One man stood up!

He was a man who was composed and could pull himself together. A man who thought practically for the betterment of one huge nation, against those who never took it towards the good. A man who had a lush green future ahead of him and at a point in life had two paths ahead of him to choose from. And he chose the tougher one. Not many can do it and he definitely deserves to be placed amongst martyrs. He was Nathuram Vinayaka Godse.

Ask any Indian- young or old, man or woman, the response you would get is.."Oh! Godse! He assassinated the Father of the Nation!" If you ask older people they would also probably give you the details they witnessed on the historic day. But, have we really given it enough thought? Have we really looked into the reasons behind the assassination of an ahimsaa-vaadi? (What an irony!!) I don't think we have.

A cumulative set of events from the time Gandhiji started gaining influence on the Indian National Congress and he indirectly deciding, publishing and bringing into force these decisions upon one gigantic nation (note that I am referring to both India and Pakistan..together-one morally integrated country in early 1900's) through the then highly-looked-upon Congress enraged a class of people who thought on the same lines. Godse and Narayan Aapte belonged to this class.

Gandhiji's sathyagraha and his determination to hold his fast until he achieved his objective..not by mutual consent, but by force..can finally..I think, be called a one-man-army carving(or scrubbing?!) the fate of billions!; his unchecked tendency to yield to all the demands of the Muslim league without examining the causes, the process and the consequences, led both himself and the two countries towards disaster and finally terminated in partition. Also, to this day the same problem remains unsolved! As if this was not enough-
1)The war for Kashmir,between the newly formed India and Pakistan was called off when India was just steps away from victory by the then Prime minister Nehru
2)The withheld release of 55 crores to Pakistan after partition was forced to be released by congress, succumbing to Gandhiji's sathyagraha

These probably cut open the last thread which held Godse. He was a journalist by profession and claims to have time and again expressed his opposition to Gandhiji's ideals in his journal "Agrani" and also through "Hindu Raashtra" of which Savarkar was an integral part.

I am not here to condemn the ideals Gandhiji adopted. Each person has his/her own point of view and it deserves respect. And each one does what seems right to him/her. But, may be Gandhiji's ideals just didn't fit into a large-scale implementation. When one has a country in his hands, he has no rights to lead it towards disaster and no rights to take decisions on behalf of billions without the consent of its subjects, especially when he is not running a government for us! He was just a common man who was famous..some found his ways good and an equal number of people didn't.

Eventually, Gandhiji's numb acceptance to all the demands of Muslim League sowed the idea of distinguishing India..to consist of two religions and two sets of citizens- Hindus and Muslims. On an eventful day, Jinnah put forth a demand to bifurcate into two and he was not willing to listen. And then the refugees, bloodshed, poverty etc. I sometimes imagine the period between 1900 to 1947 without Gandhiji. And somewhere I feel, may be independence would have landed in a more elegant and integrated manner without him. There were/are several others who have sacrificed things which a common man cannot even dare to think of these days. They deserve equal respect. But are less talked of.. I hope their names don't eventually get lost in the pages of history in the coming years.

I just look upon this person who had enough courtesy to bow wholeheartedly before Gandhiji with reverence before firing at him and enough conduct to offer his condolences to Gandhiji's family. M.V. Kamath, a budding reporter then, who happened to be in the court recalls that there was a painful silence after everyone heard Godse's justification..women were in tears and men held back theirs with a cough..if a judgement was to be taken by the people present in the court that day..they definitely would favor Godse. Such was the clarity of Godse's statements.

And I happened to start to know this man (through a book complied by his brother Gopala Godse) and learn his ideals from November 15th, 2009..exactly 60 years from the day he was hanged..i.e., 15th November,1949. A matter of timing again! :)

a welcome

Finally! Here I am! In the middle of the night..with some space for my words and views. May be recession has brought me here..else, I am amongst those who come home, exhausted after a day's work, waiting to lie flat on the bed! I'm a graduate in the field I love the second most..Electronics & communication (first one was Aeronautics.. it was my dream when in school!) and I am waiting for my joining dates from an MNC which recruited me last August, parellely applying to institutes for PG.

Everybody has dreams. How you would want your day to go, the kind of work you would want to do, the first "thing" you would want to take home in your first salary, the kind of person you want to have as your better half, ambitions to expertise in your interests..blah blah blah.. it goes on. Of course, dreams are really important. However, over the years, I have realized that it is necessary to have a purpose in life. A vision. And for me, it does not end right away..too long a procedure to realize "that" vision.

A couple of years ago, I was this person who was so.. I dont know.. was so ill-tempered, yet cheerful; extremely moody,yet what you call in kannada sthithapragna; strange creature really! I sometimes wonder if it was me!! What I am trying to tell is, growth with time is very necessary..and this growth coupled with experience and reflections of the mind has made me realize things with time.. an objective and purpose for existence which gets clearer as days become weeks and weeks years, wiping out the haze.

I love travelling. Had this craziest idea to step on every possible patch of land, water(don't ask me how) just once..only once! Now, that "every" has got lowered to a state of "almost every". And there is my list of "must do once in life"-Get to know all the possible cultures present, their customs, why they follow it, see the remnants of all the perished civilizations (esp. Harappa Mohenjodaro, probably the only thing I expect to see in Pakistan), walk through freakiest caves, swim in quite water bodies (I'm not a great swimmer to fight against the rough ones) do some coral explorations, stay at the hotel Taj once (this one got into my desires a couple of weeks before it got attacked), hike on the Himalayas, trek in the valley of flowers, a ride in the Grand Canyon and stay in igloos at one of the poles, watch live olympics opening, watch a live wimbeldon and many many more. So, given sufficient amount of money, a bodyguard and a map, I can really get lost!

Apart from the above, I am a philatelist, though this has lately reached a not-working-state because of lesser postal system and greater e-systems. I have a 3-generation collection of stamps and related materials,with the newer generation contributing more! (I mean the least being from my grandfather and the most from me) Will resume it when time comes..or rather..when stamp comes!

Mom pushed me into Karnatic music when I was in, I think 2nd standard. Though it was me who volunteered to join, soon my little self found out that the classes would eat away my playtime with my buddies in the evenings! And it used to really get on my nerves! This was in Uttar Kannada district where my dad was posted, in a small colony of Civil Engineers who worked on power plant projects. Once we moved to Bangalore, I was put to a new karnatic sangeetha master, who made me start all over again! Initially, I used to learn it for pressure..later became a pleasure. This is too in a not-working-state for now. Hobbies are very necessary to keep a person going..if not now, in your dotage.