Before reading this please read the previous post.
As I turned away from the parking lot, I started reflecting on some of the aspects of the just concluded interaction. Rehmanji had asked humbly what was wrong in what was he doing? After all he is looking after the cars and taking the money that people were offering him, tt was not as if he was forcing them to give money. But in my mind isnt this what conning is all about? Pretense. You look and pretend as if you are a parking attendant by waving the cars, blowing a whistle, giving superficial instructions to motorists about how to park their vehicles (mind you they only went upto to the two wheelers) and then hold out your hand to ask for money. People might overlook the free parking sign and mistake them to be attendants in which case they are clearly being taken advantage of. It is a racket.
Rehmanji also said that he has to feed his children, which is a point raised by people who defend the behaviour of auto-rickshaw drivers who jack up the prices.
They say that some people are in such economically challenged environments that they need to resort to such means and financially stable people should be supportive and pay up, though you might convey to the autorickshaw driver that you know are being taken for a ride but you are still willing to support. But the above logic could also apply to con men/women and in some cases to thieves, so it definitely doesnt make sense to me.
But if Rehmanj and his friend are doing a necessary job of looking after the cars and taking whatever money that people have to offer or not offer, again whats the harm? In a country where you need a license (as well as give a exam) to lift the baggage of people aka a coolie, why should it be any different for Rehmanji and his friend? Every formal business or service needs a legal sanction, so the same should extend to this case. To me it is just an excuse to defend the racket.
The most important question that came to my head, had me thinking about it for a long time. In the neighbouring uptown Khan Market, there is a free parking area in which there are people who do the same thing as Rehmanji. How come I didnt bat an eyelid then, didnt even think, and even paid when they guided my car out of a difficult situation. Is it an issue of identity, because in a posh crowded market the service seemed ok. The first feeble defense that I have is that intuitively I have not sensed any racket there( and my intuition is very strong) and actually thought this to be a value- add service provided by the shopkeepers. Recently all of them have also started wearing NDMC jackets, maybe it is a sign that they have legal authority. As I write this I have decided to ask them the next time I go to Khan Market.
Another thought which came to my mind is why I was being so uptight about something small? Why dont I speak about bigger issues? but what happens when big issues do arise, one feels intimidated and leaves everything to somebody else, most often it is the State. In other cases you would need a mass mobilization. So I thought ofcourse one should take up issues that can be engaged with on an individual level.
The next big question which arose is am I being selfish? Clearly the issue of being conned for money is something I feel strongly for and that is why I went to the extent of harassing Rehmanji and Sonuji. But in this case what is self? I wasnt being conned, others were. I felt that I should investigate the racket so that others do not get conned. I wasnt standing up for ME, I was standing up for WE, self was all of us. But I must admit when I reflect on the level of ownership and the intensity of my participation in this issue, I still wonder whether there was an issue of negative selfishness somewhere?
Lastly who am I to be so moral and correct? It is not as if I havent broken rules while driving (talking on the mobile while driving, not wearing seat belt, crossing the red light) But isnt it better that one does the right thing sometimes instead of never doing it. Life is a journey of moments and you have to play by the ear where you decide to take a particular stand in a particular moment. Nevertheless one can also live a life always doing the right thing, i.e. abiding by your principles. I know of two such inspirational people. It is a no brainer and a commendable thing, that living a principle based life is very challenging but nonetheless it is one that we should all aspire for.
So the entire incident and the post incident self reflection and introspection became one whole cycle. It went...
FROM ME TO WE TO ME
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
From Me to We to Me - part 1
I am 24 year old young man. I believe that every young person should be a Rang De Basanti (I dont agree with their violence), Youth for Equality (I stand for reservation) type socially proactive person. And I hate being conned for money. That is one of the reasons that I dont ride in autos because I hate being taken for a ride (what happens to my concerns for global warming). This was the principle behind today's story which sparked me of on a mental churn of self introspection.
I have recently started going to Lodhi Garden ( a beautiful park full of trees and heritage monuments) for a jog in the mornings. When I went today in the evening around 6:30pm I saw a peculiar sight. Two men wearing caps, holding a whistle each in their hands, were ushering the cars and the two wheelers in the parking space and collecting money from the passengers. One was a tall dark man with a moustache,apporximately in his late 30s, wearing a blue cap, navy blue shirt, and fawn coloured trousers, the other was a young ma in his 20s wearing black cap, red tshirt and black jeans. What's curious about this? only that this site is a FREE PARKING space. I was not asked to give any money but I couldnt bear the reality that other people were getting conned of their money (my principle you see!!). So I started on the journey of From Me to We ( why should I allow other people get conned?)
