My New Year Resolutions

Resolution no. 1
 
I am going to be good, behave good, act good, speak good, listen good. Everything I am going to do in the coming year will be noble. I swear.


Resolution no. 2

I am going to forget the resolution no. 1 as soon as possible.

Happy New Year ! Hoorah ! Yahoo !

 

It Was A Nightmare Being Saddam

I am sitting on a long table with at least 10-12 people on my both sides. All of them are dressed up neatly. But the outfit that I am wearing is somewhat faded as if I have been forced to wear it from many days. I am in black outfit. The table that I am sharing with others is on a platform & is facing a huge crowd in hall. It’s quite high rush & some of them are even standing since there is no more place to sit. Below the platform, on my both sides are sitting two gentlemen, neatly dressed, looking like university professors & I feel that both of them are trying to avoid looking at me. Why ? I don’t know.

The man on the middle of the table stands up. The crowd’s murmur converts into silence. He is adjusting the microphone. He starts clearing his throat in lieu of saying something. Now after a brief pause he is saying something, looking at the audience. “Ladies & Gentlemen, Its my honour to preside over the debate which is going to start shortly on the question of Mr. Saddam Hussein’s death sentence. The Gentlemen sitting at the both ends of platform will debate over the mentioned matter, one of them will be for the topic & other obviously will be against it. Without taking any more of your precious time I announce the commence of this debate over the question of Mr. Hussein’s death sentence.” He looks at me while sitting down. Is he smiling? What’s this? Why is everyone looking at me? Oh god! What’s this going on? Am I Saddam Hussein? Yes I am.

I wipe my forehead’s sweat while the man on the right end stood up & walks towards the podium. He starts adjusting the microphone & now before speaking he is giving me a very nasty glance. With his glance filled with hatred, I can easily make out that he is going to support the death sentence of mine.

He is speaking now. “Ladies & Gentlemen, a warm welcome to you all. I will jump directly to the point without making any more waste of our precious time”. He points his finger at me & resumes again. “The man that we can all see sitting in the middle of table is Saddam Hussein. Mr Hussein over the decades became the example of violation of human rights. He never ever himself cared about the human life & now he sits between us keeping a little faith in his heart, which I must say that it’s of devil, that we all we pardon him for all the crimes against humanity which he committed & will take his words that they all were done for the sake of our nation. Let me give you a short list of his ruthless acts:-

1. Reprisal Against Dujail

On July 8, 1982, Saddam Hussein was visiting the town of Dujail (50 miles north of Baghdad) when a group of Dawa militants shot at his motorcade. In reprisal for this assassination attempt, the entire town was punished. More than 140 fighting-age men were apprehended and never heard from again. Approximately 1,500 other townspeople, including children, were rounded up and taken to prison, where many were tortured.

2. Anfal Campaign

Officially from February 23 to September 6, 1988 (but often thought to extend from March 1987 to May 1989), Saddam Hussein's regime carried out the Anfal (Arabic for "spoils") campaign against the large Kurdish population in northern Iraq. The purpose of the campaign was ostensibly to reassert Iraqi control over the area; however, the real goal was to permanently eliminate the Kurdish problem. The campaign consisted of eight stages of assault, where up to 200,000 Iraqi troops attacked the area, rounded up civilians, and razed villages. Hundreds of thousands of Kurds fled the area, yet it is estimated that up to 182,000 were killed during the Anfal campaign. Many people consider the Anfal campaign an attempt at genocide.

3. Chemical Weapons Against Kurds

As early as April 1987, the Iraqis used chemical weapons to remove Kurds from their villages in northern Iraq during the Anfal campaign. It is estimated that chemical weapons were used on approximately 40 Kurdish villages, with the largest of these attacks occurring on March 16, 1988 against the Kurdish town of Halabja. Approximately 5,000 women, men, and children died within days of the attacks. Long-term effects included permanent blindness, cancer, and birth defects. An estimated 10,000 lived, but live daily with the disfigurement and sicknesses from the chemical weapons.

