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