Being a Right Wing Nationalist.

Traditions and culture. Heavy words, aren't they? 

Every 7 out of 10 fellow country men feel traditions and culture are important but most often fail to be good ambassadors for taking it forward.It was just the other day,when one of my colleague from France put across a question about the "Ratha-Yatra" which takes place in Odisha. Pat comes a reply from one of the Indian colleague, "All I know about it is that a lot of people die there due to stampedes". I was disappointed. My dear colleague just lost a wonderful opportunity to present one of the glorious traditions followed by lakhs of Hindu devotees. 

The above was just an example. Most of you might disagree with me saying, no, it was situational and individual-centric and I might not very well argue against it. You may be right, but at least for me, I have come across several instances where I felt my country was let down by our own nationals.

The point here is, how many of you find yourself in a position to present a strong case-study about one of the tradition followed in your country when asked by a foreigner? Are you well verse with the nitty-gritties of the event which associates themselves with the traditions? Most would say, "No". Well I'm not boasting about me being an expert in explaining our culture, but having said that I ensure about having at least a certain amount of knowledge where a non-Indian cannot put me off using his half cooked information acquired by Internet research.

This is not what I intent to present in this blog though. With full respect to all the seculars out here in this forum, I feel, you are not doing a good service to our country. Every attempt by a right wing nationalist is portrayed as an act which demeans the status quo of our society.Whats wrong with an RSS or a VHP spreading Hinduism? Every religion does it, so why cannot Hinduism be given its right to spread further? Most of the times, their tools for propogation are the culture, tradition and way of life of our beloved country.

Mahatma Gandhi in the year 1934 once said, “When I visited the RSS Camp, I was very much surprised by your discipline and absence of untouchablity.” RSS and VHP are indeed our strong fundamental building blocks which is the sole reason why Hinduism is still afloat and spreading across the world. Seldom does the secular parties credit them with noble words. Most often than not, they are accused of spreading communal disharmony and religious violence. I feel the very reason why secular parties survive on the very divide between religions. They are the first to highlight the differences in opinions which until snowballed to controversies, hardly matter to the sects involved. 

It is not surprising that the great Congress party which calls itself "most-secular" is in shambles. They do not have any road-map for their party neither a vision for the country. The lefts are reeling with lack of leadership and in fights. The Janata Dals are busy embracing their political rivals whom they were ready to kill until a few months back.

Everyone feels it was one man who single handedly brought BJP to power. While I love my prime minister from the bottom of my heart, I would disagree that he was the sole reason for the uprising. It was the efforts, planning, ground mobility, selfless devotion of thousands of sevaks which played a huge role in bringing back BJP to power. They are the true nationalists and proud ones too. Our country had almost lost its way in the last decade due to incessant mis-rule full of corruption. It took some real efforts and anger to throw them out of power. It becomes even more important to keep them away which I am pretty sure, the BJP is pretty well equipped to do so.

My effort with this blog is to bridge a gap between the selfless and hardworking sevaks and the fellow country men, who somehow fail to appreciate their mere existence. Below are some of the facts vs myths about the RSS quoted in the IBTL blog by the author Kiran KS:

Myth :RSS Killed Gandhi

Fact :Nathuram Godse killed Mahatma Gandhi in 1948. Godse had left RSS in 1930s itself. This has been reiterated countless number of times by RSS, and the recent one is from December 2010, when Ram Madhav of RSS claimed court records clearly showing RSS had nothing to do with Gandhi's murder. Justice Kapur Commission Report clearly says: Blaming RSS for Gandhi's murder just because Godse was a former member of RSS, is like blaming Congress for Muslim League's mass murder and atrocities during Partition, because Jinnah was a member of Congress earlier. Jinnah was a member of Congress party between 1906 and 1920. So someone who was a member of Congress for long 14 years, was instrumental in inciting Direct Action Day and other mass atrocities against Hindus, resulting in 1000s of deaths. Will today's Sonia Gandhi's Congress claim responsibility for all the wrong doings of Jinnah, including breaking up an age old civilization resulting in millions of deaths?