4. Invasion of Kuwait

On August 2, 1990, Iraqi troops invaded the country of Kuwait. The invasion was induced by oil and a large war debt that Iraq owed Kuwait. The six-week, Persian Gulf War pushed Iraqi troops out of Kuwait in 1991. As the Iraqi troops retreated, they were ordered to light oil wells on fire. Over 700 oil wells were lit, burning over one billion barrels of oil and releasing dangerous pollutants into the air. Oil pipelines were also opened, releasing 10 million barrels of oil into the Gulf and tainting many water sources. The fires and the oil spill created a huge environmental disaster.

5. Shiite Uprising & the Marsh Arabs

At the end of the Persian Gulf War in 1991, southern Shiites and northern Kurds rebelled against Hussein's regime. In retaliation, Iraq brutally suppressed the uprising, killing thousands of Shiites in southern Iraq. As supposed punishment for supporting the Shiite rebellion in 1991, Saddam Hussein's regime killed thousands of Marsh Arabs, bulldozed their villages, and systematically ruined their way of life.

He again looks at me, his eyes filled with hatred after reading out all this from a piece of paper. I avoided his looks & looked towards the crowd & found nearly all of them with same emotion in their eyes too.

He continues, “Therefore, ladies & gentlemen, I advocate the death sentence following Mr. Hussein’s policy of an eye for any eye, a tooth for a tooth.

I will conclude hereby myself.

As soon as he sat down the man on the other side stood up & took the empty podium.

His voice is very frail. He will defend me.

“Ladies & gentlemen, my friend here presented you some of the facts & figures which showed Mr. Hussein’s inhumanity. I agree of him being inhuman & subside by the fact that he did all these atrocities but instead of sentencing him to death I would like to see him in Jail for the rest of his life. His death will make him a martyr & that’s what we should stop history to term him. We have already seen that since his arrest his supporters protested in a very violent way. I must thank my American friends here that at least they captured him though everyone in the worlds thought that they are after Mr. Laaden. But someone was needed for the sacrifice of the holy ritual in the war against terror. So, Mr Hussein is going to pay not only for himself but also for what Mr. Laaden did to world trade centre. By the way someone was telling me that the architect should be held for making such a weak structure. Anyway the building is down now & Mr Hussein is equally responslible for that. But still I am against sentencing him to death. The greatest war lord of the twenty-first century Mr George Bush is a dedicated son. He avenged his father. Mr Hussein’s greatest crime was that he never showed any respect to George Bush Sr. & hence it became the duty of the junior to avenge. This he did along with his best friend Mr Tony Blair. But it will create havoc if we hang Mr Hussein. The muslim community will take this verdict against them. The propaganda which will follow after the sentence will divide the rest of world into two poles. Therefore, I request the presiding gentleman to grant Mr Hussein pardon from the death sentence & let him rot for the rest of his life in Jail.

Suddenly, I found myself saying, “Iraq is nothing without me. For all your gentlemen’s kind informatiom I have been hanged yesterday. I tongue is already hanging”.

I woke up. What the fuck? I was dreaming & that too me being Saddam Hussein. What the nightmare it was to put myself in Saddam’s shoes. A very good friend of mine (who is more than a friend to me) once said that ten out of ten people are going to die in the end, then why be serious. Absolutely correct.

Aftermath: - Saddam Husein was hanged on the

dawn of 3oth Dec.The sentence was followed by bloody
demonstrations in which nearly 70 people were killed in
four different car bomb explosions in Baghdad & Najaf.

Happy New Year By the Way.
The figures of 5  top crimes commited by saddam comes from http://history1900s.about.com/od/saddamhussein/a/husseincrimes.htm

Tushar Wagela's Art : A Reportage On A Magnificent Artist

Everyone tries to find a way of expressing that which yearns within us to come out. Something that gets collected within us in wait to get exploded though the ironical part is that one cannot possibly express all & everything. Putting myself scientifically I would simply explain my above said statement in the words of law of equilibrium thermodynamics that no machine can be ideal, one cannot get input & output equally. Humans are same in this regard. Expression of the whole is not possible. Still we find different mediums to do whatever that can be expressed. Few choose words in form of prose or poetry, few of us go for music & few of us use silence to say the unspeakable.

Tushar Wagela, an artist from Durg Chhattisgrah, also possesses a medium to express himself. His medium is canvas, brush & colours. He is a artist who paints what that cannot be summed up in words. I had an opportunity to see few of his works in the meantime. I was left speechless at the first sight of them. He paints like as if he has seen something beyond the world in which we live, a place where only reality dwells & majority of us avoid visiting there since none of us can deceive ourselves there. That very place is within us.

