What Should Be India's New Year Resolution?

So we are at that time of the year again when everyone resorts to making resolutions for the New Year and following them throughout. While personal resolutions have always been very common, have you ever thought of making a New Year resolution for the country? What do you think must be India’s New Year resolution for 2016?

Research has it that the most common personal resolution made by people is losing weight and getting in the right shape every year. Improving a relationship and being good to people is the 8^th most common New Year resolution made by people across the world. But, this year, let’s start something new. Let’s make a resolution for the betterment of our country that would not only benefit us but also our future generations. What say?

What I mean by making a resolution for the country is that every single individual must pledge to be a better citizen of the nation and stop being a part of social crimes and evils. For instance, let is resolve to not take or offer bribes in 2016 and thereafter. If every single individual of the country pledges to this, then our nation can become corruption-free. Isn’t it?

Yes, I know this is something next to impossible. Not everyone has the heart of gold and some people have a never-ending hunger for money. But, simple moves and resolutions from our side can help make our nation a sturdy one and a better place to live in. For every parent, let your New Year resolution be that you will teach your sons to respect women and protect them. If every parent of this generation teaches their sons to be respectable, humble and responsible towards women, our next generation will see fewer crimes such as rapes and murders. Of course, making India completely crime-free is not possible but we can still try to influence as many people as we can.

Let us all make a resolution to respect one another and every human on this planet and not judge people on the basis of caste, creed, race, religion, language or gender. Let us all make a resolution to care more for our environment and avoid polluting our surroundings in any way. Let us all make a resolution to help one another, be kind and generous and raise our voice every time we witness crime or injustice happening around us. Many people in today’s world do not care about the injustice happening around them due to a lack of time and insecurity, fear or carelessness. But, there can be anyone of us in the same situation or even our loved ones. So let us all come together to raise voice against anything and everything that kills our unity and integrity.

If you guys have any more resolutions to share, please comment in the comment box below. I would love to get responses from you. Also, let me know what your resolutions are for the New Year 2016.

Wishing Everyone A Very Merry Christmas!

Dear all my readers,

Here’s wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas!

It’s winter again, the merry month of December, that brings with it happiness, joy and fun-filled weekends. This is the time to recount every moment of joy that we lived throughout the year and gear up to give a warm welcome to the New Year. Hope this Christmas illuminates everyone’s life and brings peace, health, wealth and happiness to everyone.

On this day, let us all pray that our country gets freed from all sorts of social and political evils, violence, terrorism, corruption and crime. Let’s hope and pray that the entire world comes together as a family, unites to destroy every evil prevalent and works together to help one another progress and prosper.

Christmas has always been my favourite festival; the Christmas Tree, the lights and decorations, the gifts, Santa, everything has been exciting to me since childhood. I believe angels do exist in the world, not the way we imagined them to be in childhood like the ones with wings and elegantly dressed in pretty white dresses, but in the form of simple common people like us who have the capability to make a difference to the society and influence lives. I hope all these angels help spread the message of peace and humanity across the world so that we live in a better country and world.

Lastly, a big thank you to all my readers who have stayed loyal to me and read what I liked to share with the world. Lately, I have been grateful to be chosen a winner in two contests; the I’m Influence Blog War and #madeofgreat contest by Indiblogger. This was possible only because of the love and trust that you guys have shown on me. Thank you all once again. Keep reading, liking, commenting and sharing if you like my posts.

Once again, wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in advance!

No Miscarriage Of Justice, Certainly Not This Time!

Crime has not been foreign to our country. In fact, we have witnessed high profile crimes and cases that eventually went forward to become national interests and also motivated changes in laws and order. One among these is the popular Delhi Gang Rape of 2012 that shook entire India and also made headlines across the world. This is one case that is classified among the ‘rarest of the rare’ cases and the entire world has been looking forward to the verdict against the accused.

Although all the living accused were sentenced to death (God knows when the sentence will be implemented though), the juvenile accused who was younger than 18 years of age at the time of the crime was sentenced to only three years according to the juvenile law. And, since the accused has served the three-year term now, he is set to walk free this December.

I have been seeing a lot of petitions being circulated requesting the Judiciary to prolong the punishment of the accused who is believed to have been the most dangerous and ruthless of all. Just because he was a minor at the time of committing the crime, of course, we cannot overlook the nature of the crime he committed.

