To Thiruchendur on Independence Day...

Independence Day, a day which should be revered by every Indian citizen with utmost respect. Yet, people still scorn at the idea of celebrating the Independence Day and there are debates going on, still, as to whether or not India should have been freed from the British Empire. Some people are even more unbelievable, ‘cause they don’t like the idea of their friends being ‘too patriotic’. I never knew till now that any person can actually be ‘too’ patriotic. A weird phrase, if you ask me.

Today, as I crossed various towns to reach Thiruchendur, I saw schools with the national flag hoisted, some shops displaying the tricolor and some students having them pinned onto their uniforms. One lady was actually drawing the flag on the entrance of her house, with color powders. I also saw several peacocks and peahens on the way. All of these scenes made my heart glow with pride and the feeling of belonging to a nation full of people who respect the same things you do. But my spirits came down as fast as they had risen.

In the highways, there was a traffic jam. This was a surprise to me. I didn’t know that there could actually be traffic jams in highways. It wasn’t because of any freak accident.

15th August, 2010

A very Happy Independence Day to every Indian!!! :

This Independence Day is not just a reminder of the great people who freed our motherland, but also, a day which gives us new hope and also the day that reminds us that the road to true independence lies far ahead. India is merely out of British control now. We shouldn't be naive enough to call it a free country now. India will not be free as long as there are trial prisoners languishing in jails, children dying of poverty, disease or improper water and sanitation, people are paying bribes to get things done in government offices, farmers are begging for help during a rough year and numerous other outrageous injustices are happening in this nation of ours. This Independence Day, let's not just be proud of India, let's also think deeply to make sure we leave a better country than the one our ancestors left us. On this 15th of August, let's promise to fight for true freedom. Freedom from corruption, poverty, ignorance, indifference, irresponsibility, disease, illiteracy, violence and injustice.

Jai Hind!!!


Once again, a very
Happy Independence Day !!!

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World Peace Day - Awareness Campaign

It was the 6th of August, and there we were, by the side of the stage, waiting with bated breaths for our time to come… And come it did. It was a play consisting of scenes and messages of our own and that’s what made it even more interesting for us. It gave us an opportunity to put a little of ourselves in every scene. What really was a challenge for every one of us was to make sure the message we wanted to spread did not make the skit boring for the audience [which is not quite easy, if I may say so]. That message was not one about peace or environment. It was about both.

On World Peace Day, we wanted to spread an awareness about how the stability and health of our surrounding environment can deeply affect the inner peace within each individual, and how that could in turn cause an adverse impact on world peace. The Nobel Prize winner for peace this year was an environmentalist. It’s not possible for us to shrug our shoulders and say peace and ecology are two distinct aspects… because they aren’t. It was also about how some people didn’t believe the little things they did would make any difference in the end… and how that thought is far from right.

For the Sake of Languages...

During the British rule, the law-makers survived by dividing the people on the basis of religions. Now, 63 years after Independence, the law-makers, a.k.a the politicians of India divide the people on the basis of castes and language. Is it any wonder why some people still wonder if the British rule was a boon or bane to India?

The Shiv-Sena in Mumbai gets all worked up about a film where Mumbai is mentioned ‘Bombay’ a couple of times. Then there is the issue about only Marathi-speaking being allowed to be taxi-drivers. Now, there is the Tamil – Savior, M. Karunanidhi who has decided to help the glorious Tamil language by giving preference to people who had studied in a Tamil-medium school, in government offices. During the Tamil Sangam held recently, I could hardly hear a word of praise about Tamil or its glories. No, it was all about how heaven had sent an angel [the CM] to guard the prestige of Tamilans. God knows when some Malayali or Gujarati politician is going to start ‘promoting’ his State language…

The Third Gender

Eunuchs were frequently employed in Imperial Indian palaces as servants for female royalty, and often attained high-status positions in Indian society. Eunuchs in Imperial palaces were organized in a hierarchy, often with a senior or chief eunuch ("Khwaja Saras") directing junior eunuchs below him. Eunuchs were highly valued for their strength, ability to provide protection for ladies' palaces and trustworthiness, allowing eunuchs to live amongst women with fewer worries. This enabled eunuchs to serve as messengers, watchmen, attendants and guards for palaces. Often, eunuchs also doubled as part of the King's court of advisers.

