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Love and Respect Knows No Religion. #Kalam

Image July 29, 2015 jcisnowjs Leave a comment

President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam passed away. He was by far the most loved and respected Indian President. He did not belong to any political party. He was no superstar actor. He was no cricketer. He was not someone who fits in the general stereotype of being a celebrity; still he was someone who has left whole country in mourning.

Those who are saying that he was The Common Man, are wrong.

He was not common. He was extra-ordinary.

He has risen from the ashes to the top. He was born in a poor family of Rameshwaram, and worked odd jobs to help his family. But one thing that he did not take granted was his studies and his goals. He became an aerospace engineer, and later helped India in conducting Pokhran Nuclear test; thus receiving the title of ‘Missile Man‘.

He was elected as the 11^th President of India, with unanimous support of both ruling BJP party and Opposition Congress party.

He received highest civilian honor ‘Bharat Ratna‘, from Indian government.

But, it was not what made him a people’s President. He was the most down to earth President and the most inspiring one too. His quotes and sayings come first to mind when someone talks of motivation. He has given so many lectures and seminars to youth of India, motivating and inspiring them. He died while giving a lecture to students in Shillong. Died doing the one thing he liked the most. Inspiring Youth.

If you think what does religion has to do with all this. Well, Nothing; and this is the point.

Kalam was loved by everyone. His death is mourned by every level of society. He was a leader who lead by example, and not by exploiting religion. Those who are mourning his death, are not Hindu, or Muslim, or Sikh or Christian. They all are Indians.

Nobody is saying that he was Hindu, or Muslim, or Sikh or Christian; he was just our very own ‘Missile Man‘.

Kalam had no religion. He was an Indian.

But, when it comes to Ajmal Kasab, or Yakub Menon, or Tiger Menon, or those terrorists who killed innocent people in Gurdaspur; they all had a religion.

Religion of Terror.

When we love and respect someone we do not care about things like their skin color, or their religion or their financial background. But when we want to hate someone, we look for every tiny detail we can get to hate that person.

It can be hard being a Muslim in India; but the truth is that try any other country, and I bet it will be much-much harder anywhere else in this world.

Kalam didn’t had a resourceful childhood. Nobody helped him except his determination and hard work. He made it work. He reached at the top. He never said, it was difficult for me because I was a Muslim. He never said, Indian government did nothing for my people. He never said, I belong to minority. He made weapons to defend his country. He did not attack his country. He did not kill innocent young people. He inspired them to achieve success in life. He taught young minds to be good in life.

Kalam did not turn into a terrorist. He chose to be President instead.

Nobody had it easy. Everyone is struggling in their own life. System is not fair. Governments are not fair. Society is not fair.

But, we have a choice.

We have a choice to be Kalam, or be Kasab.

We always have a choice. Just remember that next time you face a difficult situation.

Random

Chair Socks – Cute and Efficient

Image July 23, 2015 jcisnowjs Leave a comment

Random

I prefer Sujoy Ghosh’s ‘Ahalya’ over the traditional one

Image July 21, 2015 jcisnowjs Leave a comment

If you have still not seen this modern version of Ahalya, inspired by story of Ahalya from Ramayana; first thing to do is to watch it here.

‘Ahalya’ by the maverick Sujoy Ghosh.

Ahalya the name, till now, symbolized a sinful woman who atone her infidelity by turning into a stone. Ahalya as said in Hindu literature, was the most beautiful woman on earth; created by Brahma himself. She was not born, but created using all the beauty of this world.

I prefer Sujoy Ghosh's 'Ahalya' over the traditional one — I prefer Sujoy Ghosh‘s ‘Ahalya’ over the traditional one

She was married to a great ‘Maharishi‘ (sage) Gautam. Gautam was much older to her and was not into worldly pleasures much. Indra, the king of God, was however, enticed with Ahalya beauty. Indra wanted to have her at any cost. Even knowing that she is the wife of maharishi Gautam, did not deter Indra from his bad intentions.

So one day, in the absence of Gautam, Indra disguised in the form of Gautam comes to Ahalya and raped her. I would like to use the word Rape because if Indra is in disguise of her husband, even if she did something willingly, it was improper and not with her consent.

Gautam came to know of it, and in result he curse Ahalya to turn into a stone and suffer for eternity till Lord Rama will come and liberate her of this curse. Rama touches the stone turned Ahalya with his foot, and she turn back to her beautiful self. She is purified now and Gautam returns back to accept her back as his wife.

