CAN GOD BE REBORN AMONGST US?

In the history of mankind, a period of about a thousand years is required to visualise a civilizational historical trend. In the case of God being born amongst us; whether it was Mohammad or Jesus or Krishna or Ram or Buddha; the unanswered question that often lurks at the back of my mind is why did God favour particular periods in history of mankind to come to us as man; all within a thousand years or so? Could it be that since mankind was taking its first steps to be civilized, our idolatry for those who gave us direction as a civilized society raised human beings to the level of God? (Read: ‘Whose God Is It Anyway?‘) After that, when such idolatry continued in history, it fortified the concept of God and those who didn’t agree with these visible manifestations of God, were regarded as heretics? How is it that God didn’t appear in His human manifestations again? Those who keep God as someone they have rightful claim on, explain that God chooses particular periods in history when human tyranny and immorality become so overwhelming that God then is born as a human being to eradicate such evil and holocaust. If that is the case, how is it that God wasn’t born amongst us even during the World Wars? Could it be that with civilization came rationalisation and now we look at all such manifestations such as Guru Nanak and Swamy Vivekananda as great but human only? Even though the Catholic church, for example, still wants proof of miracles performed by a man or woman before being ordained as a saint; the fact is that it is now becoming increasingly more difficult to convince people that miracles do occur.

Jesus Miracle
Jesus’ first public ministry, where at the request of his mother, He turned water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana (Pic courtesy: www.hudsonfla.com)

Now, why should I write an article like this? Am I a heretic or an atheist? No, I believe in God and I believe in goodness. God has been with me always and I do believe that God will never forsake me. But, I do believe that time is now ripe when we should move away from human or iconic manifestation of God and see God in a different manner. What do we have to lose? Conversely, what are we losing in iconic representation of God. Well, this is what this article is all about.

First of all, lets acknowledge the fact that God gifted us Logic and Reasoning and the Power or Ability to Rationalise. He hasn’t gifted these powers to others in His Creation. It should have been inconceivable, therefore, that God would have placed himself/herself/itself beyond reasoning and logic. Therefore, unlike what guardians of God and Religion tell us, let us use reasoning and logic to understand God.

Logic and Reasoning tell us that human manifestation of God was required and was helpful in a certain period of history. Indeed, logically, one proof of the concept of God being dynamic is that when God was born as a human being in the shape of Jesus, Mohammad, Krishna, Ram or Buddha, He shattered the popularly held beliefs of those times. This, amongst other miracles He performed, proved that majority held prevalent view of that era might not have been right even though, later, majority might have started believing in the new belief that the human manifestation of God gave us.

We are now in a different period of history of mankind. We are no longer at the advent of civilized society; but, an era whence civilized society are not an exception. People may not follow these completely, but, there are no widespread differences of opinion about Good and Evil. Indeed, we have moved to a stage when learned people openly say like Reverend Emerson, “God, don’t let me try to prove by logic and reasoning that I know to be wrong.”

What are we losing in iconic representation of God? Lets take the example of the greatest religion on earth: Hinduism. More than three years back, I wrote an article titled ‘A Quieter Mumbai – Is It A Pipe-Dream?‘ I had brought out that when the Chinese pilgrims Fa-Hein and Huien-Tsang visited India in the 5th and 7th centuries AD (during the Gupta dynasty), they extensively visited India and found that idol worship was not prevalent in any part of the country except in Buddhist regions. I had also brought out that Shashi Tharoor, writing about Amartya Sen’s book ‘The Argumentative Indian’ in Newsweek of 24 Oct 05, brought out an interesting observation. “Sen”, he wrote, “is particularly critical of the Western overemphasis on India’s religiosity at the expense of any recognition of the country’s equally impressive rationalist, scientific, mathematical and secular heritage. According to Sen, “That scientific spirit of inquiry can also be seen in ancient India.” His book cites 3,500-year-old verses from the Vedas that speculate sceptically about creation, and details India’s contribution to the world of science, rationality and plural discourse – fields generally treated by Orientalists as ‘western spheres of success’.

