“The system is hopeless. It needs an overhaul.” This is an oft heard statement in many a heated discussions. The point, however, that ignored in most such discussions is: “What is this system?”

If we look at a country, then the Constitution can be termed as the backbone of the system. It is a well known fact – and often reiterated – that the constitution is above all. I may be tagged as a constitutional extremist, but I have great faith in it. It is like the holy grail of the system in India, superior even to the Supreme Court.

The makers of the Constitution incorporated a system of checks and balances in the system to avoid power getting concentrated in the hands of a few. The only assumption that the makers made, and did not put in the constitution, was that the constitution should be followed and respected by one and all.

As citizens of India, all of us have a fundamental duty to abide by that written document. But, unfortunately, most of us are unaware of what the various articles and schedules of the Constitution say. As per Article 51A clause (a) you are duty bound to respectfully disagree even with the Supreme Court if its interpretations are not abiding with the constitution.

The politicians, who are expected to ensure that the tradition of the Constitution is continued, and their cohorts have mastered the art of twisting and turning the Constitution as per their whims and fancies, for they know that following it to the dot will make them lose their powers. It is a well known fact that the day to day powers of the President are actually that of the ministers because of article 74(1), which binds the President to accept ministers’ advice. The very second clause, which says that no court can assume existence, let alone the nature, of such an advice has very conveniently been sidelined.

The Constitution allows all orders only in the name of the President. I wonder why the Supreme Court has declared this clause as non-mandatory. Orders made by ministers are now being taken as orders of the Government. This laxity by the Apex Court has invited even more corruption. According to the constitution, all transfers between services have to be consulted through UPSC. And if UPSC’s suggestion is not followed then the government has to explain that with a memorandum in the Parliament. This certainly does not happen today.

There are many such instances where the Constitution is not being adhered to the letter. But, that’s not the point. As the Supreme Court itself, sometimes, is amiss in taking the constitution seriously enough, for the sake of  “not only delivering justice, but also appearing to deliver justice”, there’s little we can hope from the courts.

But, the fact remains that the Constitution should be followed. And we, the people can help do that. It’s time we understand our power of expression. Freedom gave us the right to express — fearlessly. we need to speak up and use that power. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. The least we can do is raise our voice when we see the terms of the constitution being violated. And only after that can we complain about ‘system’ failure.

“ I like chicken tikka and you?”
“Me too.”
“I like Shahrukh Khan, and you?”
“I like him too, but I find Ranbir pretty hot these days.”
“Whats happening with your team, they aint playing well, we guys beat you in the last cricket match.”
“Yea, that is fine but why are you guys not allowing us to play in IPL?”
“We love to see you guys play, but what can we do ?”

This could be a typical conversation between two normal friends across borders, who share so many things – culturally and otherwise-  that at times one wonders, why are these nations separate in the first place. That debate aside for the moment, what is it that makes us hate people? There are enough problems around us to submerge ourselves in and deal with, but we forget all that is around us and pay more attention to what someone on a TV channel is telling us.

Look at what we are missing out on, I am a hardcore cricket fan, and I will speak for myself, that I miss watching the fast bowlers from across the border playing in our IPL. The only time when the Pakistani players played in the IPL,  it was fantastic to watch Shoaib Akhtar take on Sachin Tendulkar, or see Shahid Afridi hit a few sixes out of the park. There are artists, who are stopped from coming and performing here – Ghulam Ali, bands like Jal, Strings, and so many other good singers that are loved on both sides of the border. There are garments, food cuisines, sports, etc. which we would like to share with each other.

Given a chance, I believe the people from both sides would love to interact more often, in a friendly manner, and exchange views, trade, etc. It is only a few ill-willed forces that are acting in a manner that a cordial relation between the two nations becomes an impossibility. Are we going to stay foolish and vote them into power, are there not enough issues left for these politicians than to instigate us against our neighbors. My heart boils when I hear educated Indians supporting such bans on our neighbors. Please realize that people across the border, or rather across the world are facing same problems in their lives, and our wishing ill will towards them does no good to them, or us.

It has been around 60 years that we have been trying to resolve our differences, and I do not have much hope that it will be solved soon. It is about time, that we realize that sharing a smile and maybe even a hug with our neighbors can go a long way in resolving the differences. The younger lot in our country seems to be more rational in its approach and I see hope there in terms of starting a dialogue. It is heartening to see even the government now taking cognizance of the fact that, by not talking they are only playing into the hands of the forces who never want the neighbors to have a cordial relationship.

