Till the holy day..

From you, I had to go away,

Just to protect you from the decay.  

The ills, which were causing me to sway,

shouldn’t have made you the prey.

As I live alone today,

Have got only one thing to say.

That, I want your pain to allay,

Will be my prayer, till the holy day.

image courtesy: thetwentyfirstfloor.com

I am so irritated...

I am feeling a bit irritated today. I am not able to figure out the reason but I guess it has something to do with my unconscious mind. It happens with me, a lot. I see some disturbing things or things that my mind can’t make sense of, and then I forget them but they get registered in my sub conscious mind. Then they do these little tricks on me. But this time I guess I have to find out.

Let’s see what all disturbing things I saw recently.

Yesterday I saw the Indian Prime Minister actually speaking during his address to the nation over the FDI issue. Now this is something I was telling you about - the things that my mind can’t make sense of. It must have got confused to see this contradiction to the previous beliefs.

Then, I saw the teaser of SRK’s upcoming film ‘Jab tak hai Jaan’. I have had enough of these love-triangle platitudes. Moreover, Those open-arm gestures and gay-ish expressions that SRK is known for, in his romantic movies, yet again, made me sick.

One more thing could have contributed to my irritation. And that is the latest ad campaign by AIRTEL. After the successful ‘har ek friend zaruri hota hai’, they have come up with a similar advertisement except this one sucks. I cannot imagine saying ‘Jo tera hai vo mera hai’ to any friend of mine. Why? Because, it would be utterly disgusting and nauseating, to say that. You know what I mean!

One more thing that I can think of is that the other day I was watching DID (Dance India Dance) on TV. This was the kid’s version and my goodness! Those kids had some moves! I was wondering whether these kids start their dance training in their mother’s womb itself.  It may be possible, as the pressure that parents put on their kids to do well in these reality shows is immense so it may be a simple case of starting out a bit early to take the lead. Everything was good but one. What, in this world, was Mithun Chakraborty doing on the show? They have made him a judge, above the judges and they call him ‘The Grandmaster’. The most perplexing thing was that they actually ask for his opinion after each performance. I was totally bewildered. I could not fathom why a person who has nothing to do with dance except that he, once upon a time, danced to the ‘Disco Dancer’ song, is asked to give his opinion on these dancers and that too on national television when all he has to say is ‘kya baat’, raised to the power of 3.

I can’t decide which of these occurrences has resulted in my present state of mind. May be you can help me decide....

image courtesy : http://www.justinwellman.com

Do protesters really protest?

The UPA government just can’t catch a break.  With all the scams in which its leaders and allies have been found involved in, in this tenure, the popularity of this government is touching a new low. Scam after scam, covering all sorts of industries, all sorts of resources, be it coal (coalgate), spectrum (2G), or the CWG. Above all this, our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh thinks that silence is the best possible answer, no matter how seriously demanding is the question. New addition from the government’s side to the list of things that are irksome to the public has been the approval to allow up to 51% FDI in retail and a steep hike in diesel prices.

The people with financial expertise are divided on the implication of this decision. It means that there is no clear opinion over what’s good and what’s not. People too are free to have any opinion. It is a democracy after all. But the problem with Indian democracy is that the backbone, the people, either make misinformed opinions or have opinions which have been manipulated by the politicians. The current example is the trend of ‘bandhs’.

Showing displeasure over some issue, in a democracy, is totally fine. But why do not people understand that disrupting the public life, vandalism, destruction of public property is definitely not the right way. If you put buses and buildings on fire, whose loss is it? If you disrupt the various modes of communication, whose loss is it? If we just create all sorts of troubles for the common man, do you think that it is going to affect the government? I think what happened at the Ram Lila maidan and at Jantar Mantar are sufficient to see how government responds to the plight of the people. I am here not proposing to find  a new method of registering displeasure towards the government policies. I am just saying that this anger should not burn your own homes. 

