INTO WHICH HELL OF DISCRIMINATION WILL MY COUNTRY PLUNGE, MY LORD?

It is a pity that India is once again in the middle of a debate on reservation. As an emerging leader in the world market in this era of globalisation, India has presented a wealth of talent-irrespective of caste or class. And suddenly our old old Arjun Singh comes up with this ridiculous idea of 27 percent quota in quality institutions of higher education. I wonder what would a "quota qualified" engineer or doctor do when the challenges of work come up because we all know that in order to satisfy the quota classes, merit is openly ignored. India, that is on the way to become a world leader, will suddenly be plunged into the darkness of middle 20th century when we were literally crawling and deciding what to do while the rest of the world was preparing to settle down on the moon.

And then our leaders ask-"why brain drain?" We want to reply with a "why not?"

Reservation, in all, takes about 50 percent of seats anywhere you go. What is there for our children maybe 10 years later if you introduce quotas in IIM's and IIT's? Why shouldn't we move abroad for equal opportunities if you cannot give them to us here in our own land? Now that the government is downsizing every department, it wants the private sector to bear the brunt of the already well-to- do so-called backward classes. We all know how handicapped our country has become due to reservation. Can we afford to make it yet weaker?

I only wish to know how do you produce the likes of Dr. Manmohan Singh, Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Partap Singh Kairon, APJ Abdul Kalam out of the shoddy practices of reservation policy??? Talent is not limited to any class. It does not know of backward or scheduled classes. Why don't our so called dynamic leaders come up with a logical idea of telling the backward classes to have more education and fight on equal grounds with the rest of the candidates in every sphere instead of marring the opportunities for all. As of today, the general classes are fighting for 50 percent of granted opportunity.The likes of Arjun Singh will die and leave behind the yoke of slavery to quota percentage. The country has suffered enough already. We were heading towards the "heaven of freedom" that Tagore wrote of. Where are we going now? Perhaps towards more anger, more frustration, more sense of having been wronged.

Meanwhile check this out. And I wonder how the writer justfies the quota in this article.

OUR CHILDREN

That morning when I was going to my college and was about to take a turn to the road, I happend to see a beggar girl of about 7 years carrying a baby of about 1 year and both were crying. I slowed down and thought of asking them the reason. Perhaps they were lost, perhaps they wanted food, perhaps...... But then I moved on. I did not stop. Most of us would do that perhaps. Are we devoid of sympathy? Was I also devoid of sympathy? I was perhaps. So what if I could see my daughter and son standing there and crying? I chose not to stop. I don't know why.

And I am ashamed of myself !

Ritu told me about a newly born baby boy having been abandoned somewhere in a Humbran neighbourhood. A laborer finally adopted the baby. But what will happen when this grown kid would know that he had been left to die. His psyche will b tarred for ever. God forbid such a thing should happen ever.

I read about the Supreme Court order that no child would have to be born inside a prison in case the mother is serving the sentence. High time something was done to protect the children from abrasive atmosphere of prison. I wish some experiments could be done to bring out both serving mothers and their children out of the jails and given a properly monitored but decent life.

AND JOTI IS NO MORE

I didn’t know Joti, I hadn’t talked to her ever. I don’t even remember her face anymore after I saw her four days back lying on the bed with those pipes and tubes protruding out of her body. Her dead twins were inside her womb. And she had no idea where she was. Lying on that hospital bed, she was so vulnerable, so expectedly swollen. Only she had no will, no power, and no inspiration to push those bodies out of herself. The undue delay in operating her to flush them out finally took her life.

Only of 27 years, she left behind a five and a half year old daughter, almost like my own Rasan. The child would never know what all happened. Her life would be one great tragedy till most likely Gagan, her dear dear Mamu, rescues her out of it. I wish Gagan takes her with him. The kid is an orphan as of today. Her dad will remarry, I m sure-I saw it in his eyes. God knows what fate will bring in for her of whom I know nothing but who comes to my mind as a little Rasanmeet. What if something should happen to me! No, Mahesh would never behave in such an apathetic way – the way that man was behaving in those circumstances.

Kuldip Manak sings at the back of my mind –

maa hundi aye maa o duniya waaleyo,
…………………
rabba dev karey arjoyee,
bacheyan di maa marey na koi

I wish Joti had been spared-if only another 20 odd years, sans her twins-one of whom was a boy. Perhaps it was for the sake of a male child that she had to sacrifice her dear life and that of her dear alive daughter. Who knows? Who will ever know??