Forgive Them... !!

Times have changed and each one of us alive stands witness to that. Times have changed, from the pleasant evenings of the crimson filled sky to the blood smeared roads. Times have changed, from the chuckles and voices of people in a busy market to the deafening noise of screams and blasts. Times have changed, from hustle and bustle of life to piles of corpses and limbs scattered all over the place. Times sure have changed in the past 25 years, my lifespan, so far. I say so far, since i dont know long i am allowed to live anymore, how long will these terrorists have mercy on me and my brethren. My days, i feel, are numbered.

I am writing this article in hope for a change, for i am tired of seeing my fellow countrymen die. I am writing this article, in sheer despair, for i have stood witness to innumerable terrorist attacks and bomb blasts in my meager life span of 25 yrs. I am writing this article, cause i feel the pain of my kinsmen and can hear the screams of the people who have lost a loved one. I am writing this article, cause the gruesome images of the blood pools on the streets of my country, haunt me at night. I am writing this article, cause i feel helpless at the plight of my country and its innocent citizens who have suffered. But most important of all, i am writing this article, because i feel that the anger of losing a loved one has filled the hearts of my people with anger and has clouded their senses; for my people have lost their path and now wander aimlessly in the tunnels of darkness, with blood smeared walls and the stench of burning flesh in the air.

I woke up to a war. I woke up to a time where anger and not sensibility rules our judgement. I woke up to an era, where people understand pain and hatred but not love, understand anger and punishment but not forgiveness, understand haste but not patience, understand the problem but not the solution, understand despair but not hope, understand death but not life and most important of all, understand religion but not god. Its difficult to comprehend the pain that someone goes through when they lose someone, but then its equally difficult to show compassion towards those who wrong us. It might sound stupid and probably over applied in the Indian scenario, since we are known to be compassionate towards our enemies since time immemorial and thus have been always at the receiving end. But then we also must understand that terrorism is an idea, a concept that brews in the minds of the weak. One cannot kill terrorism by killing the person who harbours it, for it will find a new mind to corrupt and prey upon. An idea must be changed and through this change can we truly achieve what we all strive i.e. Peace. Justice will not be done to the constable's soul who gave up his life to catch Kasab by hanging Kasab, but by bringing about a change in the minds of all those who will become Kasab's in the days to come. True justice is in bringing about this change and not in killing the one who killed 167 people.

The world is truly a fragile place. Fragile cause something as important as Peace hangs on the balance of volatile people and countries. People are vulnerable, emotional and unstable. The loss of a loved one, a dear friend, a husband, a wife, a father, a son, a mother drives us insane to the extent that we would do anything to see the person who caused this loss, suffer the same fate. All i have to say is that an eye for an eye, a hand of a hand, a limb for a limb will leave the whole world dead. This saga of i-kill-you-because-you-killed-me will only bring more violence rather than peace. It will push us all into a vicious cycle of violence and death from which none of us will ever be able to return back. 60 yrs into independence and already the thin fine line between who was right and who was wrong is starting to blend into oblivion. 200 yrs from now, we probably will not even know anymore as to what was right and what was wrong. We would have all turned into mindless and heartless zombies who only care about getting even with the ones who hurt them. Humanity is already at peril and in 200 yrs or less it will be extinct.


One day, things will change. One day the world will realize. One day our lives will be better. One day, life will be beautiful and sacred once again. I lay awake in hope to see that day when peace and sanity will once again prevail upon us and our lives and the generations to come ahead, unlike us, will wake up to a better world. One day, I hope that the streets in india will change for better and that people will cast of their fears to walk freely someday. One day, I hope for a change of heart for those who think killing the right or the wrong ones is the solution to the problem.

But Today, i pray for those who lost a loved one in the Mumbai blasts and ask God to rest their souls in peace. But on this day, i also ask God to forgive those who caused harm to these innocent people for they are misguided and misled. I pray that someday, God grants them enlightenment and makes then realize their sins and show them the correct path. Amen.. !!

Awaken Me

awaken me from my ignorant slumber, 

for i want to see this ruthless world, 

awaken me from my optimistic drunken stupor, 

for i want to see it all.

awaken me from my inanity, 

for i want to stand witness to the people rage,

awaken me from my banality, 

for i want to see this world change.

awaken me from my decadence, 

for i want to stand firm in such turbulent times, 

awaken me from my morbid existence,

for i want to face all the human crimes. 

awaken me from this human grave, 

for all my life i just stood and watched. I knew

the war was here and we were few, 

yet i stood and watched. 

Brave men came and brave men fought, 

with their guns and with their words. Yet all

i ever did was stood and watched.

Now i refuse to let history pass by, 

now i refuse to stand idle and die,

for i have watched for far too long, 

its finally time to undo the wrong.

awaken me from my ignorant slumber, 

for i want to see this beautiful world, 

awaken me, 

for i want to see it all.

 

The Hindu-Hindu Dilemma.. !!

