Everyone for themselves!

Another incident of butchery from the extremist or Maoist backed wing in our country. Cold blooded manslaughter, disrupting economy, most of all, psychologically paralyzing the minds of those who happen to witness or those whose family members suffered the macabre incidents- this has been the norm lately. The outfit is deemed to be involved, directly or indirectly, in deaths of more than 200 humans in the last 5 months. So what do we make of this piece of text ?

We Indians prefer to live in a perpetual state of denial. We frequently encounter denial instigating events or phenomenon, which ascertains a certain fact that- life is no easy, every one has to face problems and your share is in so and so shape and form. And, in due course of time, one such event or phenomenon has to get replaced by another one. We never run out of them, because if we do, we would feel uncomfortable, that we have reached the ultimate stage of achievement and bliss; thus, there would be no further feat to achieve rendering our lives less meaningful and probably with lesser reason or motive to thrive and prosper. We are not innovators, restraining from changes, we enjoy the perpetuity of our lives. We do like to discuss elaborately of such events for a while, until a new such event grabs the limelight and the ball keeps on rolling. OK, I may sound a little overboard, but read the first para again you will not agree less.



The Naxalites, again unfortunately Indians, are also living in a state of denial. Apparently their levels of denial are higher than the rest of the country’s or at least the people’s representatives of the country – the politicians. Therefore they are unwilling to budge and hold their firm stance. They honor slaughter and killings of the innocent civilians, hoping to either crush the denial levels of the government or to threateningly raise it leading to a downfall, based on ethical and moral grounds. Obviously, they(maoists) steer clear of any ethical or moral obligations because the agencies which impose such accusations don’t seem to overcome their delusion of sentimentality. Ask why? In the wake of their(the agencies) incessant state of denial, they seem to assuage towards the weaker section of the society, in this case being the maoists. So, the maoist’s cause-driven criminality somehow attracts moral justification.

Apparently the Maoists do not realize that they are making the people, who they wish to revolutionize, their enemy and not the govt. Even if they win this battle, they would then have to convince the same people to accept and appreciate the beliefs which they preach and propose, the same people, with whom they are unwittingly distancing themselves now. Governments will come and go. Its not their war, it never was. In the wake of all these events, the maoists do realize that they will never be satisfied by overthrowing the govt. If that happens, by any means, then the maoists will be rendered no more fortunate than hapless monkeys left over a desert island. With no knowledge of governing and no body or constitution to support it, they would be on a ship to neverland with around a billion inferi trawling besides them who don’t care a shit about what Mao said centuries ago. The naxalites exist because the govt exist. Its like a cat and mouse game. If the cat wins, it will be bored alone. With no govt there’d be no meaning to their lives. Leave aside a hand full of rulers the entire maoist troop comprises of uneducated adivasis. So, from their perspective, winning could only come as the govt sticking around but bringing about a drastic change of policies across nation.

Almost two decades after our economy got liberalized, installing a socialist ideology would be next to impossible without the govt playing a suicidal role in it. So, now in order to bring a strong govt to a suicidal level of threat(a seemingly impossible dream, not because the govt is very much able, but majorly because the balance of money and power doesn’t comply with the equation presented) maoists are wracking their brains impatiently, as they too fear of getting bored of this age long game and seek to finish it soon, as a result of which they have engaged the afterburner - unleashing a fury of irritated attacks. Could there not be a work around for their problem? Could there not be a confirmed end of this instability? The two sides have driven each other so much beyond the point-of-no-return, that you cannot deny instances of foul play being involved from both ends. Foul play, would mean deeds motivated by the lust for power, money and revenge.

A saintly leader of current fazing times could only say to its junta, “brace yourselves while the enemy makes his final (which are normally the best & most aggressive)moves, as sooner or later he has to retire and rest in peace”
And we civilians can only do best to oblige and save our own asses, all by ourselves, while almost entirely banking on our fate hoping this dangerous game to end. The 'survival of the fittest' is not just a concept, its already in use.

