Love & Marriage

A student asks a teacher, "What is love?" The teacher said, "In order to answer your question, i want you go to the wheat field and choose the biggest wheat and come back. But the rule is: you can go through them only once and cannot turn back to pick." The student went to the field, go thru first row, he saw one big wheat, but he wonders... may be there is a bigger one later. Then he saw another bigger one... But may be there is an even bigger one waiting for him. Later, when he finished more than half of the wheat field, he start to realize that the wheat is not as big as the previous one he saw, he know he has missed the biggest one, and he regretted. So, he ended up went back to the teacher with empty hand. The teacher told him, "This is love... You keep looking for a better one, but when later you realise, you have already miss the person."

"What is marriage then?" the student asked. The teacher said, "This time you go to the corn field and choose the biggest corn and come back. But the rule is: you can go through them only once and cannot turn back to pick." The student went to the corn field, this time he is careful not to repeat the previous mistake, when he reach the middle of the field, he has picked one medium corn that he feel satisfy, and come back to the teacher. The teacher told him, "This time you bring back a corn. You look for one that is just nice, and you have faith and believe this is the best one you get... This is marriage."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------कोई भी मूल्य एवं संस्कृति तब तक जीवित नहीं रह सकती जब तक वह आचरण में नहीं है.

Independence for Whom? Think of IT Always, Speak of IT Never!

On 26th January 2008, it will be 60 years for India to become a 'Republic' and as of 15th August 1947, the occupied Hindu Raj was atlast free from the 'oppressive yoke', of the initial Islamic and subsequent British subjugation, and was partitioned -- a scheme directed by the British stratagem of 'divide and rule', obviously initiated and seconded by the beneficiary alien Muslim deceivers, and willingly contracted into by the pusillanimous Hindu leaders-politicians -- into the three States of Muslim West Pakistan, Muslim East Pakistan and Secualr India. Paradoxically, India would be the only country to celebrate its freedom, after losing its territories of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh--which equitably, legally, historically and factually belonged to the indigenous people of Sanatan Dharmic Civilization. Even though many foreign Christian and Muslim invaders had traumatized the people of the Indian subcontinent, the facade of the civilized benevolent character created by these violators has become known in such a manner in India, that no Hindu will ever dare look 'askance' at the Muslim and Christian lien-settlers!

Leaders like Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru were blinded by 'ideologies' and blindsided by 'ideologues'. Nehru, the English lackey, wouldn't fight against the British-Nazis, but had threatened to fight against his own 'Hindu-brother', Subhash Chandra Bose, if he ever dared attack the British, for India's Independence. How very interesting! Under the leadership of western-educated Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, a secular Constitution of India was enacted, mostly an effortless translation, at a whopping cost of 30 million Rupees, at a time when the price of one tola of gold was about 30 Rupees! Because of their arrogance and obsession to the aliens, by selectively abridging the inherent Rights of the Hindus, whereby obviously offending them, the lackadaisical Hindu leaders took shortsighted and hasty decisions, and not only agreed the partition, but also allowed the aliens to continue to live in India--if they so desired. Incidentally, during First World War, being shortsighted, Quentin Roosevelt, a son of the former President Teddy Roosevelt, mistakenly (and not for the first time) tacked on to the German squadron rather than his own at the end of an aerial engagement, and died when his plane was shot down.

The Hindu politician-leaders are so adept in the art of placating the aliens that nobody on the planet can beat them at this game! India's secular prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's loyalty became obvious when he had praised the British for their 'good governance' during their Angreezi Raj. Because of the placative secularism, alien members, even though they might be lacking the requisite qualifications, are selected to different important government positions. The Persian Zoroastrian late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's Italian Christian wife Sonia Gandhi (Antonio Maino) -- springboarded from being a waitress in England, to Rajiv's wife, to the current status as the Head of the Congress (pseudo-secular) Party of India. Nothing wrong with that, but in an authentic democracy, transparency is paramountly important and with the abolition of the Kings, how is it that the same Nehru-Gandhi dynasty is ruling almost continuously for 60 years? Gandhi can't be a Zoroastrian surname, and not only the majority of the uneducated Indians, but even the ignorant people outside India and also in the West, firmly believe that Sonia Gandhi is related to Mohandas Gandhi, the alleged 'Father of the Nation'. How connivingly convenient, through various shenanigans, to stay in political power!

