Shut the Country Down

This article was written by Leo Fernandes. The best one so far I have read

The decision by the government to go ahead anyway and impose its decision to reserve 27% of the seats in institutions of higher learning shows its autocratic nature and its disregard for public opinion. Being in power for most of the post-Independance era, the Congress is already responsible for the state the country is in. Having neglected the country, it is now out to divide it.

There can be no excuse to reserve these seats except that it serves the political aspirations of the parties concerned. No political party is going to oppose the legislation and therefore democracy, or the sham that it has been replaced by in our country, will not save the day. We have to do what the French did when faced with what they thought was a harmful labour law - we need to shut the country down.

No one - absolutely no one who considers himself a true Indian - can see sense in this decision. This is not affirmative action, this is vote bank politics and everyone needs to see it for what it is. Even parents and those who have already graduated must support the anti-reservation cause because it does harm to the country and makes a mockery of hard work and perseverance. In a very perverse form, the government has taken advantage of the marginalised of this country and has introduced an apartheid-like era where people are being penalised for (not) being born within a certain section of society.

The country therefore needs to be shut down!!!...hunger strikes are apparently not working because the government never had any regard for human life. The government therefore needs to be hurt where it hurts most. This strike should not be confined to medical students alone because all are affected. Students from other streams are affected for obvious reasons, parents are affected because their wards will hardly receive recognition for merit, the industry is affected because the quality of the workforce will deteriorate. So why, then, should the medical fraternity alone protest? Why is the industry quiet and not exercising its muscle? And what are we doing sitting in our homes? Perhaps it's time to clog Delhi? Perhaps investors should withdraw their money and send the Sensex crashing down even further? And the captains of industry should realise that if the government showed complete disregard for the voice of the people this time, it will do so again when it tries to impose reservations in the private sector. The time to revolt is, therefore, now.

At the end of all this perhaps the one lesson we can all teach this government, a lesson it won't forget in a hurry, is to vote it out of power the next time. Perhaps we are to blame because the middle class hardly votes on election day. Those who vote are served, even if mindlessly.

First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up,
because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.

It doesn't have to affect me now for me to speak out against it. If you feel it's wrong, speak out now...cos sooner or later, it's going to affect us all.
Leo Fernandes

Out of circulation

Been out of circulation on this blog for sometime now. Except for the odd posts, havent done much. I promise that I will be regular :p.

Naushad- A legend passes away.

A quirk of fate has ensured that my last three posts have been obits. Legendary music composer Naushad , passed away on May 5th 2006 , due to complications arising out of old age. His credits include Pakeezaah, Shahjehan (1946), Dard (1947), Dillagi (1949), Dulari (1949) and Anmol Ghadi (1946), Elaan (1947), Anoki Ada (1948), Andaaz (1949). The biggest block buster would be his music for "Mughal-e-Azam" . There wouldnt be one person who hasnt heard the immortal song "Pyar kiya tho darna kya".

A perfectionist, he could compose music for only a couple of films a year. I prefer to quote Naushad "In my 62 years in the film industry, I composed music for 66 films. These days, you come across people who have done the music 200 films in two years. What I'm saying is that, we used to agonise over every tune and phrase in music, spend sleepless nights over a song, and work on it until it was perfected. And I am still looking for perfection."

He has composed music for most of the classics Hindi Cinema has produced. Mother India (1957), Mughal-e-Azam (1960), Ganga Jamuna (1961) and Mere Mehboob (1963). In Mughal-e-Azam, Naushad's musical score was outstanding particularly the two songs by noted classical singer Bade Ghulam Ali Khan (Shubh Din Aayo and Prem Jogan ke Sundari Pio Chali) not to mention the Lata Gems (Mohabbat ki Jhooti Kahani pe Roye, Pyaar Kiya to Darna Kya) and Mohd. Rafi's Ae Mohabbat Zindabad with a chorus of 100! It was indeed shocking that Naushad lost the Filmfare award that year to Shankar-Jaikishen for their populist score in Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayi (1960).

His last composing act was for the movie Taj Mahal.

You can read more about his career at
http://www.upperstall.com/people/naushad.html

Pramod Mahajan passes away!

I am deeply saddened by the death of Pramod Mahajan. Sadder because, he joins the list of promising politicos who passed away much before their prime. Is there a curse on our promising politicos ??? The list is disheartening for a true Indian. Kumaramangalam, Madhava Rao Scindia(he probably would have the been PM post-Sonia sacrifice), Rajesh Pilot. There is more about leaders who died young here .

Pramod Mahajan represented a new breed of Politician who had a in-your-face approach. He was direct, to the point and never afraid to take the blame. He had friends cutting across party lines, across corporate houses. But I would like to quote about from someone who has seen him for years. A friend of mine, Jiten Gagaria, writes on Pramod Mahajan as thus

"Excuse me for getting emotional this time but could not control. As the news trickle in about his extremely critical condition, am filled with mostalgia about the man who in many ways has been my childhood Guru and who I till date respect for his acumen and dynamism.

The year was 1984 when he contested his first Lok Sabha elections. BJP then was fighting a lost case anyways due to the sympathy wave. Still this man was ready to give a fight and he himself worked day and night. My first memories about him were his coming to my place to meet my grandfather for advice and blessings.

Later as I from RSS, got involved in BJP youth activities, he was there as a guide alongwith Prakash Mehta, now a BJP MLA and BJP Mumbai President. Pramod was extremely down to earth inspite of being a national leader. I can't even count how many times, I have eaten with him out of his and Prakashbhai's tiffin during 1989 elections.

His mantra to me then was 'Aachar Parivartan, Vichar Parivartan, Samaj Parivartan'. Everytime he was in Ghatkopar and saw me, he used to call me and ask about me and my family.

When I started my own small consulting company, he spent so much time with me and other BJP leaders tryign to explain the power of internet.

Some of the virtues of the man have been dynamism, grat attitude, ability to think out of the box, readiness to work hard and accept mistakes. Feel really really sad to see that this man is fighting a real uphill battle for his life

Jiten further writes

"He was one of the few leaders who knew the grassroot workers by their first names and background. Though everybody found him arrogant, no worker who worked with him will say that.

He had a foresight. Reemember that he was the Minister when the dreams, seen by Rajiv and then nurtured during Narsimha Rao govt about Telecom, IT and Infrastructure, were unleashed to its maximum potential.

How many know that though he could afford to send his kids to Swami Vivekanand school in Chembur (a high quality english medium school) but he preffered to let them go to Marathi medium school since he wanted to set an example for others.
Yes he was a political animal with all the plus and minus but he was atleast pragmatic about it.

He was no saint.. but that was his strength because India has had enuf of saints in the past. His strength was that he was perfectly human and he topped it with perfection in whatever he did.

Can anyone replace Pramod Mahajan, I doubt, BJP will sorely miss him. May his soul rest in peace.