Why it is dangerous to be a fan of any government

One thing that most politically engaged people seem to agree on today is this: the world is becoming more polarized and divisive. Whether left or right, conservative or progressive, across democracies worldwide, people acknowledge this growing rift, but still, somehow, fail spectacularly to address it.

Why? There is only one reason that comes to my mind: too many people have become fans of their political parties, leaders, and governments. This is why we are living in the Age of political fandom and the decline of constructive dialogue at every level of society.  

When you become a fan, you are no longer just a supporter; no matter what you call yourself, you are a devoted follower. The first thing fans do is they begin to idolize. As a fan, your loyalty becomes so strong that you no longer see faults, or worse, you explain them away by pointing fingers at others: “They did worse,” “What about them?” or “This is not even a real problem.” This is what's going on around us, that too on a massive scale. In this atmosphere, public discourse has turned into a battleground of superfans, shouting, abusing, demeaning, and scoring points, often with more passion than purpose. And the biggest beneficiaries of this environment? Political leaders and governments across the board. 

There’s no denying that every elected government in a functioning democracy works toward fulfilling its promises, and those achievements deserve recognition. But that doesn’t mean we become cheerleaders for the government or the leader we voted for. Supporting a government is not the same as suspending our critical thinking. It does not mean we become their fan and stop questioning or criticizing them. Also, not being a fan of any government does not mean to dispute all progress or work done by them or to question their every action consistently. Being a responsible citizen means holding our leaders accountable, continually asking what more needs to be done, pointing out harmful policies, and challenging populist measures that disproportionately hurt vulnerable sections of society. It means to reflect on a broader behavioral pattern that tries to make use of certain loopholes of the democratic process to stifle opposition. Criticism of a leader or government should not be mistaken for a rejection of all progress. Conversely, acknowledging progress shouldn’t mean ignoring ethical concerns or governance failures. Progress and a leader’s moral compass are not mutually exclusive, but they are distinct.

Unfortunately, what we see today is an alarming trend: people often justifying or even glorifying the questionable behavior of leaders they support, sometimes to the point of turning a blind eye to actions or rhetoric that may harm the most vulnerable or undermine democratic norms. The concern is not about disagreeing with voters' choices; that’s their democratic right. It’s about how those choices are defended. And here's the irony: when one group supports a leader fervently, it’s called “respecting the will of the people.” But when another group does the same for a different leader, for example, Trump, it’s mocked, dismissed, or viewed with disbelief. This double standard is troubling; it is not just intellectually dishonest, it normalizes hypocrisy. If we want our democracies to function well, we must strive for consistency. Be fair in your praise, and be fair in your criticism.

It’s also worth noting that economic progress is often championed most by the privileged classes, because they benefit most directly. But a democracy cannot be judged by GDP alone. Its true measure lies in how it treats its dissenters, its minorities, and its most marginalized citizens. That is where the real test of leadership begins, and where political fandom must end. Remember, without constructive criticism, your support becomes meaningless; you’re not a responsible citizen, just part of a fandom. And being a fan of any government is not just unwise, it's dangerous. 

Thank you for reading, and please share your views on this topic. 

© Vinay Thakur, All rights reserved. Vinay can be reached at thevinay2022@gmail.com 

Democratic Dictatorship: A New Kind of Dictatorship

It is said that democracy is a flawed concept, and it is true; it isn't perfect. It’s messy, slow, and full of disagreements, and that’s kind of the point. It’s supposed to be a system where everyone gets a say, where power is shared, and where people can hold their leaders accountable. Despite its flaws, democracy is still the best system we’ve come up with. That’s why most countries are proud to call themselves democratic. 

However, in reality, a flawed democracy is further flawed by the elected representatives all over the world. More and more governments around the world are calling themselves democracies while acting more like dictatorships. In some places, it is flawed to such an extent that many countries are now functioning like democratic dictatorships, that is, the governments are elected by some democratic process, but once in power, they behave as if they can’t be questioned. They silence critics, weaken important institutions, and create a climate of fear. It’s not a full-blown dictatorship in the traditional sense - but it’s close. Welcome to the era of the democratic dictatorship.

