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blahblahblaw18 · 1 year

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Grammar of Anarchy in Modern India

“...it is quite possible in a country like India – where democracy from its long disuse must be regarded as something quite new – there is danger of democracy giving place to dictatorship. It is quite possible for this newborn democracy to retain its form but give place to dictatorship in fact.” These lines are excerpted from Dr Ambedkar’s famous speech “The Grammar of Anarchy”, delivered on November 25th 1949, the eve of the adoption of the Indian Constitution. In this address, Babasaheb defined the difference between a real democracy and a facile one and laid down certain principles that he expected the future generations to adhere to, if they wished for the Indian constitutional democracy to coincide in form and in fact.

It was indeed amid much pomp and publicity that in 2015, the 125th birth anniversary of Dr Ambedkar, the current government decided to attest the tag of National Constitution Day to November 26th. It was just one of the many ways in which governments, over the years, have tried to appropriate the idea of Ambedkar for their vested interests without giving any thought to his ideals. Seen in this context, it becomes important to analyse whether today’s democratic India has lived up to the expectations of the architect of its constitution.

The first principle that Ambedkar mentioned in his speech was that in a real democracy, progress should be brought about only through constitutional methods. He sought an end to methods of Non-Cooperation and Civil Disobedience which, unless restricted, could paralyze development and saw protests as a symbol of facile democracies. Today’s India is far from realising that goal. We are a country that protests at the drop of a hat. However, more often than not, these protests, far from stifling development, have been used to coerce those in power to take the right step. Be it the 2011 anti-corruption dharnas pushing for passage of appropriate legislations or the CAA-NRC protests or the more recent anti-farm law sit-ins appealing for retraction of unpopular legislations, agitations against the ruling dispensations have been the guiding light of our democracy, seeking adherence to the constitution. So does this mean Ambedkar was wrong in his assessment of protests? No. In his speech, Babasaheb, while advocating for an end to unconstitutional protests, specifically spelled out that when there is no possibility of achieving change through constitutional means, resorting to unconstitutional methods was the only way forward. When constitutionally elected governments show apathy towards the needs or worse, go against the wishes of the very people who put them in power and constitutionally established courts and politically established opposition also leave people in the lurch, the only recourse left for the people is to mobilise and swerve those in power in the right direction. Thus, the very fact that today mass mobilisations and protests are needed to exhort governments to do what they’re elected to do, points towards the disuse and misuse of constitutional machinery.

His second prescription of eschewing the deification of leaders, is perhaps also the most pertinent advice in contemporary times. Today we have downgraded ourselves into a nation of hero-worshipping fanatics, divinizing our political leaders to the point where we fail to accept that they can ever err and ignore them when they actually do so. Living in times when being anti-Modi is routinely equated to being anti-India, Babasaheb’s warning that in politics Bhakti is a sure road to eventual dictatorship rings truer than ever.

Finally, Ambedkar in his speech, recommends us to evolve into a social democracy i.e., we mustn’t be content with the mere political sanction of liberty, equality and fraternity, but should strive to make these ideals, a way of life. Acknowledging the chasm between ‘constitutional guarantees’ and ‘social realities’, Babasaheb had famously remarked that India would, on January 26th 1950, enter into a life of contradictions where political equality would stand in contrast with socioeconomic inequalities. In calling for a social democracy, it was this gap that he sought to bridge. However, it is the sad reality of our times that, even in this aspect we have failed him. 70 more 26th Januarys have passed since that observation was made and still, we find ourselves stuck in the same quagmire. Obdurate lines of caste, class and religious inequalities have been redrawn by politically motivated leaders who find benefit in refusing to let these lines fade; Sectarian affiliations continue to override national unity, crumpling up the ideal of fraternity. And liberty, attacked by both state and non-state actors, has become a mere chimaera.

Thus, our country’s current socio-political standing is far from what the creator of our constitution had hoped it would be. It’s indeed impossible for a country as vast and diverse as ours to embody an ideal democracy, but that shouldn’t mean that we retrograde into becoming a facile democracy. Superficially celebrating the Constitution Day or Mahaparinirvan Diwas will only amount to lip service unless we reinstate adherence to these principles which add life into the soul of India’s democracy, principles prescribed by the father of the constitution himself and principles which will otherwise end up being mere quixotic embellishments for a bleak reality.