So I go upto these two men and ask them who they are and what were they doing.The tall man, Rehmanji, said that there were parking attendants who were put on the job by a contractor. The other guy first said his name is Sonu but changed it to Mohit when Rehman said Mohit instead. Upon being asked why there should be any parking attendants or a contractor in fee parking space (NDMC demarcated), they clearly became defensive. They tried to justify by saying that they were doing a service by looking after the cars and the contractor (Khan saab) had the permission of the SHO of the Tughlak Road police station. I got the number of the Khan dude and called him from my mobile (rejecting all visions of a Munnabai Part 1 dude who would be aggressive and threatening). He turned out to be no contractor and only a person who was known to these two people (also polite). Things were definitely fishy.
But clearly they were a small fish in the ocean. When I complained to Baldevj head constable from the Tughlak Road police station who was standing nearby, he chided them casually as he knew what they were upto. "Arre bhai, maine aapko bola hai na, yeh seeti mat bajao, gaadi aise hi lagao...kal se mat aao". My take on the superficial conversation, the constables of the nearby police station are in on this racket and earn a cut.
Eventually even Khan Bhai entered the scene. This was after the tall man made a call on his mobile (again I had to reject thoughts of a gang of goons appearing on this call). He too had nothing much to add except a seemingly ficticious story of how the Tughlak Road police had asked him to look after the security of the cars parked at Lodhi Garden in light of the recent trend of cars being stolen from the Lodhi Garden area.Nice initiative, do they have a letter of authority from the police? no, any identity? no.Fishy, fishy, fishy. In a seemingly orchestrated fashion, another head constable (I think his name is Prasad),this time from Lodhi Garden police station appeared. He looked as if he were doing his routine check (so routine that Khan Saab seemed very friendly with the constable). Shifting gears from his routine check, the policeman started defending the parking attendants, although he had nothing to say about why they did not have a legal license or authority letter from the police to do so. In the end we left it at the point that they agreed to my suggestion, that if they want to continue their service they should get some legal sanction from the police station otherwise I will follow up the case in the police station if I saw them doing the same thing again. Thus the journey of From Me to We ended.
I have recently started going to Lodhi Garden ( a beautiful park full of trees and heritage monuments) for a jog in the mornings. When I went today in the evening around 6:30pm I saw a peculiar sight. Two men wearing caps, holding a whistle each in their hands, were ushering the cars and the two wheelers in the parking space and collecting money from the passengers. One was a tall dark man with a moustache,apporximately in his late 30s, wearing a blue cap, navy blue shirt, and fawn coloured trousers, the other was a young ma in his 20s wearing black cap, red tshirt and black jeans. What's curious about this? only that this site is a FREE PARKING space. I was not asked to give any money but I couldnt bear the reality that other people were getting conned of their money (my principle you see!!). So I started on the journey of From Me to We ( why should I allow other people get conned?)
So I go upto these two men and ask them who they are and what were they doing.The tall man, Rehmanji, said that there were parking attendants who were put on the job by a contractor. The other guy first said his name is Sonu but changed it to Mohit when Rehman said Mohit instead. Upon being asked why there should be any parking attendants or a contractor in fee parking space (NDMC demarcated), they clearly became defensive. They tried to justify by saying that they were doing a service by looking after the cars and the contractor (Khan saab) had the permission of the SHO of the Tughlak Road police station. I got the number of the Khan dude and called him from my mobile (rejecting all visions of a Munnabai Part 1 dude who would be aggressive and threatening). He turned out to be no contractor and only a person who was known to these two people (also polite). Things were definitely fishy.
But clearly they were a small fish in the ocean. When I complained to Baldevj head constable from the Tughlak Road police station who was standing nearby, he chided them casually as he knew what they were upto. "Arre bhai, maine aapko bola hai na, yeh seeti mat bajao, gaadi aise hi lagao...kal se mat aao". My take on the superficial conversation, the constables of the nearby police station are in on this racket and earn a cut.
