just sayin'

There
is an internet accessible video clip of an enraged bull leaping the fence of his
enclosure and landing among those gathered to watch that bull being taunted and
eventually killed by a costumed bull fighter.

An
understandable, but not a fully thought out reaction, that.

One
can sympathize with a life force that decides that it is not going to take it
anymore; that it was time that he, the bull, did something to rid himself of
the circumstances that had him in the middle of a ring being poked, prodded and
other wise annoyed by folks in elaborate costumes. Aside from the physical
discomfort, all that poking was distracting him, the bull, from his task of
teaching some manners to the foppishly dressed young person waving a cape and
taunting him. Stopping to catch his breath, he, the bull, probably noticed that
his armed antagonist, the fop, was being encouraged by whole bunches of
two-legs gathered behind the safety of a barrier. Insult upon injury. Direct
action must have seemed like a good idea, at the time. He, the bull, with a
prodigious effort, cleared the barrier and landed, all two tons of enraged bull
flesh, on the risers where bull fighting aficionados had gathered and were now
departing, as rapidly as they could; which was rapid indeed, two-legs negotiating
the stepped amphitheatre with efficiency and ease.

Not
so much for the bull.

He,
poor frustrated fellow, found the height and width of the risers ill-suited for
four-legs, no matter how enraged, leaving him, flanks heaving, a stationary
threat.

The
crowd, having retreated to a safe perimeter, watched his frustration with
arrogant mockery.

I
don’t know how it all ended, ‘cuz I stopped watching. I’m hoping he was
humanely captured and then retired to stud.

Maybe
it is my purple-hazed perceptions, but, the whole thing reminded me of Mr.
Kejriwal’s foray into politics and governance. 

I’m not going to presume to tell Mr. Modi how to do his job, especially given the alacrity and efficiency with which he seems to have woken the upper echelons of bureaucracy from their sinecure siestas.

But...

I’m sort of wondering why Big Mo hasn’t had a word with the Appropriate Authorities about the egregious use, by leaders – read, demagogues – of organizations that voice their opinions violently. If hurting the sentiments of those groups can be grounds for authority abetted censorship, then surely those same hurt sentiments can be prosecuted for exhibiting their anguish by murder most foul.

Why, I’m wondering, is Mr. Modi remaining so deafeningly silent on the current spate of Religious Arrogance initiated crimes?

And I just read a report on the fear in Pune’s minority community. Surely, it is worthy of Prime Ministerial mention when a section of his constituency are afraid to wear the symbols of their faith. Maybe he will get the message if we, the majority religion, follow the lead of the Danes in WW2, when the entire population, of whatever faith, wore the Nazi mandated yellow star that marked those of the Jewish faith. It may be instructive to not that the King of Denmark started the movement. Oh, wait, I’m forgetting Mr. Modi’s aversion to skull caps.

Never mind. 

 

It gets unnerving, sometimes being a returned son of the soil, rss, lower case. All that native blood (nb) and genetic coding(gc) having to contend with elsewhere grown, age-ed, flesh, sensibility, and muscle memory. Quite exhausting.

Take this business  Of Rajya Sabha and its composition. 

Okay, I can, if I use slightly skewed tools, draw parallels between the RS and the US Senate but India's way of getting bums on lordly seats seems silly, to my admittedly small understanding. I mean, moving superannuated luminaries to party strong holds at party convenience, hmmm. Now I'm not saying that US senate is not Ruling Party heavy but the best a senate aspirant can hope for is Party-in-power BigButt - PBB  (hey-we're talking about the US here - #1 on the World's Fattest Nation list, ok? Although it might be instructive to note that India is #3 on that list, just behind - heh-heh - China. - just sayin') anyway, back to BigButts, all the aspirant can expect is for PBB to show up at election time and say nice things To represent a district the aspirant has to be actually known to the local political structure and money, it must be said. Not just be awed into acquiescence by the Prime Minster and his/her myrmidons. Anent which, that title itself, Prime Minister to which Higher Power? Smacks of Royalism, and ministerial obsequies, to my 'We, the People Sensibility'.

Phew, that feels much better.

Thanks for letting me vent.

