Racism

Racism is a healthy outlook that human races which might be based on religion, region or appearance have distinctive characteristics which determine their respective cultures. It usually involves the sadistic idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule or dominate others. Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored and we need to own up to the fact that prejudices are getting the better of us in a way that we are not being fair to humanity. Prejudices are like rats and human mind is the ideal trap, they get in easily but it is doubtful if they ever get out. Racism is just like any etheral element. Fire for instance makes a good slave, but a bad master.

The profound belief of racial superiority which has become a part of racism is nothing but a superstition. Francis Bacon the proponent of the scientific revolution observes, ‘In all superstitions wise men follow fools’. This factor is exploited by men who desire to acquire or increase their power. Half of the harm done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They do not always mean to do harm, it’s just that the harm does not interest them. These fools and brigands of kleptocracy have learnt a great truth that where might is master, justice is a mere servant. Politicians often bank upon the fact that a mob has many heads but no brains and anger (never without a reason though seldom with a good one) carries the mind away. It is not uncommon that the communal love displayed by these separatist knaves reduces to nothing once they achieve their goal of acquiring power.

Racism has taxed man for a very precious material; Blood!! History is painted red with such blood feuds, be it the Crusades between Christianity and Judaism, the Hindu-Muslim strife or the more domineering Caste systems in ancient Egypt, India, Greece and Rome. India has witnessed the infamous Khalistan liberation movement which was suppressed after the bombing of The Air India Flight 182 claiming the lives of 329 Canadian civilians over the Irish Sea (the worst aviation terrorist attack before September 11).

As if this was not enough, India can be seen advancing towards increasing racial hatred over the past decade. India can as usual turn to the U.S. for guidance because unfortunately for them they are ahead of us even on this frontier. The American Civil War, the deadliest war in American history, caused 620,000 soldier deaths and an undetermined number of civilian casualties. This era witnessed the Lynching of slaves which included acts like burning them alive, beating them to death or even ripping them in halves using sheer force usually by tying them between horses. Thank goodness Indian racism has not yet stooped to such a level but the way some situations go out of hand makes one wonder about this suicidal attitude of wanting to test poison when someone has explicitly warned you about the contents of your cup. India must learn from other people’s mistakes, we can not make all of them ourselves. However, given the opportunity we are capable of doing so! Man differs from other animals only by a little and it would seem that by indulging in racist activities we are keen on throwing that little away. I would rather not bank upon amassing first hand experience at racism. Experience is a hard teacher for she gives the test first and the lesson later. Jeopardizing the nation’s democratic integrity for racial benefits would be rather jarring to a diverse country like ours which is yet to establish a firm rooting in the race of Superpowers.

In the western world of Christianity the people are either catholics or protestants. The mentality of the people is liberal. This may be due to the lesson they have learned after the terrible wars they had faced. There are some orthodox people around but they are very few in number.India is a bulky population with several castes and thus the loopholes to fool around with the mentality of the people are huge.

In India the race war involves not only different religions but also different sects of the same religion! The thought of one Hindu sect locked in tussle with another seems rather ironic when the Bhagwad Gita, universally accepted as the most sacred Hindu scripture, firmly establishes the existence of a sole Dharma or religion namely Humanity and goes further to slap these religious fanatics by calling everything else, even Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and all other groups as sects and a mere convenience for worshipping the Almighty Power! And there you were thinking yourself to be a proud Marathi, Gujarati, Tamilian, Bhaiya and what not!!! Every ermm… religion as WE prefer to call it, has the same basic idealistic beliefs like honor the gods, respect fellow beings, be righteous and hardworking. Why abuse most of these guidelines by dishonoring the gods be it of other races and by disrespecting other people?

Even if we do achieve separate societies for different races it changes nothing! None of the problems like pollution, population, crime can be reduced significantly. Am I to take comfort in the fact that the guy who just stabbed me was one of my own people? Or that those people of that other race no longer flock to my area for work and the factory now pollutes the area two streets ahead of my house?

A cousin of mine, a post graduate student at Stuttgart University was enjoying the Munich Oktoberfest of 2005 which traditionally takes place during the sixteen days up to and including the first Sunday in October. While savoring the tastes and sights of this magnanimous beer festival he and his group had an unexpected and pleasant experience; a drunk was making rounds about their end of the large wooden table and wishing them Namaste! The point I wish to make being, if a drunkard with a history fresh with memories of the Holocaust and World War II, can find it in his stride to salute random foreigners he never knew, why is an Indian with a historical backing of rulers like Shivaji Maharaj and Badshah Akbar and the all consuming Freedom movement involving the likes of Mahatma Gandhi diffident from accepting equality and intent on mocking the sacrifices of his ancestors!

It is easy to hate someone but difficult to accept and love, that is the way of the world. Good things are always remote while bad things are ready to jump into our lap. We should keep in mind that ‘as you speak so shall the echo be’! Eliminating racism does not need us to love or like anyone, it merely necessitates us to accept and respect everyone as we would do to our nearest and dearest and mainly ourselves. Everyone thinks of changing humanity but nobody thinks of changing himself. Races are wondrous flowers; one can not dream of enhancing their beauty by rubbing their petals together, they need to be decorated in a bouquet.

