Better dead or alive?

Do not doubt this that Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam was a better man than most who trod this earth. May he rest in peace.

The death of this great individual and what is happening immediately after has set me thinking….Oh! It was always in mind....

The bard famously said “…The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones….” That probably was true in the era of BC. An odd millennium into AD, it is now fashionable to eulogise the dead immediately after they die – for what good they did and also some good presumed they did. This matter of death brings in us a sense of misplaced pity and a sympathetic wave pervades in the wake. Else why should there be sane voices raised against hanging one tried and convicted as guilty of terror? Once pronounced guilty by the judicial system why they are not just lined up and shot? The reason is death….the scary scepter of death. Our character is channeled by a sense wherein we feel obligated to death and an obligation to the dead.

Add to that the ‘bandwagon’ syndrome…

At the end of his first term as President the whole Nation would have been happy for him to get a second term at the exalted office. The ruling party in power (UPA led by the Congress) at that time thought he was not ‘fit’ for a second term and the powers that be propped up an hitherto unknown quantity, Dr Pratibha Patil, to the office. She later proved to be the worst President of Independent India.  Where were those intellectuals, media persons, scientists, teachers, children and the general public et al at that time? Why did not these people come out on the streets in vehement support of Dr. APJAK?  Those who then opposed a second term for Dr APJAK were on the bandwagon to attend his funeral in Rameshwaram. Was it in repentance for an act not done or was it for visibility – ‘The bandwagon syndrome’.  If all of us had stood as one in the matter as we are apparently doing now India may have had a better President during that one more term!!!!!! Alas it was not tobe as DR. APJAK was still alive then! What an irony!!!!!

Emotion and anger cloud the senses to the extent of numbness that we are unaware of what we do and commit excesses bordering madness resulting in grave consequences. The bandwagon syndrome is one such.

It is the nature of us Indians to look for heroes and even make one where there is none. Strangely our heroes in life are either always dead or temporary…why?

The American conundrum

Grandma is back from a world tour. She has only one grouse…while the meetings of NAMO with all world leaders and cheer leaders were reported by the media as flagship news…Grandma’s meetings with the ‘who is who’ of the world has gone largely unnoticed.

For instance, she recalls the time when she quietly sneaked away from the conducted tour of the white house and entered the Oval office to be befriended by  POTUS who was enjoying a cup of tea in the company of Michelle Obama ( Oh yeah, unlike some of his predecessors!). On seeing GM, POTUS (President Of The United States) though was surprised initially,  quickly regained composure and invited GM to a cuppa.

The proceedings, as told my GM, thereafter went somewhat like this….

GM: Oh! Mr. President…I am so sorry, I seemed to have lost my way much like Nomica Linsky had a few years ago……

BO: (intervening before GM could go any further with the story…) Grandma it is OK….come sit I will order some tea…

Michelle Obama (MO). Yes GM you were saying….

BO: (again intervening…) Heh Michelle…now…now do not embarrass GM here…..it is an old story…nothing like that happens these days.

GM: (with a wondrous look) Mr. President, is this the Oval office?

BO: Yes GM…it is and we are happy to have you with us. Where have you come from?

GM: Mr. President I have come from ND, India but originally belong to Tarn Taran in the Punjab the birth place of the famous Indian wrestler Dara Singh…..

BO: Here GM, here is your tea ( tea had arrived through the west door…)

MO: (making the tea….)sugar GM?

BO: two spoons please…..

MO: You mean two cubes…

BO: So GM what brings you here…..

GM: Actually Mr. President, I had come with Namo, our PM you know….

BO: yes…yes… a good friend of mine…..

GM:  Then he left and I got left behind….so I thought I will see the white house…..

BO: Great country, India…

Then, GM says, they discussed at length about India, its strategic importance in the region, climate change, economy et al…..

GM: (present time)…inna kutch hoya aur kisinoo kutch pata hi nahin

I: It is OK Grandma…actually all the good that is happening between India and the US is all because of you…..and what transpired in that meeting....

GM: You think so?

I: Surely Grandma…..

BO: so now tell me what good is happening…

I:   Grandma, I have to get going…….gotta meet some one important