Do give your comments on all the new posts, because your comments are my motivation!!!!

YEH DEHLI HAI MERE YAAR……

Many might be wondering why I chose such a funny or stupid title for this post of mine, the reason was to bring bit of fun in my blog posts!! Anyways, as many might have guessed this is about my trip/internship experience to New Delhi. Those who did not know, I had been in New Delhi from 1^st November to 2^nd December 2009, that a little more than one month. The reason for this long stay was an internship in the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) New Delhi unit.

But as expected this trip and the stay gave me much more than just practical legal experience. As I said to one of friends while speaking to her after I came back, “an internship, a must for every professional student, as a life experience”. It is not just realising how the professional world functions but also about learning to be ON YOUR OWN away from the security and out of the comfort zone of your home, family, friends and college life. It makes you fearless or rather more modestly put, less fearful of staying alone and looking after yourself. It is about having all the freedom in the world yet not allowing yourself to never step the line, it is about being able to do anything without having to ask for permissions (not that I ever ask for permissions at home, I just tell that doing such and such thing) yet missing your mummy asking you where you are going and with whom and when you will be back.

Now about the professional exposure I had. I was extremely lucky to have the kind of exposure I had in the one month. I was able to work on cases which were up for hearing in the Supreme Court (SC). I think was the first person from my batch to attend a hearing in the “Mecca for lawyers in India” (SC), not just on one occasion but on five!! It was my sheer luck that I could see Mr. Anil Ambani just a few metres away from me and this time I was more senior in the place where I was than him (what I mean is, it was his first time to the SC but it was my third).

But, two of the best things of this internship, because of which many of my colleagues will envy me the most, are neither of the above. The first of the two is that I could actually stand before the Principal Magistrate in the JUVENILE JUSTICE BOARD (it is a court for minors, below 18years in age, who are accused of having committed a criminal offence) and take not just adjournments but also forward an applications for bail and get bail for one of “my clients”. This was possible only because the advocate I used to go with to the JJB caught flu and the other advocates with him had gone on leave, so it was sheer luck again. The second of the best instances of this internship were, I could hear Mr. Ram Jethmalani argue for his client Mr. Anil Ambani in the RIL v. RNRL case in the court room of the Chief Justice of India in the SC. I do not agree in many of the ways of Mr. Jethmalani on most of the instances but his calibre remains undoubted and his skills unquestioned even at the age of 86. Besides this I also got to work with the Founding Director of HRLN, Mr. Colin Gonsalves, on a couple of occasions.

Now coming to the non-professional learning experiences of the internship, and frankly I liked these more than the former…. These include knowing about the true image of my state in the eyes of my fellow citizens from other parts of the world to learning to look after myself. I just enjoyed appreciating the diversity of my beautiful country, not just staying in the capital of my country, but also while travelling to and from it. This appreciation helped me strengthen my anti-regionalism and being an “Indian First” stand even more. The realisation also dawned on me how the image of Goa has got spoilt around the country and what sort of mark we leave on our country itself. I enjoyed the city of Delhi, by itself, a lot. The infrastructural development and technologically advanced New Delhi to the stinking by-lanes of Old Delhi, the packed and rickety old DTC buses to the sleek and stylish new automatic low platform DTC buses itself, the old and nostalgic cycle rickshaw to the engineering marvel of taking the Metro by the underground route to Chandi Chowk. Delhi, as city, truly represents India by having the elements of both rural and urban Indias or the aspects of both the Darkness and Light (the term is a courtesy of the book “White Tiger”), and somewhere in the middle of all this you will find the never ending and striving soul of the great Indian common-man.

Lastly, some fun experiences during weekends of extended weekdays. There are a wide range of these moments, going on escalators which are moving in the opposite direction on Metro Stations, calling “metro” “matro” and “pepsi” “paepsi”, travelling to till the last station on the metro line and asking people there which is the closest state border from there (as if we were fugitives), seeing a cycle rickshaw moving on a six lane expressway.

Before I conclude, here are two instances of India’s Unity-in-Diversity which I personally came across in the National Capital:-

(1) Three Sikh Men listing to the famous Marathi number by Avdoot Gupte, komdi pallali, in New Delhi, and

(2) Two students from the North East having a South Indian Masala Dosa in a restaurant serving North Indian food and owned by a Bengali.

