Be there, n make a Difference

Seriously, I am soooooooooo frustrated, that there is no limit to it.

I find my office so boring, so boring ki lage hi nahi ki boring hai …

Have started kinda hating this whole waking up-getting ready-coming to office-working like a donkey-going back home-sleeping thing.

Thankfully, today i got a welcome change when my friend madhura came up to my home and we had a yummy, freshly-made dhokla and chai at home as breakfast, and then came to office together. A much needed change which refreshed me to some extent.

But now, its the same old story again

Just now, I remembered that I have a blog wherein I can give a vent to my long-dabi-huyi feelings, and hence, here I am with this post.

I just hope that these feelings go away soon or else I’ll be bored to death ….

And I am sure, everybody is … willingly or unwillingly …

So, not to blame the smoker … atleast usme guts to hain ( agar wo jaldi jaldi shrink ho rahe hain to kya hua … abhi to hain na ) openly admit karne ke … Unlike you and me, who smoke but don’t admit it …

 And this is one fact you cannot deny … whether you are sitting on a tapri ( where you are most vulnerable if the tapriwala serves the thing ) or you are just passing by on the road where two/three/multiple people are smoking or you are walking on the road on your way to some place and you happen to pass by a person/persons who are smoking while walking or you are in a restaurant, you are bound to inhale the air, thereby making you a smoker as well. Although the government has recently passed the rule whereby smoking is prohibited in public places and the compounds of these places as well, you can still find some places where such rules are conveniently bent.

And this thing cannot be helped. No matter how much you try to cover your nostrils by using a mask or a scarf, you cannot prevent yourself from inhaling some of this deadly smoke. If you try to stop people from smoking, then I need not write here the reply which people get for taking this kind of initiative.

Time for some statistics:

• Experimental studies in which animals are exposed to tobacco smoke have produced results supporting the carcinogenicity of passive smoking.
• A study conducted by the United States Centers for Disease Control in May 2006 estimated that – living or working in a place where smoking is permitted increases the non-smokers’ risk of developing heart disease by 25–30% and lung cancer by 20–30%. The report also found that passive smoke causes sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), respiratory problems, ear infections, and asthma attacks in children.

Does this not speak for itself  ? And if this doesn’t, then what does ?

 

Atleast I cannot find a way out of this situation as of now.

So, Yes, I am a smoker … albeit a passive one …

 

Source of stats: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_smoking

 

P.S. Any suggestions, anyone ?

Let me begin by asking a question …

How many of you reading this post agree with me in saying – that – Pichkaari sirf Holi me use nai hoti …

Yeah, I am sure most of you would agree and for those who don’t – sample this :

Almost everyone has a pichkaari on his/her face ( yeah, some women use this pichkaari toooo ) … and Indian men use it more often than anybody else …

It doesn’t matter whether they are walking on the road or driving a vehicle or talking to somebody standing on the side of the road or ascending/descending the stairs of the apartment or just whiling away the time doing absolutely nothing; the one thing which they’ll positively do is : spit around !!! ( yikes !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! )

Ye to maano inke khoon me hai … apne left me, right me, center me, kahin bhi … they’ll just spit – PLACE OR DIRECTION, NO BAR !!! And this famed “dhaar” can be of chewed tobacco residue or chewed paan residue or fresh out of liver “thook” … So, if you are lucky, you’ll have some droplets of this on your chappal or pant or saari or salwaar or if the pressure and timing of the thook is just perfect to the millisecond, these droplets can come on your shirt or kurta as well … yeahhh, its true, it really can happen !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And then, depending on the matter whose chewing residue is sprinkled, those stains decorating your attire can be of either brown, black or the famous “paan”-red colour … so, you see, these guys take care of the color as well … KUDOS to them, yippeeee ( taaliyan …. clap clap clap )

And mind you, no complaints …. coz …

 ”Daag … acche hain !!!”

Hmm…Alrite, one more “terror strike” in the commercial capital of the country … but this is no big deal for our ministers, right? coz they face these kind of terror strikes every other day, in some or the other part of the country … some get reported, some don’t … some are at a major level, some are not … some result in loss of lives, some … no, actually all of them result in loss of lives … but some counts cross the 3 figure mark, some don’t .. while some counts just spiral up, up and away …

And what do our officials do? Let’s have a wild guess …

Immediately after the strike, they issue public statements … e.g. “The terror attacks in pose a challenge to the entire nation and would be met resolutely.”

