corruption bandwagon

corruption , or actually anti-corruption is a good bandwagon to jump onto .

This is not to belittle  any efforts against corruption. today's India is so steeped in corruption, at every conceivable level, that any person standing up against corruption is a much-needed and welcome move .

 when anna hazare  went on a fast against corruption, the very simplicity of the man and his track record was so appealing that everybody from young to old  thronged to support him. his agitation also had a single focus about the lokpal bill . he had also proved his mettle by spearheading , successfully , the RTI bill.  he wasn't a great, fiery orator  nor did he have a  ready-made following from another vocation.

And that brings us to ramdev baba .  leaving aside my basic skepticism that people in Saffron  clothes  are sanyasis  who are supposed to have renounced the world and all the worldly matters including politics and corruption and have gone beyond to seek spiritual enlightenment. And ramdev baba  is not even  a spiritual leader. He, like, sri sri ravishankar , is at best a pranayam and yoga teacher .  I have never understood how educated people from all walks of life fail to make this distinction and start treating these people like saintly god-men .  and fall at their feet asking them for  spiritual advice.  its a lot like asking your  gym instructor/ trainer the  meaning of  atharva ved or  after life .

 yesterday on television I heard sri  sri  very smugly declaring that he will not answer certain questions because it would cause an international upheaval because of his following  across the world.very non sanyasi talk .   and the more I see ramdev baba ,  in spite of my urge to support everybody who is standing up against corruption, there's something that holds me back.  he is  a complete contrast to anna .  he is more like a digvijay singh or some other crony  mouthpiece of a political party .  a bit  too smooth , a bit too flashy , a bit too filmy .

 and that's what saddens me.  I want to support everybody who is fighting against corruption, because I firmly believe that our political system and politicians have failed to do so.  And maybe  we have to look at, common  people/aam aadmi /civil society  to take up this fight.

 and yet I hesitate to support ramdev  baba .  I wonder why.
 as far as I am concerned, he has done both good and bad to our  society.
 he has popularised yoga and pranayam through  television very successful. he  has made phrases like kapalbhati , and anulom-vilom  household words across our country and maybe amongst the Indian  diaspora  across the world.  and that's good.  what's bad a is , / yoga/pranayam ,  from what little I know, do not work like'  one size fits all'.  it has to be taught taking into account individual needs, individual  goals and has to be tailor-made differently for each person. So thousands of people following one form of yoga or pranayam is  going against the basic principle of the discipline .

 and in spite of all this, I wish I could get to support him, just because he is against corruption . 

terrorism as a religion .

these days the only thing that brings different religions together  is their support for terrorists.

inspite of the oft repeated cliche that terrorists have no religion , nobody seems to really believe in that .

thats why political parties are scared to hang a convicted terrorist because he is a muslim , and they are scared of alienating muslim voters . and sikh politicians clammer in support of clemency for a terrorist because he is a sikh . and hindu politicians support some two-bit sadhwi involved in terrorist activities because she is a hindu . they even malign and hound an upright , professional police officer who was doing his duty in arresting and prosecuting her . ( till he dies of course , then they put up his photographs and garland them at street corners .

i mean , come on . a terrorist is a terrorist . if the due process of law has been followed and if the highest court in the country has passed a judgement , then hang the bloody guys and gals , regardless of which religion they belong to . or otherwise stop this sham of a legal process through trial courts , high courts and supreme court , stop wasting  public money and time of the learned judiciary , and make a straight clemency petition to the president at the very beginning  and let that person decide . why go through this legal charade ?

in a play of mine called 'just another rape ' , a raped school teacher , who is made to run around seeking justice , which is finally denied to her , cries in frustration and says " may be those people in the middle east are better , they hang their rapists summarily . and we call them barbaric , and ourselves civil ? "

if we don't do this , then our legal process will finally become like the wwe or the ipl , ongoing spectacle that  gives fodder to the media to keep masticating ( that means chewing , in case  you didn't know ) and waste of a lot of money , time and resources that can be utilized better elsewhere .

come on people , a terrorist is a terrorist is a terrorist .