannada is still an official language as per the constitution along with other languages but Telugu is still not an official language in Tamil Nadu despite spoken by 6% of state population (similar to percentage of Tamil speakers in whole of India) ? Lambadi spoken by 6% of Telangana, Urdu by 6% in Andhra Pradesh but still not official languages. So who is crying wolf here ? 

All states have declared their dominant majoritarian language as the first language in their respective states but with 57% of speakers, Hindi is still not the national language but only one of the official languages like all our beloved regional languages and we still crib about somebody imposing Hindi on us. 

South Indians instead preferred English as the bridge language which is hardly spoken by 10% of the country and is a first language of under 0.02 % of Indians. We chose to adapt and adopt a foreign language introduced by the guys who killed 100 million Indians (including south Indians) just to camouflage our linguistic chauvinism coupled by jealousy over a much widely spoken indigenous language.

I have nothing against English. I think in English and it is my lifeline. I love and am proud of being a Telugu and am a perennial student of the linguistics of both Telugu and English but I do not feel insecure or threatened by Hindi. 

If we were asked to respect a national emblem or a tricolor, that doesn't mean we are being subjected to some imposition because we are equally free to celebrate our regional quintessence too. If we were asked to recite 'Jana Gana Mana', a Bengali anthem, that doesn't make 'Maa Telugu Talliki' any inferior. 

Addition of Hindi to already existing vernacular language in signposts or literature isn't tantamount to imposition, it's only facilitation. Embrace if you can, ignore if you can't because nobody is replacing your language with Hindi. 

 

Non Vegetarianism is like Sex

Disclaimer:

1. I don't intend to justify or mock either vegetarianism or non-vegetarianism. 
2. I'm non-religious and don't practice any caste stereotypes. I don't correlate food habits with caste or religion.
3. I used the concept of sex to bring out an analogy between natural human instincts and not to titillate.
4. I tried to analyze why vegetarian activism of non-violence against animals doesn't yield deserving results.

If you are sensitive or find any discussions about food habits or sex offensive, please don't read the below article. These are just my thoughts and are totally subjective.
______________________________________

Dear Vegetarians,

If you chose vegetarian diet for ethical, moral, humane reasons and if you don't want to be a party to harming or killing animals - you have my unconditional and unwavering respect. I don't mince words in saying that you belong to a morally superior breed of humans and no silly argument could push you off your pedestal.

There would always be people arguing that plants are living things too without understanding that plants don't have central nervous system, brain or pain receptors. You will find others lecturing that eating animals is important for circle of life and to maintain a balanced food chain in the environment without accepting they eat animals that were selectively raised to slaughter and not with an intention to control animal population in their natural habitats. If they argue about nutrition and health benefits with non-vegetarian food, let me tell you there are superior health benefits with vegetarian food.

Don't bother about any internet articles shared by them stereotyping or belittling vegetarians or vegetarianism. They are usually compelled to do so that they feel they weren't on the wrong side of moral compass. You don't have to take them seriously. Hence I reiterate that voluntary vegetarians are more ethical, kind, virtuous, progressive thinking people of the society, hands down.

This article is dedicated not to vegetarians or animal lovers in general but to vegetarian activists who try to propagate vegetarianism among non-veg eaters. Let me tell you, your intention is noble and righteous because you hope to spread non-violence and love towards animals. Highly appreciable but I tried to analyze why such efforts don't yield remarkable results among non-veg lovers. There is a scientific or to be precise biological or anthropological reason behind that. Read on:

Do you know that the self-control, self-discipline and ethics you follow in terms of food habits is not natural to human species ? Human digestive system is designed for and is adaptable to non-veg food and we are born omnivores. Our stomachs, intestines, teeth are made to process both kinds of food. Appetite for non-veg food comes natural to human physiology. Pleasure cells in human brain release dopamine rush when eating non-veg food, the same dopamine which in high levels causes addiction to vices and guilty pleasures. That's human tendency. That's science. But in a way, that's a physiological handicap.

Hence if you are a vegetarian, you chose to rise above natural human instincts and laws of nature but your non-veg friends are living their natural life bestowed by thousands of years of evolution. So any activism or sharing articles would only cause them discomfort but not remorse.

Vegetarianism is to Celibacy what Non-Vegetarianism is to Sex

For starters, celibacy means avoiding sex or any intimate physical relationship. There are philosophical, spiritual, religious theories about how refraining from sex is important for better and pure living. Celibacy, vegetarianism and sobriety are considered pillars for leading a higher standard of living. Many theories suggest that sex should be avoided (or limited to just dutiful reproduction of children) and the precious energy must be preserved and utilized in other very essential and indispensable functions. This might sound ridiculous for many but celibate movement is a genuine undercurrent phenomenon. You would be surprised to know how many world renowned legends practiced celibacy (including Mahatma Gandhi, Queen Elizabeth-1, Isaac Newton, Nikola Tesla to name a few).

But sex is a basic human necessity. Maslow's hierarchy of needs too states that sex is a raw physiological need that cultivates motivation. I don't want to use the concept of sex in this article to make anybody uncomfortable. Think of it as fuel for humans which gives intrinsic satisfaction to body and mind. So avoiding sex doesn't come naturally to humans just like avoiding non-veg food is not intrinsic. We are made like that and would continue being so unless another thousand years of ethical evolution causes humans to organically rise over.

Maintaining self-control and self-discipline for whatever they believe in must be lauded but imagine a situation where celibates describe others how awful the activity of sexual intercourse is. That's very similar to vegetarian activists trying to explain how animal cruelty or non-vegetarianism are improper.

If you show inhuman slaughterhouse videos to your non-veg friends and ask if they still want to eat non-veg, it's like a celibate showing you crass outrageous porn videos and asking if you still want to have sex ! They wouldn't refrain from what gives them pleasure, but would find ways to discredit your activism..and dislike you. They are hard-wired that way.

Though I know comparing animal cruelty to sex is silly, I'm trying to bring an analogy between two distinct human instincts that can't always be influenced by activism. But there are quite a few examples of non-veg lovers renouncing their food palate and I believe they should be hugely respected for their mettle and restraint.

PS: I mentioned that I have high regards for voluntary vegetarians but not so much for those who practice vegetarianism for religious or caste compulsions. I skimmed through Vedas, Upanishads and Manusmriti and let me tell you there are equal number of verses discouraging and encouraging non- vegetarianism and you may selectively choose what you want to follow. That debate some other time. If interested, read my earlier article about History of Religion.

The great Indian 'Son-In-Law' syndrome !

This post is not about the contemptible jerks who physically, verbally or mentally abuse their wife, or in-laws. That's a cringe worthy social epidemic but this article is about an average Indian married man who caters to his family and appears to be gentle and well-cultured. Sometimes he masquerades as a torchbearer of equality too but deep inside he would be suffering from "Great Indian Son-In-Law Syndrome".

One of the earliest advices I got from my well-wisher ahead of marriage was to enjoy 'son-in-law' status post wedding and not let in-laws gain control of me ! I was too naive to even understand what he meant because I never saw my father or brother-in-law behave in any condescending manner or 'enjoy' their son-in-law title.

People change with changing times, education, awareness and exposure. But if there is something that could not be rattled with all the change in the world, its the mindset of the average Indian son-in-law, the patronizing, supercilious member of the family who believes in exercising the right he's supposedly entitled to.

To all my fellow married men, run through this checklist:

1. Do you get offended when your parents-in-law address you as nuvvu (tum) instead of meeru (aap) ?
2. Do you expect in-laws to call and wish you on all festivals ?
3. Do you sulk if your in-laws don't consult you for any major decisions they take ?
4. Do you expect in-laws to offer you clothes and gifts on all festivities or family events ?
5. Do you expect your wife to convince you before meeting her own parents and siblings ?
6. Do you believe you've done a favor to their family by accepting to marry their girl ?
7. Did you discuss or influence your wife to change her last name to yours ? or ever claimed that you "allowed" your wife to retain her maiden last name ?
8. Did you ever feel you "helped your wife" by doing household chores ?
9. Do you dread that your friends and extended family could call you "jhoru ka ghulaam" hence try to dominate your in-laws and wife ?
10. Did you believe your wedding expenses (or gifts) were the responsibility of your in-laws ?

If you answer yes to any of these questions, you suffer from son-in-law syndrome. Not that it's criminal but you must refrain from claiming to be a modern thinking man regardless of your education, knowledge, wisdom, social status or ideology.

Patriarchy is deeply ingrained in Indian minds since generations. Sexism, rampant discrimination were earlier considered normal and largely acceptable. Since centuries, its interpreted that son-in-law was responsible for their daughter's wellness and more respected and appeased he was, better would be their daughter's life. That's because historically women were largely confined to four walls of the house and had to live inferior lives. The respect or sometimes fear of son-in-law is the direct consequence of the same patriarchal hangover even to date. Generations of such appeasement and mollification got so entrenched into DNA of the society that men feel offended if they weren't treated like demigods.

Adding up everything, it's a fact that sons-in-law were not respected for the people they were but out of the fear that they could harm their wives. And it's not a surprising fact that the men encourage and entertain such entitlement to this day with active encouragement from their families. Isn't that a tacit blackmail or threat ? How shameful could that get ?

