thakur thakbe kotokhon???

After 150 years the magic of Tagore is still alive? or its just the myth??He is the cultural icon of our country, more precisely of our Bengal..we take pride in his works,but how significant he is in today's life???will it be some how different if Tagore was not born 15o yrs ago?well,I suppose it would have been different in many people's life but of course not in every one's life.The writer,philosopher,painter,poet and a thinker of the future left this footprint in every segment of our culture,literature,society,politics.....shantiniketan's security guards were not able to protect his Nobel prize but have we been able to follow the paths which were been shown by him??This year I saw every news channels made special episode on his man to pay tribute on his 150 th birthday..I don't know how many of us really respect him but certainly he did one job very efficiently..there are in numerous artists who are making their money by selling this man..what makes him more valuable to many of them..isn't it??still now TV shows on Tagore always rises the trps..so its a good business indeed.but if we had genuinely followed his paths we could have earned more profits in every aspect..now a days from every politician to film maker is very much interested in Tagore..I recently heard an interview by SAIF ALI KHAN where he said that the novel PARINEETA by Tagore is a masterpiece!!!! just imagine..his songs are still the best seller every year in Bengal at least..the visualization or the choreography which are imparted on rabindrasangeet now a days,most of the times they are so cheap and sometimes even vulgar that is really hard to digest..a true admirer of music is able to visualize a scene just by listening it..Copyrights have been withdrawn, it doesn't mean that we have got the right to sell anything in the name of TAGORE just for business.This year every political parties during Kolkata civic poll election used Rabi thakur's poems,his writings for their campaign without proper meaning ,just to prove themselves culturally literate.What I feel as bengali,if there is one single person who really understands our souls,he is tagore.No need to say he is immortal by his work,don't sell out or utilize this person for anyone's mean purpose..

Ei dinota khôma kôro, probhu,

Pichhon-pane takai jodi kobhu.

Diner tape roudrojalae shukae mala pujar thalae,

Shei mlanota khôma kôro, khôma kôro, probhu.

THAT'S NOT 'RIGHT',BUT THERE IS NONE...

The last post discussed an important issue regarding life at Kashmir and how the basic human rights are being denied everyday. The issue I intend to discuss today is not one where people's lives are at stake and certainly not the most important issue of recent time.But this issue is just another instance where the basic human rights are being denied once again by the government and I feel something should be done about it.

Yes,I am talking about the recent turmoil regarding the BLACKBERRY phones. Government of India (as well as some other countries) is worried that terrorists may use the blackberry and the government won't have any clue about what they intend to do because they found the encryption system of blackberry is hard to decipher. And govt. is trying to pursue RIM(Research In Motion),the manufacturer of blackberry in India to hand them over the encryption details so that they can snoop on our phones, SMSs emails and god knows what else. That means we will have to say good bye to 'Privacy' very soon.

But there are 600 million people in India who uses mobile phones in India according to the telecom companies(and among them 1 million are Blackberry user). What surprises me is how is it possible to watch over all those 600 million peoples and what the speak over the phone,what they right in there SMSs,and their emails!!! Well,certainly they will have to snoop extensively without any exception. :D How else can they be sure of our security of which they are so much worried about. :P So they are gonna need a huge number of employee who will do the job for them. Apparently govt. has found a way to solve large unemployment problem of our country. ;)

Coming back to the point, if RIM gives in to govt. arm twisting, there won't be any difference between the blackberry and other phones available in the market. In that case, terrorists most probably won't use it for communication. In fact they used Satellite phones during Mumbai attack. And there are many other communication tools available as well that can be used by the terrorists as an alternatives of blackberry. Govt. is so much concerned about our security, still they couldn't do anything about the maoists attacks. Surely they were not using the Blackberries. What makes them think that they will get some ground breaking success just by listening to all the phone communications in India. There are more pressing security issues that need attentions. The sooner they understand this,the better for them,and of course for us.

