Dreams and Glory

My dreams aren't irrational; in fact they are simple needs. Needs that are the basics of survival with self respect. Preservation of identity is essential; or the identity shall be imposed by something different or modified to a new entity. Who shall be responsible then? The one who imposed or the one who let him impose? Who would judge the guilty? Would there be a beautiful unbiased judgement or a decorated biased rule? Would there be any benefit of digging out the guilty? What had been developed by a culture from nature would turn to be a beautiful readings in the passage of history. Who will bell the cat? Who shall raise the call? Would his call be treated as a concern or he may be decorated into someone not so favored by the society? For he, who would stand death mustn't be a matter of any concern. He must aim the glory of triumph.

Questions are innumerable; philosophies even more. Not standing for what seems to be our identity is an unforgivable crime. The long dark nights of patience and perseverance shall show the rays of dawn one day. Hope shall keep the fire alive. The hope to win; or the need to survive. The night is long, his eyes are tired, the wounds are fresh but the heart still wants peace. The dream shall be established. The restless swords shall wait in their scabbard whilst the pen shall celebrate his glory.

Secularism

I don't get it why even there is a need to declare yourself as a secular? If you are secular, you are and its perfectly normal to be one. If you aren't secular than you aren't fit enough to be a social animal. Even if you are or even if you aren't, why is there a need to declare?

 

The first known person who took me in the lap just after I was born is my Dad. Just after him, his childhood friend, who took me in his lap is a follower of Islam. My parents recall that he occasionally gifted me the 'Kufi' skull cap and even I was too fond of it. They never hesitated me wearing that. In fact, they proudly recall that a few times I even insisted on going with him to the Mosque for offering the Magrib Namaz, and that was when I barely understood what was religion.

 

I inherit a lot of religious beliefs from my Dad and my family members. The 27th day of Ramadan is considered sacred among Islam followers and for the last 37 years my father has had the oppurtunity to arrange the Iftar at our village Mosque and he wants me to continue that. He has also been doing the same for Hindu festivals like Durga Puja. He says he finds a lot of peace when he watches people celebrate. Perhaps that is the essence of religion for him.

 

My Dad has a small wooden book shelf. There stands with dignity, the three sacred religious books - The Madbhadwad Gita, The Quran and The Bible. The Bible was guifted to my Dad by one of his friends Dad who wanted my Dad to know the preachings of Jesus. The Quran was gifted to my Dad by one of his Islam following seniors. He got the Mad Bhagwatgita as a birthday gift from one of his college mates. The three books stand together, supporting as walls, not for differentiating but for upholding the dignity of human belief, preaching good deeds and inspiring great deeds.

 

I have grown in a society where people hardly try to dig in to a persons name and surname to find out their religion. It disappoints me when I see some doing that. The only time when I saw my near and dear ones digging in to a persons name was when they tried to know the persons gender and a few times they miserably failed. Some names, belong equally to both the gender. Religion is a personal thing and I don't understand why it should be bothered about. All that should matter to us is who the person is and not which religion he beliefs it.

 

My thoughts on secularism doesn't indicate that I am an atheist. I am religious and I strongly belief religions brings discipline to our lives.

The homemaker hubby

Stereotypes that have been there for ages saying an woman's true place to be in the kitchen and proudly we have been able to drive that out of the society to a great extent. It may be prevalent in the society somewhere in the nooks and corners, but it can be claimed that the era of the stereotype is in the history now.

The next generation stood up to step ahead towards equality where responsibilities and chores of the house were shared equally by the partners and which resulted in a progressive household and also led to higher household income. This trend is still followed in many households. Sharing things brings in respect for each other among the partners and also brings extra moments of love.

There is this new concept of the husband being the homemaker. Yes, I am saying something from the recent bollywood release 'Ki & Ka' starring Kareena Kapoor and Arjun Kapoor. Its actually a great concept for men who have longed to be in the kitchen. Usually men drop out the idea of being in the kitchen with the fear what their neighbours and kin's might think. Social norms have taken out the urge from many men to spend in kitchen. Many men like to do household chores and they long to be near the stove. It is pertinent when after a week of hard work men run to the kitchen on sundays to cook something good for their other half. They find solitude in cooking rather than analyzing excel sheets with data poured in it. Its not only chilling beside the lake with a pint in hand that brings excitement in to a man, but also cooking and doing other household chores. In fact, this new concept has proven that work and gender aren't related at all and everyone in the society has the right to live their life.

10 things to do before I die

•  Have some children – I don’t have any plans to get married but I would obviously like to be a father. I would like to be the father to those children who roam around the nooks and corners of the city searching for hope & bread, having the ill-fate of not receiving the parental love and care. I wouldn’t die before adopting a few children.