Dear men, you marry a girl because you (like her) need a lifetime companion for physical, emotional, social and mental needs; a person who promises to live rest of her life with you and who builds along with you a strong bond of love, mutual trust and inter-dependency. In the equation, if she doesn't expect your parents to respect her in a certain way, why would you ? Why are you, as a male, more important ? Just because you have a dick ? Does that grant you the privilege ?

It's a puzzle how a man who respects random senior people on the street fail to treat his parents-in-law who are seniors too, with similar respect. Being a man is not about bludgeoning somebody because the weak and elderly are intimidated of the possibility of you harassing their loved one. Being a man is not about exploiting them to appease you to show off how dominant or alpha male you are. Being a male is not demanding or begging for honor, it's about earning respect for the person you are.

Man is not the 'head of the family" as been taught to us in our primary school. You wouldn't be a 'jhoru ka ghulaam' if you get rid of your male chauvinism. Every species in the universe would born either male or female and you just happened to be a male due to the chromosome game. Being a male is not something you earned, there's nothing to be so proud to be one.

Machismo lies in being chivalrous, gentlemanly, gracious and charming with everybody in general and those who respect you in particular. Without these qualities, you will just be a dick...which you may take helluva pride in.

PS: For those who try to connect dots about my wife's last name; we never ever discussed about that and she uses my last name only on the social media for her own reasons and she's proud to retain her maiden name elsewhere, like my mother or my sister.

God Vs Religion: Why I can neither be an Atheist nor Religious !

As soon as we're born, we were assigned a label of religion, caste, sect and we live our entire life feeling great about, defending, fighting for that identity. While doing this, we believe we're defending God, rituals, way of life our God wanted us to live with. We follow our belief system and rituals because our parents inculcated those "values" into us. They inherited those beliefs from their parents and they got it from their parents and so on. But where did it all start ?

Why I can't be an atheist !

Let us back date certain events in history to the point when God presumably delivered a message to select human(s) whose teachings are being followed even today. Let me start with a brief history of our Universe.

13,700,000,000 years ago (that's 13.7 billion years ago), something mysterious happened and the space came into existence out of nothing. That event is, in scientific circles, called Big Bang. Three minutes after the occurrence of Big Bang, light elements were born and when they collided formed various elements (as we know in periodic table of chemistry) were born. Google Big Bang for more intricate details about how the numbers were derived, calculated. That would make your day for sure.

But it's out of even the finest of human minds to comprehend how the big bang occurred, what caused the sudden burst of particles, space and what was the status before Big Bang. So there could be something beyond the universe, which caused or triggered the cosmic events and that super-power which commands space, orbits, centripetal and centrifugal forces to balance the universe, theories of gravity, magnetism, electricity and other natural phenomena. That super-power can be called GOD, unless one has an alternate theory or explanation. But the GOD I'm referring to here is a formless phenomenon or nature as opposed to that benevolent entity responding to individuals' prayers. I firmly believe in my understanding of GOD and hence despite being a voracious reader of Stephen Hawking, Michio Kaku, Richard Dawkins, I can't put myself into a category of atheists.

Now read ahead about what happened after the Big Bang.

• 8,900,000,000 (8.9 billion) years ago, Milky Way galaxy was born. 
• 4,600,000,000 (4.6 billion) years ago, Solar System was formed then. 
• 4,400,000,000 (4.4 billion) years ago, water was formed on Earth
• 4,100,000,000 (4.1 billion) years ago, earliest form of life was formed from non-living matter through a phenomenon called Abiogenesis. Google that.
• 3,500,000,000 (3.5 billion) years ago, traces of oxygen were formed but the oxygen as we see today was formed only 50 million years ago.
• 1,250,000.000 (1.25 billion) years ago, sexual reproduction of organisms began. Everything living existed only under water
• 400,000,000 (400 million) years ago, land life began with vegetation, flora and fauna
• 10,000,000 (10 million) years ago, first apes formed who would be ancestors to modern humans
• 4,000,000 (4 million) years ago, humans began walking on two legs
• 50,000 years ago, modern humans as we know began to live.

A bit of future: Earth will die in the next 1 billion years and Sun will die in the next 5 billion years. So the development of the universe, world, life went through and is going through multiple epochs, evolution, revolutions, changes very very slowly.

History of Religion

So as mentioned earlier, modern humans came into being 50,000 years ago and since then humans followed burials of dead and certain social ways of life. Sumerian, Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Chinese civilizations introduced organized religions in their respective areas but those religions were long extinct.

Indus Valley Civilization began around 3300 BC (that's around 5000 years ago). The civilization is considered to be precursor to Dravidian civilization and Vedic religion which formed earlier form of Hinduism later around 1500 BC.That was the same period when Abraham, patriarch of Judaism, Christianity and Islam lived.

Vardhaman Mahavir founded Jainism and Gautama Buddha founded Buddhism in around 500-600 BC, Confucianism was founded around 500-600 BC, Zoroastrianism founded between 400-500 BC. Jesus Christ lived and founded Christianity between 4 BC and 30 AD. Prophet Mohammed lived and founded Islam between 570 AD to 700 AD. Guru Nanak ji founded Sikhism between 1450 to 1550 AD. 

Hinduism & Vedas

Me being a Hindu, would not and should not comment on other religions, their evolution and hence will back-date how exactly Hinduism came into existence and because it is the oldest religion being practiced today (along with Judaism, perhaps), other religions could have trodden a similar path.

To many devout Hindus, its astonishing to know that basic form of Hinduism began in Pakistan by ancestors of Dravidian (South Indian) folks in bronze age around 1500 BC. That's when the first religious text (still in use) was composed in the form of Rigveda, the cradle of Vedic religion and Hinduism. Rigveda is a collection of over 10,000 verses classified into 10 mandalas believed to be composed by 10 sages after whom the current gotra system is being practiced.

Though reading all vedas will take years, I have been skimming all 4 vedas for the last 10 months to understand the broad context and gist.

RigVeda is full of hymns and praises of Gods and the most revered gods were Indra (king of Gods) and Agni (Fire-God). Varuna (Rain-God) was revered too and was labeled as an asura the term which in later Hindu texts was demonized. To the surprise of many, Vishnu and Rudra (Shiva) who are pivotal Hindu Gods of the current era had very minor and marginal reference to in Rigveda on which entire Hinduism is based on. For example, Indra was the subject of Praise in 289 hymns whereas Vishnu was confined to 6 and Shiva to 5. Agni was treated as a messenger to all Gods (and hence carry prominence in hawans and poojas today). 

Another interesting fact is that the deities eulogized in Rigveda were extremely similar in traits and powers to Yamna Culture (of present day Ukraine), central Asian extinct religions like Bactria-Margiana (Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan etc) and ancient Persian cultures (Indra, the most celebrated God in Rigveda is an uncanny replica of an older Persian deity called Verethragna) and the earliest inhabitants of Vedic age were also believed to be migrated from or via Central Asian regions.

Samaveda is a musical version and a subset of Rigveda. Yagurveda later built upon from the contents of Rigveda few centuries later comprises more about homam, hawan, poojas, vrathams, yagams and rituals. Most of the rituals followed by Hindus today are inherited from Yajurveda. Atharvaveda, a much later addition is also built upon extracts of Rigveda and comprises more about spells, charms and magical binds to counteract bad omen and diseases. Atharvaveda was not considered a major veda till many centuries.

Hinduism as we know today is not founded by any one person but is a result of multiple transformations since the last 4-5 millennia. In the bronze age of nomads, survivalists, few relatively intelligent human beings in flesh and blood envisaged / hallucinated / created ways to pacify, influence and turn the unknown Superpower to their benefit and composed hymns in their praise which formed Vedas. Fortunate to them, their fellow humans had unwavering faith in their divine connection enough to practice and transmit their teachings through generations. That was some feat worth commending.

The people who lived in vedic period were semi-nomadic folks who built and thrived on Indus valley Civilization (oldest along with Egyptian and Mesopotomian civilizations). While it's widely believed that Dravidian people who flourished in the Indus Valley Civilization could not withstand the drought, natural calamities and hence migrated southbound and later Aryan tribes inherited the vedic civilization, blended their own belief system to the preceding vedic culture to shape present-form Hinduism. Vedas were subsequently adapted and manipulated by their inheritors and descendants who have been transmitting their beliefs to their next generations and that is how we are today following those traditions because our forefathers and their forefathers believed what the sages spoke of God.

Much later other wise men born in the world had the vision and audacity to stand against the people around them to re-interpret the concept of God with a new way of life founded other religions. Religions thrive on people who are willing to follow and put their unflinching faith (sometimes faith enough to die or kill) in other person's vision of God.

Final Thoughts:

Now if you don't believe in the concepts like big-bang, theory of evolution, gravity, magnetism, cosmology, chemical reactions, periodic table etc, this article makes no sense to you. On the contrary, if you believe in all those and still believe what is being preached in religions, you must have a grand appetite to hold contradictory theories seamlessly. BTW God is the only common thread which can be possible in all science, history and theology (religions).

PS: Another interesting fact. If we compress the entire history of the universe into the last 24 hours, humans would enter this world only 4 seconds ago. Religions which claim to connect to the God would be formed only 2 seconds ago and here in this second, we are trying to prove superiority of our religion over others through debates, persecution, phobia and hatred. May God bless all of us.

