Sindhutai deserves Bharat Ratna, Not Sachin...!!! (full article)

<<  This Article was a part of an old series called 'Kartavya Dharmadhikari' which is now discontinued  >>

A first hand account by Kartavya Dharmadhikari :-

        " Finally the verdict of Aarushi Talwar case is out. The Jan Lokpal bill will be passed any day now. The honourable Supreme Court of India recriminalized homosexuality and the people are hence disappointed . Arvind Kejriwal gave a stunner to the Congress, much like Stone Cold Steve Austin, leaving those stone-hearteds cold. In all the recent state elections, we got to see numbers that this nation had never seen before- all the states having atleast 60%+ voting. Never has there been more gung-ho about any politician of free India than about NaMo. Right from successful space missions to Sachin's retirement, so much has happened in the past few months. It is very evident that young India has started asking for a change in our ideologies altogether...", I said. 

        The "India News" arranged for a special show for 5 weeks. They invited 4 of the most prominent young socialists and activists of Mumbai for an interview each week, followed by a debate the 5th week. I was one of the four. And during my interview, which was broadcasted live, I made the biggest political blunder of  my entire career, antagonizing millions at once...!

        " With so many student movements and agitations across our nation, it is also very evident that young India wants to change the way in which we are looked down upon by the world. ", I said.

        The interviewer joked, " But what has Sachin's retirement got to do with the change in ideologies? The people were so disheartened because of his decision to retire. It's a good thing that he has been honoured with the highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna."

        " Who said it's a good thing??? In fact the decision taken by the Government of India in 2011 to change the criteria to allow sportspersons to receive the award itself was inappropriate! ", I said. And there was absolute silence in the studio. God, I shouldn't have said that. What should I say now to back that up? 

        I continued," I fail to understand what are sportspersons and singers doing in the list of independence activists, physicists, philanthropists, philosophers, educators, social reformers, scholars, jurists, economists, historians, engineers and scientists? All these people have done things which have contributed in some way to the betterment of the society. If I am not wrong, Sachin Tendulkar is the only Bharat Ratna awardee who has appeared in commercial advertisements. And also probably the richest of them all." Facepalm, the studio was in Mumbai, and I said something terrible about the Mostestest favouritest Mumbai mulga. Also, Lata Mangeshkar is a Bharat Ratna awardee who also lives in Mumbai. Facepalm again.

        The interviewer asked me, " So what ? And who according to you should be honoured with the Bharat Ratna then?"

        I replied," Let me tell you one of the most astonishing stories ever. SINDHUTAI SAPKAL was born on 14th Nov, 1948 in a small village Pimpri Meghe, Wardha district, Maharashtra. Born in a very poor family, with great difficulty she studied till 4th grade. When she was just 10, she was forced to marry a 30 year old man, with whom she had 3 sons by the age 20. She was well known in her village by then because of her famous agitation against the local mafia on the issues of misuse of the forest resources and collection of dried cow dung. So much so, that the then district collector had to intervene and pass an order. Due to a lot of threats from the mafia, Sindhutai's husband abandoned her when she was little less than 9 months pregnant, expecting her fourth child. She gave birth to a baby girl on a cold night in a cow shed, all by herself. Even her own mother refused to shelter her."

        "Sindhutai survived with her 4 kids by begging on a railway platform. There she realised that there were so many such abandoned/ orphaned children. She resolved since then to take care of all the orphaned kids she ever comes across. As of today, she has adopted over 1050 children, raising all of them as her own !!! Her children include doctors, lawyers, PHDs and some of them have their own orphanages. She has been honoured with more than 272 awards (Ahilyabai Holkar award 2010, etc). Also a marathi movie ' Mee Sindhutai Sapkal ' was released in 2010. "

        " Have you ever met someone, having any level of education, holding any kind of position, having any level of wealth, who could have dealt with so many heart-wrenching problems with more dignity, optimism, compassion and other-orientedness? Sindhutai, affectionately addressed as 'Sapkal Mai ', still fights for her next meal. Bharat Ratna is got to be attributed to contributions and not accumulations !" , I said.

        I did not have to add anything else. After 4 seconds of silence, I received a thunderous applause from the studio audience. And not a single counter question was asked to me after that. Not really that big a political blunder it seems now.