Ask someone in India today, “What is the easiest way to make a lot of money?” and you might get any one of the following answers:

Become an Entrepreneur ,
Get an degree from an IIM and join the corporate world,
Start a web based company ,
Invest in the Market, etc., etc.

One answer you might not get, but which, it seems, is the right answer today is:

“Become a Godman”

With the minimum investment – just set up a microphone in a big, empty, piece of land and start sermonising – you can earn big time. The sermonising part can’t be hard because half of the things constituting these sermons are things that are well known to one and all.

The number of Godmen is increasing exponentially these days. That is no wonder as there is an increasing demand for them, to feature on the increasing number of religious channels we have today. It must be acknowledged that some of the gurus and pundits might be genuine, but most of them are not. Most of them have today been proved to be involved in all kinds of criminal activities like land grabbing, sexual molestation, money laundering, murder – you name it, and we have one or the other god men involved in the crime. What is worrisome is that even these fraudulent gurus manage to garner a good following, and these followers are ready to do anything – even kill – on their guru’s bidding.

What is the reason behind this infatuation with Godmen?

Ignorance, naturally, tops the list. People, sometimes even educated ones, are ignorant, or choose to be ignorant, when they are bathing in the fountains of knowledge emanating from their gurus. The most outrageous point in recent times was the condemnation of aerated drinks by a leading baba. While there is evidence that these drinks might not be the best thing for your health, the logic forwarded by the all knowing baba was less than convincing. By comparing the pH levels of a coke with your regular toilet cleaner, he claimed them to be the same. And people believed him.

Some people, who know the difference between a coke and a toilet cleaner, feel that one should look at the ends and not the means, but never – especially not in the spiritual field – do the ends justify the means.

Unwillingness to accept responsibility is another major reason for the expansion of this new business. It is a common fact that men like to take full credit for any success, but want to take no responsibility for any failures in their life. The realm of the supernatural provides an easy target to put all the blame on; People who are non-believers in good times, turn into the staunchest believers when they face tough times.

The need for an external support is also a factor for the rise of the gurus. Raj (name changed) was having some issues with alcohol and his friends had given up trying to explain to him the consequences of what he was doing. One day, he says, he heard a sermon from a reputed guru on TV and quit. He himself admitted that there was nothing new in what the man on the show said, but somehow he needed to hear it from a spiritual guru. On being asked why, he had no answer. This need for external validation might have something to do with the way our society deals with authority. The time has come, however, when we stopped looking outside us for answers, and took complete responsibility for our actions.

The importance and need of a guru – in any field of knowledge – is undeniable, but unless until we pull ourselves out of the mire of ignorance and fallacies we will continue to breed such gurus, while the real Guru will remain hidden to us. Do we want that?

Watching the news these days is a sad experience. Except for the occasional flashes of good news, news, these days, is abound with examples of how low the human spirit can stoop to when the need so arises. What makes it even worse is the attitude of the news channel. They continue to flash the same news again and again, sometimes even hiding, or even modifying, the facts to suit their needs. But, they can’t be blamed altogether, after all it is us who watch these channels.

Voices, today, are screaming that India is moving ahead full-speed in the race for becoming the number one country in the World. The screams are so loud that the outsiders have begun to believe it. It is only when these outsiders come in, and have a look at the ground realities, that they realise that the screams are nothing but words.

As a new year – a new decade begins – India must look at what it needs to do to actually lead from the front. But, what is India? India is more than the Metros, the few big industrial names, the Cricket team, more than any single individual, body, or state. It is the sum of one billion plus people who are divided among themselves by lines of caste, creed, language, religion, state, economy and other such differences. When one section of the society moves forward, another section falls back, in an every action has an equal reaction kind of way. An example can be the suppression of other games by the the dominance of cricket.

Does India have the potential to lead the World?

Indeed it does. Even today, with all its ills, India has managed to secure for itself a position where China, USA and other developed countries have no choice but to keep an eye out for it. The recent recession in the developed economies has further helped India and China to catch up with the developed world. But, having potential does not automatically lead to success? Genius, as they say, is 1 % inspiration and 99 % perspiration.

India needs a change in mindset. The mindset needs to change from the top to the bottom.

But what is the reason behind this dysfunctional mindset?

The answer, I believe, is fear. Everyone is afraid.

The politician is afraid that whatever he might do, he might not get a second term, so he wants to amass as much wealth as he can. He is afraid that the other party might malign his image, so he digs deep to find dirt on other politicians.