How the Muslim and Christian invaders and their descendants can justify aggressions and how proud are they of their crimes against the Hindus? Isn't it paradoxical and amazing that since over 2300 years -- without respite -- how the violators have inflicted sufferings on the Hindus, continued praising and applauding the Hindu culture of Ahimsa, Vasudhaiv kutumbakam, etc. while concurrently they themselves engaged in violent aggrandizement. Hey, it is really different strokes for different folks! Since the aliens loathe Hindus and their culture, refer to them as pagans, infidels (kafirs), heathens and what not, then isn't it contradictory that in the name of secularism, not only they associate and take advantage of them, but also, continue living in the country of Sanatan Dharma! Muslim 'Pakistans' were created, but many Muslims decided to stay back in 'secular India' with the Hindu-kafirs, so that in future, with their explosive population growth, they would demand more Independent States, thus gradually realising their cherished dream of the islamization of the whole of India! Until then, disobeying the Uniform Code Laws of India, enjoying 'haj' subsidy-handouts, basking in the Indian economic and technological prosperity, some assist the ISI engineered commotions and insurgencies like the attack onakshardham, attack on the parliament of India, the Mumbai train blasts, etc., etc.

Translating, a Gujarati proverb states: "Participate in the cremation process of a 'valiant' person, but don't attend the marriage ceremony of an eunuch."

Inferentially, to cremate a 'valiant' man, more brave men will come, and if there is any kind of commotion, the participants would be assured of their safety.

But, in the marriage ceremony of an 'eunuch', there obviously would be lot of good food and entertainment, but during any tumultuous situation, despite the overwhelming majority of the eunuchs, the attendees would never be protected, for at the moment of the tumult, the only thing that the eunuchs would do, would be to keep on clapping hands, singing and dancing! The same situation is of the Indian politicians and the government. Notwithstanding the capacity of Army, Navy, Airforce, Intelligence Agencies, and shrewd politicians, it is surprising that there are millions of illegal Muslims in India, and thousands are crossing the porous borders on daily basis. Again, be it the belligerence of China or Pakistan or Bangladesh, or insurgency in Kashmir, or the hijacking of an Indian plane, rather than taking meaningful and decisive actions for the protection of the nation, the fawnish Indian leaders prostrate themselves to the so-called international community, asking for assistance, and engage in the 'politically correct' diplomatic conformity, and in the process may exsanguinate India, which may lead the nation on a path of self-destruction, inviting invasions, slavery and occupation by the foreign powers!

No valiant nation lives in the idiot's paradise! By expelling the illegals, by gaining back the stolen territories, by enacting formidable policies to deter the
belligerent enemies, by taking more appropriate brave actions, then only the Indian leaders can be the bellwethers of courageous patriotic strategists.

Again, history doesn't pardon impotent leaders of any country! Religion may be the opium of the so-called 'ignorant, unaware and uneducated believers',

but secularism -- the Indian Secularism -- is the opium of the Indian political intellectual leaders, especially the pseudo-Hindus, whose subtle-conspicuous agenda is to appease the foreign minority settlers at the expense of the indigenous silent (silenced!) Hindu majority, in their own Country!

