Monday, January 22, 2007

Reconsidering India

When I am in Singapore, I somehow become so blissfully unaware of what the heck is going on in my own country. Every now and then, I stumble across some news here and there. I am not proud of the fact that I am so lazy that I can't even bring myself to check the news online. But now that I have checked, I have never felt such anger.

40 children brutally killed in UP.... and for what? Organ trade

That is the most horrifying news I have EVER heard in my entire life. 40 innocent children! How could those bastards do such a thing? (yeah, I know I am using abusive language, but I think they deserve that and so much more). Do they even have a heart? Is it really true that people will do anything for money? I am a human being, and I ask myself. Is it really possible to commit these murders and sleep at nights, or even live with yourself?

When I left India after the christmas vacation, I heard about the Noida killings. When I left, it was reported that 9 children were murdered. But I didn't know it was for organ trade. Now I hear that there are 40 of them dead. I REALLY feel like killing someone now (whoever is responsible for their deaths).

I came across this bit of news in the worst possible manner. One of my friends on messenger had this interview link as his status message. And that was followed by a few abusive words. I obviously was curious to know why the heck is this guy so angry at our politicians? So I click on the link and watch the entire interview. The opening part of the interview?

Mr Amar Singh, let me start with a simple question. After Nithari, how embarrassed are you by the state of law and order in Uttar Pradesh?

I am not embarrassed at all about the law-and-order situation. Because Nithari is not a law-and-order problem. But I am embarrassed and ashamed as a human being

Wrong answer dude! x-(

My blood was already boiling on hearing the news about the murders, this interview was like rubbing salt in my wounds... not just mine, I'm sure anyone who read this interview would feel that way. How can the police not take action when so many parents report their children missing? How can they refuse to file an FIR? Had they taken the missing children's case seriously in the very beginning, so many lives would have been saved. Those kids would be alive today. How can they abuse the families of the victims? On finding the killings, how can they just hire labourers and dig the"evidence" out with bare hands? Whatever happened to letting the forensic department take care of things?

How can Amar Singh just try to deflect the whole incident time and time again by pointing at other crimes happening all over India? Dude! We Indians know what the heck is going on in our country. We will ask the respective states for an explanation. As of now, we want to know how could such a thing happen to 40 children in your state. Why are you so bothered about Congress? This is not a political issue dammit! Atleast thats not the way most of us sane people see it. And stop trying to defend your chief minister! It was damn inconsiderate of him not to even pay a visit to the affected place. So what if you went there and gave them 5 lakhs, a plot and a job? We want to know that the chief minister actually does give a damn about this mess. You say the people were happy that you came and gave them all the stuff that you did... seriously.. are you for real? Do you really think ANY parent would be happy that they lost their child because of illegal organ trade? You say you are a father, don't you understand how they feel? And how can you defend a guy who openly dismissed the killings as a "choti-moti baath" (insignificant issue)? Its not a "choti-moti baath" and you know it.

Well.. I have posted the link... if you are interested, check out the interview yourself. If the audio is not clear, they have a written version which you can read. Why am I wasting my time and energy on a guy like Amar Singh who through a single interview gave the public an impression that all his party cares about is politics and how this incident affects them with regard to the next election. All he cares about is to try and show that the other parties in India are just as bad. Seriously, we dont want to hear how bad the other parties are. We know. We are the people of India. We want to know how good your party is.

I love my country. I really do. I have always wanted to do something good for it. I mean, think about it, it is a truly beautiful place to be in. What's the first mental image that you get when someone says "India"? For me, it used to be the nice green fields that line the beautiful national highways. I have seen them so many times on my various road trips with my parents. I think of calm villages, like my own. I think of the South Indian temples, my favourite waterfalls, the Taj Mahal etc etc etc. I think of colour. I think of unity among diversity.

But right now... all that seems like such a distant dream. This can't be my country. My country is where kids are murdered. I feel especially bad when I hear about the murder of kids. Hey, I am still a kid at heart. I remember what it was like to be in that age. I know how many dreams I had. Sky was (and still is) the limit. I remember how I used to feel happy that my whole life was ahead of me to make my dreams and wishes come true. How could anyone murder a child who has so much in store for him/her? I don't even want to get started on how devastated the parents must be.

When I was confused about whether returning to India was really worth it, whether we would ever shift from a "developing" status to "developed" status, I kinda came to a conclusion that it didn't matter... I would return to my country and try to do something for it. It has given me so much. Time to help my country out. I was thinking along the lines of my future in India as a scientist.

