The Ride That Got Our Bums Burnt

Karnataka is a gifted land on this country with lot of beautiful places to stumble upon. Yes, indeed I and Srini had enjoyed our bike ride to Madikere. It was an impromptu trip and we just started off from Mysore around 8 AM. We took one of our friend’s Honda Unicorn bike as our bikes are high power and high intensity ones to carry us through a small uphill. We filled the stomach of the Unicorn partly with its energy drink as we were heading towards Tibetan Monastery. Actually the day before, Srini had informed me that we will be going to Tibetan Monastery and the Cauvery Island nearby and return Home in the afternoon.

On the way I saw one of the most fascinating quotes being etched up on the wall.

QUOTE:

          “IF IT’S WORTH A DREAM

              IT’S WORTH NOT A COMPROMISE”

Dreams are wonderful facet of our ever sleepless brain. It shows us the path to greater imagination and sometimes fanciful world. I had always dreamt of delivering one of the best speeches to a small communal. Every one has to make small baby steps in acquiring the necessary skills to fructify the dream and there’s no more pleasure in this living planet than enjoying that moment of success. Oh…cut the crap. Enjoy the ride and stop your irking thoughts. The gentle jolt of the Unicorn climbing a hump resuscitated me back to the ride.

There was beautiful landscape on either side of the road. To the limit of my eye sight I could see the Mother Nature’s work. Bike was vrooming at about 100 KMPH with racing against the raging wind. We changed our hands of the driving bar to keep us enjoying the pillion ride.  We reached the Tibetan Monastery around 10 AM with having some dosa’s to give us the vigor to roam around places. The Monastery was well maintained and has got a good architectural work. There was some prayer being conducted in those entire worshipping place and we were not able to get close to the Buddha’s stature. Some Aesthetic Paintings had been engraved on the walls which carries a lot of artistic value. Thousands of monks sitting in rows kept on chanting and striking the bell. The arrangement remembered the fight sequence in Jet Li’s movies in the monastery. It’s always nice to learn the other cultures which our country has been embracing for hundreds of years and don’t lose your faith in your own. Due to devoid of time was not able to converse with people in the monastery to know about the history and their culture to get the information first hand. “Where the monks get the funds from and what are they doing for their sustenance”, had always kindled our thoughts. As it was on May Day and the three consecutive days of holiday had brought a bevy of people to the place. Lots of people and lots of girls. To my dismay, the raging wind had unscrewed one of the temples from spectacle’s frame. I had to be partially blind with no spectacles and was unlucky to go gazing around these girls. I was wondering about the impact these girls can bring to the economy of a country (I had been working on this topic titled “Why I Feel Women Have Mainstay in Economics”). The people flocking to the tourist spot the couples, college girls, dating daddies, families, friend’s guild and the useless single souls like us had greatly been emphasizing this fact. The fancy stores had all been stuffed with girly items and we bought the well crafted hand held folding fan of Chinese type. I also bought a fancy thumb ring with shape of scorpion incised on the ring that matches my zodiac.

Then we started towards the Cauvery Island. The suspension rope pathway to cross the small stretch of water was really nice with boating being carried out under the bridge. We walked down to the trough where the Stream of Cauvery River flows. There was not heavy watercourse and a perfect place to bask under the sun with the frigidity of water. We crossed the stream to have ourselves sat on the high rock. Unfortunately we had to meet the surprise guests. The two ugly beasts have come with their friends and having fun with splashing water against each other.

I and Srini then sat on a high rise of stone with our legs submerged in water. The feeling was quite soothing and I started my philosophical talk. I was telling him the pleasure of perching alone on this secluded place and listening to the stream with no real purpose. Just forget about everything and listen to what nature is offering us. I would like to take a break once in a while from the hectic life to rejuvenate myself from impoverished ideas and get a new lease of life. Sounds wonderful but Srini were of the view that coming here with friends is totally refreshing. As we were relishing the moment we had a more delirious task at hand. There was a bunch of college girls who had just plumped in. Oh my God, I got my spectacles repaired on the way and this time I am not missing my chance. God’s beautiful creatures and Man’s greatest distraction had swayed our minds towards two beautiful Kannadigas. God, marry me to a Kannadiga. Not to these girls whom we are watching but just a wish to marry a Kannadiga in my life. Srini had greatly understood my taste for these charming ladies. We then strolled around the forest to dry our feet and put on our shoes. Definitely a nice place for the couple’s to talk about the future of this country (marriage plans, children etc…), the economy and Obama’s difficult times ahead in reclusive.