In a real democracy, people should be able to speak out without fear. Protesting, writing, tweeting, organizing - these are basic rights. But in many places, speaking out has become dangerous. For example, take Russia. It holds elections, but opposition leaders are jailed or exiled. Alexei Navalny, one of President Putin’s most vocal critics, was imprisoned and later died in custody under suspicious circumstances. That’s not democracy - that’s intimidation. Even in countries that are known for being democratic, this trend is growing. In India, critics of the government - including journalists, students, and activists - have been arrested or harassed using vague laws meant for terrorism or sedition. Peaceful protests are often labeled as “anti-national.” And in the United States, while the democratic system is still strong, it hasn’t been immune. The attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and the efforts to undermine trust in elections showed how fragile democracy can be. When leaders push misinformation and propaganda and treat dissent like betrayal, the foundations of democracy begin to crack.

A working democracy needs independent institutions: courts that can say “no” to the government and protect the oppressed, election commissions that play fair, and media that can investigate and criticize governments fearlessly. But in many countries, these institutions are being intimidated, cornered, taken over, or hollowed out. Sometimes, it’s not even about throwing people in jail - it’s about making them scared to speak up. Journalists face lawsuits, online abuse, or sudden tax investigations. Comedians and other artists face boycotts and their shows are canceled due to fear of retaliation by the government or government-backed organizations. Activists are watched. Regular citizens are afraid of posting political opinions online. This fear doesn’t look like the dictatorships of the past, but it’s just as effective at keeping people silent. Elections still happen in these places. But by the time people go to vote, the opposition has been weakened, the media is one-sided, and many voters don’t feel like they have a real choice. It’s democracy in name only.

What’s scary is how normal all of this is starting to feel. Because these governments still hold elections and fly the flag of democracy, people assume everything is fine. There are many who support these regimes as they feel it suits their agenda, and this is not as bad as dictatorship or genocide. But a system where people are scared to speak, where institutions are controlled, and where criticism is punished — that’s not a real democracy. That’s a democratic dictatorship. Also, this isn’t a “left vs. right” issue. Authoritarian behavior can come from any political direction, and there are ample examples to demonstrate this. Political ideology, party, or leader doesn't really matter; what matters is whether a government respects the rules of democracy - not just during elections, but every day. What matters is how the government treats dissent, how it protects the rights of all minorities, how independent institutions are, including all academic institutions, and how fearless people are who disagree with the government. Without fearless dissent, there is no democracy.

Also, democracy doesn’t protect itself. It needs us, the people, to keep it alive. That means staying well informed from different reliable sources without being siloed. Paying attention to how our leaders behave, not just what they say, especially for whom we vote. Speaking up when something feels wrong, not only against our political or ideological opponents but also against people whom we support. Supporting free media, independent courts, and strong public institutions. And yes, voting in every election. The biggest threat to democracy today isn’t a sudden coup or a violent takeover; it’s a slow erosion of personal rights by governments with the open support of some economically powerful people using a very potent tool, social media. It’s the idea that as long as we vote, everything’s fine - even when freedoms are disappearing, and fear is spreading. A true democracy is more than just elections and voting. It’s about accountability, fairness, and the freedom to disagree without being fearful of retaliation by the government. And if we’re not careful, we could lose it without even realizing it.

Thank you for reading, and please share your views on this topic. 

© Vinay Thakur, All rights reserved. Vinay can be reached at thevinay2022@gmail.com  

India's problem was never her politicians

Since my childhood, I regularly hear one theme in conversations about India, everyone talks about India's potential. Everyone says that India has a lot of talent, rich history, diversity, and whatnot, but somehow can't live up to its true potential. Most Indians also keep on repeating the same lines again and again without realizing that it is they who need to help their country realize its potential, not some outsiders. However, most are happy just debating these issues, blaming each other or their political opponents, and complaining about politicians and bureaucrats. However, most Indians are okay with corruption and corrupt politicians regularly get elected in various elections. It is a common perception that politics is a dirty game and that politicians are dishonest. To be fair, India is not the only country that has this perception about politicians, but it is definitely one of those countries that blame its politicians for all problems, for example, the problems of corruption, communalism, poor infrastructure, poverty, unemployment, brain drain, and whatnot is blamed to dirty politics. However, India's problem is not its politicians, but the people who elect these politicians, again and again, from different political parties. These people not only support such corrupt, many times, with criminal background people, but idolize them, worship them, and even after that, expect their society to be just and fair. Also, in India, it is very common to change political parties, unbelievable, but people thirsty for your blood can become your die-hard supporter once you switch to the party they support. Unbelievable, but true.