- DementedSage

image courtesy - http://www.mangalorean.com

Why do we have so many engineers in India?

Are you one of those, who has almost every other cousin and every other friend of his doing engineering? Are you one those who get pissed off when they get to hear that a particular friend  who got 50% marks in his senior secondary exam is also studying engineering? Are you one of those who get a shocker when they come to know that one of their friend, who was studying biology and wanted to become a doctor, is also now studying engineering?

Why do we have engineers all around?

This is how it happens. 

As soon as he starts making some sense of this world, every child starts getting bombarded with questions about what he would like to become when he grows up. In fact, this is one of the most common questions that people ask him. And at that moment, the child says – Doctor, Pilot, Engineer and so on. The child grows up a bit. In his secondary schooling days, he is told that he will have to pick a stream to study further. This is the first encounter that this child has with this question which would haunt him again at various points in his life. To make it impossible for the poor thing, he is told that once you pick up a stream, it would become your life and that change won’t be easy. The child is bombarded with advices coming from each direction. He does not have enough time. He must decide and decide fast. At this point of time, if either the family has a background in arts and the child, while growing up has had some sort of exposure to some kind of art, and if he thinks that he likes it, then he will at least think about taking up Arts. Same is true for commerce. But suppose, if he is not able to decide at this point of time, he will go with the flow and he won’t even realize it.  

What does going with the flow mean? It means that if you are studying in a school in India and if you do not know what you want to do with your life, then you will definitely try to become an engineer, unless, you are studying in a school where they don’t teach science or you did not clear the cut off. In that case, you always have the option to change the school where you can study PCM, to be eligible to become an engineer. Since all your friends too are in the same miserable condition of cluelessness as you are in and they too are going to become an engineer, you feel better and think that it must be good. Your parents are happy too.

Then you finish your school. Sit for some entrance exams to get into an engineering college. Now here when the preparation actually starts, everybody thinks that he is going to make it to an IIT. But as time goes by and the poor you get some perspective, you give up the idea of making it too IIT. Who needs an IIT to become an engineer these days?

Now the interesting thing about doing engineering is that no matter how screwed up your performance in your senior secondary exam and the entrance exams is, you will find an engineering college, good enough for you. It is somewhat like that crappy line they say in romantic movies and novels –  God has made one , for everyone. You know what I mean!

So that’s about it. You get admission to this college and come out as an engineer. (In this article, I am not addressing those 5% of engineers who actually wanted to become engineers. I have utmost respect for them.) Now the process repeats. If your college is a good engineering college, you will get placed in some consultancy or a finance firm. If you are a techie, you will be picked up by the top most tech. companies that visit your campus. But if you are in a mediocre college, (which is the case with 90% of the engineering students) your college probably won’t have these reputed firms waiting for you and you will have to settle for the IT companies. You will become a software engineer .  The funny part is that they won't give a damn if you are a mechanical engineer or say a civil engineer. (All these engineers are absorbed easily in the market since India has become an outsourcing hub where all that a professional needs is just enough salary, to be able to meet his ends. So this outsourcing machine actually acts like a suction pump to suck in engineers.)

Even after you accept this and decide to move on, the same old question comes to haunt you again. You see that every other friend of yours is now going for an MBA. And yet again you are as clueless as you always are, about whether you to want to join them or not with no particular idea about whether you want to do an MBA at all or not. (But I have also seen many people who pick up a high paying profession and make it their interest). Anyway, the point is that another rat race starts and probably here also you will go with the flow.

Conclusion

Explore things, try out new things. See what you are good at. There are so many alternate career options available these days. Choose something that you love, choose something that is a bit different from the rest. Do this well before time. And If you don’t, there is a 90 percent chance that soon enough you will realize that you have become a software engineer. Just like I did !

PS: It seems that now nobody wants to remain a software engineer. Everybody wants to be a MBA graduate. I hope someday I will be writing an article on that too and all I will need to do would be replacing engineering with business administration, in this same article and it will suffice!