• Padhega India tabhi to Badhega India – I would also strive to work for the motto of Vajpayee Ji and that was enforced by Mr. Anurag Singh Thakur on 25^th Dec 2013. I appreciate the motto of imparting education to the buds of the weaker section of the society and the objective of teaching them how to earn their own bread with dignity.

• To spend all the money that I have earned – I see a lot of disappointed faces around me. Their disappointment makes my happiness disappear. If somewhere I could buy them some happiness, I would seriously do so.

• To meet all the brothers of Indian Army and thank them – I always wanted to stand bold and guard the frontiers. I couldn’t because my physique didn’t permit me to do so. Before I die I would like to meet and thank every brother who has stood awake on dark winter nights on the frontiers guarding our territory and assuring us all a sound sleep.

• Donate blood once again – Even before attending the proper age I donated blood. I was too crazy to work for humanity and even today I do so. Before I die I would like to donate blood one last time.

• Design a better death – Before dying I would also seek the chance to design a better death for myself. I don’t want to die sick and complaining. I want a martyr’s death for myself.

• Favourite cuisines – Before I die I would like to taste all my favourite cuisines for one last time. Those cuisines would include ample non-veg dishes, barbecue’s, Muglai in particular and a lot of sweets.

• To meet Salman Khan once – I have always had one idol in my life - Mr. Salman Khan. His place for being my ideal isn’t because of his super hit movies but because of his act of philanthropy towards the weaker sections of the society. Before I die I just wish to meet him once.

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 Submitted for Indispire

Traffic Inhumanity

Accidents obviously are unexpected and uncalled for. But who should be blamed for them?? Can’t there be a minor mistake on the driver’s part? Or even if he is driving carefully can’t there be a malfunction of any of the mechanical parts in the assemblage of so many rods and bearings?

Mostly it is seen that commercial vehicle drivers are being treated mercilessly by public because his vehicle had done something unusual while he was on the driver’s seat. Abusing and assaulting them has turned out to be a habit and also a matter of pride. The common person without judging anything by his conscience breaks out on the driver and the helper. This sort of passive hooliganism is present in every street of the country.

Is it right to assault the driver and the helper? There are traffic rules that states to investigate whose mistake it was and on conviction has appropriate punishments. If hitting the driver and the helper is booked under law then a criminal offence can also be registered against those chocolate heroes who hit them.

It was once when I was in a Guwahati city bus, where I got up at Adabari and was heading towards Panbazar. A lady tried to get up on the bus even after the bus left the bus stop. The bus was at around 15 Kmph. The lady couldn’t maintain her balance on the running bus and she fell down. The driver didn’t accelerate and decently stopped the bus. The bus passengers got furious at this and ran to grab held of the driver. He got a slap instantly by a well-dressed gentleman. I couldn’t understand why the passengers got so furious. I grab hold of the second person who was about to punch him on the face. The driver tried to hide behind me. While I tried to stand there and advocate for the driver, the lady suddenly arrived and made it clear that it was her mistake. The so looking gentleman who hit the driver felt ashamed and realized his mistake. There was no one who went to pick up the lady who fell down from the bus. The driver realized something wrong and instead of accelerating his vehicle and running away he showed his decency and stopped immediately. While the well-dressed gentle that should have run to help the lady get up, showed his indecency by hitting a poorly paid, over time working labour.

We should try to place ourselves at their position and imagine life for a minute. How would we feel if we have to get up early morning and hurry to work? How would we feel if we are asked to drive from 6 AM to 9:30 PM? While driving is a passion for many rich brats, there is this community of drivers who is actually fed up of pushing clutches and brakes after every hundred metres in a traffic jam and they are doing this just to earn two square meals a day for their family. There is nothing called human resource management or any organizational behaviour to monitor their livelihood and health. After working so hard, they have to face a bunch of idiots who are all into assaulting and abusing. Even if they commit mistakes and admit it, they are sure to get beaten black and blue. The best irony is that there is nobody to stand up for their human rights.

The public agitation in accidents is obvious. Rather than out bursting and handling the driver physically, the agitated public if calls an ambulance and helps clearing the passage to enable smooth fly of other vehicles shall exhibit a sense of responsibility and maturity.

 

I feel that the public is not at all bothered about accidents and causalities. It is just that they are trying to express their frustration upon this class of poor and helpless citizens. They are fed up of their household troubles or India losing the cricket match or their boss’s scolding in office and they have none upon whom they can really outburst their frustration. By abusing and assaulting these helpless people they are trying just to minimize their frustration.

I doubt if the world we live in is really civilized or it’s all namesake. Carrying smartphones and wearing formals doesn’t really mark our progress. Our progress is hidden in a change in mentality. When we will learn the basics of humanity, only then we can approach towards modernisation.

N.B- This piece of my writing was initially published for Guwahatian - An E-Magazine from Guwahati.