The great fall of a perfectionist - short story

Prajwal by nature was obsessed with perfection. As short he was so was he tolerance with imperfect people. He could not tolerate any type of mistake be it spelling or discipline or cleanliness. People around him were fed up of this obsession. He would scream without reasoning at people who were even minutely imperfect. People used to be scared to share even the same dinning table as his in a restaurant. In any function, he used to be served first all alone, to avoid unpleasantness for other guests.

Prajwal could find a mistake in anything under the Sun ranging from a wedding card to the newspaper or even a letter written by his father. He prided himself on his knowledge and passion to be perfect.

Prajwal had 2 daughters and both hardly stepped out of their rooms when he was around. One of them was Preethi who was of marriageable age but her marriage seemed near impossible given that her father had rejected exactly 77 grooms for being imperfect for reasons ranging such as hairstyle, accent, nose picking in public, etc.

A lot of friends and relatives were puzzled how come his wife Ramya had not eloped or gone mad, given his nagging attitude. One of the reasons for her calmness was she was partially deaf, a secret Prajwal never knew in the 25 years of married life (despite his obsession for perfection!). She had a great knack of judging what Prajwal was screaming about and used to set right the situation immediately. So she was spared of the hurting words and this kept the secret going.

His business could not go beyond being a mid-sized one because of his over insistence for perfection. No employee worked with him for more than 3 months except his sister cum secretary Rajini who was there for the past 25 years. As a boss, Prajwal was the most benevolent one but equally acerbic when it comes to imperfect employees.

Prajwal was well read and through his contacts got an opportunity to pen a book “The Perfectionist”. The publisher agreed to bring out this book only to bring to light how much harm can be done by the obsession for perfection.

It was a Sunday afternoon and the sun was blazing away. Prajwal was busy writing the chapter plan for his book in his 12th floor apartment. His wife and daughters had gone out for a marriage. All of a sudden, a fire broke out in the 11th and 12th floor due a short circuit. The residents tried to run outside but by then the fire had encompassed the stairs. The only option they had was to cross over to a nearby under construction block of flats. They were out of danger but could not go down because the stairs were not fully built. Prajwal called up the fire engine and soon the process of rescue started. One by one the residents were rescued by a crane. They had to fasten a belt around their waist and slowly they would be placed in a nearby mechanical compartment. Later it would be lowered to ground level. There was enough space for four people to stand in the mechanical compartment. There would be two fireman and two rescued persons in each trip.


Even in times of danger, Prajwal could not give up his obsession to be perfect. He took out a brick and drew a line in which people should follow to reach the point of evacuation. He was screaming at anybody who was trying to break the line by saying “Don’t worry this building wont catch fire” or “Don’t be in such a hurry to push everybody down” etc, etc. The firemen were happy with his efforts to bring about discipline but not with his insistence to stick to the drawn line. They were getting irritated by his words and antics. Prajwal as always thought he was doing the right thing and continued with his perfectionist role.

Now it was Prajwal’s turn to go. The safety belt was pushed towards to him. It had instructions to it “Letch on to your waist and fasten the belt”. Prajwal’s corrective instinct came to the fore and he screamed “Who writes such stupid spellings, letch for latch?” . Prajwal’s neighbor abused him in choicest filthy words from the local language and Prajwal silently latched on to his belt and was lifted to the compartment. The compartment was stinking and Prajwal instincts took over again and he screamed “Can’t you idiots clean this stink before bringing it?”. One of the firemen got wild with his antics and extended his arms to punch Prajwal. Prajwal in an attempt to avoid him swayed his head and lost balance. After that it was a free fall and he came down crashing shouting “Aaaaaaaaaaaah” and fell with a thud. He thought he was dead but strangely he could open his eyes. He got up to realise that it was a nightmare. He had fallen asleep on the sofa while writing and he had fallen on the floor.

Prajwal woke up to realise how bad he had been all these years. The whole night he stayed awake to ponder how much his perfectionist role had affected his personal well being. The stimulated experience was sufficient to cure Prajwal of his obsession. He decided to turn over a new leaf from the next morning.

Next morning it did not matter to him that the newspaper had thrown the news paper on the watery spot of the balcony; the neighbor who had wrongly parked the car in his own house; the kids who were screaming from the passing by school bus; the regional newscaster who was wrongly pronouncing “Obama” as “Opama”. Prajwal was a relaxed man at peace with himself and the world at large.

He did not mind that his driver had not buttoned his shirt fully or that the security guard’s shoe laces were wrongly tied or that his face was not visible on the wiped office floors or that Rajini had kept her cup of coffee near her files. Previously he used to bring the roof down for such mistakes. His changed attitude surprised the entire staff. Prajwal was full of smiles compared to the grumpy face he used to wear daily.

After a few minutes, he called all the staff and explained the reasons for his change. Everybody laughed it off. Soon Rajini was on her mobile informing her Bhabi about the change. She could not believe it but was happy. That evening Prajwal went home and the first thing he did was to change the title of his book to “Fall of a Perfectionist”. Life had become an easy proposition for Prajwal to deal with. He found more friends, business and happiness thanks to his ability to accept that life is never a straight line and so is people’s behavior. A fall which lead to his rise!

One hour to correct your past

Sharad had just finished his drink in a dingy bar downtown. It was his bad time that forced him to go to such a place. When he drove out his car, he was not sure whether he would reach home in it or would it be seized en-route by the financers. He had changed his mobile 3 times in the past one month to escape calls from his debtors. Finally he got his good friend Rajesh to buy him a SIM card to escape being detected.

His life had been a roller coaster ride. He had seen forty four summers and a life full of incidents. He came from a middle class family. His father had retired from the Postal Department. Sharad had done his post graduation in Commerce. More than education, it was his innovative thinking and defying convention actions which saw him touch meteoric heights both in business and social life. It is these very qualities which brought him to the nadir of his life.

He had a broken marriage, failed businesses, mounting loans, pregnant teenage daughter, lost friends and failing health. He had to vacate his swanky house within the next few days and the alternate accommodation he had found himself would not be sufficient even to park the car he was driving.

Driving in his thoughts, Sharad had lost his way and treaded into an unknown road. He pulled his car to the roadside and began to wonder how niece it would be if he can go back to his past and correct some of the mistakes he had made. He was depressed to find his way back and decided to spend the night in the car itself, after all it was 2AM in the morning, and day would break in a few hours. Moreover, he was so desperate that he did not mind being lynched and there was nothing worth stealing from him except the costly wrist watch and a few hundred rupees in his wallet.

*****

Sharad stretched out his legs on the back seat and closed his eyes. Soon he was asleep and was woken up by a gentle thud on the window panes. He woke up to see a guy in whites, garnishing his teeth.

Before he could open the door, the guy was sitting next to him and said “Hi”.

Sharad said “So who are you, a highway devil, life has scared me enough, what can a spirit like you do to me?”

The guy replied “No, you wanted to meet me”

Sharad surprisingly asked “Who are you?” (thinking in his mind maybe I would have called him)

The guy replied “I am the Time Keeper; you wanted to go back in time and correct your faults. I have come to give you an opportunity and till I am with you, time will freeze”.

Sharad could not believe his luck, pinched himself and screamed “Wow! Let us get started then”. This was the first time in the last one year Sharad had got so excited otherwise it was always a grumpy face for him.

Time Keeper said “Don’t get excited so much, this is always your fault, first listen, you will get a chance to revisit 6 situations in your life and correct them. There will be two Sharads’; one in the actual situation and another you from the future. You will never get a chance to correct them physically but can only advice/shout to Sharad in the actual situation. You can be in each situation only for 10 minutes and so you will have an hour to correct your past. Is it ok with you?” Sharad nodded his head in agreement. He had no option, did he?

Time Keeper “Ok, now write down your choice, take your time and you can always correct the choices before I begin your journey” and gave Sharad a pen and a piece of paper to write on. After a lot of thought he wrote down the following choices:

1. Neglect of his health after 1995.

2. His refusal to support his friend Preetam’s business with a loan of Rs.5 lakhs

3. His second marriage to Nisha.

4. His decision to send his daughter Veda to a boarding school.

5. His decision to invest into a dubious garment export business on the insistence of Nisha.

6. His decision to invest into reality shares during early 2008.

Sharad handed over the slip to the Time Keeper who said “As always definite and fast”.

Sharad grinned sarcastically, looked at him and asked “What next?”

Time Keeper whispered a mantra into his ears and told “close your eyes and repeat this mantra 12 times. Remember you cannot come back till you revisit all the six situations and during this time you cannot contact me. All the best to you”

Sharad said “Thanks” closed his eyes and repeated the mantra 12 times. Suddenly a beam of light ejected him into a clockway. He could see the clock reversing at a rapid speed and suddenly it stopped in his flat which he had purchased from the first million he earned.

*****

07/11/1995 Time 5:30 am, the alarm rings and a blanket unfurls.

A younger looking Sharad gets up and goes to sleep banging the alarm. Till then Sharad was very particular about maintaining his health and used to exercise regularly. This laziness had set into him with expanding business.

Future Sharad could see what havoc this laziness would cause to him in future. He was suffering from diabetes, high cholesterol and weak joints. He had to undergo a by pass and a knee correction in the past two years. FUTURE SHARAD shouted at the younger one “Please get up, go for a work out, don’t spoil your health”. He would not listen and time was running out. FUTURE SHARAD shouted expletives at him still of no avail. He tried to kick him but remembered the Time Keeper’s condition “You will never get a chance to correct them physically”. Just then he saw his wife (first) Sita opening her eyes. He pushed her into pouring a glass of water on the sleeping Sharad. Sharad got up and told “Shut up Si, I am tired”. She kept quiet and slept back. FUTURE SHARAD was left banging on his head and soon the time was over and he again was amongst the clockway forwarding till he reached August 1998 when Preetam was sitting in front of him.

****

08/08/1998 Time 7:30 pm, Preetam after hours of talking virtually was begging with him for Rs.5 lakhs. His friend Rajesh was seated besides trying to reason with Sharad.

Sharad by that time had become a multi-millionaire. Preetam was trying to start an industry on his own. He alongwith Rajesh had come to request Sharad for an Rs.5 lakh loan. Rajesh was settled in his own job and just had come as a support given that Sharad would listen to him. Sharad refused to either invest or loan Preetam that amount, though by then it was a small amount by his standards. Preetam even offered to pledge his house documents with Sharad. Sharad in a display of arrogance had said “Even my servant quarter is well furnished than your house, who wants those documents?” That was that, Rajesh walked out of the house. Preetam almost went down on his knees but Sharad would have none of it. FUTURE SHARAD tried to scream at the top of his voice but Sharad would not listen and stuck to his stand. Soon Preetam too walked out. As fate would have it, Rajesh stood surety for Preetam’s loan and slowly but steadily Preetam repaid the loan as well as grew richer than Sharad. Most childhood friends distanced from Sharad after this incident and this was beginning of the fall for him. Time for FUTURE SHARAD was over and again he was thrust into the clockway till it stopped during October 2001 with Sharad’s mother arguing against his decision to marry Nisha.

******

10/10/2001, Time 8:45 am, Sharad mother is asking him not to marry Nisha

Sita had expired during November 2000 due to Leukemia. She was the source of strength for Sharad ever since they fell in love during college. Though she was from a different language, Sharad parents readily accepted her. Her death had caused huge upset in balance of Sharad’s family. Soon his father died and mother was also incapacitated.

Sharad had met Nisha during a party. She was a small time model/TV actress. True to her name, most men fell for her charms. Playing around with men was not new to her. She had never dated a rich guy like Sharad. She did everything to entice Sharad into her web and he too willing fell for her.

Sharad wanted to marry Nisha. His mother, daughter and relatives were against it. His mother was pleading with him not to marry Nisha. He would not listen to her and chided his mother for being old fashioned. He got up and announced “on 05/11/2001, I am going to marry Nisha; if you want you can come”. Saying these harsh words, he rushed out of his mother’s bedroom.

FUTURE SHARAD knew of all the tragedies that marriage to Nisha would befall him. She made him a drunkard. She regularly made him buy costly presents and skip important business meetings to be with her or take her on a joy trip. She made him neglect Veda. She got him to invest into the wrong businesses like that of a garment factory owned by a mysterious cousin of hers. It later turned out that this cousin of hers was a boyfriend in reality and used as a ploy to fleece Sharad of his wealth. FUTURE SHARAD screamed all this to Sharad but he would not hear him out. Soon time was over and he was back on the clockway to stop during April 2005 when Veda was sobbing on the dinning table when Sharad made known of his desire to send her to a boarding school.

*****

28/04/2005, Time 8:45 pm, Sharad is about to announce his decision to send Veda to a boarding school.

Sharad mother expired during July 2002 and Veda was left alone in the house. Sharad interest in his daughter had dwindled. Though she was doing academically well she had become a neglected child. Nisha had begun to despise Veda’s presence in the house. She planned to send Veda to a notorious boarding school in a far away place and succeeded in convincing Sharad.

Sharad “Veda, I am sending you to ****** boarding school”

Veda “Papa, you want to send me to a boarding school send me to ****** not this one. It is notorious”

Sharad “Enough, your mama has made the choice and your going there”

Veda agitatedly remarked “This female is not my mama”

Sharad came rushing, caught hold of his daughter, slapped her couple of times and said “If you don’t go you are dead”. Veda wept inconsolably on the dinning table, the truth was there was no one to console her at home.

Veda did go to the boarding school. It was a school for all the rich spoilt kids. Veda did hold on her ethics for a few while. Soon the pleasures of youth took her over. She started with gambling, dating, boozing, drugs and finally landed up being pregnant.

FUTURE SHARAD screamed all this to Sharad as he was leaving the dinning hall but of no avail. FUTURE SHARAD was desperate to get back to the Time Keeper to ask him what sort of option he had given him but could not do so. Soon FUTURE SHARAD was on the clockway and stopped in Aug 2006 where Nisha was introducing her cousin who wanted Sharad to invest his “Hi-fashion garment factory”.

******

11/08/2006 Time 3:45 pm, Nisha’s cousin is explaining the project to Sharad.

Nisha’s cousin was impressing on Sharad to invest into his “Fashion Garment Factory” which he claimed had a lot of committed orders from abroad. The magic of Nisha was wearing away for Sharad. Nisha realised her time was up and was getting ready to pack off. This supposed cousin was her boyfriend and they had hatched this plan to fleece Sharad’s fortune. Though his CA was against this investment, Sharad agreed to invest in it just to keep Nisha happy and the projections made by her cousin were too tempting to ignore. FUTURE SHARAD tried to scream for sanity to prevail. He shouted several questions about the project to Sharad. He questioned the intimacy of Nisha and her cousin but all these as usual fell into deaf ears.

As planned, slowly the investment started turning into a nightmare for Sharad. Nisha became the managing partner and he had less power to question its progress. Every second month there was some mishap or the other, draining out funds. By December 2007, Sharad had lost 70% of his wealth on the project. He had started to borrow which he had not done for the past 12 years.

Then one fine day, he got up to find a piece of chit “ Bye Buddy – Nisha”. Nisha had rendered him bankrupt and flown out with her “cousin” to Bangkok.

FUTURE SHARAD lost another chance to correct his past and soon was back on the clock way to find himself in February 2008 when Sharad was doing the proverbial “last throw of dice”.

****

16/02/2008, Time 10:30 am, Sharad is handing over a cheque to his investment banker

He was handing over a cheque of Rs. 2 Crores for an investment in reality shares. Sharad had over the past two months made some informed trading calls in the market and made substantial money. His friend Rajesh had given him these advices. Sharad financial position was beginning to look up, when he decided to invest into reality shares. Rajesh advised him not to do so but Sharad would have none of it. He felt that Rajesh was jealous that he would become rich again. FUTURE SHARAD knew there was no point in advising Sharad and remained a mute spectator. Sharad went ahead and made the deal. As luck would have it by the end of October 2008, the investment value was less than Rs.35 lakhs. Sharad had to sell of most of his remaining property.

The time for FUTURE SHARAD was over and he was back in the car with the Time Keeper. As soon as he reached, he howled “What a cruel joke it was, It was like having a read only document, I had no chance to correct my past except be a screaming unheard witness to the disaster”

Time Keeper “That is not my problem, Sharad did not listen to you. What can I do?”

Sharad “Where is the question of listening, he could not hear me”

Time Keeper “Really, come I will make you listen what your mind and soul was telling during those six incidents”

Sharad listened to it to realise what and all he spoke was what he had gone through his mind and heart when the incidents actually took place. He knew that it was wrong to neglect his health; not support Preetam; marry Nisha; send Veda to boarding school; invest in the stupid business of Nisha’s cousin and finally invest into reality shares. Just that he never listened to himself.

The Time Keeper told “Your future is always there with you in the form of your soul and mind, just that you have listen to them. Henceforth you will do that and you will have a bright future”. Saying these words he disappeared.

Soon the Sun began to rise and as Sharad started his car, committing to listen to his inner voice. A new horizon was waiting to unfold itself for Sharad…………..

Balu

Beware of FM 111

Everybody has a desire to know what the other person is thinking about us especially our dear and near ones. This story is about misadventures of a retired man who gets to read the mind of his dear and near ones thanks to a magical radio station “FM 111”. There have been similar stories in the past and this is my own perspective. The thoughts are my own not the concept.

. Ram was a retired officer from the civil services. He had not been a Ram throughout his life there were a couple of transgressions. His wife Lakshmi had passed away a couple of years ago due to a heart attack. He has two children, a daughter who was well married and a son who was running his own business. His household consisted of Sanjeev, a servant cum driver with him for the last 35 years. The most prized possession in the house for. Ram was “Tiger” a small Pomeranian. He used to accompany. Ram in his early morning walk and mostly slept under his easy chair or bed. Both were inseparable and the only time Tiger used to be away from. Ram was when he used to go to the temple. . Ram believed that his friends and family were satisfied and proud of him.
****

It was one of those days, Ram was going to his temple, when saw a strange looking guy selling electronic equipments on the street. . Ram had always wanted to buy a portable FM radio with a headphone. He went and inspected the ware this guy had and picked up a piece which had a catchy title “FM 111”. He quite liked the piece since it was handy.

He decided to check out its working, the piece had a digital display of the station number. Out of curiosity, he tuned to frequency “111” and all of a sudden heard a voice saying “this piece has not been sold for the last one year, thank god, this old man liked it, I will agree even for a rate of Rs.100, though I will tell him Rs.175, yesterday also I could not make a single sale. If this old man buys atleast I can take my sick son to the doctor” Ram was shocked and looked up at the vendor who was busy arranging his wares silently. He could not believe what he heard and turned the instrument towards a guy sitting on a bike near the bus stop and could hear “Why is this girl so late? Afternoon I have to go out with Radha; if I get late she will scream at me”. Ram changed the channels either he was getting the regular transmission or usual blurring sound. He understood that FM111 was a special channel operational only on that radio which read the mind of the person towards whom the instrument is directed towards.

Ram purchased the radio paying the vendor an amount of Rs.150/-. While leaving the place, he saw a monkey from the branch looking weirdly at him. He turned the instrument towards the monkey but got a message “Shut up don’t try to read my mind”. Amused he walked away.

*****

Next he went to the temple, prayed to God (did not have the courage to read God’s mind) and as usual touched the feet of Guruji to seek his blessings. He arose and sat in his presence to listen to a few good words from the Guruji. Out of curiosity, he tried to find out what the Guruji was thinking in his mind and turned his FM 111 on him and heard this “Stupid, feel like kicking him when he falls at my feet, from two months I have been telling him, I want to visit all the religious places in the country, does not speak even a single word about sponsoring the trip”. Ram was surprised and he got up to say “Guruji, I will sponsor Rs.25,000/- towards the pilgrimage you want to undertake”. He collected his Prasad, flowers and got up with a smile leaving the Guruji shell shocked.

*****
Next as usual he went to the hotel of his dearest childhood friend Lakshman. It was his habit to go to this hotel, have a cup of sugarless tea, buy a bun for tiger and leave home. He got curious what Lakshman was thinking when he saw him and used his FM 111 weapon and heard this “Here comes the creep, took Lakshmi away from me just because he had a better job. He took the sugar away from my life and today is forced to renounce sugar and salt in his life, ha, ha, ha”. He welcomed him “Come Ram, my dearest friend”. . Ram told “Aree Lakshman, give me a cup of tea with lots of sugar, why should I not have sugar because somebody’s life is tasteless?” Lakshman was stunned as he handed him the bun and collected a ten rupee note. While leaving, Ram turned back and said “Yesterday, Lakshmi came in my dreams and was asking how Lakshman bhaiya is?” He could see Lakshman fuming inside.
*****
Ram never knew that Lakshman was interested in Lakshmi; otherwise he would have never done this to his friend. He loved Lakshmi dearly, a lot more than Rita his one time secretary or Rani, a fringe actress, two of his marital transgressions. For all his life he believed that his wife did not know about these two. The only man who knew this was Sanjeev. He wanted to know what Lakshmi thought about him. It was customary of him after returning from the temple, to place the prasad and flowers before Lakshmi’s photo, pray for a few minutes and then go to the lawn. He finished his prayers and tried his FM111 on her photo too and heard this “Now he prays to me, Sanjeev has told me all about his exploits with Rita and Rani; all his adventures in the record room with Rita and in the state guest house with Rani, Sanjeev told me everything. But for my stupid father, I would have run away with Lakshman the day before marriage, such a sincere guy he is”. Ram got up, smiled thinking “The treacherous Sanjeev” and walked out.

He sat in the lawn and called out for “Tiger” but he was nowhere to be seen. Ram sat on his chair and soon his daughter-in-law Reema along with his daughter Saumya came out. He turned his FM 111 towards his daughter to hear this “What sort of guy Papa found for me? He is always behind money, all my fate but for the kids I would have runaway with Sudeep, he still loves me”. Ram looked up and said “Saumya, what sort of people would runaway from a failed marriage? I am just writing a blog on this subject, wanted your views” Saumya started sweating and said “Papa, I will leave, Arjun will be coming from Sydney today”.

Next he turned his FM 111 towards his daughter-in-law who was dutifully peeling out oranges for him and heard this “When will this naukrani work end for me? Either it is peeling oranges, giving tablets, preparing vegetable soup or applying ointments. My friends how nicely they enjoy their married life! I can’t go out with Sanjay to any place because of this old man”. Ram got up and told “Bahu, next week Sanjay is going to Bangalore, why don’t you go out with him, always you are serving me, take a break, I will look after myself for a few days” . Reema replied “No papa, my life is at your feet”. Ram replied “Yes, Bahu, I know but you too require a change”. Hesitantly she walked away and in came Sanjay.
******

Sanjay came and asked “Papa, how are you? How is your health? Should I get you anything from Bangalore?” Ram tried his FM111 on him and heard this “Now there is a good chance to open a hotel on the highway, we have a piece of land there, but would it be right to ask him? Will he think I am being selfish and shameless? Chodo, I won’t get into an argument with him”. Ram said “Beta, ever since the new highway has come up, hotel business has become a good option, why don’t you use that piece of land and set up a hotel there, shall, I talk to the lawyer?” Sanjay was surprised and said “Papa, have you learnt to read minds?” Ram replied “Ha! Ha! No it was an advice”
*****

Next came, Sanjeev with Ram’s vegetable soup. Ram looked at him thinking “Namak Haram (betrayer)” Sanjeev came saying “Sir, how are you?” As he gave the soup, Ram purposely spilled it on Sanjeev’s face and turned his FM 111 on him and heard this “Who does he think I am, Rita or Rani? This is what happens to those who betray their wives, they lose all their strength. Thankfully I never kept my wife here or else God knows what would have happened”. Ram got up and said “Sanjeev, why don’t you go home for a few days, my sister Sharda (Sanjeev’s wife) will be thirsting to see you” Sanjeev went away grinning sheepishly.

Ram never thought Sanjeev had such a cheap opinion about him. Ram never knew everybody whom he cared for had a selfish motive assigned to their love. He just wanted to get rid off the FM Radio. It was proving to be a curse because his life was falling apart. He realised how difficult life can be If we can read others minds. For one last time, he wanted to use it on Tiger and yelled at him. He came running and this is what he heard “Why is papa so angry with me? I was trying to bite that bone and hence did not come when he first called me. He is so good to me. Everybody here exploits him but how can I say to him, unfortunately, I can’t speak his language, God, keep papa safe, happy and healthy, I will make papa happy jumping all over him and standing up on my legs”. Ram started crying when he heard this from Tiger’s mind. His loved ones were inferior to this creature with five senses.

He put down the FM Radio on the coffee table and wept inconsolably. Suddenly a monkey snatched it and climbed to top of the tree. Ram looked at him in gratitude and recognised it was the same monkey that he had found near the vendor. The monkey soon disappeared with FM 111 and Ram heaved a sigh of relief! The next day morning Ram was found dead in his bed.

Beware of any monkey that drops a FM radio in your home; it may turn your life upside down.


Balu

Communal Harmony will no longer be a hostage

After my college, I had joined a travel agency. It is located on Kamraj Road (Near Commercial Street). This area is a melting pot of Indian culture. You can find people of all faiths, languages, region residing or carrying on business in this area. There used to be occasional communal riots but in the sensitive areas most of the families were so intricately woven that life used to come back to normal in a few days.

It was under this situation that the Babri Masjid controversy started simmering in Bangalore during the early 90s. Areas like Shivajinagar did not have much unrest for the reasons mentioned above.

06th December 1992 was fixed as the day for Kar Seva in Babri Masjid. Everybody knew from the papers what was going to happen on that day. Thankfully! there were no news channels those days to give breaking news (literally) and very few people knew what happened in Ayodha on that day.

My father had expired just one month back and I was just about getting out of my depression. I had gone to Venky’s house on that day and together both of us decided to roam around Commercials and Shivajinagar. By then we learnt later, the Masjid had come down. The tension was palpable; soon the shops started downing shutters one by one. We also left for our respective homes.

The next day morning I went to office as usual. The entire city was looking tense but nothing was abnormal. At around 1030 am, a group of guys wielding lathi and brandishing swords went about closing shops. My office was in the first floor and we could get an aerial view of the incidents happening. The policemen were shouting at any eye they saw peeping out. The office doors were shut from inside. There was madness to the method by this mob. They broke cars of certain people and attacked a fruit juice centre belonging to member of a particular religious community. The shop was trashed down. The mixies were on the street so was the refrigerator. A few more shops belonging to members of the same community were targeted and ransacked.

After this mob went, another mob came armed similarly and broke apart shops belonging to members of another religious community. The disgusting thing to note was some of the goondas were common on in both the mobs. There was no letting up of tension. Those days there was no phone connection at home. The only option was to call up my brother in his office and inform that the situation was very tense here but that I am safe and will reach home once everything settles down.

At around 330pm, the tension settled down a bit. Our boss who had good links with the cops contacted the local police. He said situation was normal and the staff could leave if they wanted. I was given the responsibility of dropping a girl who came from Ulsoor. Though it meant a huge deviation of route for me, it was the safest route for me because on that route most of the houses were Hindus and I would never be targeted. How bad! We were getting divided on basis of Hindu and Muslim routes but then the situation on that day was so bad. Having dropped her safely, I reached my home around 6pm.

There was no scope for stepping out for the next couple of days because of tension/rumors of tension. Whenever I called up my boss was compelling me to come to work and I did go to office on the third day (08/12/1992) only to be turned away by the cops near the entrance of Kamraj Road.

My boss did not take very lightly me not coming to work for four days and refused me leave the same month to take up my ICWAI exams. I had no option but to resign the job. Even today when I pass by that road, I remember 07/12/1992, when like me many employees in that area were almost held hostage in their office by mindless violence and disgusting politics

It was the beginning of all the hatred in India. What was sporadic until then became a clear line of demarcation between two major communities of the country. Meanwhile Ayodha is a forgotten place and those innocent guys who lost their lives on either side only left their families bereaved for no cause. They did not die as martyrs but as idiots. The people who instigated both the communities reaped sufficient political benefits and as it the case in this country were never held accountable for instigating communal violence.

When will people see through these tricks? When will people learn to live and let live? This question has been in my mind for all these sixteen years. It seems the turnaround has come. After many years, the Mumbai Terror Attacks has brought together both the communities. People have come to realise that terrorists kill without enquiring your religion. People of all religions, faith, and nationality fell to the terrorists designs and yes, a few of the outsiders fell to their bullets defending Mumbai. Will this be the end of divisive politics in India? Will those who pursue communal politics (on either side) be confined to the dustbin of history? I am confident that their fate will be so. I am confident this country can no longer be held hostage by the divisive forces.

Balu

Enabling good people to participate in elections

Everybody talks about the need for good people to enter into politics. Yes, good people are willing to enter into politics but not in the present mess. Today winning elections is not about the candidate, his policies and reputation but factors other than these. Those impediments have to be eliminated to lessen the trepidations to enable a good citizen to become a politician. Here are some suggestions in this regard:

1. Remove symbols from the election process.

Party symbols have become trademark logos. No matter how good a citizen is, the right to use this symbol is available only to a core party worker. The definition of a core party worker is too well known to document.

The only option left for a good citizen is to contest as an independent candidate. An independent candidate no matter how hard he tries can never beat the cult status that a party symbol has acquired.

Uneducated people vote for the symbol rather than the person. It is time we decoupled party symbols from our elections (both in canvassing and voting mode).This will ensure that only candidates with good reputation are elected and consequently political parties will be compelled to field candidates with good reputation.

2. Limit the period for election.

The gap between announcing elections and declaration of results runs into months. Sustaining a campaign for such a length of time involves expenditure which cannot be sustained by an honest citizen.

The state machinery has to be ready to go in the designated year of elections. The time gap between announcing elections and declaration of results should not be more than 30 days. In case of a mid-term poll, this can be extended by 15 days.

There should not be any scope for withdrawal of nominations. Why do you require a leader who in the first place is not sure whether to contest elections or not?

3. Make the manifesto more realistic and performance measurable.

Companies are responsible for the statements made in their prospectus. They have to justify the projections made. They cannot give gifts at their AGMs. No guidelines are applicable to the manifestos of political parties.

There has to be accountability for the statements made by political parties in their manifestos. Only those statements which reflect the founding principles of the constitution should be allowed to be included in a party manifesto/ candidate speech/publicity material. Economically unviable and frivolous promises like free color TV should not be allowed to be included in a manifesto/candidate speech/publicity material.

Promises in a manifesto should be measurable with probable date of completion. A party which does not complete 75% of its promises should be banned from contesting. This should be applicable for both the ruling and the main opposition. This would compel both these parties on issue of public welfare. This would ensure that they do not disrupt Parliament proceedings frequently since they have the burden of performance. This would also ensure that fancy promises which cannot be implemented are not made. It would also ensure that a honest citizen contesting as an independent has a level playing field with the political parties when it comes to the manifestos.

4. Removing criminals and corrupt from the election process

Today a citizen convicted by the court for a criminal offence cannot stand for elections. We all know how many years it takes to get a person, especially if he is a politician convicted, for a criminal offence. The parameter should be changed from conviction to admitting of the case for prosecution by the High Court. A person who has been denied bail by the court on more than 3 occasions for offences of murder, rape, rioting should be denied the right to contest.

As of now Politicians are required to only give their property returns. This is not sufficient and should be changed to providing proof of income for acquiring such property, if it is not inherited. If it stated that the property is inherited, proof for the same should be provided.

There is no point in saying that good people do not enter politics when the present circumstances are hopelessly pitted against them. Let a level playing field be established, the good people would flock in.

Why we cannot be a politician?

The common refrain is to ask us to vote. If there are no good ones in the fray, people like us are asked to enter into politics. I don’t think people like us can enter the world of politics given the stench and shameless depths it has reached today. Here are some of the reasons:

We would never have the gumption to say that Mumbai belongs to Maharastrians and go into hiding when a couple of “outsiders” become martyrs while fighting the terrorists who laid siege to Mumbai. We would have come out in public, apologized for the mistake and appreciated the commandos. We cannot be cunning and deceptive.

We would never hold a city to ransom for a political rally and later justify saying that urbanites don’t understand the pain of farmers. We would have trembled with fear and come out in public seeking apologies for the inconvenience caused. We cannot be apathy personified.

We would never require a tele-prompter to address the nation when terrorists have laid siege to its commercial capital. Our emotions would pour out and extempore we would criticize the act and try to assure the citizens of Government’s commitment. We would not be worried about using politically correct words nor feel detached in times of national grief.

We would never come in public and make a statement “such incidents take place in a big city like Mumbai”. We would never say that there was only a general warning and not a specific warning about the attacks. To begin with we would have acted on each and every warning we get and not waited for a call from across the border saying that we are going to attack your city at so and so time, at such a location. If the event had occurred despite best of our efforts, we would have immediately tendered resignation owning moral responsibility.

We would have never taken a film director to inspect the wreckage of Taj Hotel and later had the insensitiveness to say “He is not a terrorist”.

We would have never been so obscene to say that but for Sandeep not even a dog would have visited the Unnikrishnan household. We would have never taken 4 days to condone the death of a brave son of India no matter which state he belongs to. We would have never been busy discussing future electoral alliances in a polit bureau meeting when the country was burning.

We would never lampoon the protestors based on their cosmetics and attires. What did this crass politician expect the law abiding citizens to do, block traffic, burn buses, damage property. Possibly that is the only meaning of protest he understands.

The average Indian can never make the cut in the present political sphere of India. Things have to change and yes, we are responsible for it.

There is no point in voting for the same set of guys. Go to the voting both, get your finger dyed, tell the polling officer you don’t want to vote by exercising the option under Rule 49 O. Make the entry in the register “Not interested to vote” If the rejections exceed the number of votes polled, a re-election is ordered, but the rejected candidates do not have the right to contest again. Yes, your identity will be revealed to the polling officer and party workers. So what, our ancestors could take on the Britishers head on, why we can’t do it in one election.