Read an another post by me on similar theme

Indian marriage functions - My take

Yet another marriage season is over and yet another time it has left me with some extra kilos. It’s like an annual tradition for me. Just like you are left with colours in your hair after holi and smell of gunpowder in your hands after Diwali, each year, I am left with a protruding belly, after the marriage season. Every year!

This is not the end of the story. It brings with it a lot of problems which I detest personally. FYI, I am here not concerned about the “ek kunwara.. fir gaya mara” shit-terratti. I have got reasons, much more catastrophic, much more serious. So here I am telling why going to marriage functions is like sitting on a horse with your piles ridden bottoms.

Imagine a plush wedding ceremony going on in a farmhouse. You have just entered with your family. Now at this moment you look around and spend a minute on observing the settings and the decorations. Yet again they are based on an undecipherable theme which you can’t understand. Or rather you don’t care. While the other members of your family are busy socializing, you observe some totally new faces talking to your parents like they know them for years. And you are just standing there as a fool wondering, how should I address them while greeting? This problem becomes more prominent when you are at a relative’s wedding and you have never seen that cousin of yours who’s getting married. So, after struggling for some minutes, to figure out how you should address the lady talking to your mother, you suddenly come up with - %$&@!^ namastey!!! Now here, the first word is just a meaningless and weird syllable or a group of syllables spoken just to fill that void so that neither the lady understands how you have addressed her, nor you have to feel embarrassed if you call her ‘naniji’ and she actually turns out to be your aunt or something. So basically it serves as an arrow from the ramanand sagar’s Ramayana which after leaving the bow, splits into two.

I look around thinking how is it possible that nobody knows me here? I mean come on! There got to be someone. Well apparently there isn’t. The crowd is going towards the food court and I too decide to go along. I serve some items in my plate and some gulab jamuns. Now, when I say ‘some gulab Jamuns’, it means at least 4, apart from the other bland stuff. Man!! I just love gulab jamuns!!!. As far as I remember, Marriages have been all about gulab jamuns to me since I was a kid. I have a strong opinion that if there should be an allegorical symbol for a marriage, it should be gulab jamun and ya, about the invitation cards, the invitation cards should have a big-spherical-brown-syrup-coated gulab jamun upfront. That would be something I would call an invitation card. I sometimes wonder that how lucky are the mithaiwalas. They can eat as much as they can... I feel like having some of them right now…but I guess then this article won’t get done! So I should probably carry on..

So, I fill my plate and go to a corner to gorge on to the stuff in some peace. After eating a bit, I know that now it’s time for the dessert.. The gulab Jamuns. Now here I don’t know why but I get an epiphany that I should put two of them in my mouth and I do it. And I instantly know that it was a very wrong decision. The cameraman with his assistant just saw me standing in peace and is now covering me eating. Embarrassment may come in unexpected ways. There I was, standing like a fool with two gulab jamuns in my mouth, stupidly looking here and there not knowing what to do with them. I am wondering how many people will actually see me in this state once this video tape gets ready. And this cameraman is a huge moron. I just can’t understand why is he so interested in covering me when there are so many other people around here who would so love to get covered. I bet some of these gleaming ladies must have bought new dresses just for this occasion. They will totally love coming on the tape. But this camera man is hell bent on screwing my evening. At last, he moves. Ohh god!! I now take a sigh of relief. And continue gorging on the stuff.

After finishing I decide to come out of the food court and locate an empty chair. Just as I am moving towards it, my mother calls me. She is talking to a lady and a girl is standing beside her. I join them in apprehension.

“beta! pehchana inhe?”, my mother asks me.

Now, this is just one of the many embarrassing situations that my mother frequently keeps pushing me into, at public places. This one time, her friend was at our home with her family and she somehow managed to leave me abashed, even though the topic of the chit-chat was the ear-rings, her friend was wearing. Before that, I was this, poor clueless fool, who did not know that there even exists a possibility of being  left   embarrassed even if the topic is as innocuous as 'ear rings'. My mother for sure has got this talent. But let’s not go into that..

