Yakub vs Kalam- Does Religion actually matter?

''Yakub vs Kalam!''

The small town of Rameshwaram is one of the most revered places for Hindus. The Rameswaram temple and the confluence of the seas, the Vivekananda rock memorial only add to its glory.
Thursday witnessed an alarming increase in the worshipers. No, they hadn't come to visit the temple, but to pay homage to a rare and proud son of the land, APJ Abdul Kalam. His religion- Muslim by birth, India by deeds.
Incidentally, in another part of the country, there was much noise and outrage amidst wild celebrations after President and Supreme Court denied Yakub Memon, the mercy plea. Some scholars and seculars argued that Yakub's crime didn't deserve a death sentence. They took the battle to twitter as well.  Shashi Tharoor tweeted that the entire concept of death penalty by state should be done away with.
Yakub was definitely a terrorist as the judiciary found it, in the same manner that they found Sreesanth and Salman not guilty. Whether he deserved a death sentence or not is a matter of irrelevant debate. May I put forward a simple question-
Did the people who die, directly or indirectly because of Yakub deserve to die?
What would happen if you didn't hang him? He would become a liability on state. The taxpayer's money would be wasted to feed him when there are already 100 thousand hungry, underfed Indians everyday. Being a criminal, the biggest advantage is, you never die hungry. A poor common man has no such privilege.
A cockroach is of no use, that's  why we need to kill it.
The same people challenging the Supreme Court judgement didn't protest when Salman was set free. Where were you, Naseeruddin sahab?
The disgusting political leaders like, Asaduddin Owaisi politicised the issue by saying that Muslims were being unfairly treated in India.
But, deep down in the town of Rameswaram, his baseless arguments were proved horribly wrong.
A Muslim man died at age 84 and the Hindus, Buddhists and Christians and Muslims were united in grief, in paying homage to the leader they loved..

Yakub and Kalam sahab were both born as Muslims. Kalam sahab chose India as his religion by the richness of life he left behind.
This just goes on to show that, you may be a Muslim or a Hindu or anyone else, what matters is the quality of work you leave behind. Respect doesn't see religion.
Respect sees character..
IF your deeds resonate more powerfully then, it doesn't  really matter where you come from. Every Muslim isn't  a terrorist in the same manner that every Marathi isn't Raj Thackeray and every Bihari isn't  Lalu Prasad Yadav.
May be, one day, people like Owaisi, who are a bigger threat to the nation  than Yakub will understand..
Rameswaram. It was here that Ram built bridge to Lanka to go and slay the demon king, Ravana. Today again, Rameswaram's son has given us a reason to strengthen our bridges, and not get divided by the politicised opinions of power crazy politicians like Owaisi..
Till then, on humanitarian grounds, I will pray for the souls of both- Kalam sahab and Yakub, for this is what my religion and culture has taught me.
May be, Yakub was not the only one who deserved to be hanged.. Our anti-national religious dogmas too needed to be hanged..
#RIP

THE SOLDIER IN WHITES

''THE SOLDIER IN WHITES''

Loud sirens could be heard approaching the Emergency department of the city Hospital. Nurses and interns were in attendance, ready to tackle the situation. For the intern there, it was his first night duty in the emergency posting. He had been just talking to his mother over phone informing her that he would be coming back home tomorrow morning immediately after finishing his night duty to attend the PG coaching classes. Just then the siren blew off and the ambulance approached.
The male nurse flung the door of the ambulance open and the helpers got the stretcher ready and shifted the patient on it in one fluid motion. He appeared to be a 60 something man who was bleeding profusely and had deep cuts over his forehead, and had bruised hands and legs.. ''A clear case of RTA(Road Traffic accident)'' said the intern..
He looked clearly dizzy from the impact of the injury. The driver of the ambulance informed that probably the man was out on a walk when an SUV hit him from behind climbing up the footpath over which he was supposedly walking. Clearly, it appeared that the driver must have lost the control over his steering wheel and dashed his car over the footpath and had not even bothered to wait and check on the man whom he had severely injured. A clear case of 'Hit and Run'! Hit and Run cases weren't uncommon these days, of course, Salman Khan case was just another incident, there were many which went unreported.
The emergency room was well equipped to tackle all the critical cases but on that particular night there was no consultant on duty, the junior resident doctors and the interns were all who managed the emergency department at night. It is also a learning ground for them as the emergency cases require no consent before administering any treatment as they're considered to be always done in good faith and the liability doesn't rest on the shoulders of the treating doctor. It is here where the interns and residents learn the invaluable lessons in suturing, dressing, blood transfusion to mention a few.
The resident on duty, clad in white apron was a 25 year old boy, from Manipur, a state located in the far north east of India.