        It's a sad thing that politicians and even the media are so focused on pouncing upon and commercialising innumerous such Sachin Tendulkar retirements. Already there was a petition filed by an RTI activist claiming violation of model code of conduct, since elections in many states were due when the announcement was made to honour SRT with Bharat Ratna, given that SRT is a Congress nominated MP. But which party would have spoken against this decision, when we all know that SRT has got such a hugeee fan base? Facepalm vote-bank politics. After all, India did virtually nothing else during those 5 days of his last test match. By the way, I really do respect SRT for all his achievements. Nothing against him!

        The change in ideology revolves exactly around such important issues- where the people who are supposed to take care of the society are extremely busy doing nothing, while the true heroes are left to fend themselves in the forgotten corners of the world !!

        The future Ain't what it used to be...wait and watch...

The Capital Of My Country- A Stunning Confession (full article)

<<  This Article was a part of an old series called 'Kartavya Dharmadhikari' which is now discontinued  >>

A first hand account by Kartavya Dharmadhikari :-

        "Yeah I admit that I had never known that even I could be the target one day. It was much easier to watch this happen to others.", said Jaspal Singh.

        To begin with, I did not like when anybody raised their voice in my office. Only I could do that here!  Jaspal Singh was not helping huimself. He could not afford to behave in this manner over here if he needed our help. He strongly demanded that he will talk only to me and not to anyone else. Tens of people visit my office everyday. But my team forwards only a select few very sensitive and high profile cases to me. That's the protocol that we have been following. But Jaspal Singh was in no mood to obey.

        After the whole hubbub I anyway decided to listen to him. We would first thoroughly interrogate anyone who came to us with a case. I made Jaspal Singh sit in the room. I was asking him questions while 3 of my subordinates were taking notes. Jaspal Singh said," I left Delhi at once with my family. It was no longer safe for us over there. The mob had almost killed me." It was really fascinating to hear 'the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Delhi), Jaspal Singh' say those words. Frankly, it sounded very funny to me. Here in front of me was a 56 year old police officer, trying hard to gather himself after all what life taught him so late. In our lives, some events can be so bizarre that we are forced to do really very weird things. I mean look at this man. He met me for the first time and he was giving me some really classified information. Information which can be an overnight blockbuster in the media. Information about people who are really strong. And I mean it- Stronggg !! And information of that level which will make them want to kill you if they knew that you knew.

        No matter how tough you are, you really can not see an old man, a family man, cry. The case: a girl was gang-raped near sector number 1234, Delhi. Sector 1234 falls under the jurisdiction of DCP Jaspal Singh. There was absolute outrage in the whole country after that incident. Yes, we all know about it. I was aware that there were protests against a few police officials and politicians of that area. Little did I know that DCP Jaspal Singh was attacked by a mob. A mob sent by a politician whose Jaspal was a loyal servant of for the past so many years. The politician's name was Satyadev (ironically). And Oh Boy, Satyadev gave up on him...!! That too big time...!!

        Though I did feel pity for the old man, I told him straight on his face that whatever he was telling me will not be taken as an excuse or justification for his sins. With tears and rage in his eyes he said," People blame the police for inaction. And if nothing else prevails, they blame the judiciary of our country. Kartavya, tell me the truth. What happens when a police officer in Mumbai arrests, for any damn reason, a man who is politically powerful ?" I admitted that somehow they are set free. Let alone arresting, even if such a powerful man is caught for traffic violations, he will make a few phone calls and eventually he does not get any punishment.

        He said," Exactly. Kartavya, there are three types of people- citizens, police and politicians. When there are more citizens and less politicians, the police remains police. But do you know what happens when there are more politicians and less citizens? The police no longer remains police. The police becomes a part of the powerless poor citizens. " I understood where he was going with this. It must be impossible for these police officers to bring the wrongdoers to justice when most of the times the wrongdoer is- either a politician himself, a member of a political party, a very rich industrialist who provides funds to the polician or a relative of any of the three.