That’s the way it is, and that’s the way it has always been...

Signing off...
RicochetRabbit

Bird's-eye view

Another bird rescued from the major oil sleek (Deepwater Horizon rig explosion) that happened a couple of weeks ago on the Gulf of Mexico. Yes, it is certainly a bird I am talking about, to be precise a brown pelican, currently doing fine at the isolation recovery area of Louisiana Bird Rescue Center. Well, not exactly intending to discredit this news article(Citation: click here) which was btw published in Bloomberg Businessweek, it’s slight bemusing to find such an article, when you can expect (and rightly so!) that most of the people would be fruitlessly engrossed either in estimating the exact figure of the gallons they lost or indulged in the blame game for inept recovery operations.

All that aside, it highlights the stark difference that exists across societies the world over, the differences in choices available, the difference in liberty, the differences in the evaluation of a human life or any life for that matter, in different parts of world. It’s funny when you see that an injured bird receives equal (if not more) media coverage (read importance) than what would be received by a whole bunch of humans who die almost daily in a bomb explosion, in some of the other parts of the world say for instance- Afghan, Pak or Iraq. Surely Americans take pride in their lives, and probably anybody would if in a similar position. Does their snobbishness ever deem them less friendly with the rest of the world? Doesn’t matter, they are in a position where they don’t need many or at least they don’t need to beg for making any. Take the Times Square car-bomb incident for instance, what I heard was, on 6:28 the officials were notified by a local shirt-seller and at 6:30 the entire troop had arrived on the scene, moreover they deployed a robotic arm to their service, safeguarding even the lives of their hurt lockers. Two days later they nab the criminal and are able to accumulate all the details and evidence related to the case. Well, so much for our successful conviction of Mr. Kasab….belittled in comparison, even when it is considered one of the fastest trials held on a terror linked criminal case.…reaching a verdict in record time (under 18 months!!, although it’s an altogether different story about the number of years the Indian constitution offers him to extend his lifespan by remaining in pipeline or by carrying forward his appeal to the President, in which ever case it is highly likely that the junta might lose interest in Kasab or will get soft-hearted and ultimately acquit him from the capital punishment)



Anyway, the point above focused on highlighting the striking difference....Now the question is why? One might rubbish this off saying that it’s entirely the rich nations’ muscle power of ‘paisa’ or ‘bhandwan’ (in local slang). I would not rack my brains arguing back, even a nincompoop would agree...but surely, isn't it wonderous to think, why and how come so much difference exists in a particular life form - Homo sapiens, in the same planet. Just to bring things in general perspective, the difference pointed out above was between two nations separated by only by 9 others when listed based on nominal GDP...there are over a hundred with which no comparison can be drawn. In fact, I now realize I can’t be fit to justify my view entirely, because based on an estimate, if I am able to write this post and publish this on my blog from my lappy, sitting comfortably at home while sipping coffee...then I belong to those lucky few millions who can afford or have the luxury to do so, out of the billions who amass this planet. Thus, my view can never entirely quantify the plight of the billions of below-poverty-liners. There has always been this difference in the past and perhaps it will continue to be in the future.

Here as you would recon, I don't seem to be drifting towards a conclusive end of this whole predicament; It's not so easy and not my job. However, it does remind me of something that Stephen Hawking has said in his new documentary with Discovery Channel, that stirred up quite a debate in scientific circles. He said we shouldn’t be seeking aliens in the outer space, (right after he almost confirmed their existence) explaining that we are not ready to face them. Although, his remark was touted as the most unscientific bohemian view point yet, the celebrity scientist does make profound sense in terms of serene logic.

We have a very long way to go indeed, resolving internal conflicts, working ourselves towards humanity, bridging the gap among different races, bringing all human lives up to scale and uniting all under one common banner, before we can dare to think of tackling aliens. Genocides, wars, hunger, colonization, plunder, deprivation, jealousy, hatred...we already have enough means to nail our own coffin and dig our own grave, who needs an FDI from outer space??