Eventually even Khan Bhai entered the scene. This was after the tall man made a call on his mobile (again I had to reject thoughts of a gang of goons appearing on this call). He too had nothing much to add except a seemingly ficticious story of how the Tughlak Road police had asked him to look after the security of the cars parked at Lodhi Garden in light of the recent trend of cars being stolen from the Lodhi Garden area.Nice initiative, do they have a letter of authority from the police? no, any identity? no.Fishy, fishy, fishy. In a seemingly orchestrated fashion, another head constable (I think his name is Prasad),this time from Lodhi Garden police station appeared. He looked as if he were doing his routine check (so routine that Khan Saab seemed very friendly with the constable). Shifting gears from his routine check, the policeman started defending the parking attendants, although he had nothing to say about why they did not have a legal license or authority letter from the police to do so. In the end we left it at the point that they agreed to my suggestion, that if they want to continue their service they should get some legal sanction from the police station otherwise I will follow up the case in the police station if I saw them doing the same thing again. Thus the journey of From Me to We ended.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
FREE PALESTINE
Before you start reading this I want you to do one favour for me, see this video below
Words cannot express my feelings and knowledge about Palestine.
When I would remember how the British dominated India or the French and Portuguese dominated Africa, I thought for a long time that in current affairs such a domination of another country by somebody else will not be possible.Why, becaue the world would stand up for one of its brethren, there would be such a huge uproar that no country will be able to resist all the pressure, economic sanctions (the latest tool for getting a country to toe the line that you want). Imagine my deep surprise and anguish that even in today’s globalised world there are two countries which are being clinically subjugated and terminated, Tibet and Palestine. My heart goes to out to the people living in these countries. My country has been under the whims of British rule for years, I have read, heard and seen the stories of the oppressed during those years. We were slaves in a country where we were once the citizens.
I feel the time to share my pain and knowledge about Palestine with others and hope you would be my companions in this journey.
What were the first words that come to my mind when I think of Israel and Palestine. Israel – Mossad (probably because of my interest in reading books on espionage), Tel Aviv, great defence technology, victims of terrorist attacks.Palestine – bearded Muslim men, their heads covered, throwing stone, PLA, Yasser Arafat, exploding bombs in buses. So overall Israel- modern, victims, Palestine – conservative, terrorists. All this is probably a result of being exposed to only American books and movies eg Munich.
My position in this blog is that Palestinians have suffered a great deal, they are facing the greatest refugee crisis in the modern world and it is their side of the story that we know the least. I am going to try to give a summary of their story , if you want the details then please leave a comment and I would get back to you.
Till 1919 the original land of Palestine included both Israel and present Palestine (West Bank + Gaza strip). Although the ancient land of Palestine had its fair share of rulers (Greeks, Arabs, Persians, Jews, Romans), Palestine was home to Arabs who were 80% of the population were Arabs and a minority community of Jews. For example, the Jewish population in 1931 was 174, 606 against a total of 1,033,314."In the late 1930s Jews were being savagely persecuted in many parts of Europe. A religious sect of the Jews that is the Zionist sect said that Jews rightful home is in the land of original Palestine. Between 1882 – 1903 Jews from different countries swarmed to Palestine and started buying land there. What follows in the coming years is a horror story for me. The Jews with all their economic and military might started ousting Palestinians from their own homes. Palestine by large is an agriculture based economy which had been under the British rule till the end of World War 2 (meaning our fellow country when India was being ruled by British). The poor peasants had no chance to save their homes from being demolished by trained Israeli soldiers who had the support of the British weapons. So what happened next over the next twenty years was the beginning of the biggest refugee crisis still existing in the modern world, more than ONE MILLION REFUGEES. People had to flee their homes and go to neighbouring countries of Egypt, Syria and Lebanon. So close your eyes and imagine for a moment, people from one community coming from all parts of the world to your country and expelling you from there.
The people of Palestine are a persecuted lot, the people have been living under the tyrannical power of young Israel soldiers, the tremendous financial power of the Jewish state. The everyday life of a Palestinian is marked by the sights of Israeli checkpoints, soldiers and guns, tanks, bulldozers and the Wall. People have been displaced from their own homes which have been demolished by Israeli bulldozers.
Checkpoint
The Palestinian farmer faces mistreatment and humiliation at the hands of the Israeli soldier every day. And in one day he meets several such young men with the power of the gun in their hands in the several checkpoints that run through Palestinian areas. School going children, sick women wanting to go to the hospital, old people wanting to reach homes, all have to line up in queue to pass the checkpoint to their homes. And the checkpoint is between one Palestinian village and another. And don’t think the checkpoints are open throughout the day, oh no! it is open only during a specific period or in some cases whenever the soldier feels like it.
