Pub Bharo Ya Bus Bharo, Minister Renuka Chowdhury?

On the winter’s day of December 1st, 1955, Rosa Parks, a 42 year old seamstress and civil liberties worker boarded a bus to head home from work. Parks, secretary of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) had recently familiarized herself with Gandhian non-violence at a workshop for racial equality at the Highlander Folk School.

“Tired of giving in”, Rosa Parks refused to obey the bus driver and offer her seat to a white passenger. This individual act of civil disobedience began the Montgomery Bus Boycott that lasted 381 days, crippling the economy of the local public transport system, eventually leading to the Supreme Court declaring segregation on buses as unconstitutional.ci

On December 5th, 1955, a young churchman named Martin Luther King Jr. assumed leadership of the campaign to defend Rosa Parks. Four years later, he visited India to imbibe Gandhi’s principles. February 19th 2009, will make 50 years since Martin Luther King Jr. spent two days in a sparsely furnished room on the second floor of Mani Bhavan in Mumbai. Thereafter, he felt sufficiently empowered to motivate the Black Civil Rights movement with Gandhian principles of non-violence.

Marking the arrival of King Jr’s son in India, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his father’s pilgrimage, to the land of Mahatma Gandhi, on February 6th, 2009, Shruthi KS a student of St Aloysius College, Mangalore, was abducted from a bus along with her male companion Shabeeb; five hoodlums assaulted them to enforce their diktat of segregation of communities and faith.

Meanwhile, the Shree Ram Sena’s orchestrated efforts to ‘save’ the Indian woman from the evils of pub culture shall culminate in the following by Valentine’s Day; Mangalore’s Amnesia Lounge shall be endowed with Renuka Chowdhury’s defiant ministerial presence endorsing pub culture; the ‘pub bharo’ (fill the pubs) call will ensure roaring business in times of recession, pleasing pub owners and liquor barons; the sorority of ‘pub-going, loose and forward women’ marinated into the media establishment would have delighted their media bosses, with their sensational strategy selling more newspapers and Muthalik will contemplate an advantageous purpose for his knickers jackpot.

Within a week of its occurrence, the bus incident involving Shruthi and Shabeeb remains the concern of her parents, the police and the Human Rights Commission.

In a sinister refrain of events, on February 10th, fifteen year old Ashwini Moolya‘s bus was waylaid by a gang of youth. She was accused of “illegal activities” with Saleem a Muslim youth travelling on the same bus who was later arrested. Unable to bear the humiliation, Ashwini - a ninth standard student - committed suicide the next day.

Both incidents involve a woman and moral policing but ‘pub bharo’ remains the Valentine’s Day priority before the ogre of communal segregation can be addressed.

Though the incident involved a woman and moral policing, communalism is inconvenient with Valentine’s Day around the corner.

Amidst the thousands of accomplished pub-going women is there not a handful like seamstress Rosa Parks, ready to board a bus wearing ‘bindi’ or ‘burkha’ - with their male friends of other faiths - to defy the cultural and communal segregation of India?

On February 19th, when Martin Luther King Jr. III renews his conviction in Satyagraha at Mani Bhavan in Mumbai, would Minister Renuka Chowdhury lead a ‘Bus Bharo’ campaign in Mangalore, with the pub-going consortium and college students of various communities for company?

Would King Jr. III be able to take a message back to the United States of America that Gandhian strategies of civil disobedience still work on a bus decades later or, would he have to inform the world that in the India of 2009, “Gandhi’s non-violence is exported as parcels of packaged pink knickers?”

Madame Minister and the Consortium… your answer is awaited. February 19th is nigh

She'll Be Wearing Pink Chaddis When She Comes!

On February 9th 2009, Martin Luther King Jr’s son arrived to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his father’s visit to India. In 1959, King Jr. returned to the US infused with the Gandhian mantra of non-violence to resist the segregation of his people.

On the same day that King Jr III commenced his India visit, this writer’s mailbox was enthusiastically inundated by the ‘pink chaddi’ campaign, sponsored by the Consortium of Pub-Going Loose and Forward Women, resolutely resisting the segregation of their ilk by Pramod Muthalik and his saffron hued cultural crusaders - the Shree Ram Sena.

King had acknowledged his intellectual debt to Gandhi saying “Since being in India I am more convinced than ever before that the method of non-violent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity”.