He is an artist with a piercing set of eyes capable enough to bring out the truth naked. Some of his work may put one in dilemma but I think that’s the best dimension of an art. One has to make out their own meaning & I trust all of them will be different. This forces me sometime to compare some of his work with a Zen story where the reader is left clueless.

Apart from three prime desires of human mind (sex, power & wealth) there is one more desire in each of us. Some of us do know about it & some of us don’t. In fact all of the desires points towards that one. It’s the desire to reach the point where we can inundate ourselves into infinite. Some of Tushar’s work namely, Daydreamer, Atheist Prophet, Freelance Dreamer, Conspiracy Of Red & Apple are of such kind. In his other work he paints nude figures namely Patangbaaz, Pussycat Catcher, Genome & Fury which resembles as if Diogenes himself came out of nowhere, singing that the whole world is my home, the whole world is my cloth.

All in all he has a gift to paint something that is captivating enough to hold one’s breath, even for a single second. The magic that he creates with his hands are phantasmagorical though in this case we aren’t bound to our mind. In reality he makes such an images which forces me to take a quantum leap from mind to no-mind.

Plaudits! Tushar Wagela.

Keep running your brush on the canvas.

To take a look at his work kindly log on to his web-page http://tusharwaghela.blogspot.com/

Pedro Almodóvar : A Filmaker With A Female Insight

Pedro Almodóvar an artist whose every shot is like writing a poetry or running brush on the canvas, strikes back this year with his latest celluloid “Volver”. I saw the film last night & was again bound to fall in love with his work

Spain is a country where bull fighting is considered to be a mark of man-hood, Picasso’s art depicts the reality of life, Goya’s paintings showed people as they looked after a life of hard work. In such a country Pedro Almodóvar shows the power of woman in his film.

Almodóvar for me has always been a filmmaker who has a male body with a female insight. Most of the great filmmakers in history reflected the power & determination of man in their work, whether it is Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, Fellini’s 8 ½, Coppola’s Godfather or Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. Pedro Almodóvar stands aloof bringing in his films the courage of woman to deal with the life.

There is always a perfect balance of Yin & Yang in humans; an androgen tic quality. In Indian mythology we have depicted god as “Ardhnarishwar” (a god which is half female). Almodóvar is such a human being who knows this better half of his & tries to bring it very clearly in his work.

I saw his “Talk To Her”, “All About My Mother”, “Tie Me Up Tie Me Down”, “Live Flesh”, “Women On the Verge Of Nervous Breakdown” & now “Volver”. All of which a work of art, entirely based on female qualities (one may disagree including even Almodóvar).

He is like a wine, the older the better. I raise my hand in appreciation of “Volver” & wish him luck to stand again on the lauded podium with a statue of nude man with a sword.

 

I Gibber....

I lost myself,
In a lauded path,
With an unchosen spree,
I lost ' I ',
Filled dust in my own eye,
But did I really lost myself,
I see I am sly,
I cannot comply,
No,
I really never lost myself,
How can I loose me ?
It was a caper so it choose me,
Just a bombast of mine,
With few lines in my hand,
Unchosen I stand,
boarded on a lem,
I may call this a poem.

 

Kota Bye-Election: The battle between David & Goliath

The battle for Kota began with filing of Renu auntie’s nomination as an official congress candidate on 17th November in Bilaspur. This day was followed by hopeless & agonizing night of 16th when the situation was very unclear about the confirmation of auntie’s name as an official candidate.

As the news started pouring in from Delhi that night we were bound to be put under the impression that auntie’s name has been turned down. The reason been given was strange : since Kota traditionally was leaded by Brahmins so Congress's top think tanks thought it would send a wrong message to the voters of Uttar Pradesh (Election of U.P. are due next year). This news made the night of 16th very blur for all of us. Amit bhaiya's (Amit Jogi) reaction was obvious; he was feeling very uneasy about all this. I for the whole time (until I returned home at 3 A.M.) was furious about the stupid excuse for turning down auntie’s name. He nearly whispered, “It happens".