Sri Bhagwad Gita, for example, is the world’s finest document on religious intellectualism. However, gradually, Hindus moved away from intellectualism and the Brahmins sought power for themselves by idol worshipping. Take the case of large-scale idol worshipping of Lord Ganesha in Maharashtra. Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia:

“In 1893, Lokmanya Tilak transformed the annual domestic festival into a large, well-organized public event.[ Tilak recognized the wide appeal of the deity Ganesha as “the god for everybody”, and popularized Ganesh Chaturthi as a national festival in order “to bridge the gap between Brahmins and ‘non-Brahmins’ and find a context in which to build a new grassroots unity between them”, and generate nationalistic fervour among people in Maharashtra against the British colonial rule. Tilak was the first to install large public images of Ganesh in pavilions, and also established the practice of submerging in rivers, sea, or other pools of water all public images of the deity on the tenth day after Ganesh Chaturthi.”

“Under Tilak’s encouragement, the festival facilitated community participation and involvement in the form of intellectual discourses, poetry recitals, performances of plays, musical concerts, and folk dances. It served as a meeting ground for people of all castes and communities in times when, in order to exercise control over the population, the British discouraged social and political gatherings.”

What have we done to this idea 120 years later? A programme (spoof called ‘The Week That Wasn’t) by Cyrus Broacha on CNN IBN, just before Ganesh Chaturthi this year, brought out that it is merely a means of commercialism these days. It has enormous scope for inconveniencing and even hassling people through traffic snarls due to processions and pandals on roads, cacophonic noise (Read ‘State Sponsored Noise’ and ‘Who Are The People Whose Sentiments Need To Be Respected?’) and even extracting money from people by coercion.

A time has reached in our religion, now when our belief in iconic or human manifestation of God is actually keeping us away from goodness, godliness, humanity and other desirable virtues. We are using God as an excuse to do what we want to do. Our modern-day politicians, unlike Bal Gangadhar Tilak, use God and religion to divide people. We, therefore, need to have a more private and personal concept of God rather than moving Him/Her/It to the streets and even to political arena. If we don’t learn this, in another few years (say a few centuries later) it would be forced on us. God is in everything and every being. It no longer has to demonstrate its presence by being born as human being. We learnt that lesson centuries ago and now we must move on to an idea being God rather than a human being; eg: God is goodness.

If idolatry of God comes in the way of Goodness,  we should be prepared to shun it. Lets not make or elevate Asarams into Gods. Don’t let past be our only guide. I believe that God gave us reasoning and rationality to make use of. If we go beyond the idolatry of God, we would then realise that God cannot be limited to mandir, masjid or gurudwara. This would also help us to stop fighting in the “name” of God. What happens when God becomes an excuse to do wrong and evil things? For example, the exponents of Jehad feel that killing people in the name of God is alright.

(Pic courtesy: theveritasnetwork.org)
(Pic courtesy: theveritasnetwork.org)

As we move away from the human manifestation of God; or God as an idol or icon, we not only get over the prevalent myths and evils that are now concomitant with this, but, move towards the following individual and societal benefits:

  1. God and religion would be in ideals and virtues not in iconic or idolatry history.
  2. God and religion cannot be used to exploit, manipulate or divide people.
  3. God and religion cannot become excuses to do evil things including to kill in the name of God or religion.
  4. The amount of effort and money that we put in idol worshipping and in ensuring that our numbers grow can be used for poverty alleviation and towards ensuring that humanity prospers.

As Abba Eban (the late Foreign Affairs and Deputy PM of Israel) once said, “Men and nations behave wisely only after they have exhausted all other options.”

I think we have exhausted most other options in our Concept of God and Religion. Perhaps, it is time to start behaving wisely.

ARE INDIAN ELECTIONS FAIRY-TALES?