A Random NRI on Indian Independence Day

In the last 9 years, whenever I wrote or talked anything appreciative or critical of India or the system in India, there were some lunatics who never missed a chance to label me a greedy traitor who fled India and have no moral stance to comment, patronize or sermonize India. My accepting Canadian citizenship a couple of years back only aggravated the narrative.

While I don't intend to generalize the entire nation of people, this article is intended to those resident Indians who conferred upon themselves the moral policing prerogative to decide who is a patriot and who is not. For others, these are just thoughts of a random Non Resident INDIAN.

• Anybody who googles will know that the percentage of Indian population which pay taxes is around 1%. Yes, you read it right. Only one percent of Indian residents pay their income taxes thanks to government exemptions, tax evasion and defaulters. That means 99% of those who live in India are utilizing, exploiting resources, infrastructure, public machinery without contributing anything.
• Most of the income tax amount comes from the workforce in IT, ITES and related services. But the services they provide would invariably benefit United States and other G8 countries but NOT India. That's an 'under-the-carpet' brain-drain many seldom have problem with. So dear software folks, you don't contribute to India as much as you do to other countries. 
• With changing times and aspirations, people in remote villages started moving to towns for livelihood; those in towns to cities and those in cities to sprawling metropolitan agglomerations. This migration is natural, inevitable for those who want to provide their children a superior quality of life, education, healthcare and other amenities. But the debate around these migrants being traitors to their hometowns and occupations didn't bother as much as those who left the country for greener pastures.
• It will be an interesting observation to analyze how many of those who decry NRIs are those who themselves never got an opportunity or those who would jump at the first chance to migrate

As mentioned earlier, this article is not aimed to denounce anybody but to throw some light on the fact that very person who lives in India is not an assets to the country but can be more of a liability, with some exceptions. In the same breath, I also admit that not every NRI is patriotic or more valuable. Not at all, but again there are some exceptions here too.

Regardless of how patriotic NRIs are, their contribution to Indian economy and society is irreplaceable.

• India happens to one of the biggest beneficiaries of remittances and FDI by its diaspora. NRIs bring in almost $70 billion every year which is roughly 75% of Indian government's planned yearly expenditure. This is Indian government's biggest ace to neutralize black money stashed in Swiss and other tax havens. Banks where NRIs deposit their money, invest in Government and other major infrastructure projects which NRIs don't regularly utilize.
• Numerous NGOs and private welfare organizations which seemingly work towards the benefit of society get large chunks of its donations, operational expenses and assets mostly from unsuspecting NRIs. Yearly foreign funds to Indian NGOs crossed Rs 10,000 crore last year which speaks volumes.
• Another major contribution is steady influx of USD which is a lifeline for RBI to control inflation, price-rise etc. This is a huge topic which deserves another blog post sometime later
• In addition, NRIs influence in foreign relations, cultural exchange is often under-estimated.

These were some generic NRI contributions but I don't claim to have any stake personally. 

For me, being Indian is more of an emotional connect than just a name on passport, skin tone, ethnicity or a few dollar bills I could remit. Like many other members of Indian diaspora, I take pride in being Indian as my identity. The first thing my eyes would glance in a world map would always be India. Current affairs for me are always Indian news; festivals, cuisines, celebrations would subconsciously refer to Indian. India is embedded, ingrained and injected into the psyche and persona regardless of where I live and I'm too proud of my Indian-ness to let anybody jeer or question my patriotism or identity.

I may not follow all religious rituals, but that doesn't take a Hindu out of me. I may not hold an Indian passport, but that doesn't take an Indian out of me. Happy Independence Day. Jai Hind

Story behind "The Saharsh Project"

It all started some 3 years back when I stumbled upon a Ted talk video by one Ms. Sunitha Krishnan who is an anti-trafficking crusader who saved over 11,000 girls from the brothels, prostitution rings and slavery across India. After watching her talk, I delved deeper into the subject, read many articles, viewed many more videos to realize that trafficking is the third biggest organized crime in terms of valuation after drugs and arms trade and in every 8 minutes, a girl is kidnapped, abducted, sold or married-to-sell in India.  Only 30% of cases are reported so we can understand the gravity of the situation. My stomach churned and throat choked at all these pieces of info but could do nothing.

Another day, another context: I took upon myself an interest to learn more about villages where my parents were born. While I couldn't get statistics of those exact villages, it came like a shocker that Warangal district in Telangana had long been a hub for human trafficking and it had been an epidemic in remote hamlets and tribal villages which mostly get unnoticed by mainstream media or administration because most of the cases go unreported.

I was first clueless when I learnt that most of the trafficking victims were those girls who dropped out of studies at around their 8th or 9th grade. I couldn't comprehend the direct correlation between dropping out from studies and getting trafficked. After some more studies and contacting few more on the ground NGOs, the picture was clear.

Lack of amenities (toilets, sanitary facilities) caused some girls to drop out after 8th or 9th grade while poverty and lack of funds to continue studies caused many other girls to drop out. On an average 9 out of 10 girls drop out before fishing 12th. Even Mid day meal, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan schemes by government couldn't motivate girls or their parents.

This is a very vulnerable situation for a 13 or 14 year old naive girl with no education and coming from an economically poor background. She would be a victim to one of the following cases

1. Child marriage at 13-14 (This is the best and safest case)
2. Parents unwittingly get her married to a trafficker in disguise who plunges the girl into the dirty quagmire
3. Girl who doesn't have a guardian around is a susceptible target for forcible abduction
4. Girl migrates to town to work as a bonded labor or domestic help and is still vulnerable to trafficking

First Step Forward: Though we can't fight and eradicate the trafficking rackets altogether, the least we can do is to attempt to eliminate the root cause at least in some cases. That is by supporting, guiding young girls and not allowing them to drop out during that tender age. "The Saharsh Project" took it's birth from this desperate thought.

As a part of this project, our main aim was to address the twin issues of lack of school facilities and poverty among families with young girls. As a first step, we identified 3 schools to improve infrastructure and 50 kids who are above 8 years old and who lost their earning family member to whom we could support morally, emotionally and financially. "Saharsh" means 'with happiness'. We hope to bring some happiness in a handful of kids to start with.

Requesting your emotional support to the movement: I was overwhelmed when some dear friends volunteered to donate to the cause. While wholeheartedly accepting their good wishes, I had to politely refuse money because The Saharsh Project is not registered as a charity and hence can't accept monetary donations. Moreover we could pool in funds from our corporation's social responsibility arm and are self-sufficient at this point.

But we desperately require your help in two other ways. First we need volunteers, who could report to us about any girl (or a boy) who lost parents and left with no option but to drop out of school. And we need volunteers to authenticate the need and keep fraudsters at bay.

Secondly, we need volunteers who could develop friendship and foster a guiding relationship with the kids. We receive periodic progress reports, their letters, wish-lists from these kids. We would love to have any volunteers who could respond to their mails, say a few words of encouragement, provide career guidance, talk to them and motivate them in achieving their career goals so that they don't get distracted but believe we all are behind them to share their joy or pain. We would also want to drive the same point home to their parents (or guardians) as well.

We don't aim to create any revolution with this, but want to see some (if possible, all) of our girls grow up to transform into responsible, informed, self-reliant and happy women.

PS: Those who are interested in volunteering or getting associated with our initiative may feel free to add to Facebook or LinkedIn profiles that you work as a "Campaigner" at The Saharsh Project and also invite your like-minded friends,relatives and acquaintances to do the same.

Excessive Cultural Pride Leads to Terrorism

World in last 1 month or so

• Israel killed almost 300 naive civilians in a densely populated Gaza strip of Palestine, some of them women and children
• Ukrainian Rebels shot down Malaysian Airlines civilian flight killing close to 300 people
• Boko Haram killed almost 350 people in Nigeria
• ISIS killed hundreds in Iraq and Syria
• Thousands killed elsewhere in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kenya, Philippines etc

And remember, these casualties were only in June-July. And there is one reason for all these murders and destruction - That's excessive pride is one's own religion, culture and ethnicity. I guess this epidemic of excessive pride in prevalent across the globe, every country, every region, every community.

The modern pride-hate combo started during Nazi regime when Hitler legitimized unprovoked holocaust, mass murder of almost 6 million jews. This led to jewish emigration to Israel which gave impetus to another long, volatile and violent conflict between Jewish Israel and Arab Palestine. While Hitler has been and rightly should be condemned for the worst crime in the world history, Israel-Palestine conflict is such unfortunate tussle that one can't take sides because both parties bay for the blood of other just because they follow an alien culture.

Israel historically belonged to Jews but were pushed to oblivion by Muslim and Arab invaders in their expansion roll. During world wars, Jews emigrated to Israel in large numbers and pushed Arab Palestinians into hardships in Gaza and West Bank. The reason for this jugalbandi is hate towards one another. Arab Muslims could not stand Jewish's culture and hence invaded and converted them; later Jewish couldn't stand persecution by Arabs and Nazis alike and retaliated with force on Palestine. 

Unfortunately both groups play victims to other's terrorism. But the excessive pride in their own religion, language and culture among both Jews and Arabs fuelled hatred against one another and created unfathomable, tangled conflict of civilizations which even today takes lives of innocent people regularly.

ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Muslim Brotherhood, Boko Haram, Taliban unleashed an unprecedented and undeclared war on western civilization or everything non muslim or to be precise non sunni because they can't stand anybody not following and submitting to their cultural and religious pride.  

While in India:

Though not as bloody as Middle-East, India too is plagued by religion / region / ethnicity triggered madness fanned by politicians and religious leaders alike.

Kashmiris feel oppressed and are abetted by Mujahideens like JuD, LeT, JeM in their drive against Kashmiri pandits and India in the longest violence in South Asia. The violence took the toll of over 50,000 civilians. Ulfa's pride in assamese culture triggered another long anti Indian armed struggle killing thousands. Khalistani movement and anti-sikhs riots took a toll of thousands, right wing Hindu fundamentalist groups like Bajrang Dal, Ranvir Sena killed hundreds

Though not violent and murderous, the underbelly of hatred and regional discrimination is being carried out by politicians like Raj Thackeray, KCR and leaders injecting venom in names of marathi Manoos, Telangana, Gorkhaland etc. Leaders like Karunanidhi, Vaiko fan anti-Hindi and pro LTTE sentiments. Implied hatred by leaders of political parties aimed towards particular vote banks like MIM, BSP, SP, Shiv Sena, SAD, RJD is largely prevalent. 

The common theme among all these parties, leaders, politicians is to scare their voters, subjects that their culture, region, religion, community was in danger due to the atrocities of others and thus should retaliate in kind through hatred and discrimination. Sometimes the rhetoric gives way to violence and eventually into terrorism

Be it India, Middle East or East Europe; at the end of the day, it`s ordinary civilians who get swayed by excessive emotions, sentiments and pride about their culture and ethnicity that turn into terrorists for their purported cause to unleash havoc towards others; and one day the same people get engulfed by the fire they once lit. 

Homosexuality - Unnatural but not Unlawful !

When Supreme Court of India announced that Article 377 which criminalizes all homosexual activities would be reinstated, my first doubt was how Supreme Court or law machinery could get to know who committed the 'crime' unless somebody peeked into bedrooms of gay couples !

Ìndia is torn between two opposite arguments for and against homosexuality. The progressive society believes that being gay is a personal choice which is endorsed by many liberal thinkers. I beg to differ. Homosexuality is not a 'choice'; nobody chooses to be naturally hetero or homosexual. They are just made that way.

I may be judged to be regressive for saying this but I believe homosexuality is against the nature though I'm all for LGBT rights and against discrimination. Man and woman are made with different body structures, genitals, reproductive systems. They are made to get attracted to each other, make love, give birth to children, continue legacy and humanity in the world. That`s nature and nobody can argue or refute it, no matter how vocal supporters of LGBT rights they are.

But not everybody in the world is made alike. Some people are mentally, biologically made in a way that they are attracted to the same sex and they can`t overturn it. It`s not their mistake; it`s not a disease either to be cured. It`s just abnormal. Some people are made to get attracted only to animals. That`s not a disease either. Just not mainstream, that`s it. But just because they are not mainstream, they don't deserve discrimination and social outcast.

During my school and college days, 'hijra', 'kojja', 'point five' were abuses which meant weak, impotent. These words attracted immediate retaliation and repulsion. That`s how the society was (and still is). This is the very reason gays were more closeted until the dawn of new millennium. Open debates, revolution for rights became more visible in the recent past. Literary works, 'Dostana' type bollywood movies, success of gays in fashion industry and open declaration by many celebrities suddenly created ripples and affected the inertia in the society. This attracted a large repulsion from the more conservative circles of the country, which was not necessary.

As mentioned earlier, I personally am against any kind of discrimination against gays because they are minorities in terms of sexual orientation. Society is made of different kinds of people belonging to different religions, castes, creed, physicality. Minorities in every way deserve and should be provided equality as per Indian constitution. But the latest supreme court ruling against homosexuality was a big contradiction or blunder, if I could say so. If you check those prominent people who supported latest Supreme Court ruling , they are Baba Ramdev, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Church groups. What a unity in diversity !

Two countries I represent, India and Canada are poles apart in acceptance of gay and homosexuality but the more intriguing fact is that Britishers passed almost same law in both countries in mid 1800`s. In mid 1900's, Canada legalized same sex marriages and is forerunner in LGBT rights to the extent laws against any kind of discrimination, laws favoring surrogate pregnancy for lesbians etc were passed. When we visited Montreal in first few months after immigrating to Canada, I was a bit surprised to see gay villages, gay stores, gay friendly restaurants where two gays romantically enjoying their candle light dinner, gays kissing for photoshoot after wedding. Initially it was a bit of culture shock for me, but I couldn't resist appreciating the society for providing them the environment to live their lives happily. Afterall they are just being themselves without harming or hurting anybody else. So why should anybody else be worried ? So if Canada could break shackles of regressive British laws, why can't India ?

I saw many internet forums and twitter where homophobic Indians claim that homosexuality is against Indian culture. Whoa ! They should first visit Khajuraho temples where purportedly graphic statues representing gay and animal sex were prominently displayed. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar of Art of Living mentioned that Lord Ayyappa was born to Hari and Hara (meaning Vishnu and Shiva). Rigveda also infers homosexuality to certain extent. So its not culture or religion. It`s purely mindset which is bent to repel anybody who are different to them.

If the court believes that homosexuality may create social issues, doesn't rape do so? And we see the number of rape related incidents occurring on a daily basis. Homo or hetero, any non consensual forceful act should be considered a crime and justice should be delivered. Its none of court's or law enforcement's business to peek into private lives (which they can anyway not do). It`s time judges and courts put their personal preferences and penal code laws separately. It`s also time for general public to stop stereotyping or typecasting gays because they are just living their life without imposing themselves or their lifestyle on you. As long as homosexuality is not compulsory, why do you worry ?

Naxalism - A Dirty Menace

At an early age of 6 or 7 years, I had a vague idea of what Naxalism was because of my grandfather's political affiliation to CPI(M). Summer vacations were spent predominantly in the village which had some strange affinity towards communism which unanimously elected my grandpa as sarpanch consecutively. Naxalism was treated with respect and evening entertainment was all about song and dance performances by revolutionary balladeers. I was put under a strong impression that naxalites were true patriots and everything related to western world was treated with contempt.

It was late 80's when the naxalite movement was in it's zenith and quite often we could see some news of naxalites blasting railway stations or cops or radio stations etc. I was a bit puzzled because the kind of blasts and violence in news didn't quite add up to match the patriotic image of Naxals I was inculcated earlier.

After few years of confusion came Gaddar's revolutionary song cassettes and R.Narayanamurthy's string of red movies which I thought spearheaded more hatred and anarchy than the good they did. I thought the art was more anti-state and anti-rich than pro-oppressed. Continual violence and destruction of public property only exasperated my disdain towards neo-revolutionaries. The final nail in the coffin was outrageous series of extortion and abductions carried out on their behest which enjoyed unconditional support of so called revolutionary balladeers, poets and writers. The entire RED revolution seemed so farce. That was the beginning of my hatred towards the movement which propelled me to know more about the background, motive and objective of Naxalites.

Basically naxalism is all about staging a coup against India from India on the lines of Mao Zedong of China who successfully did that in his country and then was responsible for millions of deaths in China most notably the Tiananmen Square massacre. China's resurrection towards being the power centre started after his successor Deng Xiaoping initiated the rollback and triggered massive economic reforms. And here in India, insurgents not only want to follow the failed ideology but also changed their outfit's name to CPI (Maoist) and have proved themselves to be anti-globalization, anti-liberalization, anti-reforms, anti-development and anti-people. Period !

Revolution and insurgency can be understood if it is for the benefit of the country, but the knowledge in public domain is that Maoists were and are in direct collaboration with Lashkar-e-Toiba, LTTE, Nepali Maoists and many other terror outfits and anti-nationals like Arundhati Roy who did everything to destabilize India..and all this in the mask of being people's revolutionaries.

It's not a secret anymore that the ammunition and funds Maoists or erstwhile Naxalites collect is through extortion and opium trade comparable to Dawood Ibrahim and Mumbai underworld. They have been doing this crap since almost 5 decades in the best interest of tribals and oppressed. But the fact remains that the very oppressed still remain oppressed while wealth-creators and landlords lost their fortunes. Again things don't add up here.

While these anti-nationals loot, murder, extort, blackmail government and civilians alike, there are affiliated groups like human rights groups, revolutionary writers' association and other bunkum to perpetrate their propaganda and cry victims every time they die. The hilarious charge is about fake-encounters when maoists die as if there are ethics to be followed to purge the society from the rot, menace and shit called maoism.

Yesterday's ambush attack from 200-300 terrorists to kill 27 was heart-wrenching. Though I'm not a big fan of congress party's ideology, this dastardly attack by anti-people terrorists on democratic leadership is heinous. But I always doubt how difficult would it to be decimate the menace from terror infested red corridor of India ? Why can't government of India utilize it's state-of-the-art defence technology and guerilla warfare to rip off the rot of the society ? If they couldn't do that from last few decades, how efficient are they considered to be in wake of any external exigency ?