Fifty years later a gentleman from Chandigarh aptly christening himself ‘Ignoramus’ felt it necessary to recognise the Mahatma’s contribution to the ‘pink chaddi’ campaign with a blog comment saying “I would equate it to the Ahimsa movement by Gandhiji. The best revolution and inline with Baapuji's call for Ahimsa. Gandhigiri at its best” .

While the ‘pink chaddi’ campaign has captured the imagination of 14800 members on Facebook, securing the attention of the international press including the BBC, its myopic objective is restricted to elbowing Muthalik off the column centimetres with apparent and immediate success.

In a modus operandi of intolerance akin to their bête noire, the blog has been sanitized of critical comments, including those of this writer. Given, the association of the ‘pink chaddi’ campaign with champions of free expression - such as Tehelka in New Delhi and the Alternative Law Forum in Bangalore - expunging comments that sit uncomfortably with the cause is certainly not cricket.

The ‘pink chaddi’ concept deserves acknowledgement but unfortunately the combative nature of the campaign is antithetical to the Gandhian spirit of non-violence. While the Consortium certainly comprises numerous accomplished women, their political immaturity is evidently reflected in mirroring Muthalik’s language of confrontation, through which they have opted to demean themselves. Perhaps, faculties diminished by ‘pub-going’ encouraged the adoption of such a sensationalist but challenged strategy?

Apart from their captivating media attention over the subsequent days let us forecast the balance sheet of this campaign’s accomplishments. Rather than being humiliated, Pramod Muthalik will probably discount pink knickers for an inaccurate saffron hue and distribute this as largesse to his constituency comprising female supporters of every endowment.

Otherwise, the Shree Ram Sena lumpen will make substantial amounts of money selling softer pink grease rags across Karnataka to fund further dastardly acts of hooliganism. In all probability, some of his sympathisers are already laughing their way to the bank selling thousands of pink knickers during a recession. Not least, the postman will receive a bonus delivering this dubious bounty!

The consortium has not considered the fact that the Shree Ram Sena has a substantial constituency amongst women who are equally disapproving of “pub culture”.

Furthermore, the women of an entire minority community - otherwise in solidarity by virtue of gender - would distance themselves from spiritual pursuits in the pub not prescribed in their religious doctrines.

Finally, while this consortium enjoyed the opportunity of providing leadership to women across India at the receiving end of relentless male chauvinism, it is disappointing that they opted to segregate themselves from such responsibility to assert the blinkered purpose of their looseness, forwardness and ‘pub bharo’ rights instead.

Segregated from ‘pub bharo’, the ‘pink chaddi’ is a singular idea but the combination has left its slip showing. Dispatching pink knickers in bulk to Muthalik would reinforce the resolve of his cadres to retaliate manifold and win him sympathy from fence sitters.

Adopting the Gandhian way would have transformed the campaign from the sensational to the substantial. Exploiting the colour pink that symbolised the segregation and systematic elimination of an entire race would have captivated world imagination and given this campaign stature.

Sending the ‘chaddis’ to Muthalik is a protest of convenience conducted in anonymity not commensurate with the courage shown by women of the Chipko Movement.

To achieve that transformation, it would have required the ‘pink chaddi’ to signify more than a ‘bubble gum and Barbie doll’ Valentine Day protest. The courage of wearing the ‘chaddi’ as an over-garment - symbolising the segregation of progressive women by a horde of saffron hued neo-fascists - would have earned “ world sympathy, in the battle of right against might” to quote the Mahatma.

Designing Protests For The Apathethic

On February 12^th, Bengaluru is expected to unite in protest. Citizens of Bangalore have been asked to “Step Out” of their offices, “Stand Up” for their rights and “Stamp Out” Fundamentalism.

A fellow citizen of Bangalore justifies his initiative saying “My father and his brothers went to jail to secure freedoms. I can't sit back and watch these freedoms be taken away.

“The usually apathetic urban citizen regards "politics" as something unclean to kept safely away from” says Prof. Gowda commenting on his ‘Bengaluru Unites’ protest. Aware of the insecurities and constraints facing the urban citizens’ “shyness” to protest, Prof. Rajeev Gowda has devised a protest with a difference as a citizen, for fellow citizens.

