Thursday, March 22, 2012

PARTY WHAT A PARTY!

The Indian Constitution is huge, humongous, big. The number of Political parties in India are a lot. The population of India is the second highest. So after all this, the support and turn out given to each party will be varied.

In India a lot of money is spent on campaigning for a particular party pre elections, post which a lot of money is spent on enjoying the celebrations and at the expense of who?- the tax payers! Interestingly only around 30% or so of the earning population pay taxes. Now with that wonderful figure of money that the government has, most of it is used up in campaigning and then in celebrating. The left over money is always eaten up (or burped) by the politicians with a few fly-overs and roads going up here and there.

According to facts a party is allowed to spend only around 15 lakhs on a particular area (not constituency) in spite of which crores of money is spent on each constituency. Giving a fact sheet or an expenses sheet for the same is quite a task which most party leaders either fail doing or just ignore out of convenience. Not like the ones that give the figures are Satyawaadi Harishchandra either.

With loud blaring horns and innumerable people on bikes and cars, with road jams and traffic nuisance, with loud speakers booming out Bollywood and random English numbers (songs), it is less of a sight and more of a pain to a lot of people.

Most of the bikers are seen ‘humping’ or jumping on the bikes and many people sit on windows of cars while the cars are in motion. This isn’t a sight you would see otherwise on roads. Interestingly because a certain party has won the elections they get the license to flaunt rules and break and bend them according to their convenience.

How ironical that the one party which is supposed to get in law and order, maintain rules and regulations and call shots for positive have a bunch of ruckus creating mob who on the name of celebrations bring down the utmost chaos in the society.

What is the best part of all this- you can’t say a word. Why? Because if you dare so, in a crowd of hundreds of people you would flow away like a piece of hay. If you raise your voice against one person you will have to face the wrath of the mob. It is interesting that in a democracy where people have the maximum power to choose their representatives actually go against all law and order under the influence of mob. There are a few people who wish to control the wrong or bad mobs but obviously they aren’t able to do so. This could be because they are fewer in number or that they do not gain as much honest and supportive people who wouldn’t take off on seeing danger approaching.

The multi-party system in India is a wonderful creation by the great Politicians who wish to divide and rule. Little do they realise that this has been pretty much the cause of a lot of fall and very little rise of the country and nation as a whole. With lucrative offers like food packets and free clothes, it is easy to turn the minds of a lot of rural population of this country in favour of a certain party. As India is made of more rural than urban population, targeting the former works in the favour of most parties. It is this aspect that most politicians take advantage of and ride on.

Multi Party system will continue and so will its advantages and disadvantages. The ‘food for thought’ here is this- if under the influence of less or uneducated mob there is a ruckus being created, then are educated politicians serving the nation right? If yes, for how long (before the old age and the creed takes over them!).

Saturday, March 3, 2012

BLOOD DONATION- NO MORE FEAR

It is fascinating how one unit (in this case 450ml) of blood can save lives of up to three people. It is also fascinating how donating blood feels so good, especially after I have lived with the fear of needles all my life.

It was my first donation today (3rd March, 2012) and I support the fact that it doesn’t hurt while your donating blood, it just feels nice.

An initial prick (as my friends call it an ant bite), a squeeze ball and a bag of blood, that’s all which blood donation involves. Yes, some people might faint, others might feel cramps but that is only is you haven’t had a good sleep and/or a good meal. Fulfill the conditions of having a good meal, a good night’s sleep (obviously the night before) and just be calm and there you go- you’re all set to donate blood.

Rakta daan jeevan daan’, (blood donation equal to giving a life) I am sure one or more of you would have heard this and yes it is actually giving life to someone. One of my lecturers mentioned in her speech that what if, god forbid, your relative or close friend needed blood, would you still give silly excuses like your scared of needles or don’t want to donate as your blood type is common?

A room full of people doing a good cause, a few friends expressing their happiness, a few units of blood was I guess enough to inspire me to donate blood. The entire process is not painful and blood donation is equivalent to new blood in the system which is again equal to energy.

There are more benefits and hardly any harm in donating blood (or probably the only harm is fainting, if you can call it so!). It is not only a social cause but it is also a reason of satisfaction and genuine happiness.

Go ahead and donate blood if you see a blood donation camp anywhere. Don’t just keep waiting for an emergency because you never know when you might not be eligible for donating!

Socho mat kar ke dekho, sach main, achaa lagta hai.