Hindi : National or Official Language?

Question : What is the National Language of India?
If your answer is "Hindi", then like me you are also wrong. India does not have any National Language and Hindi is just 1 of the 22 Official Language of India.

Some Facts and History
Post Independence English was widely used as the language for all Official purposes. The Constitution envisaged a gradual phasing out of English in favor of a local language. Thus, English along with Hindi was declared as the Official Language of India when the Constitution came into force in 1950. And it was decided that unless the Parliament decides otherwise, English will cease to exist as the Official Language by 26th January, 1965. A time frame for 15 years was kept to make Hindi more popular.
However even before 1965, there was a lot of hue and cry in non-hindi speaking states of India, especially the Southern States. The protests even turned violent in Tamil Nadu. It was seen as a sinister plan to keep people from South India away from the plum Government Job. Before privatisation began in India, Govt. Jobs were seen as a safe heaven by most people and was the most sought after. It was perceived that people from Northern India will have an edge in these jobs if English is no longer an Official Language. Thus, it was decided, Hindi would be made the National Language when it is adopted as the Official Language in all the States. Today, Hindi is the Official Language in only 10 states.


In the era of Globalisation, a lot of India's success can be credited to its large English speaking population. It is only because of these people that India has managed to become the Back-Office of the world. Thus, in todays world ignoring English altogether would be living in a Fool's Paradise. As a friend once pointed out, "Leave English and lose the only advantage you have over China".
However, around 800 million people in India still lives on a meager income of Rs. 20 per day and they still do not have access to English. Even after 60 years of Independence its still so hard to imagine a nation were a peasant from a remote village in Kerela will be able to speak to his counterpart from Assam or Punjab or Maharashtra.

A nation-wide effort should be made to make Hindi more acceptable and accommodating. By accommodating, I mean people speaking Hindi should be more receptive to words from other language, dialect or region. At times, I feel like crucifying people who in the name of Hindi asks you to say "Loh Path Gamini" or "Agni Utpadak Dibbi". In case you are wondering these are the Hindi translation for "Train" and "Match-Box". To me these are biggest enemies of Hindi. A language is a medium of communication a way to express your mind thus it should be as simple and speakable as possible and not complicated. To the same people I always wonder asking them what would they call a "Rasgoola" in English!!!!!!

Thus, I would like to see India where both English and Hindi co-exists with all the other regional languages with Hindi being the unifying string for India's Diversity. There are other cultures in the world like French, Russian and Spanish where the native language has flourished without proving to be any hindrance in their technological advancement and the growth of nation.
We should take a leaf from them and work towards making Hindi a national language of India and still be part of a Globalised World.
Vision India where farmers and laborers from all part of India can congregate and still be able to speak fluently, and it is only possible if Hindi is more widely spoken.

A Routine Ordeal at Howrah Station

18.55 My train reaches Howrah from Jamshedpur
19.05 Stand in the Queue for Taxi with around 15-20 people ahead of me.
19.40 Manage to get a Taxi in Queue
20.10 Reaches Howrah Bridge (Barely 5oo mts to a km from the station)
20.50 Reaches Home at Salt Lake (13 Km from Howrah Station, good 2 hours after I reached Howrah)

A normal schedule at Howrah Station, with slight variation in time. Not to forget if the train reaches after 10 PM, the queue for metered Taxi is gone and you are left at the mercy of Taxiwallahs. They charge the same metered amount and take 4-5 passengers charging the same from everyone, making 5 times more money.

Howrah Station always gives a feeling of Vintage and Grandiose of British Raj. Always so majestic to watch the Red Brick and Paint or the Gleaming lights at the night. Standing so towering next to Hooghly River and Howrah Bridge. It stands testimonial to the best gift British left India with, the Indian Railways. I always feel what meticulous planning they must have done on deciding the location of Station. So, close to Hooghly River and next to Howrah Bridge. Perfectly approachable!!!! It must have been a real pleasure in the early 1900s to catch a train here.

Cut to 2000s. More than a million passenger tread daily on its platform. And the moment you enter, the vision is sordid, clumsy, congested. The moment you get down from the train you are greeted with a eerie cacophony. The next ordeal is dealing with coolies (potters). Dressed in Red a mark of Unionism and Marxism, they demand an exorbitant sum and gives you exorbitant headache. Then, You have to keep pace with them, keen not to let them away from your sight, and wary not to stamp the platform dwellers strewn all over while you tread. A normal sequence of events mentioned above to get on Taxi and get out of sight of the Station. The experience leaves you of memories, which always leaves a mark on you. Good or Bad!!! No Comments.

