This space has been dead for a while. I know it is a bit too long to be called "a while" but yes it is starting up again. I must confess the lag has been entirely due to lack of willingness to write and a lot has changed since the last post came in.
So here I am in Bangalore and there is a lot to be excited about. To start with, I kicked off with my first job today , the city weather is to die for, got in touch with friends and a kin, got to meet new people, Rafa has the wimbledon title and my favorites Germany are rising in the world cup. Now that is a lot of stuff to be excited about and jump your ass off around the place, but I manage to look calm and composed.
The fashion of affairs here however deserve a thought. I reach my workplace in the morning and as it was the first day so we have an induction session, something we like to call 'Sapient Start'. So we start with introducing ourselves and play a small game to break the ice. Then as the session just catches some pace we all are asked to vacate the premises. No chocolates for right guesses, yes the BJP workers came in and asked the company to shut down and ofcourse this wasn't as decent as I put it over here. However I could only estimate the gravity of the situation by the look on the face of the team taking care of our induction and as they speculated the safety of each area enroute to our way back. The BJP calls it a time to fight against the rising prices and calls a Bharat Bandh to oppose it. Every shop, every company whatever be the nature of work they do, all transport, everything is closed for a whole working day. One could argue about the correlation of ongoing introductory sessions or be it software development and the rising fuel prices, but a straight forward sensible arguement like that is a bit far-fetched thing to be discussed with a political party worker. A prudent (?) and decent (?) citizen like me would avoid a conflict with the mob and would give in to their demands. Certainly, an act like this though successful in entirely unjustified.
A political party which fights the election for the government of a democratic country, which claims to represent the people and understand their needs and welfare, today forced the people to give up what they want to do and try to close down the entire country. The BJP thinks it represents the voice of the people without a majority in the parliament and asks the people to oppose the rising prices not off their free will but by making it risky to get out of their homes. Any citizen whatever his opinion about the prices be, will not want to take risk with a mob affair, even in the presence of security forces or police. This is a direct violation of individual freedom in a free country, not to forget it is one of our fundamental rights guaranteed (lolz) by the constitution. But the talks about individual freedom and effectiveness of the police find more space in Indian comedy shows than the parliament. How would one think of freedom of thought when you have a mob burning buses and protesting on the roads. The Gandhian way of protests in his own country has gone to the dogs.
If a country closes down for a day, the huge losses occured can only raise the prices more. Even as a way of protest, imposing something supposed to be by the people on them against their own will is wrong and should be openly called anti-democratic. Yes we do suffer from high prices but we are not ready to tolerate violence in any form to protest against it.
So for the bandh, I'm taking it as a holiday and lying relaxed watching TV. I'm anticipating a sound sleep and going to bed thinking that a huge part of India which relies on daily income for the daily bread goes to bed hungry today, lots of other people go to sleep in their hospital beds and others who are lying in their beds and thinking how would they survive the inflation after the losses they have had today.
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