It was almost 1 PM and I am famished already. We have never planned for Madikere and Srini said it’s just a 45 minutes drive from here. The small numbers always attract us in terms of time and I was allured to his stance. I have no qualms about visiting the place. Taking bland lunch at one of the hotels we set our sight towards Abby Falls. Beautiful panoramic view of the hills and other graceful sceneries on the way had enthralled us. We took a KM of walk to reach the foot of the Abby Falls. With tepid flow of water this season it had a very dull look. We had a few snaps taken and started our dirty work. There was this moderately good looking lady who had caught the attention of our scanning eyes. As were taking shots, she was just a metre away from us. We took a chance to get her caught in the picture and Srini did it. I am a nice guy. So please don’t raise your eyebrows at me. Srini has lot of guts and we need to appreciate his attempt with nice bums and beating back at office. I did not like that girl for the fact anyway.

We then retreated back to Mysore at around 4 PM.  We need to reach before the dusk and it gets dark. By the time my repaired glass had failed me to the hilt. So I was on pillion all the way back home. It was always fine to be back on the pillion if you have a trusted guy like Srini riding the vehicle. While going back we took a route that goes through Dhubare forest to Kushal Nagar. The roads are really good and the path we traversed through that forest with chill weather was splendid. The droplets of rain had drenched us with wet. Riding the bike in this drizzling rain is a kind of rejoice. With chillness making us numb and the great hope of riding home had given us the pleasure of enjoying the ride. I had a strange feeling that I should hug someone to get the warmth-ness. Oh…No…No…Don’t give leeway for perverse thoughts. We are good friends and not Dostana-type. With the heavy heart of not having a girl to hug had kept my mind obsessed. I was telling Srini there are two walks of life. One, the hectic unpleasant city life and the other, the life in the serene beautiful nature of these places. I am living both the spheres of life with my retired age in here.

We then had our Snacks at Kushal Nagar. The long ride in the bike for the first time had got our bums burnt and we were languishing in pain. But the joy these bike rides are going to offer is quite unique in its own way and we need to enjoy these rare luxuries that we get at this age. While driving back home on Unicorn, I had turned little crazy. With the battle against the wind to make my voice heard by Srini I felt why I don’t talk to myself, the nature and the God. I was just mocking someone, shooting the vehicles on our way, talking to sky, shouting, stupid facial expressions, standing on the foot rest of the moving vehicle, hiding Srini from looking at the way and the thought about the trip had engulfed my mind. We then finally reached our home by 7 PM.

The first long bike ride has been very memorable with splendid moments. It’s quite refreshing to be on the wheel traveling places with lots of fun and profound conversation with nature. We need to have natural propensity to enjoy the God’s art work in visiting those places. With camera in hand capturing every moment in picture and planning the trip, offers an avid joy. The next time we step out it will be a long journey with stay at some places. Srini has been planning for Chikmagalur and I hope I will be able to join this trip before I leave Mysore.

Enjoy Your Life.

Untamed Mind of Fanatics

Yes, to me a fanatic is one who in the score of various irrational or ridiculous reasons commits grievous crime. Let me tell you the premise why I was pushed to this writing. Last week I read “Man kills son, sister and niece to appease Hanuman” in one of the tabloid. Wow, Holy Spirit in its furor to reach sanctity. Welcome to the world of parricide, fratricide, matricide, patricide or whatever cruel killing of your own people (of family and country) under the aegis of Religion, God and righteousness. May be the crime has been happening over centuries but I would like to throw my own thought to the current horrid scenes I have been seeing, reading and hearing. I have been listening to quite a lot of news about persons killing their own sons or daughters or wives or fathers or sisters or aunts, not necessarily associated with religious causes but also ridiculous reasons attached to it.