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blahblahblaw18 · 1 year

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The Battle of Belonging

"Howmuchever I did not want to belong in Mysuru, it was still my own. It was and will forever be a part of me, mine. I can only escape from it geographically, but it will forever and till eternity, remain in my heart, as an indelible, inescapable part of my identity and personality."

Caveat: The following blog piece is a deeply personal and reflective essay. Read only if you have the mental capacity to handle the trauma dumping.

NRIs have this thing called ABCD, it stands for American-born confused Desi. This pithy phrase very succinctly captures the confusion and the identity crisis that they experience, being a vibrant cultural minority in a foreign land.

I am not an NRI. Nor am I in foreign lands. and yet, I am going through a somewhat similar experience. This feeling of not belonging here and not wanting to belong there. The constant conflict in the mind. The two different worlds which you know will never meet - like the two shores of the sea. The eviscerating feeling of not knowing who I am, where my heart lies, what I identify as, how I should react to situations and events... constantly trying to reconcile the two ends of the spectrum. The two feelings, the two yous, the two behaviours, the difference, the split, conflict, confusion. Who am i? Who is prerana?

Am I the silent, serious, career-oriented, driven, focused, straight-talking Prerana who always rebelled against her parents, teachers, friends and family, who always tried to push the boundaries and who was very sagacious and calm and mature and wanted to reach for the stars and leave mysuru behind, escape from the small-minded people and their parochial thoughts and outdated ideas... or should I qualify those attributes with a "supposedly" or "assumed"? Supposedly small-minded people; assumed parochial thoughts and outdated ideas. Supposed and assumed by me. The girl who always looked at the skies hoping to escape into the calm familiarity of its darkness, looking for a stairway out of the small town. Grasping for opportunities...

Or am I the Prerna who is excited to learn new things, the empathetic listener, always down for a chat, available for a call, hugging people, trying to belong, wanting to belong? Trying to firmly establish herself on the ground, to grasp at the grass trying to find her footing, the one who is accepting of every new culture, tradition and way of life, the one who is trying to wiggle in rather than escape out? trying to be here, now. embracing, condoning and accepting this place for what it is- warts, wounds, wonders and all. jostling in with the people and accepting and celebrating them for who they are, their thoughts, ideas, small-mindedness, and narrow thinking?

I hated that place because of what it is, and now I am trying to fall in love with this place despite what it is. And yet, I seem to have forgotten to realise that, in the heart of hearts, overarchingly, both mysuru and Jindal are the same. They may be different cultures, but the small-minded ideas remain, the narrow thoughts and othering of what doesn't fit in with the established norm remains.

That was a community-oriented life and I struggled to create a space for myself. This is an individual-oriented space and I am fighting to create a community of my own. But why?

I grew up in Mysuru, a mysuru that was in the perpetual shadow of the Bengaluru. Every single holiday I would get, we would catch the first train to Bengaluru. leaving mysuru and its lethargy and laziness behind. The joy of seeing the suburban Bengaluru slums from the window of my train seat, which heralded the arrival in the city, a city which I since forever wanted to make my own. And a city I always looked at with glinting eyes and gaping mouth. The city which had my heart, my love, my life.

The yearning for that big city, that cosmopolitan culture, that melting pot of ideas, cultures, traditions, that urban, chic, jet black and grey ad white world with tall towers and big cars and traffic-jammed streets. the endless opportunities. the vibrant nightlife. the food, the street, the big corporate hubs, the cafes buzzing with people; forever, the breweries and the sense of not being judged for sipping a drink or wearing a torn jean or hanging out with English-speaking boys.

The peacock from mysuru zoo wisting to dance under the pale blue-grey hues and occasional showers of the Bengaluru sky.

I was never happy in mysuru. Never satisfied with the city. Never got myself to like it. Those ceremonial debates about mysuru v. Bengaluru, I always took the side of Bengaluru. Not that mysuru didn't have opportunities or wasn't modern or anything... But i tried to steer clear of the modern mysuru. Tried to stay put and ply my game on the path out of the city. Like I didn't want to get distracted or enticed by whatever little wonders mysuru had to offer.