Then you will definitely be introduced to an uncle/aunt of yours who after seeing you, will instantly get hit by this epiphany that you have grown up.

“Tyagiji… main to keh raha hu ab shaadi kara do iski bhi.”, this new uncle, says to my father, with a grin. I instantly curse myself for having come to this torture turned wedding function. I am so put off by all this now that  I avoid going to these functions now. Though these mishaps may happen anywhere, anytime but the reason why I am so pissed off with wedding functions is that they provide the perfect environment and fuel to these misadventures to propel.

Though when I started writing this piece, I thought I will cover each and every thing that irritates me about Indian weddings but I now I am so not in mood to explain each and every whim of mine and I don’t have just sloth to blame for it. I will just mention the rest of the things I detest in marriage functions and I guess you will have a fair enough idea..

- The girls and ladies with the excessive make-up and I do not understand what’s with the blush on their cheeks. The sheer number of such cases present in the function gives this point, an incredible weight. Man, I so like the girls who look decent and earthly.

- The camera man just doesn’t let you have a break.

- The uncles/aunties/relatives asking about your job and when you tell them your employer’s name, no matter what name you say, they do not understand it as they have not seen ads on tv for your company. Go! Stab yourself.

- An evening of yours gets wasted as well as you get nothing but embarrassment and irritation in return. You could have easily stayed home in your casuals and would have read a book.

- You need to shave every time you need to go to such a function.

- The ostentatious antics that are performed at the weddings these days look so preposterous. The rotating platforms, the flower showers/fountains, the stage performances by skimpily clad hired dancers.

- Man! This cameraman needs some help.

- I always overeat at these functions. Come on! There are so many dishes available, to try. What else am I supposed to do in this situation?

Though I feel a lot sympathy towards the couple who is getting married. I can understand the torture they have to endure that starts some fifteen days prior to the day and goes on till ten days after. Specially, the bride to be, is literally tormented. During this period, her privacy goes fishing, and she finds herself surrounded by giggly girls and teasing aunties, all the time. No time of her own. So many relatives, the usual conflicts among the women of the extended family, that are now all together. Crying and leaking babies that accompany them, the always occupied toilets…….

 

You can understand.

An Open letter to a rapist

I am starting straightaway, as I could not decide how to address you. I just realized that English language lacks a word that describes you aptly. I am writing this letter to you since I am a Delhiite and I am  totally pissed  off that due to some god-forsaken animals like you, the city is getting a bad name.

I won’t be writing much since a lot has been already said and written about it. I in fact, would just be saying things that I feel you don’t realize...

If you have figured out after reading the title of this post that this letter is addressed to you, in that case upfront I insist you to, with an open mind, believe that you are just a pathetic creature that the world needs to get rid of.

If you think that you have done something that flaunts your virility, let me tell you that you have done a gross miscalculation. Don’t call yourself a man. You don’t deserve it.  Real men don’t snatch something that is not theirs. You are just a genderless psychopath with a dysfunctional moral censor.

May be you don’t care about the life your victims are living now, if at all they are living. Some must have taken their own lives just because they thought it’s not worth living without the dignity that they have lost. So many of them are still struggling to be accepted back into their families. So many of them are still in shock and the thought of ending their lives comes across their mind at least once, each day. Still, they are living. You did all you could have done to make their lives miserable and still you don’t feel a speck of guilt or remorse. Shame on you!

If your justification is that she was not properly dressed or was not in her senses and that is what provoked you then you should point a gun on your crotch and blast it off because the force that drives you in life is there. It’s the force that is dominating your mind and conscience and leaves you at par with wild dogs.

