Declaration of Emergency in India

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Declaration of Emergency in India . This  is the day when Indira Gandhi , at the advice of Sanjay Gandhi and his touts ,declared emergency.

I have a very funny yet poignant tale to tell ,about an incidence concerning me.

Its centred around 2 of my uncles- both dead now

The elder uncle worked for B M C- Road Repairs Department- 'N ' -Ward Ghatkopar then.

He fell sick and was advised complete bed rest by the doctors,

His younger brother, who worked for the Central Railway, thus went with the Medical Certificate, to hand it over to the concerned clerk .

The clerk [ must be really over-smart], told my uncle in Marathi of course - Do you not know that emergency is imposed in India and no body can remain absent. I will not accept this bogus medical certificate and will arrest you- if you submit it [ ha ha ARREST]. Just imagine the fear a common Indian, had in mind about the powers of a clerk to arrest a person during emergency. This was  ignorance combined with  imaginary fear.

My uncle, overwhelmed with the threat did not submit the medical certificate and came back and narrated the whole incidence to me.

I told him not to worry and will accompany him the next day to the Ward Office.

Hence next day, I accompanied my uncle to the ward office and met the clerk. He repeated the same to me , thinking ,I too will cow down to his threats.

What I told him has to be told in vernacular, as it cannot be appropriately translated, though I will make an attempt to do so.

I started with  'Tu ' a bit derogatory compared to  'Tumhi' or 'Aapan' [ Tum and Aap in Hindi ]

' Tu kay mala chutya samajto [ Do you think I am an idiot ]. Tula swatala tuzya sahebala vicharlya shivay mutayla jaycha adhikar tari ahe ka.[ Do you even have the authority to go and piss without the permission of your superior].Jast hushari kelis tar mich tuzi complaint karun tula suspend karin [ If you try to become overs mart, I will complain against you and suspend you. Gupchup hey ghe ani sahebana de.[ Take this and give it to your boss ]. I have omitted the  select invectives , I used to emphasise my say due to impropriety of language.

Of course, he took it and nothing happened later .My uncle joined his job , after he was fit and duly retired 12 years later.

Dilip Apte

June 25 , 2015

Martyr Capt. Sourabh Kalia

Have you ever seen a Street-Corner Sugar-Cane Juice vendor extract juice from the Sugar- cane .

If you have, you would have observed ,that during the first time the Sugar-cane is inserted, the juice flows out fast. The second time, it still flows but slowly. The third time, it is a trickle . The fourth time, its  a  very slow trickle and the fifth time only a few drops emerge.

The remains ,are even rejected by stray animals [ usually Cows in Mumbai ].

Observing the Breaking News Story on TIMES NOW​ , about Captain Saurabh Kalia, a brave soldier captured and tortured by the Pakistani army during the Kargil War in 1999,I was strongly reminded of the above analogy.

For the whole day, this breaking news, continued, with new people entering the discussion- the common person being Saurabh Kalia's parents- old and haggard.

Kudos to Times Now​, for continuously harping on this story and perhaps for the first time taking the story to its logical conclusion, by making the government  rescind its position on the issue.

However  I was appalled at the enormous pain the parents of Saurrabh Kalia had to go through during the whole day by constantly recounting the facts of their fight to bring to the notice of the authorities, their ordeal.

As they say the Electronic Media is in the habit of milking a story and making it a life and death equation for the Country, for a few million eyeballs and then forgetting it the next day,.

 This is akin to the Sugar-Cane vendor extracting juice, till the last drop is out.

Dilip Apte

June 2 , 2015

The Leadership Plot

May 2014 - Narendra Modi won a majority.

Within a few months there was a clamour for change of leadership in the Congress. Subtle and disquieting  at the outset,  but the cacophonous sound reverberated till it grew to such decibels that it was impossible to be ignored by the mandarins in the party.

If you recollect- it was not against Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi- it was against both.

People did not want both as leaders. However there has never been no second rung of leadership in the Congress, particularly after independence.   In that manner it has been autocratic to the core .

Now just imagine what would have happened, ordinarily in any Political Party- in all probability the leadership would have succumbed to the pressure from the so called members and handed over the reins to some other person.

But this Nehru/Gandhi dynasty is made of some special survival kit .

The mother- son, duo  quietly  weather the storm.

In sometime feelers are sent out that Rahul Gandhi, wants to be at the helm of affairs . This again becomes a clarion call and rightly as expected is opposed by people from the party.

The focus is now gradually shifting- from change in the leadership to who  among the two should  lead.

Then Rahul Gandhi suddenly decides to take an impromptu sabbatical, in the midst of the budget session of Parliament.

The reason- unknown- the destination- speculated.

Suddenly the party seems to be divided [at least for the gullible laity of this Country ].

The so called  [ non-existing to me ] rift between , the mother and son is given prominence and camps formed.

The change in leadership is debated and contested vehemently in the media.

After 56 days of hibernation, of not attending to his Parliamentary duties- the prodigal returns- to receive a hero's welcome.

The members of the party , who were clamouring for a change in leadership [ wanting both of them out from the contentious position of Party head ] , are groping in the dark.

How cleverly this mother and son duo have turned the tide- from being driven out of leadership by the party people,  to either of them continuing as the head of the party.

Smart -very smart

Dilip Apte
April 22 , 2015