Rape itself is among one of the most brutal crimes that one can commit. Destroying a woman completely, dragging out her internal body parts and attempting to kill her along with a male friend is surely not something that deserves a term of three years at a reformation centre. If the boy had the understanding and audacity of raping a woman and killing her, I don’t think he was anything lesser than the other accused just because he was not 18 years of age then.

Anyway, the number of petitions and pleas being made to the court to reconsider the victim’s sentence and put him behind the bars is certainly a good move. It is good to see that people are actually fighting for a girl who they did not know but are still concerned because India lost a braveheart daughter like her. Of course, despite the changes made in the law, rapes have not receded. But, if, in this case, the juvenile is tried in a way similar to that of adults, it will discourage minors from committing such crimes and create a fear in their mind.

We all think miscarriage of justice should not happen, at least not in this case!

So The Court Means It Was A Driverless Car? Seriously?

The much-awaited verdict of the Salman Khan hit and run case back in 2002 finally came yesterday leaving all his fans and Bhai himself joyous and celebrating. The Bombay High Court on Thursday, i.e., December 10, 2015, acquitted Salman Khan of all the charges on him in the hit and run case and he walked free from the court. Of course, this was a big moment to celebrate for all the Bhai fans and the social media immediately went viral with countless posts, some congratulating him, some expressing their disappointment and some others full of sarcasm and memes.

But amid all the funny messages, tweets and posts making rounds in the media, there is this serious question! Who was driving Salman Khan’s car that night? Did the court actually mean that neither Salman nor his driver was driving the car? Does this mean that the car was drunk? Or it was a driverless car? What exactly happened on the fateful night? C’mon Indian Judiciary, a person lost his life in the incident and a few others were injured. This amounts to murder if you remember! And murder is a punishable offence. An offence which should never be forgiven because every life is precious, whether it belongs to a rich or poor!

I don’t understand how an institution as large and prominent as the High Court can give such a verdict just because there aren’t proofs enough to prove anyone guilty. Or maybe things were manipulated because corruption is not something alien to us. But we consider our legal system, our Judiciary, among the three pillars of the society and if verdicts like this come up, will anyone trust the system? Isn’t it completely baseless and irrelevant to assume that no one actually drove the car that night because there are no proofs to prove it?

I can remember the double murder case of 14-year-old Aarushi and house help Hemraj in 2008 that met a fateful end in a similar way. There weren’t any valid proofs to prove anyone guilty in the case and the case was finally closed alleging the parents guilty of killing their own child. No, I am not saying that the Talwars did not murder their daughter or they are innocent, but on what basis were they convicted? As much as I know of the case, the servants in the house, i.e, the driver, compounder and one more aide had committed to have murdered the two in their narco tests. But, since narco tests are not admissible in the court as proofs, the case was shut down, claiming that the parents had killed Aarushi and Hemraj.

This is how our judicial system works! You never know who will accuse you of killing someone when you wouldn’t even be knowing the victim, or who would set you free for killing people (the latter is possible only when you have lots of money and contacts, of course)!

The Plight Of Sportspersons In India, Barring Cricketers Of Course!

In India, when we say ‘sports’, most of the people can first think of Cricket. Cricket has been considered one of the greatest sports by Indians for several years now, although the National Game remains to be Hockey. And, when we are not talking of Cricket, what most Indians can make out of the word ‘sports’ is Football. No other sport is given as much importance as these two sports, although we have so many that we cannot count on our fingers.

So, it is a fact that India has numerous sports and countless sportspersons who excel in them. There are shooting, basketball, golf, boxing, wrestling, volleyball, archery, weight lifting and so many more. But how many of us know about all of these or the players associated with them? Personally, I don’t think anyone who is not greatly fond of sports would know about these sports. Reason? Well, they have never been given footage by the media or never received any kind of popularity or emphasis from the government. The government has clearly ignored all of these sports over the years, a result of which, the sportspersons associated with them are leading a miserable life.

A news headline published by NDTV yesterday is a classic example that tells the tale of the plight that sportspersons go through every day. The news brought to light the tough life of Pushpa Gupta, a 21-year-old National level shooter from Gujarat, who now sells noodles on a roadside stall along with her father to earn a living. Having represented Gujarat at National Level shooting competitions, the girl has now given up on her passion because she cannot afford the guns. Such is the life that our National level sportspersons are leading today. According to the news report, Pushpa attracts customers to her stalls with all the medals and prizes that she has won so far.

