Itch of Writing

As a Bihari, I want to thank Raj Thackeray and team to have attacked Bihari students gone to take exams in Mumbai. They chased Bihari students away as stray dogs are chased by watchmen. They beat them up as donkeys are beaten up when they refuse to move. I loved it. I loved it as a Bihari. No no, neither am I a demented soul nor am I attempting any Gandhigiri. But as a hopeless optimist, I see a silver line in the clouds. As a Bihari, who studied in Bihar from kindergarten to my bachelor’s degree, I had tried several times to leave Bihar and go for higher studies or employment outside my home state. I ultimately succeeded in 2001 when I came to Delhi to study journalism. I never went back to Bihar since then. So these attacks are inspiring me to go back to my home state and do something for ‘my own people’? Not yet, I have to get rid of my insensitivity a little more to do that. So I am thanking Raj because I believe it will inspire more sensitive Biharis to go back to Bihar and do som...

Why could Buddhism not stay as the popular religion of India for long? Not because Brahmins ganged up to smother it, because it was a philosophy that was not perfectly appealing to the Indian psyche. Buddha told, "app dipo bhava" i.e. be a lamp unto yourselves - be your own light, your own authority, your own Buddha. Buddha was perhaps the first one who preached 'individualism', much before the French political commentators and socialists coined the word in 19th century. But individualism is not the cup of tea for Indians, or for that matter, for most of the traditional societies of the world. We like to live in herds, in groups, in colonies, in castes. We need a sense of belonging. That's why Khushwant Singh, who claims to be an atheist, doesn't shave off his beard and removes his turban (I'm not asking him to do that either). That's why Shabana Azmi, whose ideas would be more respected in a religion-less society, assertively calls herself a...