        " Do you know why Satyadev targeted me ? I have had close association with him for the past couple of decades. I know about all the hooligans who provide support to Satyadev. And one such group of these hooligans is involved in the gang-rape. I can easily identify the ones involved. Due to so much pressure from the media and the public I was about to disclose their identities. Satyadev started threatening me. But I was certain that I will go ahead and speak it all out in the press conference. Even my seniors did not support me. They were all busy doing a lot of brainstorming on not how to protect the people but instead on how to fool the people by applying delaying tactics. They were scared of Satyadev and now I know why !! Not only there was pressure, I knew that it was both- my moral responsibility as a human to speak the truth and also my duty as a police officer to not let off the criminals. But before I could speak up, netaji Satyadev had already given a speech mentioning everything against me. There is no denying that crime is on a all time high in the capital of my country. And it was really very easy to point this out and prove my lack of capabilities. In public, he demanded my resignation and condemned the whole act. In private, he showed green flags to the hooligans to mob me and my family at my residence. The sadest part of the story is, the citizens accompanied the hooligans. They believed in Satyadev."

        " Kartavya, I know many things about you. You guys have made it to the news quite a few times. And that's why I am here. Please see if there is a way out. My only desire is to let the people know the truth. I want them to know the sequence of all events that occurred. I want to regain my respect. I am a father of three. And I want them to be proud of their papa. I anyway don't want my job back. And I will be more than happy to settle here in Mumbai."

        I am a man with very high ideals. Deep inside my heart I repeated that I am not going to accept his statements as an excuse for his previous sins; For all the good that he could have done as a police officer but he didn't; For not performing his duties in a righteous way. Deep inside I also feel that he did deserve something like that for being a puppet of someone like Satyadev for so long. Sad that his family had to suffer. But the mr. Enlightened should have resigned long long ago if such has been the scenario always. I also believe that the source of this enlightenment of his is not a noble one. He turned good only when bad happened to him. Else I am sure he would have not changed even a bit in his entire life.

        But still I did not utter these words to him. It was none of my business anyway. My job was to make this incident public and see if we can legally sue Satyadev and his men for what they did to DCP Jaspal Singh. Though I do agree on many points told by Jaspal. Firstly, when you question our judiciary, it is really a question on our democracy itself. People need to realize that judiciary is and will always remain an independent body. It is the investigative bodies which are pliable. Though these investigative bodies perform great when it comes to investigating a less powerful man, strangely their performance drops drastically when it comes to investigating the really powerful. The judiciary simply gives the judgement based on what the investigative bodies and the public prosecutors present to it. Secondly, there is also no denying the helplessness of the police when it comes to dealing with the very powerful. I still maintain respect for the police.

         And there are many such accusations which suggest that such issues are rampant in the capital of my country. Let us see what another day brings to me...

      

The day of Absolute Truth of Swaansh's life...

<<  This Article was a part of an old series called 'Dr. Swaansh Aatman' which is now discontinued  >>   



        He hardly knew how he reached there. 'Numb' is the word. He abandoned his scooter along the roadside and started walking. It was 6:30 P.M. This road gets very busy around this time of the day. But amidst the fast moving vehicles and pollution and honking, Dr. Swaansh Aatman was living the moment of his life.
        He had dreamt about living this moment a million times before, but he could not control his emotions when it happened for real. He did not know where to go, what to do, whom to call. He went to the place where he regularly went to take walks. The place had both, the serenity of the setting sun when the sky turns orangish-blue and the hurried traffic which reminded him that he had to always be ready and up to face the fast-paced world. Whenever he walked there, he admired everything around him. The tall building where he wished he'd someday get to live, the expensive luxurious cars and the suited individuals on board. He everyday dreamt of being that person. More than the money, he wanted to be that bright a brain.
        The top management had had a long extended meeting today. They had to take the call whether Swaansh's project was 'the big thing' or not. Swaansh, a few minutes ago, had received a call that his project, 'Aragon', was accepted and they were ready to purchase it for a 100 crore rupees. And numb he went.
       