At this juncture, the words of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, (even though I do not totally agree with everything he advocated and believed in), written in the 29th August 1920 issue of Navjeevan, retrospectively may enlighten the Hindu World Community! Mohandas Gandhi wrote: "If 230 million Hindus can't protect themselves against the 70 million Muslims, then either Hindu Dharma is false, or the believers of Hindu Dharma are impotent and fakers. Rather than allowing the British -- with its might (power-sword) -- maintain peace between Hindus and Muslims, I would prefer that the Hindus and the Muslims resolve their differences with the aid of 'the sword'. Again, imagine that the Hindus advance and adhere to their humility and still the Muslims betray them, then are Hindus still to be considered impotent? Are they not capable of protecting themselves?"

Well, the shenanigan secular pseudo-Hindu politicians, and the One Billion Hindus should ponder and answer who they actually are and, what are they really capable of?

Let all the Hindus, always, stay 'informed, vigilant, courageous, and proactive'.

(By Dr. Harishchandra Shah)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------कोई भी मूल्य एवं संस्कृति तब तक जीवित नहीं रह सकती जब तक वह आचरण में नहीं है.

Poverty gone in India: Data Manipulation

The Planning Commission has lowered the poverty determination levels, to decrease the number of poor people in the country. According to the Planning Commission’s submission to the Supreme Court on May 10, 2011, only those people would now be called poor who earn below Rs 578 a month, i.e. less than Rs 20 a day in urban areas. In rural areas it is fixed at Rs 15. Only these people would be eligible for the government’s Below Poverty Line (BPL) schemes and benefits. But even by these standards, according to the Planning Commission, 41.8 per cent of Indians are below poverty. Which would only indicate that if we were to apply the one dollar a day levels for determining poverty, the number could rise up to 70-80 per cent.
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In this way poor have come from more than 70% to 41.8%.It looks that theIndian currency has got too much economic value comparision to Dollar etc. that Rs. 20/- of old time have got same value of Rs. 15/- today, i.e., what we cud buy for Rs. 20/- before can be purchased in Rs. 15/- today.

But u ask urself, is it true?
They are just making us fool again.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------कोई भी मूल्य एवं संस्कृति तब तक जीवित नहीं रह सकती जब तक वह आचरण में नहीं है.

Zero Budget Natural Farming

Zero Budget Natural Farming means for all the crops, the production cost will be zero. In the Zero Budget Natural Farming nothing has to be purchased from the outside. All things required for the growth of the plant are available around the root zone of the plants. There is no need to add anything from outside. Our soil is prosperous-full of nutrients. How much nutrients the crops takes from the soil? Only 1.5 to 2.0 % Remaining 98 to 98.5% nutrients are taken from air, water & solar energy. Agriculture Universities says false that we have to add fertilizers from outside. If science says, that 98% crop body is constituted by air and water, then where is the need to add the fertilizers from the outside? Every green leaf produces the food throughout the day. These green leafs are food producing factories. What is used the leaves for producing the food? It takes carbon dioxide & nitrogen from the air, water from the canal, river or well given by the monsoon clouds, and solar energy from the sun for producing the food. Every green leaf of any plant produces 4.5 gram carbohydrates per square feet surface, from which we get 1.5 gram grains or 2.25 gram fruits. For preparing this food, the plants take necessary elements like air, water and solar energy from the nature, not from us. Monsoon clouds do not send any bill for the water that he supplied. Neither air sends bill for the nitrogen it supplied or the sun for the solar energy. All these are available free of cost. Green leaves do not use the technology of the Agriculture University for taking CO2 from the air or solar energy from the sun. Whether monsoon clouds use the technology of Agriculture University for giving rainwater? No! All these elements constituting 98% body of the plant are available free of cost. Remaining 1.5% nutrients taken from the soil are also available free of cost as it is taken from the prosperous soil which is enriched with these nutrients. Moreover, for this it does not use the technology of the Agriculture University.