While there is evidently much consternation against moral policing, with people “angry and disgusted” as Gowda says, “upset at hooligans telling us what we can or cannot do”, outpourings of protest on the streets sending a clear message “we have had enough” are virtually non-existent.

Rajeev Gowda has factored in the myriad excuses citizens’ make while organising this initiative that takes "protest to the people". He says “Protest is designed to eliminate people's usual excuses ... too far away to go ... too busy at work. Protests come to the people, where they are. People are empowered to come out and be leaders themselves“

At precisely 1330 hours - which is everybody's lunch hour – Gowda is exhorting people to gather outside their workplaces “as free citizens to express our anguish about the attacks on our fundamental rights”. Explaining the timing Gowda says “Lunchtime on a working day--that is not Valentine's Day, which would cause other tangential discussions on culture--is ideal. People do not even need to seek the permission of their colleges or offices to step out and join hands to demonstrate their feelings”

On his blog ‘bengaluru-unites.blogspot.com’ Prof. Gowda beseeches fellow citizens of free India to: “Join hands in protest, Raise slogans: Against Moral Policing; Against Attacks On Women; For Our Freedom”

26/11 propelled the great urban Indian middle class from the comforts of their armchairs onto the streets of Mumbai. For a very brief while, Mercedes owners rubbed shoulders with Maruti owners during candlelight commemorations and vociferous protests demanding resignations, sackings, inquiries and military government. And then there was quiet...

A short while later no one protected bookshops against the diktat of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena demanding the removal of Pakistani books from their shelves; no one protested the humiliation of Pakistani artistes; no one protested the demand to rename a confectionary store.

Protests had once again retired to the confines of drawing rooms, mushrooming into numerous groups on social networking sites with membership of thousands.

Two months later, Pramod Muthalik's Shree Ram Sena humiliates a group of women in Mangalore causing ‘canned’ outrage. Once again anger is confined to protests of convenience, including raving and ranting on social networking sites, and parcels of pink underwear to be dispatched in bulk to Mr Muthalik.

‘Moral Police – India’s Shame’ a group on Facebook with a membership of over 5800 and increasing exponentially cannot rise above and beyond hurling expletives in English at a non-existent audience of Shree Ram Sena with Kannada as their native tongue.

On February 12^th Prof Rajeev Gowda hopes to make the difference. Bengaluru will put to the test a protest designed to cause minimal disruption; for the convenience of the urban citizen to express his anguish by ‘Stepping Out, Standing Up and Stamping Out’ infringements on his fundamental rights – post lunch ofcourse.

Responding TO 'MISLEADING GANDHIGIRI' by S. Anand in TEHELKA, 30/01/09

The link below will lead you the story titled 'Misleading Gandhigiri' by S Anand, published in Tehelka dtd 31/01/09, which rubbished the Cellular Silence Day petition.

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Op310109misleading_gandhigiri.asp

Please find my riposte below which Tehelka felt it unnecessary to publish:

RESPONDING TO 'MISLEADING GANDHIGIRI' by S. ANAND

G. D Birla bankrolled Mahatma Gandhi. The 'hits' to the Cellular Silence petition page online attracted ICICI Lombard to solicit insurance while Tehelka thought it prudent that S. Anand's article 'Misleading Gandhigiri' - rubbishing the aforesaid unintelligent petition – be bolstered by TATA AIG's personal injury plan advertisement. Corporate India continues to consort with the strangest of bedfellows, it seems!

Rather than lock horns in a constructive engagement on petition strategy and objectives, well-read Anand felt it more gratifying to grapple with an obscure part of the socially conservative bull's anatomy, totally losing the plot in the process.

S Anand found it appropriate to mischievously manoeuvre portions of the petition airbrushed with his preferred selections of history to rubbish Gandhi; question the secular credentials of the signatories, conveniently clubbing all into a socially conservative monolith, all sophistically tailored to justify his diatribe.

While I have the greatest respect and appreciation for leaders of our freedom movement – including Ambedkar, Nehru and Gandhi, I choose to remain only inspired but refuse to treat them as 'sacred cows' or, consider their writings as dogma. It is more important to learn lessons from their mistakes and set course corrections for ourselves rather than remain shackled by history.

What I find objectionable is Anand's propensity to select his 'sacred cow' -while rebuking other leaders - to celebrate the victimhood of his constituency in perpetuity.

