As a PM in the dreams !

The day has been full of activity , so many events , so many actions , orations and gatherings. The country is going through turmoil. While seeing the television , I went in to a trance and then …… In front , appeared the minister of home affairs , ‘ Sir ’ , he said , ‘We are in great trouble , sir ’ . ‘What happened ?’ I asked ‘There are no rooms available , sir ’ informed the anxious home minister. ‘Which rooms are you talking about , Mr Home Minister ? ’ I asked. ‘Rooms in the prison , sir . Already thousands are lodged inside and court has sentenced few hundreds more sir . As on today lot many cases are in the process , sir .’ The home minister was in panic . ‘And the way the honorable courts are delivering the judgments , sir , soon we will have no place in the prison sir .’ Said the home minister in a trembling voice. ‘Are there so many criminals this time of the year !’, I was astonished . ‘No and yes sir . Not usual criminals , they are all our respected , honorable , elected politicians who committed various scams , sir , coal gate , 2 G , 3 G , common wealth , Adarsh scam , Fodder scam , MBBS admission scandal , defense purchases scandal and there are many more under the carpet , sir. Then there are politicians jailed for instigating riots , sir,’ replied home minister. ‘ Few of the religious gurus with their followers are also lodged in the jail , sir ’ the minister reminded me. I too was worried . With so many scams , so many politicians of different hues and shades , so many religious swamis and gurus , I am sure we shall need to create more prisons. The home minister continued further increasing my worry , ‘Now there is one more problem, sir . Five hard core militants have escaped from prison, sir .’ ‘Very good ‘. I replied . ‘ Now we can have these five rooms for politicians .’ ‘But once we catch those militants , where will we lodge them ,sir ?’ ‘Easy , we will keep them in the homes of those police officers whose negligence resulted in their escape ,’ I replied. ‘There is one more problem. sir .’ there was no end to his worries. ‘Now what ? ‘ I asked . ‘These political prisoners are asking for separate prison , sir , one for Secular politicians and other for Communal ones, sir . How can we have such different prisons, sir ?’ The confused Home Minister asked me . ‘ I am also getting enquiry from various political parties about vacancy of good prison rooms , they want to book rooms for their leaders in advance just in case they need these in future !’ I revealed the secret. ‘ Sir , in next session of parliament , these political parties are going to bring prison reform bill , sir.’ The home minister continued , ‘ As per their wish and connections , we need to provide them with good air conditioned room , good food , personal attendants , pan, tobacco , television , mosquito nets , mobile and a mike , sir .’ said the minister . ‘ Why mike ? ’ it was my turn to be surprised . ‘ All these honorable politicians are in habit of speaking in a mike . Without mike , their tummy gets bloated sir ’, he replied . ‘No need to worry, our honorable president shall quash their hopes . But Mr Home minister , why are you asking me all these ? ’ I asked . ‘Sir , you are the prime minister of this country , sir .’ He looked confused . ‘Oh NO, NO, NO ! I do NOT want to be the Prime Minister .’ I shouted loudly. ‘Wake up papa , don’t dream. ’ I got a push from my daughter . I woke up and found that there was telecast of another scam . I profusely thanked the God , fortunately I am not the Prime Minister of this scam land !

BURN YOUR GREED , NOT YOUR BRIDES

Since time immemorial we have heard of bride burning . In Hindu mythology , the first encounter is that of Sita entering fire pyre in order to prove her chastity while Rama , her husband , looks on without any attempt to desist her from doing so. In Mahabharat , we come across Madri performing Sati after death of her husband Pandu as she blamed herself for his death . We have heard about ‘Jauhar ‘ . Whenever Rajput Kings used to go for fighting a war and winning seemed a distant dream , the womenfolk would jump into fire pyre dressed in wedding finery so as to protect themselves from Muslim invaders. Even as recently as 125 years ago , ‘Sati pratha ‘ was followed wherein wives used to immolate themselves by jumping into the pyre of their dead husbands , becoming a Sati. More often the hapless wives were forced to become Sati . This was outlawed by British empire due to efforts of Raja Rammohan Roy in 1829 . He was motivated by the experience of seeing his own sister-in-law being forced to commit sati. He visited Calcutta cremation grounds to persuade widows against immolation and formed watch groups to do the same. Following the outcry after the sati of Roop Kanwar , the Indian Government enacted the Rajasthan Sati Prevention Ordinance in 1987 . The Prevention of Sati Act makes it illegal to abet, glorify or attempt to commit Sati. Abetment of Sati, including coercing or forcing someone to commit Sati, can be punished by death sentence or life imprisonment, while glorifying Sati is punishable with 1–7 years in prison. However, even today bride burning is not uncommon in India. Invariably this is a result of greed of in laws who demand dowry . Often the culprits are females themselves – sisters and mothers in law who torture poor brides and burn them as brides’ family is unable to fulfill their demands. It is surprising that news of bride burning comes from affluent families and not from poor homes. In Gita , Lord Krishna has said that there are three gates to hell - greed , lust and anger. Both greed and lust are insatiable. Leo Tolstoy had written a story ‘ How much land does a man need’. Truly he needs only three by six feet of land to be buried , but he often dreams of an empire. For how long will our society suffer from this evil ? Is not it a time to change our attitude towards our better halves ? Should we not look upon them as human being and not as a commodity ? Let us spread a message in the society , ‘ Burn your greed , not your brides ‘.