This may sound too extreme when you try to play this story in modern times. It’s the same way a rape victim is punished for the crime that others did to her. Ahalya is the face of our patriarchal society. In modern times, if this would happen to any woman, a lot of feminist groups would raise their voice against it.

It seems so inhumane.

Sujoy Ghosh, the maverick, as I like to call him, has tried to do justice to Ahalya, by liberating her, without introducing any Rama in her story.

In Sujoy‘s story, Ahalya is a mystery woman, who is confident and knows her strength. She is no longer a second fiddle to Gautam. Instead as Gautam said, it is her who has inspired him for all his creations. She is the muse and master both. You will understand this as you will reach the end.

Do watch it. It will only take your 14 minutes, but it may change the image of a helpless woman who was victimized for others crimes. Here is the link again.

This 14-Minute Bengali Thriller Will Have You At The Edge Of Your Seat(buzzfeed.com)
Digital platform is the future: Sujoy Ghosh(freepressjournal.in)
The Ramayana: Epic love story in Ayodhya(ireport.cnn.com)

Life, Random

Why Iftar? Why not Mata ka Jagran?

Image July 15, 2015 jcisnowjs Leave a comment

Ramadan is here and so are Iftar parties, one after another. In fact there is a race among Indian politicians to invite as many as their political counterparts as possible and broadcast their secularism to the minority of the nation.

Sonia Gandhi is giving an Iftar party. Arvind Kejriwal is also on the same bandwagon. President is also supposed to throw a lavish Iftar party. More or less every political party and big leader is throwing a party in the name of Iftar.

It is not a new thing but this practice is going on for years…. infact as far as I remember it has become more prominent since the time all political parties pretended to be more secular than the others. Secular as in more minority favorable parties; and by minority here, I do not mean Sikhs, Jains, Schedule castes or girls in India.

Media is also after this event as if it’s an Oscar party. Who attended whose party? Who clicked pic with whom? On that note did you saw Arvind kejriwal’s happily ever after kind of pic with his arch-enemy Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung. See the power of Ramadan.

Did you also notice in all the pics almost every non-muslim leader is wearing a skull-cap. That is also a great symbol of secularism. It is now a days a fashion statement of politicians who are Secular. Normal/common people who wear this cap may be wearing it for non fashionable reasons but how could they know that a mere cap is more than enough to turn a hypocrite into a Secular.

Do you also know that common man who fast on Ramadan usually breaks his fast with eating dates and drinking water. His Iftar is neither a lavish and grand party nor so much media seeking event.

This much talking about Iftar has made me hungry but before I go and eat my home cooked humble meal, there is one more thought that I would like to share with you.

So, I was just thinking, or kind of dreaming, what if these same politicians also do ‘Mata Ka Jagran’, or ‘kanchka – where they will feed little girls ‘kanyas’ and also give money to them. how empowering that would be? Or If they do Nanak Prabhat Pheri in the early morning hours, singing devotional songs. Or, if they throw thanksgiving parties to all the voters who voted for them and gave them power to rule for five years.

It was quite hilarious – that dream that I had.

Just imagine reading news about, ‘Sonia Gandhi has invited every political leader to her Mata ka Jagran event. She was herself dressed as Mata Durga, whereas Digvijay Singh was dressed in a Singh’s (Lion) costume. He was dancing keeping his tail in mouth.

Rahul Gandhi was seen dancing in full devotion to the tune of “beda paar karegi janpath vaali (oops jhande vaali) Maa”.

When Rahul Gandhi was dancing we saw Lalu Yadav and Mulayam shovering 10 and 20 rupees bills. Lalu also danced to his favorite devotional song ‘khushhaal karti, maala maal karti, sherowali maa apne bhakto ki nihaal karti’.

Narendra Modi arrived late, accompanying L. K. Advani by his side. While Modi was seen doing a shastaang pranam to Mata Durga (Sonia Gandhi dressed as Durga) and later giving a two-minute speech on acche din; Advani took mic in his hand and sang full song ‘Mata Sherawali bharde jholi khali’.

Kejriwal was wearing a red duppatta over his head and swinging his head in 360 degree. We later came to know that Mata Durga herself came in Kejriwal’s soul and blessed him. That was the reason of his head swinging, and not because he has lost his marbles.

It was great and blissful night when all the politicians joined together to pray to Maa Shakti Durga, and were blessed with good wisdom and honesty, if that’s possible.