The GODs we create..!!

Yesterday was one of the few occassions when I had to accompany my mother to the temple to get the blessins of the "Maharaj Ji", a middle aged lady who established the temple many years ago. I went along more with the intent of not hurting my mothers' sentiments than getting blessed by the supposedly heavenly soul. One may think why I am being so disrespectful to a seemingly harmless and respectful person.

The problem is two-fold. The first being that I don't like the idea of putting a mortal being in the place of God. And second is, that I don't think that the person in question is worthy of the status and influence that she has. I say this accepting that yours truly is no messiah. But I think everyone is entitled to his own opinion.

Before I get to the latest incident, let me brief you about my first meeting with the "Maharaj Ji". It was the evening before I had to leave for my bike trip to Leh. My mom, fearing for my safety, asked me to get blessings from Maharaj Ji so that my trip goes on without much trouble. I was not at all surprised by her reaction on hearing about the trip. She asked: "Koi pran liya tha kya? Ya koi bipda pad gayi? Kya zarurat hai shareer todne ki? Jaana hi hai to bus mein ya plane mein jao." When I narrated the incident to my ride partner, he just asked me one question: "If shes really an enlightened soul, shouldn't she understand the urge to do what one wants to do?"

It is now more than a year since that incident, and here I was sitting in front of her once again. For a divine person, I saw her loose her temper at least thrice on trivial issues, and that further strenthened my opinion of her. So I just wanted to leave and be on my merry way. I was about to get up when she received a call. And the things that I heard her say made me question not only her divine status, but also her intelligence. Its quite obvious that I could only hear whatever she was saying, but that was enough fo rme to grab a hold on the whole thing.

The call was from someone whose relative had some brain problem and was admitted to hospital and probably needed brain surgery. I was aghast at what the "Maharaj Ji" said to the guy. She said: "come what may.. don't go for an operation. I have never seen any brain operation go successful" Though I agree that success rate for brain surgeries is not exactly through the roof, but her comment was a little exaggerated for me. But the real surprise was yet to come. After she narrated the caller a story about another devotee, who suffered a brain hemorrhage whom she had "saved" by calling up the doctor and telling him to do whatever he wanted but never to keep the surgery option available, she expressed her disappointment because the caller hadn't heeded her advice. As per the learned one, the caller should have brought the patient back home much earlier. And the biggest surprise came when she said that the oxygen support should have been removed long ago if the patient's well being is required.

I am all for having faith in the all mighty, but don't you think its going a bit too far with this! And this is not the first time I have come across incidents like this.

Why is it that we give so much power to a human being just because he or she can read the spiritual and mythological books better than us? Why do we go to see the doctors, who give up their life to master their science, but then fail to realise that the best guide is not somone who doesn't know anything about medicine? Why do we appreciate people so much that we end up making Gods out of them? Why??

WISDOM..... the ever elusive trait

The results for the political game are now out. UPA has emerged the clear winner. But in the midst of all the joy that UPA followers were experiencing, and all the sorrow and tears that NDA followers were fighting, I look at the results and the events that led to the elections and also the events occuring after the elections. I get many conflicting theories.

The most prominent of them being "Has Indian voter finally matured enough to differenciate between Assembly and Parliament Election?" The results will make you feel this way. Though I want to believe this, but being the eternal critic that I am, somehow I don't think that people living in villages have suddenly got the understanding of the need of the country. You take any state where the trend has favoured the national parties, and I am sure there you can find one or two reasons other than the votors wisdom that can be held responsible for this pattern of voting. U.P. for example seems to have voted against the incumbent govt. And SP didnt benefit, because muslim voter was influenced by the fallout between Mulayam Singh and Azam Khan.

So before we start enjoying the new found stabilty in the south block, we better wake up to a harsh reality. Though this battle seems to have been won, but theres a hell of a lot of work that is still pending. If we want to have this stability as a permanent feature of the Indian polity, we will have to become wiser still.

The real need is not a "Minister of Internal Security"

Ever since the blasts in Delhi, the polotical circles are abuzz. The opposition is on the war front saying that the ruling alliance is not capable of enacting tough laws for countering terrorism. While the ruling alliance itself has now admitted that we need "tougher anti-terrorist laws" to counter the terrorist activities. Since they thought that it would be tough to remove the Home Minister Mr. Shivraj Patil, a very senior leader, they came out with another plan. Now as per them, the real need is a Minister for Internal Security.

I ask the political think tank of all the parties and also the political analysts this very simple question- "What can the new minister do that was not possible under the Home Ministry?"

You can go on and create 'n' no of ministries, but the reality remains as it is today. India cannot get rid of these terrorists, unless there is a cleanup act on corruption starting from the top. Any "Tough laws" that the NDA may enact. Any ministries that the UPA may from cannot work without the ground forces. And I say this again with my head held low in shame, our law enforcement agencies are simply not honest enough to bring the guilty to justice. Newspapers are filled with one or the other story of police injustice or brutality everyday. Every now and then we see or hear people talking about the corrupt cops, but when it comes to action, we dont do anything. We smile and wonder in awe when we get to hear that the "rate" for getting selected in the police service is this much. If someone from our circle wants to join the service, we'll happily arrange the amount for the same purpose. No wonder that you wont find it difficult to stumble upon a cop who gets hafta form the drug mafia. Afterall he does have to make profit on his "investment".

And even if the culprit is somehow caught, and brought to court, we cant be sure of justice because of the legal system we have. First of all, we dont have a process of speedy trials. Even if the judge assures that the trial is not prolonged, we always have our lawers who can get the trial delayed for decades. And not only this, the corruption has its way here also. As witnessedin BMW case (Sanjeev Nanda case), the Public prosecutor and the Defence lawer have no shame whatsoever, and are openly offerring bribe to the lone witness. And one thing I cant understand is that why were they charged only with misconduct, why were they not tried for influencing the witness, perjury and obstruction of justice.

And even if we manage to find honest lawers, who do their duty, there will be no guarantee of justice lookng at a couple of cases that have been reported in Chandigarh (the latest being where an associate of the Advocate Gen. delivered cash of 15 Lakh at the official residence of a sitting High Court Judge).

So even if we enact the toughest of laws known to the humankind, we still cant guarantee the result that it promises to achieve. To ensure that innocent lives are not lost in the future, I think we need stringent anti corruption laws. If people think that they can just do anything and buy their way out, then laws wont be any deterrant. It is only that when people fear the repurcussions, that they think twice about doing anything which may result in harsh punishment.

(Though there is also a huge need for awakening among the general public so that less and less people fall prey to the recruiters of these so called jehadis, I will limit myself to the topic discussed above today)

A proud Indian