Now, I have come to Jindal. Achieved what I wanted. Reached where I thought I wanted to. Escaped, finally and successfully. And after a long drawn, draining and desiccating fight no less. That rebel in me has won the final fight. The ultimate rebellion. I wanted to leave, but they held me back, they pulled me back, they tied and tethered me back but I broke free, suffered through bruises, and endured their glare, stare and spit. Roared, screamed, and unleashed myself. and now I have left. That fight has now reached its conclusion. There's no reason to feel restless. That goal that always lingered around and directed my every step and action has been fulfilled. Years of penance, struggle, and rebellion have finally borne fruit. I have reached where I wanted to. I have done it ma. I have gotten my way. I have won against you, appa, those aunties and uncles who constantly questioned me, those people from college who tried to pull me down. I have won the battle against all of you guys... I have stayed put, my obstinacy and stubbornness have reached their end now. I got what I wanted. This is what I had prayed, starved, begged, kicked, fought and screamed for. This is it. The cosmopolitan, urban lifestyle is finally mine. Mine to live.

But.

But there is still a battle to be fought. yet another one. another fight to fight. my mind tells me to live another day. Fight this one last battle and we will see what happens tomorrow. One more fight, one more struggle, one more battle, one more. But this is a different battle. If my first fight was a Tapasya to escape, to not settle, to not remain, to leave and get out of the suffocation. This is a fight to belong. to feel like I belong, to fit in, to forget about the sky and hold on to the ground. to touch the grass, and the mud and make it my own. the battle of belonging. To settle down. to remain even if it means suffocating myself. to keep my mind open and to take in every new idea, every new experience, new feeling and culture and tradition and people. But if this is what I wanted all my life and this is what I fought for all my life, why am I continuing to fight even after having gotten what I have wanted? what is it that I seek? Why is there another struggle? I wanted this, right? More than want, I yearned for this. And now that I have it, why does the restlessness remain?

What do I do about this constant conflictual state of mind? That's a futile question to ask, to be fair to myself. Conflict, much like change is a constant. There is no escaping from conflict. sometimes it is the external conflict, sometimes it is the inner conflict. but conflict remains. And when there is none, the mind makes one. The mind is a very weird thing. It does not want to settle. It does not want to be satisfied. It wants more and more and more and better and higher. There is always a battle to be fought. Live another day, sleep another night - quite literally these days.

Then, what is the problem? if I am aware of this peculiarity of the mind, if I have always been fighting fights and waging wars, internal as well as external, shouldn't I have gotten used to them by now? Shouldn't I have gotten adjusted to the hustle now? What is it that is making me take a step back and pause to reassess everything?

I always thought of leaving mysuru as the first step to independence and freedom. Leave mysuru first and then leave India next. Explore the world, wear down those peripatetic feet, and satiate that ever-hungry mind. So having escaped mysuru, I should have, by now, embarked on my next fight. the fight for emancipation from the manacles that fate imposed on me when it made me an Indian. all of this, I had mapped out and planned out in my mind. But in my eagerness, I failed to anticipate the intermediate level. Between the fight for escaping from mysuru, where I had been born and the fight to escape into the larger world, where i wanted to live, there was this one intermediate level. I left mysuru and reached Delhi, reached Jindal. Now, I have to leave Jindal and reach new york? London? sydney? tokyo? or just the road leading up to the Supreme Court of India? But before I commence on that journey, there is one more goal to achieve. And that is to make Delhi and Jindal mine and my own. to belong here, to fight to be one among these people, to embrace them and their culture. Because, if I do not make this my own, what will I fight against when I begin my battle to move out of India? I have to first own this before I can rebel. i have to first be here before I can leave from here. I failed to anticipate that belonging here could be an entire battle in itself. But it should not be a battle... I shouldn't have to fight for anything that is already, rightfully, mine... do I? I should not have to fight to belong here. Nor should I have had to fight to leave from there. But it is what it is. The battle of belonging. and I have to make peace with it.

yours,

I.L.

youtube

#blogblog #blogger #india #leaving #small town #mysuru #jindal #desi blog #india bloggers #writers of india #writers of tumblr #keepingitreal #life #what'sonmymind #indiralakshmi #Law school #gen z thoughts #coming of age #Youtube

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blahblahblaw18 · 1 year

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The Sound of Familiarity

I was sitting in the Global Reading Room in our university and working on my history assignment. sitting, there plying at my keyboard, taking down notes, underlining important points and highlighting keywords when my mind randomly starts buzzing with the tune of some long-forgotten music. At first, it is a faint hum of the tune and then it became more and more pronounced. Taaanaanna na na na na...

and then it grew louder and louder and then so loud that it is no longer in my head, it has forced itself out of the shackles of my mind and is now resonating out of my laptop. the faint, intangible hum has wriggled out of my body and is now a song. like a butterfly breaking out of its cocoon. and it now presents itself before me, the butterfly of the song, flashing the wings of its ostentatiously beautiful lyrics on the faded screen of my laptop.

