Divided We Fall
I want you to do something for me. I want you to think about your maid or a beggar on the street, their eyes dark and sunken, three meals a day their only goal in life. Now I want you to think about how it is a pure accident that you have been born as you, in your family, with your resources. I want you to understand that had anything gone even a little bit differently, you could have been the one out on the street. The reason I am telling you this is not to admonish you or anything but to remind you of this fact because everyone seems to have forgotten it. The way I see people treating those less fortunate than themselves… it appalls me, it really does. I never thought that one day, possessing basic human qualities such as kindness and virtue would be regarded as a rarity. This ties into the main point of this article, which is regarding the recent surge in communal violence in this country. The Bhagavad Gita and the Quran do not speak of ill-will towards one another, but their followers are hell-bent on wiping out the other community. With the advent of social media, it became acceptable for embittered millennials to preach selfishness as a viable trait. “The world will never understand me. So screw the world”. Why? Because they got their heartbroken by their crush. As time went on, this ideal gathered widespread acceptance. Looking out only for yourself and being aloof from those around you became the “cool” thing to do. Not caring became the “cool” thing to do. While this by itself did not lead us to the point where actual legislation is being made to exclude Islam from this country, it did exacerbate the problem. Because being selfish and never forgetting or forgiving are the root causes of India’s latest issue. Because of things that happened decades and centuries ago, we are today taught that some problems cannot be fixed, some people just cannot change. It is in their “blood”. We need to eradicate them from our nation. Facebook and Twitter are not social media platforms, they are the breeding grounds of intolerance. They played a pivotal role in the spreading of hate culture in this country, and now we are in too deep. Remember I asked you to think about those less fortunate than you? Now think about this – it is pure luck that your last name is, say, Bose or Das instead of Khan or Ali. At the end of the day, we are people first, and Hindus or Muslims after. Religious intolerance is simply not forgetting and not forgiving on a wider scale. We are all children of this great nation. I am a law student, I know what the Constitution says. We are supposed to be the noblest, most forgiving and most accommodating race in the entire world. Instead, we are at each other’s throats, because of books written by people, not even by God. Someone like you and I wrote those scriptures, and now a country is tearing itself apart from the inside because of them. At the end of the day, it is up to you – let the past destroy the present and the future, or carve a new path, based on values that seem to have been forgotten? Side with a Government that thinks Islam is a dangerous disease or side with the secular Constitution without which that Government would not exist in the first place? None of us are perfect, but we are supposed to be the best there is in the entire solar system. If this is our condition in the present, what hope remains for the future? In my opinion, India was once the greatest country in this world. Let’s you and I play our part, no matter how small, in restoring it to its former glory. Also, read: The Rage Within
The Rage Within by Chandrayan Gupta
Publication: Notion Press Page Count: 222 Review One of the Radha Bose Series of Detective Novels by Chandrayan Gupta. Private detective Radha Bose and her associate Aditya Gokhale go about the mundane business of tracking people; usually, disgruntled couples trying to get evidence against their cheating partners in a bid to sue them for divorce. Just as Radha has been contemplating shutting down the Agency, octogenarian Mandira Kapoor steps into their office to get them to take on the 17-year-old cold case of her grand-daughter Sakshi. Allegedly Sakshi was kidnapped only for the burnt body to be delivered at their doorstep the next day, despite her ransom demand being fulfilled. On her last limbs, the old lady desperately wants Radha to help give her closure. As Radha and Aditya go about the case, they connect with retired Chief Inspector Vikram Rathore who soon joins forces with them to find the culprits behind the tragedy. In the bargain, they seem to stumble on way more than they had bargained for as the skeletons come tumbling out of the closet. Can the depressed, complicated detective Duo put aside their own demons and fears as they go about the business of helping out the old lady? Read and find out for yourself as Chandrayan weaves a web so sinister that it leaves you stunned by the end. Do I recommend it? This detective novel was quite a roller coaster ride with so many unexpected twists and turns that I was left reeling after the complex ride. Gupta has managed to lace in so many surprises and shocks that you really want to take up the next one in the series immediately. Rating This one deserves a 5/5. . . . . . About the Author Chandrayan Gupta A young law student and author. Possessed of an insatiable need to read and write, he published his well-received debut crime fiction novel Birth of a Duo at the age of 19. He is currently pursuing a law degree in Kolkatta and spends almost all of his free time working on his Radha Bose series of detective novels. Follow Chandrayan on Twitter @ChandrayanGupta. . . . . . If you loved the review, then get your copy of it on Amazon by clicking here and if you want us to review or recommend a book, then do let us know in the comments below or on Instagram @booxoul.
