I slowly became a common man.

The evening was lashed with a heavy shower and I was caged in a small cramped place. When the rain stopped I came out and saw that it had already been dark.

I smiled and thought for a while that my life had a situation akin to the evening’s incident. I know it very well that I am caged in a typical small circumference which stifles my evolution. But I do not leave the cage. Out of compulsion or out of my inertia or out of fear I remain in the limiting cage and when the rain subsides and I come to consciousness, I find darkness everywhere. 

I was in a job which had little financial return and I wanted something better but I did not have better options at hand. Previously my decisions involved myself but now my decisions had implications on my newly formed family. So I feared taking any risk and I continued as before. And I felt in me the very characteristic attitude of the common man who adhered to a set pattern of a monotonous living. In whom the passion to excel dies out. I felt as if I was bent on my own weight. My high dreams were crushed. I was overpowered by an impulse to choose the easy way of compromise. I compromised with my dreams and attempted to shut the windows that once showed me rainbows in the open blue sky. I lived but without my spirits. I carried out the orders of my boss and satisfied myself with the little return he gave for my dispirited service. I slowly became a common man.

His small smiles are solution to big problems of life.

On July 5 my baby came with me from his maternal grandfather’s home. For two months he stayed with me. He matured a little and today he boarded the train to go to his grandfather’s.   In these days he had learnt to smile at me. He would jump towards me when I spread my hands to catch him. He seemed very special to me because I was, of course, his father. His toothless laughs, softness of body, incoherent words and milky smell of his mouth would inspire me to care for his comfort. His presence was a real joy for me because I would become a big child with him. 

He could not express his feelings in words but he had other ways of expressing his needs and feelings. The baby had a characteristic cry when he demanded for mother’s milk. Looking straight to his mother with tearing eyes he would cry very emphatically to feed him. His expression of helplessness suddenly warranted adrenalin speed of activity among us for his comfort. Sometimes in response to my cuddling he would make a long shrill noise. His small smiles are solution to big problems of life.

Are you Anna or Ramdev?

“I speak of the public and for the public and that makes me a public speaker with some difference”, announced the stranger to a young man. To which the young man fired off a rejoinder, “I really regret that I have never heard your name among the well-known public speakers of my time.”  

“You never know me because I am neither a leader nor a religious monk preaching morality.  I am a banned speaker because I voice public opinion. This is a country where freedom of speech is accorded so long as you speak of scriptures. But when you voice criticism, objection or a genuine concern for the welfare of your state, you will be banned.” - replied the stranger.

“Are you Baba Ramdev or Anna Hazare?  You are using their parlance.”- Asked the young man out of curiosity.

“No! Please don’t politicize me. I am just a common man with lots of dreams in my heart to realize. And I just want to breathe in FREEDOM in its real sense. But I cannot. Because till date young men like you prefer to ask -Are you Anna or Ramdev? - But they don’t show the guts to say -I am ANNA or I am RAMDEV”.  – The stranger lapsed into a silence and looked into the distant sky.

The young man moved closer to the stranger and held the stranger’s hand firmly and proclaimed, “I am a young ANNA and I am born to usher true freedom in India.” 

The sun was shining and the land looked all golden.

‘Anna Vs Government’ drama has given us a new hope

Average Indians prefer to live like Zombies. They slumber when Anna fasts; they do nothing more than watching news channels when swami Ramdev is humiliated. They prefer to turn their faces indifferently away from all sorts of mass movements because they are deeply convinced that all such demonstrations are futile. 

The dismal degradation of our national character has bred a generation of selfish and corrupt politicians who lack the earnestness to fathom the sorry plights of the common mass. They frame such laws and use such manipulations that nation’s wealth is pocketed by a coterie of businessmen and politicians (CWG and 2G spectrum scams are the fresh examples) ,which in turn causes inflation and a decline in the common men’s  standards of living.  

Corruption has many forms and its various, known and still unknown, forms evolve with changing times and changing Government laws. It is adaptive and heavily branched. And on the tip of each branch many greedy monkeys sit and grin together. They sit at such a great height that they always remain beyond the reach of common mass and grin slyly at our stupidity. 

Anna would have reaped the same bitter treatment from the Government, which the Government had earlier applied on Sri Ramdev-the ruthless use of force to suppress the voices against the cheaters of nation’s wealth. But this time Government could not garner enough strength because the wind of public support foiled all of their political gimmicks and tricks.    

    

In Indian politics the ideals of true statesmanship is a missing element. Now People have learnt not to expect any sense of loyalty from our MPs or MLAs. However, the colossal leadership vacuum in our political arena persistently threatens us with both political and economic insecurities. 

The ‘Anna Vs Government’ drama has given us a new hope not because the protesting public could bend the elected representatives but because the elected representatives thought about the betterment of the nation rising above individual party lines. However, chances cannot be ruled out that the new-born astuteness of our politicians is a temporary disguise to avert public wrath.

A drunkard, an umbrella and me.

All of a sudden it rained so heavily that I could not bike further. I was undone in the middle of a naxal infested jungle where robbery was a common incident. I could not move ahead so I turned the bike’s engine off. I went to a road-side mango tree and sheltered myself under it. I found that I was not alone there.  A heavily drunk man was fallen at a little distance from me. Perhaps my presence now activated him and he rose from the ground. He had a cycle which had fallen on the ground with him. Very staggeringly, now the man and his bicycle stood on the rain. The man was unable to decide what to do. With his head downward he had clasped his bicycle and the raindrops were hitting him hard. I was amazed to see that the drunken man had an umbrella tugged in the rear part of his bicycle but he was completely drenched and hard hit by the bucketing rain. His senses were unable to respond the situation.

I saw the pitiable situation of the alcoholic. By that time I was also half wet as the tree was no way a good shelter against the heavy downpour. No one was there. And the rainfall prompted me to go to the drunkard. I dragged him to the tree where I had previously taken shelter. I pulled his umbrella and opened it over my head and the drunk sat at my feet in a half sleepy state. The good thing was that both of us were now well protected from the rain. We continued shivering for more than an hour in the humid windy afternoon although the umbrella proved to be a good protection.

The rain was still continuing and the drunk slowly regained his consciousness. He stood up and told me that he would go now. I said nothing and was holding his umbrella. He walked away from the umbrella and tried to ride the bicycle. His cycle started to roll on the road. I called him with a shout and told him to take his umbrella but he did not look back. Perhaps he was happy that he was able to ride the cycle even though he was drunk.