"Akkare Maathadi Pooje Maadi Anthovne Maadevaaaa... Ughe! Ughe! Elu Male Myaleli Kunthanavva...."

What is the name of the song? ...what is it? is it elu male myaleli...? no, it doesn't seem like it. must be hange kuniro hinge kuniro? And i glance at my screen, scenes from a film keep changing in quick succession. the image of a distinctively strong man of dusky complexion, ruffled hair, and stern expressions is constant in all photos. Shivanna. and then like the apricity of the morning sun, enveloping the body in a blanket of warmth, my mind is embraced tightly with memories from a past, long lost and forgotten. they hug me. and i scramble to hug them back, it is a long, tight embrace.

"Beta zara is taraf aajao"

"en akka? - uh haan didi-"

And like a tree recoiling at the strike of lightning, i crack back into consciousness. I move aside to let the didi sweep the carpet underneath and i am pulled out of my lucid dream and yanked back into reality. I glance out of the window and I see the flagpole- the silken flag majestically fluttering away. Elu male myaleli is still resonating from the laptop as i continue to stare at the flag. for once, this feels like my flag. my flag, my country, i belong here. This place, this college, the people, the trees, the building are all mine. it is my college and this is me.

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blahblahblaw18 · 1 year

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What Remains

...

What happens when the fire in the ammunition is extinguished,

What happens when the brown green yellow patterns of fabric

cease to camouflage burly men

and are merely relegated to keeping bruised bodies warm?

What happens once the Kalashnikov chokes and the guns are laid to rest?

What happens after the throat goes sore and the war cry dies down?

What happens when the tufts of grass that can't discern the difference

Between oxygen and carbon dioxide wilt away at the scent of smoke

What happens after the soil, saturated by the blood of men

Says, no more! And the sun drowns into the horizon in shame

not wanting to shine glory onto a gory land anymore?

What remains is the harsh winter wind making every body

strewn across the dammed land, dead or alive, shiver all the same

Shiver at humanity's inhumane yearnings

Shiver at the sin that has been committed by the sons of the land

What remains is the memory of a loving family left behind

A love that is now long lost, and tears left unshed

That is all that remains after the fire is extinguished

yours,

Written on 21/09/2021

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blahblahblaw18 · 2 years

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Indian society needs to realise that times change and people change according to the situation. The changes in human behaviour in response to their changing circumstances are a part of the natural course of life and development. Those who remain stoical in the face of socio-cultural changes around them will never be able to achieve anything. They will remain stuck in the quick-sand of time until it slowly devours them. The right-minded individual will change and adapt herself according to the needs and demands of the changing circumstances and that is a mark of prudence. So essentially, it makes no sense to use phrases like "Oh you have changed a lot". Of course, I have changed! What were you expecting me to do? just remain there while the rest of the world progressed? No thank you. I'd rather adapt and move on, and embrace newer experiences and events even if it means running a risk of letting go of things I currently hold dear to myself in addition to a risk of failure. Because a failure that teaches me new lessons is always a superior experience to that of stagnancy, which is essentially no experience at all. A comfort zone, comfortable and secure as it may be, can also end up being a very dangerous thing that could essentially paralyse one's growth and development.

#thoughts #3 am ramblings #what'sonmymind #indiralakshmi #keepingitreal #life #india #i thought of this at 3am #random #weird thoughts #life things #it's 3am #ooc // i'll probably be awake to 3am for no reason #writers of tumblr #writers of india #desi blog #desi tumblr

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blahblahblaw18 · 3 years

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“Learn the way to hell, in order to flee from it.”

-Niccolo Machiavelli

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blahblahblaw18 · 3 years

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"If you cannot be both it is better to be feared than loved but avoid being hated at all costs"

-Niccolo Machiavelli

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blahblahblaw18 · 3 years

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I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It's just that the translations have gone wrong.

John Lennon

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blahblahblaw18 · 3 years

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Me the night before exams: "What do you mean 'take it easy'?! This is only my 27494th cup of coffee."