Even if you thought she was not properly dressed, who are you to decide what was needed to be done with her? Who are you to decide that she is a slut? Who the hell are you to think that she would be easy just because she is frank and friendly? You are just a….. forget it! I just again wonder how scarcely resourced our languages are, not having an accurate word to describe you.

Few facts and suggestions for you to get in touch with reality as soon as possible…

-- Women are living things. Show some respect.

-- Harassing someone weaker makes you very small in character.

-- Not everything in this world belongs to you.

-- Sadism is a serious psychological disorder.

-- Realize the magnitude of the disgrace you are, to your family and to the world.

-- Pick up a dictionary and look up for the word – “Self Respect”. Study it!

-         

     Those of you who forced yourselves upon minors  - I am well short of words to say anything to you. I just hope GOD knows what he intends to do with you. Enough said.

    

    Go.. Die.

    

Am I angry about corruption?

Recently I was watching a debate on a news channel. The topic was – ‘ Are you angry about corruption?’ This discussion made me ponder over this issue and as an interested citizen I have an opinion.

The question asked was whether I am angry about corruption or not? Now to this question, I don’t have an answer. Instead I’ve got two counter questions.


1.  Why is this question being asked suddenly now?

Is it because of the recent scams in government which went out of control and came in full public view? Or is it because both the major political parties at our dispense are involved in the depravation more or less equally and we, the common people, are out of options? Or is it because you think that corruption has suddenly grown out of control or is it the scale at which corruption takes place these days? What in this world makes you think that people have become angry suddenly? CWG Or 2G? Come on! tell me what it is? Do you think that Anna Hazare induced this anger amongst us? Or is it the anti-corruption protests that happened throughout the country? Or do you think that this is the first time that people came to know about what goes around in governments? Or is it the corrupt government official or a clerk who takes bribe for doing something for which he gets paid by the government too, who made you think so? Or do you think that people are angry upon themselves only for bribing these public servants? Whatever may be the reason, let me tell you that if at all somebody is angry, it is not sudden.


 2) Is it really that simple?

The question is what a common man, like me, can do to alleviate corruption? Is It that simple? The complexity of the entanglement of the corruption with our system is enigmatic. We see people blaming the “SYSTEM” for anything bad that happens or anything bad that they do. Are they really right? Let us see.

Population of India is growing at an unbeatable rate. The educated population knows that it is the quality of life that they give to their children which is more important than the quantity of siblings they may have. Uneducated crowd thinks that their future income directly depends on the number of children they have. For them children are like investments. Each of their children is just an extra pair of earning hands. And since these poor constitute the major part of Indian population we have the population going north at breathtaking rate which leads to poverty and a hungry psyche.

 A population of this size (second largest in the world) generates huge revenues for government in the form of income tax which is theoretically supposed to be spent on the welfare of the masses. Sheer stupidity it would be, to even for a second, think of it as actually happening. This money has to come back to the masses.

The real clusterfuck:

 Now these politicians generally, either pave their way from the bottom of the social structure to reach the top or they inherit a political career. Both ways, one thing is common - The hungry psyche. Whatever may be the case, they do have some insecurity about their winning the next term. So this hunger-ridden- psyche forces them to make a fortune from themselves out of people’s money and major part of that money gets stashed in foreign banks or is converted into some other convenient form which leaves the hungry common man with a little for himself. Whatever is left, travels through the levels of hungry bureaucracy and is shared-and-shrunk at each level. This hungry psyche is the common thing that exists in all levels of bureaucracy, among the citizens and among our politicians, alike. It is this hunger that is drawing a citizen towards corruption. Damned be the negativism, but it appears to me that those, who can use corruption in their favour, don’t have a problem with it while those who can’t, are actually angry. Not because they hate corruption, but because they can’t use it in their favour.

And to answer your question, I am not angry, Sir!

I am Just hungry.

----  A random citizen

image courtesy - india.growvc.com

That guy....

