Why didnt YOU join the Indian Army?

Whatever I have achieved so far (if I have, in your view), its the Indian Army which has made me do that.

My dad, my grand-dad, two of my dad's cousins, my mama- Faujis (Army/Navy).
The first question that people ask me on knowing this is- "Why didnt you join the Army?".


The answer I give to most people is : "I didn't want to (back then after 12th), because it didn't pay you well. Now, they wouldnt take me.(Rather, I wouldn't qualify)'


The answer, I now feel, is much deeper than this.
In the past few years I've realised how correct that decision of mine was.
The answer in my mind actually is "It's not worth it.'.




1. It starts with the Kargil War. The first WAR that my 'generation' witnessed. We've always known that people mint loads of money through defence deals. Our defence minister didnt lose an opportunity there. Coffins were imported at $2500 per piece from the United States, a report later also showing that these were substandard.Coffins!! They save you and you earn through their death.
2. It was another few years back. Soldiers killing their OCs, JCOs and fellow soldiers. The reasons-many of them were not granted leave for the past two years. Many were fed up of the weird areas that they'd been living in. And of-course the conditions at places where a city-boy would have died within a few hours. ( You would not get a spoon of dal-chawal in Barmer without the crunchy sand in it. You wouldnt shit for days in Leh, as you know you wouldnt be able to wash you *** clean with the icy water.). This, mind you, is not a fault of the Indian Army. Its the requirement of the nation. Its the K-word. You NEED your men to be posted there.
3. The 6th pay commission is out. Government services are a happy lot. A group of 80-100 old men sitting near Rajpath and protesting. Some do not have legs, some without arms. These are ex-servicemen who have been awarded medals for bravery in different wars. Almost all above 65 years of age. A nation which can have politicians decide their own pay, cannot provide men who have given their everything for the nation some due respect? Its more DISGUSTING than shameful.
4. The Kargil war happened in 1999. Families of officers/jawans who died in the war were promised petrol pumps/land for farming/money etc. 11 years have passed since then. You'd still find many families(parents specially), who have not received anything. Then there are cases, in which the wives of newly married officers/jawans have run away with all that was granted (as it goes out to the wife), leaving the old parents without a bread winner.

The Indian Army is awesome. It still survives due to the ideals/principles built into each one of the individuals. Of course there are a few rotten apples. But if you wont ever get what you deserve, there's no point in pursuing it.('Karm kar, fal ki iccha mat kar' is not exactly what I believe in). And even if you do, its not just an individual who'd suffer, its the entire family. My friends would say "system badalna padta hai, khud nahi badalta!". But, for which one of these people would you want to change the system? People come out on the streets when an Arushi in Noida dies. Yes, they do come out when a soldier dies too. But is they question ever asked: "WHY did he die?". Do they support his family now? Do they kill George Fernandes? Did anyone stand up for the ex-servicemen?

Patriotism? Accepted. But a nation is made up of people. People who become silent a month after any incident. I might someday die for the great nation, or somehow for the great Indian Army, but never for the common man, never for the government, never for the Gandhi 'topis'.

My small-big-difference-sacrfice : The Earth Hour

Social Consciousness, Mass Awakening, People coming out on the streets together for a cause, Rise of the masses - I have another name for it : Fashion.
Adolf Hitler, MK Gandhi, N Modi, Baba Ramdev - I do not see the above four mentioned people in the same light but what is common between them is that all of them are fighting for different causes with all of them having/had great many supporters. How many of these supporters understand/stood what's behind it all?Why is/was there suddenly a mass hysteria about the ideology? And why are/were suddenly so many people following one person/thought/idea?
Fashion is the word for it.What's 'in', what's not is what its about. The 'Earth hour' is in a way the biggest example of the same. I'm pretty sure everyone knows what the 'Earth Hour' is, but if there is someone who doesn't - People all over the world switch off their lights for an hour every year on a particular day so as to reduce the carbon emissions/conserve energy/reduce global warming so as to do their bit in saving mother Earth.
Now, for the argument on why do I feel that The Earth Hour is a mockery.
There is one and only one prime source of energy-Sun. And in some way or the other we have been harnessing this source since as long as we've life on the planet. It was way back in 1883 (127 years!) , that the first solar cell was manufactured. And in 1920s people saw the first solar water heaters coming in for commercial use.
The first power plant run on COAL was started in1881.And the first windmill, which was used for electricity generation purposes, was in 1887. So almost all the sources that we know of today(some which we now know as conventional, others non-conventional) were discovered/first used at almost the same time. But we still rely mainly on coal.(See the following : http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B0l3H5nEjDMaMGU2YTNjZmMtOTkxZC00M2M5LWFlZDgtOTYzMDQ4MGFkODlk&hl=en )

The biggest lie that we have been always told is that Solar/Wind power is a non-conventional source of energy.Though everyone is actually aware of the fact that these are the most conventional ones.(Don't ask me how/why)
So what exactly is my point here?

