SUNIL K POOLANI

We signed an agreement formally and finalized our point of publication of book. This casual interaction lasted for about two hours. He casually told me that publishing books was passion for him, not a business venture meant for cheating others like me, when I was suspecting his credentials passively. An idealist does not know how to prove his credentials!

He looked very simple I met Sunil K Poolani in November 2009 in his rented abode at Chedda Nagar in Mumbai when I went there to finalize the point of publication of my first book Stories of Love and Beauty. I was dim due to the train journey that preceded. I had to start back that evening itself. He told his cousin to get a pack of rice for me from a nearby place. I talked a little with him. and talked very little with me that afternoon. He was sick. I found that there were a few liquor bottles also in his old refrigerator in one portion of that abode. I understood that he drinks. I also realized that he also smokes, seeing one of his photos earlier somewhere online. I never like any person with the habits of smoking and drinking because they kill good people also suddenly, sadly. I criticized him in myself then. He did not own a two-wheeler, car or any luxury item. This was what I could understand observing his life during those few moments. He was the managing editor of Leadstart Publishing! I know about thousands of cheats, criminals and sinners in this nation, who are living luxuriously in every part of this nation. Why did Sunil remain so simple and poor despite such great position with a publishing firm? What’s wrong with him? I never got answer for this question. He said that once he worked with radical groups also. I understood that he led the life of a frustrated intellectual, idealist and visionary once! He changed his surname to Poolani (a village in Kerala) from Menon, one of the characteristics of real idealists and admirable people in every part of this world.

He waited for about one year to allow me to get ready to get my first book published. I could not have published my first book without his kindness and concern for me. What can any writer do if every publisher simply rejects his manuscript considering that he is a fresher or that the content is not fitting into their set of criteria and expectations? Sunil introduced me into the arena of published writing. There were times when I was very angry with Sunil. About 50 language errors stayed back in my book. He did not put the copyright statement in a standard format. Such were the reasons for my anger against him. An idealist, intellectual and visionary is also subject to criticism of this nature when he is in such field.

Almost one year elapsed after the publication of my book. Very few copies of it were sold. I did not mind it much because nobody can decide and influence the success rate of any honest venture but time itself.

This evening I got an email from Swarup Nanda of Leadstart Publishing in Mumbai in response to my email to him, “Sunil passed away on 10 June, due to a cardiac arrest”. Perhaps he must have reached me this news because I copied that email to Sunil also. Swarup wanted to inform me that Sunil is no more. I felt shocked to receive this bitter news. I felt blank. I daily read about many deaths in the environment around me. They bother me a little but I soon recover myself from that pain and keep going. Sunil occupied a distinguished place in my vast psychic space for some vague and indefinite reasons. I developed psychic attachment with this silent workaholic and idealist. I never felt like expressing it to anybody. We bury many such heartstrings in our innermost self. Mine is such metaphysical bond with Sunil. Perhaps this is the reason for my deep psychic disturbance at this tragic news. A great Indian passed away silently being unable to face this violent and indecent world.

I think Sunil concluded his life this way for two simple reasons: drinking and highly tense work almost every day and night as the managing editor of Leadstart Publishing. He wrote so much online and offline beyond these pressing works to him as a publisher. He did all this just out of passion for writing and an ideal way of life. Sunil is one of the greatest Indians for me because he lived as a writer and editor and died unfortunately as a frustrated and exhausted idealist. For Leadstart, it’s immeasurable loss.

Perhaps, I loved Sunil for the following vague reasons:

He did not cheat anybody.

He loved writing aimed at progressive march of a society or nation.

He lived honestly and simply, yet doing great things silently for others.

He was so innocent that he never knew that alcohol and extreme stress kill idealists also silently.

He never craved for false prestige like millions of Indians I am seeing now around.

He was such idealist and dreamer whose assets cannot be traced and appreciated by all.

He never allowed others to understand what he really is.

He published the first book of an innocent and helpless Indian “Chiranjeevi Raju”.

I am suffering today intensely realizing that a great man, who was identified as Sunil K Poolani, passed away being disgusted with the ugly and tragic things occurring in this world every day and night. I don’t request God to bless his departed soul because no soul can do any good or bad to any other soul in this world. Every soul has a scheduled role to play in this material world and desert this stage soon after that role is over. Nobody can change that Karmic schedule of a soul. He played his role and left the stage. Since I am an ordinary living entity, having developed certain misconceptions and misunderstandings about the shadowy creatures and weird phenomena in this world, I am suffering like this today about his departure. A truth, which I know as a spiritualist, and a truth, which I cannot face, when it hits me strongly, inside. Man is subject to pain as long as he lives. Some express it. Some conceal it.