31.03.21

IndiraLakshmi

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blahblahblaw18 · 2 years

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Loneliness

(Where I live, 11th and 12th grades are referred to as college)

Have you ever related to a character on TV so much that you feel like you are living through them? I recently started watching The Office and fell in love with the one character, no points for guessing who. Michael Gary Scott. I love him for all the reasons that any ordinary office watcher might love him, he's silly, funny, goofy and caring but also at the same time very real (at least in the first few seasons) because of his flaws. But I, more than just love him. I relate to him. So many things he does involve situations that I can easily imagine finding myself in. But, by far, the most relatable aspect of Michael is his loneliness and his constant craving for attention.

Loneliness is... feeling like you are alone even when you are amidst a lot of people. Because you don't feel connected to them or you just don't know or share a relationship with them. I feel like a lot of people are lonely at some point in their life. But going through loneliness is a completely different thing. I see it as chronic suffering. When I was in school, I used to feel lonely sometimes. Like, when my friends weren't present that day in school. But loneliness, as a much deeper and eviscerating feeling, actually hit me when I had to leave school. Not during Summer or Winter Holidays but when I left school forever, never to return.

For the first time, I felt completely unmoored in life. For 12 long years, my school had been the home that even my own home wasn't, my friends had been the family that I had identified with and related to more than my own family. My teachers were no different from my parents. Just as caring, just as toxic. I had been to so many places in those 12 years, but I still did not know of a world beyond school gates. That is where I grew up and lived and matured more than anyplace else.

And naturally, when I had to bid goodbye to those homely classrooms, matronly staff, those trees under whose shade my shadow grew longer every year, the cosy pink walls and the inner gardens away from all the hullabaloo of the city and even the stinky toilets and gloomy labs, it was nothing short of traumatic. I hated it. And to rub salt over wounds, I was, against my likings, admitted to a college that none of my friends joined. It was completely different from the environment I had been used to till then. The students, the teachers, everything felt so different and unrelatable. My mother was the Principal in my college. She was right there the whole time. Someone who is my actual family was there with me the entire time and still, the place didn't feel like home. It didn't feel like my college. It remained, right from the first day till the very last, 'my mother's college that I also happened to go to'. The teachers were friendly, never scolded me. The students were courteous. But it all felt so fake and affected and I felt so suffocated.

Whenever I went to school, it never - not for one day or for one minute - felt like I was going to attend school, it always felt like I was going there to hang out with my friends, albeit, in front of a blackboard. Every day I'd wake up and look forward to school. But when I was in college, I would only wake up, every single day, and try to find reasons to not attend it. I hated it. It felt like there was nothing at all to be excited about anymore. I felt lonely and probably would have even slipped into depression if it hadn't been for table tennis.

That was in 11th. 12th was a completely different experience for me. I made friends but never felt comfortable with them. They didn't feel like family, they were just friends. Not even the best types. However, I was, for most of 12th, completely occupied with my preparations for CLAT. I was so immersed in it that I barely found time to even feel lonely, let alone go through loneliness. No doubt there were times when I felt like it would have been so much easier had my school friends been by my side, but I would quickly swerve my focus back to my studies. It was all eat-study-sleep. And I slowly got used to this new way of life.

And then the pandemic happened.

To be continued.

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blahblahblaw18 · 3 years

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Questions for those who’ve lost their parents/ family/ near and dear ones early in life…

Do you start missing those people less and less as you grow older? Does having spent more years on earth without them, than with them, make them seem more distant and less significant in your life? As you grow older and experience newer events in life without their presence, which would've otherwise been a constant, do you ever catch yourself thinking about them, wondering if things would've been different if they hadn't left, the sombre party that life is, so early? Do you ever find yourself in a situation where your present, in their absence, seems pointless and you feel like you want to escape back to the past? Does your past beckon you? Do those days you spent crying over, wailing about, mourning and missing them, ever start feeling like they were a phase? New and many people enter your life, other people... people who never knew you before and who you never knew before and through them, you meet people who never knew the people who, until they passed away, were a part of your past. You start seeing some of these people more than the others and before you blink away that last teardrop from the corner of your eye, as you catch a fleeting glimpse of the people you've lost being returned to you in the form of the people you've gained, you realise that these new people who have taken over the responsibility of your happiness, your sorrows and your life have now occupied that chasm in your heart that, not many years ago, sitting in front of the lifeless body of the one, the only one, that you'd known to love, and grieving their passing away, you thought would never be filled. Do these people then, while helping you forget the blues of the past also dethrone those whose leaving had led you to those dark, blue, depressing times? Do you ever again look at yourself in the mirror and wonder how you, who had believed all those years ago, that there was no life without that one person who left you without preparing you for life in their absence, managed to live through it all? How often do you reminisce the memories of those around whom your life, until not many years ago, seemed to revolve and in whose presence your day would start and end? Do these memories fade away after a certain period of time? Do you feel guilty for moving on? Does one ever even get over death?