Pakistani school books justify their enmity with India; the Hindutva vanguard leave no ruin unturned to establish the sub-continent as Aryan homeland and S. Anand completes this ménage a trios of historical selectivity to justify his blinkered raison d'être – of preserving his constituency of the underdog.

While drafting the Cellular Silence petition it was Mahatma Gandhi's strategy of non-violence that was the inspiration. Given, that two other greatest men of the 20th century, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela employed it with efficacy, it strikes me as the most appropriate 'operating system' with which to address the violence, iniquities and inequalities of the 21st century.

Fifteen days ago and for a few decades before that, I felt myself a voice in the wilderness falling upon deaf ears in the jungle of Indian democracy. Embraces and endorsements at the Vibrant Gujarat summit precipitated the tipping point.

The choice remained; an unvoiced angry reaction in silence or, a non-violent response with silence? It is with great trepidation that I placed the petition online, certain my call for cellular silence would receive a deafening silence in response or, worse still ridicule and censure.

To my surprise the petition was greeted with 50 signatures and hour! Ordinary Indian citizens from afar as Kashmir felt the petition gave them a voice they long sought. They felt empowered by what Anand dismisses as tokenism of the socially conservative. Theses voices originated from various corners of the country, from all walks of life and strata of society.

May I remind Anand that it was a fistful of salt – another token gesture - that precipitated the beginning of the end of British rule in India? While Anand remembers Martin Luther King's boycott, his convenient amnesia as to where King sought his inspiration to launch the Civil Rights movement is unfortunate.

For the average Indian, a boycott call a la Gandhi or Martin Luther King - as Anand suggests - from an unknown Indian would have crashed on 'take off'. A 'token' gesture permits the average Indian a vote of confidence; seeking reassurance in the comfort of numbers, before investing time, energy and self-sacrifice in a future boycott to ensure his 'return on investment'.

We are in different times when strategies of protest are not black and white as in the time of Martin Luther King or Gandhi. Boycotting the Nano, as Anand suggests hurts the ordinary factory worker – many of whom might be Dalit and Adivasi; it hurts the image of India and might incidentally hurt Tata Motors. Switching cell phones off inconveniences the subscriber for a day but sends the message to the captains of corporate India that we can stop consuming anytime we choose at the press of a button.

In rubbishing the petition and Gandhi with it, Anand in his efforts to champion Ambedkar inadvertently finds himself ensconced between Narendra Modi's fierce fan club who launch vitriolic tirades via email and the legal department of TATA Sons who also brook no criticism of their corporate captain.

Anand forgets that the Dalits, Adivasis and millions in the middle of India's pyramid are all on the same side of the fence bullied by corporate India that bolsters the political class - eating out of their palms – for a sop.

Wealth creation is not a bad thing Mr Anand. Economic mobility is probably the most efficacious way to debilitate the caste system over course of time. To achieve that wealth creation must be for the greatest good of all and not just for those at the top of the pyramid, looking down on the rest as mere consumers fuelling economic growth – not citizens of India.

May I suggest that in future Anand use his erudition constructively, not to alienate but to forge a bond with citizens who sign such petitions all of whom are trying to find a voice to create a more equitable civic society.

sd/- Ranjan Kamath

Cellular Satyagraha Explained

The object of proposing the 'Cellular Satyagraha Divas' February 14th was to assess public opinion for the 'convenient' alternative to the preferred non-violent plan of action, which involved joining the people of Mangalore on the streets in an demonstration of solidarity - a peaceful show of strength' rather than a protest.

Such a non-violent plan of action seemed premature without a response from the people of Mangalore itself. Meanwhile, the citizens of Bangalore were overawed with the logistics of such an initiative which involved travelling to Mangalore en masse to execute such a 'show of strength'.

The alternative was to design a strategy that straddled geographical challenges with an equivalent if not more significant impact. Thus, Cellular Satyagraha is a 'strategy in progress' building on the lessons of the Cellular Silence Day initiative.

It is perhaps time to explore migrating protests off the roads onto the digital and infotech highways, where a protest does not physically inconvenience or, affect the livelihood of those who do not wish to take part. Thereafter, as and when a protest does hit the streets, it would enhance the significance and value of the same.

