Ohh no....Why?? Why???

I don't know what went wrong yesterday but nothing was happening. Till now I was just hearing how thing go out of your control but this Sunday experienced it. Right from morning 10 till night 10.

On 3rd June I am going Pune to attend one of my closest friend, Vivek's marriage. I went to reserve railway ticket at reservation counter at airport. To my surprise a 20 people long line was waiting for me. I have never seen such a long line there as I frequently go there with my friends. And many people don't know there is railway reservation counter at airpot. So I left the place thinking to get tickets from Begampet station in the evening.

In scorching mid-summer heat of Hyderabad, I decided to meet my friend Nilesh who stays near airport at Prakashnagar. Sweating like anything I went to his flat on 2nd floor just to see nobody inside except one of his room partner slept as if he was unconscious. He didn't realize my presence at all. To add some more frustration I enquired about house rent at one "To-Let" site. Arrrghhhh, it was Rs. 6500 for a penthouse turned 2 bedrooms flat.

On the way to my room I called up Swapnil, IIT colleague telling him that I will come to him. I wanted to transfer few snaps to his laptop from my newly bought cam. He was in office so we thought we could meet at around 10 night. He promised me to give a call at 9.30 pm.

Shankar, my current room partner and I was worried about how spend the whole day. “Why not to go a movie?” Shankar yelled. With a doubt in mind I agreed, "yeah, why not?” We left for PVR theater an hour before movie show time. By now you must have guessed, no tickets available. Both roamed in Hyderabad central for some time in distant hope for somebody to cancel their tickets and we to get a chance. At 1.00 we both headed for lunch at Hotel Shanbag. I should describe it as an oasis in the desert as we had a very good lunch there. While returning Shankar disappointedly questioned, "We came from Begampet to Punjagutta(roughly 8-10 km)just to have lunch?"

Meantime Sugata called me. He had to purchase some pearl jewels and I too had a purpose to learn about my Digicam from Sugata. So we decided to meet at Hyderabad Central (again!!!) at 7 in the evening. I thought I will leave a bit early and will get tickets from Begampet railway station before the counter closes at 8.00 pm.

So I left house at 6.00 with camera, walking through dust opened up due to road work I reached station. Very happy I was to see nobody against the counter. I patiently picked up forms, filled them in nice handwriting and went to counter to ask for reservation. Ohh my goodness, it was Sunday, counter was closed at 2.00 pm only. Lady inside told me to go to Secunderabad or Hyderabad station if I want tickets today. :-(

Squeezing the reservation forms (as reusable components) in pocket, I reached central almost 10 minutes before 7. Sugata, I always regard him as one of the few punctual friends I have. And he is. But it was my BAD day to see him half an hour late. And when he came he was little in mood to talk about camera as his own Digicam was suffering from cold. After shopping we had a long walk. Tiredly after some time we concluded to have dinner. And to climax the tragedy Swapnil called me only to tell that he got stuck in office because of some problem (software people read it as 'issue'). I couldn’t send my recent snaps to my friends ultimately.

Finishing the dinner, Sugata and I bade adieu to each other. Walking alone along calm though irritatingly silent road, I was thinking what went wrong?

Destroyer of the Nation

Gandhi should have born 50 years after independence. And Lokmany Tilak and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose should have lived at least 20 years more.We could have seen a better India than this. I am not saying we could got freed before 1947, but nation could have been in better responsible hands after freedom. English ruled us for 200 years almost. The techniques they followed to batter down big kings and kingdoms in India were very practical. To beat an enemy you have to be tough and should retaliate its attack with same force and aggression. But the way we tried to get back our freedom is surprising me. It looks like after rebellion of 1857 a fear of getting defeated started growing in Indian minds. Apart from a few spot rebels in Maharashtra, Bihar and Bengal violent protest was almost vanished.

In 1885 a party born , basically not for freedom struggle rather for obtaining a share in british government ruling India. Later with increased opposition from british government over interference, Congress decided to fight against British rule. Even then it was undecided on what way to deal with british. Some thought to go harsh and some thought to please them and get the chunk. The roots of weak, disarrayed India lie there. Congress, whom we assumed unchallenged leader of our independence movement, were always undecided on its methods.

To throw away the intruder in your house you cannot be kind to him or need to beg at him if you are strong. The Gandhi Techniques of 'satyagraha' or 'law breaking(that too polite law breaking)' are valid today because it is our own government and (like what Medha Patkar or SBI employees are doing) we can force government to be proper in governance. But it is a grossly wrong method to fight with enemy. Otherwise Terrorists should leave killing people and Pakistan should not ask for Kashmir if ManMohan Singh is going on 'satyagraha' . Even my father, a Gandhi scholar(though not a blind follower), says, "People followed Gandhi because it was easier to follow him than Bhagat Singh".

Gandhi was a manager rather a best people manager than anybody else. He managed Netaji Bose, he managed Bhagat, he managed Jinnah and he managed 30-40 crore innocent though matured Indian crowd. Go back to history and you will see no country got her freedom without fighting violently with the ruler. Otherwise why britishers will fear of Bhagat Singh more than Gandhi. Why they kept Gandhi alive for years and hanged Bhagat Singh as soon as they saw his popularity is increasing?

I am not writing because I am inspired because of rangDeBasati or such seasonal patriotism. Any common man if thinks with his mind clear of prejudice and being practical, he will find Gandhi led us to a much shattered future. He insisted on his mild and obsolete methods even though he saw the success Tilak, Bhagat Singh and Netaji Bose. Proposing a weaker leader like Jawaharlal Nehru, he became KingMaker. Why it was necessory to go on hunger strike when Netaji Bose was becoming president of congress session for second consecutive time ?

I accept Gandhi had mass support. But I fail to convince myself that Gandhi fought for freedom and that too selflessly. He was great politician. Non-voilance and such stuff is good to negotiate with those who will listen. But those who don't listen need a blast.

More Later..
--Abhijit