25.04.21

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blahblahblaw18 · 3 years

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Yesterday, I had been out with my parents to buy a gift for my friend’s birthday. Took these photos then, the tree looked so beautiful, it was as if it was asking me to capture it’s elegantly crafted canopy.

...

Physical classes in my college start from day after tomorrow, I am extremely nervous but at the same time I am looking forward to finally meet all the faces I had only seen through the screen all these months. Wish me luck guys.

Listening to this beautiful song to ease my anxiety :)

What’s your favourite Beatles song?

IndiraLakshmi

06.01.21

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blahblahblaw18 · 3 years

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"A tear-jerker"

I've always loved cartooning, I remember I was in 8th grade when we were given an assignment by our Hindi teacher, in which we were supposed to draw different expressions on the face templates that were given in our workbook. (It was related to a lesson on facial expressions) and that was the first time I took to doodling. I did doodle several times after that but mostly it was just copying stuff from Pinterest.

These days whenever I find myself cut off from access to the internet, I find myself zoning out and spit balling my thoughts. It was on one such occasion when I was in the office (interning) that I came up with the idea for this comic strip. The office uncle (if you have read my blog about my first day as an intern you'll know who I am talking about) gave me some Mandakki with onions to munch on (if you don't know what Mandakki is, it's basically puffed rice that's eaten as an evening snack... It is very popular here in Karnataka, it's sometimes also called puri, (not to be confused with poori, which according to Wikipedia is to be defined as a "deep-fat fried bread made from unleavened whole-wheat flour") and is usually consumed in the form of 'Churmuri' which btw is my most favourite snack ever, you should try it when you come to Karnataka). I was sitting in my chair, laid back, eating my Mandakki and staring at the onion pieces in front of me, when a thought crept into my head, and I said to myself "Hey, what do you think onions would talk about if they could converse with each other" and the first thing that came to my mind was an image of two onions bragging about their tear-conjuring abilities and that was how I came up with this insignificant piece of cartoon that no one should really care about.

I feel like a movie director discussing the thought process behind the creation of her film. 😂.

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blahblahblaw18 · 3 years

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"That's how I roll!"

PS- c.stripclub is the name I've given for the collection of my cartoon/ doodle work. It stands for cartoonstripclub.

IndiraLakshmi

30.03.21

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blahblahblaw18 · 3 years

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The one person whom I wouldn't trust when it comes to matters of trust chooses to enlighten us about trust 🤷🏾‍♀️

When last year in March, this whole fiasco of bringing down the democratically elected Kamal Nath government played out in the background of a - then still nascent - pandemic, I was at a loss for words.

I was appaled at how fickle minded our politicians can be at times, and how they keep on reaching lower and lower nadir in the field of what is supposed to be their profession.

When such things happen it really makes me wonder with what interests such people enter the sanctified arena of public service. I mean, does the ideology, which they swore allegiance to mean anything at all? How easily these people are ready to abandon, that which is is not merely something they bought or borrowed, but is the very edifice on which their own thoughts and principles are built! What, then, is the surety that tomorrow, these people won't sell away our nation to satiate their vested interests?

Now, one may list a thousand reasons to justify Jotiradithya's jumping ship. But no justification can take away the fact that the man, literally within a matter of days, was ready to give up on all that he, not just believed in, but also professed and even seemed to practice. Was it all just lip service? All those interviews, all those speeches, those promises made to the people?

To the ruling party I ask, what do you seek to achieve through this? 'Cause this ain't leading to no "Congress Mukt Bharat". Rather you are with your own hands laying the foundation for Congressification of BJP. Really, how can you be so sure that all the legislators and parliamentarians that you've managed to cajole into switching sides won't usurp your voter base and chip away at the tenets that define your party and it's ideology?

