National awards for shameless acts

“As societies grow decadent, the language grows decadent, too. Words are used to disguise, not to illuminate, action: you liberate a city by destroying it. Words are to confuse, so that at election time people will solemnly vote against their own interests.” ~ Gore Vidal.

The earliest memory that I have of our famed judiciary is the statue of a blind lady with a set of scales in her hand (they kept showing it in Hindi movies during the scenes of rape or injustice in the 80’s and 90’s). The modern day picture is a little brighter; in fact the lady is no longer blind and the scales are weighed in favour of the money on them. Someone once commented that newspapers and media always seem to have enough content to cover up their daily schedule. My humble, immature thought process feels that it requires immaculate talent to filter out the honorable (pun intended) antics of our prized stallions (read fat, greedy gluttons disguised in the form of politicians, law (en)forcers and the likes).

     When 26/11 stuck India with a venomous blow, I felt proud to be an Indian. Not because of what happened to us, but the way we reacted to it. The nation came together and we consoled each other. We had our share of losses; India didn’t seem to be the favored destination for foreign nationals anymore (The Aussies always crib and their kiwi counterparts share the same bloodline). India’s ability to stand up against the forces of terrorism was all that was counted for. And for that one moment I felt that the slogans of “Incredible India” and “India shining” would hold stead as much as the promised economic growth (our predicted GDP’s are like the required run rate that the India cricket team faces while chasing).

But that’s where we screwed up. We caught one of the terrorists red-handed, (can’t figure out why we kept him alive) spent Rs. 35 crores on his security and now the idiot claims bouts of forgetfulness. Not to forget the fact that we’ve decided to hang him after all, and his lawyer has decided to be a part of the next series of Big Boss. But the story is not complete. Latest reports suggest that human rights activists don’t want him to be executed, and our Ghajini has filed an appeal against his sentence. Maybe he might act in a couple of movies (after all he’s just 23, and wouldn’t need training on how to hold a gun) over the next decade, do a Munna or a Bhai and get away with it. God forbid he doesn’t get into a TZP or Pa role and win a national award. The next thing you know, we might call him Padmashree Kasab. The latest joke doing the rounds is “n+1” ways of getting an Indian civilian award (n being constant and equal to 1, either pay for it or else do something no one else has done before). The icing on the cake would be Mr. K’s interview with RSardesai or Bdutta where our protagonist would break down into tears and ask the public to forgive him. He would be granted a full pardon and Indian citizenship. The solution to the whole problem should have been done earlier; damn the human rights activists, tie him up and let the public pelt stones.

So before that Saga ended, we had another hero move up the ranks. Another K, K for Kalmadi and K for Kommon wealth. How thought provoking! At least this guy has the nerve not to break down or admit his mistakes. The prospect of stepping down from his current position is not even a possibility. And with tax-payers funding his projects, he has no reason to complain. He could always pass the buck that the rains in Delhi were unexpected, and the reason why we needed those expensive rolls of tissues (you know, the $89/roll ones). Some think that the hygienic conditions were bad only to get back at the countries that racially abused us (The English did that for 400 years and the Aussies have been doing it for the last year). If we can’t beat you fair and square, we’re going to give you shit, loads of it. Here again, the tissues could be of use.

There’s one issue remaining. It took 18 years and a few thousands killed before we figured out the primary solution of splitting something. Give everyone their share and get done with it. And reason with a 1000 pages of legal jargon. Hype the media to be quiet about the whole matter and by not discussing about it, to discuss about it (the news presenter in one of the regional channels repeated the same statement a dozen times, “we’ve been asked not to discuss about it and would conform to it”). So we all had half a day off (the luckier ones had the whole day off) and nothing else. Both fronts are off to the next level of justice and the tug-of-war continues. The majority is neither interested nor bothered about the outcome of the issue. One thing’s for sure, if Gods existed in those locations, there’s every chance they are not going back there. People in glasshouses don’t throw stones at others, and most of us are yet to realize that.

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
~ The Four Quartets

Disclaimer: This is solely my opinion and if you don’t like it, don’t read my blog.

P.S: Vote for me. I’d like to replace Kommon wealth Kalmadi as head of the Olympic committee.