Cardiac arrests are the royal ways of earthly departures for many in India now. I observe many people every day, who are getting carried away by the habits of smoking and drinking, taking them as casual and negligible. A married person or ideal living entity should not think that he is an independent creature with authority to move away from this world at his will. Sunil left the close associates of his personal and professional life in distress and pain now. Even God cannot fill that void created by his untimely departure. I think he could have avoided it, had he refrained from that fatal habit. There are very few idealists and visionaries in India now. Sunil’s death is a huge loss in this scenario even for a society in which innocent and directionless creatures like me search for one to publish their works or reach their unheard creative or painful voice to others in some other creative and ideal way.

I request my dear blog readers to avoid such bad habits like smoking and drinking which slowly eat you and take your soul away one day silently. God gave us a precious life. Let natural death reach us slowly. Let’s not invite it for fashion or craziness sake. Life is a big game. Play it. Reach its end patiently.

Even if nobody is in love with us in this world and nobody is bothered about us, we should not invite our death proactively. God is our father and mother, thinking and worrying about us there above in the sky always. He sent us into this world to allow us to celebrate the beauty and mystery on this huge canvas arranged by Him for us passionately. He suffers if we depart early. Love yourself. Live for you also.

My dear Poolani! Your departure hit my psyche deeply. Alcohol and professional stress colluded against you. Do not take your next birth in India. It’s not a suitable place for folks like you and me.

Goodbye comrade!            

                                     

PHOTOS OF ANAND

IDENTITY CRISIS IN INDIA

According to me, Aadhar card is a multi-purpose utility card for Indians being issued by the Government of India now, in some parts of India, to some extent. It’s a unique identity card, which can be used for availing the services of different public and private agencies in India.

I have been looking for an identity card of this nature for long. I am reading a few news items in dailies now and then about it. I am interested in getting it because I am suffering from identity crisis for long in India. Whenever I have to apply for change of address, they want a solid proof showing that I am really an Indian and am living here physically. They are not bothered about my looks, words or views but my identity proof only. It means for them lifeless documents are more important than living human beings.

I did not see even one advertisement in my familiar local daily with the details of place and process related to this identity card. When I recently enquired a fellow about it at Chintal Basthi area in Khairabad, Hyderabad, he casually said that it is being done at some point of place nearby on week days. I remain in our office from 9:15 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on all days except Sunday. I have natural holiday on Sunday. Those folks too have natural holiday on this day. So, their service delivery schedule is against my personal and professional time availability schedule.

Then, even if I go to these folks, according to their convenient timings, they ask for address proof. I have the following problems in this regard.

Ration Card

Since I am a rich man of India (employee), I don’t have a ration card. I am honest (though many millionaires also possess these cards in Andhra Pradesh now). I don’t have a pink ration card also because I don’t have time to go to the dirty offices of these civil supply folks, stand in those queues, apply for it and go back to them on another day to collect it. Above all, I don’t belong to one particular place to apply for this card. I keep moving from place to place like a gypsy. They generally live in tents by roads and I live in some rented abodes. This is the difference between them and me in terms of identity crisis as Indians living and working in India.

Passport

I got one in 2001 when I was studying at the University of Hyderabad. They wrote the address of the Department of English on it. It is going to expire in five months’ time. During these 10 years, I never used this passport. I never had the status and privilege of going to some foreign country during this time. I cannot present it as proof of residence to these folks.

PAN Card

I have it but my address won’t be given on it. So, they don’t accept it as proof of residence.

Driving License

I cannot drive two-wheelers with gears because I always keep thinking and worrying about me or others around me. I cannot change gears when engaged in this continuous pursuit of thoughts, observations and regrets in public places. I can drive an automatic bike, which works like a bicycle. I could not buy one of them till now. So, I don’t have driving license.

Landline Telephone Bill

I think many are now using BSNL landline phones for the purpose of address proofs only at homes. Since the private telecom operators dominated these folks in every imaginable segment of business in this sector, BSNL is dying slowly. I don’t have a landline phone.

Electricity Bill

Since it would be in the name of the owner of my rented abode, I cannot use it.

Domestic LPG Bill

I keep moving from place to place. Accordingly the address also changes on these bills. So, I cannot use them for this purpose.

Photo Voter Identity Card

I got one two years ago when living in Karkhana area but later I left that place, moved to Vanasthalipuram and now living at Khairatabad. I cannot use that old card and Mr. Bhanvar Lal does not issue me a new voter identity card with my present address even if I commit suicide in front of his house. He knows that he is dead as a public servant. What can that idiot do for me in this regard?