Infotech highways are perceived as avenues of delivering consumption, encouraging you to make more calls, send more messages, watch more television etc. etc.. The ownership of these highways is in the hands of a few who wish to determine how we think, what we think and even when to think. The 'big brothers' of business decide "what is good for business is good for the people of India"

If at the press of a button on a cell phone or, TV remote we can assume control over that process; empowering citizens with the knowledge that they can stop consuming as and when they choose, then there is potential to exploit this strategy to enthuse and engage significant sections of the population in participatory 'press button' democracy.

We have to push such highways through to the rural areas in due course to empower the citizen in the vlllage too, so that he/she too may choose to have their voice heard - or not heard - at the press of a button.

This would be a participatory democracy of citizens with the choice of involving themselves in the process; having a direct influence rather than outsourcing their democracy to elected representatives and political parties over whom there is virtually no control between elections.

The Cellular Satyagraha strategy is effective only if millions put off their cell phones. It is therefore necessary to find out how many are prepared to do so; to assert their citizen rights at the cost of some inconvenience - that could be deemed 'self sacrifice' in this age of rampant consumerism

If we affect big business then they lean on the political class, since the latter rely on their funding and support on the business houses. Quite simply, if Muthalik is 'bad for business' then he be will shut down; the captains of industry do not want to antagonise the 'consumer'

Secondly, if the numbers switching of phones and ready to sign a petition are the same, then that sends a message to the political class that ignoring significant sections of public opinion - mobilised through such digital highway initiatives - would no longer be an option.

The 'Cellular Silence Day' initiative had an exponential effect with infinitely more people putting their phones off, than the 4900 who actually signed the petition. In Gujarat, for example an entire community boycotted the products of two of the telecom providers. One of the business houses even thought it appropriate to use legal intimidation to silence the petition.

If a few thousand signatories could generate national media coverage for three weeks, consider what more zeroes could do, added to that number of 4900.

So, this is another step towards scaling up the strategy, engaging citizen support, so that in the near future it becomes progressively easier to mobilise public opinion and have them respond instantly via the digital highways; to make them aware of the potential and possibilities.

What this is NOT, is a strategy of confrontation that alienates the people with whom engaging in dialogue is most important. It is to inform the powers that be that the citizen is no push over; that in the era of consumption he/she can exert influence at the press of a button.

If you have not visited then C+ive website yet, at www.c-positive.in, may I suggest you drop by and browse the charter. The idea is to have a home grown civic society where strategies and initiatives emerge through the 'noise and chaos' of discussion. It is the citizen who is supreme, not elected representatives and certainly not political parties.

It is through such engagement becoming wider, more intense but remaining constructive, that non-violent strategies of the digital age will evolve, engaging everybody in the process of building consensus

Mangalore_India's Nashville - A Non-Violent Plan Of Action

For an Inter-Jesuit schools essay competition way back in 1978, the topic was Martin Luther King's quote "The ultimate tragedy is not the brutality of the bad but the silence of the good". Every time India goes through a civic convulsion - major or minor- that quote returns to haunt me. Now, it does not stop haunting me!

A significant section of the great Indian middle class 'seems' to be apathetic and indifferent,cocooned in their glass houses of prosperity, remaining silent in frustration, unprepared for someone throwing the first stone.

Meanwhile, there is a simmering anger amongst the youth frustrated by the poverty of leadership and direction by the generation that ought to be showing them the way forward. They are angry, insecure and afraid - a lethal combination that requires to be harnessed and provided direction.

Mangalore has been the beacon of secularism for centuries. Communities have co-habited and co-existed with each other in mutual respect, doing business together, participating in each others' festivities till very recently, when communal rifts were engineered. The same elements have now upped the ante, engineering the segregation of cultures.

Mangalore is their laboratory where they are 'beta testing' their madness before proliferating their programme of cultural sanitization and segregation elsewhere the country.Soon, we shall all be required to prove our 'Indianness' by wearing saffron swastikas!

If we reduce our social action to exchanging email and Youtube clips about the Mangalore pub attacks, raving and ranting on social networking sites and doing precious little, then we shall become silent participants in a repeat of the occurrences in Germany in the 1930's. History ought to help us learn from the previous follies of mankind not allow them to be replicated in meticulous detail in the presence of our silence.

These extremist forces emulate the tried and tested structure of numerous organisations that have previously propounded change through violence. There is a political organisation well established within the mainstream providing sanction to sleeper cells ready to execute acts of violence.

