SATANIC VERSES

I know there are a zillion topics I could choose from but with my CLAT knocking at the door and at 3 ‘o’ clock in the night, after having dedicated, gruelling two hours in methodically solving a mock test paper interrupted at intervals by the beep of my cell-phone,faithfully announcing the arrival of a SMS from one of my nocturnal allies, I had no other choice. I guess like me my nocturnal allies also found reassurance in the fact that there were other people like them who were religiously burning midnight oil in a bid to be better than the best. This is however for my friend and worst critic; forgive me dear, if like my previous post this one too ends in a rant. You have my exams and insomnia to blame.
Coming back to the topic; bear with me please. ‘Satanic verses’ does the name ring a bell?? Well, this is the famed or should I use the word defamed book by Salman Rushdie which won him recognition and criticism alike and ultimately led to his banishment from his mother-land. We say ‘freedom of speech and expression’ is a ‘fundamental right’. However,the book was labeled as ‘unlawful’ and any individual, be it an ignorant illiterate book-seller or an overtly curious teenager found in possession with that book would be subjected to rigorous punishment. I am therefore unable to tell you people about the explicit contents of that book but thanks to ‘World Wide Web’ and a certain ‘telegraph’, I figured out that the book revealed or better exposed a lot of intricate details about the religion ‘Islam’ that did not go down too well with the orthodox puritans and hence led to his banishment. How convenient? I wonder. It’s amazing, how people keep getting prosecuted for saying the truth. “Honesty is the best policy” is one of those famous proverbs which I had learnt as a toddler, but at eighteen years of age you aren’t a toddler and life forces you to come off-age. It’s really interesting how conventional principles becomes a parody when super-imposed on Reality. Anything conventional turns into a ludicrous caricature of everything unconventional. So I guess in today’s world, you have to be unconventional. So the next time, I am lying to my friends, my parents, my teacher or even to myself, I won’t be sorry. Closer introspection however reveals, its easier to tell the truth than to be lying to your own self.
However, my main motive behind this post wasn’t the ill-fated book but something, which is closer home. With an ultimatum of ten days before my CLAT exams, I have to get myself enlightened about all the current-affairs of our country. Mind you it’s a big feat with someone or the other getting murdered each day and some politician elected as the new CM in some state. It’s a miserable sight, finding myself surrounded by massive general knowledge books these days. There was a time when children used to sit glued to the television watching BQC out of sheer fascination and admiration for the quizmaster Derek ‘O’ Brien. Sometimes, these enlightening sessions surpassed study-time much to the exasperation of parents. In my case, feverishly going through the GK books is more out of necessity and sheer desperation than self-indulgence. To add to my plight, you have loud-speakers blaring at over 120 decibels in your locality trying to ignite an all-ready non-existent political fervor within the youth and urging you to vote for their political party. I am sure this is a problem faced by all students like me fervently preparing at the eleventh hour and senile people who are being robbed off their ritual after-noon siesta. However, thanks to the current affair section in my exam, I have been very much politically aware this year.
I had been following Barrack Hussein Obama throughout his historic presidential campaign. I thought of him as our “Dark Knight” and believed this one man would finally herald the coming of Dawn and would change our world. Overnight, he had become my hero after hearing his magnanimous speech “We were never the Red states or the Blue States- we were always the United States”……….
ROSA SAT SO THAT KING COULD WALK
KING WALKED SO THAT OBAMA COULD RUN
OBAMA RUNS SO THAT WE CAN FLY.
I wanted to believe this person would bring the “change that we all needed”. Needless,to say his swearing-in as the President was historic and marked a new epoch in World History. But to me he was an Inspiration. He was an Iconoclast who defied all Class barriers and reached the pinnacle of World Politics. He had the “Audacity to hope” and believed in his dream. Yes, Obama had become my hero.
So, I was very concerned about the election doing the rounds this year and wanted a person like Obama as our leader but I guess I was destined to be disappointed.
26/11 had become a playground for politics. I felt ashamed to be a part of a nation, which cashed in the emotions of the masses and turned the tragedy into a political fray. It was frustrating to read the newspaper the next day to find alongside the harrowing experiences of the survivors, an entire page depicting chronologically all the tragedies that had happened under Congress rule in the past decade by BJP. Congress retaliated by giving details of all the negative things that had happened under BJP rule in another newspaper. It was sad, that even at the face of such immense crisis, the leaders of rival parties could not come together to find a solution instead they were all trying to cash in the emotions of the people in order to garner votes for their party. So tell me, as a responsible citizen of India, whom should I vote for??
These days, you have a lot of coverage by the media on our on-going elections. Its frustrating and at times amusing as well to hear our uncountable politicians giving high octane speeches on the “change we need and the change that they’ll bring” if you vote for them that is.
Satanic verses again!!!!
I had to write about this injustice. It was heart-rending today to read how an innocent 11-month child and his mother had been shot brutally by the political activists at Nandigram. There are hundreds of such incidents which I could write about but it all zeroes down to one thing, why should we vote? and for what should we vote?? What has that child done?? What has he got to do with politics?? We are living at a place where you are forced to vote out of compulsion and under-threat. Booth-capturing is also very much rampant. Yes, it’s a democratic republic! Period. I call this “assassinnation of democracy”. All the satanic verses by the politicians start sounding sadistic. Where is the beacon of hope, that we are all looking for?? When shall we herald the coming of a new DAWN?? Yet as I said at the beginning of this post..that people keep getting prosecuted for saying the truth..so I guess it’s advisable to shut yourselves out and concentrate on the far more important things in life. Who cares about other people anyway?? This is not important!