Quick Notes from Bodh Gaya

The darker side: World's most pious Buddhist place and Bihar's pride, Mahabodhi temple faces frequent power cuts, that too in the evening when there is large number of visitors. I was thinking why the administration is so careless/indifferent/callous? Does not this place deserve a dedicated feeder for uninterrupted power. Well this is Bihar, and this is how we treat our own resources!

The brighter side: Right inside Mahabodhi temple, Hindus are offering Pinddaan to their ancestors!

Minute later, azaan from a nearby Maszid silenced all other sounds/ chants. What a confluence of religion!

Prisoners of Independence

Someone said, we all are prisoners of our time. Said in context of the time separating two generations. The walls of this prison are different.
Not made up of bricks, veils, burkhas, illiteracy, kitchen and kids.

Jab bhi milti hai hume ajnabi lagti kyun hai, zindagi roj naye rang badalti kyun hai

Strange are the ways of Law: Make your own rules

In-laws evict widow, SC gives them her money ( http://news.indiainfo.com/article/0905070851_in-laws_threw_widow_win_sc_battle_wealth/350503.html)
This is what happens because of our social and legal rules. A woman is evicted from her husban's house immediately after his death within three months of the marriage. She start studies again, gets a job and spends next phase of her life with her parents for about 50 years without marrying again. In this period she hardly (perhaps never) visits the so called in laws place. When she dies, she does not leave a will (legal term 'instate' death) and her 'earned' property is given to her in-laws. This is our law. (refer Hindu Succession Act: http://www.vakilno1.com/bareacts/hindusuccessionact/s15.htm). I am sure not a single rational person could accept it but our judicial system had to accept this because this is our sacrosant law.

I refuse to accept such outdated laws. This is just a glimpse of our judicial system. We dont have time, resources or willingness to make serios attempt to make laws relevant to the time. The whole country is busy in doing something very great or in abusing the system. I am not the one to change the whole system but i can make a small attempt by making my own rules, at least for my life. Not only that, i can also create awareness among people in whatever small possible ways.
Women have unique status in the society worldwide. Marred by the contrasts; revered yet abused, owners but iternal beggers, strongest but weakest, they remain the second citizens of this small earth. Marriage is an institution created with lots of efforts to bring order in the society but the laws related to it failed to capture the true spirit. It may be considered the relationship of not just one birth but soul companion where soul does not have body. On earth, it is a contract. A contract which can be terminated, annulled if concerned parties are not willing to honour the terms and conditions. These terms and conditions are invariably similar in time and space across cultures. The discussion could go on and on but i need to restrict it to some of the practical aspect.
Despite of all its if's and but's, life is like that. It is not ideal but real. And even all the efforts to make it ideal by various saints could not meet with success. However, we can accept the fact that we need to fight the reality within ourselves and outside us. Lets accept and move forward.
An educated rational woman can consider some of the points raised, worth pondering for a moment regarding marriage and it as a contract:

1. Be informed about the contract: If on earth, one has to enter into a lifelong contract then read and undertstand the terms and conditions properly. Ignorance can not be bliss. With due respect to all the traditions and culture and without offending people whom love you, make your mind known to them.
2. Write your own contract: Whatever way the life looks more respectable and livable to you, write it down. Make a list of major points you would like to discuss with the probable groom before marriage and have courage to actually speak up. The species from Mars, including brothers and fathers have little difficulty in understanding the concerns, they may discourage and even make mockery of you. But you dont give up.
3. Renounce the inherited property: Renounce the property to be inherited from anyone; husband, parents or in-laws. Say an end to the miseries of life. Create your own wealth if you need it. But you must earn sufficient enough to make a living of your liking.
4. Write a will: Write a will at important junctures of life. A must at marriage and at child birth and whenever necessary. It is important because you dont want your loved ones to have emotional turbulance and unnecessary conflicts because of few ounces of gold, few bundles of paper or a small piece of land when you are not around.

Strange are the ways of law, make yourself stranger.

More could be added up to the above list.

Ordeal of an ordinary Indian Voter

All geared up to participare in the great Indian festival of Lok Sabha election 2009, I started from my home at 11:00 a.m. Someone informed about delimitation causing change in polling stations and electorates facing difficulties. Then I started searching for my polling booth. Here begins the story.

I contacted neighbourers; some half baked information came in. Different families of the same locality have gone to at least three different polling stations, all in three different directions. Not sure of our booth, i went to one of the probable polling stations with my mother and driver. We could find my mother’s name in the ‘deleted’ voting list. She was allowed to vote at the assigned booth. I did not find my name anywhere. I scanned the whole list of two thousand people but in vain.

Disappointed, I was returning back to home when I felt an inner urge to find out where my name is. And I felt strongly that I must find out if I have my voter’s ID card.
I went to the second polling station which is two kilometers away from the first one. There were 15 polling booths (A single polling station has a number of booths). One by one, I searched five of them, each having 500-2000 voters’s names in it. My name wasn’t there. Noone to guide me, I was sad but not beaten. Helpline numbers were also not responding. I found many people like me, not able to find their names, fighting against the mighty Sun God and our great system.
I had almost given up and was returning back when I saw a volunteer outside the polling booth. He was having a laptop with data card and was helping people to find out their details. I had a ray of hope. He searched and gave me a polling booth number and also voter list number.
Happy, I came to the booth. But it was not the end. My name was not there.
God, what to do. I called up my brother and friends to search in the internet and find out the details of my polling booth. No results. By that time, there was a huge crowd around that volunteer all searching for their names.
The process was becoming painful for me but slowly I was getting more and more determined to find out my name. Meanwhile I was constantly trying to contact helpline. They told me about the previous station where I went earlier in the morning. Still hopeful of casting the precious vote, I reached there. I found my name in the list, at last. Wow! But my ordeal was not an ordinary one. I was in the deleted list. I argued with polling officers. My mother was able to cast her vote despite of being in the ‘deleted’ list, why not me. People in the deleted list can not vote. There were utter confusion and chaos.
At that point, I lost my temper and asked for the phone number of election observer of that assembly segment. Now, I had to register my complaint. I was furious but I talked to the observer politely and told him the whole story. A gentelman, he promised to revert back with details. After sometime, he called up and gave a list of another set of booths located at a few minutes drive. I went there, again scanned a list of 6000 people at all three booths but I was not there.
God, it is the test of my patience?
I was restless and angry. Time was going. I could not do anything, absolutely helpless.
In one of those moments, helpline informed that I have been deleted from the list. It means, I am no longer eligible to vote in my country!
That was enough. I called up the volunteer whom I met outside the polling stations and informed him of the irregularities. We thought of taking this matter to election commission. Meanwhile, I contacted local MLA and informed him. As useless as many of our represntatives, he expressed his consolatory words. Since morning, there were at least one thousand people from every booth returning back with casting their vote. No one was to listen to them.

Completely drained out, disgusted, irritated and frustrated, I was coming back home when I got a call from block office (election observer's response). The officer informed me about my polling station, booth number and voter list number as well. That was the last hope at 4:15 p.m. I decided to give it a try.

Searching the bylanes, I reached to the polling booth. Here I was. An ordinary Indian Voted for the counrty at 4:50 p.m.

But a thousands of us could not. How many of us could call election observers, and get a response from them? How many of us had a vehicle and driver to run from this to that booth when we are suppoe to walk to our polling stations? How many of us could spare our five hours in the scorching heat? How many us could take that pain in going to cast a vote? What we get out of it?
Do we have answers?

Is election commission testing the patience of people or deliberately trying to keep them away from voting? Where was a representative of our political party to help voters? So many questions but as usual no answers.

I would have given up. I made a choice not to give up. Had I been, I would have accepted that we are incorrigible. The system is bad, system is dirty, system is corrupt, system is inefficient. Yes, indeed it is.

But I hope that one day the system can change and it will change. My one vote is just a drop in the ocean and it gives me a hope that the system will change.
nn

Fight your battle alone

A day in life of a vegetable farmer in Bihar