The Israeli soldier
Absolute power corrupts absolutely, the phrase come ironically alive in the case of a typical Israeli soldier at a checkpoint who is between 18-20 years and armed with all the modern weaponry in the world, sitting arrogantly inside a Hummer. Now you can only imagine what will happen when you give so much power to a person and tell him or her that his or her role is to maintain law and order over a community of people whom they are ruling over. I have seen videos of soldiers refusing injured women and in one sick incident even a hospital ambulance to pass the checkpoint for no reason at all. Armed with the words, ’ This is a secure military zone’, they have usurped the lands of many farmers even without possessing any official documents. The farmer like in our country is too poor to fight a long winded court case, that too in an Israeli court. And even if he or she does win the case, he or she would most likely come back to find suddenly Israeli settlements living on a part of the land, thereby it automatically becoming Jewish land and also under the protection of the Army. Thousands of acres of Palestinian land have been illegally occupied in this fashion so that the Palestinians are squeezed further into their already narrowing corner. This is a strategy that even the Chinese are employing in Tibet making me think whether there is a universal book on how to dominate other people’s countries.
The Wall
We have all heard about the Berlin Wall and seen pictures of people breaking down this divide between East and West Germany. Israel is building a wall 30 times in length and double the height of the Berlin Wall. Israel says that the wall is for protection from Palestinian terrorism, if so why does the wall cut into Palestinian land , snaking around them in such a manner that many communities are cut off from their natural resources like land and water. 52% of the Palestinian communities will be segregated into isolated military zones, enclaves. So one day I go outside my house to see a wall between my house and the pond where I drink water from, or from the well whose water I need to farm my lands, or even from my farming lands itself. If you want more information, please look up the website http://www.stopthewall.org/
In a letter Mahatma Gandhi said about the Palestine conflict – 1938 that, "Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French…What is going on in Palestine today cannot be justified by any moral code of conduct…If they [the Jews] must look to the Palestine of geography as their national home, it is wrong to enter it under the shadow of the British gun. A religious act cannot be performed with the aid of the bayonet or the bomb. They can settle in Palestine only by the goodwill of the Arabs…As it is, they are co-sharers with the British in despoiling a people who have done no wrong to them. I am not defending the Arab excesses. I wish they had chosen the way of non-violence in resisting what they rightly regard as an unacceptable encroachment upon their country. But according to the accepted canons of right and wrong, nothing can be said against the Arab resistance in the face of overwhelming odds."
The above are just are a few aspects of Palestinian life that I wanted to share with you all. I would encourage each one of you to go on an individual learning journey of this issue. The objective of the blog is not to justify some of the actions of the Palestinians which are on the path of violence but to bring about large scale awareness of the Israel Palestine issue and to push for a peaceful solution to the problem, the end of the terrible persecution policies of Israel, peace and justice for the million Palestinian refugees and the end to violence from both sides. Amen, Inshallah, Om. Before you leave, I would ask another favour from you, please check the below video, so as to leave this space with a visual memory
Words cannot express my feelings and knowledge about Palestine.
When I would remember how the British dominated India or the French and Portuguese dominated Africa, I thought for a long time that in current affairs such a domination of another country by somebody else will not be possible.Why, becaue the world would stand up for one of its brethren, there would be such a huge uproar that no country will be able to resist all the pressure, economic sanctions (the latest tool for getting a country to toe the line that you want). Imagine my deep surprise and anguish that even in today’s globalised world there are two countries which are being clinically subjugated and terminated, Tibet and Palestine. My heart goes to out to the people living in these countries. My country has been under the whims of British rule for years, I have read, heard and seen the stories of the oppressed during those years. We were slaves in a country where we were once the citizens.
I feel the time to share my pain and knowledge about Palestine with others and hope you would be my companions in this journey.
What were the first words that come to my mind when I think of Israel and Palestine. Israel – Mossad (probably because of my interest in reading books on espionage), Tel Aviv, great defence technology, victims of terrorist attacks.Palestine – bearded Muslim men, their heads covered, throwing stone, PLA, Yasser Arafat, exploding bombs in buses. So overall Israel- modern, victims, Palestine – conservative, terrorists. All this is probably a result of being exposed to only American books and movies eg Munich.
My position in this blog is that Palestinians have suffered a great deal, they are facing the greatest refugee crisis in the modern world and it is their side of the story that we know the least. I am going to try to give a summary of their story , if you want the details then please leave a comment and I would get back to you.