As a result of the number of high-status job openings available for eunuchs, poor families often converted one of their sons into a eunuch and had him work in the imperial palaces to create a steady source of revenue for the family and ensure a comfortable lifestyle for the son. This practice of castration was banned throughout the Empire in 1668 by Aurangzeb, but continued covertly.

Hijra, a Hindi term traditionally translated into English as eunuch. They usually dress in saris (traditional Indian garb worn by women) and wear heavy make-up. They typically live in the margins of society, face discriminationand earn their living in various ways, e.g., by coming uninvited at weddings, births, new shop openings and other major family events and singing until they are paid or given gifts to go away.The ceremony is supposed to bring good luck and fertility, while the curse of an unappeased hijra is feared by many. Other sources of income for the hijra are begging and prostitution. The begging is accompanied by singing and dancing and the hijras usually get the money easily. Some Indian provincial officials have used the assistance of hijras to collect taxes in the same fashion; they knock on the doors of shopkeepers, while dancing and singing, and embarrass them into paying.

Recently, hijras have started to found organizations to improve their social condition and fight discrimination. There has even been a wave of hijra entering politics and being elected to high political positions. In the epic Mahabaratha of India, Arjuna, one of the 5 heroes who is originally a handsome man, warrior and great archer becomes Brihannala, a eunuch when they spend their last year of exile in the kingdom of Virata. Brihannala/Arjuna lived among the palace women as a teacher of song and dance.

Oh God...

I was, and am a great believer in religious tolerance. I recently had the experience of attending an Easter celebration with one of my Christian friends. People were seated outside the church and a pastor was talking about goodness, sin and everything related to Christianity in general. Though I did find the sermon rather irritating, I was determined to put up my brightest smile and demeanor, to make sure my friend doesn't get offended or anything. And she wasn't. After a while, she herself admitted it was getting too boring and suggested we take a look around the church. After that, we settled to have a cordial chat with each other and when it was time to say good-bye, she gave me a book. It was written by the pastor who had been giving the sermon that day. He wrote about how he was once an ardent worshiper of the Hindu idols, how he had read all the important scriptures and how he had hated Christianity and Christians at first.

In it, the pastor had said that his son had fallen sick and when all his Hindu gods had let him down, it was Jesus Christ who came to his rescue in the form of a few priests. They had prayed for the son with utmost faith and the son had recovered from his illness, with the help of Jesus Christ's grace. I read till the son got alright and closed the book. The rest was about how truly wonderful Jesus Christ was [or that's what I think it was about].

Holding On

There are times when some of us decide to make a difference in the world or the country we live in and when we decide to go on about it, all of a sudden, the task ahead seems impossible. Till a certain point we would be brimming with certainty and confidence, but at one point we will find to our dismay that what we wanted to do a little while back was impractical and useless. After all, we would argue with ourselves, everything in the world is as it should be. We would become all philosophical and feel that everything in world has a reason and that there is always something good even in those situations that we consider as bad. Often, we would think how useless it would be to try to change the world, because we'll feel that the world changes us more than we change it. We would also feel that it is better to mind one's own business and do one's duties properly, rather than try to create a change and end by producing disaster to both ourselves as well as to those around us. We would also wonder about how the world would change by itself if everyone of us did our duties perfectly. And our hearts would be forced to wonder how it could be possible for someone like us to make a difference in the world, where millions have failed.

If you have really felt any one of the above, then believe me, you are not alone. There have been plenty of times when I have just wanted to call it quits, for one reason or the other. There have been millions of times when I had wondered whether I had tread on the wrong path. But miraculously, I have always held on to my convictions, and I still hold on to them, and will hold on to them for days to come. Though I have failed in every one of my endeavors till now, I still hold on to my dreams, because they are the only things that make my life worth living. My convictions may not be stong, they may not be doubt-proof, they may not be clear, but I know that I will never let go of them, even in the dreariest of situations. Because I am what my dreams are. My convictions define me, they make me understand my life better, to learn and they give me a reason to live. I may not succeed, but I know that I will never give up, because when it comes to the battle of life, it doesn't matter how many times you go down. What really does matter is whether you get up everytime you fall. And everytime I get up, I have learnt something that would prevent me from falling down the same hole. Which puts me at an advantage.