Myth : Sardar Patel disliked RSS

Fact : Sardar Patel had to take action in 1948 due to political pressure from "secular" Nehru and group. But when the ban on RSS was lifted, read Sardar's letters to Guruji, the RSS chief. Patel was the happiest man then! All the bans till date on RSS, including the ones after Sardar's death, are purely the hate that Congress party nurturers for RSS. 

Myth : RSS is anti national

Fact : RSS is the most nationalistic organization in India. In fact, even the most bitter enemy of RSS, Jawaharlal Nehru, invited RSS to come participate in the 1963 Republic day parade. 3500 Swayamsevaks marched on that day, in their typical Gana Vesha. During his final years, Nehru realized the patriotic pulse of RSS, that too only when his Congress party's foreign policy went seriously wrong resulting in a humiliating defeat at the hands of China. It was RSS that helped Indian soldiers and civilians greatly in 1962, for which even Nehru was forced to invite them to be a part of 1963 Republic Day parade. I am sure the icon of secularism, Nehru would not invite an anti national organization to march with Indian army during republic day. In fact, the so-called secular folks like members of Indian communist parties, were busy raising donations for India's enemy China during 1962 war!

Myth : RSS is fundamentalist

Fact : RSS is pro India, pro Hindutva. RSS' ideology says that there are only two kinds of Hindus in India. Those who are Hindu today and those who were Hindus yesterday. That makes every single human in India (and rest of Indian subcontinent), Hindus by culture, ancestry and tradition. That is the Hindut-va (Hindu essence). Tva in Sanskrit means characteristic, essence or hood - like Bhratrutva (brotherhood), Maatrutva (motherhood), Shatrutva (Enmity) and so on. RSS never preaches any religious doctrine using any sacred book with the eventual goal of converting everyone to that doctrine 100%. RSS does not believe in converting anyone to its "religion". So calling such organization fundamentalist is silly. If at all RSS has any fundamentals, it is that of calling India as Bharat, and treating her as the mother of every single human in Indian subcontinent. In fact, RSS supports uniform civil code in India, meaning one type of marriage/divorce/inheritance laws for ALL citizen, which is opposed by so called progressive parties like Communists and Congress!

Myth : RSS is fascist and a terrorist organization

Fact : When you show the long list of social service organizations that are a part of Sangh Parivar (family), the favourite line of Jihad supporters is that Jamat ud Da'wah also does social service. But they don't understand the basics that RSS does not preach violence in any of its shakha. It only teaches people to be proud of India's glorious 5000+ years culture and tradition. It teaches swayamsevaks (volunteers for the nation), self defence. Every human on this planet has the right to defend himself or herself. RSS never advocated for killing or converting "non-believers", like Jihadi terrorists or radical evangelicals do.

Myth : RSS is only for Hindu males

Fact : This is the favourite line of ignoramus feminists. There are two kinds of RSS setups. Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh for males, and Rastra Sevika Samiti for females. Both are thriving in India for decades. Both take out marches, celebrate India's heritage festivals and glorify India's national Hindutva icons. 

Myth : RSS is anti Muslim and RSS is anti Christian

Fact : RSS treats Muslims, Christians and everyone else in India, irrespective of caste and creed as cultural Hindus. Hindutva is an all encompassing ideology of RSS. This is the reason why RSS never has RSS Muslim shakha (daily assembly) or RSS Christian shakha. Anyone can become a member of RSS as long as they are ready to respect Bharat Mata (Mother India). RSS is against only those whose work against India's soverignty and heritage.

Myth : RSS only concerns with Hindus

Fact : RSS deals with all sections of Indian society. RSS is the first one in majority of natural disasters like 2004 TN Tsunami, 2001 Gujarat Earthquake, 2009 Karnataka-AP massive floods, 2013 Uttarakhand floods, or any rail/bus/building disasters. RSS volunteers are found from Jammu and Kashmir to Tamil Nadu, rushing to help every single natural disaster. 

The above are only few among the many facts which were misconstrued by the secular parties to divide India by religion. I am proud of being a right wing nationalist and will continue to spread awareness about the rich heritage, culture, traditions of my great country at every possible opportunity.

L’art de vivre - The art of living

Ok, I love the perks of my job. Of all the stress and pressure situations it puts me in, the opportunities to travel is something which I really cherish.

I loved France. Especially after having stayed in two Asian countries for substantial chunk of time, it was something really different.