Union government must realize that it's soft policies against internal terror is taking lives of scores of commandos, soldiers, police in attacks like Dantewada, Bastar and more; and it's just matter of time before the matter slips completely out of control. In that case, the only alternative would be wait for the central committee members of maoist politburo or whatever it is, to just die their natural death and the cadre to lack direction and ideology. Till then we are good to outrage as and when such attacks occur.

Education System Vs Entrepreneurship

3 Idiots is one movie which I can watch any number of times and it never fails to fascinate me with it's simple undercurrent lampooning the irrational education system prevalent across the Nation (and perhaps beyond).

It's said that a person spends first 10 years playing, next 10 years gaining education, further 10 years settling in career and getting married and reaps dividends thereafter. So it infers that whatever education attained should be implemented in a right direction so as to establish a comfortable career to live happily ever after. But the million dollar question is that if our education system is well structured to make lives ?

Primary and middle school is and will be crucial and helpful for everybody as it teaches us basics of the world, civic sense, ground sciences, languages which we would use throughout our lives. High school and post secondary education onwards the system invariably and gradually drifts more towards competition, entrance exams, grades and ranks and unfortunately lesser emphasis on practicality of knowledge gained.

More focus of bookish definitions (chatur ramalingam style), cut throat competition among students on the verge of cannibalism, peer and societal pressure, failure anxiety clogs the way towards gaining excellence in the subject. Everybody learns pythagoras theorem, electro-magnetism, organic chemistry just to vomit that on answer sheets during exams. Neither educational institutes nor students themselves (majority - exceptions are always there) think out of box to understand or try practicality.

Not to miss, many education institutes have practical classes but the students end up working with colorful chemicals in chemistry lab, vernier callipers or screw gauge in physics lab. Are they kidding me ? Can anybody vouch they have ever used these apparatus or pipette, burette and all that crap ever in their life ? or did they atleast dream about those ? Is that practical experience ?

EAMCET, IIT JEE and other entrance exams lay emphasis on those very subjects to gauge if a student is good enough for engineering course. What is the percentage of EAMCET state rankers who later work on hybridization in chemistry or any hi-funda concepts of physics ? All the jokers who clear these exams in flying colors end up working in software industry or financial services industry eventually and again undergo training and probation from their employers where they will be taught "real-life" working ! So why did they prepare for EAMCET or complete their bachelors course ?

Pursuing post secondary education just to crack entrance exams, technical or higher education either to crack GATE, GRE or grab a well paid job, slogging at work under the disguise of professionalism to get under boss' good books and to get perks and promotions, getting used to mediocrity because at that point of time, they can't afford to take risks after getting married or having kids...and living thereafter happily. THAT'S MEDIOCRITY encouraged, entertained by the education system and mindset of the mental and emotional bourgeois.

Sadly, entrepreneurship is not taught or imbibed in the education system and unfortunately not even in B schools. MBA doesn't teach street-smartness, passion, grit and a way to establish a business. Mgmt education mostly caters to applying best principles and as the name implies "management" of business. And most of blue eyed MBA graduates work for some companies rather than creating opportunities, wealth and jobs for themselves and the society.

Earlier today, I was reading success story of Ronnie Screwvala of UTV who started a cable tv business and with sheer grit expanded into a multi million dollar conglomerate which was acquired by Walt Disney. Dhirubhai Ambani, Sunil Mittal, Lakshmi Mittal or even global wealth creators like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Mark Z, Steve Jobs - classic examples of phenomenal successes who rose beyond education. None of these people ran behind grades or initial pay packages. They gained knowledge or had an interest in which they invested their time, passion, perseverance and the most important thing, they TRIED. They jumped into entrepreneurship with a proper vision. Education system DOESN'T inculcate these qualities in pupils.

Entrepreneurship is not just about making money or social status. It's a gift to oneself. Work life is an important part of the life which we can't afford to spend just working 9-5, letting seniors grab credit of our work, indulging in petty politics for one-upmanship, staying late to impress managers, waiting for month-end for salaries. Even if we work with passion and killer instinct, we have to understand the basic pretext that if we show the same instinct in converting our hobby into career, we would be much more satisfied, richer and above all, after few years when we look back, we will have a legacy created by us for the society. Even if we fail, we wouldn't regret that we haven't tried enough !

Life is all about living on our own terms. If you are good at something, you should not do it for free, if you are great at something, you should turn that into your career and if you are excellent at something, you should not do it for others - simple mantra of entrepreneurship.

My earlier post about entrepreneurship - Be an Entrepreneur !

Society Encouraging Rapists !!!

One day during my engineering days, I tried to discourage my classmate from passing uncharitable comments to a girl who was sitting along with her boyfriend at our college bus-stop. But his answer to me was shocking. He defended himself that he would be guilty if he disturbed them at any private place, but since it was public, he had all rights to say whatever he could as he had a right / freedom of speech !!!! Appalling to the T.

Recent outrage about a 23 year old medico being raped, beaten and assaulted brutally in Delhi is well-known. After raped by 5 bastards, an iron rod was inserted into her rupturing her intestines and other parts. She is struggling for life after multiple surgeries but even if she survives, she can never live a normal or married life, she should be fed through intravenous methods for life. Close on the heels, a 8 year old girl was raped and murdered in Bihar, another 8 year old was raped by minors, earlier this month, a girl was repeatedly raped by father, brother, cousins in Kerala. There are many more cases which don't even come to the media front. Disgusting, blood boiling and rabble rousing to the point beyond belief and control.

And the worst part is that in every rape or sexual assault case, victims are blamed for enticing perverts. The ways of justifying heinous behavior are incredible. Some say girls should avoid wearing jeans, western outfits, others say sarees are too revealing. Skirts, t-shirts, sleeveless tops everything gave reasons to those bastards. Khap panchayats and village elders banned women from using cellphones. Some "wise" men held bollywood movies and also consuming chowmein responsible for rape cases. Worst excuses being voluptuous female mannequins at cloth stores, naked stray cows in the vicinity. I wonder if any man's dick is so sensitive to get insensitive towards women's fundamental respect ?

Even Delhi CM suggested that women should not be adventurous. In the recent much talked about case, there were suggestions that the girl should not have traveled late night, should not have had a boy along with her and crap. Diktats and fatwas were issued to control woman from almost every fundamental right regardless of religion and social strata. Before dealing with criminals, it's more important to take these buggers who advocate and lay code of conduct to women to task. They ask women not to get raped, instead of chastising those who rape. Sick !

Reasons for rape, sexual assault, eve teasing are not just sexual desire or attraction. It's a mental disorder which is triggered by violence, sadism, insensitivity, inferiority complex, animal instinct and mere recklessness that they can get away with anything. And they are expectedly encouraged by inefficient laws, male chauvinism and norms of society.

It's time for quick justice because justice delayed is justice denied. There are hundreds of pending rape cases without any conviction, thousands of unreported cases of rape, assault, eve teasing, mental and physical harassment across all sections of society. In India, every 20 minutes, a girl is assaulted or raped somewhere.

It's time the outrage is channelized and put to work. Everybody in the society MUST understand and realize that women NEED NOT follow any code of conduct to be safe. Dressing, attitude, time of the day, looks of a girl should not provide an excuse to beasts to carry dicks on their sleeves. They MUST understand that manliness and "mardhangi" don't lie in victimizing women but chivalry is something which can make them more macho.

I'm not sure if every convict should be sentenced capital punishment, but perpetrators of the Delhi gangrape case must be hanged in public, and if that's not possible their private parts must be axed in public view. Whatever is done in this case would and should be a catalyst to change the society and all criminals should think of consequences before gazing a woman with perverted looks.

PS: I still don't understand what kind of pleasure does any man get from forcing and raping a woman who cries, fights, struggles and begs for mercy.

Related post: Do women deserve special attention ?

Gun culture & Gang culture of USA

The shooting incident in Connecticut was spine-chilling and devastating to the core. Innocent kids of ages 5 - 10 who went to school like they do daily had to end their lives just because some insane mofo had access to guns and he could run amok. Just a fleeting thought about victims' parents and families has been heart breaking. Who could've thought that their bundles of joy who go to school return as lifeless corpses for no mistake of theirs. Awful, devastating and disgusting to the core.

Random shootouts like these are not very rare even in the recent past of United States, thanks to the so called gun culture. People who went to places of worship, shopping malls, cinema theaters proved to be vulnerable too and to be brutally honest, a common American resident faces the danger of getting knocked down by any random guy in their own neighborhood or even worse, at their doorstep while American government is busy waging "War on Terror" on foreign lands.

After yesterday's disturbing incident, I browsed through twitter to find some shocking statistics and facts. Every year some 8.5 million guns would be released onto American streets (yes - streets; not any military or law enforcement agencies) and this year, the number rose to 20 fucking million guns. These could be purchased from any retail gun store (can you believe it ?) which are almost as many as gas stations in US. And the worst part, anybody with no criminal record or no proven mental instability can go, pay money and buy any number of guns and start their antics.

Gun culture has been synonymous to American culture for centuries, which in itself it a contradiction considering American inclination towards personal liberty, human rights. But basic human rights which included right to possess guns and firearms has been a perfect recipe for lawlessness which is displaying its fangs.