Addressed to girls: 

You meet a lot of guys in your life. You tend to like some of them, be friends with them and prefer to ignore some of the real weird ones. Most of the time we try to keep our relationships with friends and loved ones evenly balanced where both the responsibilities and the pleasures of the relationship , are equally shared. But humans do err. Sometimes, you don't give back in a relationship, what the other person actually deserves and I am here, going to talk about exactly such a guy...


That guy, who in spite of doing his best to make you happy, did not get back what he deserved from you. That guy who was by your side when even your best friends doubted you. That guy who came to pick you up on a chilly night, when you couldn’t find anything to get back home. Do you even know that he lied to, and later got scolded by, his parents for taking their car out at that hour? . For you! and he never even told you about this.

People used to talk filth about him. Things like how he is letting you use him for your benefit and how far he has gone for you. To some extent, they were right. He was the one who always at the receiving end in your friendship. All sacrifices were supposed to be made by him, which he used to do without any regret or whatsoever. He used to be there for you as soon as you called him. But never, for an instance, you even thought about doing something for him. But he never complained. He remained the same smiling and unconditionally caring friend to you. Making adjustments and making you happy, were two things he was very good at. But unfortunately both things, you never realized.

You told him about that new guy you met and how cool and smart you found him. He was worried. He knew the guy and he knew that you are on the wrong path. Tried to make you understand but you, you did not listen. Days passed. You talked to him about your boyfriend. What’s he like? What does he do? What do you like about him? And what irritates you the most about him? And he listened. Trust me on this, being at this position, for a guy is an epic humiliation. Still, he listened. He did not used to talk much on that topic, except of saying some single word phrases here  and there sporadically. May be, he loved you.

That day, when you were talking to him about the problems you were having with your boyfriend, he again tried to make you understand about your mistake. But, this time you reacted strongly. You said some sharp words to him. You stopped talking to him. You told your friends that he was trying to create misunderstandings between you and your boyfriend, when they enquired about what happened. You never became normal with him. He was taken aback. He was hurt. He went away from your life. You did not care. Days passed. You slowly and gradually came to know about the reality about your guy. He cheated on you. And you were numb, for weeks.

 For years, you did not hear from that friend. He was gone, so far away, that may be you won’t be able to find him again in this life. Let me tell you that wherever he is, he still cares for your well being, though being passive. May God bless you!!

Kasab: Living mockery of Indian Judiciary

A major terrorist attack takes place in Mumbai. The whole world gapes, in bewilderment. Disturbing live telecasts of injured people, hapless, lathi-bearing policemen running around in front of AK-47s keep rolling on channels throughout the day. So many innocent people get murdered.  Mourning sessions take place. Politicians visit the injured and call for hefty packages. Political commentators on every news channel discuss the degree of heinousness of the incident, criticize and tell what should have been done, instead. City finally sleeps. People of Mumbai proudly boast off their ability of hitting back to life the very next day. Media starts exalting the spirit of Mumbai, be it the local train tragedy or 1993 blasts or for that matter the 26/11 attack.

 There is something inherently wrong in this endure-and-forget approach. Though it sets an example and is an in-your-face reply to the terrorists but the unfortunate ramification is that it makes people forget the incident. Only those, who lost their dear ones, can feel the timeless pain.

The burning example is that of Ajmal Kasab.  There cannot be a bigger insult of Indian judicial system. The guy who is distinctly caught on cctv footage with a rifle in hand, so many on-lookers available as witnesses. What else do you want to sentence a terrorist? If you are waiting for Pakistan to come forward and say that yes!! he is in fact a Pakistani and a terrorist involved with the Pakistan originated terror outfits, then that would never happen. Pakistani leaders are the brand-ambassadors of SSO (Society of Shitty obstinacy). For two years, that guy is living as a guest on Indian land, on the money of Indian people. It is in fact very embarrassing for Indian people to watch him making demands of chicken or mutton from jail. He says he came to Mumbai to become an actor or sometimes gives a philosophical what-is-sowed-has-to-be-reaped lesson to a politician. He has fun in the court, manipulating the facts, changing his tone and statements in each hearing much to the discontent of people who lost their kin members. This leaves us with a burning question-- WHY THE HELL INDIAN GOVERNMENT IS TAKING THIS SHIT???

