Cherubim

Nationalism and patriotism are the few trending words which decide a citizen's commitment and love towards his/her nation. Or are they? When Hitler's Nazi Germany rose to power based on the foundation of Nationalism, little did they know that this boomerang policy would also return to hit those staunch supporters one day. Nationalism, patriotism, feminism, regionalism etc. are the sizzling bubbles of an insecure mind with a highly skewed and blinkered vision. Nowadays, a few top elects of huge Nations have come up with an emotional yet practical, divisive yet inclusive phrase of "(Nation) First" to shut their critics who accuse them of misogyny, bigotry, communal-ism and so on. Like we say Hinduism is a myth and caste is the reality, is Nationalism a myth and parochialism a reality? Would all Nationalists be treated equal after achieving the mandate of 'Nation First'? The answer may be far from the affirmative as the motto is a two dimensional phrase adopte...

Let's start the discourse with capitalism. Capitalism is a system with an emphasis on individual rights and absolute freedom with respect to economic activity. In ideal capitalism, performance is rated over inheritance and loyalty. But when inheritance and loyalty cast a pall over performance, we see nepotism and thus, crony capitalism is said to have creeped in. For example, influential and wealthy people or large corporates use their accumulated resources (wealth) to spin major public policy decisions in their favour…2G Spectrum scam in India is a prominent example of crony capitalism. Socialism, on the other hand preach equality and every individual’s right of participation in social decisions that affect him/her. But when a few people appropriate (hijack) people's voice with pretentious socialist goals in order to grab power, the socialistic ideals of democratic control and equality takes a rear seat or may even disappear at once. They use socialistic propaganda and tal...