If this is the ultimate truth, then where is the role of Agriculture University and their technology? Where are the Government and their subsidy? Where are these Krishi Pandits? Friends, none of them are existed here, they fool us. Agriculture University says that there is nothing in the soil and we have to add fertilizers from outside. Then my question to them is why it is not necessary in the forest? In the forest or on the bunds of our farm, there are huge trees of Mango, Tamarind or Plum with uncountable export quality fruits in famine also without any application of chemical or organic fertilizers, insecticides, without any cultivation by tractor, without irrigation. There is no existence of any technology of the Agriculture University, no fertilizers, insecticides, cultivation and irrigation. Even though these trees are giving enormous export quality fruits every year in famine also. That means, for the plants to grow and to give the production there is no necessity of adding from outside.

If it the ultimate truth that without adding from outside, the plants grows and give the production. It means that, all the nutrients needed for the growth and production are available around the root zone. There is no need to add it from outside. In the forest, there is no human existence, but, even though the trees are having enormous fruits. That means nature had supplied all the nutrients needed for the plant. Our soil is prosperous-enriched with the nutrients! When I say that our soil is enriched with the nutrients, then I have to prove it scientifically. Now we will see the scientific evidences for it. In year 1924, Dr. Clark and Dr Washington, the world famous soil scientists came to India in search of crude oil. Barmashell Company sends them in search of petroleum products in India. They taken the samples of the thousand feet deep soil and tested it at the American laboratory. The result shows that as we go deeper in the soil, the nutrients needed for the growth and production of the plant are in the increasing quantity. Our soil is prosperous-enriched with the nutrients.

If the scientific evidences say that the soil is enriched with the nutrients, then why Agriculture University says for soil testing? It is also another fraud. The soil testing report says that there is enough amount of Potash in the soil but it is in unavailable form. So, add it from outside. Actually, they are not saying false. They say true but half true. Our soil is enriched with nutrients, but these nutrients are not in the form, which the roots want. These nutrients are available in the form of grains not in the form of Chapati or Roti. If there is enough amount of grains in your house, but nobody (your wife, mother) to cook it. And you do not know cooking, then either you have to be hungry or go to hotel. You will definitely go to the hotel. If we do not want to go to hotel, then you have to bring back your mother or wife. These chemical or organic fertilizers are the teefins of the hotel.

The nutrients in the soil are in the unavailable form. They are in the form of grains not Chapati or Roti. The roots cannot take it in this form. Therefore, the soil testing report says that it is in the unavailable form. This non-available form is converted to available form by the millions of micro-organisms. In the forest, these micro-organisms are present in tremendous amount (One crore or lack per gram soil) that convert these non-available form nutrients into available form and make available to the plants. That is why there is no need to add any fertilizers from outside in the forest.

However, in our farm these nutrients are not available because the micro-organisms which convert these non-available from nutrients into available from are destroyed by means of poisonous chemical and organic fertilizers, insecticides, weedicides and cultivation by the tractor. If these cooks are destroyed them how the roots will get the nutrients? That means if we want to stop the teefins from the hotel, then we have to re-establish these micro-organisms in the soil. How it can be done? By applying the cow dung of our local cow. The cow dung of the local cow is a miraculous culture. As our mother or wife add a spoon curd (culture) to the pot full of milk and whole milk is converted into curd. Likewise, the local cow dung is a culture. One gram of cow dung contains about 300 to 500 crore beneficial effective microbes.

How much cow dung is needed for one-acre land? I had done research on this for six years. I had studied all Indian cow breeds like Gaulao, Lal Kandhari, Khilar, Deoni, Dangi, Nimari from Maharashtra; Gir, Tharparkar, Sahiwal, Redsindhi from West India; Amrutmahal, Krishna kathi, from South India and Hariyana from North India. I have tested the cow dung and urine of all these breeds on every crop, in each Naxatra, in each Charana of each Naxatra. After six years of research, I found some conclusions.