If the situation goes out of control there is an immediate public statement of dis-association and denial. The modus operandi followed in Mangalore leaves the 'mother ship' without blemish but the illegitimate intimacy of these political bedfellows continues unabated under saffron sheets.

So, it seems rather pointless targetting the Shree Ram Sena and seeking its ban as that would proliferate two more Senas - as has happened ad infinitum. It is time to keep 'mother ship' in our cross hairs especially with elections around the next corner.

The institutionalised segregration of Black and White in the town of Nashville gave birth to the Civil RIghts Movement under the leadership of Martin Luther King. it began with a group of black students from Fisk University in Nashville peacefully defying segregation. They were introduced to and inspired by the non-violent strategies of our very own Mahatma Gandhi.

It is now time for the youth of India to defy the cultural segration imposed by a few on the many. Mangalore is India's Nashville and the time is ripe for a similar satyagraha.

The youth of Bangalore and elsewhere should join hands in solidarity with the youth of Mangalore in a show of solidarity at the earliest opportune date. The demands should include the trial and prosecution of Pramod Muthalik and his lumpen outside the state of Karnataka withn 30 days, owing to a lack of confidence in the government of Karnataka. Also required is an apology from the Chief Minister of Karnataka for not providing citizens the safety and security of state machinery.

If no action is taken within the stipulated time, then we step up civil action; set aside our political differences and rally behind independent candidates against the ruling party of the state and defeat them in the constituencies where we can manage to do so.

If Mangalore leads the way, Bangalore and Mumbai will follow.

Silencing The Moral Police Peacefully

Dear Friends

Once again there has been an attack on ordinary citizens - young women in this case unwinding at a Mangalore pub - by an extremist group with no accountability, respect for the rule of law and rights of the citizen.

There is every likelihood that their actions are at the behest of mainstream organisations operating within the parliamentary process that can conveniently deny any association with such 'Senas' - although they are tarnished with the same hue.

Once this issue is off the front pages, the prosecution process proceeds lethargically enough to employ the lumpen to execute the next such operation with impunity - to protect 'their culture and heritage' against fellow Indians.

In the meantime, we shall develop amnesia, engage in similar knee jerk reactions to greet the next attack in Mangalore, Karnataka or, perhaps elsewhere in the country.

The extremists are confident with an arrogance that urban middle class India will bark much but never bite. There will be a profusion of electronic messages exchanged but thereafter the matter vanishes off the columns inches and public mind.

Such extremists treat our reactions with as much scorn as who we are and what we represent. Elections are around the corner and the same gentlemen shall soon be visiting our doorsteps seeking our votes with hands folded.

Yes, at the earliest opportunity Mangalore should and must organise a non-violent show of strength.

On the day the Shree Ram Sena calls a bandh demanding the release of Pramod Muthalik the people of Mangalore - particularly the young women should gather peacefully on the streets in an endless programme of song and dance from sunrise to sunset - defying the bandh with a vengeance

February 14th is another option when the young boys and girls should gather on the streets walking hand in hand in lakhs in a peaceful procession shouting no slogans but ensuring the highest standards of public decorum.

Finally, all the youngsters - especially the women eligible to vote in the forthcoming elections should demand an unconditional apology from the Shree Ram Sena and an unconditional apology from the Chief Minister of Karnataka for violating their fundamental rights and failing to provide the safety and protection of the state machinery respectively.

This is what I consider a pro active strategy; it is for the people of Mangalore to consider and execute. Perhaps, the citizens of other towns and cities might consider a similar strategy to silence the moral police?

Seize The Day_ Liberty Through Non-Violence

Dear Friends

Please find below the YouTube link to the Mangalore pub attack on women:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEbD2aXs-XU

This could happen in any city and town of India because these lumpen elements have been given the sanction to do what cannot be done within the realms of the rule of law.

There is a reactive choice of carrying Mace on your person, learning Krav Maga, or living in a perpetual state of paranoia every time you wish to unwind with friends or colleagues in a public environment.

There is a pro-active choice with a strategy like Love Your Neighbour Day/ Padosi Divas where you work on neutralising such antipathy with a gesture of non-violence.

When citizens work together, then we can become a force of peace to be reckoned with shaming those who embrace paths to violence.

It is time we secure our freedom in our own democracy to read a Pakistani author if we so choose, name a sweetmeat store after Karachi or Kinshasa, or enjoy an evening in a pub without disturbing the public peace.

