Click

The door locked behind me
with a sharp click
as I stepped out
into a fresh breath of air.
There was something final
in that sound
as at the end of a story.
Should I now try to get back in
do I change my mind.
I don’t know
if I really want to do it .
Leaving was never easy ,
but now that I have left;
I would like to keep it this way.
With the finality of a click
the sound of a door closing behind me

Secret Lover

I am the one who loves you,
I am your secret lover.
The person who visits you
and ravages you in your dreams.
I am the wild horse of fantasy
whom you want to ride
and break the boundaries of ecstasy.
I am the thought that makes you blush
even in your most private moments.
I am your secret lover
for whom you wait without a reason.
I am the truth whom you want to feel
in all its naked glory,
the shining hard blade of steel
to pierce you to your death.
I am the old letter of invitation
received after its due date;
in the unknown address of pleasure
where you've never been before.
I am the temptation of senses
which you can never resist
I am the piece of jigsaw puzzle
that you will always miss in life.
I am the one whom you seek
in cold winter nights
I am the heat of the summer
that burns between your thighs.
I am your secret lover
who changes your days and nights.

One Belt One Road .....

ONE BELT ONE ROAD

High hopes on the Indian economy are exuded and promises galore are made almost every day on the subject of development in India by the politicians. They are of all hues, ideologies and beliefs, because many states are being ruled by different parties or coalitions. But not only that there is no appreciable development seen at the ground level but no solid plans for accelerating the pace of development with a long term planning . The problem it seems is that any government in India, be it central, state, municipal or panchayat, knows that they have a fixed term after which they have to face the electorate again. Even the ones , which come to power with absolute majority with an overwhelming mandate in their favour know this. And they are very wary about it. So every government tries to direct their development plans, programs and activities towards the sole aim to win the next elections. Instead of taking tough decisions with a long term view, they go in for the softer options of appeasing to different vote banks through subsidy, reservations and jobs without linking them to the overall picture of growth.

But this post is not about India at all. All of what I have written above is with a deep sigh and a sense of feeling like the middling student in the class as he looks at the first boy(or girl) on the day results are distributed. Even as we cry with hoarse voices debating over what to eat, what to study , what to wear , what to sing and what to see our biggest neighbour , about whom we actually know very little, in spite of stated bilateral relations of millenniums, have stolen a march over us with their typical planning on a grand and audacious scale .
All of us must be aware that the last three decades have been a story of China transforming, from a country with a closed and inward–looking economy largely dependent on agriculture (like us) with the burden of the largest population , into a global powerhouse in manufacturing and construction . The financial model of investing and producing on a large scale at home and then exporting to developed markets is a huge success and has elevated it to the world’s second-largest economy after the USA.

But as it happens with economic cycles, in particular and the evolution of societies in general, a slower economic growth now stares at China, actually the whole world. But instead of breaking heads or splitting hair on the causes, reasons, the whys and the wherefores of the economic slump, the Chinese leadership has already outlined and also rolled into action, their next ambitious plan to revive the economy. This time, they are not limiting themselves to domestic resources or capabilities. Keeping in line with their increasing sphere of influence China is now looking to rope in a number of countries in their neighbourhood and beyond with their ambitious “One Belt, One Road” concept .

As a concept, the “One Belt, One Road” project aims to combine the historical land route known as the “Silk route” with the naval route that has been followed by the Chinese over the years into the Mediterranean. The sheer magnitude of this plan can be gauged by the fact that it encompasses 60 countries of Asia , Europe and Africa . And yes it is not surprising and quite ominous too, that India has no part in the scheme of things. Rather, if we see the way this project has been planned, it will be apparent that India will face the biggest threat from the project. Geopolitics and energy security are at the core of this project and seen from a different perspective, it can be interpreted as China’s efforts to
1) Build a sphere of influence around itself
2) provide itself with a buffer in case of a catastrophic war
3) Establish hegemony with its vision of dominance.
Apart from geopolitical ramifications, the plan, if it gets through will help China to redirect its domestic overcapacity and capital for regional infrastructure development which will boost trade and relations with ASEAN, Central Asian and European countries. Massive construction activities will create a big demand for its steel, cement and aluminium industries, among others. A huge capital outlay will be required for this project and that may prove to be a game changer for the world economy.

Now see the route-map for the project and that will surely give you a shiver, up your spine. India will be trapped and encircled with this plan. Knowingly or unknowingly, by fate or by design, the two most populous countries of the world are facing each other. And the balance is tilted against us. Time has come when we need to be aware of the threat and have concrete plans to exist in a hostile environment (like Israel) using all means, be it economic, military, agriculture, diplomacy or technology. But that needs a far better commitment from the politicians. The culture of Jumlaas and public posturing will be of no use.

I am sure that the national leaders and think tank must be aware of the situation in a closer and better manner. I also hope that we are ably equipped to deal with any situation that emerges out of this grand plan which is potentially inimical to our interests. But we must also be careful not to fall in the trap of scoring small points with a policy of unnecessary needling and conflict at the behest of other international powers.

Random thoughts 02052016

The art of lying .

The easiest way to show yourself as taller than your opponent is to show them down or even better, cut them down . This is an accepted  corporate strategy for self advertisement . We have also seen such trashing of competitors and opponents regularly by politicians too , in their game of one-upmanship. Since a lot of brand value , money and power is at stake , both in business as well as politics , we  are not surprised , even though we may dislike , such show of silly competitive banters and grudgingly accept them as a part of the package.