 
He had entered the Gujarat Medical College through All India Entrance Exam.
He set about quickly looking at the task at hand. Time was what was most important in matters related with the accidents especially associated with bleeding. The golden hour principle. The prognosis, the chances of the patient's survival depended on quick thinking on part of the treating doctor. He immediately established the IV line and started examining the vitals and found out that it was particularly important for him to ask the blood bank to keep the blood ready as there was immediate need for transfusion. He collected the peripheral blood sample for blood grouping and sent the intern running to blood bank to get the required blood bags for transfusion. Till that time he checked  for any alarming signs of spinal or head injury and luckily there were none. A fall had likely led to a state of semi- consciousness. He got an emergency X-ray done after establishing the urinary catheter. In 15 minutes time, the intern came running with the A+ blood bags. The transfusion line was established and required medications were given through the IV line and the wounds were sutured. It had taken 1.5 hours with this case. The resident patted the intern's back, relived that the patient's vitals were stable now and the patient too appeared to be gaining consciousness.
Just then, the security guard came in and called for the treating resident doctor as the police had called for him. The police had turned up there, knowing fully well that this was clearly an MLC (Medico legal case).
The resident said he was himself going to call them since this was an MLC and needed an investigation.
However, he was surprised when the policeman said, ''Look, young man.. We know that this is an MLC but you shouldn't inform anyone about it. Just treat it as you're treating any other patient.''
The resident was baffled, ''But this is clearly a case of Hit and Run! The driver must be punished not just for driving badly but for the sheer neglect of human values by leaving an old man almost bleeding to death alone!''
Policeman replied with a wry smile noticing his north eastern features and accent, ''You seem to be not from this part of the world. You don't know who the driver was. He was the son of member of parliament of the city. His image shouldn't be tarnished for a trivial thing like this! This old man doesn't have a family too. His only son works far away and won't be home for a long time. Nobody would even know who did the crime or wouldn't even shed a tear if he's dead. ''
Now the resident's blood was boiling.
''Fatal. Not trivial.'', He blurted.
''What sort of a policeman you are?. You should be ashamed of yourself for wearing this uniform.!''
The policeman didn't expect this insult coming his way. He jostled the resident aside and threatened him to do what he was told or be ready for the dreadful consequences and saying thus, he left, leaving a shocked resident and the eavesdropping intern alone under the dark shadow outside the emergency gate.
The intern had come to call the resident in and had heard partially the conversation which took place.
The shell shocked resident went inside, the intern accompanying him in tow.
The resident and intern decided that it wasn't fair and ethical on their part to carry out the orders of a corrupt police officer. They needed to contact the patient's son and let him know the full story.
Meanwhile, there was also a need of additional blood unit and the intern went and got the arrangements made. The blood bank operator informed him that the patient's relatives needed to refill the stock at blood bank. As was the practice in their college, the intern immediately sent the message across on the various Whatsapp groups to see if any of the students voluntarily wanted to donate the blood. It was late night and yet the replies started coming in and in 15 minutes, 2 final year students, who had been preparing for their exams in library, had already arrived at the blood bank.
 Meanwhile, the resident checked the pockets of the patient's trousers and found an identity card. The name of the patient was Sarandas Sharma. The patient was barely able to speak anything. Still,  the resident asked him the details of his son. ''Ram Sharma, Indian army!'' Was the only thing that the man replied that too with a lot of struggle. The eyes of the resident lit up hearing the words ''Indian Army''!
He had a hunch that he had heard the name somewhere. Ram Sharma. He Googled it and to his astonishment found that it was the same Ram Sharma who had lost his life fighting the insurgency in his home state of Manipur, a week back.
His mind went back to what had transpired in the last few minutes. Here was the father of a martyr, lying injured in front of him.. His son had lost the life fighting for the nation a week back and then there was that corrupt policeman not wanting to file an FIR to save the image of an equally corrupt politician.
The resident decided he wouldn't let the man go away without justice being delivered. He got a few contact numbers of the Indian Army thanks to Google and informed them everything that had happened and continued with the treatment protocols.

The next day, the corrupt police officer had been suspended, an FIR was filed against the son of a politician who was found guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol, and the old man, father of the the martyr, was in a stable health. The resident was still there tending to him, even after the duty hours had ended as he stood there awake all night, much like a soldier on a border for whom duty shifts are less important than nation's safety. His white apron was all drenched wet with his sweat and the man's blood.
We need soldiers not just guarding our borders but also the interiors and the main land or if there aren't any, sometimes, we need to be the one.