Author: Alka

I was watching a demonstration on T.V. being held by the people from North Eastern India. They were demanding equal treatment from their Northern counterparts. To be treated equally, humanely and with dignity. Not like, “Ye Bahadur kahan se aa gaya or ye Chinki…..� This shows our level of intolerance. We can’t digest little differences in facial features and ascent. All of us have to conform to the herd (Read it hip and happening flock).
But everyone is not like us. I was reading about people of Geel, Belgium. I read one conversation between a husband and wife about this town,

“I just saw something very strange,� he (husband) said before I (wife) could speak. “A woman walking along with her hand to her ear, talking a mile a minute.�
“John, every other person here is talking on a cell phone!�
“She didn’t have a cell phone. She was talking into a black sandal. No one else even glanced her way.�
People behaving in strange manner on road, malls and in homes are ignored affectionately.

For many centuries, this town is caring for the mentally challenged persons. Even Nazis couldn’t break the community resolve to accept the mentally challenged as one of their own! The Nazis left the mentally ill in Geel untouched, unharmed and in peace, elsewhere they were not so lucky but executed along with Jews.

The family foster care for mentally challenged in this small town of Belgium started with the legend of a princess, who refused to marry her own father. The father got senile after the death of his beloved wife and wanted the look-alike daughter to take her place. The daughter fled to Geel. But ultimately she was caught and executed by soldiers, her father had sent. She was considered as the patron saint of the mentally ill. For centuries, they visited her shrine to seek her blessings. The villagers of Geel took in one or a few mentally ill people as a foster family indefinitely. The tradition still continues.

Mentally ill persons, who face rejection as a norm, indifference and callous attitude of society as their fate, find acceptance here. A normal home and where their being “special� doesn’t draw extra attention.

Do we really believe (forget about practicing) that God is everywhere? By respecting human beings we are honoring God Himself? I think we only recite or read Geeta from our throats not from our hearts. That’s why we see the lack of practical manifestations of its good teachings in almost every walk of life.

‘Legislature-Is-Under-Threat’
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At least 18 people facing serious criminal charges, including the alleged mastermind behind the leak of papers for entrance tests to management institutes, are contesting the parliamentary elections from Bihar.�

Or from booth capturers?
Or from rigging?
Or from antisocial elements?
Or from those who manipulate electronic voting machines?
Or from those who take bribes to switch sides?
Or from those Ministers who are issued non-bailable warrants? And our “Rubber Stamp� Prime Minister doesn’t know a thing about his whereabouts?
Or from those who are struggling to come clean on “Fodder Scam�, “Tansi Deals� “Sugar Scam�, “Urea Scam�or “Bofors�?
Or from the person who has the guts to live in Prime Minister House of India for 13-14 years without denouncing her Italian citizenship? That too under the powerful and dominating stature of Indira Gandhi ? And now she suddenly discovered her Indian side and claiming to be a staunch Indian?

Surprisingly, according to our revered Lok Sabha Speaker, Mr. Somnath Chatterjee, our Legislature is not under threat from any of the above!
The greatest threat to Indian Legislature, according to him, is from Supreme Court!

I was quite touched to know that at last there is someone, who cares for our democracy. Our badly bruised and battered democracy. At least our Lok Sabha speaker Mr. Somnath Chatterjee is up in arms to save democracy. I was thinking, soon new bills will be introduced in Parliament to debar criminals and antisocial elements for contesting elections. But I was pleasantly surprised to know that Supreme Court is the greatest threat to Indian Democracy!

That’s the new path our so called leaders are teaching us or trying to make us believe. I often heard elders as saying “Supreme Court� is the only Institution in India, which has some credibility.

But India always has the likes of Somnath Chatterjee to open our eyes and set the things right. If we have few more leaders like him, that great day is not far ahead, when Supreme Court will become irrelevant and the members from Legislature will be capable enough to perform the function of Judiciary. Just like the good old days of medieval period, when the powers of legislature, executive and judiciary are confined into a single person. And Congressmen can boastfully claim, that they already have got such a person in their party!

I often felt confused and had to resist a temptation to laugh whenever I saw a particular scene in any movie, where the hero is holding soil in his hand and pontificating to anyone in the vicinity saying “Mere Desh ki mitti…” I too could not decipher those Sanskrit “shlokas” mentioning “This body is made up of soil and ultimately one day it will be one with the soil.” The realization dawned on me when I read about “Food Chain”, “Carbon Cycle”, “Nitrogen Cycle” and various other cycles in detail in biology. Then it triggered a thought process, how most of the things invariably generated from the soil and they return to the same. My oxygen, my lunch, my dinner, my breakfast, my fruits, water even if it is packed in Kinley or Bislery bottles, my table, my chair, my books, copies, copper wires enabling me to enjoy the benefits of electricity, gold ear-rings, marbles to adorn the floor, petrol making commuting easier..the list is endless. How my body constantly takes ingredients grown in the soil. How all the products developed in this soil nourishes my body making me healthier and stronger day by day. Now I no longer feel the urge to laugh when I witness a scene in a movie, exalting the virtue of soil of my motherland.