No, I haven’t gone crazy; I am seriously asking this question even though I am well aware of the fact that the world over, Indian parliamentary elections are seen as the greatest exercise in democracy. But, for heaven’s sake, India or Indian democracy is not just about periodic elections even though the Indian political parties and independents have raised their ambition of fighting and winning elections as an end in itself. It is precisely this shortcoming in our system that has landed us in this morass (Read: ‘How Proud Should We Be Of Indian Republic At 62?’ that I wrote on 26 Jan 2011).

This article is, therefore, focussed on three things:

  1. Our unrealistic expectations from elections.
  2. How we are manipulated by the political parties?
  3. Don’t we have to demand things from our polity and from ourselves rather than to just periodically vote?

Take the euphoria regarding the two Prime Ministerial candidates: Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi. In social media, in addition to electronic and print media, we have divided ourselves into two camps: the NaMo camp and Rahul baba camp. In public debates, the supporters of one or the other endlessly tell us that they admit that their party has made mistakes and done evil things; but, it is still not as bad as when the other party was in ‘power‘.

Lets take Narendra Modi camp first. As soon as NaMo becomes the next PM, following will happen:

Modi
(Pic courtesy: www.itimes.com)

1. Our netas, babus and people at large will shun corruption. All of us are waiting for a strong PM to be there so that we can all mend our ways.

2. Good governance will return to our country. It was last seen in 6th century AD during the period of the Guptas.

3. People will start being more efficient and punctual in offices. Right now we have a ‘chalta hai’ attitude only because we don’t have a strong PM.

4. Our trains and flights will be on time. With a weak PM, they have no choice but to be perpetually running late.

5. Industrial output and hence GDP would show a sudden spurt. Our industrialists are totally nationalist people. The industrial output, therefore, suffers only because of the indecision of the government.

6. Education and employment for all would remarkably improve. Even with the excellent(!) commitment of our teachers and employers, these have suffered only because the government didn’t have clear sense of purpose.

7. Long pending police reforms would be straightway implemented as they have been in Gujarat.

8. Our foreign relations would straightway improve especially with our neighbouring countries. After years of lack of vision by successive governments, suddenly, we shall have a visionary with commendable and proven clarity of thought in these matters.

9. Pakistan wouldn’t dare to send terrorists to our country because of zero tolerance of NaMo towards such people. Indeed, even though an earlier immature PM had declared with bravado,  “Ham unaki naani yaad dila denge“; NaMo wouldn’t give such childish threats but actually make them remember their ancestors.

10. Modernity would reach our villages in addition to some basics such as food, water, roads, electricity and schools.

11. We would have a foolproof security and defence umbrella. It couldn’t have been there with a weak PM.

12. People of all communities will start living in harmony as they do in Gujarat!

13. Scientists and technocrats would start doing original research rather than reverse engineering of western inventions.

14. In short, India will once again take its rightful position as the Golden Peacock.

Are elections fairy tales? This is why we believe in gods and goddesses; irrespective of the mess we are in,  gods will be reborn in our midst and suddenly set right decades of neglect, corruption, inefficiency and immortality.

Lets take another god-in-the-making Rahul Gandhi. Recently, in order to have a squeaky-clean image – the kind his antennae told him the Indian public wanted – he, whilst holding post as the Vice President of Congress, denigrated his own Prime Minister and the party for having moved in the parliament an ordinance that would allow even convicted members to continue in office.

(Pic courtesy: ibnlive.in.com)
(Pic courtesy: ibnlive.in.com)

Surprisingly, the Congress supporters hailed the ‘bold step’ of the ‘future-hope-of-the-country’ Rahul Gandhi who had shown as much sagacity as the retired Army Chief General VK Singh in publicly finding faults with the army he was commanding. People’s hopes – mixed as they are – rest on the following pillars:

  1. If voted to ‘power‘ as the Prime Minister, Rahul would stand between the corrupt ministers and the nation’s interests.
  2. He may be party to corrupt and dubious decisions, but he still carries a conscience; the one commodity that is lacking in others.
  3. He has his fingers on the pulse of the people. Hence, if voted to ‘power‘, unlike others, he would listen to the people and do course corrections when required.
  4. Eight years of Congress misrule now and decades of it earlier would be wiped out simply by electing him to ‘power‘.
  5. The volte-face by Rahul Gandhi is a resounding victory for people’s power especially power of the social media.

