The woes of Assam

Assam is a lovely place, developing now, and has a warmth, which makes it a home for us.

We feel proud of ourselves being Assamese, although there are many different people here; multilingual and muti cultured. Most of our people speak Assamese, but we have Boros, Kacharis, Tiwas, Ahoms, Bengalies and a host of other sects of people. There is no fixed definition of the word 'Assamese', but an Assamese is an Assamese! Hindus, Muslims and Christians live together peacefully and other religions also co-exist. There is a sense of brotherhood among us

. We have several Universities; the oldest and the most prestigious being Gauhati University; and several colleges, the most famous being Cotton College. Recently many other private institutions and colleges have come up, giving way to regular and job oriented courses.There are many good schools too to make our younger generation at par with the rest of India.

Tourism too, but much has to be said about this, and our wild life sanctuaries. And then Sibsagar, the base of the Ahom kings of yester years, and the remnants of their architecture. And the oil towns of upper Assam. Assam is also strategically important to India, being one hop away from China and Myanmar. And yes, we do not forget the continued decades of the Central Government funds that come in each year for development

! So much for the good part.

The famous historian H. Barpujari once wrote that the people of the Brahmaputra valley are lazy by nature; he continued saying that this could be because of the hot and humid climate.

We, the Assamese people, are by birth lazy, always shifting responsibility, and negative towards work and progress and duty consciousness.  We do not innovate, do not realise that there are plenty of resources in Assam, and we could utilise these resources to become a second Gujarat.

Good organisation, sincereity and awareness and dedication is required for this. Yes govt help is required; but all the infrastructure is there; yet nothing happens.

At Dispur only paper work is done most of the time , and then half hearted work using 'lubricants' and not otherwise. It is govt business and so nobody's business is the idiom of the day!

Go any day to any govt office and you will find that most officers are not present in their seats till 11.30am. Come 2pm and there is a break again supposedly for lunch. Around 5pm just before chutti the office becomes lively again, and you are told to come tomorrow.

And then there are excuses saying ' I have a meeting now, so please come later'! And so on and so forth. It is the clerks who are the bosses at Dispur. The officers do not take the trouble to read any particular application or file.

I don't think many of the officers (I.A.S or A.C.S) even understand what is written in a letter or application, and the consequences involved, and the line of action to be taken.

They simply mark the paper to the dealing assistant " Pl put up". And the clerk puts up the file to his own convenience in such a way that the officer concerned can either write 'yes' or 'no' to the remarks that the clerk has put up and not to what could be the real content of the letter involved. The officer never read the letter in the first place, remember?

If financial considerations are involved the file will return because the state finance dept people know their job. And if it is a complicated situation, so done by the original office official, then the finance people will play a merry go round with the file, not knowing or caring of the petitioner's discomfort.

And please, the petitioner could be a govt dept itself! So much for Assam's developmental vigour! Our people should wake up to this and move enmasse to remove this malaise and lubricant culture. Then only we can be proud of being Assamese.

The Indian National Congress has lost badly in the 2014 General Elections

The Congress has lost badly in the 2014 General Elections.

Some are willing to write off the Indian National Congress as a spent force, but all may not be gone yet.

True, the Congress does not have a leader at all at present; mis-rule, non-action and scams after scams, total arrogance of their leaders,have vented public anger against them.

But in politics anything can happen.

Just now the Modi govt is all bent to see a better India with good governance. The new govt. will need time to set things through. It will be better for the Opposition to play a constructive role and thereby gain people's respect.

Squabbling, rhetoric and lame and disgusting overtures should be avoided, because people see through things!

Constructive criticism is ofcourse alright. Within days of the new govt taking office, we see unnecessary hassles that could have been avoided.

The Indian polity is vibrant and aware of happenings and their context.

It is necessary for the powers that be in the state or national level to also understand this. And realise this for their own good.