The next morning brought all the lost smiles with Amit bhaiya's call. How can I ever forget his words on phone ? He was nearly shouting, "You are still sleeping. Mummy's ticket has been confirmed. Start quickly for Bilaspur. I am already on way". These words changed the world for me. I fetched up the rest of the gang & rushed for Bilaspur. The two hour journey was filled with laughter & planning for the coming days. We all (Bunty bhaiya, Anuj Sharma & Sameer bhaiya) knew that the fight is going to very tough. The battle field Kota will be surrounded by BJP led govt's cannons. The fight was clear : Ajit Jogi vs State govt of Chattisgarh. On reaching Bilaspur we met Amit bhaiya in Congress Bhavan where he, along with aunty, was surrounded by huge crowd, showered with flowers & slogans. Akhil bhaiya welcomed us all at his place (his home, I must mention, is as charming as him). We all returned to Raipur that evening.

On 20th I again left for Bilaspur in the morning with all luggages which were enough to last me for two weeks. At Akhil bhaiya's place I met Amit bhaiya. He instructed me while walking to & fro in the room. I was to be stationed at Ratanpur, 20 kms from Bilaspur. Ratanpur, where the holy temple of Mahamaya devi is situated, from last few elections created a huge fall down for Congress. Last time BJP leaded by nearly 550 votes from Ratanpur. The message was clear: Win Ratanpur & Kota can be won easily. The responsibility on my shoulders was huge. It was quite obvious that Amit bhaiya wanted to place someone very trusted to that place. He chose me. I looked in his eyes. They were saying "Don’t let me down". I left him for my battle ground: Ratanpur. I was to meet Gudda Tiwari who was looking after our election campaign. The short journey of 20 kms was occupied by various thoughts. I started getting home-sick. But I had no time for it. The only thing that I wanted to think about was 4th December (polling day). My short journey came to an end as I reached Ratanpur & met Gudda Tiwari. He instantly started briefing me about the campaign in accordance to which he also took me to a near-by village Navagaon where the place for election campaign office was to be decided. The locals there were welcoming & I got the first impression of the voters i.e. friendly. It was getting dark so we left again for Ratanpur as soon as we told them all the important things. Gudda bhai kept on briefing me about the whole while we were on the way back. I told him, "Anyhow, we have to win Ratanpur."

The one thing that was disturbing me was the fact that youth of Ratanpur wasn't working for us. The youth in anyplace are alike & are far more energetic than any other. Next day I got the solution of it. Out of nowhere a young man Krishnakant Sharma appeared. This pundit-cum-journalist-cum-NSUI worker came to meet me while I was sipping tea sitting with Damodar (an old congress worker). He started telling about the problems of young guns in Ratanpur which led them to being inactive in the election campaign. He also introduced me to Sital Jaiswal, NSUI head for Ratanpur & Vimal Soni. The talk began. For most of the time I was on a listening bench. This trick I always use. Let the people talk so that whatever inside them can be released easily. I figured this from the memoirs of last viceroy of India in which he used to listen all the time & let the Indian leaders talk. The only thing that I could make out was that they also wanted preference. This is one of the most common known disease in humans: preference. I assured them that my presence will make sure of it. After an hour long chat I was able to make them agree (although I was only a listener). In evening I accompanied Shiv Deheriya Ji ( MLA) to inaugurate election campaign office In near-by village Ranigaon. It was only the 2nd office. More were to come.

Night time I kept for briefing Amit bhaiya. He instructed me to open election campaign office in every ward ( Ratanpur had 15 wards). I assured him that this will be done in next two days.

I am reminded of a Spanish proverb which says “Always surround your self with friends instead of fence”. The previous day’s talks brought fruitful result. Sital was ready with his friends to jump into the campaign. He initiated this with an idea of a motorcycle rally. Out of my surprise he gathered nearly 20 bikers, all of them shouting slogans & waving congress flags. He even invited me to be a part of it & so I rode with him triplets (three riders on a single bike). We roamed all across the streets of Ratanpur. It made me glad when the Sital’s entire friend came to meet, shaking my hand vigorously. This, definitely, was a start of new friendship.

