Embrace Me.

Yes. I need you. Thoughtful, honest, hardworking, believers, doers, open, liberal minds.  Is it too much to ask? Who am I? I am sure you will be able to make out... Meanwhile, I want you to think again. Don't you all have these qualities already? No doubt. Then what is it that is still ailing me? Just one thing. Apathy. 
Why so many of you consider me untouchable? When some people who have embraced me, try to do the same good work that you people do, they are left alone. Why? Is it fear? Dislike? Is it selfisness, or is it the fear of what people might think? Just because some men are rapists, murderers, is it fair to  paint all men as rapists and murderers? Just because some mother in laws have tortured their daughter in laws, is it acceptable to call all of them heartless?

Yes, its the same situation here too. Am politics. People have stayed away from me, stating am dirty. Am I the naughty kid? The bad one? Responsible for making my self dirty. Is it my mistake that I am dirty today? Or is it the people who made me dirty? Or is it that tribe who chose to stay away, knowing completely well, that I am being abused? Will you be a silent bystander, if this abuse happens in front of your eyes to your family members? Then why are you now?  Am a not a part of your life? Your experience of every day life depends on people who use me to run our democracy. How much money you are left with at the end of the day, depends on me. Whether you are able to bear your family's health care costs depends on me. Whether you are feeling safe when your wife or child steps out, depends on me. Whether you are getting water to drink, good roads to travel, decent affordable education to your child depends on me. When every thing in your life depends on me, why is it that you all still choose to stay away from me.

Its time, you stop this alienation. I need help. I need care. I need honest, sincere care takers. I can't take this abuse anymore. May be its tough. But don't stay away. Support those who want to embrace me. There are people, parties who are indeed sincerely trying to make a difference, to bring back my glory. Support them whole heartedly. I am battered. I need you. Don't forget your forefathers, freedom fighters, nation builders who could have never built the Nation you are enjoying , if they have shied away from me. Am not untouchable. But I need to be clean, for you to live a happy and healthy life. Come, Embrace Me.

Yes. This is the only news!

"Is this the only news you have?" asked the Chief Minister of Karnataka when asked about the measures taken by the government. 

Can he be any more insensitive?

This, and many such statements by our elected leaders, demonstrate their attitude towards their electorate. Can we rely on them to

run our country?  Can we rely on them to make the right policies and implement them?

All of us stayed out of political process and are now paying the price for it; we have to listen to such insensitive comments on a daily

basis from the so called democratically elected public representatives. It is time, we put our energies together to bring systemic

change.  As you know I'm working with Loksatta which has a great track record of bringing reform and enacting strong laws, even

without having elected representatives in the legislature.  

Our ultimate aim is to bring a REAL CHANGE in the current situation. Yes, some promises been made. But there is no clarity on timelines, or how they are going to do it. 

Eye wash measures, or some arrests just to keep public satisfied, are not acceptable.

With help from eminent women Leaders of Loksatta, Bangalore, we are drafting policy changes that will bring long lasting positive changes in our system. For example, there must be a known "Sexual offenders list" that is put in place and background verification MUST be done against that. That would have saved the child from VIBGYOR.

Ever since my petition on change.org went viral, I've been inundated with calls, messages, media - I realized that there is a huge dearth of leadership

in our society. Instead of waiting for some great leader to emerge, each of us must be the LEADERS and fight for change. I am committing to this

cause and will not rest until systemic changes are realized. I'm willing to go to every Minister, every Party, ever Legislator until we get it done.

Will you support me?  If yes, let's join together at Town Hall on Sunday 27th July at 11AM. Let's walk together to Freedom Park raising awareness

and sending a strong signal to our insensitive leaders that "YES, THIS IS THE ONLY ISSUE" and "IT MUST BE FIXED NOW"

Please. Not another child.

One more innocent child comes under sexual assault. And this time not just in some home or isolated place, it happened inside an upmarket school, that too during the school hours. This is a shock. If a high end school can’t ensure the safety of my child, then who can. I thought of my two young daughters. A shiver ran through my spine. I just thought what that child would be going through. How it will impact her outlook towards the world, how much of a pain she must have gone through. It rattled me. I felt breathless. On hearing that the school has shirked its responsibility off the whole affair, and in fact tried to hush it up, has enraged me further.

Its just not about this one child, in the last one week, there were unbelievable brutal attacks on women of all ages, from all strata of society. What’s wrong? How can I step out without fear of getting dragged in to a passing car. How do I walk on road anymore? I don’t want to live in fear. It’s my basic right to be able to live without fear, with dignity in a safe society. For long, we were complacent with ‘it didn’t affect me, so I don’t care’ kind of attitude.

I was perturbed. Disturbed beyond words.  “What can I do?”  These words haunted me.

I was clear. This time, I don’t want to sit back and cry.  I don’t want to control my emotions. I no more want to blame the world. I need to take charge. Let me do something, which will really create an impact, a long lasting one, which will be a beginning to the end of atrocities committed by mindless, cruel, digressed beings that are a shame to humanity.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it happen. But change.org seemed to give me a platform to express my anguish, to gather the support of like minded people, who don’t want to just sit and crib, but want to be the path to Action. I have signed many before, but for the first time, I started a petition by myself. Quickly it’s no more my fight; it became ‘OUR FIGHT’. Collectively, our voices have much larger impact, and I am intent upon taking everyone along with me in this journey to achieve our collective goal.

At almost the same time, I saw another petition started by another mother which was taking off online, much faster. I was glad that there is more support pouring in. It’s time we make ourselves Matter. It’s time the Government realizes we are not ones to be taken for granted.

I DON"T have time!!!