We have heard a lot about religious fanatic where a person performs some holy handwork of obliterating people claiming that their religion is better than the other. We were asking for zero tolerance against terrorism with stringent laws (POTA and other state centric crime laws) and we have internal religious terrorist with zero tolerance against other religion. Take frictions between Hindus and Muslim; it’s a sheer pleasure to claim superior identity over each other. Vishwa Hindu Parishad in the name of Hindutva had done wonderful job to take pride in their religion. Christians and Muslims being a minority in India have been constantly raced over by majority Hindus to show their chauvinism. Muslims and Christians have done their act too and not to mention Jihad’s and Christian Maoists.  These fanaticisms are not limited amongst religion; it has its impact within sections of a particular religion. The divide between upper and lower castes in the Hindu society would add to the fascination of fanaticism. Upper caste believes that he is close to God and lower castes have no right to enter temple and pray God. I believe God is omnipotent and he can’t be shared. But these people do. The dalits being lower caste group have been ghettoized from the place of upper castes and you should have heard atrocious act by these upper castes. Naked parading of dalit women, head shaven in front of mob, beating up to death, mass raping…are these signify the upper castes. I see only upper ness in their caste and not in their character.  

There is other sect of spiritual extremists who were so much obsessed with the thought that sacrificing bloods of people and offering them to God would yield them sorcerous power. Holy God…when did you start asking for blood of your own people. I don’t know what the heck are they going to do with such an ill-causing power? I was watching a program in national geographic channel titled Occult where they have been showcasing the practice of Occult and witchcraft by some tribal people in parts of Jharkhand. (A report says that these practices and killing of people are widely prevalent in the tribal regions of Jharkhand, Orissa, Chattisgarh and Parts of Andhra). When asked what was the reason for them to do this. They claim they have been treated very badly by other sects of society and want to harm them with their witch handiwork and also not to mention they want to use their power to make money. I don’t believe in superstitions but a little thought of fear was instilled inside when I see with my own eyes on the screen where a sorcerer made cock motionless with the spray of so called divine water and some rituals being carried out with mantras chanted. Is this for real? Whatever, it has always been treated as a bad ominous and we tend to reject people practicing it. There have been instances which claim that the lives had been lost by craft work of witches. There has been blind superstition on the part of uneducated people in the tribal sections of Jharkhand. The general mob accuse that the death of a woman had happened because of the bad spell by the witchcraft and they also attribute the occurrence of Chicken pox in that region to her. These people were always skeptical about any bad outcome and never had any dimension to the occurrence of an event. Whatever bad happens in there, it is because of black magical spell by witchcraft. These people indulge in such barbarous act where they drag the women (considered as practicing witchcraft) out of her home at night, beat her ruthlessly and burnt her alive. What an astonishing act to weed out the bad element without any serious thought. You should not be surprised to hear that your own brother/family member could indulge in killing. In the programme televised by NAT GEO, I saw a nephew killing his aunt in the farm field when she was alone, with the help of a blade dissected head out of her body and carrying it to the village and claimed to have killed the witch without much repentance. May be we should award and honor him for saving lives of several people.

Not to mention about people who believed in doing any fanatic act to uphold their community. I heard the following gory act by people in the recent news. There was a married couple who belonged to two different communities. The parents, who felt it was an ignominious to their community, got hold of these couple and tied them to a pillar and lynched them with solidarity of the public. Moreover their death has never been reported. What a pathetic and sick parent they could be in this planet. To marriage we need two good hearted souls and not the so called enigmatic religion or caste or creed or race to hinder. How come a father and mother could come with such a brutal way of punishment to save the honor of community and not a single consideration of losing their loved ones. What blinds their brain; the fanaticism towards community. Throw community to dump yard and show some characters of being humane.

There exists other shade of fanatics; sex maniacs. Have you listened to the news during the advent of anti-Christian act by religious fanatics? A nun was gang raped by those brazen people who claim to be patronizing a religion. I never heard any religion that insures raping a moral and legal act. This harrowing incident happened at some convent in Orissa. We should bestow them with national bravery awards. Moreover, we should not lose our attention to the pleasant news we hear from some of the ashrams. Child has been raped by God men, sexual harassment and these places are affluent with money hailing from learned people like you and me. I don’t blame the good ones existing to serve humanity.