The day went on with the openings of campaign offices; Things began to get hot in Ratanpur. It was for the first time that we were punching back our opponents & that too with force. We kept the evening time for opening of election campaign offices. That day, as per my promise made to Amit bhaiya, 5 offices were inaugurated by Shiv Deheriya Ji. I tried to keep myself behind the scene to make sure that local people & our workers can be in lime-light. That evening Pradeep Choubey Ji also joined us in Ratanpur. Pradeep uncle is a marvelous orator indeed. He spoke with such a force that even I maintained pin-drop silence.

On 19th with the opening of first election campaign office my father Shri Rajendra Tiwari Ji mesmerized the crowd with his oration. Apart from being my hero he is one of the best orator of hindi I have ever seen. In fact, I place him next to Osho. I love the way he plays with the words.

I saw huge gathering in our Head-Office as soon as I reached there the next morning. Shiv Deheriya ji along with Balram Thakur Ji (MLA) was busy instructing party workers.

I requested him to start our door to door campaign which he cordially accepted. We began it with the near by market Badi Bazaar. The direct conversation with the voters is the base of democracy. In India it is most important. One has to be skilled in the art of face reading while doing so. The door to door campaign lasted for nearly two hours. It was to be continued but the news came that Renu auntie is going to arrive shortly.

I saw Renu auntie after a long time. I still remember her face, filled with motherly charm, her voice filled with politeness. Sometime she reminded me of my own mother. But today her face was filled courage & determination. She was sun burnt. Her voice was very blur. The constant exertion clearly overtook her. When she saw me touching her feet she said, ‘Arey ! Beta tu bhi aa gaya ?’ (You also came?). I just nodded my head in affirmation. I wanted to tell her that it’s going to be week now since I am here. She left for election campaign.

The day ended with the openings of election campaign offices.
By the end of day, total of 16 such offices were inaugurated.

With the opening up of numerous campaign offices the election machinery was working at its fullest. Ratanpur, I must mention, is famous for the holy temple of Mahamaya Devi. Apart from this it is surrounded by many other temples. Karl Jaspers’s term Axial Age is still to come here where everything is subjected to be questioned instead of believing. I went to Shri Tiwari Ji’s home during my door to door campaign. He is an old man & a staunch RSS man. He, firstly, got surprised to me. It was beyond his expectation that I am going to visit him. The first words he told me were, “But I am going to vote for BJP”. I tried to relieve him by saying that I have’nt come here for vote but I have come for your blessing. I introduced my self. He replied grimly that he knows me & he has also heard that Amit Jogi has sent me to Ratanpur. I smiled on this.

I was trying hard to cover all the 15 wards by foot so that atleast I can reach to the majority of voters. Following my target I went to Anuragi Ji’s village (Former MP). I met there her daughter Tanya Anuragi Ji. I requested her on behalf on Amit Bhaiya to start campaign. She very modestly told me that she is going to start it next day.

With the instruction from the control room I stationed myself at a single ward. I chose ward no. 3 for this. Last time congress was defeated heavily from this ward. Ankit Bagbahra joined me too & we set off for door to door to campaign.

Although I was stationed at a particular ward but I took the liberty of campaigning door to door to door in every ward.

By the end of 3rd December I almost covered 13 wards.

The day of polling arrived. Bunty bhaiya along with Dr. Saibel Farishta, Deep Mishra & Ankit Bagbahara joined me in Ratanpur. We went to every polling booth.

I had returned to Raipur on the evening of 4th but again came back to join Amit bhaiya on the evening of 6th. We talked for half an hour & then I took his leave. The night was literally sleep-less. Next day the result was to come.

As soon as I switched on the TV to hear the news about the vote counting I got thrilled with excitement as I saw that we are leading by 2000 votes in the first round of counting. I ran to the room of Vijay Nijhavan Ji who was wiping himself with a towel. I told him the news & we all literally started dancing.

After an hour he came to my room to tell me the inside information.

We were leading by nearly 17000 votes by the end of 7th round of counting.

We all rushed to Amit bhaiya.

We won the Kota battle by 23470 votes. It was land-slide victory.

Ratanpur was won over by 3400 votes & ward no. 3 by 470 votes.

This was made possible by Ajit Uncle’s popularity & people’s love for him, Renu auntie’s simplicity & motherly charm, Amit bhaiya’s intelligence & management & last but not the least the hard work of each & every congressmen who fought against the ruthless system for all the time.

All’s well that ends well.

I have returned from Ratanpur but I know that the people & the place will always remain in my heart.