Why I changed my Last name- The path to reclaim my identity.

I chose to do something 4 years ago, something considered of as unthinkable & not highly acceptable by the paternalistic society. At least not back then. I changed my last name from my Father’s last name to my Mother’s name. 
A lot of my friends initially were perplexed, my family didn’t take it too well. The Indian judicial system has most definitely been unable to digest this. I still struggle with officials in the process of legally changing my name. 
A lot of questions were raised; Why are you doing this? Why is it important? What is emboldening you to challenge traditions like this? How will it help? How will your future in-laws react? And the worst of all- How will people know what caste you belong to if you don’t use the family last name?

Well, here are all my answers to the barrage of questions & misinterpretation. 
All these years, the one person who has been there by my side is my Mother. She went through a crazy 9 month experience then a painful delivery and then every single day she would wake up early to cook for me, ensure everything I needed was there by my side at the right time, stayed up late nights with me when I was sick, stood by me during bad times, guided me along the right path & God knows how many other sacrifices she has quietly endured for us. She has been my strength, my guiding light& my best friend throughout this beautiful journey. I don’t know how I would have survived if it was not for her sheer existence. Let’s not forget, she did all of this while working for at least 12 hours a day. It is only now when our society has begun to understand the near unbelievable difficulties a working mother has to face at different moments in her life.

Well, how did society return & reward her for everything she did?
The day she was born she was given a name and a last name. The last name belonged to her father. Throughout her life she was Rupani Ji’s elder daughter. Later in her professional life she became Miss Rupani and once she got married she became Mrs Singh, Mr Singh’s wife.

The one thing that any individual has the right to is their own identity, yet our society at times forgets we aren’t too good at identifying people the right way. On many occasions not even our own mothers.

I changed my last name to my Mother’s name because for once I want to proudly be known as her daughter. She has put in way more effort than the family, no doubt a natural phenomenon with most mothers. 
She deserves way more recognition than this. She is the reason behind my existence and all my achievements.  All her life she has faced an identity crisis and you know what the most beautiful aspect of her is?  That she has never even uttered a word to complain about not having an identity which she could call just hers, without her relation to anybody having to make a difference, an identity unrelated to anyone else.
Thankfully these days there are TV Shows being made on this concept, with several social campaigns having also begun. I am really happy about how the society is changing gradually. 

Now, to the other reason why I did this.
I don’t want to be defined by my caste nor which house was I born in. I don’t want to be known as a Punjabi or a Rajput or by any nomenclature of a caste or a community. I don’t want to be defined by the boundaries of a religion. The only religion I want to be a part of is Humanity. I am a human not a Sikh, a Muslim or a Christian. I AM A HUMAN!

This is my humble tribute to all the mothers out there who have sacrificed every single day without any complaints and will continue to do so. This is my tiny bit of contribution, I don’t know if I will ever be able to return as much love as you have provided me with, but I am trying every day and I will continue to do so every single day of my life. This was never about me not valuing my family’s last name, I do value & respect it though I will always feel that my mother deserves way more recognition than anyone else.

Also, my dear future in-laws, I know I will be responsible for taking the family forward but I would want to keep my name and not lose the identity I have created for myself all these years. I hope you’ll support me with this decision.
Signing off- Mrs Nanda’s daughter!

"Demonetization" Master stroke or Not?

Dear Mr.Modi,
Sir, we salute you for giving up on your family for the nation & we all respect you for everything you have been doing. You have ushered in sweeping changes since you came to power.We understand these changes will bring in major reforms in the long run and at the risk of sounding like pathetic little "Whiners", there are time when we hate you for the inconvenience cause by the government policies but we still love you as our PM.
Coming to the point now, initially when the news regrading demonetization broke out we all were happy. There were celebrations going on for a while but then we realized the dark side of this new change. A day after it was announced there were people queuing up in lines at ATM’s, Banks, Petrol Pumps, Chemist & Hospitals. I am sure you are aware about it, Oh sorry you probably left for Japan. Sir, we know your time is too precious & you wont be standing in such lines neither do we expect you to because you have better things to do for our country and I am not being sarcastic here. The last thing we want is the Indian PM queuing up. Although, I don’t think this move should have been propagated the way it has been.
This move didn’t really curb black money, I hope you understand higher denominations will make it easier for people to stack up on Cash. Right now the total black money India has in cash is around 6% as per a few sources I have been referring to. To curb this 6% of the black money & to trouble that rare 2% of the Indian population holding such black money you made the rest of the billions stand in lines, suffer & die in these ques, worst I just read today morning that a new born died because the hospital didn’t expect the old notes. You’re no where at fault for all of this it’s us Indians who have failed. Its humanity that like always has failed but I still don’t get it, is this move worth it?
The only good thing I see here is stone pelters in Kashmir being funded by the anti-nationals now are no where to be seen because obviously there is no funding that the anti-nationals are left with. Good part, the counterfeit currency has been curbed for a while, or has it? There is already news of a fake note found in Karnataka. Did this end corruption in any way? Probably not, there is news that a Maharashtra official was caught taking a bribe. I am happy at least he has been arrested.