Once elected people with a criminal background become lawmakers, no matter how many laws exist in the law book, how many courts function, or how many police personnel work, it is impossible to have proper law and order. This is because no elected person will allow to law to take its proper course unless it hurts their opponents. When people of any country start reacting to crime based on who has committed it, not what is the nature of the crime, that country is sure to get doomed today or tomorrow. Once people see crimes through political, racial, religious, or any other bias, they are not looking at the crime, but at the criminal's identity and react based on that. That means the reactions are not based on the nature or gravity of the committed crime but on the identity of the accused. The same crime based on who has committed it generated drastically different reactions, people either try their best to downplay or justify the crime or try to demand the harshest possible punishment possible. Politicians make very good use of this, they instigate polarized emotions within society and benefit from dormant hate that many organizations silently brew within the society. Hate is a very potent social weapon, politicians, religious fanatics, and terrorists all use it very well. People knowingly fall into this trap so regularly that one can hardly blame anyone but the people themselves for being a toy in the hands of antisocial elements. This is the point of today's post, India's problem is not its politicians but people who support these politicians and don't dare to speak when a politician or the party they elected does something wrong. Things don't change overnight, but to start any change people first should start from themselves, only complaining about the system hardly initiates any change. Once people change their attitude and demand accountability from the politicians they elect, things will start changing. Until then, the evergreen argument of India has potential, this is how things are done in India would continue for many more decades.

Thank you for reading and please share your views on this topic. 

Sara's encounter with rural India

During my India visit this time, my daughter Sara visited my ancestral villages in the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) for the first time. She was less than a year old when she visited my paternal village, but she didn't have any memories of that visit. There is a huge difference between the lifestyle of today's city kids and life in undeveloped rural places. Because of this, I was really curious about how she would react to this visit. The weather in August is not very kind in most of UP, it is extremely hot and humid, and occasional rain brings some relief but otherwise, it is somewhat extreme weather, especially for someone who is not used to living there. When we came out of Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport, it was like entering a hot oven, one could clearly feel the difference between the temperature and humidity of the air inside the airport and outside of it. 

Her first impression of the holy city of Varanasi was not that great, she really disliked excessive honking by drivers on the road. Initially, she tried to count how many times my cousin who was driving the car honked, but after 10-15 times within a short span of 2-3 minutes, she gave up that task. The presence of stray dogs and other animals on the road was also surprising for her. Actually, she has seen these things in movies, however, in Pune where we spend most of our time during India visits, this scene is not very common, but this is not the case in Varanasi or other parts of the UP. Also, her utter discomfort with Indian-style toilets and lack of toilet paper was clearly visible, she didn't complain about this, but I could see that she was trying as much as possible to avoid using such toilets. Then there were these mosquitoes, who bothered me also, I was at least familiar with these problems, but for Sara dealing with them was a nightmare. The presence of a cow shade in the close vicinity of the room where she slept didn't help the cause, but she managed to survive and still trying to figure out why the heck people keep cows in their home when cow dunk stinks so much? She also visited a few homes in Varanasi with air conditioners and really loved the cool and less humid environment, it was like an oasis for her. Thanks to one unwritten political rule in UP, which is if an MP or MLA representing your area is occupying some important post in government, that area gets a good supply of electricity and preferred treatment. The current prime minister Mr. Modi is an MP from Varanasi, therefore, it has a reasonably uninterrupted supply of electricity, so, Mr. Modi should get credit for this. I do criticize him or his government whenever I feel that they are not doing a good job, so, I must give him credit wherever it is due. One should appreciate Mr. Modi's effort to make his constituency a better place, I hope people cooperate with him. 