Ain’t our fairy-tale expectations from our ‘angels’ far higher than what we are supposed to do ourselves in democracy? What is the difference between us and a certain minister Bhim Singh from Bihar who said, “Soldiers are meant to die”? Ain’t we expecting too much that any government or PM can set right the rot that has set in our society since they are being paid or voted to set them right?

I don’t like the way people on social media take sides with either Congress or the BJP for any issue of import concerning our country and its people. For example, on the issue of pogrom of thousands of Sikhs in the national capital, the pro Congress group blames the pro BJP group of being non-secular and vice-versa. On the issue of corruption, each group pretends to be holier-than-thou.

Every issue of significance, therefore, gets mired in vituperative politics and we never get to pragmatic solutions. What is true of Facebook is also true of debate, both public and in the media.

If we collectively or individually not lock our senses behind the façade of my-party-greater, we’d know that despite each fan club assuming posture of superiority and morality, there is nothing to choose between the two major parties; both have been there and done that!

Let me share some facts:

1.BJP had a major issue of Bofors when they were in opposition but didn’t do anything about it when they came to power.

2. BJP didn’t push for a white paper on irrigation scam in Maharashtra after Congress leaked it out to the media that some part of the loot went to BJP too.

3. Congress’s own record of secularism is even more pathetic than that of BJP. However, BJP never pushes debate on this issue since it is sure Ram Mandir will get it assured votes.

4. Both see advantage in postponing Lok Dal Bill and Women’s Reservation Bill in Parliament.

5. Both didn’t want to do anything about Wikileaks revelations about Swiss Bank accounts of Indian politicians and industrialists.

I can go on and on but isn’t it time sane and aware people in the country stop taking sides on the assumption of a false sense of loyalty? Lets start discussing what the country and its people need without getting into the internecine blame-game. There is nothing like a half-virgin or more or less virgin! Integrity has to be measured in absolute and ethical terms and not in the terms we are discussing now; eg, “Congress is bad but it is better than BJP or vice-versa.”

We are really playing into the muddy hands of these ruffians by adopting this attitude.

Let India win and not Congress or BJP.

Some of my good friends also debate and believe that we the common voters would be directly electing the Prime Minister. The fact is that none of us will be electing a PM; we have to only vote for the right candidate for our constituency. Everything else is just plain wishful thinking. Yes, our votes are important but we can’t directly elect a PM or even government. Whereas, from the public debates, and debates on social media it appears as if they would all be voting directly for NaMo or Rahul G and hence, whilst voting for the right candidate in our constituencies, we should constantly worry about the above fairy-tale wish list for these two worthies

And I am ashamed of the so-called intellectuals who take sides on every issue of significance concerning us. We believe in miracles and miracles sell like hot-cakes in our country. Why, it was only the other day when Lord Krishna produced endless rice from a bowl!

(Pic courtesy - www.hilltop.in
(Pic courtesy – www.hilltop.in

Here is the actual reality of majority of the people that we elect:

Neta1: So wrestling is back in Olympics.

Neta2: Yes, we now stand a chance to win medals.

Neta1: You don’t say that, do you? Medals for what we have been doing in the well of the house?

