Wednesday, June 16, 2010

UP JAT's agitation for reservation in Govt jobs

The voices are clear 'stop water, disconnect electricity, and disrupt traffic’: the consequences unfortunately are not.

The Commonwealth Games have far too much of a momentum to be stopped by any agitation including the very real threats from Pakistan based terrorists to disrupt the games at this stage

Such agitations are like the proverbial 'Gene of the bottle' easier to release but impossible to bottle back.

The peaceful demonstration soon gets infiltrated by the lumpen and local criminal elements with their own agenda. In any case, such agitations, not being a disciplined and organized body, are difficult to manage in field by the leaders.

Next to stop Rail and Road Traffic; Burn buses, set fire to the railway property upturn parked cars, damage show rooms, loot shops, the agitation soon spins out of control gradually spread to urban and rural area.

Leaders, forgetting that the state is not going to remain a silent spectator, the response would be swift, but gradual. State Police- Curfew- CRP-BSF and finally Army to do a flag march. In between, tear gas, lathi-caharge, a few rounds of bullets fired, some innocent, uneducated and unemployable agitated youths at the vanguard of the mob get killed and injured. Life is cheap: Rs One Lac, Ex Garcia for the dead and fifty thousand for the injured: little compensation to the waling, mothers, sisters and in-shock fathers, brothers and relations.
In the mean time the Leaders,LOBCumpens, possibly from a different religion and cast or no religion, would have had their fun, collected the loot made their mark.

Offers of talk till now rejected will be accepted, the Leaders, all the time at a safe distance, now invited as state guests to discuss the modalities of the settlement, talks prolonged over a period till tempers cool down and the agitation runs out of steam.

It will all unroll like a film script. And for what avail ? A few Government Jobs and an OBC Tag, yes also a window for a few to corruption and illegal money , the main attraction of a government job..

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Friday, June 11, 2010

Journey to Dehradun

The Journey to Dehradun

The Unexpected by Me and Expected by Some

I was alone in the cavernous Astra , making good progress despite the heavy holiday and commercial traffic on the road. Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Roorki and now past Hardwar, the road cutting through the dense jungle; enjoying the power steering negotiating the gentle curves, the purring engine effortlessly taking on the slopes when suddenly the cell rang.

Eyes still on the road, I tried to locate the phone on the passenger seat with no avail, slowed down and steered left to the curb when suddenly and unexpectedly there was a Jarring noise along with rather an unsettling rattling: the car stopped and the engine died.

I applied the hand brake, located the cell on the back seat, how it had landed there, I had no clue: the call was from Ranjit, my son, checking on my progress.

I disconnected after saying a few reassuring word, switched on the ignition with the engine pickingup instantly, I held the gear shift to engage the first with nothing happening, it remained stationary in my hand, immobile. Backwards, Forward Sideways: I tried all possible positions for the first, second, third, fourth and the reverse; all in vain, still nothing. The Shift had frozen and so had time with me hanging in between.

“See we had told you”.

I was more worried of the reaction from my numerous well-wishers, who had cautioned me on driving alone, rather than the consequences of getting stranded on the road just 20 Km from my destination, the ignominy of being castigated by one and all upper most in my mind.

Holding the shift delicately in my hand, “Patience”, I told myself, pressed the clutch a couple of times, pushed the stick gently in the first and so it did, smoothly and effortlessly. I pressed on the accelerator, removed the foot brake The car struggled forward but remained stationary, puncturing my very recent euphoria. Panic this time,. however, the red light on the dash board was giving a clear message ‘Handbrake ON’ which I had forgotten to release in the hurry to get going.

The deed done, it was a smooth ride, albeit as a precaution I kept shifting up and down rather gingerly and delicately.

Lesson learned: Don’t be rough; treat both men and machine, delicately especially when in difficult circumstances.

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