Betrayed!

The decision of the Union Cabinet of Ministers to air-brush all and any objections raised against the by now infamous reservation policy being mooted by the HRD Minister, Mr. Arjun Singh is simply unnerving, if anything. Come to think of it, I found it simply disgusting.
Although my previous posts have clearly enunciated my position on the reservation issue, I do not seek to have this post seen as a part of the same debate. For me, this debate has gone beyond a mere legislation. It has become a battle cry for a whole re-evaluation of the way we interact with our ‘representatives’, and how our ‘representatives’ represent our interests in the highest legislature in this country. That no political organisation, barring the Shiv Sena, has even bothered itself to been even seen to be receptive to the demands and the issues being raised by the protestors speaks volumes for their complicity in this whole affair. I always found it remarkable that the same politicians, who will gladly cut each other’s throats in different circumstances, come together when the issue at hand concerns benefiting them, either directly or otherwise. Maybe before it was remarkable, but now it is plain disgusting.
I seem to be ending each paragraph with the word ‘disgusting’, but that’s exactly how I am feeling. I am feeling let down, by the very people in whom I reposed trust, in whom I believed, in whose integrity I found comfort. Why, Dr. Singh, did you choose to indulge your colleague’s dream for a political comeback? Why, oh why, Mr. Chidambaram, did you not tell your cabinet members that you would not bear the burden of the reservation policy, when you would never think twice about rejecting any proposals entailing expenditure without assured returns?
I donned the raiment of Dr. Singh in a mock press conference in college this year, and felt no shame then, because I believed that I was trying, if even for just a few minutes, to become a saint. Now, I feel like clawing at those moments, tearing them from my memory, for now I have been betrayed!

Acting affirmative!

The vociferous opposition by a majority of the members of the National Knowledge Commission to the reservation policy being proposed by Mr. Arjun Singh is a sign that India and its political system are slowly maturing to a point wherein such seemingly unpopular viewpoints also have the right to being voiced in public. While six of the eight members of the commission, including the famous Sam Pitroda, known as the father of India’s communication revolution, have demanded that the Government maintain status quo on the issue of reservations, two other members have offered conditional support to the Government’s proposal, which in itself is a good thing, considering that outright support would have been suicidal.
Dr. P.M. Bhargava, one of the dissenting members, has stipulated that any increase or extension of the current reservation system would have to be accompanied by the setting up of approximately 4,00,000 government high schools, on the primary and secondary levels, as also any extension must be done without reducing in any manner the merit intakes. Mind you, the Commission is not opposed to the principle behind the proposed reservation policy, because in its press statement, the Commission has spoken of this being a historic opportunity to make higher education more socially inclusive, however what they wish to subject to further contemplation is the method to be followed. This is basically the point that the people objecting to the reservation policy have been trying to make throughout the entire protest period.
I do not believe that anyone, or rather any conscientious soul, would object to the State’s attempts to work towards the upliftment of certain communities, given the deplorable conditions that they have been subjected to, and continue to be subjected to. What may ruffle feathers is the attempt to resort to a system of positive discrimination, which in the long run, becomes counter-productive, as neither party is willing to let go of the status quo. The beneficiaries, being so, are unwilling to let go of the privileges and facilities entailed, and the others, being forced to let go of some opportunities are chafing at any attempt to increase the quanta of beneficiaries, even if they were to acknowledge that the need to do so is genuine.
Along the lines of Dr. Bhargava’s suggestion, I wish to suggest that the Government focus its attention on improving the primary and secondary education systems. Once these systems are capable of inculcating brilliance and of nurturing creativity in students, I have no doubt that the so-called social abyss currently witnessed in higher educational institutes will be bridged, albeit slowly. And rather than insisting on numeric quotas, the Government and the political system should try and evaluate other alternative approaches to affirmative action, which I am sure would be well appreciated if well-intentioned and well-planned.

Farewell!

The lone warrior stood alone at the gates,
Awaiting the unknown enemy,
And his bugle’s call,
To sound the end of the beginning,
To signal the beginning of the end.

The stones, he observed in wonder,
That his forebears and many before them,
In awe, had gazed at in the ages before,
Saw he the marks of the floods,
Of water and of blood, of previous battles fought,
Of massacres averted, of enemies thwarted.

He wondered to himself,
Would he ever see his beloved again?
Would he caress her soft brown tresses?
They with the sweet jasmine blossoms,
And the mehndi’s bitter scent?

Would he hold her in his embrace?
And look into those oceans of blue,
Those jewels of sapphire,
Encased in that frame of pure porcelain?
Would he ever hear her dulcet voice?
That which resounded like
A thousand wind chimes in the morning breeze?
Would he ever again clasp her delicate wrist?
That would be adorned with ornaments of untainted silver?

A trumpet broke his reverie,
Saw he that it was over,
The war had begun, the end was near,
Farewell, my love, farewell,
Forgive me, I ask of thee, for I could not
Return your affections.
Farewell!

Sometimes

Sometimes it is best to leave some things unsaid,
To suppress those emotions, those feelings,
Which, if expressed, could bring one the sense of freedom,
But then traps one in the gloom of guilt and grief,
Guilt at having said something unwarranted,
Grief at having unleashed the floodgates of Time before their time.

Sometimes it is best to say some things aloud,
To free those sentiments from the self-imposed prison of the soul,
To bare them before the world and proclaim,
“Glare all you must at me, oh pitiless humanity,
But my heart knows in its infinite depths,
That I have not erred, that I have done what is right.”

Sometimes one feels the pangs of attraction,
A feeling of somehow wanting to be one with someone else,
To be the sensation that she feels, to be the ears to whom she speaks,
To be the eyes through which she sees,
This world and beyond, the infinite heavens and the stars above,
To live for her joy, and to die for her bliss.

It is foolhardy to live in these momentary glimpses,
To see the world in these flashes of color,
For life is larger than this, for life is greater than this,
And yet there is the thrill of the moment,
The moment when the butterfly unleashes its majesty from the lowly cocoon,
That is when one comprehends the splendor of sometimes, the grandeur of the instant.