Thoughts and Speculations...

This was intended to be a comment on Darius' previous post, but I didn't think the tiny contents of the comments box would be able to contain this corespondence. So here goes...

Some good points raised there, but seemed a tad underweight, in that I didn't get a healthy understanding of what it was you were trying to communicate. But yes, the predictability factor part is a fact and it remains strongly etched into our society.
To dissect the three points you raised a bit more...

1) The reservation is ridiculous. However, I don't see it so much a case of trying to fuck with the meritorious students intentionally.. unwittingly though, it definitely is a case of just that. But the main problem here is over-compensation. Over-compensating to get the dalit vote. What appalls me most is the fact that our Honourable HRD Minister doesn't see that with these reservations, the country will be churning out under-qualified graduates and most shockingly post graduates. I don't know about you lot, but I sure as hell don't want to have a brain surgeon who got by with his OBC certificate and a measly 49% in his final MBBS exams operating on my skull. I'm all for giving the underprivileged a helping hand, but this is ridiculous. Fucking with the already near-fatal rat race, while not really helping the TRULY underprivileged. Where's the reservation for the meritorious kids, who cannot afford a formal education? Who's taking them out of the fields and sweat-shops and giving them a chance to lead a better life? More than the predictability of the revolts, my friend, I'm shit-scared of the prospects of the unpredictability of life ahead of all of us if these quotas go through. Think about your future doctors fucking up complex surgery or even simple diagnosis, lawyers ballsing up cases that see you getting screwed over, engineers building bridges that could cave in at any time, teachers who teach CRAP (not that we need reservations for that.. tee hee) and so on. And all this for some votes? Ambedkar put forth the concept of reservations as a TEMPORARY deal, not something that would continue to plague us 59 years after independence.

2) Secondly, the Da Vinci Code fiasco was forseeable. To put my cards down on the table, I did think the book was interesting in the way it carried on at a decent peg, with a good narrative and intriguing concepts. I can understand that the views can seem blasphemous and downright sacrilege, even after millions of re-assurances that it's a work of fiction (Is faith really that fragile?). What I'd like to know is why is it that these protests are taking place this late. Anyone who's seen the flick and read the book will know that the flick is a watered down version of the book, which sets about establishing its intent with a lot more detail. So why didn't they protest the initial release of the book? Let's ignore the fact that the lines between fiction and fact are very blurry in our country anyway. But why is this happening NOW? Don't these protest groups read books? Especially when the book is so critically acclaimed and raved about even by the ninnies adorning the Page 3 sections of the newspaper. I don't plan on making this a tirade against the Catholic church but I will add this and lead on with it later... Recently India was slammed by the Pope about its intolerance in terms of some states banning conversions. I was very impressed with the way our ambassador to the Vatican decided to respond by saying and I quote,
"India is the land of Gandhi and Buddha and home to all the major world religions. The Catholics living in India are our citizens and will follow our democratic procedures. India has a clear distinction between the church and the state and we don't promote any religion. We are not working for the overarching glory of the Catholic church"
Powerful words that truly restored my faith in sanity. For once, there was a hint that maybe the pandering to the minorities is going to slow down. Detour aside, I wholeheartedly agree with Darius in the predictability factor. It was bound to happen and despite a number of personal disagreements that I have with Catholic dogma, I reiterate that this is not a tirade against Catholicism. This is more a tirade against organised religion. In religious terms, when a certain religious group asks another party 'to be tolerant', they want complete acceptance of said religious group being RIGHT, for instance, the above example of Pope Benedict slamming India's decision to ban conversions as being 'unconstitutional' and 'intolerant' for banning conversions. Organised religion has always been blighted with bigotry and as a result, there will always be these protests against the most irrelevant and superficial things. 'Jo Bole So Nihaal' and the fracas surrounding that being another key example. While this could have been predicted, what could the powers-that-be have done to avoid this situation? Spray water cannons at the nuns sitting in Azad Maidan? Make extensive cuts in the film? BAN the movie entirely? Could this situation have been avoided at all? It's not like you or I could have done anything to sway the decision either way. After all, we're the majority, no one gives a fuck about what we have to say. They're busy pandering to the minority groups and their whims. I'm aware that I come across as blackballing all other religions except my own. Fear not, this leads us neatly into the next topic...

3) Gujarat - or more precisely, Narendra Modi's Gujarat... the arena for wanton bloodshed and atrocities, known to the world as communal riots. Hindus killing Muslims and vice versa almost as if to consolidate their faith that if you were a Hindu, it was your duty to be out slaying Muslims and vice versa. That's the bigotry I'm talking about. Forget co-existance. The rules here are to STAMP OUT ALL THOSE WHO SEE THINGS IN A DIFFERENT WAY!! And the latest victim of this phenomenon, Aamir Khan and for what? For actually asking that the rehabilitation actually take place? Nowhere did he claim that the damn building (pun most definitely intended) should stop. Frankly I don't think this issue merits going into all that much. It's no skin of his nose if Fanaa doesn't show in cinema halls in Gujarat and the locals who are that adamant about seeing the flick can easily obtain it on DVD/VCD/Pirateware.

To summarise, yes one didn't have to be a soothsayer to predict any of this stuff happening. But the truly scary thing is that with that in mind, what could the powers-that-be have possibly done to stop it? To fight the fires? And I mean what humane, logical and non-rushed action could have been undertaken to prevent any of this from escalating? Anything? Anything at all? While the politicians and the democratic system would like to believe that it has evolved, the people most definitely have evolved. Compare these protests to the protests against the initial Mandal Commission report. How quickly did that fizzle out? Today, people are grittier, more perseverant and dogged in their efforts to get things their way. In addition,technology has greatly aided their efforts. SMS, email and 24 hour news channels have given EVERYONE a voice to express their support for various causes and by God, are they exercising their ability to make themselves heard.