The ridiculous shade to fanaticism could not be resisted. The following news had been taken from internet and this happened some two years back. A 25-year-old school dropout of the some village 'sacrificed' a six year old boy in a temple deep in the forest near the village. After brutally axing the little boy to death, he offered the boy's blood to the goddess for fulfillment of his desires, including relief from a gastric problem. I can’t stop laughing; killing a person could cure your gastric problem.  This should find a place in one of the greatest and weirdest scientific discovery of ailments. That 25 year old sucker doesn’t have a modicum of brain to function as a human.

The other fanatics motivated by drink, greed, ignorance and anger should also be taken into account. There was this incident where a father heard about the miracles performed by some bapa, who claims that he will give back your son's head once it is chopped off. The child's head was chopped off. The man lost his son. You can be ignorant but not to the extent of losing your common sense. A laborer allegedly killed his four-year-old son in an inebriated condition on a particular night. Drinking could ease you to kill you own kins and why don’t you kill yourself with drinks of poison. There was a father who killed his own son to claim insurance of 1 lac. I am afraid to see if people are getting so greedy to kill your own sons and daughters. There have been instances where angry husband had bludgeoned his wife over some trivial issues. All these men are real fathers of all the above mentioned “***CIDES”.

These events cannot be stopped but can be triggered at ease. It’s difficult to tame these fanatics. The superficial thought about occult has been deeply enrooted in the minds of tribal people. Even to cure a disease they go to these magical occults. These people have not been educated and are not exposed to any facilities we have in urban. Let’s hope the globalization and economic development would slowly advent into these regions which would impart education, jobs and welfare. We should bring about the awareness to these people of what act they have been mired with.  We need to bring a change in their obstinate minds that killing is not a solution. It is the perception we need to change towards people and we have a lot of other things to do in our life. We need to portray the happy life they can lead with education, work and contribution to society.

I don’t know I categorize all those people who are enthusiastic in attempting reprehensive act as fanatics. Hope we will try to be good and live as a normal human without ugly thoughts.

THE REAL LIFE BEGINS NOW

Yes, the real life begins now. In these moribund economic situations the company has to adapt certain strategies (refer: Layoff Ethical or Not previous prose) to cut costs and make up good numbers on their balance sheets. The one such step taken by companies is to lay off people whom they think they are no more needed. The company claims that the people who have been retrenched are on the basis of their overall performance for the year. The part of the blame has to be on the company and they have to streamline their recruitment strategy to intake people of right skills and right quantity with greater emphasis paid on the changing economic situation. There should be certain correlation between the resource requirements and business cycle with regular updating. The person who has been laid off is also to be blamed with not having right attitude. We know the current economic situation is totally bleak and company is looking for some scapegoats. These needs a greater understanding of the company’s moves and align ourselves properly with our commitment to work.

Does the life ends here? No. To me the real life has just begun. With tough time ahead it is going to impart valuable lessons for life for the people who cope up, strive hard and make it to the top. This incident should invoke our dormant thought process to introspect ourselves to a greater extent. Our mind got sluggish with the job and not paying enough attention to our interests. I feel this pink slip distribution would question us enough to get prepared for the survival. Every individual should infer that this is not the only job world is going to offer us and having said that every company offers you good learning which you carry on for your life. The news that Infosys fired some 2100 people should have sent tremors in the minds of people on bench and with relatively lower CRR. People may get panicked and wandering for projects. People should really get flexible to learn new technologies and work on any project that comes on the way. For the real techies Infosys offers a lot of technological learning with their class room sessions, E-Learning and host of other ways to enhance your technical ability. If you want to stay here, learn quickly and show your commitment.

“Tolerance to poor performance is very low given the current economic scenario” is our top brasses claim. True, any company would never want poor performers to stay on when other competitive people are on board. Sometimes policy violation is also cited to be one of the profound reasons to bid good-bye to nice people too. All major IT companies are in a stead to cut down their employees force. These companies are firing and hiring and their main purpose is to keep good performers in their firm. With most of the companies projecting very bleak outlook in terms of earnings prospects the trend is going to stay on.