Recently me and a couple of my Facebook friends had a small discussion about the pseudo secular nature of the Congress government and on the topic of Hindu extremism. This an account of the discussion we had:

My friend was concerned and a bit furious over the recent wikileaks: "Rahul Gandhi felt that hindu extremism is probably a bigger threat to the nation than the LeT or other jihadist groups." He said that the congress government was pseudo secular and that they only care about the vote bank politics and hindus have never wronged anyone either in the past or now, but have been constantly wronged by other religions and religious communities in the past

Me: "why is there such a hue and cry over the media and everything when the only thing Rahul Gandhi did was state the obvious... !! Hindu extremism is a far bigger threat for a secular India as compared to any other form of terrorism, this has the potential to completely break down the very fabric of the secular and democratic image which india so proudly claims.. and hw long will the indian turn a blind eye towards it.. the insecurity among the hindus these days about their religion and that they might supposedly lose their identity if they dont protect it from the western invasion, sounds to me more like the fear among the islam in the middle east.. !!

its time for the whole nation to wake up to this fact, this bitter truth tht we Hindus, who once boasted of being the most liberal and non propagandist religion of the world, are slowly turning into a bunch of extremists and thus creating more tension in the country between hindus and other religions int he country, especially the muslims.."

My Friend: "have to partially agree with your views. But, i feel hindus have been more tolerant than anyone else. Hindus never tried to impose their religion in other parts of the world by force unlike some religions which are trying to spread in india by appeasing the poor. Many People across the world have volunteered to join hinduism on their own. Unlike muslims, hindus never bullied anyone. But, due to some stray elements and lack of unity, hinduism is unfortunately misunderstood by many. Hindus never destroyed the churches or maszids but we know how many temples were demolished in india by muslims and how much wealth was looted. Hindus respect women a lot while you know muslims encourage polygamy and force women to wear burkha. The phrase 'Hindu extremism' is a non issue as hindus have just retaliated sometimes for their suffering and they never took the first extremist step."

My Friend: "For congress, a muslim supporter is secular and a hindu supporter is communal. There is no such instance of hindus tarnishing the secular fabric of india. It was the power mongering, pseudo secular congressmen did the bigger damage by encouraging forced conversions in places like tirupati. i was just trying to make some basic comparision. If that could lead to hindu-muslim rift, then let that happen"

Me: "okie.. i guess ur wrong in a couple of places..

1st: we did destroy masjids in the past.. babri masjid is one example which was a clear sign of our stupidity. We have also demolished churches in Kerala and in Orissa, raped nuns, and burnt them alive.. U can search on the net for it.. I knw it particularly well cause it happened in orissa and there was a curfew for a couple of days in those regions..

2nd: yes other religions are propagandist and appease the poor in india and in turn convert them.. but then why shldn the poor choose a religion where there is atelast equality, unlike ours where we kinda rate people based on caste.. if i was a SC or ST while being a hindu, and was given an option to convert into a christian, i would happily do so.. after all i too want to be treated as an equal in the society and other religions give them tht.. while hinduism still has SC, ST's, dalits and in some parts of the country even untouchability (harijans)..

3rd: coming to the part of wealth being looted from the hindu temples, i must say tht those happened in the period between 1100 AD and 1500 AD.. why dont u see tht the moghuls who rules india for almost 400 yrs did a lot of good to the country too including most of the monuments u see in delhi and other parts of the country.. so if we want to fight over something tht happened half a millennium ago, then i must say tht we are beyond stupid..

4th: women inequality is a prolly equally prevalent in india too.. not to forget tht we still had "Sati" in india till the early part of the 20th century.. and widows are still not allowed to marry in india, in most of the parts i must say.. we still have a dowry issue.. we still have domestic violence and no one to protect them from.. so i still dont see women equality any better in india as compared to any other religion in the world. "

Me: "on a last note, the govt ur so accusing of being pseudo secular i.e. congress is prolly more secular than any other govt the country has put up with.. the Babri masjid fiasco began in 1989 when BJP was in power, the demolition lead by BJP, RSS.. the rape of nuns and setting them on fire took place again under the BJP regime, the demolition of churches in kerala is again cause of RSS and BJP while the CPM was in power in the state... "

Me: "one last thing, Under the constitution of India, freedom of religion in India is a birth right.. so everyone in the country has the right to choose his or her religion. None can force anything upon them.. So lets learn to respect other people if they choose a different religion, for its their birth right.."

Me: "i dont think we are debating about the globe here.. we are debating about india.. so when u blame muslims for everythin, then can u cite some examples of indian muslims who have done those crime on hindus.. ??

i dont think there will be any (may be the godhra incident)..... but then i think i can cite a thousand examples of indian hindus who have made the lives of muslims and other religions in india, miserable..

and like u said.. imperfections are there in other religions too.. making it an idea and then into a total issue by the hindus in india is totally unnecessary.. when we ourselves arnt perfect, we dont have the right to point fingers at other religions in the country.. atleast they are not trying to damage the secular nature of india, unlike the hindus these days.. and about the program ur so talkin about, "Art of living", i dont think we, either as a nation, or as a religion, are capable enuff or even qualified enuff to teach the world about the art of living..

coming to the point of being victimized and terrorized, its not the hindus who have been thru that.. the majority of the victims has been christians and the muslims.. the reason, hinduism doesnt have as many people as christianity and islam have.. and since the 11th Century, both the religions have been at war for world dominance to have one unified religion.. we hindus have always been a minority and will continue to be so ..

i feel its high time tht we hindus awaken from our slumber and realize tht hindu extremism is a bigger threat than anythin else this country ever faced.. and no matter wht i still dont want the BJP or for tht matter any other govt solely cause of their extremist ideals and radical thought and views.."