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Introduction to Kartavya Dharmadhikari (full article)

<<  This Article was a part of an old series called 'Kartavya Dharmadhikari' which is now discontinued  >>   


        These two half-brothers regularly did a lot of brainstorming on the course of action. As hot blooded as Kartavya Dharmadhikari is, he will always count on Dr. Swaansh Aatman when he wishes to have a rational argument on any topic.
        Son of a martyr, Kartavya first met Swaansh in law school. And it was not a surprise that they formed an alliance very soon. Though there was a lot of difference in the upbringing of these two, they shared many common interests. And within these same common interests, most of the times they had different methods of implementation. Nonetheless, they had immense respect for each another.
        Ever since the death of his father, late colonel Ramcharan Dharmadhikari, Kartavya become a full time politician. A famed columnist, a stern lawyer, a shrewd economist and a strict disciplinarian (just like his father). He derived his principles and ideologies from the greatest leaders in history. If there is one thing you want to learn from him, learn assertiveness. He sometimes went a hint above assertivenes towards aggressiveness. But he never got into trouble. He supported, rather covered, all his actions by adequate evidences and "legal" documents. A true politician.
        His father always said," a man always does those things which his immediate society rewards him to do". Though his father said it to motivate him to do the right thing, little did he know that this sentence carried the ultimate truth behind all the trends of our society. If your society has got respect for the learned, then the youth will try to get educated. If your society does not punish the wrongdoers, then considering how prosperous and adventurous the wrongdoers' lives are, the youth will try to replicate that. Right from narrow-mindedness to science, from crime to law and order, from disease to medicine and marriage to justice, everything gets influenced by how the society reacts to these acts.
        Our country, like many others, is in dire need of a good role model. A role model who will once again induce hope in the minds of the youth. A role model who believes in action. A role model who is just. It is true that we the people make the society. That the society as a whole decides the course of development. That we all are collectively responsible for building this society and its trends. That we should ' ask not what our country can do for us. We should rather ask what we can do for the country' (John F. Kennedy). But let us not forget why all teams/groups/civilizations need leaders. If the knowledge of  'what is right and wrong' alone would be enough, never would the people need a governing body, and for that matter even a leader.
        Let us not forget the role of a leader. Sadly, we live in an era where Justin Bieber has more twitter followers then Barack Obama and Dalai Lama put together. The reason being both- lack of awareness and lack of role models. We live in an era where we as a nation can not trust the "people" to judge good and bad. In India, we often see light at the end of the tunnel in the form of promising leaders only to find out that that light was that of an oncoming train which will run all of us over. "Beware of the naked man who offers you his shirt"- Navjot Singh Siddhu.
        But the political situation continues to worsen day by day. Peaceful protests have lost their strength and impact. Our government has implemented delaying tactics in ways that we have eventually lost all hopes for justice. The same man John F. Kennedy has also said," Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable ".
        Kartavya, like his friend Swaansh wishes to be the change he wants to see in the world. The two of them have formed an NGO "Kartavya". This NGO is unique because it not only works towards the betterment of the poor and disabled, it happens to be the most feared organisation of lawyers. Feared by right from politicians to industrialists to the government officials/ bureaucracy. This is a group of like-minded people. People who are friends turned alliances. They have aggressively taken initiatives to see to it that no rock remains unturned. Right from letter writing campaigns to organizing seminars in schools and colleges to maintaining columns in popular newspapers and magazines, this group is ready to do anything legal and almost legal to get things done. They don't even mind going below the belt. And when you have people like Dr. Swaansh Aatman on your side, funds can never be a problem. Let's wait and watch...!!

Inertia - so that everything makes sense

<<  This Article was a part of an old series called 'Dr. Swaansh Aatman' which is now discontinued  >>


       "My life is going too slow. There is so much to do, so much to learn, but I am stuck here in the books. I want to do so much in life but I wont be able to start unless I complete graduation.",said the kid.
        Dr. Swaansh Aatman was literally seeing his own reflection in this kid.

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Balance - The ultimate answer for all events

<<  This Article was a part of an old series called 'Dr. Swaansh Aatman' which is now discontinued  >>

        It was 1:45 am. He gently opened the door of his house, trying his best not to make the clinging noise of the keys. His parents were sleeping in their bedroom. It was absolutely quiet everywhere. He straight went inside his bedroom . He placed his bag on the table, switched his cellphones off, put his watch aside and rolled his sleeves up. Dr. Swaansh Aatman gets more alive during this time of the day. After spending almost 15 hours of the day outside his house , it is this time that he gets for himself. He had a glass of water and went to his personal library.
        Dr. Swaansh sat on his chair just thinking. Thinking about his past mistakes and the challenges which were to come ahead. For what he did, he could never have made everybody happy.