From Varanasi we went to my paternal and maternal villages, we just stayed there for a couple of days. The supply of electricity follows the same political rule in UP villages also, as our village representative is not from the ruling party, it didn't get any preferred treatment. Electricity went off at 8 PM on the day we reached and supply was not restored for the next 36 or 40 hours. We had to rent a power generator to survive that brutal heat and humidity, even sitting right in front of the cooler was not that comfortable, but it was better compared to not having anything. Among all these inconveniences and discomfort, Sara had a great time meeting some really wonderful people. Wherever she went people greeted her with a lot of enthusiasm and joy. They all went out of their way to make her feel comfortable, they tried to make sure that she didn't feel discomfort because of the harsh weather of lack of certain facilities. This was a really special part of her experience, she disliked the place but loved the people. She was amazed to see their tolerance level and ability to adjust to harsh conditions. I was also surprised to see her efforts to adjust to a totally alien environment. This was a surprise for me as it was coming from a girl who used to make a big deal about a slow internet connection. She also tried her best to communicate with those people and engage in conversation to learn about their lives and problems (especially with kids of her age). Wherever required she tried to break the ice and initiate discussions and also tried her best to make those kids feel comfortable. She commented on various gender discriminatory practices like ghunghat pratha, which is similar to the burqa where women are expected to cover their faces in front of elders or strangers. Most of the time, people ignored her comments, but even then she tried to tell them that these things were not right. We also traveled to the river Ganga near my village, I love to visit the Ganga River at this spot rather than on any ghats of Varanasi. At Varanasi, the ghat water is very dirty and the atmosphere is heavily commercialized, a lot of so-called holy men (pandas) try to mob you to do some useless rituals and extract money. But the same river near my village appears really calm, clean, and friendly. Its natural surroundings with birds like peacocks and many trees along with one small temple make it more beautiful. For me, this river is not any more special than many other rivers, but just because some of my childhood memories are associated with it, I love to visit this place whenever I can.

Sara's encounter with Indian railways was not that pleasant, two of our trains got canceled on very short notice, and the one that actually departed left almost 16 hours later than its scheduled departure time. I wrote about this experience in my one of previous blog posts. Actually, this experience had a really negative impact on her mind about the state of governance in India, she was shocked to see utter chaos at the train station with no one having any clue about at what time exactly the train would depart. I had to make a lot of effort to tell her that this was not a regular scenario, but she was not at all convinced. I don't think she will dare to travel by Indian railway again. But the good part is that her overall experience was positive, she really loved people and will always remember their loving and caring nature. I am sure love and affection for these people will bring her back again to this place. I wanted her to have a wholesome experience of India, I wanted her to know that India is not just a city like Pune or Mumbai where things are very comfortable (except for traffic and pollution). When we experience things personally we learn more compared to just hearing about it, watching it on screen, or reading in a book. I am glad that she chose to come with me on this journey to rural India. I also discovered a new person in her which I didn't know so far. It was a learning experience for both of us and I hope she takes all the positives from this experience and uses them to grow as a person.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

I respect people but not all their views and opinions

Gandhi once said, "Hate the sin, not the sinner," I totally agree with this statement, but it is also true that it is very difficult to follow this advice. Many times, we find it very difficult to isolate beliefs and acts (good or bad) from any person and look at them independently of their behavior. If we see some person doing good things we start liking them, and we like or love them so much that many times we even try to defend their bad things as we believe that such a nice person can not do anything wrong (hardcore devotees and fan clubs come in this category). Similarly, if we have a negative image of some person in our mind we develop such a negative attitude towards them that we don't want to offer any words of appreciation even towards good deeds done by them (we see this attitude very often in politics). I personally believe in respecting people no matter who they are, I think as humans we should first learn to respect each other irrespective of our religion, nationality, color, race, sexual orientation, or any other personal trait. According to me, this is a basic requirement to call anyone a human, we all need to have mutual respect and kindness. But this mutual respect doesn't mean that we need to respect each other's views, beliefs, opinions, or sentiments. All these things differ from person to person, people have different types of opinions about the same issues, they follow different religions or no religion, some are sensitive and some are not. There is tremendous diversity among all of us as far as our emotions, beliefs, and thinking patterns are concerned, it is impossible that everyone will agree with each other on everything. If we are compelled to respect each and every sentiment of others, we have to be careful all the time not to hurt them, then we can not question, discuss, or argue about any issue as these actions may hurt someone's sentiments. No matter how careful we are, our questioning or criticism is bound to hurt someone's sentiments or make someone feel uncomfortable. So, the expectation to respect every sentiment, belief, or view is unreasonable and against the spirit of having an open discussion.