Job insecurity causes a lot of upheaval on the minds of the people who are still employed. The young people who are not committed to marriage will have the more privilege of taking risks but the married couple will have to undergo a greater sort of discomfort. It’s been always said to hedge your risks and don’t marry anyone of your same profession to avoid falling in love looking at each other all the time back at home jobless. People who are laid off should have been subjected to greater anguish. Allow yourself some cooling off period to recuperate from the shock. In our society the job is considered as a big social status and losing that would bruise the psyche of parents. It will be hard on the minds of gullible parents and you may have to instill that you are optimistic about your life. Also you need to address your psychological imbalances caused with the unfortunate event by consulting a good psychiatrist. Depression and despair would haunt you and you need to stave off these life wreckers from your vicinity. These are stressful times and you need to take care of yourself to keep you motivated and not losing track in life. Think about things that give you some sort of comforting like listening to soothing music, being with friends, comedy shows, exercises, reading books, solitude ness, meditation, wandering around places with no real purpose, dedication to divinity, self talking, meeting strangers and a slew of other things that can evade the bad impact and usher in a positive outlook on you mind frame.

Being prepared mentally and ready to take up challenge, sets the stage for real job. This is a chance to rediscover yourself and what you really wanted to do in your life. The one thing I find in quite a lot of people is that they wanted to do something in their life but being secured and content about the present job they never give a thought about it. I guess the time has come for you to rekindle your interests. Question your interests, strengths, weaknesses, accomplishments, work experience and your skills to get an overall picture of your prepared ness for the new task. Also financial planning is a greater necessity to keep your plans running until you hit upon a new venture. Analyze the savings and unemployment severance benefits you have and discuss with your family about cutting on certain expenses and being frugal to extend the fuel for your renewed chore.

Switching to the new job could be a probability if you find yourself fit into the requirements of the company. There are still jobs hanging out with our economy poised grow at a positive rate. Those may demand new skills and greater qualification. Enroll your self for the courses required and apply for certifications that can substantiate your qualification. Stepping into a different industry could also be thought of. Most of us in the IT services sector are not from computer science or IT background but other core engineering. You could try your hand back on those engineering concepts learnt at college. A career consultant or a professional can aid you in finding new job with your profile. Get yourself abreast with the current trend and update your profile with relevant and enhance qualification. Networking with other job-seekers, visit career and job sites to enhance your scope. Confront yourself as a confidant person with greater composure for the grueling interview that may happen for your new job.

Looking after family business could give a different exposure instead of working under someone. Various business aspects and management attitudes could transform you from a job seeker to a job giver. Take your time to understand the business that has been built over years and look at the current market expectations. Make yourself committed to your own business which is going to reap you benefits in the course of time. Own it, run it with greater dignity, respect, attitude and vision to keep it successful. Pay attention to every stake holder and never turn a nelson’s eye to certain issues on the business front. Again the customers are the king and you will have to reinvigorate the current strategy and look for improvement on the relationship.

Social networking could land you in a job. Some of your best options will often come from some of the most "unlikely" people you met somewhere sometime. With advent of internet, the networking has been made easy and proves handy in times of needy. Friends and family circle will also help you with the new job. What you need to keep in mind is that “Will the new job gives me different learning and exposure rather than the monetary desires?” Learn new skills to add up to your personality.

Questioning few of my colleagues I had found an optimistic outlook on their mindset. They have certain plans for their future. Most of them are likely to pursue their higher studies. That’s a wonderful add up to your qualification. Devote yourself for it and learn new skills in the current company that can corroborate your profile. In the coming years there will be much stiffer competition as most of them are likely to revisit their plans of higher studies and prepare for it. With increased competition you will have to strive hard to differentiate yourself to pluck a place in the institute.

It is said that some of the strongest, longest-lived businesses were started under difficult economic conditions. Most of those businesses were started using private financing, from credit cards, relatives, inheritances etc…The enterprising skills within people would receive a revived outlook now to delve into entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs tend to identify a market opportunity and utilize it to carve out a niche for themselves in the market. Few of the people had showed their interest to start a firm. That’s a good sign and this downturn could augur well for those differently interested people.

People who have been showed doors due to policy violations may have to learn to stick to ethics and policies. There will always be your own mistakes for you to learn from. Learn to value those mistakes, because they will provide the best experience you can find. Self discipline yourself and develop certain values that could epitomize your personality.