We could discuss ad nauseum on Facebook and other networking sites wishing the problem away or we take the initiative to address the issue through engagement, dialogue and work towards a resolution.

The choice is ours...

A Civic Society That Never Sleeps

Dear Friend and Fellow Citizen

The Indian citizen has been incessantly buffeted and bullied over decades by the political and corporate class of the country.

Over sixty years we have mutated from citizen to mere consumer. We have been reduced to a herd of cattle, milked frequently off votes, while we are prodded to further nourishment on a diet of consumerism. As a consequence we citizens have been anaesthetised into apathy and indifference. Our minds have been progressively dulled by apparent prosperity into shirking our duties and responsibilities as citizens while the nexus of political and corporate establishments arrogantly pursue their machinations.

We are being marginalised within our physical, psychological and most importantly civic spaces, fed on an illusion of the greatest good for the greatest number while the contrary is happening.

We are terrorised from without and within our borders, expected to follow diktats on who is Indian and who is not, who is a patriot and who is not, who is secular and who is not, what we can read and see and what we cannot, what is and is not our heritage, who should and should not be our Prime Minister while the perils of the global economy keep us busy eking a livelihood.

It is time we proved our strength on the floor of the country by giving ourselves a much needed vote of confidence, proving our majority and using the same with responsibility to the greatest benefit of all.

In striving for that majority we citizens must conceive, design and implement strategies that are non-violent in word and deed; engage in dialogue and relentlessly pursue the path of conflict resolution towards consensus in a world replete with combative language and violent deeds.

In times of moral and ethical poverty in all walks of life we require to engage the conscience of fellow citizens and work towards a consensus no matter how cumbersome and insurmountable the task might appear.

We might not wish to engage in active politics for myriad reasons but we can easily restore to ourselves a citizens’ democracy built on the foundation of transparency, ethics and compassion.

Love Your Neighbour Day / Padosi Divas_ March 1

Dear Friends

A fellow film maker proposed the commemoration of the Gujarat Riots on Feb 27th as Anti Hate/ Anti Violence Day

On the same day I was asked if I could conjure up a strategy akin to 'Cellular Silence' to address the issue of widespread communalism.

My immediate response was that there is an increasing de-sensitisation and indifference to terms like communalism, which also results in an immediate polarization of views and opinion thus making most efforts counter-productive.

However, twenty fours later, a strategy did occur to me which could be significantly enhanced by our nationwide community of film makers, photographers, visual artists - professional and amateur - which I now propose to share with you.

In English, it would be "Love Your Neighbour" day and I believe "Padosi Divas" would be an appropriate Hindi translation.

If this is something we could commemorate annually hereafter, then we need a 'clean date' like March 1st. Besides, March 1 is a Sunday in 2009.

While we commemorate and reflect on all conflict, not just anti-Sikh riots, Mumbai 1993, Gujarat 2002 or Kandmal or Mumbai 2008. We employ non-violence as a pro-active strategy to neutralise those that attempt to profess hatred, violence, division, separation and alienation in any form.

We make flowers out of any recycled material be it paper, cloth or plastic. or even edible flowers as an acquaintance suggested.

We choose to make a single flower or a garland.

We might even choose to send a virtual flower or garland by email within India or to anyone anywhere you consider a neighbour.

We choose to give that flower to a neighbour next door, or exchange it with a Pakistani citizen at the Wagah border or a Bangladeshi or Chinese citizen for that matter, at any of our international borders .

We choose to send flowers to Narender Modi, the Bajrang Dal, Raj Thackeray, SIMI, the LeT, Maoists, Ajmal Kasab or to anyone else who supports, professes the language of hatred, violence and alienation through thought word and deed.

For those who have lost loved ones or been at the receiving end of violence, in any form this strategy might be anathema and repugnant but the question is where and when will this escalation of violence and hatred end, unless someone says "NO MORE"

If we film makers, photographers, artists and members of the media work in tandem with individuals, groups, NGO's, who might wish to voluntarily participate in this initiative, we could document this day and provide a sense of security and encouragement to those who wish to participate

Once again, I might be a voice of one but I would like to know if there are others who would want to make this work. If so, I would be only to happy to facilitate the process.

This is an 'open source' strategy, so you are most welcome to 'tweak' it as long as it is pro -actively non-violent, in word and deed.