Friday, May 30, 2008

The road to el dorado

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful and mysterious place. It was filled with wonders never seen or heard of before. Strange yet very hospitable people inhabited this land. Tales of its vast riches spread far and wide, twists and contortions in the stories portraying this land as the el dorado.
All was not well in this land, however. Just beneath the surface you could see insane rituals and practices rule the day. Then came the british. And began the process of murdering and modernization.
In the glorious struggle for freedom from this tyranny, many lives were lost. But we emerged victorious. So emerged a new age India, one that was free from the shackles of the past, one that would look forward and emerge as one of the foremost nations in the world, one that would regain its lost and plundered glory, one that would be the epitome of prosperity and happiness.

Keep dreaming.
Maharashtra state finance and planning minister Mr. Jayant Patil has come up with yet another ingenious idea. He wants to bring in another quota system in jobs. Only this time, the quota stands at a stagerring 80 % . 80 % quota for the locals in all industries across maharashtra. Can you believe these ludicrous schemes, the extent to which these numbskulls will go to increase their chances of staying in power ? Having stayed in mumbai all my life, i am definitely one of the so called beneficiaries of this junk of a rule. That, however, hardly makes it any rosier. Now that maharashtra has come up with such a quota, how long will it be , till other states that are to go to polls follow suit ? The most irritating part is that due to coalition politics, the central government, that boasts of stalwarts of the indian economic revolution like chidambaram, the PM himself, etc remain dumb to these insane ideas that their allies dream up, no doubt helped by the string of defeats that the Ruling party has sufered in various state polls over the past year. Blinded by this lust for power, the long term goals lay forgotten.
Perhaps India is the only country in the world where people fight, struggle and even kill to be branded under-developed or under-privileged A lot has been said and debated on reservations. While the time for abolishment of reservations is no where near in the foreseeable future, having 80% quota defies human logic from any angle.
Few things get me as worked up as reservations. It is steps like this that make me completely disillusioned with the future of this country, or lack thereof.
The british were better, one would be inclined to think.

9 comments:

Vidya said...

hmm reservations.. what abt ppl who really deserve it? is there any way that we can pick that lot and give them reservations? if yes, the concept of reservations makes sense. dont understand why a person who studies with u in the same college and his/her family has the same (or even higher) standard of living as u deserves a special treatment. makes no sense! and 50% i thot was the worst. 80%!? what were they thinking? (rather, not thinking)

Vidya said...

and even in andhra there is 33% reservation for girls, and the other usual sc st one too. so here there is almost 60% i think. sheesh..

Full Of Life said...

Hahahaaaa... 80% GAWD. Im sure a day will come when they'll say " Oh! you are not an SC, sorry you have no place in this country". 80% is GODDAMN huge! n that too in jobs! Bleh. Its all power games.
It is all this that makes me study even harder for GRE. Everytime I decide that naah India is my home, I must come back , do something for this place, some such shit happens which makes me wanna pack my bags and leave the country.
Hopefully, I do leave it for sometime now. I just pray they dont start having reservations in real-estate, cars, parking slots, eateries etc also now.
DAMN THE POLITICOS! Grrrr...
Reservations is one of the worst things ive ever known under the sun.
Well written!

Anonymous said...

Ah, a very pro-Shiv Sena move! And not to worry, it won't happen in other states, at least in the employment industry. It is happening in Maharashtra because of the aforementioned party, which endeavors to kick out all non-Maharashtrians and gain all those white collared jobs held by the migrants back to themselves.

fiddlesticks said...

Nice post! The frustration is palpable, not to mention all too familiar. Have nothing new to add to this topic, though. 'The country is going to the dogs' is becoming irritatingly cliched, and smacks of passivism :| There must be something we can do, surely? Short of forming the nation's zillionth party, I mean. Arghhh!

Anonymous said...

wth u changed ur blog template! u cudve blogged abt it! :-\

Oink said...

blog about a template ?
n here i thought life was gettin a lil bit interesting

Shwetha said...

did ya find the tee?

Anonymous said...

i most certainly did not !