You will have certain survival skills that you have developed over the years, without even knowing it. You may need to subject yourself to different jobs to identify your true potential. It may need a greater amount of time and effort to spend on. You may find that you are able to use some of the untapped skills to get a temporary job that you never considered. It may just put food on the table for a while, or it may open new doors. You might be good in teaching people, leading a team in the previous work and host of other things that can land you a job in educational sector. This sector is a very defensive and not subjected very much to the cyclical downturn. Lecturer or a teacher could suit your ability that may provide the gateway to an entirely new career. Likewise there could a bevy of chances which you need to sail across to find yourself. Quite a few people said starting tuition centre, baby care centre and other franchisee routes could also be adapted to test your ability.

Your hobbies and extra-curricular activities could give a new sense of direction to your life. I have read in magazines how the hobbies can possibly turn you into a professional. Like photography, art work, designing, custom made name plates, blogging, creating websites, car and bike remodeling, provisional store with unique USP and lot of other skills that have mushroomed itself into a profitable venture. It’s quite possible that one of you could be seen in a delightful career. Likewise social activity like working for an NGO will give a greater exposure to your ability to manage and help them.

There are huge chunk of possibilities and probabilities to survive. All said and done what we need is greater self willingness, confidence and a positive attitude to traverse through this rough patch with greater difficulty to land ourselves in a greener pasture. These are my personal opinions and from few interactions with people. Let’s keep our hope high and attempt every possibility with greater humility and commitment to be successful. I would like to end this writing with a piece of quote from the internet “Many of them continued to use the attitudes they had developed to survive their ordeals and went on to make a real difference in their lives and in the world.”

IT’S NOT BREAKING THE ICE; IT IS BREAKING THE LIFE – RAGGING

I should tell you the instance that incited this prose. Last week, there was news about late Aman, a medical college student who had succumbed to the alleged ragging by his seniors at college. Ragging which is supposed to be a fun upshot that will break the ice between freshers and seniors had turned out to be a social menace due to certain unacceptable acts committed by oblivious minds. This is not the first case and either the last case unless we are mindful of these acts.

After finishing our high school and arduous entrance examinations, we enter the doors of next level of education with much hope and aspirations. People from different and far-off places embark colleges away from home. Being from a town I was not heard of ragging until then. It’s been the tradition that seniors will carry out the Elysian ragging on the freshers to bring about a sense of friendship and comfort ness with the new environment. But I see most of the times its intimidation that is effectuated. One of my room mates during my UG course was called by seniors to their rooms and asked to do certain things that are meaningless for people like me who watch from outside. But it’s a lot of things at stake. Room after room, my friend was invited with red carpet and finally came after four hours of persistent baiting. It brought us some sort of disheartenment and we never used to talk to them. What help are they going to offer us other than instilling the bitterness in our impressionable minds. I always wanted to beat that guy given a chance. It remembers me the character of Ryan in the Chetan Bhagat’s novel “five point someone”. The situation is worse in the medical colleges where they are subjected to sexual abuses. A friend of mine in one of the top medical college in Tamil Nadu had been forced to get naked and do m***********. If we are not abiding those gentle demons and not doing whatever respectful acts they wanted us to do, we are beaten up and subjected to some physical assault as it happened for Aman. It exposes us to the mob mentality and violent mindset of our seniors.

Forceful instauration (doing it for the first time) to smoking and drinking is also part of this ennobled ragging practice. This is one of the disgusting disruptions and many get addicted to these savaging habits that have the potential to wreck ourselves. Ask any youth who is smoking today about “where he learnt and when did he started it”. The unanimous answer would date back to college. There are quite some fast learners too. These quick assimilators venture into these habits at their school days with their susceptible teenage. On reaching the college they got the complete freedom from home and indulge in all kinds of illicit activities. These are the guys who turn out to be the perpetrators of ragging and other impressive acts of smoking and drinking. They bring their character bad to the college, make them worse, spread their tentacles on the new people and ruin their life. The other attraction at college is the beautiful ladies who hover around the campus with their dazzling anatomical structure. Yes, they are graceful and seniors in an attempt to appeal to them rag a fresher asking him to propose to those ladies and all ugly banters. Ragging is not restricted to boy zone and girls are steadily catching up with the trend. Recent news about a girl’s attempt to commit suicide after being hazed by four senior ladies would provide testament to the claim.