I wonder what the architect of the Station would feel, 1oo years after it was built. Yes, the station celebrated its 100 years of existence recently. How much have we contributed on to the legacy left by British. Although, a new building with around 6 platform has been added, the illustrious old building still accommodates around 15 platform. All the approach roads to the station are so full of traffic, there is no easy get-away. You should always keep a buffer of 3o minutes to 1 hour, if you are keen not to miss your train. The picture here is of one of the once-built-never-maintained-full-of-potholes bumpy road that is taken by the Taxi's to reach Vidya Sagar Setu. Whenever I see this road, I always feel its so foolish to talk about Development here, when even the approach road, seems, is never re-built in 100 years.

It feels so ironical at times. 4 hours to cover 250 kms by Trains and 2 hours to reach home for a stretch of 13 kms.
Perhaps a good candidate for a case of "Law of Exponential Growth".

Om Shanti Om : Mother of all Cliche

Om Shanti Om is not your run of the mill Bollywood movie. If you are looking for a movie with a very good screenplay, fantastic dialogues, powerful performances, than this is not the movie for you. Well! the director never intended to make it this way. When I went on to watch the movie, the ghost of "Main Hoon Na" was still ripe in my mind. But it was a refreshing change to watch the new baby from Farha. She has matured a lot as a director. MHN was a typical masala movie, with a mix of all the ingredients to make a commercial success. However OSO shows the vision, a thoughtful Director may have.

The movie is a tribute to the Golden Era of Bollywood, the 70s. A lot of scenes in the movie will make you reminiscent of scenes that you may have watched a 1oo times on the big screen. A lot of dialogues and scenes seems so cliched, still instead of criticizing it brings a smile on your face. The presentation of the movie keeps you glued to the seat till the very end.

OSO is never complete without the mention of SRK. The grandiose and persona of SRK carries throughout the movie. Shahrukh has proved it again, the umpteenth time, he is the greatest star of the industry. The costumes, dialogue, on screen presence, the grin everything is so perfect, that you would remember his 70s personality and not to forget the six pack abs for days to come. Shahrukh scores again with the movie. Deepika Padukone brings a new exuberance and beauty to the movie. What more can a newcomer expect than to star opposite SRK on her debut movie, but she does not let anyone down.

My paisa was vasool even before the movie was over. Watching Akki Bhaiya and his pelvic gun shot thrust was a pleasant pleasant surprise. His nomination as the star of Return of Khiladi was so cool.
The Om Shanti Om title track with 31 stars was also very special. Farha managed to score some points with the choreography as well. All the stars were given the steps that have done sometimes in the past with some variants. So it was a good combination of old wine and fresh soda.
The presentation of Credits for the movie was also thought of out of box. The complete unit of the movie arrives for the premiere of OSO in vehicles of different shapes and size, from cycle to auto to scooter to rickshaw. And the last to arrive was Farha, when the premiere was already over, in an auto-rickshaw. And by the time she realises this, the auto had already gone and it was fun to watch her run after her. Kudos to Farha.
Karan Johar saying "Heere ki kadar to Johari hi janta hai, aur Hero ki kadar to Johar-hi janta Hai"
Shahrukh crooning "Mind it Rascalla"

The movie takes a spoof on a lot of contemporary and old stars.
Like Shabana Azmi arriving at the Filmfare awards and giving the soundbyte "Yeh slum ko hata kar jo award show ho raha hai, main uske khilaf protest karne aayee hoon".
Babyshek getting up to collect the award even before it was announced.
Shahrukh poking fun on his Mohabattein song.
(Can never understand why Manoj Kumar has so much complains from the movie and SRK)

You have to watch this movie to appreciate this.

Picture abhi baki hai mere dost.

Celebrating the Fall of The Wall

Rahul Dravid's resignation must have definitely come as a shock to both the faction, one who loves The Wall, others who love to hate The Wall. Well, I belong to the former faction who sees Rahul Dravid and his style as an inspiration not just in cricket, but in other walk of life as well. Someone who believes in doing his work silently and honestly.

In recent past whenever I have spoken to any Cricket Crazy Fan about Dravid, the name of Sourav Ganguly automatically came up. This reminds me of a small incident some time back. Staying at Kolkata I am always surrounded and "hounded" by Ganguly fans. :) Once I wore a Rahul Dravid T-Shirt to my office and very strangely there were people who were strongly offended by it and had objected to it. The reaction seemed very strange and irrational to me. Some one even dared to come up to me say this is an insult to "Dada" and you cannot wear a Dravid T-shirt at Kolkata, almost leading to a verbal altercation. Freedom of Speech, you see. Huh!!!! I have always tried to make people understand many at times, loving someone does not mean hating others at the same time. To this day I have not been able to comprehend how I "insulted" Sourav Ganguly on that day. Anyways, the idea behind writing about this incident is, I by no means want to criticize Sourav. I love Dravid and have no objection to others loving Sourav.

