Changing with the times

"Change is the only constant."

-Anonymous

A smart guy had said once, “In today’s world, what are national boundaries but mere lines on maps.” And I couldn't have agreed any more with him. We are living in, as it has been said, a global village after all. No offence to Jackie Chan but now we don’t really need 80 days to travel around the world, and it is but inevitable that with the advent of globalization  there has been an ever increasing exchange of ideologies, both cultural and technological. It is an obvious fact but I would still venture to say that all this has drastically changed the way we, the people, live their lives. It is mostly for the good I think but as we all know, every coin has two sides to it. More often than not, it goes down to an individual level that how this phenomenon affects us.

Now that the stage is set, let me bring to fore the real topic at hand. India, the birthplace of the oldest and greatest of civilizations, has been seeing a big cultural shift as of late. We as a nation are at a crucial juncture at the moment. India has one of the largest, if not the largest, youth population in the world and that can be said to be the biggest reason for the change we are going through. This large chunk of the population grew in the age of web, lightning fast media, cross-cultural references and exquisite gadgets. Sounds good, doesn't it? But these are the same people who before even getting their driving licenses end up getting depression (or worst case, pregnant) at times! We are being influenced by the west they say, but is that the real reason? As I had already mentioned it is but inevitable that societies will adopt changes using the influx of new ideas from far and beyond. But beating the shit out of some girls in a bar and harassing them in broad daylight is not the best way to go about dealing with this change surely enough! 

We, as the present generation have a lot on our plate. Identity crises were never this prominent ever before and peer pressure weighs down heavy on even your average school kid. The fact that most of the parents won’t listen to anything but their deep-rooted age old beliefs doesn't help at all. Trying to find a way out many of us want to act differently, make others take notice. In this process many of the teens end up being enamored by the ways of the west. They listen to rock music just because the cool people do, they try to “get into a relationship” because they don’t want to end up like the forever alone guy on their FB timeline and in the process they lose the grip on what they really are. Now, I am not saying anything mentioned above is bad per SE but the reasons most of the people tend to do them are!

You don't need to smoke just because the you saw some apparent "hot-shot" do it. You don't have to dress up like everyone else expects you to do. You don't need to act as a rebel just because you think it would make you stand out. The only things you need to do is to ask yourself, "What do I really want to do?" and then you need to follow your heart. Trust me, in the long run it will give you a satisfaction that nothing else will do.

My final piece of advice : 
Simply follow the mantra, " Do what you love, Love what you do..."

The 'Untouchable' topic : Reservation

How India as a nation would have fared without the reservation system?

This question, in spite of its controversial nature needs to be asked. Some might argue that now that it is already prevalent why not simply go about things the way they are and see towards the future rather than pondering over the past but I tend to disagree. This logic might work in topics with a more modern origin so as to say. But when it comes to this Indian system its history needs to be looked into along with the current impact. The reason why it has withstood the test of time is a big question mark on the human mind-set. The reason being that to decide where we go from here with this system would require taking into account not just the present situation, but rather also the history behind it!

Let us get talking a little about human psyche, shall we? It’s a normal human trait to accept things the way they come towards you than trying to do things the hard way (which is more often than not the right way). Some people manage to get out of this mind-set and those select are the few who end up leaving an impact. We, as a society need to acknowledge this fact and accept that had anyone been in the place of a reserved category person, he/she might have accepted this system as a freebie and continue going about things as they are! If we are able to do so we might be able to slowly do away with the system.

But the problem arises when rather than delving deep into our souls we shamelessly start questioning a certain class of people. This debate and this system won’t be corrected by mere abashing of the reserved classes, rather we need to find the root cause of where the problem actually lies
and once we do, we might be able to correct a lot of things. Some of them being:

*** Indian education system (or rather the selection process) needs to be sorted out, and SOON!***

 

For many students it must be heart-breaking to see lesser individuals (and I am not talking only about IQ, rather passion too) get into elite institutions ahead of them.

Not only does it create a feeling of contempt rather also acts as big deterrent for the atmosphere of the institution. And trust me; the increasing competition isn’t helping the cause!

*** The already deteriorating political system isn’t helping the Dalit cause anymore in any case.***

When the great B.R. Ambedkar had agreed to create reservations for the oppressed classes, he had given it a ten-year life span; i.e. the system was supposed to be abolished in 1957. Now, many political analysts say that had it happened so it would have meant the near-extinction of the Dalit classes from the political map so it was good in a way that Dr.Ambedkar’s wish didn’t get fulfilled but it ended up getting stretched much longer than it should have had. The cause for the greater good got lost in the muddy ponds of Indian politics of vote-banks. The Dalit movement would have had continued in any case for the political advantage being offered to the ‘oppressed classes’ was misused by puppets in the hands of big parties like the BJP and Congress who were far from the Dalit movement. So even if the reservation were to end today it would not affect the larger picture of the Dalit cause.

Right now, straightaway removal of reservation might sound tempting and just to a large number of people. After all to an extent this system in legal terms is the equivalent of “punishing the children for the sins of their fathers.” But one needs to think of the overall stability of the system too. You can’t make such drastic changes overnight.

That being said, I think there needs to be a proper committee or think tank being set up for this very cause, for the cause of removal of reservation, partial or whole, and to correct the wrongs. The oppressed can’t stay the oppressed their entire life! We need to ensure than that we, as a nation see this through because no one can be sure about how the society would have been without it but I would love to see, personally, how it would be without it in the future.

The Darkest Hour

"I have worshiped woman as the living embodiment of the spirit of service and sacrifice."

-Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Quite ironical it is to think that the above words were said by the “father of the nation” of a country which is being condemned worldwide right now for the way it treats its women, even more that this very country, since ancient times, has worshiped women as a divine being. But nothing is more ironical than the fact that it is this very 'Vedic' nation whose 'sons' rape their women and throw them in the middle of nowhere to die!

The recent incidents in our nation's capital involving the rape of a 23 year old, her subsequent traumatizing death and everything in between brought to popular attention the rather disturbing mindset prevalent in our society. The horrific details brought out an out pour of varying sentiments seen rarely before in contemporary Indian history. To top that, just when we thought the situation couldn’t get any worse, we saw some of the most irresponsible behavior by our political and intellectual class. Ranging from mind numbing silences by the top brass to outrageously idiotic statements, we had it all. This brought to fore once again that it’s not necessarily a lower strata problem; rather it is a much deeper crisis.

The problem lies with the very core patriarchal mindset of our society. Rape is not only a perverted and inhumane act of sexual gratification; rather for many it symbolizes an act of masochistic dominance. After all, the idea of male superiority is what most of the population grew up with. Why not then, just justify it!?

And that night there were not just 6 culprits. The passive stand-byers who wouldn’t dare to help the two ‘strangers’ were also a part. It was not just a 23 year old girl who was violated! We were all victims.

The world may not have ended but humanity will if we don’t do something. This may sound cliché but it’s time to correct the wrongs, time we became proud again. Time we not only change things, but became the change itself.