Neta2: Hmm…

Neta1: Do you think we can also win medals for thumping the tables every time Soniaji speaks?

parliament

How quickly we wash our hands off our responsibility  and complicity in the ills of society; be these corruption or rapes or immoral acts by god men? The fact is that We the People are corrupt, and immoral. From where do Ponty Chaddhas and Asarams amass their stupendous wealth and power? We are so steeped in commercialisation of religion that we have lost the ability to listen to sane voices that such jamborees as those we witness in the name of religion periodically are actually trivialising the religion. We create Ponty Chaddhas and Asarams. We participate in mere rituals and tamasha in the name of religion. We fan the fires of an increasingly divided society in terms of religion, caste, creed and region. Some of us are trying to make every issue of morality into victimisation of the religion that we belong to.

Lets stop all this before we ask of the government, politicians, religious leaders and babus to set right the Indian society.

As Guru Nanak and Swami Vivekanand said, “Conquer yourself to conquer the world”.

How Naive Can We Get?

Whilst we prepare for forthcoming elections, we have conveniently convinced ourselves that Corruption and Immorality lies at some high level and that people at large seek to be rid of these evils. This is as naïve as ostrich burying its head in sand.

We, as people, fight for our ‘right’ to be corrupt and immoral. These are at all levels of society.  You don’t become a Ponty Chaddha and Asaram overnight. People collude to make them so.

  1. Tell the thekedaars of religion, for example, to stop extracting money in the name of religion.
  2. Tell the railway conductors to stop charging underhand money.
  3. Tell the office babu to stop asking for bribes to do the work he is supposed to do.
  4. Tell the traffic cops to deposit all money that they receive for traffic violations.
  5. Tell the patwaris, tehsildaars and kanungos to stop accepting underhand money for revenue records.
  6. Tell the PWD people to stop charging 300 per cent more than the actual value of contracts.
  7. Tell the doctors to declare every income that they receive.
  8. Tell the oil and petrol lobby to sell pure oil and petrol in the market and not adulterated by about 30 to 40 per cent.
  9. Tell the real estate people and constructors that all deals will be above-board.
  10. Tell the industrialists that projects will be run only on declared costs.
  11. Tell the teachers to stop taking private tuitions.
  12. Have F.I.R.’s being lodged in police stations without charging underhand money.
  13. Have a clean judiciary.
  14. Have media who debate issues of concern to us and not the commercial interests of the owners.

I can go on and on. The fact is that whilst thinking of quick-fix solutions to our endemic problems, we tend to forget that we are involved. We have to put our own house in order. Elections are periodic phenomenon but the shortcuts that we take are everyday phenomena.

India cannot change with elections. We need to change first.

Suddenly, elections are not fairy-tale contests between parties and candidates anymore. Suddenly, these are about us.

NIGHTMARISH MEMORIES OF BEING A NAVIGATOR

I had always wanted to be a communicator; I like the nice ring to the word and imagined myself as an enlightened human being communicating with fellow netizens on this earth, with nature and God. Therefore, in the Navy, when the time came for me to do my specialisation, I decided to specialise in Communications and Electronic Warfare. However, I soon realised that one can’t help becoming a navigator when the call of duty demands. The first time I donned the role of a navigator was when I became the ‘other officer’ (other than the XO, (Executive Officer or second-in-command, that is) on the minesweeper Karwar. I totalled more miles there than in my watch-keeping tenure on Himgiri, even though we sailed like crazy on Himgiri and even went to a three nation foreign cruise too. There is hardly a port on the West coast of India (big, small or minor) that I didn’t navigate my way through as the other officer on Karwar.

However, after my specialisation in Communications, I wasn’t prepared to become the navigator of Himgiri. But, such is fate; you don’t chase it as much as fate chases you. And it was all because of our CO: Captain Jerry Patel. He was the world’s most avid Anti-Submarine Warfare  Officer. When he was Director of ASW School, and we, undergoing Long Communications course, visited him in his school, he made us feel like worms that we had chosen to waste our time in the Indian Navy doing anything other than ASW. So, when he became CO of Himgiri, naturally, he considered that the only role Himgiri had to perform was to complete its trials of indigenous SONAR developed by a team under the famous Captain Paul Raj.

