The Indian Politician And The Death Of Innocent Civilians

The Indian Politician And The Death Of Innocent Civilians

So I read this sms forward about how the Israelis were hiding their population behind missiles (missile-screens) and how the Hamas were hiding their missiles behind population (people-screen) which I found not only funny but also quite thought provoking. Ever since the brief Gaza war started nameless members of parliament (Indian parliament) have taken to rushing to the floor of the parliament to raise the problems of the Palestinians in Gaza- never mind that not a single one of these MP’s has ever (never) raised a single voice in favor of their constituents who voted to send them to parliament and who are living out their miserable lives hoping that their government would do something for them to better their existence. But when did domestic policy ever bring votes to an Indian politician, so it’s been the Gaza, Gaza and Gaza for them all week in the hope of a few Muslim votes consolidating behind them for having defended “Islam”- never mind the illogicity of it all as the Palestinian question has never been about Islam- or that’s what the Palestinians themselves say.

Anyway I digress. To come back to why the Israelis were bombing the Gazan's they give a perfectly logical reason that the Hamas terrorists (yeah, there I said that- I used the word terrorists- for in my book- any group which kills non combatants and innocent civilians are terrorists no matter their justification or whatever appellations they hide behind as freedom fighters) were digging tunnels which they were using to cross over into Israeli territory to kill civilians. And the Israelis responded as they always do- disproportionate use of force which targeted many innocents- what’s called collateral damage. Now before we blame the Israelis let us reflect as how to this war started and who provoked it all- you can’t stick your hand in a beehive, get stung and later blame the bees for not discriminating between the hand which was used to rob honey and the hand which didn’t. When you poke a beehive, you do it expecting to get stung and Hamas knew what it did would bring the Israelis wrath down on the heads of innocent Palestinian citizens who were caught in the cross-fire. So the blame for the whole “deaths of civilians/collateral damage” thing should be laid squarely at the feet of Hamas – who coldly, callously brought this destruction down on their own people, regardless of the fact that it was Israeli bombs which killed them. 

If the Hamas terrorists had even just a bit of conscience they would engage the Israelis in open warfare and not from behind the skirts of their innocent civilians. But when did terrorists care about ordinary people, people like you and me? They simply use us to justify their bloodthirstiness and their need to take others lives for their own fanatic causes. So like all terrorists everywhere the Hamas have the blood of their people on their own hands as much as the Israelis have- no two opinions about it. And so do their backers and financiers- the gulf sheiks who channel money into jihad in the name of Islam and just end up killing innocent Muslims who would welcome hospitals, schools and other real help rather than armaments and munitions designed to reap more blood of the innocent.  But the little people never get a chance to voice their opinions do we? Its all realpolitik, high finance and strategic moves- no matter that the people who die don’t have a say in their lives.

And to add insult to injury we see the sight of these false guardians, these crocodile tear-shedders who jump into the fray whenever there is a communal issue anywhere they can use to get votes. Do these people know about the poverty rates in India? About the malnutrition rates? About the number of orphans and elder citizens who don’t have access to orphanages or old age homes? About the lack of drinking water- disease free, potable drinking water all over the country? About public toilets and sanitation facilities? About farmer suicides and farms depending (still- even in this century) on rain fed irrigation? Or how certain districts in India see more deaths and misery due to poverty than even war torn gaza? Now when did you last hear our honorable MP’s disrupt Parliament for these questions? Or our independent newspapers carry these questions on their front-pages for a whole week? And we say we live in a free country. Do we? Really?

The Jews Run New York, Don’t They?

The Jews Run New York, Don’t They?

Sometimes you have the funniest conversation with the relations of patients and sometimes they are infuriating too. Case in point - an elderly relative of a young female patient of mine who proved the point that age does not beget wisdom and a bigot ever changes his colors. This gentleman had recently done an all expenses paid trip across the united states of America courtesy a son who is working there as a software engineer. The gentleman kept up a constant running monologue on the wonders of America and I, lost in my work with the girl, rarely heard the droning buzz until something he said struck a chord within me and I stopped abruptly and turned around to stare at the man.

What he said was this (verbatim) "New York alone is not nice - it is just like India and is so chaotic. And that’s because it is full of Jews everywhere. In fact, the Jews run New York, I heard". Now I have never met a single Jew in my life and I don’t know how they are in reality but generalizations based on stereotypes I have met all my life and fought against vehemently. All South Indians do not say "Aiyyo Rama" for everything nor do they love idlis and eat them all the time- breakfast, lunch and dinner. All Punjabis are not good hearted patriotic persons and nor are the Sardarjis cheats if you go by just your experience of Delhi's taxi drivers. You get the drift of what i am saying?

Anyway the old man who had been misinformed about the Jews had obviously not bothered to take the time to find out if his assumptions were true. Growing up in socialist India all our reading materials were full of Indian-Arab solidarity and the popular media in India often had a pro-Palestinian slant (Yasser Arafat was a much feted national hero in India)and it was all about the apartheid in the occupied lands and west bank and how the intifada was a war for freedom. It wasn’t until later, much later, when i started reading independent sources off the Internet (thank god for Google search) and especially after watching Schindler's List I realized that maybe the Jews had a reason for doing what they were doing. I could see their side of the equation too even if I didn’t sympathize with it. I came to the conclusion that blaming the Jews for the atrocities of the Israeli state in the West bank of the Jordan (occupied Palestinian territories) is as stupid as blaming me for the Indian state's atrocities in the North East States like Manipur or Nagaland for instance. People are just people everywhere; they have absolutely no say in what their rulers do in their name.

And to make such sweeping generalizations based on a two month tour of a land is indicative of inborn bigotry and race baiting. When you are born and grow up in a clannish way with an inherent sense of entitlement you never take the opportunity to cross over the aisle and see a different view point. The loss is the bigots for they go to their graves with a warped world view and never realize the world is a far more nuanced place than their beliefs allow them to see. As for the old gentleman in my clinic i turned around at his Jews run New York comment and asked him "why not? If someone has to run it why not the Jews? Who else would you want to be running it? Us, Indians? Did you see the streets outside? its nearly 80 years since the British left and we have been running things all that time with this effect" and I turned back to my work conscious that maybe i had spoken too much or too sharply. But it turned out good for it shut him up until the time came for to present my Fee List. And that is a different story for another time.