If I could..

If I could just write down the melodies in my head right now..
If I could just charge up my lost curiosity right now..
If I could just make up for those lost thoughts right now..
If I could just come up with one brilliant thought right now..
If I could just wake her up right now..
If I could just fall off to sleep right now..

I would..
Not be bothered by those melodies in my dream..
Explore that curiosity uninterrupted in my dream..
Be regretless of missed thoughts in my dream..
Regret that, that thought might just always be my dream..
Tell her about my dream..
Have my dream..

If I could just right now.. I would rather live my dream..

Arvind Kejriwal aur AAP

I am prompted to write this after yet another AK and AAP bashing. At certain times it was hard to not take this personally. But it is different now. I have seen AK being reduced to a person with problems like any leader. He had his moment when 33% of Delhi constituencies were behind him. Then had his low when NaMo swept everything. I write here not to prove him or AAP right but to try to bring forth what is NOT wrong about them.

Most importantly, AK and his AAP are still (and probably will always be) more of a movement than ever a political party. Expecting anything more is irrelevant here. Gussa jayaz hai, but don't blame them. They are one of the voices. Voices of dissent against existing political and bureaucratic establishment. That's their way of fighting the system. The system, which no doubt is as corrupt and vulnerable as was when they started this movement.

What they started doing and what they are doing all is part of their existence (romantically calling - wajood). I don't see anything wrong in them trying to be constantly true to that. Their most important agenda has been clean politics and honest people in politics - zero criminals. Then they want is active participation of people in politics. They also want voices to be heard from every section of society. They want social welfare organisations to have political voice. And most importantly they want zero tolerance towards corruption. Sadly it looks like to make all this relevant to media they constantly have tried to target the current authority, even when it is sabka favorite Narendra Modi.

About just AAP. They have, since they were formed, been engaging everyday people, lighting the spark of political consciousness. I have been actively following the party ever since its inception and have appreciated just how much it has been about everyday volunteers than just the founders. I have seen more than one place where an NGO/social activist has felt politically empowered for the first time. I have seen more than few times that AAP volunteers clean out streets in their localities - way before PMO launched swachh bharat abhyaan. And like that I have seen more than few times that AAP has been relevant even without AK anywhere in picture.

Lastly, agreed that both of them have faltered more than few times on their path - but relevance of those instances is miniscule compared to revolutionary political experiment they have brought about. The political experiment which will bear its fruits in no more than 5 years!

ज़िन्दगी गुलज़ार है..

.. इष्क का दरबार है
यहाँ घम को पालना बेकार है ..

We have been watching a new TV series. A Pakistani TV series.  Zindagi Gulzar Hai. R finished first 8 eps. herself before I dived in. We barely steered away from an accident (of kind ‘dawn breaking TV series marathon’) late last night.

Once we realized what ‘gulzar’ meant, we realized so apt is this title. If R was positively excited to see Kashaf and Zaroon moving on a collision course, I was worried of it. If now R is worried of their woes post the collision, I am gladly seeing the beauty of how script is handling what I was worried about earlier. I am also glad to have small internet streaming interruptions, allowing us to steal glances saying ‘love’/‘interesting!’/‘is Kashaf crazy?’/‘is Zaroon a pig?’/‘what??’.

Apart from some little drama of kinds a TV dramas are made of, pacing of this TV series is unique. Like some scenes we wondered if having a date and place between some scenes would have helped. And like (the even better one) some conversations/non-conversations alongside tea/oranges/biscuits/coffee aren’t paced at all!

Chai aur Santre? yea! I know, sipping & munching is a thing which happens alongside most conversations/non-conversations irrespective of the intensity. If R has any problem with this series is this particular thing. Kicking off go munch munch cravings with every one of these scenes. Thank Jain dharma for feeling not so like that at all when they are having sheek kababs or machhi fry :) – I’ll have to admit that is when a very small cravings go through me …

“The Opposite of Poverty ..

The opposite of poverty is not wealth. In too many places the opposite of poverty is justice.
- Bryan Stevenson Executive Director, Equal Justice Initiative

A thought provoking idea. I thought there is so much rationale behind this idea. Not for anything else but Justice. Then, I was thinking, so can this be applied to say “The opposite to impact of subjugation, harassment, inequality etc. is …”? Is the answer same? Yes, but not in same context. Why not?
I think answer lies in the very perception I have about poverty. Is poverty just an impact of being deprived of wealth? If so, then lack of wealth is not necessarily always the single influencing factor towards such ills faced by wealth-deprived-section-of-society. Lack of wealth doesn’t need to translate to things like constant subjugation, harassment or inequality. In short, poverty is not always an impact of these. So what am I missing? Aha, the lack of Justice. It is the lack of Justice to poor which has linked poverty directly to such things in many societies including US. If however in India, lack of justice could be towards even rich. If there is no lack of Justice, poverty as a state of being can carry along as it is. Nothing wrong with it.
Personally, I think there is nothing wrong with this. Not everyone in a society can be rich nor can everyone be poor. Society is made of both and multitude of other states of being. Many a times it is just a choice of a sub-section of society or, if objectively put, choice of an individual. Sometimes educational or religious institutions affect these choices. But I am not here talking about all that.
I believe, a poor is no different than a wealthy. Both know this - “I need to earn to bargain for food, love, and education”. Both work towards so. However, the problem for the society arises when they step on each other’s toes when striding towards so. Then if society has to decide who is at fault, it is the test of Justice. Whom then does our laws of society side with? Poor or Wealthy? Hindu or Muslim? Kashmiri or State? Man or Woman? Wealthy corporation or Income Tax babus? Oh, by the way, if for society decides to side at all, there is end to Justice.
Lack of Justice, or society’s incapability to deliver Justice to any sub-section of society, in case of Bryan Stevenson - the poor, is what I want to talk about here. In fact, it is not Justice at all even when delivered to everyone in a nation but one (whoever that one be!).
So after writing so much I dare to modify his quote like this -

If an impact of an action is such that its an hindrance in thing’s ability to learn, express, love, and earn. Then opposite of that impact is Justice.

See I got it. It isn’t poverty, I was looking for a wider encompassing term – though an impact is all I could manage. Poverty at some places could be one such impact, but as I said before it also is driven by many other social and economic factors. Signing off with this wonderful TED talk by Bryan Stevenson, which inspired me to write after really long time!