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        When you are to deal with politicians and corrupt officials , you tend to forget your people skills. You tend to get emotional. In order to get these people to work, Dr. Swaansh had to combine everything that he had ever learnt. He had to use his people skills that he learnt in M.B.A., his legal knowledge that he got at law college and more so his financial prowess. And this man did it with a vengeance. As Navjot Singh Sidhu says ,' a revolutionary idea is usually the one with its sleeves rolled up '. Swaansh knew that what he was doing was right; also holly if we may say. He was not going to kneel in front of selfish minds. People tend to confuse the goal of being liked with that of being respected.
        Ronald Reagon, the president of the United States of America from 1980 to 1988, said," America is the best country to promote world peace not because of its tolerance but because of its strength." To extend this idea further, Dr. Swaansh knew that his good intentions combined with his might is what is responsible for everything that he has ever achieved. Even in the Indian history, we have seen many extremes work together to drive out the British. It took all, the peaceful ways of Mahatma Gandhi and the extremist ways of Bhagat Singh ,the assertive ways of the iron man Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and the shrewd ways of netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, to create a combined effect so powerful that history was made. The fundamental laws of our idea of society were rewritten and change was being brought about. Stories will be told and accusations will be made. Mediocre minds are always going to criticize these leaders for many reasons. Of course, there is no denying that some of these arguments are definitely credible. But let us not forget that these leaders have made sacrifices in ways in which most of us can not even begin to imagine. The truth is and will always remain that way that the absence of even a single leader would have made it impossible for India to achieve independence. Similarly, none of the methods implemented by these leaders, singly, would have proven to be sufficient enough.
        The mother nature requires BALANCE. What was important was not the methods but the intention that all these great men shared - to give India independence. Though their destinies were different, their goal was the same. For any thought to ever manifest, BALANCE is required. The leaders deep within themselves had developed a fire so intense that mother nature had to manifest it. They never cared about what people would say or interpret 50 years after those events. Because it meant nothing to them. What they wanted was something for the people This is the kind of sacrifice that Dr. Swaansh was thinking about , that most of us can not even begin to imagine. There is never a best way of doing anything. Anything that ever happened , happened exactly how it was supposed to , because it did that way.
        It takes both sunshine and rain to create a rainbow. Successful men have always had their share of problems and they did it in spite of and not in absence of those problems. Because problems and motivation brought about that BALANCE. Channelizing your fire and acting in accordance with your thoughts gives you that BALANCE. Even criminals follow this theory of balance in their own ways. And you can apply this theory to any and every event that ever occurred. You just need to close the doors of pre-concepts and prejudice to look at them from a different angle. The angle of truth.
        Now Dr. Swaansh was relieved. He, by means of this self talk, again revised his concepts of (1) Why are there so many complications and hindrances in what he does and (2) why he will need to follow the path of the ever so witty Ronald Reagon by using both his mind and might to do it. The answer was again - the mother nature is helping him strike that BALANCE .This is what made his JOURNEY enjoyable. He looked at his watch. It was 2:30 A.M. The next afternoon he had these series of meetings. It was time to sleep...

The four factors of Success

<<  This Article was a part of an old series called 'Dr. Swaansh Aatman' which is now discontinued  >>  


       The lady who was anchoring the event announced the name of the next speaker. He was the second last speaker of the event , the principal of the college was going to go last ofcourse. And just as how the lady prepared to introduce the speaker there was already some anticipation in the crowd. The students had heard a lot about him. Suddenly all eyes were on the stage. Even the ones who were not attentive so far now listened to the lady.
        Down there in the first row was dr. Swaansh Aatman. It was his big day for sure. He too was very eager to be a part of this event. And the lady announced ," ladies and gentlemen please welcome dr. Swaansh Aatman ". And there was a thunderous applause. The generally very calm and composed , dr.Swaansh found it tough to gather himself and carry himself on to the stage. The 29 year old leader got up and walked towards the stage . The lights were dimmed,the stage was cleared and the projector flashed a blank screen .


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        " To summarize, the  four most important factors to achieve success : one is dream , two is passionate action , three is people, and four is distinction among the three . Thank you, may god bless you and may god bless our very own institute. "
        Thanking the audience , waving to the crowd he left the podium. There was an instantaneous standing ovation from the crowd. They knew that he was someone who once sat on the same benches as they did right now. The students sure took his advice seriously. Dr. Swaansh Aatman , after a few moments of bowing down and thanking the audience with folded hands, left the stage.