Dheeraj Kalgutkar

An odd 'like' on Facebook and you are on door of a shadowy police lock-up, an odd tweet and you are beaten on a ghastly night-street. A fire-ball comment over some old-but-always-in-news-issue and you're slapped in your own office! The largest democracy of world, the one that taught non-violence and peace to wider audience has travelled all this far to a gleam position where it's all about 'them' and 'us'. In India of today, you are no more allowed to have a opinion of yours nor are you allowed to not have any opinion and be a fence-sitter either! Impatience and intolerance have become keys that define our lives. The vicious 'them vs. us' attitude has plagued the very conscience of India that once gave call for eternal harmony of one and all. We have started to overlook the ideas 'they' have or the 'solutions' they possess. Be it Prashant Bhushan who is facing public ire today over his comment in 2011 where he suggested t...

Let Democracy prevail :Come join hand in making the largest democracy survive by voting! The heroic narrative of modern society has always been that democracy would prevail in the end. It in fact is the merry resilience of it that makes it to triumph amidst all odds. But there is this sorry-state-of-democracy where though entitled and able, people (even well educated!) refuse to use their franchise. Then, why exactly should I vote? Will my one vote make any empire fall or rise for that instance? Yes, it could say the results from all around! Here are some important events in U.S. history that were decided by just a few votes: ·         Richard Nixon, not John F. Kennedy, would have become President of the U.S. in 1960 if one person from each voting place had voted differently. ·         If just one U.S. Senator had voted differently, U.S. President Andrew Johnson would have ...

More read: Aseem Trivedi's cartoons With recent attacks on troubleshooters who fight for an ombudsman law against corruption and instances of many fowl conspiracies being stitched around people who raise their ante against lawlessness clearly points towards the sad decline of fundamental democracy in India. Much quoted 'largest democracy' is all set to dwindle and travel on the path which leads to nowhere but into historical tragic end. The very recent attack on cartoonist Aseem Trivedi sparks the old debate again. If cartoonists are not allowed to draw out of their thoughts and understanding, then let them be put in parliament for just a change. And to make us understand cartoons better, let this people behind his arrest draw the cartoons! What will they draw after all? A polished drawing of parliamentarian wearing garland around his neck? With punch line ‘THE MYRIAD VISITOR OF POOR FOR ONCE IN FULL MOON’? Alas, for all this jokes there is one exclusive ...