First conclusion is that only cow dung of our local cow is effective not of Jersey or Holstein. We can mix half cow dung and half the dung of bullock or buffalo, but not of Jersey or Holstein at any cost. Secondly, the cow dung and urine of black colored Kapila cow is most effective. Thirdly, the cow dung should be used as fresh as possible and the urine as old as possible. It is more effective. Fourthly, only one cow is needed for thirty acres of land. You need not have to purchase the F.Y.M., chemical or organic fertilizers like compost, vermi-compost etc. My six years experimental result says that for one acre land, only ten kilogram of local cow dung is sufficient per month. One local cow gives on an average about 11 Kg of cow dung, one bullock about 13 Kg of dung and one buffalo about 15 Kg dung per day. For one acre one day’s cow dung is enough. That means thirty days cow dung for thirty acres. There is no need to purchase the F.Y.M. in bulk quantity. I started thinking, what should be added in the cow dung? I examined the forest. I found there the excreta of the animals, birds, earthworms, insects and their urine around that huge tree with uncountable export quality fruits. I thought there must be definitely some relation between the excreta of the animals, birds, insects, earthworms with the production and growth of the plant. One gram of local cow dung contains 300 to 500 crore beneficial effective microbes. These micro-organisms decompose the dried biomass on the soil and get available the nutrients to the plants. Nature uses the dung and urine of the various animals, birds, insects and earthworms in his self-developing, self-nourishing system. That means the use of cow dung and urine is very natural and hence scientific.

I found in the shadow of that huge tree in the forest, few insects like ants working there. But in the shadow only, not outside the shadow. I examined and studied this nature’s self-developing, self-nourishing system for six years. I saw that some sweeteners are secreted from the roots to attract the micro-organisms. In addition, these micro-organisms get available the nutrients from the soil to the root zone. There is symbiosis in the nature. Science had proved this. If nature uses the sweeteners to attract the microbes, then why not we use it? I thought why not to add some sweeteners with cow dung? I started adding Jaggery with the cow dung and urine and examined its effects on each crop in each Naxatra. The results were fantastic.

I found the various vegetation in the shadow of that huge tree in the forest. I verified those vegetations. I found 268 different species. Among them 3 parts were dicots and one-part monocots. I surprised! Why this proportion 3:1? I thought that the dicot contains proteins and proteins are saturated with solar energy. The matured seed falls down. They are decomposed and the energy enclosed in it gets available to the micro-organisms and the micro-organisms are multiplied. I thought why should not add the dicot flour to the cow dung, urine and Jaggery. I started experimenting with cow dung, urine, Jaggery and dicot flour in different proportions. I found after continuous six years experiments one formula, which I named as Jiwamrita. I had used those things in the Jiwamrita that the nature uses. For preparing Jiwamrita, we have to use dung and urine of our local cows only and not of Jersey or Holstein. Because the Jersey or Holstein is not cow, it is a different animal. It has not a single character of cow (Zebu Family). In my experiments of Jiwamrita, I found some conclusions. Firstly, we have to use the dung and urine of the local cow only. If it is not available in sufficient quantity, you can use half of Bullock or Buffalo, but not alone of Bullock or Buffalo. Secondly, the cow that gives more milk, its dung and urine is less effective and which gives less milk, its dung and urine is more effective.

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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------कोई भी मूल्य एवं संस्कृति तब तक जीवित नहीं रह सकती जब तक वह आचरण में नहीं है.

The danger of Being good

The miracle of individual choice may be what is keeping us safe as a society. Some people just choose to be good, no matter what. This is the story of what happens to them.

THERE IS a dark truth about Indian democracy that very few middle-class Indians understand. There are no certitudes about liberty and opportunity here; no real comforts about the rule of law. In fact, the nature of life in India, literally, is a function of choice.

Nothing demonstrates that more than the story of Dr Binayak Sen. Four years ago, on a cold February morning outside a court in Raipur, a man with gentle eyes and a long grey beard had pressed his face through the iron grill of a jail van and spoken urgently as I stood outside on my toes, straining to hear him. Gun-toting commandos surrounded the van. It had not been easy to push past them to get face time. No one had really heard of Binayak Sen then. It was the first time someone from the national media had come listening. There were many things Sen could have pleaded through that window. He had already been in jail for nine months. He could have urged one to talk up his story in Delhi’s power circles, urged one to start a campaign for him. But, astonishingly, Sen’s urgencies had lain elsewhere.