Bank Account

I don’t have a permanent address. So, they should not depend on my bank account details.

I don’t know what other documents they accept as proofs of residence. What I mean by the aforementioned statements is that I don’t have a reliable proof of address to apply for this Aadhar card.

If this is the account of a fellow like me, who is considerably educated, rich, manageable and bearable, in India, what about those who don’t know about anything happening in India. I mean the poorest of the poor in India. Won’t these rogues consider those Indians as countable ones because they too don’t have a permanent residence like me in any part of India?

I think about half of the Indian population is facing this kind of identity crisis in India now. In these gloomy and risky circumstances, I think, Nandan Nilekani, who is the chairman of this massive project in India, must be considered as innocent or foolish or stupid or mentally retarded creature. I blame the leader if something wrong is happening under his supervision because he consciously took up that role.

Cigarette and liquor companies are successful in reaching every corner of India.

Poor and rich prostitutes are able to cater to the diverse needs of their clients in every part of India.

Coca Cola and Pepsi are able to reach every part of India selling their harmful carbonated drinks.

Christians are able to build small or big church in every imaginable spot of India, including forests.

But, Nandan Nilekani, who is authorized fellow of the Government of India, is unable to devise such plans, as to reach every part of India and issue these cards to every imaginable Indian, within weeks.

Check how you can do it online. I think you cannot get it done in your lifetime following those criteria.

So, I assure you all that Nandan Nilekani cannot issue Aadhar cards to every single authentic Indian in his lifetime because he is not an ordinary Indian like me, who knows the pulse of India and Indians, but one who reached a privileged status of life through what he gained as part of Infosys.

Above all, the main reason for why the Government of India fails to implement any policy of this kind, meant for every Indian, is that it is not working for the people of India, but for acquisition, retention and enjoyment of political power and related false prestige. They are interested in politics and power only but not the prosperity and peace in this nation.

I am least bothered about Aadhar card now because India made me so and compels me to remain so. You may or may not do anything advised by the Government of India. They are not serious about anything, except political power. If a few folks like me do not attend their campaigns and massive meetings voluntarily, they spend money and bring masses to those places artificially, distributing food and liquor packets. Democracy is already dead in many parts of India. So, it is enough if you can manage to live on your own, without depending on the government for anything. This is what beggars, lunatics, saints, naxalites and many legal and illegal residents of India are doing now silently or violently.

You need proofs to beg something from the Government of India or your respective state or local government bodies. Since these cards are meant for such beggars only, Nandan Nilekani, his brother Manmohan and their common friend and well-wisher Sonia Gandhi think that some beggars anyhow struggle hard to get these cards presenting those proofs of residence. Why to bother about other eccentric and old-fashioned nuts like me!

I dream of a system of personal identification in India by which the identity of any Indian can be easily finalized through a few casual questions by some real Indians in any part of India. Until such a system evolves and comes into existence in India, gypsies like me, who are in millions in every corner of India, cannot get identity cards like Aadhar as easily as they can get a cigarette, a Thums Up bottle, a liquor bottle, a ghutka packet, a call girl or a condom.

So, this is how Mr. Nandan Nilekani is contributing to the development of India through his “National Drama of Aadhar Card”. All are invited. Entire India is the stage. He should realize that India is not like Infosys and Indians do not think and act like his employees at Infosys. Since he is paying salaries and providing many benefits to those employees at Infosys, they are remaining as disciplined and cultured creatures in association with it. Let him know how many employees of Infosys so far got Aadhar cards in India and why they did/could not get them?

In India, we are talking about Nandan Nilekani or Narayana Murthy or Ratan Tata or Mukesh Ambani because they mean huge money and false prestige but not essential standards and values of real India, which the dreamers and visionaries of this nation aspire to see in them. They do such businesses which bring them huge profits but not such ventures which improve the culture of Indians. Profit or loss is their concern but not whether what they are doing is good or bad for India or Indians. All celebrities of India are thinking in this fashion now. The toppers in this list are those promoting cricket with investments in dirty ventures like IPL. They want money and false prestige. Let Indians degrade mentally due to it. They don’t lose anything if India becomes into a huge dustbin. They play with trash there fashionably.

These buggers can never change India except creating wealth and distributing it to many undisciplined and uncultured rogues, who spend most of it for cigarettes, parties, liquor, girls and foreign tours. Culture does not mean huge money and grand celebration now and then but admirable discipline and vision in every single citizen of a given society, state or nation. Ninety percent of Indians, living in India and abroad now, do not have them. So, no policy or scheme meant for developing India can bring any change in the lives of these Indians because they want to live with narrow outlooks and unreliable characters.