Let's Make India A Better Place - Police and Judicial Reforms - Community - Google+

Let's Make India A Better Place - Police and Judicial Reforms - Community - Google+:



'via Blog this'

This has been an itch in my brain for a while now and i guess this is as good a place as any to scratch that itch.  Here goes.
I’m thinking that India will be a much better place if we stop referring to the police forces as law enforcement agencies. The police, a peace keeping force, cannot be enforcers of the law in a system that presumes innocence and places the burden of proof of guilt on the State. The sole function of a policing agency is to take the ACCUSED breakers of the Peace to a place of Judgment. Law enforcement happens only after that judgment. Enforcement of any Law needs the imprimatur of a Reasoned Judgment. Anything other sounds, and is, like jackboots and armored fists on village doors.
Neuro-linguistic programming is a thing. Look it up if you want to. Telling a child something is hard rather than difficult, has a cognitive affect on maturation. Telling a peace keeper that he is an enforcer leads to the Napoleonic Code with its concomitant shift in the burden of proof. Vide: Iran, any number of African ‘Governments', and increasingly, the 'United' States of America.

Google News

Invoking god during election amounts to
cheapening divinity – read the headline, encapsulating the opinion of the
Honorable Justice Rajinder Sachar. Sadly, for India, the good
Justice is retired and his opinion is just that, lower case, and does not carry
the weight of an Opinion from the bench. From the Delhi High Court, his
erstwhile Office, that Opinion would have brought a much needed breath of cool
rationality into the present hormone driven teenage phase of the maturing
Indian Democracy.

 Bummer.

‘Cuz, you speak truth, Mr. Justice; if not
the whole truth.

The whole truth is that relig… I beg your
pardon, Religion cheapens divinity. That which started out as philosophy, with
its questions, curiosities, and conundrums, seems to have devolved into
rigidities. Hindutva, defined as the practice of the Hindu Way, a super
highway, lane markings, toll booths, speed traps, and exit signs into perfidy
and retribution included, has taken the place of hindutva, a far less insistent
passage from here to There. Or, so it seems to me. That upper case demand for respect
seems so at odds with the hinduism 
taught to me by my very Tulu, very hindu, grandmother. She wouldn’t eat
beef but she had no problems with a grandson who did. She’d shudder at the
thought of banning anyone, of any faith, or no faith, from entering a temple.
She’d be incensed to hear of Hindu Temples that bar the entry of non-Hindus. Most
certainly she’d not countenance the tearing down of a Mosque.  Her hinduism, her hindutva, was a meandering,
stop -and - smell - the - flowers; eschew ritual in prayer, path through the
spiritual life. The gods she worsh… respected, were the ones who didn’t mind a
question or two about dicta and their interpretations, an altogether amiable,
if argumentative, sort of relationship. My way, her hindutva said, or, your own
way. She would not take it upon herself to find fault with a way other her own,
whatever her thoughts might be. Pitfalls will be found and dealt with, or not,
she might have said, had she spoken english.

I should probably add that I use Hindutva v
hindutva merely as illustration. Okay and also because I sense the stench of
Religion rising from the body politic, here in India, a nation in which there
are those who have made names for themselves proclaiming the Right of Way based
on numbers of Hindus in Hindustan. Not unlike the system in Pakistan, Sri
Lanka, Iran, Israel, and the United States. [What? You don’t think Big Money is
a Religion? Check out Bechtel’s head quarter building while browsing photos of
Winchester Cathedral, Tirumala Temple, et al. Interesting architecture, no?

You know what? – Toad asked, expectantly.

I’m afraid to ask – said Mrs. Toad, hopelessly.

Nevertheless, USians – boy, pronounce that as a word and all sorts of national characteristics start popping up, don’t they? – anyway,  USians may have a point when aspirants for public office have to open their books, all of them, to public scrutiny. That means we of the inquiring minds get to know, legally, if wives, extra or impaired, are tucked away, children have gotten tattoos and piercings, whether pets ride on top of the SUV, or if First Ladies have substance abuse problems; all this notwithstanding the privacy protection constitutional enshrinements – said Toad, trampling hope.

And what would the relevance of any of that be, especially in Indian Politics? – Mrs. T asked before she could stop herself, her need for relevance, once again, trapping her – Not to mention the Right to Privacy issues – she continued, her tongue betraying her will.

Toad’s joy was palpable. Mrs. Toad tucked her hands into the folds of her pallu. She watched as his pontification glands expand. Rapid response was, she realized, the order of the day.  Toad – she said, raising an admonitory finger – before you start, why don’t we wait and see what how the e-universe responds to your assertion, ok?

Urk – said Toad.