It brimmed with good life and a special appreciation for culture,music,art,food and wine.

I was awed with the casual sophistication of the French people. They were matchless when it came to just anything which is suave and urbane.

Take cheese for example. For me it was just a yellow square of wrapped in plastic. I felt weird when it was offered to me as a desert in a project dinner event (for the most part of my life, I have different interpretation of desert). When I understood from my French colleagues, it was happy creation of a local artisan - which for me was the first invitation into l'art de vivre - The art of living.

From there on, my outlook towards each and every minute of my stay in France had become critical, not for anything, but to know and understand the French way of living.

Food - if I look at the food, I felt it is one of the great passions of French people. French cooking is highly refined and involves careful preparation, attention to detail, and the use of fresh ingredients. Oh! how can I forget the lamb made by the chef at a local restaurant. I never had a better cooked slice of lamb which melted instantaneously as I kept it in my mouth. As I inquired further, I learnt that the food varies by region and is heavily influenced by what is grown locally.

Living - for the French, the art of living is not just a pleasant expression, its a foundation for their life. With five weeks of paid vacation, plus every catholic holiday ever started, they have indeed become experts at living well.
Its no surprise, that France is home to past times like cafe-lounging and fine dining.

People - they are as polite as much they take pride in their language. A bonjour in the beginning and a merci at the end is sure to get you a pleasant smile. I was not that comfortable about cheek kissing though, thanks to my Hindu roots but nonetheless it was incredible how my entire office wished each other every day.

Wine - by the end of my stay I had become a huge fan of French wines. I had tasted Chilean and Chinese wines many times in the past but French wines are a class apart. No wonder they are considered one of the best wines in the world.
It echoed the French themselves - elegant, well-dressed and showing an appreciation for the good things in life. It went the best with food with a beautiful taste and and a well mannered spirit.

Music - this is where I felt, I ran out of time. But as they say, there is always a next time. This is one aspect, I have left it to learn more as I take forward my keen interest to know more about the French culture.

Being an ardent student of cultures, places, people and history it was a pleasure to experience this wonderful country. Au Revoir.

Admiring The Dragon Nation..

Its been almost a year and a half for me staying in this Asian giant, yet it never fails to impress me. When I first landed here with over 100's of doubts, queries and apprehensions in mind, I never thought I will stay back even for 6 months in the land of Dragons. Destiny, they say is funnier than what we think of it. As I complete 18 month of my stay, I try to look at this nation for the Infrastructure they have built with a foriegner's eye.

Over the course of next few minutes, I will take you through some of the most incredible investments.To cushion itself against the recession, the Asian giant is investing in one of the most ambitious public works programs the world has ever seen.

The 1.4 mile Bailing River Bridge in Guizhou is one of the hundreds of Infrastructure projects initiated by the Chinese as a way to create jobs and improve its domestic economy. The Baling River Bridge (Ba Lin He Bridge) is a suspension bridge in Guanling County in Guizhou Province of China. The bridge spans the Baling River Valley and was opened to public traffic on December 23, 2009. The bridge is part of the G60 Shanghai–Kunming Expressway between Kunming and Guiyang and reduced the travel time across the river valley from one hour to four minutes. The suspension span is 1,088 m (3,570 ft) long, and the bridge has a total length of 2,237 m (7,339 ft). It is also one of the world's highest bridges with 375 m (1,230 ft) clearance above the river.

                                                                                                          Image Source:Time.com

There's an old Chinese saying that goes: “If you want to be rich, you must first build roads.”

And, boy, have they built some roads: In the past year, we've seen the world's longest sea bridge, the world's longest gas pipeline and a high-speed railway that's left everyone else in the dust — literally.

China is one of out of the several countries that signed a contract to re-construct the ancient "Silk Road" linking China and India with Europe. The estimated cost of the project is around $6.5 billion.

                                                                   Image Source:Wiki Commons

If you felt that was it, then just hold your breath. China is one of the 32 countries, who signed agreement for the construction of highways to span the continent and reach Europe.