But it's not about the terrorists. When I started this blog what was in mind was our basic right of privacy. Surprisingly when I googled it to know the details & I was shocked to find that our constitution doesn't have any explicit law that protects our right to privacy. Only the article no. 21 of Part III of the constitution which tells about right to life and liberty mentions loosely about privacy. That means legally there is nothing could be done about the snooping whether you like it or not. And that's where I object. Frankly,one has the right not to share something with someone and no way to a stranger if it is not a public information. That's a right I expect to be there in a free country.

We certainly don't like to be monitored by anyone and share our each and every thoughts to someone totally unrelated to my personal sphere,even if our security is the issue. May be their logic is right in small scale but it is down right impractical at large scale. So we are putting our privacy in public just for nothing. This doesn't ensure our safety. Just makes our life open to all. and it's high time we do something about it.

IF HUMAN RIGHTS ARE IGNORED IT IS HARD TO RETAIN PEACE IN KASHMIR..

More than 60 year after independence Pakistan and India are still to behave as good neighbours. Both countries have their stand for not having friendly and cordial relations. It has always been the Issue of Kashmir. Several times during these past decades leaders of India and Pakistan have tried to sit together to solve the problems. India insists that Kashmir is a part of India; Pakistan argues that it is a disputed territory. One part is controlled by India by deploying a very strong contingent of Indian army and the rest is controlled by Pakistan of course not with the military might. Indians argue that Pakistan should vacate the territory under its control. Pakistan insists that Kashmir is the core issue and should be solved according to the wishes of the people of Kashmir.

Since after 1987, disputed State elections resulted in some of the states legislative assembly to form militant wings later on after the election, creating the catalyst for the insurgency; the Indian-administered JAMMU AND KASHMIR VALLEY has been the site of conflict between the Indian armed forces, militants and separatists. Furthermore, India alleges these militants are supported by Pakistan. This turmoil in Jammu and Kashmir has resulted in thousands of deaths.We,the Indian people are used to read and hear about the violent activities in Kashmir since we were born,but what is striking me for the last couple of months is that, the people of Kashmir are protesting against the armed forces without caring for their lives.

Last week I a saw a photograph in the news paper that a boy hardly about 8-9 years old was desperately running after a military van with stones in his hand.A boy of this age who is supposed to enjoy his childhood has become so desperate to attack on the armed forces.This is a protest of the common people against the nation,against the army.The army is empowered by the act ARMED FORCES SPECIAL POWER ACT.This is more like a shield to them,they have got the right to kill or rather brutally murder the civilians but no one will ask them whether it was really needed or not.

Our home minister Mr.P CHIDAMBARAM has constantly argued that behind this protest of the Kashmiris there are the helping hands of Pakistan.It is often very easy to blame others to avoid your own onus.What is the reason behind this turmoil in the valley???What caused them to ignore the fear of being arrested,killed or being brutally tortured by the armed forces??The civilians are protesting against the gunman with only stones in their hands.The youth of Kashmir who are likely to be of my age are protesting against the police without thinking what could happen to them.

The act of the government is not praiseworthy at all.Even after so many years of Independence INDIAN government has completely failed to improve the socio-economic condition of the Kashmir valley.The child who is born in Kashmir has no bright future,most of the families in the valley are in acute poverty.Only tourism is not gonna help them to improve their economic conditions.When day after day a person spends his life without any ray of hope he is bound to loose his loyalty towards his country,towards his government..and the jihadis like al-quaeda are taking this opportunity..Only war against war, deployment of more forces,bullets to stop the violence can never be a solution..for the last 1 month television broadcasting has been stopped,only 15 mins a day one national channel is allowed to broadcast news,no news paper have been published for the last one week,sms cannot be sent.The human activities have come to a halt.

Stiil we will go to Kashmir on our vacations,we will enjoy the Dal lake,we will stay in houseboats and we will say that Kashmir is still ' heaven on earth'..but cries of the mothers who have lost their innocent child,whose sons are killed by the armed forces will be lost into the oblivion..because there are the civilians of heal.

Justice Prevails-But Isn't It A Bit Too Late?