INS Himgiri (Pic courtesy: www.bharat-rakshak.com)
INS Himgiri (Pic courtesy: www.bharat-rakshak.com)

After long trials at sea when we returned to Bombay, it came out that Paul Raj and his team won’t be ready for trials in a hurry after setting right the anomalies and defects observed. The debrief done on board brought out that it would take minimum of six weeks. So, my course-mate Billoo, who was the Navigator of the ship, asked Jerry if he could proceed on a month’s leave and, since we were expected to be in harbour, I could carry out NO’s duties in addition to my own.

Billoo’s leave was duly sanctioned and he hadn’t yet left station when news came from Cochin that Paul Raj felt that we should progress trials in other areas whilst defectation was in progress. Billoo wanted to be recalled from leave; but, Jerry told him that like Lord Rama honouring the mere word of his father Dasharath, he, Jerry, had never gone back on his word. We merrily sailed and the plus point was that I collected a lot of Pilotage Fee that kept me in good ‘spirits’ for months after that.

However, the bad news was that Jerry, though excellent in ASW, wasn’t a great ship-handler. Billoo told me later, after the hair-raising experience that I was subjected to, that in the interests of the safety of the ship, many a times, he had quietly passed orders to the MCR (Machinery Control Room) and Wheel House, different from the orders concocted by the CO. However, I was not well versed in such stratagems.

We were to enter Cochin on a certain morning after several incident-free entering and leaving harbour sorties in Goa. In the night before, they signaled us a berth on the trots in Mattancherry Channel. We hadn’t been there earlier. So, I worked out a plan totally by myself without going through Billoo’s earlier N.O.’s notes. After that, before CO made his Night Orders, I discussed the plan with CO on the chart and he approved it without any alterations. We were to enter with a slight flood; but, I assured CO that it would be alright. According to the plan, after passing the head rope to the closest mooring buoy, the ship would swing on its own with the current, and would thus be facing towards the entrance of the channel. This would also enable us quick getaway whilst leaving harbour.

In the morning at about 6:30 AM Special Sea Dutymen for entering harbour closed up. Everything went according to the plan made by me. However, when we came to the entrance of the Mattancherry Channel, near Malabar Hotel, suddenly, without any warning, Jerry said we should try a stern-board approach to the trots so as to head the tide all the while! I was aghast. And that’s where, later day wisdom imparted too late by Billoo, would have come in handy!

So, here was Himgiri entering harbour and somewhere near the Starboard hand buoy near Malabar Hotel, CO suddenly decided to go stern-board. Following sequence followed:

1. We tried to turn around with engines and wheel. The Foxle Officer, Vincent Dhanraj was giving us distances from the buoy and in agitated voice he kept telling us that we were coming rather close to the buoy since the tide and the current were pushing us to the buoy.

View of the Buoy as seen from Malabar Hotel
View of the Buoy as seen from Malabar Hotel

 

2. At one time, when we were too close to the buoy for comfort, CO had no choice but to give Full astern both engines. The Engine Room took some time in responding but when it did, it took our breath away. The navigable width of the channel at this point is only about a cable (200 yards) and suddenly we started going full speed towards the vessels at the trots on the other side of the vessel.

3. Many of these vessels started warning us by ‘all available means’ (and you thought George Bush is the only one who ever used this expression!) These included beating drums, doing curious Zulu dances and the like and emergency pressing of ship’s siren as if it was midnight on the night of 31st Dec and 1st of Jan.

The type of boats that we were heading straight towards
The type of boats that we were heading straight towards

4. By this time, we had already started giving orders to reverse the trend of our going astern towards these hapless vessels and fishing boats. First, “stop both engines” order was given. Nothing happened; and the people on these vessels started doing much more vigorous version of Zulu dance and even bhangra to ward off the evil of our hitting them with full force. So, in quick succession, orders such as “slow ahead both engines” and “half ahead both engines were given. We felt that we would have hit the vessels astern and hence finally “full ahead both engines” was given.