                                                                     Image Source:Wiki Commons

So you thought, it stops only at the roads. Hold on your breath a bit longer. The South-North Water Transfer Project is a multi-decade infrastructure project of the People's Republic of China to better utilize water resources available to China. This is to be achieved through the South North Water Diversion Project (SNWD). Whilst the main thrust is to divert water from the Yangtze River to the Yellow River and Hai River, other spin-off plans are also loosely included. Amongst these, a controversial plan calling for the capture and diversion of water from Brahmaputra River, located in Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon north of India, has been under study for years. However, due to widespread protests by the Government of India and Bangladesh, the chinese are rethinking the implementation of this project. Nonetheless, the thought of diverting the entire river flow needs some applauds

                                                                                          Image Source:Wiki Commons

China is not left far behind when it comes to buliding some of the tallest in the world. When I looked up from the bottom of the Shanghai Financial Tower, I said to myself, "you are kidding me". My eyes turned to the adjacent building under construction. The curious self that I am, I asked my chinese friend to throw some light about the ongoing project and got to know that it will replace the title of the tallest bulding in China and will hold the coveted title of 2nd tallest building in the world known as "The Shanghai Tower". Estimated Project Cost $2.2 Billion.

                                               Image Source:Wiki Commons

Hangzhou Bay Bridge is a long highway bridge with a cable-stayed portion across Hangzhou Bay in the eastern coastal region of China. It connects the municipalities of Jiaxing and Ningbo in Zhejiang province. At 35.673 km (22 mi) in length, Hangzhou Bay Bridge is one of the longest trans-ocean bridges in the world.The bridge shortened the highway travel distance between Ningbo and Shanghai from 400 km (249 mi) to 280 km (174 mi) and reduced travel time from 4 to 2.5 hours. Having travelled on this bridge, I can say, this truly is a man-made wonder on this planet without much a doubt.

                                                       Image Source:Wiki Commons

 The Jiuquan Wind Farm will be the largest wind power base in the world when completed in 2013.
 
 

                                                                                                    Image Source:Wiki Commons


My blog would not be enough, such is the enormity of investments made  by the China. We, as rest of the world can sit back and take notice. More than that, we should emulate what the Chinese government is doing for its people, rather than criticizing for what it is not doing.

Having seen the Chinese development story from close quarters, I can tell you all one thing with confidence, you need more than determination for taking your country to greater heights.

I wish and pray that one day, even our country will scale the heights of the past glory set by our ancestors before the British withered it away.

Something Beyond Cricket...!

Around this hullabaloo surrounding the gentleman's game, I was left pondering about the most inquisitive of the questions, "Why is India lagging behind in Football?"


Being a die-hard football fan isn't helping my restless mind a bit. Every time I sit back late hours to watch a champion’s league match or a major FIFA tournament, it makes me think about the lack of dominating presence of my own country in this beautiful game. Trust me, everyone likes to cheer their favorite football stars, however, cheering your own countrymen is a different feeling altogether.


In all this curiosity, I started to research more about the Soccer history of India where I came across some startling facts. The year 1948 saw India participating in the London Olympics for the first time. Well if that was not surprising, then how about this one," the players were predominantly barefooted!!". The mere thought of playing football barefooted surprises me as would anyone who plays football for that matter. The result was a 2-1 loss to France but not before winning the hearts of the audience.


A golden chance to write history was missed when the All India Football Federation decided against playing the 1950 FIFA World Cup Finals citing reasons such as cost of travel, lack of practice time and valuing Olympics over FIFA Football World Cup. The years 1951-1962, although described as a golden era of Indian Football, it failed to keep the momentum going until 1964 India played in its most memorable tournament yet. The 1964 AFC Asian Cup where they finished as runners-up thanks to then-current manager Harry Wright. India won their first match against South Korea 2–0, then lost 2–0 to the hosts Israel then won 3–1 against Hong Kong which gave India second in the tournament.


That was all in the glorious chapter of India’s soccer history. After the Asian Cup, Indian Football just lost its way totally. Such is the agony for football that India doesn’t even have a permanent stadium. The only stadiums that are FIFA and AFC approved are the Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium also in New Delhi, Nehru Stadium in Chennai, Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune, and most recently approved after a renovation the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.


Being a football fan deeply saddens me about this sorry state of affairs of India Football. A silver lining would be FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s comments,” ‘Sleeping Giant’ India slowly waking up”. With India all set to bid for 2017 U-17 world cup in 2015, I hope with the millions of Football Fan in the country will surely have their dream come true.