I will tell you the scenario that I have myself seen here in my hometown & heard from friends living across India.
First thing, we are not sure if the ATM’s are even being refilled. You stand in lines for hours just to realize that the server is down or there is no cash left in the ATM. Now that you are not having any cash & no one would accept the old notes one thing is for sure that a lot of businesses are running on credit. This whole month may be the next month too they will be running on credits. These are local businesses who barely make enough money to just be able to fund their child's education & provide their families with food. Also, some of them who make enough to be able to pay taxes are already paying taxes. I would want your team to recalculate the losses these business houses will be facing in these two months pan India when I say pan India, I especially want to stress on small villages & towns as well. Check this against the 6% of Black Money or what ever the maths is there and then let us know if it was worth it.
Speaking from an economic point of view, this seems like a very capitalist move. Let me explain why I say so. Now obviously there will be less withdrawals by the general public. There will be more cash in banks. These are the same banks which have bad loans of around 6,00,000 crores & there have been various announcements lately regarding infusing capital in these banks by our Finance Minister.
This definitely looks like one move to do shore up the lending capacities of these banks. Now obviously I don’t need to borrow 6,00,000 crores from these banks nor do my friends or their friends unless of course they are friends with someone from the Ambani family, Jaypee Group,Lanco Group, GMR Group,Vedanta Group, Essar Group, JSW Group, GVK Group & you can add up more names to this list. So we are basically standing in lines to fund the projects that will be run by these guys, they will be minting more money & some of them might even be having a lot of black money stocked up in Swiss Accounts, just an assumption.
I haven't seen a single person who probably has black money standing in the que outside the banks you know why? Because they have distributed this cash to their employees & relatives and they will be taking it back later. Hope you came across articles speaking of MP's distributing loans in cash (500/1000) up to 3,00,000 per head with no interest for 6 months. Voila, Old Black money converted into White. There are too many ways around it & a few loopholes clearly visible, I hope you have planned for the penalties in such cases & are able to track these down in the coming months. I am sure there will be people doing a lot of Bank transactions in the coming months to get their black money back in White, I hope there is system set to track this.
I really appreciate this move, I do but what I really wish could have changed is how this has been implemented. You should have at least given this 2 months before actually demonetizing & after the release of this news there should have been a system set up to track all transactions happening  with conversions related to cash inclusive not just of Bank but Forex, international transfers, loans given, Real Estate, Gold. Every possible thing people can buy from Black Money. This would have probably helped probably not, I really don’t know. It's just something I feel might have been a better move. This way probably when you would catch the black money being converted you would have also been able to get hands on the right people. Making notes absolutely worthless overnight was may be smart, may be not. I am no economist to comment on it.
I am just a student facing the troubles every day and although right now it isn't hurting me much but if this move doesn't rolls out well I am not sure how all of us would react but at the end of the day I am a proud Indian & I want to do my bit for this country even if it means standing in lines for a few days. Its nothing compared to what our soldiers our doing for us on the border ever waking day. I am also hopeful that next time even these glitches wont be there.
All of us are expecting a lot of other changes. We all are dreaming of a corruption free India, an India where reservation is a blessing and not a devil. An India, where black money isn't the curse & there is less economic disparity. It all looks like a dream right now but then they say dreams do come true. Hoping you all the best for the rest of your term & really looking forward to some brilliant policy changes with proper implementation this time. I am hoping for less chaos.