An Open Letter to the PM....

Dear Mr Prime Minister

I am a citizen of India, who has just exercised his right to vote.

Having lived in Mumbai for quite sometime, I have lived a life of a typical mouse. In the local train compartment which has capacity of 100 persons, I have travelled with 500 more mice. A mouse can at least squeak but we can't even do that.

I heard your speech a few days ago. In which you said 'NO BODY WOULD BE SPARED'. I would like to remind you that fourteen years have passed since serial bomb blast in Mumbai took place. Dawood Ibrahim was the main conspirator. Till date he is free. All our Bollywood actors, our builders, our Gutka king meets him but your Government can not catch him. Reason is simple; all your ministers are hand in glove with him. If any attempt is made to catch him everybody will be exposed. Your statement 'NOBODY WOULD BE SPARED' is nothing but a cruel joke on the unfortunate people of India.

Enough is enough. As such after seeing terrorist attack carried out by ten young boys I realize that if same thing continues days are not away when terrorist will attack by air, destroy our nuclear reactors and there will be one more Hiroshima, in our own backyard.

We the people are left with only one mantra : 'Womb to Bomb to Tomb'. You promised every Mumbaikar Shanghai but in fact what you have given us is Jalianwala Baug.

Your good-for-nothin' Home Minister resigned. What took you so long to kick out this joker? The only reason for you not taking any action against him was that he was loyal to Gandhi family. Loyalty to Gandhi family is more important than blood of hundreds of innocent people, isn't it?

I was born and have lived in Mumbai for quite some time. Believe me corruption in Maharashtra is worse than that in Bihar. Look at all the politician, Sharad Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal, Narayan Rane, Bal Thackeray, Raj Thackeray, Vilasrao Deshmukh all are rolling in money. Vilasrao Deshmukh is one of the worst Chief minister I have seen. His only business is to increase the FSI every other day, make money and send it to Delhi so Congress can fight next election. Now the clown has found new way and will increase FSI for the fishermen so they can build concrete house right on sea shore. Next time the terrorists will come by sea route, comfortably live in those house, enjoy the beauty of sea and then attack Mumbai at their will.

If this has been land of fools and idiots then I would not have ever cared to write you this letter. Just see the tragedy, on one side we are reaching moon, people are so intelligent and on other side you politician has converted nectar into deadly poison. I am everything - Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Jain, Parsi, Scheduled Caste, OBC, Muslim OBC, Christian Scheduled Caste, Creamy Scheduled Caste - only that I am not is 'INDIAN'. You politicians have raped every part of mother India by your policy of divide and rule.

Dear Mr Prime Minister, you are one intelligent person, a learned person, a great economist. Just wake up, be a real SARDAR. First and foremost expose all selfish politicians. Ask the Swiss bank and other international banks to reveal the names of all Indian account holders. Give reins of CBI to independent agency. Let them find the wolf among us. There will be a political upheaval but that will at least be better than the dance of death which we are witnessing almost every day. Just give us the ambience where we can work honestly and live without fear. Let there be rule of law. Everything else will be taken care of.

Choice is yours Mr Prime Minister. Do you want to be led by one person or you want to lead the nation of a billion people?

Yours sincerely,

A citizen of India

I have VOTED... What about YOU?

I have VOTED....

In my own words, I'm not a 'PAPPU' anymore....

Yeah ! I was raring for this moment ever since the elections were declared. And today, I have cast my very first VOTE. I'm feeling the power of being a part of the world's largest democratic setup.

There may be some flaws in it, yet being a part of it is an achievement in its own respect. There are drawbacks in almost everything. Nothing is flawless. Except ME ! Now that wasn'e a JOKE. So there's no point in smiling. Okay?

As I mentioned earlier, I was waiting for this moment for a long time, but it got over in a nanosecond. Just a long BEEEEEEEEEP and I had done with it.

The polling started at 8 am sharp. But I went to exercise my right at around 10 am. There was a small queue of some 10 or more people before me. I waited for my turn to come. I was ready with the weapon (read :: my Voter ID), which I got just 20 days ago.

Within minutes, all the people standing before me had voted and gone out and the number of people behind me started increasing. It was my turn next. There were four polling officers plus one supervisory authority in the polling booth.

The first polling officer took my ID and matched it with the voter list. Stage I cleared. My name was present in the list.