And now, coming to the Congress. I don't know what to say about the party that refuses to believe, even after being routed in two successive elections, that this nation of 136,64,00,000 people doesn't revolve around one family of 3 people! If there's one thing that I've learnt from my short time on Earth, then it is that not even the thoughest and the smartest are immune to defeats. Which is precisely why one must take it all in one's stide and move on. Yes, you were the biggest political stage perhaps the biggest ever on the face of earth. Yes, you were a party of the likes of Gandhi and Nehru. And of course it was your very party that ushered the nation towards freedom. But all that was in the past. Now you have been stripped of power and the faster you accept that fact and move on the better it is for both you and the country. Get up and get going. Roll with the punches. If you need some motivation put on your headphone and groove to Katy Perry's new song. Heck! Organize a core committee meeting (or whatever it is that you call it) and group jam to it on loop... I don't care what you do, but please if not for yourself, then at least for the sake of carrying forward your 'illustrious' legacy, become a better opposition party.

Needless to say, if such activities continue to take place at the rate at which they're happening then the day is not far when the only thing differentiating the two main national parties would be the genre of music they listen to!

IndiraLakshmi

05.02.21

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blahblahblaw18 · 3 years

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I’m byackkk!

Heyy people (by ‘people’ I mean myself and my 3 other followers, of which I am sure 2 are bot accounts) I am byackkk. I know I took a pretty long unannounced break but it’s not like I stopped writing or anything, which btw is never going to happen ‘cause even if I go blind (which, if it happens, wouldn’t be a surprise considering how I’ve been exploiting my poor eyes these days) or lose a limb or get diagnosed with cancer or a brain tumour or some such major thing, I will still find a way to talk to you (again, by ‘you’ I mean myself and the 3 other followers, of which I am sure 2 are bot accounts) probably I will start a podcast or something... IDK we’ll figure that out when I become handicapped.

Anyway, I hadn’t uploaded anything ‘cause a few weeks ago my Ayurvedic ophthalmologist advised me to steer clear of any kind of screen. Why? That’s a story for another day, you guys. Till then all you need to know is that I have some dumb problem in my right eye which is really a pain in the butt, I’ll just leave it there. Anyhoo, because of that prescription, I had to diligently keep most of the gadgets out of my way for most of the first two weeks in November. And then what happened was, my other (non-Ayurvedic ophthalmologist) told me that it was okay to use gadgets and that it doesn’t really make much of a difference to the condition that my eye suffers from. So that kinda opened the floodgates and... I am ashamed to admit this but I will do it anyway... I suffered a relapse, guys. If you don’t know what I am talking about, well, I am an addict... internet addict, to be specific.

Don’t laugh at me guysss. It is a real problem and it is, in fact, worse than any actual substance abuse ‘cause the internet is not illegal, so there’s more chance of it going a) undiagnosed and b) uncured. Yeah so, that kinda took me downhill and before I could even make sense of what was happening, I had wasted even my last two months this year down in some obscure YT rabbit hole. Not a good note end the year on eh? Nope. Not even by the standards of 2020. Anyway, there are still a few more days to go before we finally get to say goodbye to this cataclysmic year so maybe I’ll be able to turn the tables by then. (Pfft. Who am I even kidding?!)

Soooo, why is it that I find myself out of the YouTube loop (SURPRISE! SURPRISE!) at 1:37 in the morning, sleeping (at least pretending to) in the living room of my grandparents' house on the divan with the fan turned to a genteel speed of 2, wrapped in a warm fuzzy rug (which would have in normal circumstances kissed to sleep even the most insomniac of people) writing this blog? That’s because even though I was on a break I hadn’t completely stopped writing, as I mentioned earlier. I did write some reallly good pieces, at least good by my own parameters, but it’s that, for most of the past few days I’ve either been too sucked up into the YT rabbit hole to find time to type them all here or have been just plain lazy to do so. But this particular night, even as I plopped down on this makeshift ‘bed’, I wasn’t feeling exactly soporific and so I thought since I have no better job and also since I was getting slightly bored of YT (Whuttt?!) I might as well stop kicking then can any further down the road and get down to writing some shit at least. And anyway, is there any better time than the middle of the night for the best of ideas strike the mind? I mean, the bathroom time might seem like a tough competitor but usually I find myself whiling away that time exercising my vocal cords (Yup, I just confessed to being a toilet singer) so, as far as my case goes, it does no better than coming a close second. Also, some really good Backstreet Boys songs were playing on my Spotify shuffle in the background so it would have been really foolish of me to resist the urge to write.

An idea is quite literally like a piece of shit, it doesn’t care about who you are, where you are or what you are doing. Once it has decided that it wants to squirm out of you, then it very much will get what it wants and find it’s way out. So who am I to say no to it?

25.12.20

IndiraLakshmi

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