Rahul, has many at times been criticized recently, even during the recent English tour, of winning the toss and electing to bat or bowl. Well, as most of the cricket fans know, that the decision to bat or bowl is not taken alone by Captain. It is a move, generally taken democratically by the Captain along with Senior Members, Coach and Management in a Pre-Match Strategy Session. Agreed, a Captain is at the helm of affairs. Still, why blame Captain alone. Ajay Jadeja once made a very interesting remark at a TV Channel on this. "What if you lost the toss, and the other team asked you to bat or bowl. Will you simply give away the match and not play just because you lost the toss?" Does the game of cricket starts and ends up with the toss.

Agreed, Sourav was an aggressive captain and Rahul is not. But you have to understand not every individual is same. Some of us are aggressive by nature, while others are not. But has India not won matches under Rahul. For your information, he is the most successful ODI Captain of India winning 53.16% matches, even better than Sourav. Then again, we would always say Post match that Rahul Dravid chose to bowl so and so player or chose to bat so and so player. It is always so easy and convenient to comment on anything once it has happened. We always have the benefit of commenting based on the result. One should understand that a Captain choses a particular move hoping it would click and a lot depends on the other individual as well. The decision may backfire, as the other player failed to perform. So, why blame the captain alone for this. In the same English tour bowling Yuvraj when all the frontline were taken to task backfired, whereas bringing Robin Uthappa to bat at a crucial juncture paid off handsomely. So, its just that. One clicks the other backfires.

Leading a team from a Board Room is much different than leading a team on the field. The greatest difference between sports and otherwise leading a team is that you not just have to inspire your team-mates to perform, you also have to set and example. Rahul executed the dual responsibility of captaincy and batting with elan. The feat achieved by Rahul was never matched by Sourav or Sachin. The stats speaks for my man.

Then again, every captain has had their ups and downs including Rahul. OK, India exited from the first round of World Cup but there have been many other achievements as well during his tenure.

• I remember, Indians were always labeled as very bad chasers until some years. It is only under his captaincy India set a record of maximum no. of consecutive successful run chases. Dravid was captain on 15 of such 17 occasions.
• India winning a Test-Series in West Indies, first time since 1971. (Well I was not even born then, so a first series win in WI in my lifetime. :)
  
• Only Captain to win a Test Match against South Africa on South African soil.
• Lead India in a Test Series win in England in 21 years.
• Most Successful ODI Captain with a winning percent of 53.16%.
  

I am sure, all would agree that these are by no means small achievements. Still, isnt it so nice to criticize Rahul.
Given the kind of thorough Gentleman Rahul is, we are sure, we will never be able to know his side of story. What lead him to resign from Captaincy? Still, it was a great sign to resign after a very successful English tour. Rahul Dravid resigning on a high note. He would definitely have been retained for at least a season or two.
Salute to my idol, THE WALL.

What Pandit Nehru said about Reservation.

Please read this article to know what Pandit Nehru felt about reservations.

The Congress(I) party swears itself on the idealogy of Nehru-Gandhi family. But these politicians have themselves forgotten what Pandit Nehru and B R Ambedkar had said about Reservation. They are all doing this for their vote-bank and political mileage and have no interest towards the development of India for even say for the SC, ST and OBC.

Let us WE, the youth of India unite and raise our voice against the reservation in whatever possible manner we can.

Its fashionable to beg on Street

This week I was introduced to Geetanjali Nagpal.
Lets rephrase this sentence, believing there are lot of people like me who did not knew Geetanjali Nagpal.

This week we were introduced to Geetanjali Nagpal by the media as a model found asking money on the Street. We were told that she had walked the ramp with the likes of Sushmita Sen. She had also studied fashion designing at an upward fashion institute at Delhi. Well impressive!!! Isnt it. And then there were her photographs also. "I personally was more impressed with her photograph and this led me to read the complete article."

The chain of events that followed later were rather very interesting. She was taken in a cab, she demanded to be taken to a psychological clinic, some NGOs stepped in to help her, her photos were splashed across newspapers and television, and then all of us knew her.

As if she was the first beggar in India to be recovered from street. There are still hundreds, thousands or i dont know may be millions of people still living maybe even more miserable life on the streets. A recent survey showed there are still 836 million people living in India earning less than Rs. 20 a day. Well that should be roughly around 80% of total population of India. A sizeable chunk of them would still be living on streets, railway stations, picking up rug. Then, why is one person getting such extra ordinary treatment. Will not these 836 million people feel biased? OK, I am not aware of the circumstances she had been, and please I do not mean any offense to her. But as far as I feel, a lady educated at Lady Shri Ram College of Commerce, certainly does not need to beg to earn her living and drugs. I am sorry I should not use the word "beg" as I read about her that she did not used to beg for money but rather "ask" for money. Interesting, isn't it.

Well, the other people living on the Streets, you could have also asked for money, instead of beg for money, had you studied at some upward college, walked the ramp, had a CV as boastful as Gitanjali Nagpal. I feel sorry for you.