The second guy checked the ID again to verify if I was the same guy in the photo identity card, which obviously I was. That cleared the Stage II.

The third guy was ready to attack me, not me, my finger instead. He started applying the 'permanent ink' right above the nail of the first finger of the left hand. He continued, covered the whole distance through the nail and stopped at a distance after the nail. Eh ! it sort of stinked. And turning blue to red(within a few minutes). Stage III cleared.

The fourth one guided me to the EVM (for those who don't know :: Electronic Voting Machine). There were 13 candidates contesting the election. The green light glowed which meant the EVM was ready. I checked out the names of all 13 candidates and pressed the blue button in front of the candidate for which I wanted to vote. The red light against the name blinked. There was a long BEEEEEEEEP. I had done with voting.

The supervisory officer asked me, "Voting for the first time?"

I said "Yes... Yes sir !"

He said "It feels great that youth like you are interested in the democratic setup."

"Thanks !" was my reply.

I started moving my feet towards the door marked 'OUT', having a look at my finger on which the ink was applied. The ink had turned black.

It was a proud feeling that I had paid my contribution in deciding the fate of my area. Now the person, whoever gets elected, was accountable to me. Yes.

I conclude on this note, with a hope that nobody ever remains a 'Pappu'.

Get up. Vote ! JAAGO RE !!!

An Open Letter to Kerala CM....

Dear Mr Achutanandan,

My heart fills with rage, shock and pain as i hear you hurl abuses at a martyr's father. A father broken hearted and grieving at the loss of his young son is further hurt by you and your bloody politically incorrect statement. As you remain defiant and don't want to apologise to the slain Sandeep Unnikrishnan's family, Mr Achutanandan, all I can say is you are deeply disconnected with the people you 'claim' to represent. So I hope and pray that God Almighty bestows you empathy, grace and a sense of concern.

My sincere prayer, that you never have to in through the pain of lighting the funeral pyre of a loved one.

My sincere prayer, that no loved one of yours should ever come covered in a tricolour.

My sincere prayer, that you never have to go through the anxiety of knowing your loved one is fighting a thousand bullets, coming from terrorists who are determined to kill.

My sincere prayer, that you never have to hear the phone ring, when you know it could be the news you dread.

My sincere prayer, that you never come face to face with an arrogant and contemptuous politician in your hour of grief.

My sincere prayer, that you understand why Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan is a national hero and a pride of this country and his family deserves the utmost respect for teaching him, 'nation above self'.

My sincere prayer, that you fathom what is it to send your only son to the Indian Army where not too many politicians' children ever dare to enter.

My sincere prayer, that you understand why families of the Mumbai martyrs who have faced bullets to keep their countrymen safe are turning politicians like 'you' away. Because they have no use of your beacon flashing security sir, or the money you choose to offer as compensation. In fact you came knocking at the door of this martyr, with sniffer dog and all, sir.

My sincere prayer, that you show one-tenth of the courage the young man of 31 showed this nation, and apologise to a family which will live with the loss of their only son for a long time to come, and apologise to the nation, because Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan wasn't just an officer of the Bihar regiment, wasn't just an officer on deputation at the National Security Guards, wasn't just a son of Kerala. He belongs to this nation and how we hope we could have gone to this house and thanked him in person for what he did for us. Mr Chief Minister, its a house no one would ever turn away from.

All I want to say that, 'We would prefer a DOG to visit our house rather than a POLITICIAN like YOU !'

Yours sincerely,

Ankit B. Rathod
A citizen of India

Straight from the Heart....

India, especially Mumbai, is picking up bits and pieces of the traumatic and shocking incident that took place almost a week ago..... My friend Saunil's friend (he wanted me to write his name in the post.... happy Saunil? :p) wrote these beautiful lines and i couldn't resist myself from putting them here....

Take me down to the terrorised city
where the streets are shitty
and life is pity..

take me down to the terrorised city
where the streets are busy
and life is pity...

thousand cabs parked in the stand
everything so well planned
the ugly urchins play their band..

take me down to the terrorised city
where the guys are rich
and the girls are skinny..

thousand people runnin to catch their train
the scene at tht station looks insane

thousands of bullets showered upon them
those ugly urchins laugh at their pain

take me down to tht terrorised city
where the glass is clean
and the rooms are pretty...

where the wine is classy
the rates are pretty
and they serve in a giffy...

take me down to the terrorised city
where the floor now is greasy
and the glass is stained
with the blood of the city

take me down to to my terrorised city
where they hold guns and bombs
and burn its beauty

take me down to my terrorised city
where the weather was sunny
and where ppl could earn money

so...
please..

make my terrorised city
a paradise city,
where the grass is green
and the girls are pretty
Take me home (Oh, won't you please take me home)

Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green
And the girls are pretty
Oh, won't you please take me home

Take me down
Oh yeah
Beat me down
Oh, won't you please take me home...