Freshers usually approach seniors for help on study material, books and understanding some concepts. Students are inculcated with the logic that seniors who rag them will help them later. Students feel that they are familiar with their seniors only because they were ragged and thus it ensures the legacy of ragging. Every student has a different level of emotional sensitivity and endurance. All these have brought a greater psychological imbalance in the minds of these young people and these feelings are oppressed inside waiting to burst. Reaching the threshold of endurance they break down and take knee jerk decision without any thought. I should also mention that there are really good and aspiring seniors who offer us the great help in terms to mentoring and guiding us through the initial college days.

Can’t we promote alternative methods of interaction with our seniors through games, dramas, trips, relationship building activities and have fun together? Because of this ragging there is a big china wall built around the first year hostels and mess to fend off from the potential threat from second year students. My question is, “Can’t we make good friends without these walls and intimidations?” We need a greater change in the perception of the second year students who use first year students to vent out their frustrations and ordeal they have been subjected to. This is a very sadistic attitude on the part of the seniors and I call these people “Sicko” (Not all the seniors and I hope you understand whom I am talking about). I have also heard of the college administration manhandling the seniors who indulge in ragging and beat them up. This is not the way to bring in discipline by invoking fear. Anti-ragging Squads or violent tormentors that are set up with lots of people being hired and monitoring the college. Like Bats in the belfry these rogues look for students to showcase their vigilance. Kudos. Keep up the good work and we should question ourselves, “Are we in a college or in some prison?”

Are we going to see this as part of the system of UG education and just ignore it to settle on its own? I would shriek, Big “No”. What we need is great parental care and good counseling from Psychologists and Psychiatrists. Students can’t share the heinous ragging incidents with their parents as it is perceived to be a social stigma and are not usually encouraged in our society. This brings in a state of oppressed mind and they want to vent these emotions in one way or the other. Before they could involve in some mindless act we need to step in. On the initial days of the college parents should have frequent contact over electronic devices and physical presence to listen to the concerns of their buddies. You need to address these concerns upfront with proper counseling before this could turn up into ugly proposition. Right from school days parent need to monitor their child’s growth not only in studies but also mental and psychological aspects as well. If they see any deviant behavior don’t just react but create conducive atmosphere for your child to express his problem and consult a specialist counselor to address the concerns and provide a proper guidance and direction in life.

College has equal part to play as parents are. Every college during induction program should come up with a week to spread the message of ragging and sensitizing the evils of it. Students should be made aware of the consequences of ragging to the person subjected to and the person instigating it. The college should bring in case studies to understand the detrimental effects of ragging. It should also highlight the decisive action taken by the authorities. The noxious effects of smoking and drinking should also take its berth on the agenda. Instead of college spending on some rogues to watch out for raggers why don’t these colleges set up a counseling centre. These centres should invite specialists every week and make students with the dithering mind to feel comfortable to attend and address their concerns. The seniors who had ragged should also be subjected to counseling and monitor him for progress. When he goes unheeded the college should take stern step against him with the suspension and possible transfer to some other college. The college does not only have the obligation of imparting education in terms of teaching subjects but also has a greater part to play in shaping up the students in all respects. A well disciplined and positive attitude on student’s mind would transform the students’ community against ragging.

The constitution claims ragging as unlawful activity and has devised certain punitive measures for these offenses. With the recent incidents like Aman, People are protesting to pass an Anti-ragging law. I would say this would become another encryption on those rusted pages of Indian Law Book and we need to discipline ourselves to herald a change. Let the constitutional laws be in place and we need a system functioning at the college and school level to build up the students in a proper way. This system is not easy to come by but the persistent effort on the concerned multitudes will usher in a substantial positive change that shapes up the future of our country.

P.S. Written couple of years back on the death of a medical student due to ragging 

WATCH YOUR BACK, FIRST- TALIBANISATION OF INDIA

Of late, we have all heard of the heroic instances carried out by true sons of Mother India against women. Yes, we are talking about the Sri Ram Sene’s lad and their due respect towards women. Their intent is so noble that I have no gripes against them. In this prose I would like to delve upon my views on the morality and the plausible way to address these moral concerns. 

