14th August 2006
Me: Sir I wouldn't be coming to office tomorrow. I am taking it off.
Manager: Why Preet? Tomorrow is not a hoilday. Its just Independence day. And we our project deadline is a month away.
Me: Sir, Its Indepedence day. I wanna celebrate it by enjoying the freedom we have.
Manger: So what its independence day??? Its not a US holiday. Moreover you got a day off on July 4th.
Me: Sir, Its the day we got freedom from oppresion, from injustice, from exploition, from inequality. It marks the day when our nation was born, was alive.
Manager: What are you talking about? Who will finish your work?
Me: Freedom is the single reason for which most lives have been lost in this world. Don't you understand this emotion? Moreover we have been having this deadline for so long. What if I got sick.
Manager: Preet, There's no way you are not coming tomorrow.
............................................................................................................
I had to come the next day.
Obviously my manager who is 50+ years old should have understood this emotion more than I did. But he didn't. People have started to take this concept for granted more than ever.
I value my freedom, our freedom more than my own life. Most number of wars have been fought for this one single concept- Freedom.
Most number of lives have been wasted for this single emotion.
Most number of civilizations have perished fighting for their own freedom.
Freedom and Independence to me are the first steps to Equality, Justice and a Better World.
I came to office on 15th August, on the day my country was born. I was furious that day, I didn't know what to do. I couldn't do anything. I was powerless. Never before did I feel so ashamed of myself. To me it was like a slap on my face.... by me and all I could do was bear it........
I did it only because of fear of my boss... I realised that Humans wield only to Power......and to bring justice the righteous must claim it.....
From cradle to grave, our lives are rooted in Senseless Power!
Since power is your god, I'll show you power such as you have never known!
But the ignorance of Man doesn't end there.
Everyday we see countless accounts of discrimation.
The other day one of my childhood frnds told me that I now looked like a Security Guard.
To those who didn't understand what it really meant it meant it I look like a Gurkha (or rather of Chinese Origin).
I wouldn't have felt offended had he said it with a genuine reasoning that I really looked Chinese. I love people of all races. (and I infact I love Chinese people the most not because their girls are so beautiful but because I have lotsa Chinese friends)
But my frnd had a demeaning feeling in his heart for Gurkhas or rather Chinese people. Does my being Chinese or Indian or African American make me any less. I think people who like to classify people into stereotypes have a humungous Superiority complex.
We as Indians claim to be a just society. Look at all the mindless violence that goes in our country on the name of religion, caste, creed and sects.
I hear lotsa North Indians looking down upon South Indians as if we are from lower origins. I would say that such people are no less than the
F@#king Racists.
Why is that inspite of all our efforts to make this world a better place with love, freedom, equality, we still end up with people behaving like senseless animals.
Why is it that as humans we are still afraid of other cultures. Why can't we accept the fact that all humans can look at the same thing and see it differently.
It is not the concern of any one race or group of people. The victims of hatred and violence are black, brown and white, rich and poor, young and old, famous and unknown. They are, most important of all, human beings whom other human beings love and need.
Some look for scapegoats, others look for conspiracies, but this much is clear: hatred breeds hatred, repression brings retaliation, and only a cleansing of our whole society can remove this sickness from our soul.
Too often we honor swagger and bluster and wielders of force; too often we excuse those who are willing to build their own lives on the shattered dreams of others. Some who accuse others of inciting riots have by their own conduct invited them.
For there is another kind of hatred, slower but just as deadly destructive as the shot or the bomb in the night. This is the hatred of institutions; indifference and inaction and slow decay. This is the hatred that afflicts the poor, that poisons relations between men because their skin has different colors. This is the slow destruction of a child by hunger, and schools without books and homes without heat in the winter.
This is the breaking of a man's spirit by denying him the chance to stand as a father and as a man among other men. And this too afflicts us all.
Obviously my best strategy is to wait, listen, and learn.
But You shall find... my power comes from within.... and is a force to be reckoned with.