I wish all the good luck to the Indian Football Fraternity, in bringing back the Indian Team into the world map of Football.

Chetan Shetty
Saturday, 28th July 2012
Shanghai

Floating Thoughts...

My mind has become a placid desert! A desert full of roses.Roses with no thorns!  It feels like, I'm with a caravan which is moving at an enormous pace.
There is lot of water with them but nobody's feeling thirsty..or should I say nobody wants to stop midway to drink some!


When i see them it makes me think,why do they forget...they have a life to live. I think most of them have a fear. A fear which keeps telling them, if u stop,u would never make it!

Fake smiles on their face seldom covers the fear inside their mind.It rules their hearts.This fear is making them lose their sleep. Making them very susceptible to anything that comes their way!

This fear is making them lose d enormous amount of ecstasy which life has in store! An ecstasy that can defeat this fear at its own will...but..nobody is opting for it! Seems like they have befriended this fear for lifetime!


I wonder. Yeah, I do wonder. Will they ever choose ecstasy over fear?


-Chetan Shetty
 Friday, 13th March 2012
 Shanghai

The Shanghai Diaries-The Beginning!

Here I am, after some real long time writing out my mind. The coming few write ups will be dedicated to my stay in Shanghai, which is a new york of east for me!
Things were not all smooth, and i had to watch out for the rose while avoiding the thorns. But certainly, I have started developing a liking for this city as the time progresses.
Well, what you will read next is something direct from a page out of my life.
It was a regular Monday, when I get a call from my manager. Next few lines, were something I never expected. "Chetan, are you willing to work In china?", I said, "what?"

Thoughts started running in my mind. I mean China, the land with a bunch of hostile people with no communication skills.
They eat with sticks. It seems their ancestors got a hard deal when evolution was planned.Their eyes, looks like they always sleep...



My manager on the other side of the phone," Hey are you there?" I said, "yes very much.Don't you have some good deals for me?"
Come on, China????



Manager replied,"No openings for Europe buddy, you have to wait". I said,"I can certainly".
My manager, with his grinning smile, "I need to search for someone else then"


I replied,"Ok".

Next few days it was all Shanghai, china, shanghai, china. The google, the atlas, what they eat, how will they understand me, how would be my life.
Can I pull this one off?
Lot of consultations with senior colleagues, family members, the money factor etc etc. Finally, I made a descion considering just one thought which struck
my mind which I still remember,
"Treat Every opportunity as the only opportunity. You never know what's next"



Next day I walk into my manager's cabin. "I'm willing but for how long?". He replies,"1 year but you need to confirm availabilty for atleast 6 months".
I said,"Ok, deal".



For a boy, who has lived away from his family only for 4 odd months, it was a big desicion! All that came to my mind was.. Boy, its gonna be tough.
But you need to pull it off!


And thus starts the undesired voyage...to the land of the chinese!


..next up, The Shanghai Diaries- First Taste of the Chinese Hospitality

Something About Love....!

Love...


Ahh surely its a wonderful feeling, where two hearts nurture their dreams with utmost care. Strange enough, I never understood the fact that inspite of knowing pratical scenarios,still they maintain a sense of belief in their thoughts and I respect it.


No wonder they live in their own world,where they either ignore real-time facts or tend to ignore the same. Love is very strange for many reasons. Firstly,love cannot be planned,it just happens. Secondly,one can never search for love,it comes to you.


But with love comes varied and diverse nature of the two individuals.With these two things comes adjustments which many a people succesfully manage, while some just blow it off. Taking love to a distance is no mean joke. It passes through some real tough tests of life and it either hardens the soft thread between two persons or breaks it like there was none.


Managing a partner is no different than other aspects of management but in this case the stakes are too high. You enjoy all the pros but you crib about the cons whereas people who succesfully lead a relationship, strike a perfect balance between the two.


Dreams are beautiful,but when your dream turns to reality,there is nothing in this world like it.Lucky are those who have transformed their love into a sacred union called marriage.Hats off to them!


P.S: Blog dedicated to one of my friend who recently got engaged to the person whom she loved :-)