The ghosts of the whistleblowers

A tribute to Shehla Masood and all the whistleblowers of India who speak out and are silenced, assaulted and murdered in this great democracy. And the amazing fact is that there is no law in our country which will safeguard them. (Published in Dec 07, 2011 edition of Mint: http://bit.ly/tqIrgG). With Manta Ray Comics.

You

Turn up the volume.

Description: The Great Indian Clearance Sale isn't about the corrupt people. Not about Monsanto. Not about coal. Not about mining. Not about environmental disasters. It is about one person who will be most affected by it. You.

The Other India's 2011

January

haunted by the ghost of the year gone

cold woebegones

hangover of consumerism

the corrupt plan their loots for the year

nothing about the next eleven months looks promising

something should disrupt the black

but nothing does

February

The corporate plunder

claws at the heart of my country

ghosts of the dead rise and question

the spring season in the capital

the nasturtiums in bloom

could almost make you come out

of your self imposed exile

and if you do

the mixed smell of diesel, blood and perfume

will intoxicate you

to a sleep that the 350 million

are only too content to sleep

India Hour, anyone?

Let’s switch off the lights

There seems to be nothing left to see here anymore. That the unsustainable mining is destroying the country and its ecology and its people has nothing to do with climate change.

That we are killing people so we can “mine happiness” has nothing to do with climate change.

That the tigers being hunted for Chinese libido has nothing to do with water scarcity has nothing to do with climate change.

That Coca-Cola destroying the groundwater has nothing to do with climate change.

That Monsanto is trying to sell GMOs in the name of climate change has nothing to do with climate change.

That our corrupt government officials are trying to introduce a Biotech Bill which will take away our right to protest, our food security has nothing to do with climate change.

That we are destroying our agriculture and then inviting companies like Monsanto to take over has nothing to do with climate change.

That while in the International Year of Biodiversity we are propagating GMOs which will destroy biodiversity and lead to monoculture has nothing to do with climate change.

That several hundred million villages in India go without electricity every day and that clean coal is being touted as the panacea to cure that problem has nothing to do with climate change.

Let’s switch off the lights.

And let us all feel glad that we did our bit for the environment.

Epilogue

Last heard Gurgaon in Haryana, India celebrated Earth Hour for 14 hours on March 22, 2010

Fairy Tales we will be telling our children

You can read the fairy tale if you click on the image and make it bigger. And should you feel you can't read it, it is reproduced below in three parts, which you can click and read. And fresh off the press is a "proof" of this fairy tale: click here.