Malabar Hotel as it is now
Malabar Hotel as it is now

5. By this time, the current had made us abreast of Malabar Hotel. Some of the foreigners there had heard a lot about Indian Navy coming of age and initially they were cheering our “bold Manoeuvres” through loud clapping. But soon, they saw us approaching them in full speed like a rogue missile. So they started running helter-skelter. The fishermen on that side of the channel had hurriedly started casting off their boats to evade a Tsunami called Himgiri hitting them.

Taj Malabar

6. Fortunately, after a series of orders and me visibly praying to all sorts of gods post my quick transformation into a believer, we found ourselves the first of the mooring buoys. Every piece of hair on my head was pointing towards the sky. We lowered the whaler with the buoy jumpers. They themselves were finding it difficult to approach the buoy because by this time the flood had really built up into a strong current.

7. In the midst of all this, the CO spotted Captain Paul Raj standing at the jetty, a little distance from the trots. He smilingly waved at him as if nothing had happened and told me, “Send a boat for him immediately. We can’t have him waiting there.”

8. I just looked at him wondrously; here we were with just one boat with buoy jumpers trying valiantly to approach the buoy and hence secure the ship lying in precarious position and there he was telling me to send the boat to receive Captain Paul Raj!

Finally, to cut a long story short, we secured at the trots and CO stopped trotting. After, we returned to Bombay, he came down to the wardroom to attend a wining-out of an officer and he good-naturedly told everyone: “Never go against the advice of your navigator, even if he is only a stand-by navigator”!

A SONG FOR THE THICK-SKINNED INDIAN POLITICIAN

This song is based on a popular song of our era: Chhod de saari duniya kisi ke liye, yeh munaasib nahin aadmi ke liye. The original had lyrics by Indeevar and music by Kalyanji Anandji and was sung by Lata Mangeshkar for the 1968 movie Saraswati Chandra.

Now for the parody: first in Hindi and then in English script:

[lineate][/lineate]छोड़ दे इंडिया देश हित के लिए[lineate][/lineate]ये मुनासिब नहीं politician के लिए[lineate][/lineate]भारत निर्माण से ज़रूरी बहुत काम हैं[lineate][/lineate]भारत सब कुछ नहीं politician के लिए[lineate][/lineate]

 

[lineate][/lineate]देश का भला हो न पाया तो क्या[lineate][/lineate]Family का भला कोई कम तो नहीं[lineate][/lineate]Economy down हो at all times low[lineate][/lineate]Swiss Bank full हो कोई कम तो नहीं[lineate][/lineate]बिजली मिलती नहीं सबको संसार में[lineate][/lineate]एक दिया ही बहुत है रोशनी के लिए[lineate][/lineate]छोड़ दे इंडिया देश हित के लिए[lineate][/lineate]ये मुनासिब नहीं politician के लिए[lineate][/lineate]

 

[lineate][/lineate]कितनी हसरत से तकते हैं देशवासी तुम्हें[lineate][/lineate] इनको गरीबी से ऊपर क्यूँ उठाते नहीं[lineate][/lineate]रोज़ मरते हैं भूखे बिलकते यह लोग[lineate][/lineate]इनको vote banks politics से क्यूँ हटाते नहीं[lineate][/lineate]चले जाओ वहां तुम्हारा धन है जहाँ[lineate][/lineate]रहने दो देश को देशवासियों के लिए[lineate][/lineate]छोड़ दे इंडिया देश हित के लिए[lineate][/lineate]ये मुनासिब नहीं politician के लिए[lineate][/lineate]भारत निर्माण से ज़रूरी बहुत काम हैं[lineate][/lineate]भारत सब कुछ नहीं politician के लिए[lineate][/lineate]

(Pic courtesy: Kureel)
(Pic courtesy: Kureel)