“You have to go back and write about how we are creating two categories of human beings in this country,” he had said, as the commandos tried to nudge us out of range. “You have to write about the famine and malnutrition rampant everywhere. We are living out the Malthusian theory...”

This did not sound like a man who was a dire national security threat. But Sen had been put in jail for “waging war against the nation” and it took another year and more for him to get bail from the Supreme Court. The freedom was shortlived. On 25 December 2010, a trial court convicted him and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Sen was re-arrested. Last week, the Chhattisgarh High Court refused to suspend the sentence and denied him bail again. He may not have waged war against the nation, it said, but he stood guilty of sedition: Why had he raised his voice against the State?

Sen is not an isolated symptom. Two years ago, in May 2009, another man in Chhattisgarh had fallen foul of the State. Himanshu Kumar, a Gandhian from Meerut had spent 17 years working in Dantewada. He had an ashram on the outskirts of the forest where tribals from the deep interiors could come for refuge. Here they learnt how to file FIRs, petition the district collector, interact with forest officials, seek redress. But on 16 May 2009, as Indians elsewhere were celebrating a peaceful General Election — proud symbol of India’s vibrant democracy — a posse of policemen and several bulldozers rolled into Himanshu’s ashram and razed it to the ground. He sat with his wife and daughters under a tree and watched. His elder daughter cried as it rained. When the police were done, not a trace of the 17 years remained. Just a drooping crocus and, ironically, pamphlets in Gondi urging tribals to vote.

For several months more, Himanshu tried to continue his work from a makeshift ashram nearby. Then, as the intimidations piled up, one evening he shed his trademark white kurta, shaved his moustache, disguised himself in red shirt and jeans, scaled the wall of his house and came away to Delhi. He has never gone back.

Just a few months later, in July 2010, environment activist Amit Jethwa had just stepped out of the Gujarat High Court when two men on a motorbike shot him point blank and sped off. Jethwa had been fighting for two years against illegal mines in the Gir Lion Sanctuary, owned by a politician, Dinu Solanki. Solanki’s nephew was later arrested as the prime accused in the murder.

A few months earlier, in February 2010, a young lawyer called Shahid Azmi was shot dead by gunmen in his chamber in Mumbai. Azmi had been fighting unpopular cases, mostly defending poor Muslim boys accused of terrorism. The Crime Branch suspects he was killed on a supari issued by underworld gangster Bharat Nepali, who deems himself a “nationalist” and is allegedly close to some sections of the Indian intelligence establishment.

Shahid was 32 when he was killed; Jethwa was 35. Himanshu is 52. Binayak is 61. But their stories are linked by a profound thr - ead: Binayak Sen could have chosen not to be in jail. Kumar could have chosen not to be in exile. Jethwa could have chosen not to be dead. Azmi could have chosen to be alive

Secure in the cocoon of our privilege, we imagine we have nothing in common with the evil repressions of the Middle East regimes and elsewhere. But the truth is, only a thin membrane separates us from it: individual choice. If you are among those who chase the rewards of the market-place and keep your head down, India is a wondrous, silken place. If you are among those who ask questions, you fall through a chute.

EARLY THIS year, in a gruesome incident, Yashwant Sonawane, additional district collector of Malegaon was burnt to death in broad daylight by local mafia for resisting the pilferage of kerosene. There was Satyendra Dubey earlier, IIT alumni, killed for protecting India’s prestigious highway project, the Golden Quadrilateral. There was S Manjunath, IIM alumnus, killed for sealing pumps adulterating petrol. And just last year, nine RTI activists were murdered for demanding little answers.

