My long hiatus from writing a blog entry ‘again’ has made me wonder whether it makes sense to give justification every time I delay writing a blog. Giving justification would imply that I am on some sort of schedule which does two things - first, the activity would then be classified as a chore, and WE wouldn’t want a fun activity being reduced to a chore - second, it leaves no scope to make the mistake again (wink wink).
Anyways, this time - believe it not - the reason was too much enthusiasm for writing a blog. It all started with the Kashmir Conflict. I read articles in newspapers/ magazines by S Aiyar, by Vir Sanghvi and then by Arundhati Roy and plus a lot of not-so-famous-but-equally-good journalists, and I wanted to pen down my own thoughts on the same. A number of these articles advocated that - Kashmir should now be made independent of India. The reasons were quite a few, from special treatment given to the state, financial aid given (far more than that given to other states like Bihar), continued failure of governance, mass deaths, never-ending military expenditure, and, finally, and most importantly the principle of self-determination.
Of all these reasons, the only thing that sounded worthy of discussion was - the principle of self-determination - a corollary to the tenets of democracy. The advocators argued that the protests in the Valley were different this time as the people were a part of it and the common man participated in a nonviolent movement, like the ones Gandhiji had employed. The time was therefore due. I, though, have my reservations against granting independence to the troubled territory. Somehow, I cannot help feel that it would set a wrong precedent, especially to some north-eastern states which find themselves in similar mess. Imagine tomorrow, if Madhya Pradesh (right in the centre) decides to go free of India. I know the thought is totally rubbish, but, still plausible. Imagine carving a map of a country with a hole in the middle. I know my mind is working overtime….
Apart from setting the wrong precedent, the other problem, I was told was that the Valley opens access to the Indian mainland, which cannot be good, given our nosey neighbor’s propensity to involve themselves in our internal affairs. But are these reasons - wrong precedent and security concerns - good at denying people their basic rights. I think the solution lies in Governance, good solid governance. Till now, the people in Kashmir have never been given a government they could relate to. I tried to dig up some facts on governance in Kashmir … both pre and post independence and I could not believe some of the mess that our politicians have made in that beautiful place. A whole lot of mess can directly be attributed to Pandit Nehru and Farooque Abdullah. I cannot help but think that so many people lost their lives and such a beautiful place got ruined because of these two. There are so many interesting informational pieces on the net - one such is http://www.kashmir-information.com/ConvertedKashmir/ by Narendra Sehgal - there are many more. There was so much to research about this topic that for a novice-journalist like me… it got a lil too much. Nevertheless, it made an interesting read, and people with time should explore it further.
Recently, I went to Shimla with my friend Valerie who is from France but interning in Bilbao, Spain. She told me that this problem of self-determination is not unique to Kashmir. Even Bilbao has its trouble and is fighting for independence from Spain. Also, I was shocked to hear, that Belgium, which most Indians would consider a peaceful nation, has this great divide between Dutch-speaking north and French-speaking south, and the country might be divided into two. So it is endemic.
Now, I am no Nostradamus predicting the end of the world. Neither am I a practioner of Eschatology (don’t look up the word in the dictionary … it’s not worth it…. I don’t even know why I still have it in my vocabulary). But it sure doesn’t look good.
Next, I picked the topic of Beijing Olympics, and the grand success it has been. The Chinese preparation for the Olympics, Michael Phelps, Usain ‘Insane’ Bolt, our very own medal-winning trio - again the research bug got to me and I ended up with so many interesting pieces…that it will be another ‘Work in Progress’ story. I also wanted to cover the Tata Nano - Mamta Banerjee - Singur story and the mess in Bihar caused by the flooding of the Kosi River. There is so much stuff to write about… that just writing about the probable topics itself makes up a blog entry…Lol… not a bad idea… for next time.
Speaking of Mamta Banerjee and the flood in Bihar, I noticed an alarming trend. Earlier, I was convinced that the politicians did us no good, but irreparable damage is something I cannot digest. Take any state, and you will find a similar story. J&K is a mess because of the politicians. Jharkand is not making any progress till we have the likes of Shibu Soren. We all know about Laloo and Bihar. UP has its own share of problems with Mayawati and Mulayam Singh. West Bengal will implode one-day with Left, Karat and Mamta. Karnataka, the state which could have reached dizzy heights, is destined for mediocrity till we have likes of Deve Gowda (to me he was the worst prime minister we ever had and we ever will), which finally brings me to the curious case of Maharashtra and MNS.
The Raj Thackeray led MNS is at it once again. In reaction to Jaya Bachchan’s statement, they have started chanting the “Marathi Manoos” nara once again. For a political party, I would think, the agenda should at the very least address the problems of common people. Attacking the Bachchan’s and Shah Rukh Khan or even the North Indians is not the way to go about it. I was born and brought up in Mumbai - am a Maharashtrian - and I can claim that Mumbai is as much of Marathi’s as it is of anyone else. MNS would do good to remember that the Portuguese were the first claimants of this land, followed by the British. And if it wasn’t for the Industrialization of the Parsis, Gujratis and Marwadi’s, Mumbai wouldn’t be half of what it is. But I think the worst offender is the Congress. Every time parties like MNS try to get mileage in the media by raising issues like these, Congress seems absolutely incapable of dealing with it. The problem is we have too many DEALERS and too less LEADERS. It ain’t a coincidence that both leaders and dealers are made of exactly same alphabets.
So, in all, I have read and read, with an aim of constructing an interesting, “worthy-of-your-and-my time” piece, but I have nothing to show for it except for a list of probable topics. Ya I know the phrase - A day late and a dollar short!! Next time, I will pick a more a cheerful topic and hopefully will outsource the research! Any takers?