A few years ago, one more such story made rounds in the media. It showed women representing the National Women’s Kabaddi team waiting for an auto rickshaw on a roadside with the Kabaddi World Cup in hand. No kind of transportation facilities were provided for these players by the government after they made India proud at the global level and got home the World Cup for us.

On the other hand, when there are cricket matches or World Cup matches, the entire country sits glued in front of the television; the players and teams are appreciated and congratulated by politicians and even awarded for their contribution to their sport. But what about these players? Aren’t they important? They are as talented as the cricketers are, aren’t they? They have also made India proud a number of times by bringing home awards and medals. But because these sports are ignored by the government and not given any sort of popularity by the media, these players get completely neglected and have to struggle to meet the odds meet in their everyday life eventually.

My only point of writing this article is that people should share this so that it reaches the government and all these talented players get their rights, some form of help and recognition. After making the nation proud, they surely do not deserve to struggle every day to fill their stomach. The media should give such sports importance and popularity too so that people come to know about them.

Also, read this awesome article on the plight of various non-cricketing sportspersons:

http://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/heres-how-india-has-let-down-all-noncricketing-sports-231753.html

Lokmat Office Attack: A Classic Example Of Misinterpretation!

Amid all the talk of tolerance and intolerance going on among people and making headlines in the media, this comes as a classic example of misinterpretation. As I was checking out the morning headlines yesterday, this news caught my attention and I was unable to decide whether I should be furious and condemn it or simply laugh it out. Lokmat, one of the leading and widely circulated daily in Maharashtra witnessed attacks on its offices at several places two days ago after it published a cartoon in one of its news stories on Sunday.

Initially, when I went through the news, I couldn’t make out what the exact issue was and what made people go so furious as to attack the daily’s offices at several places. After reading about 4-5 news reports of the same news published in different dailies and websites did I come to know that the newspaper had published the cartoon of a swine in one of its news stories that was named ‘ISIS cha Paisa’ which translates to ISIS money. The Islamic State has been making a lot of headlines in the international media these days due to its growing power and atrocities and also due to the recent attacks in Paris of which it claims responsibility. The cartoon published by Lokmat depicted currencies of several countries falling into the piggy bank that had the name of Prophet Mohammad written on it just like the ISIS flag.

Protestors, as reported by news channels, attacked several Lokmat offices across Maharashtra and also burnt the Sunday copies of the daily to demonstrate their anger. People also resorted to social media to condemn the newspaper and express their views. The cartoon, they said, was derogatory as the swine is considered haraam (inauspicious) in Islam. The Muslims argued that the cartoon had hurt their sentiments by showing a pig and establishing its connection with Islam and ISIS.

When I saw this news, honestly, it made me laugh. It also made me think whether people actually have any work in life rather than misinterpreting every single thing that crops up in the media and then demonstrating their anger through violent protests. Okay, let’s just imagine that the cartoon hurt the sentiments of Muslims. But, they could have simply written to the editor mentioning it and Lokmat would have apologized if they had made a mistake anyway. In my personal view, I don’t think Lokmat has made any mistake, although the daily has already apologized for it.

Ever since childhood, we all are aware of piggy banks and most of us have also used them to store money that our parents and relatives gave us occasionally. In fact, a piggy bank has always been a commonly used symbol globally that depicts savings, money and finances in general. The graphic designer who made the cartoon, of course, did not have any intention of hurting people according to me. The cartoon was a simple and clear illustration of how ISIS gets its money through various sources across the world for its terrorist activities. Thus, the currencies depicted belonged to different countries and were falling in a single piggy bank that was shown to belong to ISIS. Therefore, the script or the name of Prophet Mohammad on it, just like it features on the ISIS flag!

Why do people always have to misunderstand and misinterpret things and then resort to protesting in a violent way? Aren’t there better things to think about in life or grave problems in our country to deal with? Chennai is battling the worst flood in 100 years, flights have been canceled and thousands are stranded, the entire city is under water! Isn’t this an issue more serious than a cartoon published by a daily? People have time to gather and protest, to burn newspapers and attack offices, but how many of them actually thought of helping people in Chennai? Why don’t people come out together to offer help to others rather than causing violence in the society?

It is high time each and every one of us thinks about this and acts in a sane way. Humanity, after all, is greater than any religion in the world!