Unites States is infested with gang culture which is much worse, more dangerous than underbellies of most other countries. The fact that there are some 30,000 organized crime gangs across America with millions of violent members will bolster the seething and restless truth that life in America has always been at the mercy of these millions of gangsters, anti-social elements who have access to those millions of guns available just like other groceries.

Many know New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago for their sprawling infrastructure and magnificent skyscrapers, but underbellies and crime ghettos flourished in these three cities and expanded elsewhere later on. LA is gang capital of America with areas which are even police and administration proof. Gangs like Crips, Bloods literally rule the city. NYC is completely under control of 5 families of Italian mafia, east coast under Irish mobs, southern states are epitomes of crime since forever. And there are Mexican drug cartels to add to woes. Remember, every one of these millions of buggers has gun(s) with them.

Just when we think these mobs and gangs don't meddle in the day to day life of common American, there are racial hate crimes like what happened in Sikh temple in Wisconsin. Racial discrimination which was more on blacks earlier, now is on every non-white person, especially if they are (or look like) Muslims / Arabs / South Asians. A visible minority may feel safe in coastal states but once they venture into central America, mid-west, he/she is more vulnerable to racial hate crimes as there are ubiquitous closet KKK (Ku Kluax Klan or something like that) members who are violent pioneers and advocates of white supremacy. Close on the heels are Aryan brotherhood members.

Urban neighborhoods around NYC, Jersey City and other places are always on the patrol of muggers who don't mind shooting a round or two to rob few bucks. Southern western areas are infested with lawless gun fighters and cowboys who remind you of John Wayne, Clint Eastwood kind of spaghetti western flicks. Again remember, everybody is a possible proud owner of a gun.

As if this is not enough, minorities established their respective gangs to "defend" themselves against atrocities (on paper), but gangs with guns don't stop at defending themselves. Now there are Chinese mobs, Japanese mobs et al. All these mobs, gangs, cartels, mafia are involved in fight for supremacy, turf, power. Everybody is involved in murders, extortion, trafficking, crime.

If none of these seem to be potential dangers, then think about agitated, frustrated youngsters / adolescents, mentally unstable or hyper youth and those who live on glorified gangster based movies which indirectly encourage them to be gangsters themselves to live a king size life. Just think how dangerous the situation would be if those idiots get hold of guns. Just think about that !

American gun culture and gang culture has been, to some extent, glorified by movies, urban legends and even online games like Mafia Wars. Movies woven around guns and gangs always portrayed desperadoes and outlaws as heroic and tough. This could have created wannabes who idolized gangsters, tried to be one while the society provided them ample scope to acquire and brandish guns. The Godfather trilogy needs no introduction but Martin Scorsese has always been a master story teller and glorify-er of gangsters; be it Italian mafia in Goodfellas, old age gangs in The Gangs of New York, Irish Mob in The departed. Quentin Tarantino glorified American street violence like never before. Other hard hitting movies like Training Day, Street Kings, The Untouchables, Scarface etc too presented a larger than life picture of Dons, mobsters and gangsters

With society proliferated by gangsters, glorified by such popular culture, high drop-out rates, lose post-adolescent family ties, scope to get frustrated, dangerously abetted by loose gun laws - American society is on the brink of wide spread terror on streets, unless Obama administration identifies the immediate need to cure, prevent and quarantine all possibilities leading to social anarchy.

So my dear American resident, be wary when you go out !

Mera Bharat is NOT Mahaan !

Every Aug 15th and Jan 26th, it has been a ritual to sing "sara jaha se achcha, hindustan hamara" and chant "mera bharat mahaan". Everybody does that and many believe in that religiously.

Internet facts that are shared through emails and FB posts claim how great India is for all its contribution to the mankind. Indian movies depict greatness of our Indian army, culture, heritage, pride. Its the kind of patriotism that's injected into our masses which sometime turns into blind jingoism for people who take those sweet words way too seriously to consider India as the greatest country in the world. It sounds so good and I love it to be that way but is that the reality is a million dollar (or rupee) question. Loving our country is not same as believing it to be the best in the world.

First of all, there was no country or a geographic unit called "India" before 1947. Much earlier to independence from British, the common point among all princely states (together which we today call, India) was a religion or way of life - which was termed as "Hinduism" and the related civilization "Indus Valley Civilization". Eventually Indian religions like Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism were founded and Abrahamic religions like Islam and Christianity made inroads. After this development, the land couldn't even claim to have a common religion, tenets, scriptures, beliefs, language or culture and there was no tightly knit country called India centuries before 1947. The only common agenda in early 1900's was native people's angst and agony against British rule.

Its a common perception that Pakistan was split from India etc where there was no India before a country called Pakistan was created. India was born a day after Pakistan. After that historic date, what has been common in people of India was again a million dollar question !

Today, Tamilians claim that Aryans came out of nowhere to push them into a corner and hence hate North Indians and everything related like Hindi, Sanskrit, Brahminism (as Periyar and anti Brahmin Tamilians claim Brahminism and caste division is a North Indian stigma). Sikhs hate the entire country and Hindus for not giving Khalistan, ULFA terrorists are upset with India for mismanagement of North East, Naxalites were born to end the very fabric of democracy and they don't even hesitate to collaborate with anti-national elements like Maoists of Nepal, China and terrorists of Pakistan, Kashmiris are upset because they were not granted freedom. And we say Mera Bharat is Mahaan whereas every corner of the country is embroiled in some kind of protest and sulking.

Even those who have no problems with India as a whole, have problems with one another. Telangana-Andhra fight, Maharashtrian fight against North Indians, Tamil Nadu - Kerala fight (Mullaperiyar dam), Tamil Nadu - Karnataka crisis (R.Cauvery), Punjab - Haryana fight (Chandigarh, partition). We mask these turmoils with a nice sounding phrase "Unity in Diversity". As if these inter-state issues are not enough, there is factionism in Rayalaseema of AP, criminalization of politics in Bihar, casteist equations in almost entire country, underworld in Mumbai, smuggling in Nepal borders, illegal immigration in Bangladesh border and the list goes on. Forgot to mention, there are also fights between "fans" of movie stars ;)

Now if you thought that's the end, read on. We have our 65 year old Indian government which did everything to stagnate economy, stall development, FDI; walked in the footsteps of a failed state called USSR (which doesn't exist anymore), supported Palestine (which supports Pakistan now), increased distances with USA thus making it closer to Pakistan, provided shelter to Dalai Lama thus annoying China which is a perennial enemy now (but at the same time crib that Pakistan is providing shelter to Dawood Ibrahim - heights of hypocrisy), always belonged to and enjoyed being a third world country by successfully nourishing corruption, nepotism, black-money, witch hunting of whistle-blowers. Even now, anybody dare to say "Mera Bharat Mahaan" ?? If yes, they could be plain stupid or blind in thoughts and brains.

We still clamor about Aryabhatta (who belongs to a time when there was no such place called India), we claim Mohenjodaro, Harappa (which are in Pakistan), we claim Buddhism (which was founded in present day Nepal), we claim to be birth place of Sikhism and Jainism (which our constitution still regards as parts of Hinduism and hence antagonizing followers of those religions). Now what right do we have to claim greatness about ?

Indians are usually proud of their mental abilities and knowledge. But was there any notable invention or discovery after independence ? We claim the success of so-called-Indians who either brought success to US companies or those who don't ever claim to be Indians (people of Indian origin). Our media run programs and editorials when people like VS Naipaul, Venky, S.Chandrasekhar, Hargobind Khurana and even worse people of foreign origin like Mother Teresa or Ronald Ross get Nobel prizes. Can we still feel we are an intelligent lot ??? Is our country's administration capable enough to derive the best out of our talented lot ? If no, nobody can cringe about brain-drain.

Indian defense ? It's very good in movies like Border and LoC, but in the reality is not as fantastic. The very first upset being losing 1/3rd of Kashmir soon after Independence. We don't mention about humiliations our army faced during petty skirmishes like Dwarka attack (yes, most Indians don't know that). 1965 war and Kargil wars were not as victorious as they were projected. They were just compromises and cease fire brought about by various external pressures. We don't even talk about China war which we lost badly. Our NSG commandos who are depicted as super humans took days to flush out few petty terrorists from a couple of buildings. Do we still feel great and secure ?

What else are we good at ? Sports ?? We celebrate one Olympic gold medal for years together and we also lobby to grant Bharat Ratna to that one chap. That's our desperation. Commonwealth games (no, I'm not talking about the scam), Asian games, any pride ??? How many know atleast half of team members in Indian hockey team (yeah, national game) or football or any 2-3 players of other sport in India except cricket. Now talking about cricket, think about BCCI - which is led by Sharad Pawar and a host of politicians who might not know the difference between on side and off side.

Justice in India must be a joke of the millennium. To decide who killed Rajiv Gandhi, our judiciary took almost 20 years, Afzal Guru who almost caught red handed was not brought to justice even after 10 years, now don't even think about Kasab. Every politician who gets caught ( that's very rare though) has atleast 50 years to go before the judiciary and commissions take some decision and later that decision can be reversed by a higher court or atleast bail is guaranteed.  Once an issue is identified, immediately a commission comes into picture just to spend more crores and time. Justice delayed is justice denied and its always denied in India (except for rich and influential). Media, bureaucracy, corruption, population, illiteracy, poverty, casteism in India - each deserves a separate article.

This is all about various issues, points which only Indians are much aware of. Now just imagine whats outsiders perspective of what India is (without being hypocritical that we don't care and all that drama). India is not even considered to be a major force (except by those heads of states who visit India to make statements). Nobody cares what India says, feels or decides. India rushed to support US after 9/11 but was cornered after rude snub by Americans, UNO never feels the need of pulling India into permanent security council membership, those countries which support India (like Russia, Israel) do only because India purchases defense arms and ammunition from them. Even when Libya was in crisis, they sought the support of Russia and China but never minded if India was for or against the rebellion.

Even international entertainment world sees India as a very big slum full of elephants, snake charmers and naked sages. Show me any movie which shows richness of India, and that can be a world wonder. Indian culture (which is showed in our movies as if foreigners crave about) is often ridiculed and shown in poor light. Though we don't need anybody's certificate or appreciation, we should refrain from believing that the world looks upto India for guidance or salvation.

Now, some super-optimists may say we are far better than other poorer countries. But alas, we are in a dire situation to compare ourselves with malnourished, war-torn countries to feel good. Now how the hell is "Mera Bharat Mahaan ?"

Those who just see cynicism and negativity in my post must read the following posts to understand the difference between loving, respecting, feeling good about our country without blindly believing we are the best. Bitter it may sound, but, no - we are not. Its reality.

Also Read: Confused Desis
Also Read: Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani

Why is India still a developing country ?

India got its independence in 1947 and since then the country has been a "developing" country. If anybody was asked what could be the reason for this, pat comes answer that its because of "vested interests of politicians and corruption among law makers and bureaucrats" and this answer is 100% correct. But it would be interesting to analyze what triggered the corruption and how these so called law makers got an opportunity to sabotage country's economy for their vested interests. I have covered this marginally in one of my previous articles (Read: India: History of Corruption).

It would be shocking (especially for those who are relatively beginners to economics) to know that India's growth in per capita income (income per person in the country) was only 1% since Independence to late 1980's. Yes, that means the country was literally stagnant with nil development for almost 4 decades and entire credit goes to the great JL Nehru for his foolish economic policies.

Now during those 4 decades entire industrial setup, banks, everything were under Govt control who gave away licenses only to powerful businessmen who could "lobby" and "convince" the government. These lobbyists controlled governments, bureaucrats, officers and there started an ugly liaison between businessmen (who could spend money), politicians (who could rule in favor of businessmen), officers, media, judiciary (who were paid by businessmen, controlled by politicians). This era also called as "license raj" restricted the entire country so much that everybody who had some money tried to influence policy makers and thus gave birth to the monster called corruption in India, which we are trying to fight today.

Till 1990, GDP (total worth of goods and services produced) and GNI (total income of the country) of India were among the last 20 out of 180 countries, thanks to 44 years of misrule, mayhem and destruction of economic fabric. So it would not be an exaggeration to say that we actually got real freedom in 1991. Now let us see what happened in 1991 which triggered this 360 degree effect on India and Indian economy.

Globalization & Liberalization:

Those who were born in early 80's could remember that till early 90's, the only cars we could see on the roads were Maruti, Ambassador and sometimes Padmini; BSNL was the only telecom provider, Air India and Indian Airlines were the only airways, Doordarshan was the only TV network; Soft drinks were completely Indianised (Gold Spot, ThumsUp, Limca, Maaza). It means nobody from other countries could invest their money or introduce their products and services in India. So Indian public were deprived of international goods, services, standards in all walks of life.

PV Narasimha Rao directed Manmohan Singh (then finance minister) to open Indian markets to foreign investors to benefit from Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) so that Indian treasury could be bolstered by foreign currency and Indian public could be given access to superior products of international market. Immediately we saw American, Japanese, Korean, European companies flooding India with their products in automobile, telecom, FMCG sectors etc. This was long awaited; the quality of life standards, GDP, GNI, per capita income - all started to increase dramatically and soon India fell in the top 10 economies of the world and is now the second or third fastest (not exactly sure about the ranking) growing economy in the world.

It is predicted that if this growth rate continues, India will overtake France, Germany, Canada, Australia, Japan, UK in another 15-20 years. Beating US and China would be difficult though (at-least immediately). So India can fall under "developed countries" in another couple of decades.

Opposition to FDI & Globalization:

If we pay attention to news headlines these days, Parliament is being stalled, people are taking to streets protesting against FDI in retail. They don't want foreign retailers like Walmart, Costco to setup their shops in India. Their argument is that these big retailers can cause unemployment to petty kirana and general stores in India. Hmm, may be that's correct, but the pros of FDI are more attractive than cons for the benefit of Indian economy.

Earlier when Hyundai, Daewoo, Mitsubishi were allowed into India, indigenous companies like Maruti cried foul but the government didn't heed because the economy would be developed and common man would be benefited. Now Walmart will inject huge influx of money into Indian treasury. At the same time farmers and manufacturers can directly deal with these foreign retailers thus providing cheaper and better quality goods and services to common man. So what if middlemen and brokers get affected ?

Opposition is just playing to galleries to attract a few votes from these middlemen, but if the government succumbs to such pressure and rolls back their idea of retail FDI, the dream of becoming a "developed country" will have to continue as the reality evades, thanks to selfish interests and votebank politics.

Burst Crackers on Diwali !

As Diwali is around the corner; we will start getting environment friendly messages asking people to stay away from bursting crackers citing various theories as how crackers and fireworks could destroy the world and humanity in the coming years. ITS UTTER CRAP ! This post is dedicated to all those who unknowingly panic due to the triggered propaganda and all those who crib with half-knowledge.

The entire world is now aware of global warming, greenhouse effect and generic air pollution that will affect generations to come. There are many factors (most of which we don't even realize) which contribute to these ill effects and we never care, but raise alarm over few hours of celebration that happens once in an year which has been a tradition for years (or decades .err centuries). Firecrackers and fireworks emit certain smoke, sound, debris and create some inconvenience temporarily but doesn't harm global environment, ozone layer etc.

Biggest sources of air pollution as established by all major standards including AP 43 compilation of air pollution emission factors include predictable sources like automobiles, nuclear reactors, electricity power plants, volcanoes, wild fires and not so predicable sources like waste disposal, garbage, agricultural waste, cigarette smoking, fumes emanating from nail polish, petrol and even surprisingly gases emitted by cattle during digestion. But pollution caused due to fireworks was never ever discussed or acknowledged due to its negligible effect on a broader level.

So those who want to arrest pollution should first reduce pollution caused by vehicles, electricity, agriculture and industry which accounts to more than 60% of the air pollution.

Now lets come to a bigger topic called global warming. Again there were international conferences like Copenhagen climate conference which were held to identify and reduce sources of global warming. The reason for global warming is generation of greenhouse gases predominantly by oxides, methane, ethane and other radioactive sources; again nothing to do with fireworks or crackers. I don't understand how did these self proclaimed anti-Diwali cracker protesters got this idea - may be from the paranoia of smoke emitted from phooljadis and patakhas !

And the funnier part is that only Diwali is targeted by these campaigners. Nobody speaks about global celebrations and fireworks during New years eve, Christmas or every weekend fireworks of Disney Land, Disney World, Niagara Falls etc done by the most developed and environment conscious countries of the world. Why this special attention against Diwali ?

Diwali or Deepavali has been the biggest festival for millions and Diwali without lighting diyas and bursting crackers is like any other weekend. Those who want to resist our centuries old traditions can always stay back but those who are interested need not worry about any stupid propaganda.

As mentioned earlier, firecrackers create some inconvenience which should be addressed by socially aware citizens. There is a safety concern, but there is one even when crossing a road or driving a vehicle. Just like we take precautions and safety measures there, bursting firecrackers need to be done amidst safety precautions so that nobody is put to any kind of inconvenience.

Fireworks emitting light are more beautiful and sparkling than those which emit sound. Hence prefer those. Also clear the debris once the celebration is over. With these simple actions, we can stop people who campaign against Diwali celebrations. Have a safe, wonderful, memorable Diwali !

Dowry Harassment vs False Allegations

When I was younger, I heard innumerable dowry harassment cases which led to physical and mental trauma of women; newspapers, movies and later news channels were on forefront on exposing such inhuman cases; the media tried its best to create awareness and bring about some common sense among the educated and exposed youth and families.

Exposure to such torture cases begot a kind of intense despise and contempt for those who even think about dowry. And a direct consequence being our family never brought the topic in both my sister's marriage and my marriage and I feel proud that my parents were pioneers of the trend among our extended families, though I don't see it as any great achievement enough to proclaim. We all believe that's a social and human way of thinking !

I always believe anti-dowry and domestic violence laws are boons against such mistreatment against married women because of their support to women and strict punishment against grooms / husbands and their families. Incidentally I didn't come across any dowry harassment cases among my known circles till date (to my delight), but in the last few years I have been witnessing different kind of situations; those of false allegations, misuse of laws. Unfortunately most of the victims happened to be my very close people and I've seen (been seeing) the trauma they are undergoing. While I'm completely in favor of stringent implementation of these laws, I wonder if there is any way to check abuse of the same. An account of few cases where the laws were abused:

Case 1: The simplest of cases was slapping an anti-dowry case on a guy when he asked girl's parents if they could treat their daughter equally with her male siblings in terms of rights and assets especially when all responsibilities and duties were shared equally among sons and daughter (sic). He failed to understand that the demand was called "dowry". He claimed he never demanded dowry but was just being logical by helping his wife avail her rights (:p). However after some "negotiations" with local police, he was let go and the couple lived happily thereafter (!!!)