A Story From The " Chicken Soup For The Soul " Series

Every year on the shore of hawaii and many other american shores and shores of australia a large amount starfishes are washed ashore because of the high tide . On one such day when particularly a large amount of starfishes were washed ashore , a newyorker spotted a villager in hawaii picking indivdual starfishes and chucking them back into the sea . he stopped the villager and asked him what he was thinking of accomplishing . The villager said he was saving their lives . The man smiled at the innocent mind and said that all the beach accounted for more than ten million star fishes washed ashore , and so the villager's efforts amounted for nothing more than a mere waste of time and he enlightened him that he was not making any difference . At this the villager just smiled and picked another starfish and chucked it back into the ocean . He was aware of the newyorker closely following his proceedings .
After chucking his starfish , the villager turned to the newyorker and simply said
" Made a difference to that one ! "

so whatever it is that u r thinking of starting , please remember that nothing nyone can do or is doing can be insignificant or futile .
life is full of such small feats attempted and accomplished
if you dont think that the best things in life are for free ; try not breathing for a while .

They Can't Rate Us . We Know Our Stuff !

In a recent survey published by The Reader's Digest Mumbai was rated as the
rudest city out the total 120 cities in which the survey was conducted . The survey went on to say that no Indian city could qualify close enough to the other cities in the world barring some cities which were rated even lower . This led to an uproar in the journalist community which led to further tests and counter tests in this matter mostly conducted by rival journals and also Indian media so as to clear Mumbai from this degrading banner .
Suprisingly , nobody is bothered to actally look into the real reason behind this reserved mentality of the people of Mumbai and mostly this country at large . With the price of living in cities like Mumbai for a day going up at the current rate and the great amount of security offered therein ( 0.o ) no one can blame us for being " rude " , if minding your own business can be called being rude . A research conducted in the year 2004 revealed that on an average day , a man arrives for the first time in his life in Mumbai every three minutes who never leaves here !!! With the recent failure of Navi Mumbai which was supposed to relieve Mumbai from being overcrowded there is no other escape route to drain the ever multiplying
density of population and business from this city .
In recenet times petty crimes and thefts is seen to be on the rise . Two recent incidents have forced me to write this piece on the Ironic idea of The Reader's Digest trying to rate us . A cousin of mine living in Thane , a medical student , was riding his bike on a relativly deserted road on the outskirts of the city . It was about 5 to 6 in the evening . Two young men on bike rode upto him and asked him quite politely to tell them if he knew a particular address in the locality . My cousin had to slow his bike down so as to enable him to
read the paper on which the address was scribbled . No sooner was he at a speed of bout 10 - 20 kmph than the guy riding on the bike kicked him causing him to loose balance and jump off his bike . After this my cousin was beaten with no uncertain whim . The thugs went so far as to hit him with a barbed wire lying unfortunately near to the scene of the drama . My cousin was robbed of his wallet , a cell phone costing around 25 k , even his brand new Nikes. It might be called generous of the muggers to have left him his bike even as they fled leavin him in a bloody mess.
I another icident one of my friends got mugged in an almost insanely similar situation . This time it was my friend roaming the streets of my hometown Dombivli , at the hour of bout 9 : 30 to 10 for having a look at the decorations done by various mandals for the Sarvajanik Ganesh Utsav in various localities . My friend was casually floating on the streets along with with another friend . Two guys turned up along them and asked very politely to show them to their destination , which was some 4 blocks away , as they were visitors and were vollage dwellers and were new to the locality . After walking with these gits for some distance , my
friends found themselves in a pickle as the bozos pulled knives on them and asked them to cough up all the valuables . As soon as they got hold of all the stuff like cell phones , wallets and chains , the thugs made an infernal dash for it . One of the thieves got further ahead . Seeing the other left behind , my friends gave chase and brought him down and sloshed him about fairly and were dragging ( figuratively used :P ) him to the nearest police station . The mugger recovered sooner than expected and biffed my friends in really sensitivy parts of their faces and dashed like the devil . The one with the loot had already gone off .
Situations where people impersonating gas cylinder delivery men , cable guys ,
salesmen or even as to be in need of a drink of water have knifed householders and got away with many a loot is not too uncommon in this city of ours . These cases force us to believe that we are really living in a third world country !!!
That is why we can firmly propound that we are not at all harsh in our demeanour or impolite in our manners but plainly that we know our stuff and are well off on living a safe and healthy life by being a bit on the rustic side of nature .

MUMBAI ROADS CAN BE PREVENTED FROM BEING THE ROADS AS WE KNOW THEM .

One of the recent reminder of the fiascal management of the municipal bodies is when the HIGH Court had to intervene in the matter of long overdue road repairs . The municipal bodies are subject to scornful stares from the common man and the public who frequent these blighted stretches of land that are supposed to be highways and city roads . 
However much do we blame the municipality for the delay in the repair work , the real culprits are never even as much as given a thought to , indeed they still remain incognito fora large part of the invalid ( the travellers mainly ) . The municipality chooses to turn a blind eye towards these blisters on the name of humanity and it is not a well guarded secret as to why this may be ( $$$$$ ) !!!
By means of these " blisters " I am alluding to the large number of goods carrier trucks and private buses . These people , so as to avoid octroi and stuff , have developed a habit of commuting roads that are meant for traffic of lesser magnitude . This is particularly the case of roads linking Panvel and Kalyan , a similar problem is faced at most places where fine sand for construction is harvested from creeks and shallow waters .
Roads have specific capacity of the load that can be easily commuted over them which is measured in terms of tonnage . The culprits in question have a tonnage of around 2 to 3 tons and the roads frequented by them are usually fit for loads of 1 to 1.5 tons . So the sadistic conditions of the roads . These blots are not stopped because they travel mainly in late night hours . The authority lets them pass through by the virtue of " MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING".