Articles

The anti-reservation brigade is fond of saying, “You are what you are because of reservation; without reservation, you would have been nothing.” In lyrics used in the Havells ad, “taking reservation” is likened to “using a ladder” or taking the “easy route”. Reservation is not the easy route. The easy route is to mock the reserved category students to gloss over your inability to get a seat in the general category.

My father is a retired Subedar Major of the Indian Army. When he saw you shouting slogans in support of terrorists, he turned off the television and left the room. He didn’t say anything. But I knew what he was thinking. You were making a complete mockery of our defence forces. He was ashamed to serve you. Now let me exercise my freedom of speech: your actions were nothing but shameful and disgraceful.

Take a few precautions and you can save yourself from the embarrassment of being slapped on the streets this day of love. I know, it sounds ridiculous. But what to do? We are living in tough times. To begin with, make sure your girlfriend is wearing a mangalsutra. By doing this you can claim that you are within ‘the boundaries of Indian culture’.

Criticising a government in power is my constitutional right. It enriches our democracy. A democracy rests on the principle of constant dialogue, debate and criticism. I question the policies of the government. I question the hasty decisions, taken solely for political gains. I question them because I have a right to question. It may not be relevant to you. You have the right to disagree. You can counter me with facts and logic. But you cannot abuse me. You cannot call me an anti-national. You cannot call me a Pakistani. Does my love for him take away my right to question him or the actions of his colleagues which I find unacceptable?

With the newly designed bio-toilets installed in our coaches, no human excreta is going to directly fall on the railway tracks. That’s great, really, but what about the human beings falling on to the tracks? When will our government sign MoUs to prevent that?