Cast an eye over other news items strewn across the years and a landscape of horror opens up. This is the country at the other end of the chute. Government officials humiliated for doing their duty. Police officers cut to size for not toeing the line. Activists maligned and blacklisted. Upright citizens harassed. Over just the last year, TEHELKA has done several stories detailing such cases. Whistle and Be Damned, the story of whistleblowers in India. Dead Right, the story of RTI activists in India. Sanjiv Chaturvedi, forest official in Haryana, hounded like an animal for doing his job. Kuldeep Sharma, police officer in Gujarat, hounded for speaking the truth.

All these stories point to a black fact we must confront: there are no dividends for doing the right thing in India. There is only danger. India’s public culture, in fact, has designed itself into an ugly gene: fear, docility, compliance. And a kind of automated blindness. There is absolutely nothing to pierce this dehumanising membrane except the random and inexplicable ideas of self that pin some individuals to a higher ideal.

Binayak Sen did not need to speak up when the atrocities of the Salwa Judum began in 2005. He had spent 30 years serving the poor in Chhattisgarh, the State had never been angry with him. He could have let 600 villages be evacuated. He could have let three lakh tribals be dispossessed. He could have let corporates swallow the forest whole. If he had stayed silent, he would not have been accused of sedition. He had a choice. He chose.

Himanshu Kumar too could have closed his eyes the day the first raped and maimed tribal girl limped into his ashram. He knew filing hundreds of cases against the police would rouse the beast. He knew he was putting his family in jeopardy. But he chose.

What prevented Amit Jethwa from retreating into a comfortable life like the rest of us and leaving the fate of Gir Sanctuary to the avarice of politicians and the corruption of forest officials? Shahid Azmi was 12 when a Hindu mob accosted him; 16, when he crossed over to Pakistan to train for revenge. Later, disillusioned with militancy, he spent eight years in rigorous imprisonment in Mumbai, and studied for his law exam. When he walked free, he could have slipped through the line into a life of ease. What impelled him to return to the sewer, fighting for people the system had abandoned, trying to staunch the hatred and fear around him?

TEHELKA’s cover story this week, The Danger of Being Good, is a tribute to the precious, quixotic and inspirational idea of the world and self that drives some Indian citizens to still stand up for a moral vision. Duty. Justice. Accountability. Honesty. Democracy. Fairness. Dignity. Empathy. There is nothing in the world around us that suggests these human values are worth defending. There is nothing to pin one to their pursuit except the face in the mirror and the interior dialogue: what sort of human being do I want to be?

The battles in this cover package range from the quotidian to the gigantic. There are dozens we have had to leave out. But meditate on them for a moment, and just this small handful of stories will make you balk at the depraved society they reveal. Corruption in every pore: in excise, in income tax, in ports, in highways, in check dams, in the PDS, in ration cards, in land encroachments, in pollutions of earth and water and sky. Nothing is safe. Greed is the only propeller. We are not a society really: we are a termite nest, eating at ourselves.

As a people then, out of self-preservation if not high ethic, we should be gearing ourselves to protect those who fight this. But both as a people and a State, India has set itself on a contrary path. Every righteous action in this country brings on the wrath of the “system”: its deadly dance of intimidation and seduction; its crushing arsenal of transfers, suspensions, false cases, arrests, sudden deaths and financial squeeze. No one is immune.

This TEHELKA cover then is an alarming reminder that what should have been the norm has become the exception. Doing one’s duty is no longer an imperative in India. Nothing governs us as a society now except the miracle of individual choice. We are secured by the fact that some people choose to be good, no matter what. But there are myriad dangers in that. There is not just the might of the State to confront. There is also the temptation at every turn to just give up, part the skin and slip over into the silken side where one half of India is living a charmed life. If you don’t fight the ugliness of the State, it will behave in benign ways with you. That is one of the hardest lessons being good in India teaches you.

(SHOMA CHAUDHURY)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------कोई भी मूल्य एवं संस्कृति तब तक जीवित नहीं रह सकती जब तक वह आचरण में नहीं है.