[lineate][/lineate]Chhod de India desh hit ke liye,[lineate][/lineate]Ye munaasib nahin politician ke liye[lineate][/lineate]Bharat Nirmaan se zaroori bahut kaam hain,[lineate][/lineate]Bharat sab kuchh nahin politician ke liye.[lineate][/lineate]

 

[lineate][/lineate]Desh ka bhala ho naa payaa to kyaa,[lineate][/lineate]Family ka bhala koi kam to nahin[lineate][/lineate]Economy down ho at all time low[lineate][/lineate]Swiss bank full ho koi kam to nahin[lineate][/lineate]Bijali milati nahin sabako sansaar mein[lineate][/lineate]Hai diya hi bahut roshani ke liye[lineate][/lineate]Chhod de India desh hit ke liye[lineate][/lineate]Ye munaasib nahin politician ke liye.[lineate][/lineate]

 

[lineate][/lineate]Kitani hasrat se takate hain desh waasi tumhen[lineate][/lineate]Inako gareebi se ooper kyun uthaate nahin?[lineate][/lineate]Roz marate hain bhookhe bilakate ye log,[lineate][/lineate]Inako vote banks politics se kyun hatate nahin?[lineate][/lineate]Chale jaayo wahan tumhaara dhan hai jahan[lineate][/lineate]Reheno do desh ko deshwaasiyon ke liye.[lineate][/lineate]Chhod de India desh hit ke liye[lineate][/lineate]Yeh munaasib nahin politician ke liye[lineate][/lineate]Bharat Nirmaan se zaroori bahut kaam hain[lineate][/lineate]Bharat sab kuchh nahin politician ke liye.[lineate][/lineate]

SPY VERSUS SPY

I was posted on Ganga  We returned from our cruise to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia (Read about an anecdote in Jeddah harbour in ‘Gunners Too Are Human – Part III – Gun Salutes’). Frankly, we had gone a wee-bit overboard in our purchases. We did well in our custom-clearance. The custom guys were ‘managed’ very well. Now all that stood between us having these items on board and us having them at home was the Security at the Lion Gate, Naval Dockyard, Bombay.

Once again, the lesser beings there were ‘managed’ very well but there was this Commander-at-Arms who was renowned to be the toughest egg in the entire Navy. It was rumoured that he used to have junior officers for breakfast after – as PGW would say – jumping over their remains with hobnailed shoes. To get past Cdr A was as tough as getting past Satan.

I had a friend on Ganga who was renowned for his resourcefulness. This friend on whilst going out of the Lion Gate smartly parked his vehicle on the side and went to meet Cdr A in his office. He paid his regards; Cdr A wasn’t amused. He talked about this and that: Cdr A wasn’t amused. Finally, my friend came straight to the point. He said he was a law-abiding citizen and would like to take out a few items with Cdr A’s permission.

Established in 1735 (Pic courtesy: indiannavy.nic.in)
Established in 1735 (Pic courtesy: indiannavy.nic.in)

Cdr A (brightening; as he had already seen in this an opportunity to chew my friend): When?

My Friend (fearfully): Er…if you permit…tomorrow, Sir.

Cdr A (eyes gleaming now): What kind of items?

My friend (alarmed now but he had reached point of no return): (Rattled out list of items) Cdr A (Visibly on top of the world now since rather than his catching the fish, the fish had come to him!): Don’t worry. Bring the items tomorrow and we shall see.

My friend saluted, dejectedly went to his vehicle and drove off.

Next day, at the appointed hour, he came to the Lion Gate and the entire Lion Gate Security Staff descended on his vehicle and ransacked it. All supervised by Cdr A smiling from ear to ear. To Cdr A’s utter horror and dejection, they found nothing.

At this stage, thoroughly frustrated at having missed a chance to get a Nao Sena Medal, Cdr A bellowed: But, you told me yesterday that you’d be taking out those items today.

My friend: I did Sir; but, knowing how you normally are, I didn’t take chances and took them out yesterday itself!

I could have given highest Gallantry Reward to my friend!

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox

Join other followers: