How independent are we?

66 years after the sacrifice of the brave souls of our country to bring in freedom from a foreign ruler....are we really independent?

The Greencard means more than citizenship of our own country, foreign brands are what we spend most of our earnings on, foreign logos show our status symbol,we feel proud saying our sons and daughters have foreign degrees,we the educated mass of our country don't bother to vote but we watch the election of foreign President with utmost interest, we prefer to research on important life-changing aspects sitting on foreign land, we do not mind handing over the country's control to the most corrupt and unethical of politicians because living in our country is not our dream, we travel in expensive cars and throw away junks on the road because someone is paid or not paid to clean our shit, we close our eyes to female foeticide,we close our eyes to increasing crime against women as long as it doesn't happen in our own household and if it does, we hold the woman responsible as she is influenced by foreign culture, we spend most of our times playing games on our foreign devices or planning foreign trips........how many of us really remember names of 10 such souls who fought for our freedom and how many of us know names of 10 latest gadgets invented by a foreigner? our countrymen are only recognised for any achievement after they receive an award in a foreign land.........to top it all we watch the most corrupt and insensible of the Indians(our politicians of course)who are violating the countries spirit every moment hoist that holy flag..........I'm no different from the shallow Indians that we are...but on the very day I feel ashamed to say Happy Independence Day.

Save the girl child

Being a woman it feels good to see the world waking up to the need of “Saving a girl child”. Such message being circulated across all media gives you assurance that finally the world knows how important a woman is, and is trying to stop the sinful act of female foeticide. 

Now let’s take a close look at the reality……………what is a woman in the eye of the world today?

A daughter who is treated as a human being? A wife who is treated as a companion for life? A mother who is treated as the person who brought you in this world? A colleague you respect just for the efficiency? A sister who can do anything that her brother can? 

I’m not asking you to answer any of it because most of you will be ashamed of your own answer;

Times have changed, technology has brought in immense change in our daily lives, but is there any technology which can change our mindset?

Today’s women talk about women liberation, but the unfortunate question is how many understand the meaning of it……if you are being “allowed” to be free that itself is the abuse of freedom. The funny thing is most of us are happy being given what rightfully is ours-our right to live in our terms. 

We talk about equal rights for women…..really? 

Let’s see………when a man flaunts a swimming trunk he is a stud; when his woman flaunts a bikini her husband is liberal……a wife’s primary duty is to take care of her husband and in-laws and taking care of his wife and his in-laws is a husband’s consideration…. watching her favorite movie once in a while is your mother’s luxury; watching your favourite cartoon or show all the time is your right….. working 16 hours a day makes you the man of the house; working 8 hours a day makes your wife career-minded…getting a sip of liquor is your sister’s biggest sin; swallowing the whole bottle is your birth-right….. smoking in public makes a guy cool; doing the same makes a girl a slut... using slang for no reason is a man's way of communicating; using slang even if she has reason points to a woman's upbringing....serving you hot and yummy food is your wife’s duty; serving her a cup of tea is your favour to be returned….going to her parent’s place after marriage requires your permission;staying with your parents is her destiny.... changing her identity after marriage is her obligation; changing your smallest habit to accommodate her is your sacrifice…. calling you in the middle of your boys’-night-out is her narrow-mindedness; calling her in the middle of an important meeting is your concern for her……. You want me to go on? I guess not.

Probably the saddest part of it all is that we women don’t want to stand for our rights and most of the time we are our own enemy. Men do not treat us wrong, we allow them to do so.When your mother-in-law misbehaves with you it’s not she misbehaving, it’s the misbehavior she experienced which is just passed on to you, but how many times have you really realised that and understood her? When a mother strangles her daughter to death it’s because she knows the ugly life that awaits her, but how many times have you thought how painful it must have been for that mother?The woman you call a bitch just stands out amongst you all for her own rights,but how many times have you thought of respecting her courage to swim against the tide? When you tell your daughter to learn the daily chores for future happiness you happily prepare her for a life of slavery, how many times have you told her she is a human being to be treated like one?

Just saving a girl child won’t save the world, respecting every child(be a girl or a boy) as a human being will change the world for good.

Why do we pay taxes...

A question sometimes pops up in my mind and most of the times dies unanswered......are we out of the age of British Colonial Rule yet?

And something as common as the word Tax makes me all the more confused.....May be some one more aware of this social event, can throw some light on my ignorant soul. ...

We heard that under British rule we- the Indians paid taxes in terms of crops and so on. And then there was revolution against slavery. We watched movies like Lagaan and whistled in the theater to see some ordinary villagers' revolt against unfair means to collect Lagaan(taxes). But are we capable of such revolt in our lives today? Or the slavery has gone so deep inside our blood that we don't even realise what is fair!!!!!!!!!!!!

In India like in other countries we pay certain amount of tax on our earnings every financial year. Just in yesterday's news paper a read the column explaining how much a couple earning 25/20 Lakh p/a will pay in taxes post the 2010 budget. Guess what the figure comes to? Rs. 5,57,354 p/a. I'm not an expert to scrutinise every item that brings the this figure out. But my question is what do we get in return? ............... a sense of insecurity about our future? Headache over medical expenditure, a chest pain to hear our children's school fee, sleepless nights thinking about the EMIs to cover our heads, or shear panic to visit a local restaurant as some terrorist might wait there with a bomb?

Say for example, if a person working in an MNC like many do in modern India, earns 10 Lakhs/pa for 20 years of his life; he is paying 30% of his earnings in taxes i.e Rs 3 Lakhs/year, so in 20 years he is paying Rs 60 Lakhs in taxes alone, leave aside the hard work he has to do to obtain that figure out of his employer- doesn't he have the right to ask for free medical cover of Rs 10 Lakhs for his life, or Free education cover for his children for the same amount if anything happens to him, isn't it fair for him to ask for financial security from the Govt. post retirement or if he loses his job?Above all is it too much for him to ask for security against terror attack when a considerable amount of his earning is supposed to be spent on the country's defense? I understand if a govt employee like my parents are, doesn't revolt against taxes as he knows he will at least get pension when his hey days are over. But what about the rest???????

Paying Tax is inevitable in every country, without which no administration can be run....but in other countries, people know what they are paying for.....because they enjoy the value for their money in the name of social security, medical cover, free education and so on.

Is is the same in India as well? Isn't it time that we ask the question to ourselves and our leaders? We pay taxes but we hardly have decent roads to drive on.....we pay taxes but 10 young men enter our financial capital and kill hundreds when our defense is defenseless.....to top it all we clap to see an entire force killing a handful of terrorists after they have taken hundreds of innocent lives. Kudos to our tolerant spirit.... we pay taxes and every night have icy shivers rundown our spine fearing who will pay EMIs on home loan if we lose our job.....we pay taxes and we pay bag full of money just to provide for the basic education for our children.....we pay taxes and we pay to get entertained because we are not supposed to get rid of these burden even for a day......we pay taxes and we pay extra to ensure our 1st child is born under at least clean condition(hope some of you have been to the maternity ward of a Govt. hospital to understand what I mean)..............so we pay.....we pay.....and we pay..the list goes on.....but are we paid back in terms of basic amenities at least? Silence is the best answer I get......

However, we get to watch 200+ channels on T.V(for a cost though)....India is progressing........but is it a trick of the system to keep our minds engaged in trivial things like a dance reality show...so that we remain blind- folded against more serious issues of our society? Isn't it time to ask the question to ourselves before we can ask our country leaders no matter which political party they belong to? We have enough time to argue over the issue of whether a certain film should be screened or not whether a certain players should be allowed to come to our country or not....but alas we don't have enough time to argue over our rights to live our lives the way we deserve instead of just spending it the way we are forced to......long live Indian democracy.