The bureaucrat, or the sarkari babu, is afraid that he might get transferred to some remote location, or a desk job, if he doesn’t please his political masters, so he does his best to please them. He keeps aside his sense of duty and does what his political masters want him to. In the process if he can make a quick buck, or two, of his own, he wouldn’t mind that either.

The common man is the worst hit. He is afraid of everything. He is afraid of the forms he has to fill – and the palms he has to grease -  before he can get an electricity, water, or gas connection. Of course, he sees the wrongs in the system, yet he is afraid that if he raises a voice, he might be stripped of whatever semblance of life he might have. A recent example is the Ruchika Girhotra case. The family that tried to fight to get justice for the dead girl, had to suffer the consequences. This is just an example that came to light. Personally we see such examples, albeit on a lower scale, every day.

Why the Fear though?

The root cause of fear, I think, lies in scarcity. For a long time India, as a nation,  has suffered from unemployment, and under-employment. Parents have been blamed for decades for forcing their children to become either Engineers or Doctors, but what choice did they have? They knew that if their child was to have any decent shot at life, he should be a Doctor or an Engineer. In fact, if I look around my town today, the best houses still belong to the Bureaucrats, Doctors, or Engineers. So, why have we been blaming the poor parents, who only wanted what they thought was best for their children?

The times, however, are changing now. India offers more opportunity and access to facilities. The systems are changing, though very slowly. This pace can increase, but for that each one of us has to shed his, or her, fear, and stand up for what is right. It might be tough to begin with, but it brings with it great joy. It is time that we had a  re-look at these famous words penned by the great Rabindranath Tagore:

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Image courtesy: asifthebes from sxc.hu

Every country is conveniently divided into states/provinces to facilitate governance and administration. So is India. Some of the states of India are older than independent India, and some are relatively new. Together, they all represent the country of India. But off late, states have become tools at the hands of politicians to further their own personal ambitions and greed for power. The demands for separate states have become more and more vocal, from all corners of the country, and each one of them has either History, or Geography, or Economics to back their claims. They either lean on linguistic differences, administrative issues, or imbalance of funds to back themselves up. I am sure that Sardar Patel must be squirming in his heavenly abode on seeing all this. Almost all his efforts to unify the country are being negated zone-wise now. The worst aspect of this story is that the ruling alliance used statehood promises to lure regional separatists into their fold, and get to power .

The day when you wake up and find that your city, no, your street has become a state unto itself is not a big impossibility now. But I would not simply close my eyes, and oppose or condemn anyone who asks for a separate state. We need to look at the history and the legitimacy of the demand, examine both these factors carefully and consider the sentiments and stifled voices of the people in that region. Only then can we make a call about any demand for statehood of any region. This brings us to the most hyped – and in the news – subject of Telangana. Let us look at it in detail .

A few facts about Telangana first. This state was ruled by the Nizam of Hyderabad, and was never under British Rule. Hyderabad was always a part of the state, and was, in fact, its capital. When the agitation to separate Andhra from the then Madras state picked up steam, and Potti Sreeramulu gave up his life fasting, the original demand for Madras as the capital was changed, and what is now coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema were merged with Telengana to form Andhra Pradesh . Right from that time, a very virulent and often vehement movement to separate Telangana, so as to facilitate proper balance of resources and development, has been in force and many people have laid their lives down for it. So if the Gen Y and Gen X are thinking that KCR fasting for a week brought this state about magically, they are grossly mistaken.

But sadly, many a politician has picked up the jingoism and tokenism.

There are state requests, and bandh calls, and fasts, springing up everywhere and people are being misled by selfish politicians to believe that this will benefit them. This is a sad trend and I fully hold the ruling UPA responsible for first promising, then conveniently forgetting, and finally – at a totally wrong time – giving in to the demand. What they have done is glorified the wrong people and set a wrong precedent. There are many other pressing things crying for attention – the looming threat of terror, the economy, the climate and so on. They are using this as a diversionary measure to keep people distracted, and I admit that they are succeeding to a large extent. People have forgotten starvation deaths, and are now making starvation a fashion statement or a tool.

We need to wake up and stop getting into this vicious circle, and focus more on getting our country to its due destination in the global arena. That would be possible only and only if we stand together and not split ourselves on languages/zones/religion lines. I am keeping my fingers crossed in the anticipation that we, the people, are capable of thinking beyond the differences. How about you ? Think about it