Thats not the issue now... I am thinking about my country as a middle class Indian... as a human being... and I am again wondering if its worth going back. I don't know... Maybe it is... Maybe my generation will cause a revolution and help India soar to heights no one would have ever imagined... as I said before, sky is the limit. But then again... our system is rotten at the roots... who am I trying to kid... Don't get me wrong... I haven't lost hopes that a new India will arise out of the ashes of every tragedy that strikes us and makes us realize that we need a revolution. Right now, I am just confused about present day India.

All we can do for now is to pray for the souls of the kids, pray for strength for the parents of the kids, pray for justice to prevail (and soon), pray for a change in the system, pray for human beings who have a heart and a soul and pray for our nation. Atleast thats what I am doing now since I am just a helpless spectator.

There you go.... reconsidering India.... a paradise place in the wrong hands... a paradise waiting to be freed... a paradise that WILL be freed... soon.... by those who care about her the most.

P.S.: I was originally planning to write about this amazing surprise party that my friends threw for my birthday. But I guess I got so angry after reading the interview, that I could not contain my feelings. I had to let it out. My post on the wonderful surprise from my buddies here will come out next!

7 comments:

Thenraj said...

INDIA is a country you can see the whole earth, u can see Switzerland here(J&K), Africa (Bihar), USA(Gujarat, Mahatastra)...the way i portraied this by the means of the Beauty, Rich, Poor..

In a society like india which is having a swelling population nobody can control on anybody.

Two months back there was a supreme court order to demolish the illegal buildings in Delhi. Those people who live in those building are living there for ages. Who gave the permission to build their houses and commercial places there government officials only. Unless the respective personal understand his responsibility nothing is goin to be changed...

Yesterday Nithari in UP, Today Kidney Steeling in Tamilnadu..tomorrow no body knows where what will happen...There are lots and lots of these cases happening everyday all around the globe..

Single person cant change this society...All we can do is just see that and hope the accused people get the capital punishment..

Venki said...

Blame it on the Indian Judiciary,The criminals must be exceuted with out trial it may sound like a dictator way but only when such executions are made out, those who want to commit sins like this will give a thought or two about doing it,then India is going to newer dimension ever since the start of the new year its not just the nithari killings then we have the Gateway incident where in a girl was publicly molested and we have so many cases propping like anything till the recent bangalore riot!!

Indian media too instead of dissemination of information to people they are trying to every situation like this to increase their readers, like in the recent case of nithari killings we had the moninder singh & his ally portrayed as in a bollywood stereotype imagery!! Commercialisation is the word anywhere and everywhere i do hope india gets out of this phase soon, am dreaming when it will happen??

If measures are not taken immediately India surely will be a Paradise lost.. btw good post that one :)

Venki said...

Blame it on the Indian Judiciary,The criminals must be exceuted with out trial it may sound like a dictator way but only when such executions are made out, those who want to commit sins like this will give a thought or two about doing it,then India is going to newer dimension ever since the start of the new year its not just the nithari killings then we have the Gateway incident where in a girl was publicly molested and we have so many cases propping like anything till the recent bangalore riot!!

Indian media too instead of dissemination of information to people they are trying to exploit every situation like this to increase their readers & viewers, like in the recent case of nithari killings we had the moninder singh & his ally portrayed as in a bollywood stereotype imagery!! Commercialisation is the word anywhere and everywhere i do hope india gets out of this phase soon, am dreaming when it will happen??

If measures are not taken immediately India surely will be a Paradise lost.. btw good post that one :)

Anusha said...

It's a very sad situation, and it's times like these you wonder whether you should indeed be proud to be an Indian. And the worst part is...these things keep happening all the time. And they'll continue to happen. The best we can do is, as you say, pray for the children and their parents and hope that justice is served.

Vijay Chidambaram said...

John Galt, where are you? Or in indian terms, Anniyan? Its incidents like these that make me wish there was an avenger out there...


"If its only violence that these people know, they should know what happens when one of their betters challenges them at it"- Ragnar

Hope u`ve read Atlas Shrugged!

Confused Soul said...

It's realllllly annoying when ministers think they can pay a few lakhs here and a few there and cover up the entire issue.. can money bring back the life of the person?? Your child is gone and your life is changed forever.. what can money do here? True that our system is totally rotten at the roots.. corruption in every possible place.. sometimes I do think it is impossible to change the situation.. but I will not lose hope.. I hope our generation will do something about it..

Versatile said...

They are still not confirming the fact that it has been done for organ trade. Kiran Bedi in an interview said that they do not file FIRs cos instructions from the minister says that crime rate should be reduced. So the easier way out is show lesser number of FIRs filed. This news item now just features as a tiny column in the newspaper just saying that investigations are being carried out. NDTV conducted an interview of the accused's friend to determine if he was of that type!! He apparently studied in St.Stephens so they are asking the question if education really matters? Somewhere in this the children have completely gotten lost.