Delhites are smart

One must congratulate Delhites for their common sense and sticking to the same party for a consecutive third term. They have realised that India is a democracy only on paper but in reality it is still an autocracy. Just look at the way our leaders conduct themselves and it is obvious that they are no less than erstwhile kings. Unfortunately there are too many of them and including their family and friends it becomes a huge number. All our politicians are busy amassing as much wealth as they can. Given this mindset of our leaders it doesn't make sense to change the kings every five years. If you bring in new leaders to power then they will focus on making as much money as possible during their tenure. Kitne dinon ke pyase honge yaaron socho to! So better to stick to the ones who have already made enough and hopefully will do something for the country and its people. Moreover, frequent changes also create insecurity leading to desperation which means they will loot more than they would have done otherwise. Like Delhi every state should decide on one party/leader and elect them every time as there is hardly any difference amongst them from the perspective of performance or intention.

put our own house in order

Let us first put our house in order with determination and purpose rather than blaming Pakistan or ISI or the mafia. There are worse culprits amongst us and lot of them are known as leaders. Our own leaders can stoop to any level for their short-term personal gain. They can use their own passports to facilitate human trafficking, create communal riots, brazenly support the underworld dons. These leaders are more dangerous than any fidayeen as we are unaware of their true nature and in our simplicity believe that they will act in our best interest. Forget about the list of 21, if the govt. is sincere about attacking the root cause of most of our problems and terrorist attack is one of them then it will try to get the list of people who have stashed away crores of public money in Swiss banks. That will provide the names of 201 or may be 2001 most dreaded criminals. Unfortunately that will never be done as it will embarrass all political parties. These so called representatives of people come together whenever there is an upward revision of their salary or threat to their survival. If we are weak then any Tom, Dick or Harry will take advantage of it and that is expected. Let us first do something about what is neither expected nor desirable.

Desperate Measures

I come from a conservative background that is very much a part of life in a small town where mostly people mean what they say. I am still learning not to take people on their face value especially where commercial interest is involved directly or indirectly. But to doubt the intention of institutions like banks, hospitals, or those in the field of education has been really tough. So I often forget to check the transactions in my bank account if I don't use it regularly. I would like to believe that one can absolutely trust them though some of the recent experiences have taught me otherwise. I have an account in HSBC bank since 2000. Recently I had to go to the branch to get it reactivated as there was no transaction for more than a year. Yesterday I suddenly decided to check the account and to my surprise there were two deductions; one for Rs.168 and another for Rs.800. The first one was system generated (when they themselves don't know what it is) and another was owing to lack of minimum balance. Today I visited the branch to find out the reasons for the sudden deductions. I was told that the first one is for debit card and the second one is for not maintaining average quarterly balance (AQB). As per guidelines banks have to publish their service charges under various categories on their website. I had checked that the charges for ATM is nil and for AQB it is Rs.750 (quite an amount). I pointed out that I have been maintaining the same balance for close to two years now and how this deduction was made only now. The service executive immediately came out with the reply that so far they were being kind to me taking into consideration my long relationship with the bank. I was impressed by her presence of mind. In today's world you are smart if you are able to fool someone at the first given opportunity. Then I pointed out to her the real reason was the fact that I had a fixed deposit with the bank which was more than the required AQB of Rs.25000. I must admit she was quick to agree and told me that the same would be reversed on submission of an application. However, she didn't agree to reverse the other charge which she said was owing to the new debit card. I have write to them and follow up to correct the unfairness inflicted by the system. But the larger issue is whether these banks have become desperate and debiting customer account on one pretext or other. Desperate situations may demand desperate measures but often desperate measures may lead to desperate situations or worsen the existing ones.

How can a child be illegitimate?

I used to see a lot of Hindi movies and even today I do that once in a while. Illegitimate child as an expression is very widely used in the film industry and perhaps the ground realities are also no different. Every child is created, nurtured in its mother's womb where it remains safe and protected before it is time to come out. No child has the flexibility of choosing its parents as decreed by the nature. It comes into the world without exercising any choice. So how can some be labelled illegitimate when they don't even know its meaning? As such legitimacy of a child is a purely social norm and has nothing to do with the natural phenomenon that doesn't differentiate between a legitimate child and a illegitimate child. Can a social norm take precedence over a natural phenomenon especially when the child concerned hasn't exercised any choice in the matter. Even if there is something wrong or some differentiation is necessary the parents should be held accountable. The current practice is perhaps a reflection of the fact that the rich and powerful can pass on the blame to the less fortunate or vulnerable people and get away with almost anything. The society as a whole seems to support them rather than the poor and the helpless. Else how can a child become labelled as illegitimate even before it is born? So instead of saying an illegitimate child perhaps it is time we said child of illegitimate parents. If someone has to take responsibility, let it be the one who is aware and who exercises his/her choice in the matter. Incidentally Leonardo da Vinci who is considered to be the most most diversely talented person was illegtimate.