Religion is just a way of living. Religion is nothing more than expression of faith. None of us choose a religion; rather we are born into one. At the end of the day we are all human beings all flesh and bone. You will never find an iota of religion in the anatomy of a human. As there are many means to do something, there are many religions to achieve a common objective e.g. peace and happiness. Yet, why we become slave to a religion? Why it becomes a case of my religion is better than yours? Is not it foolish? If we turn the pages of history then the foolishness of human becomes more evident with scores of battle fought in the name of religion. It has always been the case that a small section of wayward always hijacks the spotlight and creates havoc. Just yesterday a group of vandals roughed up women in a pub in India and the same group justified its act by saying that it is the custodian of Indian values. But what is that Indian value?? I bet my month’s salary on the fact that the people involved are hired thugs. They have no idea of why they are doing this, except the fact that they are being paid for it (well I did not know that the ‘Indian value’ is all about beating up of women. Incredible India!!!!).

‘Indian value’ is a very broad term as the civilization has almost five thousand years of history.

Boozing is bad and everybody knows it. Yet at the end of the day we are all individuals and we have our own judgement and values. People should be made aware of the downside through education but we need to realize that it is impossible to force value down the throat of a person. We can do so much. So let’s not try to create a moral police force to rub people of their human right.

General election is round the corner. I hope people won’t forget this shameful incident. However much BJP tries to distance itself from these splinter Hindu extremist organizations, at the end of the day the foundation of BJP rests on ‘Hindutva’. And without small extremist organizations BJP can’t survive. I hope citizens of India can clearly see the evil nexus. I hope people of India hold political leaders accountable. I hope people don’t forget the fact that India is burning since the rise of Hindutva movement in late 80s and early 90s. I have nothing against any political party but I’m concerned about the role of religion in politics of a secular country.

Let’s say NO to the ‘Talibanization’ of India. Let’s live up to the true ‘Indian value’ that is respect and tolerance of diversity.

Am I witnessing the change in Indian politics that I was waiting for since aeons? I’m not sure. But a chain of events in last few months/years points to the right direction.

Win of Congress under Sheila Dikshit is one of the events that give me a ray of hope. Looking at her track record, I believe people of Delhi could not have asked for more. She has done a wonderful job as the CM of Delhi since 1998. On top of it, she has a highly distinguished career as a politician and leading figure in women’s empowerment movement. People of Delhi gave their mandate to ‘development’ rather than any party. Party does not matter but what matter are jobs, roads and electricity. Though Delhi is far behind other capitals around the globe but it is on the right track.

The way Narendra Modi rode into CM post for the third time, speaks a volume. And the way eminent industrialists such as Ambani and Mittal are pitching for Modi to be the PM of India, bodes well for India. I don’t doubt the self-centeredness of industrialists. But anyway everybody is selfish. As I’ve argued in past that if we need to take care of middle and lower class then we need to help the billionaires. It is the billionaires who create jobs not the beggar. So if Ambani and Mittal want Modi to be the PM then actually they are pitching for ‘development’ rather than Modi per-se. People of Gujarat have tasted the fruit of industrialization and all round development in last decade and they rightly want Modi to be at the helm for next few years.

Sibu Soren got thrashing in Jharkhand. It was so heartening to see uneducated voters (unlike those of Delhi and Gujarat) of Jharkhand turned the heat on Soren. Politicians such as Soren are extremely dangerous as leaders. Corruption and criminalization of politics are just few feathers on his hat. We can’t blame somebody without conviction by a court and by that account Soren is not guilty. But it is anybody’s guess. If law maker is a criminal then you can guess the rest. Just compare the development standard of Jharkhand and Gujarat in last 10 years and everything would be pretty clear.

At last, it seems, people are waking up to the reality. Petty movie stars, hardened criminals, dirty and uneducated politicians have always hugged the limelight in Indian politics. But I think with rapid development and spread of education, scene is changing. Development and progress are self-sustaining as the cycle of virtue. Once people know how it feels to have a stable job, a house and enough money to send kids to school, they will never turn their own future on its head. We have seen ample example of this scenario.

We can have a positive change when selfishness of individuals converges for a positive change. People want better quality of life, politicians want power and industrialists want, you guess, more. And the point of convergence is development. I hope leaders of India rise up to the challenge of delivering development.

My dispute with my neighbour has a long and nasty history. People say we both are at fault. We have fought long and hard in past. But we were at peace since last few years. But all of a sudden my neighbour started throwing grenades at my home. I was very concerned about my family. I tried to persuade him to stop. I appealed to others’ in the society to stop this atrocity. But nobody came forward and the grenade attack continues unstopped. What were the alternatives for me? Should I wait for some of my loved one to be killed? Hell no. I banged my neighbour hard and kept banging him till I destroy all his grenades. I wanted to ensure that he won’t repeat this story again in future. I’m sure I have the right to safeguard my family.
Following are the actors.

Me: Israel
Neighbour: Hamas
Society: UN and other countries

Logic is very simple. I can’t blame Israel. You can’t always be hard pressed. If you don’t take action you will be judged as weak and you will invite more injustice. So get up and take the battle right to the doorstep of the enemy. And that’s what Israel did. With due respect to the choice of Palestinians, I can’t see the rationale of selecting Hamas in an election. I don’t think any rationale person would have difficulty to understand or guess the tragedy of an urban war. But it seems Hamas leadership either does not care about the death and plight of Palestinians or is irrational. As I’ve always maintained that you should cast vote by mind not by heart as your choice will determine your future. I sincerely hope that we all learn from this tragedy and take steps to avoid similar situation in future.