हमारी और हमारे भोपाल की कहानी कुछ ऐसी है

एक शहर से प्यार होना थोडा कठिन है. पर हमे वो हुआ, और काफी जोरों से हुआ. 

सन १९९५ , फ़रवरी का महीना था वो शायद. हम  ने पहली बार हबीबगंज रेलवे स्टेशन देखा.उस समय वो काफी अकेला सा था. एक छोटी सा स्टेशन था वो और एक्का दुक्का ट्रेन ही वहाँ रूकती थी. उस समय हमने पहली बार भोपाल को देखा था और देखते रह गए.

फ़र्ज़ कीजिए फ़रवरी की ठंडी सुबह जो हलकी सी धुँध से नहाई हुई है और उस ठंढ़ में आप एक छोटे से स्टेशन पे उतरे जहाँ ५-१० लोगो कि ही भीड़ हो. कुछ ऐसा ही दृष्य था उस समय. अभी भी याद करते हैं तो रोएं खड़े हो जाते हैं. 

वो था हमारा पहला पल जब हमे भोपाल से प्यार हुआ. या यूँ कहिये कि हबीबगंज से प्यार हुआ. जो समय के साथ और गहरा होता चला गया.

The liberal retardism that they think we suffer from

I could not go to Jantar Mantar to be a part of the crowd that had gathered to support Anna Hazare in his stand against corruption because I was not in Delhi. Many of us who could not be present there had different reasons but Harsh Mander has come out with the most mind-boggling of all the reasons.

In todays Hindustan Times he writes that he didn’t go there because he was disturbed by the presence of  pictures of Bharat Mata on the stage and in the hands of the supporters which he thinks naturally points to the presence of RSS and the likes.

Secondly he was perturbed by the presence of godman like Baba Ramdev and Sri Sri RaviShankar during the whole movement. And then he goes on to say, as if he has got the bulls eye, that his presence of the saffron element in the whole movement was confirmed  after Anna Hazare praised Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi declaring him a model chief minister.

It's about us... not about them

Corruption has always been an issue. It was before you and I were born and it was present when our forefathers took admission in schools. And we have always wished that it should disappear, but never have we felt this feeling as strong as we feel now that corruption has to go this time.

There is no next moment or another movement for this.

The fast unto death taken up by Anna Hazare has moved the entire nation that has been sulking under the numerous scams that have happened at a amazing periodicity both at the micro and macro level. 

This has been a year of revolution and movements. Egypt,Libiya,Tunisia and many other countries have or are experiencing the evolution of thoughts that have transformed into actions. The unifying factor in each of this country is that the issues that have forced the mass to come on the street are issues that are basic to the daily life of a common man.

Unemployment, price rise, nepotism has ignited the fire inside the man that walks on the street to take notice of the condition around him. Conditions that were always present but were ignored and then neglected and allowed to fester.

Recently when asked whether any such revolution can happen in India, our Prime Minister replied in the negative and said that we are a democratic country where we have the means to redress our problems.  And he was so right.

A/S/L

18/male/Bhopal here. Looking for a good clean chat.

This was the time of 1999-2001. The time when the internet connection at home was still a big-ask. The only player providing internet connection being Satyam with packages of Rs. 3000 for 3 Gb download.

Me and my friends would go to one of the many a internet cafes and pay anything between Rs.60 per hour to Rs. 80 per hour to log into the world of the mythical internet. At that time having an email address was nothing less than owning a Blackberry today. Rediff was a rage then and so was 123india.com. Yahoo was still a rank outsider and most people were more content with having a desi address in indiatimes.com.