What's going wrong

Again! Again! Again! When will this proxy war come to end? Again Mumbai is hit by terrorist attack. Again there was bloodshed. Again there was rambles-shambles everywhere. Again someone has lost some of there dear ones in the most unnatural way possible. Again the nation is brought down to its knees to pick up the remains of the innocents. Again the tears wash down the blasted away streets. Again we feel powerless to stop it from happening. 

What is happening here? Why we are not able to capture the terrorists or there plans? Is our Intelligence not working properly? I am worried that within days I will hear the news that Intelligence had already put the government in high-alert regarding this attack. Then what must have gone wrong?

Is government not capable enough to round-up the armed forces to fight this or not interested in get moving?

I will like to believe that even though our government is very corrupt and will like to extract money to the last extent possible, but it has not taken the shape of dictatorship that will let the innocents die as long as they can mint money out of it. So if my belief is true, then does that mean we are lacking in the armed forces or capabilities to round these up?

I recently read that Mumbai police force alone consists of 40K+ employees (includes all ranks of people). That excludes there network and sources that are not in police-force. More than 40K people guarding 603.4 sq. km of Mumbai. Even if we consider there is a considerable hierarchy and there are roughly 20K people to man 603.4 sq. km, we still have 1 police officer for every 0.03 sq. km (a block of size 0.1km * 0.3km). Is this a really big area for a policeman to guard? I don't think so. So what is missing here?

When we have a discussion over coffee table, I said that it is difficult to fight terrorism in India because the terrorists look like rest of us, they live like rest of us and they are one of us. Everyone says West fights the terrorism brutally. The reason is the people involved in the terrorism are from different race and have different life-style that can be easily tracked. The rest of the people laughed at the thought. They says that the reason we are not able to fight the terrorism because the people who are responsible to guard us are either apathetic and not willing to do so, willing to do so but not allowed to do so by people not willing to help so for some personal, pathetic and very shallow gain. 

I am not sure what is stopping us right now from stopping these terrorists to play games in our country whenever they want. I just want system to be strong enough so that we all can say boldly and confidently - Never Again! Never Again anyone should conspire against the country. Never Again people will try to bend or blackmail the government with such pathetic tactics. Never Again!! Never Again!!! Never Again!!!

Where we lose the patriotism

I have never had a gathering in my adult life where we haven't talked about the society and the corruption. And every where the people say the same thing - we all live in the idealistic world till we are in school and then we meet the real life and became practical. Some restricts themselves in giving bribe to others (even though if it is to get back what belongs to them), some joins the group who receives the bribe (maybe to survive) and some struggle to still be idealistic and save themselves from both vices (though very very few percentage, I created this category only because I personally know some people who belong to this group)

And whenever I think about this "practical" people, I always wonder where the feeling is lost that kept us idealistic in young age. It was not that there was absolutely no corruption when we were young. We were hit by Bofors scam in 1989, Harshad Mehta scam in 1992, Fodder scam and Sukhram scandal in 1996, Hawala in 1997 etc. All of them when we were in school. But still when we left the school premises preparing for college we all were still idealistic. We still believed in "goodness" in people and that we all can survive without getting ourselves corrupted. 10 years later, I have bribed thrice.

Where do we lose the patriotic sense in these 10 years? The answer stuck me yesterday when I was ruffling through my cupboard trying to find a clean, ironed shirt. "My patriotism" was stuck to the collar of my blazer. It was with me for most of the winter and early part of cool summer when I felt connected to "India" as nation rather than individuals. It was the national-flag badge that I have pinned to my blazer. And it was answer to my queries.

In school, the first thing we said before learning "twinkle twinkle" was "vande maantaram" and "Jan gan Mann". Before we learnt "every action has equal and opposite reaction - even in real life" we took the pledge "India is my country and all Indians are my brothers and sisters". Even before we were told what is the correct way of "handshaking" we were told to "salute the national flag correctly". And that was the reason for all nationalist feelings.

As soon as we left the school, how many times anyone of my colleagues, seniors and juniors have revisited the same thing? 26th January and 15th August the most (if we are not sleeping off thinking it’s a holiday). Our mind is like the iron axe. Sharpen it regularly otherwise it will rust and of no use. If we don't remind our mind we are proud to be Indians and India must be proud to have us, our mind will forget that and slowly so will our heart.

So what shall we do now? Why can't we start what we learnt at school? Remind everyone what a great nation this is. Every college, every office (private or public sector) should always start only and only after saluting our national flag. National Flag should be placed at every house and every office to remind there is a nation getting affected behind every action we take. I know what I will be told here - all the government buildings have the national flag and Mahatma Gandhi portrait and beneath that there are politicians making the corrupt decisions. This is because there sense of responsibility has lost. It should be mandatory that every politician/ minister should repeat the Oath they take when they are made the elected/minister. This may not sound a big plan to fight corruption. Of course it is not. It is a small step. Every big change needs to start with small step.

And don't forget - people are not inherently bad but they need to be reminded of their good part constantly to avoid the easy temptations of life.

Yeh surat badalni chahiye

The recent drama that was staged in Indian politics with fasting and non-fasting and again the threat of fasting again has raised many questions on our mind. Are we again going on for the same fight that was fought 100+ years ago?

The start seems the same way. The corruption took 60 years to seep into each and every branch of our system. The people who first ignored it are now getting tired of it. And now few people rise against the corruption and exploitation of this corrupt system. And how we have started? The same way the moderists (or how we know them as naram-dal) started the fight against foreign rule. We have started with showing protests and presenting petitions in the parliament. Another commission is planned to set-up to help us "fight" the fight or placate the now getting self-aware public.

But one question which every one in the public has "who will guard the guards?". How can we be sure that the people in the commission will be immune to the disease called "corruption".

What is missing from this fight to free the country from corruption compared with fight to free the country from foreign reign is that though some people have come forward with strong ideas, all of them lack the public support at large. They are forgetting the point that it is not that the government is corrupt but the whole system is corrupt. So until we change the complete system a simple commission will not be the solution nor the change of government in center. Also, don't forget that our constitution is strong enough. And they do punish the culprits. The issue here is that culprit should be punished as soon as the crime is found so that any new person thinks before doing the offence of corruption rather than years and years of pending cases.

And the only way the system could change is when each and every person in the country is perceptive and ready to fight against corruption. The reason for the success of Mahatma Gandhi is that he brought the fight for freedom to mass where each and every person was eager to be freed. We need the same mobilization and inspiration. We need to ensure that the whole mass is eager to be free of corruption.

Having fasts, demonstrations and a new commission will create a buzz for some time but it may also be lost among so many other things and very soon mass lose the interest about it. And the first thing Anna Hazare or Baba Ramdev is to motivate the public to change rather than asking reforms from the government straight away. Don't forget if the public stops supporting the corruption, no corrupt government will ever be formed.

I believe the new leaders that are trying to lead the fight against corruption should never forget Dushayant Singh's words:

Sirf hungama khada karna mera maqsad nahi,

Meri koshish hai ki ye surat badalni chahiye.

Lead the fight at the ground level. Make public to stop supporting corruption at length. No more quick solutions by giving money - no more money to get your income tax return, no more money to get your property registered sooner, no more bribe to escape the parking ticket. And if public stops giving money - the system will change eventually. It is not an easy fight. It was never easy and it may take long fight to resolve. We need patience and never-say-die efforts from anyone who is joining in this fight against corruption and eventually the "surat" will change.