Wednesday, April 09, 2014

To my friends who swear by AAP


Today is election eve and tomorrow is the day of reckoning. For quite some quite some time, you and I have been debating, sometime in a lighter vain and sometime quite passionately. I don’t think that the debate can come to a conclusion any time soon. Only time can tell, whether you were right or I was right or if both of us were wrong. But what I can do today is state a few facts and make a last ditch attempts to touch a few chords in your heart that binds us together.

Fact1. However heated our discussions were; never for once I doubted that what you want for this nation is different from what I want for this nation. Our views may be different, our perceptions may be different, our methods can be different; but at the end, both of us want to make this nation the greatest nation on earth. Both of us want peace prosperity and security for each and every individual who loves this nation. I respect you for that, and I will appreciate if I can get the same from you.

Fact2. You believe AK is the man of destiny, I believe NAMO is the man of destiny. But I believe NAMO is the man for the moment as well. Today I want to ask you, to cross your heart and sincerely ask yourself, is AK the right man for this moment. If your answer is yes, then of course go ahead and vote for him. But even if you have an iota of doubt about this, then please, please think twice. This country cannot afford another mistake.

Rationale why AK may not be the man for this moment. Before voting tomorrow, please listen carefully to what AK has to say. Unlike Delhi, where he emphatically said that we will win this election, he is not saying that he will win this election. This is because, AK himself knows that this is not his time. What he is basically saying that let there be fractured mandate, so that there is another election by 2016 where he is setting his target on. So the question is; why he is asking for a fractured mandate. I guess you will find the answer yourself if you will visualize the scenario yourself. If there is a fractured mandate, there will be no cohesive force in center. A weak central government will bring down economy; will indulge in rampant corruption to stay in power and which will finally result in the breakdown of the already fragile system named government. AK and his party prosper in that kind of situation. Just like the so called secular party, who need the fear of Modi to survive (why will Muslims vote for Mulayam if there was no Modi) AK needs corruption to run his anti-corruption plank. After all if corruption would not have touched the gargantuan scale that it was during UPA regime, there would have been no Anna Movement and AK would have remained just another NGO type. So just like a fish needs water to breathe, AK and his party needs corruption to prosper. Ironical but true.
But point is, can we really afford to make this situation from bad to worse so that AK can come as a knight in shining armor and rescue us from that mess. AK wants to rise as a phoenix from the ashes of the 2014 elections but are we ready the provide the fodder for that fire? Think twice. For it does not take much for a fire to become a wild fire, an all engulfing, all destructive, ugly fire.
Happy Voting tomorrow  

Tuesday, April 08, 2014

Corruption is an overrated vice



Just picking up from where I left, the most hated word of the season seems to be Corruption. That made me thinking, what happened to the people who were saying just a few years back “I don’t care if somebody takes some money as long as he does the work”. Why the sudden change of heart?
Then I realized that it’s all about extent. Another typical example is gold. A 100% pure gold is useless, it’s just Au, its soft like lead and you can’t build anything out of it. To make something with gold you have to add some impurity to it and whether you like it or not, you have to accept it. We are happy as long as the impurity is in the range of 99% (24 carat), 92%(22 carat) or even 75% (18 carat). But you will not accept it if it goes below that. So you see; the question is not about pure or corrupt, the question is about how corrupt it is.
People voted for the UPA-I government even though there were serious allegation of corruption against them. Why? Because at that point of time; corruption was not having direct impact on their life. But the extent of corruption of UPA was so high that by 2013 it had eaten into the vitals of the nation. As a result there was a direct impact on the AAM Aadmi. Prices were soaring, Gas cylinders were getting scare and suddenly the Aam Aadmi realized that corruption is BAD..
Wake up. The highly celebrated AaM Aadmi gives too hoots about corruption as long as he is getting his basic necessities right. Give him a few more subsides and a few extra cylinders; he will forget about corruption in no time. I don’t blame him, because that’s why he is Aam Aadmi.
And that is why I can’t vote for that Aam Aadmi to rule this nation. You need to see beyond the horizon to take a nation to greatness. And I seriously doubt that a Aam Aadmi, or a pretender of an Aam Aadmi have the capacity to think beyond the obvious.
Think about it

Honesty is an overrated virtue



Honesty is the new flavor of the season. A rare word to hear some time back, “Honesty” now seems to be the most popular one.  “But he is an honest one” seems to be the best way to end and argument.
Please don’t get me wrong. Honestly; I am not a dishonest person (no pun intended). Apart from greasing the palm of a traffic police now and then; I have not done any dishonest thing in my life. I have high regards for an honest man, but I have serious doubt if honesty is the answer to all the questions of life. I believe; being right is more important than being honest. 

A typical example would be, a kid trying to draw a picture and asking you for your opinion. An honest answer may be; “Your drawing is rubbish” But question is, would that be the right answer?

So to all my friends and especially to the self-proclaimed “honest leaders”; try to be always right, rather than always honest

Friday, April 04, 2014

Debate/Discuss

After a long time I am in a mood to write today. There is a lot that I want to say and there is a lot that I want to share. This will be the first of the many posts to come. Forgive me if it gets a bit preachy in between. Just pamper me for a while and try to focus on what I want to say rather than how I am saying that.
It's election time and I see heated debates going on everywhere about every topic under the sky; but mostly about polity. There was a time when the allure of a good debate was something that I could never resist. Whatever be the topic, whoever may be the opponent; I had to jump in, and I had to win, and mostly I used to win. But then suddenly; I stopped debating. What happened??

Maturity Happened. I grew up, I matured. I learnt to discuss

I realized that….

In Debates; for every winner there has to be a loser; whereas in discussions everyone can be a winner

Debate can give only self-gratification whereas discussions can you self-satisfaction

And last but not the least; with debates, you can win over a person, whereas a healthy discussion can help you win the person over. Same language but world of difference.

So my friends; before you jump into the debate bandwagon; think twice. For I am here to discuss, not debate…