When I was in my home-town, I never bothered about vegetables and fruits and the source of food grains or milk products. Almost everything is grown in and around the kitchen garden or in the fields in our village, which is not far away from the city. When my little sister tasted milk for the first time in another city, she refused to drink it saying, “This is not milk. Milk does not taste like this”!

I remember the joy of sneaking into my garden, in the hot afternoon, when all grown ups were taking a nap. How I loved climbing a tree of my choice, (be it mango, guava, litchi or any other fruit tree) plucking the fruits from my hand, and eating it right there sitting on the branch of the tree, shadowing myself from the harsh sun. How many novels and story books I had read positioning myself on my favorite guava tree feeling the tranquility all around me or occasionally broken down by chirping of birds or by sweetest voice of a stray cuckoo.

But then I never realized how lucky I was. This awareness dawned on me when I came to a big city. First time, when I had to purchase peaches at exorbitant price, I could not stop tears spilling from my eyes. I even wrote a poem on the whole experience.

The charm of a small city was never felt by me till now. Today, if I want to go swimming, or be member of a library or want to play badminton, I have to cover considerable distance and not to mention, shell out a good sum of money. It saps the joy of doing anything naturally. For everything you have to make an enormous amount of effort.
Back home, I always took everything for granted. I thought it’s the way of life for almost everyone. But I have to learn a lesson. When I was in this big city, I purchased few medium sized plastic tubs, made small holes at the bottom of each tub, put them at the roof of my third floor apartment, pulled my jeans upto my knees, took few hand tools and tried to fetch some soil from the roadside. It took considerable effort to ignore the curious glances of passers by. Anyway I filled all the tubs with soil, removing pebbles. I watered them for few days. When I thought, the time was “ripe� I planted seeds which I bought from my home-town. My excitement knew no bounds when I saw spinach, tomatoes and cabbage saplings growing in my plastic tubs. I watered them regularly. I made some thrilling plans to grow some climber vegetables such as cucumbers, karelas etc. by planting them in deep earthen pots.

But all my plans remained plans only. To my horror, I realized “this� soil is not like my “home soil.� Plants in them just grew upto a size and afterwards refused to bear flowers and fruits.

Then I became wiser a bit. I had to learn another first hand lesson in environmental science, how man has damaged the soil and his environment. What should I do now? I can not spend my entire life “plucking� fruits and vegetables from the refrigerator. Now I have learnt to respect the earth and bought some small agricultural tools. I dig small holes and I try to put all the peels of vegetables, fruits or egg shells into a small patch of soil instead of giving it to garbage-wallah. I have to return what I got and still getting from this earth. I can not be so ungrateful to this mother earth.

I was reading an article in “The Asian Age� . Its OP-ED Page’s headline “It’s official, men don’t like to marry high IQ women� caught my attention. The writer claimed to notice the trend how “powerful men took up with the young women whose job it was to tend to them and care for them in some way: their secretaries, assistants, nannies, caterers, flight attendants, researchers and fact checkers.� …………………..�men think that women with important jobs are more likely to cheat on them�……..The article quoted Dr. Stephanie Brown, the lead author of this study, “The hypothesis is that there are evolutionary pressures on males to take steps to minimize risk of raising off-spring that are not their own.�

The article also throws light on another interesting point, “Men did not show a preference when it comes to one-night stands.�

I know the research is focused on certain points and can’t view many things in wider perspective. Since this new study was conducted by psychology researchers at the University of Michigan, they studied it in the purview of psychology.

I wonder, if this is entirely true? Only the women with important jobs are prone to cheating? What about women, who are housewives and spend a larger part of their time unobserved by anyone? Doesn’t availability of time and boredom lead to extra-marital affairs and cheating?

Anyway, I think this article has ignored a very important aspect. Right from the birth (midwives claim they can foretell the sex of child on the basis of his/her first cry!). The minutes a male child steps into this world, he should be expected to cry louder than females and dull their voices!!

Right from the childhood a boy is expected “ not to cry like a girl�, “not be a sissy�, “be stronger than his sister�, “behave like a man� etc. At a very tender age expectations from parents, friends and society start shooting sky high. They never expect from a girl to look after their parents or to earn for her family or be a pillar of strength for anybody. But a boy can’t escape all this. He is often told to be in control because he has to look after his family. Boys are not even expected to marry a girl who is taller than him! So girl having a higher IQ is definitely out of question for a long term relationship!

I think a boy is conditioned from a very tender age to be better than a girl. This societal pressure plays a very important role when he looks for a long term relationship. He can’t escape from expectations thrust upon him since he arrived in this world. For an affair or one-night stand it alright to have an intelligent girl. But life-long commitment with a higher IQ partner, its another story.

I was cribbing and cursing
Everything.
The weather, the concrete jungle
The lack of flora and fauna.

I was silently grieving for
My loss of
space, people and self-respect,
patch of greenery,
my pond, my trees, my sky!

I never acquainted a place,
Where sky was visible in
Ugly patches.
You have to travel extra mile
For your share of sunlight.
I always thought
These were gifts of nature
Available to all and sundry!

Now I am determined
To claim my portion
Of everything;
What is rightfully mine.

Cribbing and crying
Will certainly retire from my life.
And everyone beware
Before putting hurdles
In my path.
I have donned my old mantle again!