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A
very interesting and amusing
analogy! Some people write to vent
frustrations. Some people like to
float ideas. Some people write to
criticise and demolish, regardless
of what is said. We are all kinds of
people - a true mixed bag !
It is also true that what we write
about and the way we write is a
product of who we are, and at what
our circumstances are. For example,
once I wrote about the origin of the
word 'Sniper and its origins in the
elusive Indian bird, the 'snipe' -
killing a snipe earned the officers
of the British Army (of colonized
India) the label of sniper. At
another time, I wrote about the
origins of the hollowpoint bullet in
the dumdum bullet which was first
developed by some soldiers at the
DumDum army base near Calcutta. In
an idle moment they dug a cavity in
the tip of a bullet and discovered
that it became much more lethal.
Geneva conventions today ban the use
of the "Dumdum bullet".
Now a thing like that, may interest
some, but it does not appeal to the
wider PD audience. I may wish it
did, but the reality is that it does
not. Articles such as those, quietly
slide back on the conveyor of time
without any comments. Again, that
does not mean that such articles
should not be written. Even if this
tidbit of information sticks in the
mind of some reader and he finds it
useful in some conversation, it has
helped in the spread of the
knowledge to a small historical
trivia related to our land.
The big wave-makers, however, are
things related to politics of Bihar
and the caste equation. Talk of Ahir
or Kurmi or Bhumihar dimensions of
Bihari politics and the you get the
killer bee hive stirred up!
Like most concerned Biharis I wish
that Bihar develop. I want to see
the tinge of envy in people's eye
when I say I am from Bihar. Now
don't you laugh !!! At this point of
time, it sure does seem laughable,
but there was a point of time when
people believed that the earth is
flat. When Galileo suggested that it
was round, the church, which had a
lot of control on administration,
summoned him and threatened him with
torture and forced him to withdraw,
what they all considered to be a
harebrained crazy idea.
I like discussion related articles,
but I like them presented either as
very innovative suggestions that
have produced results elsewhere, and
of which, not many readers are aware
of; or as very general philosophical
stances that should reckon into
public life or administration. I
have no problems with that.
Articles that are lengthy tomes -
which instead of giving general
philosophical guidelines in a few
sentences, take a recipe book
approach, are futile in my mind.
"Give each minister, 4 tasks, do
this, do that..." Please!!!! Who is
the CM? He or you? Opinions are like
bellybuttons (navel), everyone has
one!
If something tastes like isabgol, I
try to swallow it, and if there is
too much of it, I throw it away. I
always find myself scrolling down to
see where the end of the massive
outpouring of 'vidwata' is. I have
attempted to read through the bulk
and have always found that most of
it is stuff that all of us know -
and it holds no one's interest.
We must all communicate, lock horns,
criticize, agree, and finally, as a
community, learn the benefits of
debating and agreeing on issues.
That's how democracies work. There
are a lot of verbal firefights, but,
in the end, out of the 'samudra
manthan' we, as a community, will
learn to get along and work together
despite our disagreements. Thanks to
PD for being this crucible of ideas!
- Aarcee - Dec. 6, 2005 |