Certainly, we need a 'paradise city' rather than a 'terrorised city'....

Just a Small Incident ?

"Bade bade deshon mein chhoti chhoti baatein hoti rehti hai", said Shah Rukh Khan in DDLJ (need not expand it... do i?) and endeared himself to the audiences. This dialogue is still remembered by millions. But yesterday, Mr R R Patil, the home minister of Maharashtra, made me remind that very dialogue when he shamelessly said "Mumbai ek bahut bada sheher hai. Aise ek-adh haadse ho hote hi rahenge. Woh 5000 logon ko maarne aaye the, lekin us hisaab se nuksaan kam hua hai." Really??? I wonder if you would have said the same words had some of your relatives been taken hostage or killed in the attack or had your beloved 'Mantralaya' been the very site of the hostage crisis?

I beg to disagree with you Mr Patil, in your own words 'ek-adh chhota haadsa'. This really wasn't one of such kind. And your CM Vilas Rao Deshmukh saw this 'chhota haadsa' as an opportunity to promote the idea of a film with Ram Gopal Varma and his son Riteish (do hell with the way he spells his name). So its a big enough an incident to make a film on it, but not enough to take some stringent action. Isn't it, Mr Patil?

We have lost some of our top officers. All because you guys care a damn about the safety equipments. The safety equipments used by the security personnel were outdated while those used by the terrorists were at par in technology. Why??? Its because you bloody politicians are so busy proving who's Maharashtrian and who isn't.

Every Indian (including the Mumbaikars and the North-Indians) were really missing Mr Raj Thackeray and his 'brave men'. MNS (or MaNSe) men, you guys missed the action, really. Believe me, you guys would have been tagged as 'National Heroes' had you even tried to battle the fucking terrorists to save 'your beloved Mumbai'. Forget some action, Mr Raj Thackeray was so busy (read :: scared) to even give a statement to the media. It would have been a lot better had you guys raised the issue of better equipment and training facilities for the security forces. But there were some guys from the Mumbai Police, the NSG, the MARCOS (acronym for :: Marine Commandos), most of them from North India, who were playing the role of 'Marathi Manoos'. And all you guys did was put some banners and hoardings paying 'Shraddhanjali' to the slain officers, alongwith your party slogans.

And the great ruling coalition (both in Maharashtra and the Centre) says that its ministers have always taken the 'moral responsibility' and resigned. Mr Shivraj Patil, the Union Home Minister and Mr R R Patil, Home Minister of Maharashtra, both have resigned. But my dear (dirty) politicians, let me remind you that its not just 'moral' responsibility, but its the total absolute responsibility of the Home Minister to see to it that the citizens are safe. Its not a symbolic responsibility, its your very real responsibility, that is what you were supposed to do when you were given the home ministry portfolio.

Will your resigning get back those killed? The answer is 'NO'. Isn't it? It doesn't matter that you resign after so much has happened. If you can't do your work properly, you don't have the right to be there. You may have the time to change your clothes three times when there's a terrorist attack. But we don't have any patience left in us. We have been tired of showing that such incidents don't affect us, even when they do. People live in constant fear of the fact that they are not safe.

I have lived in Mumbai for quite sometime and I know what happens when the 'Maximum City' of Mumbai gets stuck in time with incidents like this. I have experienced the pain during the Train Blasts in Mumbai. Yes I am angry and outraged like most Mumbaikars, or for that matter like most Indians. I don't want to show my resilient 'spirit' once again. I don't want to pay for your security when I live in constant fear of being killed anywhere anytime. I want YOU, who were elected to take decisions for us, to actually do something rather than making political statements, mud-slinging and changing clothes.

Dear fellow Indians, its time to wake up and take the governance in our hands rather than lighting candles, wearing white. Let us all vote (for the right person obviously) and get a radical change in the system.

JAI HIND !!!