E-Voting

Now a days, everything that we do in our daily life has got an internet solution. Most of these things can now be done at the click of a mouse. Just a few years back, all these things involved manual work that consumed lot of time, patience and problems. Just to enlist some of those things, they included “booking a rail/bus ticket”, “paying electricity and other utility bills”, “doing money transfer”, “shopping”, “booking a movie ticket or that for a sports match”, etc. The list is endless. However, there is one thing that probably has been forgotten that should be made online by now. I am talking of online voting.

Nobody is giving much thought to this election process. The government has probably forgotten that it is this election that still enables India to depict proudly its status of being the largest democracy. It is a genuine concern because the polling rates have fallen rapidly. Now a days, there seems to be just 50-60% polling in the urban cities. The literate population is turning away from using their ballot.

The main cause for this decline is that most of us are always on the move and are hardly present in our native land at the time of election. Most of the eligible students study in schools/colleges outside their native place. Also, many end up in jobs in places away from their home-town. It is but natural for them not to go to their native just for voting.

Not only that, people tend to give more priority to their personal life and hence don’t feel voting as an activity worth enough to go to the voting booth and cast their vote. They would rather spend time with their family or meet some relative or get some urgent household work done. They cannot be blamed for not using that time to vote. Today’s life has become such demanding and competing that one has to spend each and every bit of time for his/her personal activity.

To add to all of these, there are still others who do not have a registered voter’s card, as getting one is a government process that usually gets delayed by a long time.

Hence, by looking at all these, the only viable solution is in making this voting process online. Today we see so many polls on internet like “Best Company “, “Most innovative company”, “Best Actor”, “Best Youth Icon”, etc. We do not have a separate polling booth for these polls. All these surveys are mostly done online that takes up hardly 10-15 minutes of our time. Similarly, if our voting gets online as well, it would enable many migrants to vote. It would make the voting job as a comfortable and time-saving activity. This would certainly increase voting participation in the urban sections of people.

I have come across the NGO “EFG” that is trying to spread the voting awareness among people by organizing seminars, rallies, etc. It is a very noble effort by these people, who are really conscious of the decline in voting interests. They are doing their bit and now it is government‘s turn to do something that is very much needed and along with launching “e-voting”, start promoting voting in cities.

Only when all of India participate in election, can our nation be truly called as a democratic nation.

Kismat's Trap

Call it luck,fate, destiny, kismat, naseeb or bhagya. It is all the same and still I have never fully understood as to what is this Kismat.

In my school days, my English teacher had said that Luck is nothing but God. She explained that it is just a word to define God's presence, because something happening by chance in one's favour can only be manipulated by God and therefore luck can never be explained in normal human terms. I have often tried to figure out how God is synonymous with luck and still not been successful to either prove or disapprove the correlation.

Logic fails to explain it. Science calls it probability. Sometimes I wonder that maybe it is not at all complex and is just another word coined by human beings to give a appropriate name to their mistakes or someone else's success.

Many a times, people say that it wasn't their day. Sometimes students before exams say it all depends on your luck. You may get easy questions or you may not be able to recall something needed at that time. Still, there are many others who contradict and say success doesn't lie in luck. They feel that it is pure hard work. When Shah Rukh Khan was once asked about the reason for his success, he had said "You have to be at the right place and at the right time."

Yet there are many who still associate fate with palmistry, and may sometimes develop an inferiority complex in themselves after discovering that their fate line is not blurred/missing. Just to add a note, Panini (the great Sanskrit scholar) had etched out the education line with knife on his palm to make out for the missing line.

According to most of the religious mythology, everything has been decided beforehand. And no one can change the "vidhi ka vidhaan". It is said that none can change destiny.
In the movie "Serendipity", the girl believes in the power of luck and decides to choose her partner only if luck brings him to her. Maybe it sounds ridiculous or superstitious but if properly analysed, people still fall prey to the sheer superstitious power of fate.

For example, today we have many games and lottery that lure people to squander their money by giving them false promises of Kismat. All the share markets, stocks are all one or other form of Kismat. Not only that, the charms, gems,amulets, etc. still have a market of their own.

Kismat is such a beautiful mystical event that it makes almost anyone believe in it. One can't help but get engulfed in this maze and then get trapped and wait for the angel to open the door.

I am trapped and I need to be rescued. Where is the angel whom I am seeking? When will Lady Luck knock my door? If I am to believe the protagonist in Shantaram who defines the angel as "Luck is what happens to you when fate gets tired of waiting", then how long should I (or rather my fate) wait?

“Fabulous Four”

For me, to pinpoint the Fabulous Four, I need to dig deep into Indian mythology. But wait a minute, I am not judging these famous characters by their skills and prowess. The underlying factors to pick up these mighty personalities are more based on their honesty, integrity, truthfulness and kindness.

Hanuman

He is the only character that has never come under any criticism or controversy in the entire Indian history, save for an incident where he refused to accept his “son” as his own. That can be partially justified, considering the strange circumstances in which his so called son was born. Apart from that, he isn’t a human. This can also indicate that animals are more honest than humans.

He has never crossed his lines and always maintained the respect for everyone around him, right from his birth. He also had respect for the Brahmastra that Meghanath had thrown upon him, by not defending it and allowing himself to be bounded by it. He was a true devotee of Ram, which was depicted when Hanuman tore his chest out to reveal Ram and Sita in his heart. This amar (immortal) lord continues to be amar in everybody’s heart in this “Kalyug”.

Karna

Karna was a very brave and dexterous person. He was the guy who had met with lot of injustice in his life. Though an upper caste by birth, he was refused proper education, because of lower-caste of his foster parents. He was not allowed to show his skills in front of Pandavas, for the fear that he would outshine them. He was also forbidden to attempt the Swayamavara of Draupadi.

He is the greatest donor ever known in the history of mankind. Even though when he was warned that Indra would come in disguise and ask for his kawach and kundal (his shield and earrings), thus leaving him defenceless, he still readily parted with his life saviour elements, by using his sword to separate them from his body.

Just as a note, he was killed unfairly by Arjun when he tried to remove his wheel that had sunk in the muddy ground.

Eklavya

Eklavya was also one of the characters who could not become famous as a skilled archer, just because he was refused education by Dronacharya on grounds of his lower caste. To add to that, he was also asked to sacrifice his right hand thumb as a token of guru-dakshina. There is not much mention about Eklavya as his growth was restricted. But still, he will always be remembered for the greatest “Guru-Dakshina” ever, in the history of mankind.

Mahabali

Mahabali, the Lord of Asura (devils), was the greatest and the best king on the patal-loka (underworld). Even though an Asura, he always kept his word. To add to his power, he decided to perform a yajna. To stop the yajna, Lord Vishnu had to come to him, disguised as a dwarf (popularly known as Vamana avatara) on the pretext of begging for something. Before Bali (Mahabali) could promise the beggar alms, he was warned by his wise teacher, Shankaracharya, to refuse to give anything, as he had recognized the true identity of the beggar. But inspite of being aware of all this and also knowing that it could be disastrous for the yajna that had been continuing for a long time, he promised the beggar, 3 steps of land.

Even being an asura, he kept to his word and on the contrary, the gods had not kept their word of sharing the amrita (nectar) equally with the asuras, during the samudra-manthan.

These above characters always stood by their principles and words. Although there were many other great characters like Krishna, Rama, Yuddhishtira, Ravana but they all have been accused of deviating from the moral principles as a safeguard measure to protect themselves or their kin. So we find that the people who are portrayed as “good” also have flaws in their character, and the others, who are equally honest, are simply tagged as evil, on the pretext that they are asuras.