I think a nation changes when a kind and visionary dictator kills all the wrongdoers brutally or when a saint changes all their mindsets metaphysically.

When does either one of these two things happen in India?

I am waiting for those great moments of change in India.

It may or may not happen because nothing is certain in this mysterious world.

So, what if I have Aadhar card or not?

In India, everybody struggles to live somehow, somewhere, for some time, because nobody else is interested in his or her life, at any given point of time, purely and honestly, except deep and mad lovers.

Every birth has a death.

Bear with your life even when it is unbearable because it is your Karmic schedule.

You will die one day.

Don’t worry.

I think they don’t ask for Aadhar card to burn or bury your corpse according to your religion.

That’s where you attain absolute liberty from all pressures, pains and regrets of this material life.

From there flies away your liberated soul happily.

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LETTER TO ARUNDHATI ROY

Hi Arundhati,

I address creatures of intelligence, idealism and courage this way. Your name started making waves about 10 years ago with your first book The God of Small Things. How did it happen? Is this book that worthy or this person or both? This question does not have reliable answers but I often encounter it. You are simple, humble and endearing for me.

I did not read your first book or other books because I have not been a good reader. Rather than the fame and success you achieved through your first book, what made me find you as admirable creature is your devotion to the burning issues in India, the liberal donation of your money for some causes and people and your constant struggle to do something good for this nation at your level. Every writer is not a good creature at individual level. Many write books for fame and money. You do not belong to this class of superficial writers and worthless celebrities of India. You are an admirable and daring Indian thinking and working for this nation honestly and powerfully. This is what I admire in your personality.

I think that those who are struggling for great causes, which benefit many directly or indirectly, can’t find enough time to enjoy their personal lives. When millions of foolish and corrupt Indians are misusing their lives and spoiling the beauty and peace of this nation, through their acts, one is supposed to reform them. The role of a social activist and idealist is very tough in these testing circumstances. Many social reformers struggled hard in the past to change the order of things in India but conditions deteriorated soon after they left the stage of their material performance. The evident fact in this phenomenon is that evil is spreading across faster, defeating virtues simultaneously. Fighting against these universal truths is not an ordinary thing. Idealists and thinkers like you are engaged in this mission in India; changing the mindsets and lives of those, who are not interested in changing at all.

I think that it is collective Karma that influences the course of events and phenomena on this earth planet always. If some are born to smoke, drink, debauch and ruin their lives, some are born to educate and reform them with patience and love for them. Unrest and pain have always been part of human lives. Nobody is happy in this world. Everybody is suffering for one or the other reason. Some are expressing it and some are not doing it. In this mess of things around us, what can we do to change these people and make them happy? Indians are not ready to change? They want to perish practicing their age-old superstitions and beliefs.

Even intellectuals and achievers are making people like Satya Sai Baba God and spending most of their time in those useless pursuits. Indians are very unreliable and dishonest creatures. They lead immoral lives and then go to temples to pray to God. This is applicable to all people living in India now. For them religion and spiritualism are also a formality. They are not changing psychologically but acting easy and attractive roles as ideal folks for special recognition and shallow appreciation from worthless blokes around them. They want to become celebrities this way.

Can we change the collective Karma of a society or nation? If a tribe is accustomed to a set of bad practices, do they change if we educate them? When politics and businesses are in the control of dirty rogues in India, what can the few social reformation acts we indulge in do in this direction? The government banned smoking in public places but very few are practicing it now. All know that consumption of alcoholic drinks is harmful to health but how many drunkards stopped consuming it minding their lives? Even educated ones are smoking and drinking. Prostitution is rampant across India.

Indians are not practicing standards and values in their lives now. Everybody is playing some role to satisfy a few people in his circle. When corruption and immorality are at dangerous levels in every part of India, what can a handful of creatures like you and me do through our writings and campaigns for social causes? Don’t we look as innocent and foolish creatures to these dirty Indians? Why should idealists lead such difficult and disturbed lives for the sake of rogues?

Why are you living ideally and intellectually when nobody is bothered about such people in India now?

Are not intellectuals and idealists cheating themselves in India now in the name of social reformation?

To know about me, visit my blog sites http://virahini.blogspot.com and http://dcraju.blogspot.com

I am a 34-year-old Indian living and working at Hyderabad now. I have a beautiful wife and a cute kid now. I also think like you for this nation and often lose balance and peace of mind due to it. Birds of same feather flock together! So, this message to you. My email id is rajayogi@live.com

Sent this letter to Arundhati Roy this evening through the following link on the website of Penguin Books, India. http://www.penguinbooksindia.com/WritetoAuthor.aspx?AuthID=163