The Crust of Life

आज शमा खुश है क्यूंकि शम्श ने उसे सराहा है अपनी काबिलियत पर कर यक़ीन ऐ दोस्त की एक ज़र्रे ने भी समंदर को मोती से नवाज़ा है क़दर करना सीख हर इंसान की तू की मुर्दो ने भी कई इंसान में जान डाली है - Musten Jiruwala (26th October, 2014) Aaj shama khush hai, kyunki shamsh ne usey saraha hai apni qabiliyat par kar yaqeen ae dost ki ek zarre ne bhi samandar ko moti se nawaza hai qadar karna seekh har insaan ki tu ki murdo ne bhi kai insaan me jaan dali hai Today, flame is happy because sun has appreciated its light Believe in your ability, my friend because, one grain of sand has given a gift of pearl to the ocean Appreciate every human being because, even dead body has given life to many people

  Only a master narrator like Vishal Bharadwaj can do justice to this Shakespearean masterpiece in contemporary setting and that too with a new twist! Haider, which is based on the Kashmir conflict where I could relate Tabu's character of Hamlet's Gertrude with current state of Kashmir, which is married to India but flirting with Pakistan. She has brought out the trials and tribulations of a "half-widow" state. KayKay has done an amazing job of portraying Pakistan's character through Claudious who uses "terrorist" (Mukhberins) under his control to kill people who are in his way. And, of course, Shahid has done a wonderful job of portraying the current generation of Kashmir through the character of Hamlet. Shraddha has done a good job with Ophelia's character. I loved the twist in the tail (If you have not seen Haider, please stop reading from here). As Gandhiji had said, an eye for an eye will make the whole nation blind - this message is d...

It is one thing to aspire for something and its entirely another thing to achieve it. Even though I am a left-leaning liberal, I admire Narendra Modi for having the ability to achieve what he aspires for. He has created such a cult like following that he is considered to be no less than a super-human. Forget about criticizing him, even if you term his achievements as ordinary or less than ordinary, you will invite wrath from die-hard Modi-fans. And, never even try to highlight achievements of his opponents. If anybody can turn a Modi-fan away from Modi, is Modi himself! On one hand I admire him as an able leader and on the other hand I dread his far-right ideology of authoritarianism. Whether I like it or not, the perception that he has created for himself (which is reaping benefits for his party), he will be in Delhi for a long long time. As an authoritarian, his first agenda will be to systematically weed out any challenger within or outside his party. He has smart...

There are three basic political ideologies. Conservatism, Liberalism and Socialism/Communism. Since independence, Indian politics is centered around liberal ideology - Sometimes leaning towards Conservatism and sometimes towards Socialism/Communism, but predominantly on Liberal lines. 2014 is bringing in an ideological shift in Indian politics. It seems to be moving right towards Conservative ideology. Farther right to this would take us to Anarchy. This will certainly make the Liberals lean heavily towards left to keep the balance. If they move too far towards left, it would take us to Anarchist Communism. Over a period of time, Indian politics will become bi-polar like in the west, Conservative and Liberal. What will be the impact on citizens? Economy, human resource development, environment, law and order and social harmony are defined by the dominant political ideology. Since we are witnessing a shift, initially there will be a degree of resistance to change. If resistance i...

Whenever 2002 Gujarat riots are spoken about, 1984 riots are used as counter arguments. Whenever 1992 riots are spoken about, 1984 riots are used as counter arguments. When 1984 riots are spoken about, 1992 and 2002 riots are used as the counter arguments. Please allow me to take the hue out of these incidences and present to you a black and white picture to clarify what my stand is. If you agree with this stand, I urge you to share this view. In 1984, a leader of a political party was assassinated. After her assassination, people who sympathized with that political party and leader incited their Indian supporters to kill Indians to avenge the death of their leader. They used the emotion of an average Indian to inflict mayhem on their fellow Indians. In the process, thousands of Indians were killed and hundreds of thousands of Indians were rendered homeless. In 1992, a political party and another group of Indians, incited large part of Indians to demolish a 40...

Who is worthy of my vote? This question was troubling me since last many months. I was not satisfied with my own answers to this question. But, today, at B.PAC organized meet with the candidates clarified many things and I could come up with one definite answer that I was satisfied with. After a series of scams that rocked the UPA-II, I was feeling quite lost for an answer. Then came assembly elections and AAP won 26 seats in Delhi. I saw a ray of hope. I started liking AAP. However, my happiness was short-lived. AAP could not provide a model of governance which was self-sustaining and long lasting. There was no diplomacy or polity in their approach. AAP came across as a confrontationist party to me. I was back to square one with the question. I started seriously considering BJP for my vote. Somehow, I did not feel it right to vote for just any BJP candidate just because Narendra Modi, who has provided stable governance in Gujarat for last 12 years, was at the helms....