The appalling incident that happened in the Mangalore Pub should have kept us hooked to the TV screen. We saw the manhandling of two women by a bunch of so called veracious chaps of moral policing. What’s my first reaction? It’s just another incident that attracts high TRP. Is this not an acute problem to be addressed? Weeks after this incident, a school going girl hanged herself at her home. The fact behind this is that she has been harassed and verbally abused by these great Indians as she was talking to a Muslim Boy. There was yet another incident that really disturbed me. There were two girls who had been friends right from their primary education. Now they were going to college. One of the girls spotted the difference in behavior of the other friend after few days of going to college. The girl was in tears when she heard that her friend had been warned not to talk to her as she belonged to Muslim community. The hatred ness spilled into this serene friendship. Oh my goodness, we should hold statues for those great hearts of Sene people for breaking the true hearts. There were also sporadic incidents of abuse over Muslim girls wearing Burkha.

What is morality all about and who are we to enforce these on others? A horde of other questions had been grappling my mind for a while as well. To me, Morality is the way I wanted to lead my life or to behave without offending other’s rights. I can teach moral principles to my family members and friends, to an extent. I am nobody to enforce these on others. I cannot take some body else’s right in this free and democratic country. We have learnt all these principles from our books, our family, our culture, our religion, our teachers and from our society. We have imbibed this into our practice. We have lot of other good things to do in improving our lives and doing good deed to our country. Morality is more of a personal attribute. I truly believe as an individual I have to carry out myself well in the society.

The next aspect I am worried about is “Where are our young generations heading to?” Why should they resort to such vandalism to impart deceitful morals on others? This brings my attention to the pervert politicians. Everything in this country is politicized and polarized on religion. To tell you an event that happened recently, the anti-terrorist campaign in Karnataka. This issue is of national importance and should be dealt by parliament. This was greatly undermined with the clashes between the youths of two national parties. I make myself clear I am not against any political party but we must ponder upon the youths swayed away by some unscrupulous persons. Youth today are largely misdirected by politicians (perverts and not all). The communal divide is greatly entrenched because of some depraved politicians and our ignorant act following them. This politicization of issues is never ending and we should have self-righteous thought to judge things. We need to analyze what is the whole purpose of a particular event. Don’t go by any political party and their propaganda. If you feel something is not right, ignore them and look for the right leader. There will always be an upright leader and you need to pick them up. With the hopeful of negative voting coming into the election ballot, we always have a choice to vote against candidate. The change depends on our attitude to have a right person in the leadership position.

Like Caesar’s wife is our Sri Ram Sene Muthalik’s intent. We should appreciate his moral principles and laudable deeds. The one principle which he exhibited recently is that the women should not go to pub and should be beaten to teach them a lesson, is well deserved. May be we should attend a seminar on morality from Muthalik to get ourselves rightly equipped to promote violence against women. This remembers me the incident where Taliban’s have bombed several schools in the NWFP (North West frontier province of Pakistan). The noble reason they claim is that women should not be educated. I don’t see any difference in very high commendable spirit of Taliban’s and our own Muthalik. My point is Muthalik might have had some good thought but I strongly reprimand the way he used to impose his principles upon someone. Every youth who were part of that act should understand that they are derailing the growth of our country by resorting to destructive acts. If you greatly respect your own religion and its prospects then give the same freedom to someone else. We as a youth should not seize the very fundamental rights of other citizens in this democratic country. There are great men who had set our Vision 2020 and want youth to work towards it. Let’s focus our attention towards nation building and not removing every brick of our great nation built by yesteryear’s leaders.

We need a great silent social revolution happening amongst youth. Don’t give a damn about the false propaganda of politicians. Don’t protest these great gentlemen but help in nurturing right kind of people to lead our country. If Muthalik feels that westernization had greatly spoiled our culture then we have lot of ways to bring this forth. Organize seminars, public gathering, awareness campaign, lecture, writing on paper, TV and Internet exposure can be greatly utilized to tell our people what has been our culture and what we are now. Tell them our culture has been deprecating because of addicted to certain things. You need to propose your views in a neutral and inoffensive way. If people felt that your proposal is right they will mend their ways. If necessary our central government, without political parties taking credit, could propose morality as a subject at school and college levels giving them right understanding which would greatly help in solving the problem. This subject should be subjected to great discussion and dialogue from eminent persons and public at large to build a right platform. This greatly depends on the political parties without confronting each other and bringing the change with their partisanship and common will. I know most of things I dreamt of are totally not pragmatic but I wish our country will head towards glory with the youth directed in the right path.

P.S. Written Couple of Years back on the incident at Mangalore