Let me make clear what I mean in the title of this blog post: I respect all people and as a human being I consider it my duty to do that but I am not obliged to respect all their beliefs, opinions, or sentiments. As I am allowed to challenge other's opinions and question their beliefs or sentiments, they are also free to do the same with my beliefs or sentiments. Others have the right to offend me and I also hold the same right. Let me also make it clear that questioning someone's opinions or beliefs or commenting on their sentiments positively or negatively does not mean showing any disrespect to that person. One should question and argue without being disrespectful. Also, people must understand that just because someone is questioning or arguing does not mean they are being disrespectful. When I question I am trying to challenge or object to those beliefs or opinions not the existence of that particular person, there is a difference between challenging a person and challenging their beliefs. Many cultures or religions consider obedience as a necessary virtue and a very important sign to show respect towards seniors. But obedience doesn't mean blind faith or total devotion without any right to question, this type of obedience is total surrender, a form of slavery, which is dangerous for any human being as it shuts their thinking process off and takes away their ability to question things. Any human without any logical or rational thinking of their own will become like a robot which can be used to carry out any good or bad work, recruitment of young kids for terrorism is an ideal example of this. We have enough devotees in this world, we need many more rational and independent thinkers who are willing to challenge and question things around us. These are the people who can initiate change and who can go against the flow.

So, next time when you see someone questioning your sentiments, views, or beliefs don't think that it is a sign of disrespect or insult but take it as a challenge to validate your thoughts, take it as a challenge to prove your point with evidence and data, it will only improve your own knowledge and help that other person also understand your views better. Let's show respect towards each other as a person but feel free to challenge each other's thoughts, this is the only way we can keep making progress.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

Women are also humans

Women are also humans. Aren't they? I think sometimes many of us forget that and start offering them unsolicited advice. People start reminding them about their own greatness, about the duties and qualities they should possess as a part of their womanhood (like kindness, compassion, forgiveness). People start saying they need to be pious and this and that, but forget the basic fact that they are also humans just like men. Women also have some good and bad qualities like men, they are not very different, they have the same basic needs and must be given the same rights and freedom. Nothing more, nothing less.

Some time back I read one poem written by a woman student in Delhi which was quoted by Hilary Clinton in one of her speeches in India, "When a woman gives her love, as most do generously, it is accepted. When a woman shares her thoughts, as some women do, graciously, it is allowed. When a woman fights for power, as all women would like to do, quietly or loudly, it is questioned. Yes, there must be freedom, if we are to speak. And yes, there must be power, if we are to be heard. And when we have both, let us not be misunderstood." As long as women are kind, submissive, supportive, and do what everyone supposes them to do, everything is fine, the time they ask for their rights and exercise them, there is a problem. They are accused of overstepping their limits. Very recently I read a post about one foreign student's horrible experience with sexual harassment in India. The post was very heart-wrenching and disturbing. I fail to understand why some people always look at women as physical objects? Why can't they consider them just as another person like them? A person who deserves equal respect and dignified treatment which they expect for themselves.

How many more horrific examples like this do we need to show that there is some kind of sickness present in society when women are treated like this? And let me make one thing very clear here, I am not just talking about India, it's very sad these things happen in a country where female goddesses are worshiped, but this problem more or less persists everywhere. I agree that this is a major problem in India. Eve teasing is one such issue many women and girls have to face every day. But just because I shared the link where a victim shared her horrible experience in India it should not give an impression to readers that these types of things happen only in India, in fact, they happen all over the world, every society is facing this problem.

I think one of the reasons this is still happening is because many men and even some women are still not willing to accept the equal status of women in society. They still look at them just as objects to satisfy their sexual desires and other needs, nothing more. Men think that women are not equal to them just because they are physically weak compared to them, many proponents of patriarchy always cite this difference to show inequality between two genders. They still believe that mere physical strength gives men a fundamental right to dominate women in all areas and call them the weaker sex. They still want to believe that women are less capable compared to them, even though there are ample examples around us to prove that this is far from the truth. I always wonder how hard it can be to understand the simple fact that women deserve equal respect and rights. Women have already proven their strength and capabilities in all areas beyond any doubt wherever they had opportunities. They successfully challenged restrictions forcibly enforced on them by society and culture which thought they were fit only for particular jobs. It seems the demand for equality from women is a bit too much to handle for some people, they can't imagine women breaking free of the shackles put on them by patriarchy and misogyny and flying high. These people expect men and women to behave only in a particular way. They fail to understand that both are humans with equal rights and responsibilities, more importantly, they forget that women are also humans with needs and desires. Women deserve equal status and opportunities in society, nothing more or less but equal. I don't think this is an unreasonable demand at all, today or tomorrow everyone in our society has to agree to this, whether they like it or not this is going to happen.   

