This is my India.......

Sri Ram Sene goons attacking innocent youth after they barged into a disco in Bangalore

The ghastly attack by Maoists killing innocents

The recent ghastly attacks by Maoists, the tragedy of air crash at Mangalore, unwarranted strike by AI union leaving 30,000 passengers stranded, prevailing political turmoil in the country, religious fanaticism, terrorism, crimes et al shows that India is a bruised and bleeding nation.
Brutal India, bleeding India, burning India, battered India, beleaguered India, bewildered India, faltering India, dropping India, disintegrating India, starving India and dying India.
India today is a battered nation with religion and casteism leading to blood stains all over the place. Bomb blasts have become a child’s toy in the hands of terrorists with our politicians enjoying the game at the altar of the innocent.
India in which forces of chauvinism and fascism have besieged the polity, in which corruption has become a way of life, in which politics has turned into a trade, violence has become the ultimate arbiter of social conflict, law and order has crumbled and the people feel insecure. Today, places of worship are vandalized and public places blasted in broad daylight, in which various religions have turned into battle-fields whose inhabitants are treated as aliens by their own protectors, in which wheels of justice move at snail pace, if at all, in which culture has become the preserve of a few.
Society ignores the basic needs of man in which half the nation sleep with an empty stomach and thousands of villages and millions of people thirst for potable water. Poverty has led to millions of children grow into illiterate, stunned, deformed adults, in which the higher strata form a separate nation, in which sky-scrapers have slums in their shadow, in which religion reduced to rituals known no love or compassion, in which hatred and hostility poison human mind.
Today, equality, justice, solidarity and fraternity exist but in name, in which million of citizens cannot walk with their heads held high, because by accident of birth, in which Presidents and Prime Ministers prostate before living god men, in which science and technology pay tribute to superstition and obscurantism, in which a dream has turned into a nightmare.
A free society has retreated into isolated shells and broken up into mutually hostile groups, where each lives in fear of the other. This is India, today, dominated by hereditary groups in every walk of life, unable to break through the shackles of caste and social disabilities, of religion and religious hostility, of race and racial antagonism of regions and regional disparity. Yet, this is my India, the India of Rama and Buddha, of Guru Nanak and Jesus Christ, of Akbar, Ashoka and Chatrapati Shivaji, of Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore, of Jawaharlal Nehru and Jaiprakash Narayan.
My India, whose ideals are peace and non-violence, love and compassion, equality and justice and fraternity, which set out on 15th August 1947, to provide a model for mankind.
If India has to survive as a civilized society, it has to break out of the stagnant pools of hereditary privilege and nourish itself from the inexhaustible spring of the people. In short, democratise itself, decentralise itself, debrahminise itself and decommunalise itself.
We have to cleanse the blood on the streets, extinguish the flames, heal the wounds. We’ll have to vanquish evil, establish peace and justice and embrace all our people irrespective of their caste or creed. Then only we can build a strong India. And loudly claim,” I am proud to be an Indian.”

Sri Ram Sene not only deserves ‘Chaddis’ but also ‘Bangles’

Pramod Muthalik of Shri Ram Sena, a right-wing Hindu group addressing a press meet