All in all, it was a GREAT experience, but the best part of it was that I realised the importance of home, family, friends and having people you know around you….I conclude by saying it again, “an internship, a must for every professional student, as a life experience”.

Do not question me regarding the writer of this peom, it is not me...but some one i know!!!!

THE JUPITERIANS' ROAR

In the name of God!

The Cross and the Crescent for ages smashed into our beloved Jupiter.

Whenever the valiant Orion fought them; he got betrayed by many a brother and sister.

In the proverbial 'once upon a time' Ursa Minors weren't strong enough.

In the name of God!

The Crescent and the Cross indoctrinated Ursa Minors and made them strong and tough.

Jupiter is now blistering and she's about to melt.

Amen

It's time to salve the sores on Jupiter.

We, the Jupiterians have the numbers and intellect.

Lest Ursa Majors come into sight;

Jupiterians must always think Right act Right and vote Right.

Palmist commandments for us are fatwas of suffering.

The Jupiterians in one voice roar with no qualm:

'No palm to the Palm, which's venomous as napalm'

The Jupiterians' moral rage is towering.

It's time to jettison the incompetence of the corrupt and communal Palmist uproar.

The Jupiterians for Jupiter's sake must roar:

'No palm to the Palm, which's venomous as napalm'

-Anonymous

I am back blogging again, sorry for the long delay in posting a blog!!!!

RIFT OF REGIONALISM

The divide being created across our country by regionalism based ideologies is a known fact to most of us today. The presence of such bifurcations is the “bad” part of the story but the “worst” part is that most of us either support or harbour such thoughts within us. These thoughts, of not wanting “outsiders” in “our” STATE/RAJYA, are more dangerous and have a more drastic effect on the fabric of Indian unity than the violence unleashed by the present day mascot of regionalism, Mr. Raj Thackeray, on the “outsider bhaiyya” in aamchi Mumbai.

The seeds of this regional divide were sowed long ago by our sophisticated and cunning English rulers, by developing India in pockets of political and economic interests for them. We all, with great levels of hypocrisy have, at some point of time in our lives, supported these regionalistic ideas, for our own selfish motives and benefits.

The whole philosophy about getting first preference for jobs, getting cheap housing and so on in a State, merely because “I” have been born and brought up in that State is ridiculous. I do not understand why there the need to have reservation in Government Jobs for locals to “protect cultural identity”. In this regard, the example of Gujaratis aka Gujjus is the best one, the Gujarati community is firmly bound to their cultural and ways of living irrespective of the State or even the country they reside in…..this shows that to actually conserve your cultural identity, in this super-diverse country of ours, there is the need to have love and pride about your culture rather than selfishness for petty personal gains.

The presence of regionalistic ideas is worse than the violence and hooliganism unleashed by many politicians across the country. It may be Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu or even Goa, the growth of the hatred towards the “outsider” is frightening!!!!!!

If the people in various States are sooo much concerned about the “outsider” and troubled him “destroying their “culture”, then why do they use LPG found in Gujarat and the North East, use petrol and diesel at subsidised rates given by Central Government??? Why don’t people in Bangalore…ohhh sorry Bengaluru, throw out the various IT industries which are owned by “outsiders”, if Mr. Raj Thackeray actually has the guts let him try and throw out Mukesh Ambani from Mumbai? Why don’t the people in Goa just use the Goan vegetables, why use the potatoes and tomatoes which are grown by “ghaatis”????

When it comes to regionalism, we all, each and every one of us is a big fat HIPPOCRAT. The issue of not allowing Biharis and Bhaiyyas use the resources of other states merely because there aren’t enough economic opportunities in their respective states and so they should not be allowed in other states. We are Indians only when we want NSG commandos to defend “aamchi Mumbai”, when we want relief during floods or droughts, otherwise we are Maharashtrians, Kannadigas, Goans, Mallus and so on.

Today when we are faced with threats from two neighbours, internal threat of Maoists and the everlasting threat of terror attacks, we have to shed such petty and selfish loyalties and be an INDIAN first, and Maharashtrian or Kannadiga or Goan or Mallu later.

I have a friend of mine, who was born in Tamil Nadu, completed his primary education in West Bengal, his secondary and higher secondary education in Rajasthan, University in Goa and is planning to settle in New Delhi, I call him the “Indian Nomad” and such nomads are of great importance of the India remaining the Unity-in-Diversity rather than the Differences-in-Diversity which are heading towards.