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

Links:
1. India: the Story You Never Wanted to Hear
2. To an American girl, an apology from India
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve_teasing
4. India & A Blonde Tourist: An alternate account
5. Manal al-Sharif: A Saudi woman who dared to drive

[Copyright : Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

My chawl and its people

I spent most of my life living in a 'Chawl' (चाळ in Marathi). We still have our home in our chawl and I visit it on my every India trip. For people who don't know what does word "chawl" means, let me explain it a little bit to the best of my ability, chawl is a type of setup where many houses are aligned side by side like a train (it can be one or two or maximum three-story building). They are not like row houses or condos but more like trailers stacked one adjacent to another.. By the description it doesn't look like a very comfortable or attractive place to live with family, it comes with minimum privacy but with maximum fun (at kids have a lot of fun as kids, I don't know about adults). Culture in chawl was also used to be very unique. All members knew each other very well, there were no secrets, it was very easy to know what was going on in each home, absolutely no privacy. So, whether you wanted it or not all your friends knew if you had a bad day in your home Houses were crowded but there used to be a lot of open space around to play.

I can't capture the essence of that life in words but life was filled with a lot of fun and unpredictable but interesting things. I still remember our cricket matches where both teams used to play as if it was a World Cup final to win 25 paise (Indian quarter, which is less than a US penny). Every chawl used to have their own cricket team and some were bitter rivals of each other. Matches between those teams used to be full of high tension and a lot of drama and many times ended without any result because of a dispute over some runout decision. Having your own cricket bat was a big luxury that very few kids could afford and whoever used to have it used to feel like a king and really used to get royal treatment as everyone needed that bat to play. We never had a lot of toys or any video games at that time but there were many games we used to play which never required any sophisticated equipment but were very enjoyable. Most of them are almost extinct now but I still remember all of them. Most of the kids from our chawl used to go to the same school. We used to go to school with our bikes or company-provided school bus (by a company called Vanaz, where most men from our Chawl used to work, that's why our chawl was called Vanaz Chawl). That school bus was not like the one which you see nowadays, fancy and tailormade to be a school bus. It was a regular bus but used to carry schoolchildren. It used to be really overcrowded, to get a seat on that bus one really had to fight a war and some kids used to try to ride on the running bus just to get the seat, this resulted in one tragedy where one student got crushed under the bus. That bus was called the school bus only because it used to carry school children but there was no other feature of the school bus associated with it. I am glad that I survived those years without facing any major accident. Our life there was full of a lot of good stuff at the same time so many risks, which were very serious by today's safety standards.

For a long time, we never had individual water connections for each house. There used to be common taps from where everyone (including kids) used to carry water with buckets or different vessels to their homes and store it for daily use. We used to receive water for a few hours each day so there used to be tough competition to fill all our vessels before they shut down the water supply for the day. This used to create a lot of fights, some really ugly but bitterness never used to last long, the next day again fresh challenge, new war, and new fights. These fights or arguments were so common that other people hardly used to interfere or get bothered by these, except for people who were involved in these arguments all others used to continue with their routine as if nothing strange was happening, no one used to freak out over some argument going around them, sounds so strange when I look back to those incidents now.

Eating dinner together with friends was also a common practice. Kids used to take their plates outside and sit together to eat dinner, all used to share the dishes with each other, and one used to get a taste of different types of food. Slowly as people got more money they built more rooms and we lost our veranda so this practice slowly stopped, but it was fun as long it lasted. Keeping an eye on kids used to be the job of any elder from the neighborhood not just the parents of that kid. If anyone from our neighborhood caught us doing something wrong they had full right to punish us and normally no parent used to object to this. I think this practice of collaborative parenting made our neighborhoods safe and allowed many parents to carry out their day-to-day activities without being bothered about the safety of their children. This doesn't mean our parents were not careless, they cared about us as much as present-day parents care about their kids but this system worked very efficiently back then and made their job easy.