They convene meetings in the city of the strike and try to chart out course of action to follow so as to avoid public wrath, and further analysis of the prevailing situation

After the meeting, they form a committee to investigate the causes which led to this bloodbath

They declare compensation for the dead and injured

On the next day of the attack, various reasons are cited that this happened, that happened, we discussed this crap and that crap and all sorts of crap

So, what are we achieving by this … if someone actually sits to count the number of such committees formed to do the so called “investigation”, i am sure he/she would lose the count very fast … And after forming scores of these committees, have we managed to tackle the situation? have we been able to trace out the root cause? have we been able to improve the security situation?
Probably no, otherwise atleast one city in this entire country would be secure in the real sense of the word … !!!

Earlier, it just used to be Northern India on the hit list … but now this terrorism has penetrated the length and breadth of the nation. Different people say there are different patterns being followed by the terrorists. The news media is ever so eager to report the “Breaking News” – even if that means simply telecasting the same footage over and over again through the entire day … with loads and loads of breaks in between … coz after all, it is ‘break’ing news … right ???

One more thing: A consolidated list of Q3 and Q4, 2008 in terms of the horror strikes:
13 May ——– JAIPUR
June ——————-
26 July ———— AHMEDABAD
August —————————
13 September ———— DELHI
October ————————-
26 November ————— MUMBAI

What is to be interpreted out of this, repeated intelligence failures or repeated inactions by the elected representatives of the people ? How come it is that every month there are explosions happening all over the country and so far, there has not been even a single instance of improvement … we are a 61 year old independent nation … we like to call ourselves a “developing economy” … and we are not yet completely secure … !!! I agree that it is not possible to completely root out this weed and even the most developed nations of all are subjected to these kind of attacks, but who can beat us in terms of the frequency ?

The govt can offer monetary remuneration … but how does this compensate for the loss of life of a family member? If the victim of the strike is the only bread winner of the family, then how long is the 5L INR compensation going to last ?

The stats say it all. This has been a nationwide report, that the ratio of the no. of policemen per person in a city is very small …. also, there have been instances when the govt has had intelligence reports or tip-offs from various sources, but no action has been taken. On every independence day or republic day, we hear/read in the news that so many gms/kgms/tonnes of explosives seized from so and so place which were brought-in, in a bid to foil the independence celebrations … This has been the case for almost 60 years now … i really wonder that for how many more years are we going to tolerate these repeated attacks on our independence …

The Indian Government’s Constitution has an office called the Ministry of Home Affairs which is headed by the “Home Minister” and his set of bureaucrats and officials whose responsibility is to look after the law and order situation in the country.

Sample this: the Home Minister’s statement quoted in the Sound Bites section of a reputed daily … “Before I could reach there, the terrorists who had attacked one of the hospitals, had left and those who attacked the railway station had also left …”

WOW … see … even the terrorists fear our Home Minister … amazing !!! I am bowled over by this …. and i am sure most of you would be as well, right?

During the last 4/4.5 years, we’ve been hearing statements issued from the ministry on behalf of the minister … every time, these guys have had tip-offs or intelligence about something which might happen, but no definitive action is taken to prevent the outcome.

May I ask a simple 3-letter question – Why?

Obviously, the IA is not going to tell you the exact place in terms of latitude and longitude or the exact time accurate to the millisecond as to when the unfortunate event is going to rock the nation … you’ll only have some bits and pieces of information … and then, its the job of you and your policemen to try and find out the details and take measures … atleast this is what I understand ! correct me if i am wrong …

For the latest Mumbai strike, it is being reported that the Gujarat govt had given some information that there might be planning of some mishap. Forget Gujarat govt, had the info come from any reliable source, should it not be the top priority of the concerned state government to find out whether the information is a hoax or there is even a miniscule amount of truth in it? If the latter is the case, then ACT !!! and act as if your life depends on it … coz it really does … not only yours but also of so many thousands of citizens who rest assured of their security because of you guys …

Personally, I am fed up of the statements made by the home minister every now and then … he is creative in the sense that even though all his statements effectively mean the same, the framing of words is different every time !!!

The outcome of all this is that ultimately only the common man – for the betterment of whom, this government is deeply committed – suffers. Nothing happens to these high-profile ministers, they have their set of security-men around practically 24 hours of the day … marenge bhi to security guards pehle marenge …

I only hope and wish that some day the Home Minister will stand up and say that some “terror-strike” was avoided because our intelligence agencies and security forces acted swiftly on the provided information and saved loss of precious life …

Because if things continue the way they are, the country will lose population, trade, reputation and most importantly, morale …

 

Kudos to the spirit of the citizens who stand by each other in every crisis, to the policemen and army jawans who not only guard the borders but also lend a helping hand more often than not in trying times and to the ever fighting battle for life …

P.S. – Food for thought – This has been happening for about 3-3.5 years now … Why does almost every terror strike normally occur within 1 or at max 2 days after any controversial decision / policy / statement of the government ?