Adieu 2012... A perspective

Another year coming to an end.. 2012 relegated to the history books and we would be looking to the future, to what we have in store in 2013. I too among the millions around the world am no exception and as all of us do, await eagerly for a brand new beginning.

As time passes by, I cannot but help think and recollect what I did achieve in the year, that I would like to have  a better year going forward.. After all, there are hundreds if not thousands of "Happy New Year", "All the best", "Have a wonderful one...." that all of us get from our friends, relatives, and at times absolute strangers. We all look to it, expect that the coming new year will be a better one, a much improved one than the last, however at times I do wonder, is it the same as the last one?

Personally, 2012 has been interesting. A couple of job changes, more interesting work, learnt new things, met new people, travelled quite a bit, completed two major projects, wrote a lot more than 2011, learnt tweeting; the latter part of the year seeing myself a bit more relaxed; time to myself and the family, and most important, meeting old friends and relatives that had not seen in a long time. The icing for me was to travel back to the place where I grew up (Bahrain) after leaving for good more than three years ago bringing back sweet memories.

The downsides: not achieving goals and targets that I set personally, losing friends who moved on, relatives who decided to follow a journey to the other side; read and write more than what I planned for, and not be able to devote more time at home. A mixed bag as one would say.

But what about the world? Indian Cricket went through its worst year; Ponting, Tendulkar, Dravid, legends of the game of the willow, all calling it a day; the World Economy still in the doldrums; Giant corporations losing battles against increasing competition and change; industries struggling but surviving, the Mayan prediction of the end of the world scaring every one and coming a dud.

2012 also saw the awakening of the common man all across. The "Springs" of freedom that encompassed many countries across the world and going the democratic way, some losing the plot midway; BO coming back for another four years. Social Media (FB, Twitter), proving their power to influence and bring change, with the regular media the news channels slowly losing theirs. Technology going viral, with mobile phones losing their charm and the world moving onto Smart Phones, the Androids, and the IOS..

The year also saw crime, corruption, violence, increasing multi fold, and probably more rampant today than what it was 20 years ago, the shootouts in schools, rapes against women on the rise and the political nexus striving every bit to keep the tempo down. Competition still at its fiercest, making the adage Survival of the fittest absolutely apt and valid. Once again, a mixed bag.

No doubt every year has the worst of it and the best. Every country will have their own and their version of the world's top and bottom events and often, the worst overshadowing the good. Yet we all look forward to the next year. A year filled with hope, with opportunity, a belief that things will be better. We enjoy the going away of the previous year as we aim to bury all that was not right, some confined to text books, some forgotten.

The one thought that often comes to mind is: do we ever spare a thought as to what we would like to do different in the coming year? What is in our power to change and do we change that? We all have our resolutions, the things that we would like to stop, to implement, to improve, to better, and yet we all get embroiled in our daily lives so much that it remains confined to another year of not done. Not to say that nothing changes.. But if all of us manage to even achieve half of what we aim to better, the impact no doubt would be phenomenal.

My goal / dream.. To become a better person, and to be able to contribute to society a change where all are equally accepted and to have a world that we can leave behind for generations to come. No doubt there are always shades of black and white and having an ideal world is but a Utopian dream, but the change has to come from us. Generation Next for all is round the corner, for some it is yet to start, for some in progress, and for some, round the corner. We probably managed to survive our round, but at the rate at which we are heading to, the next round may simply not exist.

It is no doubt a new beginning, but every dark cloud has to have a silver lining. It is this lining that I believe that we need to work towards and have our contribution to. Drops from a tap fill a bucket, good deeds done today will come back around tomorrow.. It is for us to take the call to ensure that the change is not just another night that has gone and another regular day that has started..

Adeiu 2012.....Swagatam 2013..

RIP.. Nirbhaya

I never realized that my last note on a society going haywire would be so real life that in a couple of weeks, this would be a country wide phenomenon. Crimes against women have been on the surge so much, that it is virtually a challenge to even open up any news paper or channel and not hear about some crime or the other. Leave aside, letting a lady go out alone after dark.

Nirbhaya, the 23 year old girl who was molested and left to die on the streets of Delhi. Needless to say, the incident has acted as the last straw in a nation that had seemed resigned to accept any kind of molestation, either of the citizens, or of the country, or of life in general.

Was it a shocker, was it a surprise, probably not, as this seemed to happen every day, and more so in the wonderful capital itself. Her crime that every demented human being comes up with these days: She was out late at night? Was she wearing the right clothes?

This would have continued the normal way, however a change this time has been the awakening of the average Indian, who for some reason had believed that Silence was Golden. The sheer numbers in which the masses have congregated has been a true eye opener and a real indicator of the true people power. Politicians are being asked to leave, a PM and a Govt who have no clue as to what is really happening, a CM who asks Is it Ok and more.. It is all Theek Hai. 

A shoot out takes place in the US and a President is moved to tears for the loss of children that his country has had to go through with a genuine attempt at ensuring that it never happens again, vs a PM who does not even conjure up a genuine speech of anguish and pain.

This could go on and on, and for sure there will be no end to the incidents and the embarrassments that are coming up, nor am I trying to do a compilation of all that has happened. It is no doubt a sad day in India, but a hope of glimmer as the common man seems to have stepped out. The elected is no doubt scared, as the electorate is now asking for their pound of flesh and one does hope this brings about a change. What is necessary that a life that was so cruelly taken away is not wasted into some electoral vote debate, but brings about a change that will protect the women from more anguish. If that happens, Nirbhaya's life may not be wasted, though the anguish would always remain.

RIP Nirbhaya.. we owe her that much. 

A society going haywire...

When I first started blogging, the idea was to blog about things that I see in life from my perspective. Realized soon enough, one's perspective may be contorted and of course one sided.. When you look around, you see so much of disharmony around, it makes one wonder.

Two Articles that I read recently, that brought a question to myself.. Where are we as a society? Are we really developed enough to understand what freedom is all about? Do we really understand what we are doing as human beings?

One article on Sexual Molestation of a six year old in Kerala by her own father for six months after giving her alcohol, and not only doing it himself, but also others.. How does a father even think about it? Having a physical relationship with an adult when services are paid for is an age old tradition, but with children, that are your own blood and sweat??

The second one related to a man beheading his sister in public for running away and marrying some one else and living with him, and the family defining it as immoral. The fact that a person chose to have her / his own life, has kids, is of no relevance to the family who consider the act as being demeaning to their very existence and not being able to walk with their heads held high.

Is this what the freedom fight was all about? Is it that men only describe and have the right to define what is moral and immoral. Have our religious books been so dis contorted that all rights belong to the very few select people in the house who decide wrong from wrong.

Unfortunate to add to the woes, that our Judicial system too is so paralysed that it cannot take swift decisions. Casteism comes to the fore. Human Rights speak for justice and fairness when criminals are punished, Politicians see that as vote banks for the taking. The common man, is no where in the picture, as not worth considering or thought for.

We as a country despite having had our independence, have not left our barbaric roots that we come from and it is indeed a fact that the British did tame us and teach us a bit of civilization that we know. With progress being limited to a select few, with traditions in many places dying, and in some places, barbarism continuing, it is only a matter of time, we as a civilization cease to exist or move back to the Stone Age, where no rules exist, it is a man eat woman world..

PS: My thoughts may be out of sync, but reading the above two, could not hold myself from wondering where we are headed to...