Life back then was filled with many incidents and situations that one can not even imagine today. The world has moved on and many of those things vanished with time. I don't regret that they are gone, change is important and is required but I do remember most of those incidents fondly. I still visit my chawl and know each and every individual from my chawl personally. My chawl has also changed a lot, it's not the same as it was 20 years ago but this change is natural no one can avoid it. Maybe in the future, there won't be any chawls, maybe they don't fit in the image of a modern city, and all people might prefer to live in nice apartments or beautiful single-family homes, but my chawl, its people and days which I spent there will always remain in my memory.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)

Where was God when I was raped and murdered?

Recently, two tragic incidents happened one here in Connecticut and another in New Delhi, India, which caught a lot of media attention and there is huge unrest in public about both these tragedies. Along with protests and debates about why these types of incidents happen very frequently nowadays, there were many prayer meetings at temples, churches,  other religious centers, and even on the streets to express sympathy and support for victims and their families. People prayed to their respective God to save the victim who was struggling for her life (in the Delhi rape case) and to give courage to families who lost their loved ones (in the school shooting case). This is a regular pattern after tragedies or incidents like these be it 9/11, the 26/11 terrorist attack, or any bomb explosion, mass killing, or rape. People come together and pray but these incidents don't stop. It raises one question in my mind, where is God when people need him/her most? I am sure many of these victims must be wondering the same. Where was God when I was getting raped or murdered? Why he/she didn't come to help me? I know that many people have asked this question before and many people have tried to answer this question but none of those answers are convincing. I know putting blame on destiny or praying to God after any tragedy helps to deal with the loss. It helps to deal with death and the incidents that are out of our control, but apart from this what purpose do these gatherings serve? Are they like counseling sessions that help to deal with these tragedies psychologically and nothing more.

Many of these terrorist attacks are carried out in the name of God. In the name of protecting the religion from evil forces which these groups believe are trying to destroy their religion. Terrorists also pray to their Gods and get their blessings before going on these types of missions. They believe that their  God will help them to fulfill their missions and many times they are successful. So technically God does listen to their prayers at least in some cases. I am not talking only about any particular religion like Islam which is continuously targeted nowadays as a major cause for terrorism but other religions like Hinduism (Babri Mosque demolition and communal riots, etc.), Sikhism, Christianity, Buddhism, Communism were also engaged in many violent incidents all in the name of protecting their religion. Many innocent people suffer during all these missions and attacks. People suffer a lot of physical and mental trauma, many die or lose their loved ones and most of these victims pray to their God. Many of the victims are really devoted to their religion and God. All these victims who suffer and perpetrators who brutally commit the crime or carry on the attacks both belong to several different religions and believe in different faiths and Gods. God is present on both sides.

All these incidents (including the attacks and peace marches or prayers after those attacks) raise many questions in my mind. If it is really there then on which side God is? Where is God when all these victims suffer or get attacked for no fault? Why God doesn't help these victims when they are getting raped or getting murdered brutally? Why do these innocent kids get killed at the hands of some insane person? Why do helpless women get raped and brutally attacked? Is there any power that controls this universe and our lives or does this world work on itself?

Do people even think about these questions or they are too blinded by their faith and beliefs? I don't think God or any other superpower is responsible for any of these crimes or attacks. These all are human acts. People like us who commit these crimes and heroes who fight against these criminals or terrorists are again people like us. It's our job to step up, accept the responsibility, take charge, and work towards solving all these problems. All these issues and problems are created by people like us and we need to solve them ourselves, no one else is going to do this for us. So, if any God or any other superpower is not responsible for all these attacks or problems then does it make any sense to ask any help from them? Is it right to blame them or give any credit to them when we see clearly that it's not working and not providing us with any answers or solutions? This is the question that I want to put in front of you today, this is the topic on which I want you all to think today.

Thanks for reading and please share your views about this topic.

Link for Speaking Tree post:
http://timesofindia.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/self-improvement/where-was-god-when-i-was-raped-and-murdered

(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)