 The Earth Hour is just a way of getting all the people together to invest their time/energy/thoughts in a direction which makes them feel that they are doing something to help us out of global warming/save the earth. The focus, which should actually be on the following things:
1. Making the government start more wind/solar based power plants rather than keep on investing in coal based ones.
2. Make the companies invest more in research wrt. Solar power.

is actually on the following:
1. What can I as an 'individual' (within 6.5 billion people) do to help the earth.
2. Sacrificing an hour's energy a year to lessen warming.

The age old myth of sacrifice-to-gain-happiness is actually what everyone is doing with this earth hour. Energy, I believe, should be free for all (as it actually is). No government owns the sun/the wind.If its free, why should one pay?People should be charged for it on a one time investment and then for maintenance purposes on a yearly basis equally individually. (No, I am not a communist.But energy is actually my right, like the right to 'freedom')

Instead of getting more solar/wind powered stations what the companies are doing is fueling such events, which make people think we are going in the right direction. Say, why would GM want its name to be associated with the Earth Hour on one hand but always be reluctant to come out with a solar powered car?(They did so only after the major competition Toyota did the same) Showing the people that they 'care'.
A simple table below shows you how cheap it is to produce energy from wind. Solar is still very high though, but that is mainly due to the initial cost, rather than maintenance.

Energy source	Costs of electricity production €/MWh	Costs of electricity production €ct/kWh
Nuclear Energy	107.0 – 124.0	10.70 – 12.40
Coal	88.0 –   97.0	8.80 –   9.70
Domestic Gas	106.0 – 118.0	10.60 – 11.80
Wind Energy Onshore	49.7 –   96.1	4.97 –   9.61
Wind Energy Offshore	35.0 – 150.0	3.50 – 15.00
Hydropower	34.7 – 126.7	3.47 – 12.67
Biomass	77.1 – 115.5	7.71 – 11.55
Solar Electricity	284.3 – 391.4	28.43 – 39.14

 An hour in a day does not do any good to anyone. Participating in such an event is just to satisfy the ego of accomplishment of having done something big/contributed in some so called change. Mass movement is not what helps/Collective thinking never helps. If you want to help the Earth, do so by buying a solar lamp this weekend. 
Sacrificing at your end and feeling guilty for all the temperature rising around you is not what is required.  
Energy is a birthright and one ought to have it for free, and use it to the fullest.
Global warming is a fact: But if it needs to be curbed, it needs to be done at the source and not at the destination.


P.S. Highly unstructured post, I know.But you get the point I guess.

Bihari hai kya saale???

One of the most common lines you get to hear on and off apart from "Sardar hai kya?"

Any ways, I am not here to discuss how people call each other names, but only to write, which after reading, might make you want to give only one answer to the above statements-Yes yes, hum hoon bihari...:P

Its all thanks to one man-NITISH KUMAR.

1.RTI queries can be made on the phone rather than just the paper or net.Any RTI application that is filed within the state is responded to within 7 days.If there is no reply another query can be launched and if there is still no response, the third one goes straight to the CM Office (which surely is looked into).

2.There is a 'DM darbaar' held one day of every week.All the problems of the area are meant to be solved in the two sittings.If not, an escalation is again done to the CM in the 'CM Darbaar'.(reminds me of Nayak).

3.The FIRs in many of the thanas are not taken on pen and paper but on a computer.These are all stored together.This and all the other data coming in from the other districts is cumulated and are put on a server.

Now comes the interesting part-Most of the rooms in the CM house have been converted into offices.Each of these offices has the same live feed coming in from all the districts. This way Nitish keeps a track of almost all the 'recorded' crime happening in the state, and intervenes wherever necessary.

And all of this is not what is being planned.It actually IS being implemented currently since 2006-07.

I have a friend from Bihar 'jiski zameen pe kabza kar lia tha kuch logon ne' in his words.He had launched an FIR. Then he put in an RTI application, as no action had been taken on his FIR. His third and final RTI call went to the CM house.Within 2 months (the original FIR included), he had his plot back in his possession.

Call me whatever- I am a Bihari(never been there though) and NITISH actually is becoming what we all had thought Obama would have been.