The Shri Ram Sene , a right-wing Hindu group founded by Pramod Muthalik, a former member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Bajrang Dal and the Shiv Sena. The organization was literally unheard a year ago. It suddenly shot into prominence on 24 January 2009, when the group gained notoriety by attacking girls in a pub in Mangalore. A group of 40 activists of the Sri Ram Sena barged into the pub "Amnesia — The Lounge" and beat up a group of young women and men, claiming the women were “violating traditional Indian values”. Now the question is – what are Indian values and who is to decide Indian values? The Sri Ram Sene self-proclaimed themselves as the custodians of Indian culture and termed the attack on women as violation of Indian values.
Today, women enjoy equal status as men in every field and they cannot be compelled to remain in the dark. And in a democratic society women have equal freedom. Just as men are the builders of the society, women are conservers of the society. When a man get spoiled, it is bad only for himself. But if a woman gets spoiled, it indicates that society is spoiled. There is a very popular saying that "Men get spoiled by staying in, Women get spoiled by moving out". Once a woman comes out of tradition, the whole society seems to get ruined. Hence the beauty of a society or family cannot be estimated just by looking at women dressing sense as proclaimed by the philosophy of the Ram Sene.
These men in saffron Brigade are nothing but goondas and have taken law in their hands. It’s never about culture or values but it’s only creating trouble and politicizing matters. The attack reminisces a Taliban-type culture by beating women while talking of women’s empowerment. These goondas not only need pink chaddis but they also need bangles to wear. People who beat up girls and women can't be men but frustrated good for nothing henpecked low life on this earth. We have all seen how the Shiv Sena and MNS the two goonda outfits of Mumbai went in hiding during Mumbai 26/11 tragedy. Have we ever seen these goondas offering to going and fighting a real man war? No. They are too busy beating up brothers and sisters and young kids. That is the Indian culture they are talking about and fighting to be the custodians. All these political outfits are a poison for Indians and will destroy India.
These rightwing hooligans are an insult to our constitutional law. These goons are behaving like extra-constitutional authority through out the country making mockery of the provisions of rules of law. Their divisive agenda have already led the nation to pay heavy price in shape of home grown terrorism. The self styled "moral cops" of this type should be declared as "terrorist" and dealt with heavy hand by the state power, otherwise India would become ungovernable one day due to these fascist forces. Why can’t the government put Muthalik and a hundreds of his associates inside bars? What ever may be the reason; this type of ransom Moral Policing should not be tolerated. Whether or not BJP and its associates are responsible for these acts, their venom like propaganda of ‘Hindutva’ is the main reason for the rise and growth of such organisations. The BJP has to be blamed for bringing about a division in society for which we are paying a heavy price.
The only solution is to ban all those organisations which are in the habit of taking law in to their hands. Such organizations damage our culture more than indiscriminate adoption of western morals by our youth. With hundreds dying in our country of hunger and poverty every year there are bigger issues to be tackled than trying to enforce ones prejudiced version of "Hindu" culture for the sake of publicity. In the country where Gandhiji and the others thought they should give freedom to the citizens, they would have never thought that the country would have advanced to such a level where the police or the military give the powers to such an act of hooliganism. This outraging and the government should interfere and solve this issue. Hinduism doesn't mean that the others who would like to enjoy should not be doing it at their expense. RSS is shedding crocodile tears because they know that there is great indignation in the country on this issue but why do they not condemn similar activities by Shiv Sena, and Bajrang Dal?
If this continues – it leaves a question unanswered whether women in India have the freedom and right to make choices of their own anymore. How long are the women to bear the brunt of attacks, rape, dowry, assault and female feoticide?

Women are the ‘Ministry of the interior’

A few days ago, we celebrated Mothers Day. Today, it comes at the back of our mind to honor successful and dynamic women personalities who have made a mark for themselves, despite performing dual roles –one as responsible housewife and other as a dutiful woman at her office. All over the world this day is celebrated for women who have been honored for their contribution towards society. Besides, also the ordinary women attending to household chores or the women on the street should have a feeling of pride on this day. Our Country too has been proud of the women who have contributed to society and the nation. We too salute them and pay respect for their dedication, hard work, courage – which acts as an inspiration.
Women who have succeeded in any field anywhere are controversial figures, and politics too is no exception to this rule. But, here the discussion is perhaps wider and deeper than the other fields with women’s liberation, since the argument ultimately focuses on the core values of a culture in the throes of runaway modernization.
All the same, the so called ‘Battle of Sexes’ goes beyond question of race, creed and politics. Men and women differ in all areas of their lives. Not only do they think, feel, perceive, react, respond, love, need and appreciate differently. They almost seem to be from different planets. Men are generally better at conceptualizing and getting the ‘big picture’, while women are better at work that requires accuracy.
Women have a more dependable ‘gut feeling’ and it helps them handle difficult situations and people in a finer manner. As far as comforting and counseling goes it is usually the females in the household who take care of the sick, and it is from this experience of informal health care that these skills are probably derived. Also, mother’s who have learnt to manage their homes, care for their children and see to their husbands needs have a better ability to handle several tasks at the same time than men.
Women social skills make them better suited to work in service organizations and fields than men. Hence, it is proved that women make better politicians than men as far as service to the masses is concerned. They are more patient and considerate to human feelings and problems. Also, a woman is expected to be kinder, softer and less businesslike. Hence, women politicians are less corrupt than men.
Today, with new economic pressures and the availability of education, the trend has been changing. Women have been occupying higher positions in various fields. Besides, traditional methods of upbringing – not just in India, but in many parts of the world – teach that a women place is in the home. But the latest breed of girls goes against these traditions of ‘mother’s place is the home’. If we want women to work and men to facilitate this, we must begin by changing attitudes at the earliest stage of socialization.
The increasing integration of Indian and Western cultures, combined with new economic pressures, has resulted in ever more Indian women entering the work force and climbing the corporate ladder.
The woman is the core of the family. Should the husband die, a family can continue, but it is very hard without the mother. In Arabic it is said that women are the ‘Ministry of the interior’. What it means is that a good mother is as essential to a good nation as she is to a good family.
A last word to women, “If you command respect and show you are just as competent and capable as a man, I don’t think any woman will have any problem in life.”

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Regards,

FREDERICK D'SILVA

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