How can any 'Indian' die if India is living?

This is my humble attempt on English translation of a blog post by popular Malayalam film actor Mohanlal on the events pertaining to martyrdom of soldiers in Siachen and on going debates on Nationalism.

Here is the English translation of his blog post..

There was this picture in the Malayalam Newspapers the other day. The 4 month old daughter of Lance Naik B.Sudheesh who was martyred in Siachen was being shown her father for the first time. But her father was in his mortal remains wrapped in tricolour and couldn't see her innocent little face. Sudheesh passed away without seeing his daughter even once. In the same newspapers I read various news along other pages as well. Fight in Universities on debate on nationalism. Pandemonium in Assembly and Parliament. Political killings. Bar corruption case. Political strategies for next assembly elections...so on and so forth..

I was feeling sad and ashamed at the same time...

A soldier who has not seen his 4 month old daughter even once, has come back as a corpse, from those heights where sustaining life is regarded impossible. He stood at those impossible heights to protect his motherland. And we here, are belittling ourselves by mocking these martyrs by staying safe under the freedom upheld and security provided by these same men - who gave away their lives. We are debating and infighting on what is patriotism and nationalism, in a very dirty and grotesque way. What is more shameful than this on this earth? What is more disrespectful for those martyrs than this?

I was invited by the Army to visit Siachen. But I couldn't visit. I wanted to see and know more about the nature over there and the life of the bravest of the brave soldiers who survive those conditions for our motherland. In the winters of Makara Maasa if the temperature drops even a little and mist or dew comes down on us, we happily sleep under the woollen blanket till 10 in the morning. We have hot water running down from the geysers for all our needs. We go to universities, offices and other public places by using the amenities of a luxurious life. After reaching these places what do we do, we conduct our debates. We start our protests. We pelt stones. We abuse our Army and see them with suspicion. We portray anti-nationals and traitors as the smiling faces of freedom of expression.  We sit near the fireside along with whisky in our hand to cozy up the chillness of the nights and debate with vigour. We have our wholesome food and slumber after that.

At those heights where if a hand is raised clouds can be touched, where you cant have food at your leisure and have no basic facilities, where loneliness drives you insane, there stand our Sudheesh's and Hanumanthappas with utmost vigilance to safeguard us. Each day when from these terrains their dead bodies come down to our land, we stand upon their mortal remains and do naked dance to the tunes of debates on freedom of expression!! Will the time and generations to come give us penance or apology for this gravest sin?

How does a society view someone who castigates, disapproves and abandons a mother who gives birth and brings them up? What is our veneration towards this kind of attitude? A nation and its citizens share a similar relationship like a mother and her children. Citizens attitude towards their country should also be the same as that of a child towards his mother. A nation is the soil upon which we tread our feet. It is the sky above our head. It is the air we breathe and water we drink. It is the rain, sunlight and dew that we enjoy in there. At last when we die, it is in this same country's land that we need to get either buried or turn into ashes and get mixed to the soil by the pyre flames. 

It is not the duty ONLY of a soldier in Siachen or Kashmir or Ladakh to protect this nation. We ALL are its protectors. We may not have guns and bullets as our weapons. But love and respect for it, the willingness to die for the nation are certainly the weapons we should all possess.If we lose these weapons we may fake ourselves with a mask of an intellectual but we will never turn out to be good citizens.

I am NOT interested in the political debates and brouhaha. I am only concerned about our attitude towards our country. Why are we not telling our children about the wonder called India? Why are we not teaching them its greatness, its rich culture which is overlooked by the great Himalayas and permeated by the Ganga and other great rivers? Why are we not telling them about its literature, and not making them understand its philosophy? Why are we not giving them "Letters from a Father to his Daughter" to read. If we just do these simple things, I am sure no son or daughter of this country living and walking on this soil will ever raise a slogan against it. They will learn to mourn and feel for the soldier who dies in some corner of our country. They will voluntarily observe silence for the martyrs. Let us send our children to the universities which teach and preach this culture. Our children then will learn to salute with the same vigour they use to raise a slogan. They will learn to cry for the country with the same emotion  as when delivering a high voltage speech. They will then think of the security of our own country rather than argue for the freedom of a terrorist or a criminal.

All kinds of thoughts are good if it leads our nation towards progress and development. All protests and agitations are good if it tends to become one of the bricks in the nation building. All debates are good if it can uphold and enhance the security and the freedom gifted to us by many who laid their lives for it. All other discussions. debates, protests, agitations and thoughts are futile... it is also an insult to our motherland..

I don't remember who wrote this..but want to mention it here..and let us all ask ourselves..

"How can any 'Indian' die if India is living..?" .."Do we still have to 'live' after India is dead..?"

Jai Hind..

The "Pied Piper" PM.

Come this May, Modi govt. completes its 2 years in Power. But looking at the way this govt. performance Modi seems to be heading government but not in Power.

He seems to be absolutely helpless reining in Opposition, Media and his own party members.

There has been a lot done in last 18 odd months in terms of getting Investments,  Power reforms, Railways, Roads and Infra etc. Yet all these have been marred with inept media management and worst communication from the government.

Every govt. is weighed in terms of PIP (Policy, Implementation and Perception).

Let's take one by one

Policy
Foreign policy -there is nothing which could be said as absolute out-of-box ideas. I would say Modi was good enough in building a better image for the country with his foreign tours, but at the same time this image took a beating with incidents like Dadri, beef, intolerance and the latest Pathankot. Foreign policy vis-a-vis Pakistan was flip-flop.

Economic Policy the less said the better. Nothing big in terms of tax reforms. Instead common man has to bear Swach Bharath Cess along with an increased service tax whereas corporates enjoyed tax cut.

Big reforms like labour, land acquisition, GST, are being stalled/ delayed waiting for Congress to reduce its number in Rajya Sabha. This again shows a helpless Modi along with very bad floor management in RS.

Implementation
Apart from Railways, Road and Infra and Power sector, I don't find any other ministry toiling hard to get things going on ground. Please let me know if anyone has heard any ground breaking stuff in agriculture, health, HR, aviation, Ganga cleaning, Smart cities etc. I don't even know the ministers in charge of these portfolios.

Perception
The worst part. Absolute disastrous media management and worst communication. I don't know how much of impact Modi has made with his Mann ki Baat. With his oratory skills he should have shown Opposition and media their right place.

Media is being given a free run, peddle lies, twist facts and yet no action on NDTV and other MSM although there are ample evidences available.

Worst is pathetic spokespersons of BJP attending Channel debates.

And then last but not least, endless self goals by Sadhvi's, Yogi's, Shatru's, and Margdarshak Mandal.

After Delhi and Bihar elections where  BJP ate a humble pie the party does not seem to have its President taking charge. Amit Shah has gone to hibernation. Nothing coming from him when party is looking forward to Assam and Bengal elections.

Modi instead of being the famous "Pied Piper" who got rid of the Rats seems to be pipped by Opposition, Media and his own partymen.

Hope better sense prevails and Modi absolutely takes the charge and lead from the front and guide both party and the nation in 2016.

Happy New Year..2016..!!!