It’s about time that we had something concrete with this case. If you ask the common man about what punishment would suffice for him, they will say, that punishment doesn’t exist. But being a civilized nation, the country of Gandhi, we will do everything under the aegis of law. It’s time that those jawans and police officers who lost their lives had attained salvation. This can happen only if the Indian judiciary listens to the mass emotion of the country and the collective sigh of pain saying—

--- HANG KASAB!!!! 

photo courtesy- thelatestnews.in

Soldier's letter to his wife from Kashmir

My love,

I am really sorry, baby, for making you wait, this long. I know you have been awaiting this letter anxiously. But evidently, things have turned out a bit unfavourable for me, up here. I couldn’t write to you in spite of thinking about it all the time. You know, how things work here.

Baby, how have you been? Tell me? You can’t imagine how much I think about you all. You sometimes become my biggest weakness, as I keep worrying about you and your well being when I definitely should not, having a very serious task at hand. Sometimes though, when I am down, lying broken on my bed, of the day’s ordeal, I see your photo and plant kisses on that piece of paper. The kisses, which I feel, deserve the underprivileged skin of yours. This makes me forget all the pain and hardships that I am enduring here. This makes me feel, I have to live, I have to fight and sustain so that once this is over, I can come back to you and my lovely daughter, whom till now, I have seen through your letters only. So badly, I want to see her…touch her and play with her…..This makes me realize that you people are my biggest strengths and you only keep me going.

My love, you are a strong woman. I know these times are not the best we can have; still you have to be stronger; stronger for yourself, for our little one, for us. I believe that you will keep supporting me through this and I promise, I will make it up to you once I come back, with so much love that you can’t even possibly imagine.

Life here is definitely not a bed of roses these days. When things are normal, I come back at 8 while with curfew imposed that can go down to 1 am, nevertheless, I have to wake up at 5 in the morning.

You know all about the infiltrants and militants. Now, apart from them, apparently, we have made some enemies from the inside, the locals. People, with whom we are dealing now, have been confused and misguided by some hardliners and local leaders. You may be aware of ways of protests that these people are adhering to. Stone pelting on us has become the new popular means of showing distrust here. I know, these people have genuine complaints but certainly this is not the way.

All people here do not actually think like that. They have been misguided by the local leaders. Some of the younger breed of protesters doesn’t even listen to these leaders and have started independently carrying out acts of vandalism and hooliganism. They have been made dubious about accession of Kashmir into Indian Territory by Raja Hari Singh at the time of independence. Now some of them want secession from Indian sovereignty and subsequent accession to Pakistan while some of them insist on having independent Kashmir. Both of these ways are not practical for a normal kashmiri denizen. Certainly, the suicide-bomb-esque Pakistan should certainly not be a ray of hope for them while the independent Kashmir would live a bubble’s life. I just don’t have any idea how much longer would it take to get things settled over here.

While the elite talk about Indian secularism, I say, that doesn’t exist here. Religion is the biggest issue here, in this muslim dominated area for politicians and extremists alike. The local muslims call us ‘bloody Hindustani’ while if we show some concern about them the rest of Indians say that you are not an Indian. This is the most unfortunate thing to hear, for an Indian soldier. But we still have hopes and will do our best to ensure a generalized welfare.

Meanwhile, I am trying to apply for leaves. Let’s see what happens. If God permits, I will be with you all very soon. Let’s hope for the best. Convey my share of love to the little doll. You know that I love you for being there always, for reciprocating that love unconditionally and enduring the troubles all alone there. I just love you for that. All this will be over soon baby, and I will fly back to you. Please… hang in there for me.. for just a little bit longer.

 I love you….

Your man.