Till 1919 the original land of Palestine included both Israel and present Palestine (West Bank + Gaza strip). Although the ancient land of Palestine had its fair share of rulers (Greeks, Arabs, Persians, Jews, Romans), Palestine was home to Arabs who were 80% of the population were Arabs and a minority community of Jews. For example, the Jewish population in 1931 was 174, 606 against a total of 1,033,314."In the late 1930s Jews were being savagely persecuted in many parts of Europe. A religious sect of the Jews that is the Zionist sect said that Jews rightful home is in the land of original Palestine. Between 1882 – 1903 Jews from different countries swarmed to Palestine and started buying land there. What follows in the coming years is a horror story for me. The Jews with all their economic and military might started ousting Palestinians from their own homes. Palestine by large is an agriculture based economy which had been under the British rule till the end of World War 2 (meaning our fellow country when India was being ruled by British). The poor peasants had no chance to save their homes from being demolished by trained Israeli soldiers who had the support of the British weapons. So what happened next over the next twenty years was the beginning of the biggest refugee crisis still existing in the modern world, more than ONE MILLION REFUGEES. People had to flee their homes and go to neighbouring countries of Egypt, Syria and Lebanon. So close your eyes and imagine for a moment, people from one community coming from all parts of the world to your country and expelling you from there.
The people of Palestine are a persecuted lot, the people have been living under the tyrannical power of young Israel soldiers, the tremendous financial power of the Jewish state. The everyday life of a Palestinian is marked by the sights of Israeli checkpoints, soldiers and guns, tanks, bulldozers and the Wall. People have been displaced from their own homes which have been demolished by Israeli bulldozers.
Checkpoint
The Palestinian farmer faces mistreatment and humiliation at the hands of the Israeli soldier every day. And in one day he meets several such young men with the power of the gun in their hands in the several checkpoints that run through Palestinian areas. School going children, sick women wanting to go to the hospital, old people wanting to reach homes, all have to line up in queue to pass the checkpoint to their homes. And the checkpoint is between one Palestinian village and another. And don’t think the checkpoints are open throughout the day, oh no! it is open only during a specific period or in some cases whenever the soldier feels like it.
The Israeli soldier
Absolute power corrupts absolutely, the phrase come ironically alive in the case of a typical Israeli soldier at a checkpoint who is between 18-20 years and armed with all the modern weaponry in the world, sitting arrogantly inside a Hummer. Now you can only imagine what will happen when you give so much power to a person and tell him or her that his or her role is to maintain law and order over a community of people whom they are ruling over. I have seen videos of soldiers refusing injured women and in one sick incident even a hospital ambulance to pass the checkpoint for no reason at all. Armed with the words, ’ This is a secure military zone’, they have usurped the lands of many farmers even without possessing any official documents. The farmer like in our country is too poor to fight a long winded court case, that too in an Israeli court. And even if he or she does win the case, he or she would most likely come back to find suddenly Israeli settlements living on a part of the land, thereby it automatically becoming Jewish land and also under the protection of the Army. Thousands of acres of Palestinian land have been illegally occupied in this fashion so that the Palestinians are squeezed further into their already narrowing corner. This is a strategy that even the Chinese are employing in Tibet making me think whether there is a universal book on how to dominate other people’s countries.
The Wall
We have all heard about the Berlin Wall and seen pictures of people breaking down this divide between East and West Germany. Israel is building a wall 30 times in length and double the height of the Berlin Wall. Israel says that the wall is for protection from Palestinian terrorism, if so why does the wall cut into Palestinian land , snaking around them in such a manner that many communities are cut off from their natural resources like land and water. 52% of the Palestinian communities will be segregated into isolated military zones, enclaves. So one day I go outside my house to see a wall between my house and the pond where I drink water from, or from the well whose water I need to farm my lands, or even from my farming lands itself. If you want more information, please look up the website http://www.stopthewall.org/
In a letter Mahatma Gandhi said about the Palestine conflict – 1938 that, "Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French…What is going on in Palestine today cannot be justified by any moral code of conduct…If they [the Jews] must look to the Palestine of geography as their national home, it is wrong to enter it under the shadow of the British gun. A religious act cannot be performed with the aid of the bayonet or the bomb. They can settle in Palestine only by the goodwill of the Arabs…As it is, they are co-sharers with the British in despoiling a people who have done no wrong to them. I am not defending the Arab excesses. I wish they had chosen the way of non-violence in resisting what they rightly regard as an unacceptable encroachment upon their country. But according to the accepted canons of right and wrong, nothing can be said against the Arab resistance in the face of overwhelming odds."
The above are just are a few aspects of Palestinian life that I wanted to share with you all. I would encourage each one of you to go on an individual learning journey of this issue. The objective of the blog is not to justify some of the actions of the Palestinians which are on the path of violence but to bring about large scale awareness of the Israel Palestine issue and to push for a peaceful solution to the problem, the end of the terrible persecution policies of Israel, peace and justice for the million Palestinian refugees and the end to violence from both sides. Amen, Inshallah, Om. Before you leave, I would ask another favour from you, please check the below video, so as to leave this space with a visual memory
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