 

Really? or is it not our priority.(Giving time to our society).
Well, what do we have time for? Work, more work. Yes, we all have endless loads of work. Why are we enduring this pain of working extra hours, having to struggle, literally to give time to anything else in life?
Of course its for our families. And to do this work, we also endure the painful traffic snarls, burning lots of fuel( and our pocket) all along. Very fine. We need to do what ever is needed, to keep our families happy and going. 
But surprisingly,while we spend hours, inside the car, in a traffic jam, cursing the system every day of our life, we DON'T have time to spend an hour from 168 hours in a week, to change the status quo. 
So much so, that we don't even take time out to register ourselves as voters, at least to vote for a good candidate, who can work for us for 5 years. Can't we do atleast this much?

If this is not the case, then its not our priority. Now why we should take the pain of volunteering for any social cause. Some one will take care of it. Let me first take care of my family. Yes, but what if our family itself is in danger. Won't we act? Of course we will. And that's what we should be doing now, because our families are in danger.

Our children, for whom we live, are in deep trouble. Starting from the road side criminal elements(look at the ruthless assaults), to the poisonous chemical laced food( due to faulty policy making)locally and currently, to the global issues like not even having clean water to drink and cleaner air to breathe in future. If we think that our responsibility ends with putting them in good schools, then we are doing some monumental mistake. We should also give them a safe environment, a healthy one. That is also our responsibility. Lets volunteer some time, to at least make our locality a safer place for our kids.

Participate in governance, help those who are trying. Make your move, Be the Change you are seeking.

Some thing is seriously wrong

I know.... not one but many things are. Am seriously afraid of walking a lonely street now a days, specially when there is a group of men present around or walking past me. Am afraid to send my 2 daughters to their grandparents home by themselves, which is just a hundred meters away. Am getting paranoid listening to all the assaults happening on women and kids, every day. 

Can we dare look at the root cause?  
1. Do we have enough police force? Why are the much needed police reforms not put in to place, after the Supreme Courts directive to the States to do so? Whats stopping our politicians to get in to act. Because these politicians are here not to take care of us, the public, but to take care of themselves. If people with conviction don't join politics now, at the risk of losing their warm and comfortable lives, then lets be ready for the doom.
2. At a deeper level, isn't how our society functions, one of the main reasons for this muck we got in to today? Though there is a significant improvement in the way women are treated in educated urban class, there is still no respect for women in the lower rung of society, where the alcoholic husbands come and beat their well earning wives black and blue every day. What example do these fathers present their sons?
While the easy availability of liquor at every street corner is one reason, the lack of proper education in schools is another. 
Why are there more liquor shops than schools? Because the people who gave them permissions to set up such shops are more interested in making money for themselves. They conveniently ignore the outcomes of their one sided actions.
Isn't it time, to make education, more related to life, than just mugging up of some factual information, which they might never come across in life. This aspect has to be injected in to the current model. But who has the will? Surprisingly,  the current lot of politicians are more interested in educating themselves, about farming, by looking through their windows while traveling in bullet trains speeding at 300kmph, as a part of their State sponsored foreign tour. Can it get more hilarious?

How ironic that we are being  forced to fight for our basic rights, in the worlds' largest  democracy. 
I want safety, a poor man wants work. Dear so called leaders, this is what we want. Not some fancy food security bill. 

Being thankful, living simple

       
              Who wouldn't wish to be on this road right now!!! Such a beauty..... can't but thank the confluence of mysterious and amazing existence of unending possibilities blessed upon us by this Universe.
              So what is it that seriously confronts us on our way to experience this bliss! How many times do we think of thanking God for gifting us this Nature! Whats stopping us? Our greed. Endless Greed! We just need MORE! More of everything. And by simply being selfish, we are being inhuman, in not thinking, what kind of a planet are we leaving behind for our children? Is it justified?
              And here am not even talking about the uneducated majority of this world. What are we doing being educated? Is it enough? On one side, there are still places and people on this planet, waiting for basic medical facilities. On another, mankind is facing the grave risk of not being able to make use of the medicines available, simply because the bacteria have become resistant to every possible anti-biotic.
              Where are we heading. Why can't we be happy being thankful and living simple. Technology and  comfort, while parallel in growth, are creating a major divide by irrational application by humans. Let us not let the highly selfish, irrational, supposedly mighty Leaders rule us. Each of us has the capability to redesign our future, provided we have the Will. Lets work in tandem and preserve what ever is left of this ONE - IN - A- UNIVERSE, " EARTH ".

Do we care about who sits in our Temples of Democracy?

                                            Seriously!!!   It doesn't seem so for at least 40 % of the electorate who didn't even step out t-o vote in the 2009 General elections. What might be the reasons for not voting? and those who are voting, are they taking the pain to educate them selves about whom they are voting? Why this apathy? 
                                            Its just 66 years that India got its Independence, but it looks like we are being looted by corrupt politicians from centuries....... So much so that we are looking at yet another fight for Freedom, this time from our own greedy, egoistic, self-centered politicians.
                                            Hardly do today's generation know about the Indian Freedom struggle and the sacrifices made by countless people for over a hundred years for us to enjoy this freedom in our lives. How come the zeal and intensity of just a generation prior to us didn't trickle down. Why this complacency? Hopefully this time, it wouldn't take a hundred years.
                                             Enough of sitting back. Enough of blame games. We don't have the right to lament, while we let criminals rule us. Remember how they fight, throwing their Chappal, breaking the mikes, climbing the tables of the Speakers of the House, tearing each others shirts!!! and all this for what? Is it really for us? 
                                             Its time to get up and stir forward and say ENOUGH. We want to take care of ourselves. We will get in to our sacred temples of Democracy, to clean them up. And mind you these Temples don't belong to any one religion. They are the The temples of Democracy, of Humanity.