But when a man claiming himself to be an apostle of peace and a holy person involved in bettering the lives of millions try to denigrate and trash the efforts and achievements of a young teenaged girl it really sucks . The frustrations of a lifetime gushes forth from the statements of this so called spiritual guru when he talks of not being interested in accepting the Nobel peace prize . As if  his claim on it is a natural corollary or a right over some paternal property  . The old fable of the fox declaring grapes as sour immediately comes to the mind. It is not clear when or why the Nobel prize committee had approached him to honour the prize by adding his name to the list of recipients. But of course , big things happen to big people only, in a bigger way. One wonders -  if his meditation can't control his own frustrations and cure him of his avarice and jealousy, then how  will it help the followers ?

What is not clear is why, being such a big shot  that he is , he should pick up a young girl as a reference point for his displeasure . Last heard , he tried to broker some peace deal with the  ISIS , who rebuffed him in their terse and abominable way by sending the photograph of a severed head . This prompted him to call off his efforts , probably directed towards getting nominated for the Nobel peace prize. Earlier one of his friends had air dropped himself , apparently unannounced, as we have been asked to believe, bang into a fat Pakistani wedding as part of a peace process . That effort to grab the Nobel peace prize had also met with a bad experience . But people may say , there's no harm in trying and rightly so.

This particular gentleman has recently been slapped a fine of Rs 5 Crs for depredation of river banks. To get his work done he paid Rs 25 lacs while promising to pay the remainder later . Till now he has not paid the remaining amount and is now stridently refusing to do so . His claim to fame is the large chain of franchised meditation techniques and feel good gospels for the upwardly mobile middle class and upper class which rakes in large sums of money to him . Like his contemporary who has graduated from being a yoga exponent to an industrialist this self styled holy man has the backing of the highest ranking politicians and industrialists of the country . Their services are often used as power brokers . Of late these people have moved from the fringe to the centre of the national discourses covering a wide range of issues. In short they have their finger in every pie.

The presence of people peddling feel good advices, concepts and physical exercises are necessary and accepted fact of life  in this age of stress , particularly in a country like ours which is rapidly modernising . But the sad part is that the feudal and traditional structure of our society is amalgamating  the adulation for these peddlers of hope with the age old culture of  subservience and dogma in raising them to high pedestals . This gives them the handle to dominate the national narrative by negotiating their influence as power brokers . And excellent platform for networking by the clever among their followers.

Surprisingly, so called education or lack of it has nothing to do with all this . Because most followers of these so called self styled gurus and babas are literate .  These god-men  thrive on the insecurities of people and  the followers are hooked to them on this particular point . Being rational has always been dangerous to the life and sanity for individuals over the ages and across countries .

The success of these fakes prove that the world is just a Maya , A myth where truth and facts are to be seen in the perspective of different dimensions as presented by the conjuror before the beguiled audience. And obliged to clap as the show goes on. 

Random 01052016

Where all the roads end,
there's no risk of losing the way.

Many of us may have realised that events, people, places, memories etc. are scattered in our mind as randomly placed markers. They are apparently not related to each other, neither pointers to anything by association.  But once the dots are joined a picture emerges, which often surprises us. We realise how much inter connected, things are.

This connection between the seemingly unconnected is more of intuitive logic aided by experience.
What we see,hear, feel,smell and taste forms part of our conscious experience  But those unconscious stimuli, perceptions and premonitions which shape our unconscious reactions round us up into the whole personality that we are.

And the contour of all our deductive logic are largely guided by the combination of both of these. Those dots are what our physical senses tell us. The lines are what our sixth sense draws to complete the picture. Its elementary, Watson.

Who makes wars ?

I am sure none of my friends who are reading this post would really like wars to happen . And perhaps that’s the way common folks around the world must be thinking. Yet we find  wars and hostilities  occurring and happening continuously round the year . And this is not country specific . It is a global phenomena . All around the world , full blown wars or covert hostilities between nations, races , religions , territories are happening at every minute of the day .

This raises a very pertinent question – If everyone believes that peace and love are the only ways forward for mankind , then why do wars  happen ?

Maybe because even though we abhor war , it is a profitable venture for some people. And these people have a vested interest in keeping the flames of wars burning . To them war is no more than a racket for their own benefit.  The loss of thousands of lives are justified for this benefit . This is also probably the ultimate truth of modern capitalism .

If we care to dig deep into the functioning of the military industrial complex structures of different countries and their linkages with the economy and  politics through the channel of defence contractors , it will be clear that the control is in their hands , whatever the form of government it may be , democratic , despotic or even monarchy . We may scoff at the pernicious and intimate relation but the fact remains that it is very , very difficult to dismantle the existing structure . And this has happened for ages . Every warlord , each chieftain , all  rulers , however strong he may be, had to be dependent on the moneybags and had to respect their interests  , throughout history.

We may not realise  but the military-industrial complex has now branched out from their primary job of simply manufacturing weapons to promulgating think tanks and other forms of opinion building through legal and tax-exempt NGOs that purport to be  impartial ,  writing editorials and policy proposals that support the agenda of the military-industrial infrastructure, and often adopted as policy with the support of people in different countries. Unknown to us we may end up opposing ideologies , groups or people just because our collective thought process is channelized to dislike and hate them on the grounds of religion, nationalism , ecology , language or territory. And with the all pervading and instantaneous reach of the digital age , news hits us unfiltered and does the damage before  the source is verified with a rational examination .

This is the tragedy of our times and this is more the reason why wars will not stop till we are extinct or evolve into a different  species altogether  , whichever is earlier.