Case 2: Another situation was one of my friends who was not clearly happy right from the next day of his marriage; he shared his grief with few of his friends (including me) that the girl had a bad break-up before marriage and could not come to terms and hence had been aloof from this guy since their marriage.

I came to Canada and kinda lost touch with him. When I pinged him online one fine day to ask how was his married life, he told me he just came out of 12 month police remand and under-trial. I was shocked to know from him that his newly wed wife committed suicide because her parents forced her into the marriage; broken and depressed, she took the extreme step and her parents wasted no time to slap a dowry harassment case on this guy and his family. Reportedly, all of them had to be in jail, suffer atrocities which are usually reserved for murderers.

I was so moved by the whole narration that I could hardly speak to him. Eventually he was acquitted by court for lack of evidence but he still faces the social stigma, lost his livelihood, forced to relocate to a different and alien place to hide himself from the society. Again, if he had really harassed his wife to death, he deserved this treatment, but what if he didn't ? Who can compensate the physical, mental trauma he and his family faced ?

Case 3: My friend got married few years back and the couple were happy [sic]. But eventually the couple underwent some minor domestic arguments like any other couple and the girl moved into her parents' place. Her parents immediately filed an anti dowry case on this guy and his family (despite their living away from parents and no chance of his family to interact much with his wife).

The whole household underwent depression, but somehow implored the girl to get back to the family with a promise that no one will ever dare question her again. Fortunately, everything went on well after that incident and now they are a happy couple, thankfully !

Case 4: A distant relative got married recently but after marriage the couple faced severe incompatibilities and realized they couldn't live together. They made it a point not to get physically, mentally, emotionally involved. Practically they lived in different cities. Soon both families got involved, conducted many counseling sessions and unanimously decided to annul the marriage through legal means (which means the marriage was never considered to be happened).

Out of the blue, the bride's family demanded groom's family to pay a hefty sum worth 5 years of groom's household income, failing which they had to face anti dowry, domestic violence and many other cases which could have put the family behind bars for a long time. The poor family had to mortgage their only residence in addition to shelling out their lifelong savings.The girl is now happy; bought a nice car, sponsored her brother's foreign education et al.

Case 5: The case which I got conversant with recently. My friend of over 8 years married a long standing girlfriend some 6 years back through a registered marriage in Europe (against her family's wish). 3 years later when they returned to India to seek elders' blessings, the girl's parents house arrested her and filed dowry harassment and domestic violence case against him who has been fighting till now. He lost his peace of mind, senses, career, family, life and is also facing a threat to his life (sic).

Bottom Line: Now among all these cases, if boys were lying to garner sympathy and if they had really troubled their respective spouses, then they very much deserve all the trauma they were suffering. But the million dollar question is what if they are innocent ?

A police case can be filed by anybody on anybody due to different reasons. Genuine suffering could only be one of those reasons, but there can be hidden agenda, blackmail and arm twisting tactics, paranoia, schizophrenia, attitude issues, mental imbalance or innumerable other reasons. Its common sense that accusation can't be tantamount to conviction. But fake allegations and abuse of such laws can cost livelihood, peace of mind for many youth.

Agonizing factor in such cases is that public sympathy, police, laws, society always take girls' side, regardless. Good or bad, naive or conspirative, honest or fake - these qualities are not exclusive to any gender. If dowry abuse is a sin, so is fake victimization of anti-dowry laws. No two ways about it.

According to stats, its revealed that less than 10% of cases were genuine. It could only means two things:

• Most of the women who still face dowry harassment, domestic violence are not resorting to police and law due to fear of society and family. So the social evil is still there.
• Most of the women who file cases are fake. Thus creating another social evil called false victimization.

PS: Earlier when I wrote an article about female (in)equality in society (Read: Do women deserve special attention ?), some male chauvinists ridiculed me for having feminist views. I didn't care ! Now if ultra feminists get hurt reading this post, I don't care either !

Never Underestimate Facebook !

I read this news headline few days back "Wife assaulted Husband who didn't 'like' her Facebook status". Reading that, I laughed out loud and I'm sure many would.

Now read these:

"An IIM student committed suicide because her boyfriend announced breaking up with her on Facebook"
"A 35 year old who lured a minor girl on Facebook got arrested"
"Youth robbed by his Facebook friend"
"Man arrested for Facebook status message"
"Woman arrested for 'poking' Facebook user" and many more. Even London riots that happened a couple of months back, Egypt uprising were fueled by Facebook.

At the outset, many think why and how a silly website can affect anybody's life so much; afterall its a virtual website and not a "real world". Those who are not active on Facebook will never understand the phenomenon of Facebook which affects (both in good and bad ways) mental, emotional, professional, psychological and social lives of thousands..err..millions across the world.

Life before online social networking

Before online social networking (eMail, Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, Orkut, Twitter and Facebook) came into picture, life was simple, straight forward and limited to known contacts who met us regularly in person. Social life was all about talking to relatives, cousins, friends, classmates, colleagues. We knew who liked us, who didn't, who cared about our day to day life and who did not. We knew how to deal if somebody had any problem with us because there was no way we could bypass them. With the advent of social networking, dynamics changed and obviously the "friends list" expanded beyond our managing capabilities.

Likes and comments

I believe Facebook is such a roaring success because of its features like 'Like' and 'Comments'. If these options are removed, I don't think many would write anything on FB, they would rather go blogging or write diaries for themselves :)

Now, talking about the example I gave in the first line of this post, the woman assaulted her hubby for not liking her status because that status message was in memory of her dead mother which was acknowledged by many of her close ones except her husband who was active on FB liking and commenting on all other stories and deliberately snubbing her status (sic). So the issue was not about liking a FB status, but was much intense, that of neglecting her mother's memory deliberately, which'd hurt her more. If there was no FB, obviously she would not have known even if he was having a gala time behind her :p

Those who are not active on FB are exempt from this kind of judgement for obvious reasons, but those who enjoy liking and commenting must be aware of such repercussions. Acknowledging and commenting on most of your friends, but consciously ignoring one among them is like entering a room full of guests, handshaking with everyone but conveniently snubbing one among them; they obviously feel hurt. Only that in FB, you can't read their expressions or any ill-feeling they nurture against you (unless and until you do that to deliberately hurt them :))

Making Relationships

Another reason for the success of online social world is the facility to make new friends, relationships which you could never have made in real life. Thanks to FB, the world abruptly exploded and you are thrown among hundreds of people who you may like or relate yourself with.

A reason for my addiction to Facebook or other online social forms is its wide canvas which allowed me to select my loved ones, choose those I want to be close with. Again there are pros and cons to this facility because all FB users present their best behavior and looks on FB, which can be quite deceptive. Steering across all such deceptions and finding right ones is a challenge in itself, but if you find one, you can have real fun.

Public Image

If we write any status message, that will be viewed by hundreds of people in our list who we may know well, know formally, don't know at all. Each person will have certain impression about us and anything we write may go well or against them, but the bad part is we never know how many of them judge us unless and until they present their views in terms of "comments" and "likes". So our public image is at stake (for those who care, of course, and even for those who don't :p).

If you write something utterly stupid, the whole world will immediately know how stupid you are, which is not the case in real world, because you never say anything before a crowd of 300 odd people. But the greener side is that if you are intelligent enough, the same entire world knows that regardless of whether they like it, comment it, acknowledge it or not. So you have to understand if you are really intelligent or not, before you post anything on FB while you don't have this risk in the real world :)

You can be an object of judgement based on groups you join, pages you like, articles you share, what you write in info about you, words you use (certain people suddenly stopped talking to me when they saw me using F word in some status message :p).

Invasion of Privacy


Your privacy can be invaded based on photos you upload, friends you tag (or you get tagged in). FB is a wonderful tool for voyeurs, peeping toms and if they are smart, they can pull out your entire janam kundali. Identifying who are close to you, who are not is not a big deal, thanks to your FB activity.

As mentioned earlier in this post, people are arrested for what they have written as their Facebook status message. So those who write inflammatory or provocative statuses are always subject to scrutiny. Some tech savvy thieves are always on prowl to see if anybody has posted a status message like "Hawaii, here I come", "Vacation to Europe" etc. These messages can be keys to your getting plundered :). So before writing anything, just imagine who can get mileage of your message.

Really Virtual - Virtually Real

Facebook can't be taken easy as just any social website or a tool for passing time. Its a world in itself. Whatever you say in real world will be multiplied in intensity if you say on Facebook. if you are good, it gets better, but if you are not so good at managing people and your words or behavior, God bless you !

You might have rubbed a lot of people in a wrong way, yet you don't know who they are. You don't know who all got paranoid that you don't like them despite no such intentions from your side. You don't know who all propagate negative things against you based on how you present yourself on FB.

Somebody is always watching and judging you !