Finally all the holidays,vacations ended and Calcutta High Court uphold its verdict on the Sergant "Bapi Sen Case" on March 3rd,2010.The convicts were sentenced to life imprisonment after about 2yrs 7months to be exact...finally.But one question stills remains in our mind n heart.The man who gave his life trying to protect people needs almost 3yrs to be given justice?then what remains ahead for commoners like us?will we ever get justice?when will the court learn to act fast?its a question which we will asking ourselves for God knows how long.Although these TATA Tea,"Jagore" ads infuses in us the quality to protest against any injustice,yet the main organisations of our country prevents anything as such to be followed in reality,because by the time justice comes in reality the wounds cut us too deep to be of any help.One more thing for the girl,whose refused to come forward for whom Bapi Sen died(if by chance you come across this blog)-We common people,do always avoid troubles of any sort,and most of us are not heroic enough to protest alone,but if someone dies protecting our honour,we r a coward if we still don't come forward,to join hands to protest.Hope you got what i tried to say.

terror strike the innocents again

yesterday,night while browsing through the channels,i suddenly got shocked by the news in pune.3 youngsters from our city had fallen a victim of terror again.obviously for no fault of them,or their forefathers.i really dont know what is the issue with this guys.what enemity does this terrosits have with us?what do they really want?time and again innocent people from various states,countries are being targetted again and again!its not that today 3 young citizens of our state has died,and suddenly i am aroused by this fact.but its enough.right from the innumerable blasts in kashmir,to the 26/11 attacks in mumbai,to the endless attempts in various states.doesn't these terrosits get tired?i mean for god's sake,or whoever u believe to be your almighty,just think what have these people done to you?whom do you all target?and what do you'all gain from these? i really dont have these answers.but to everyone who read this blog,today is 15th feb 2010.just open any newspaper,and the front page will make you feel worse.that guy "ankik's" photo seems looking at us and asking for an answer for his death.i really dont hav any answer,neither do i have any words for his mother who seems fighting to live after the death of both of her children.don't know whether one day i will come in politics,or any power.but i want an end to all of these.violence will encourage violence time and again.but all we want is a bit of peace.im no "RANCHORDAS" neither im someone great to say all these.but its enough,lets try and settle this issue once and for all.to those people who have power in their hands, how long will this injustice continue?do you have any answer?

OPERATION GREEN HUNT.

The massacre of policemen in Shilda ,West Midnapore is a great set back for the operation Green Hunt.It killed 24 policemen on the spot giving them almost no chance to fight back.Now this left no option for our goverment, but to move ahead with the operation.This is not the first time when Maoists have attacked the cops but the magnitude of this attack undoubtedly sent a very strong message to our rulers..The Maoists have been deliberately killing and targeting the cops for the last few years because the cops represent the ruling goverment to them..

The naxal movement that was born out of deprivation has become a game or a license to kill people without any justification.Now we don't expect the Maoists to be decent with the goverment and co-operate with them for operation Green Hunt.But can we atleast now expect our senior officers to be serious on this kind of sensitive and alarming issues??After the massacre in Shilda investigations have been started and what we have come to know is shocking and shameful too..

It is indeed very surprising that in day time such an attack could be launched on a police camp..But the most surprising thing is that intelligence sources had warned West Bengal Police and goverment about the attack.But they just ignored that because they thought that this kind of alert is just like weather forecasts,it never rains when it is forecasted.But this time the intelligence branch report was very specific than usual.But unfortunately a very casual approach to this alert has led to such huge causalties..

Now as usual,the blame game has stared.Oppositions and some of our intellectuals(they think they are) will take this opportunity to show their concern about the victims and the maoists too.They will condemn the act of our government for operation green hunt.Even some of the celebs are so concerned about poor,deprived people in the remote araes like Lalgarh that they choose to go there just the day before the Lalgarh operation began.They are celebs after all ( how can they miss a single chance to come on the spot light??).

Now as the aftermath of this attack the goverment will definately ask for more forces.But what is the use of sending more goats to the butcher until and unless they are not well equipped and well trained ??Goverment officials said that the attack was not expected..but when West Bengal intelligence branch had repeatedly warned them how could they have ignored that???just because they were too casual.

So are they the right person for their own posts??An efficient employer can't do this i guess..this trigers the questions that who is sitting at the top of the administration??efficient or obedient???when lack of work efficiency causes bloodshed,deaths of people then we can only hear the top official's excuses..
Digusting??ridiculous????irritating???to us only,who watch it on tv,read it in the news papers..but what about those who lost their loved ones???

Arjun thakuri,Chandra Chhetri,Mikmar Tamang who lost their lives in the attack,all of them joined force to serve for the state,for the country..their families are proud of them.But at the same time their lives came to a halt also..if their loved ones would have a hint of what was going to happen then they must have not been talking over phones with families,not have been cooking dinner or relaxing keeping their rifles away..we will discuss this issue for next couple of days and then we will forget them..but those who have lost someone will never be able to forget..any amount of compensations,sympathy cannot make their lives like before.

We request our administration to hear the cries and expect a humanlike behaviour..enough games have been played with common men's lives..now it is high time for them to talk less and work more..because actions always speak more than words and we certainly dont want to hear any excuse next time..

Let's make a difference...

"A tiger is a large-hearted gentleman with boundless courage, and when he is exterminated - as exterminated he will be unless public opinion rallies to his support - India will be the poorer by having lost the finest of her fauna."- Jim Corbett

Yesterday an advertisement caught my eyes with a Royal Bengal Tiger in the background and it says, "Only 1411 of them are left…you can make a difference.” Then I realized how correct Corbett was about his prophecy! Moreover this was a figureaccording to the National Tiger Census 2008 and more than 130 tigers died since. Which means the remaining tiger in the wild of India has come down to an alarming number of nearly 1300! But what has caused such a serious situation for the big cat family?

According to the experts, various reasons are there for which our national animal is on the verge of extinction. The first and foremost of which is poaching of tigers. More than 35% of the death of tiger every year is caused by poaching. The tiger parts are being exported to china through Nepal border where it is used for traditional medicines, aphrodisiac, piece of dress or talisman. A local poacher gets Rs. 7000 to 15,000 for a tiger and in foreign market a tiger costs as high as $20,000. So high market value is reason behind poaching.

Secondly, the unprotected areas of the forests all over the India don't have much tigers left, not just because poachers are killing them, but because their prey species are being hunted out. So lack of food is causing a great deal of harm towards the survival of the tigers...not times even in the protected areas.

But is that all? Can't we do really anything regarding the problem? Have we tried enough to save our tiger? If we look at the way govt. handled the situation, we see an unfortunate story.

At the inception of the Project Tiger (presently known as National Tiger Conservation Authority or NTCA) it did a good job and it showed result. And they were very happy at themselves. But the time changed, political scenario changed, our population increased, demand for tiger parts increased, modus operandi for poachers developed, technologies advanced, but what didn't change was the defensive attitude of forest dept. and their mode of working. They are reluctant about any external expertise or advanced technologies and information. In 2002,a Wildlife Protection Act amendment made it mandatory for the state governments to create advisory committees for all sanctuaries; these were to include Panchavati Raj institutions, NGOs and wildlife expert members. But none have been created yet. What was more surprising that NTCA had many experts but not a single tiger expert!! When supreme court warned in 2005,that tiger condition in Madhya Pradesh is critical no one paid attention to it and in 2008 department reluctantly accepted that only 1 or 2 male tiger is left in Panna forest and they are thinking of introducing females!! And these are just few instances of govt. inefficiency.

So coming back to the point we started with, we can make a difference. But for that we will have to start afresh. Wildlife science is much more developed now a days. With the help of this advanced information and technology, involvement of experts both inside and outside the government it can be done effectively. A Tiger Conservation Committee, free from autocratic and outdated systems, taking care of the tigers all over the nations is what we need today. So let's roar to save our tiger…let's make a difference...