We are at a threshold where we need better days to come. Be it from Modi or otherwise, we still do; there will be bigger factors at play otherwise, and we do not seem to realise this as yet.
~ Dr Pranjal Rajkhowa

Youth

Youth is an ever splendid thing. It is vibrant, joyous and adventurous. An era of no responsibilities to many; sheltered, and everlasting. No qualms, perhaps also with a disdain for any kind of guidance. Then comes a realization that one has to compete in today's world. This too, is an adventure, and taken in stride. When we were children, our parents were responsible for us; and true they did a great job of this. In our teens we knew better, or so we thought; we rebelled against things staid; we had a confict of personalities; why? Because we were growing up; neither here no there. Who cares about the world, anyway? It is ours to enjoy and make the most of it. Such is the opium of things at that stage. A few years later we are youthful men and women; many with jobs and family; happy in life. We become sociable, begin to take responsibilities just as our parents did, at home and at work. Slowly we understand things. Some get vain; others mature. But this is still youth! But too late we realize that youth does not last for ever. Our bodies age; our mental make up changes. No longer do we have the energy of days gone by; we look older, and cannot recall why, how and when all these changes came to pass. We yearn for days gone by; of our innocent days when there were no burdens; for our parents, who are no longer with us today; golden words they had said to us; their love and silent wisdom. They had been through this, too, we then reckon. Yes, youth is a wondrous thing; it never comes back.

MY TYRIST WITH DESTINY

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Putin wins?

With the US and EU sanctions against Russia one would think that Vladimir Putin is a cornered man, but not so in my opinion!

Yes he has his back to a wall; but Putin is seasoned, hard core and wily as a strategist and a politician.

With trillions of dollars sanctions against him he will now feel justified to take military action.

The EU (Europeon Union) is at present not in a position to take on Russia's military might, and not that they would be eager to get into this broil, with or without the US overtures towards them.

So what do we have now?

Vladimir Putin has a free hand with Ukraine with his military might: and the rest of the world can do nothing about it, since they have already done their worst via sanctions (albeit justifiably so to many!); and Putin will feel justified in taking over an industrial Ukraine to make up for some of his loss!

Given that the world does not want a third world war against a determined man who has nothing further to lose (and one must not forget Russia's 'affinity if necessary' towards North Korea), an imminent Cold War is just what Putin would want, to his own benefit!

I had said before that Vladimir Putin does not take things lying down.

As for the US, they too would not want a war with Russia. My respects to that great nation.

Youth, an ever splendid thing

YOUTH
Youth is an ever splendid thing. It is vibrant, joyous and adventurous. An era of no responsibilities to many; sheltered, and everlasting. No qualms, perhaps also with a disdain for any kind of guidance.
Then comes a realization that one has to compete in today's world. This too, is an adventure, and taken in stride.
When we were children, our parents were responsible for us; and true they did a great job of this. In our teens we knew better, or so we thought; we rebelled against things staid; we had a confict of personalities; why? Because we were growing up; neither here no there. Who cares about the world, anyway? It is ours to enjoy and make the most of it. Such is the opium of things at that stage.
A few years later we are youthful men and women; many with jobs and family; happy in life. We become sociable, begin to take responsibilities just as our parents did, at home and at work. Slowly we understand things. Some get vain; others mature. But this is still youth!
But too late we realize that youth does not last for ever. Our bodies age; our mental make up changes. No longer do we have the energy of days gone by; we look older, and cannot recall why, how and when all these changes came to pass. We yearn for days gone by; of our innocent days when there were no burdens; for our parents, who are no longer with us today; golden words they had said to us; their love and silent wisdom. They had been through this, too, we then reckon.
Yes, youth is a wondrous thing; it never comes back.

Youth, an ever splendid thing

Youth is an ever splendid thing.

It is vibrant, joyous and adventurous. An era of no responsibilities to many; sheltered, and everlasting. No qualms, perhaps also with a disdain for any kind of guidance.

Then comes a realization that one has to compete in today's world. This too, is an adventure, and taken in stride.

When we were children, our parents were responsible for us; and true they did a great job of this. In our teens we knew better, or so we thought; we rebelled against things staid; we had a confict of personalities; why? Because we were growing up; neither here no there. Who cares about the world, anyway? It is ours to enjoy and make the most of it.

Such is the opium of things at that stage.

A few years later we are youthful men and women; many with jobs and family; happy in life. We become sociable, begin to take responsibilities just as our parents did, at home and at work. Slowly we understand things. Some get vain; others mature. But this is still youth!

But too late we realize that youth does not last for ever. Our bodies age; our mental make up changes. No longer do we have the energy of days gone by; we look older, and cannot recall why, how and when all these changes came to pass. We yearn for days gone by; of our innocent days when there were no burdens; for our parents, who are no longer with us today; golden words they had said to us; their love and silent wisdom.

They had been through this, too, we then reckon. Yes, youth is a wondrous thing; it never comes back.