An ode (Bob Dylan's Song)

Blowin' In The Wind

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ced8o50G9kg

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea?
Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

This song I dedicate to the victims of the terror attack in Mumbai, to the secrurity men, to everyone affected by this episode. Hope people get the meaning of this song and give a thought to what Bob Dylan wrote longtime ago. This song is used in this context time and again, but do anyone really care.

My Playlist in Jango

This is one of the coolest online radios, do explore for getting the maximum results.

www.Jango.com - Internet Radio

The orgy of violence in Mumbai

The entire drama enfolded in the Taj, the Oberoi, the Nariman House and the rest of Mumbai has left me shell shocked and angry. I am angry with the system, the politicians, the media and the sheer intelligence failure. From the day of the event I am in front of this machine and slept very few hours in this entire episode of mindless terror.

It is not that I am a very patriotic Indian or an affected person, but these events happened the very vicinity of where I used to live in Mumbai longtime back and I felt violated and outraged. I used to frequent Leopold Cafe and the Taj and I am an ex-employee of the Taj, not in Mumbai but in Ooty. So the tragedy was very personal to me. These areas where the terrorists struck were the heart and soul of Bombay. The seafront, the old streets with cobbled pavements and those wonderful roadside cafes...

I would blame the entire event on the sheer lack of vision and intelligence on the part of the Government of India and the hoodwinking tactics of the present government. This threat perception was always there, the govt should have taken this seriously when the explosion happened in the Marriot Hotel in Islamabad and the should have given adequate security to these places. This was expected, but not of this magnitude of mayhem.

What would the police do when they just have archaic .303 rifles and lathies to fight a very well equipped and motivated bunch of terrorists. And what was their number 10 of them. Shame on the government.

There was a real lack of coordination, the NSG comes after nine hours of the attack and a lot can happen in nine hours. The heroic ATS chief went to take out the terrorists personally. The entire Mumbai police underestimated the capabilities of the motivated bunch. By the time the reinforcements came in, the terrorists took the time to position themselves and create maximum damage. The NSG comes in BEST buses and this was a shame. If they had landed in the Mumbai airport, they should have taken to the spot on helicopters and got into action without much delay. The terrorist had by then got the maximum upper hand and achieved what they set forth to do.

After the prolonged fight the only outcome was the media could generate all the TRPs and the readership count. What was the end result, nine terrorists dead, 16 odd service men dead and 195 innocent people dead.

After the 9/11 incident, has there been any attack in the US soil? None. That is the commitment they have and they were relentless in their pursuit to stop terror in their soil. How many more incidents should happen in India to get the machinery moving.

The shameless Times of India published that the readership and the number of visitors to their website has increased many fold and I wrote to them that do not gloat on the achievement and the NDTV was belting out the entire drama 24x7 and this is what I wrote to them, With my complete address...

"I feel that the media is just a vulture feeding on the remains. Stop creating panic, anger and false emotions on each and every event unfolding. You people are putting words in peoples' mouth and getting the desired effect of all these. Your sense of sympathy and false anger is just to create TRPs and you have no sense of dignity. You have to report facts as facts and call a spade a spade. This is like a movie orchestrated live. Ask Barrka Dutt to go to sleep and stop this entire breast beating. Regardless of any incident the police, the army and now the case of NSG has been doing their duty. This media will celebrate and glorify these brave men and start complaining about their highhandedness and start criticizing their vulnerability to accept bribes in few days from now. You are the scourge of this country and the bane of this country. I really feel outraged by the false sense of concern and the drama enacted there in the middle.

I know you will never publish this letter nor give a reply and I do not care a damn."

I wanted to write to the CNN IBN as well, but I thought what is the use these vultures will still continue on feeding the dead.

This was a reaction of my friend whom I spoke to when I saw her status message...

me: Hi xx :)
You seem to be depressed.

xxxx: yes..about the terror attacks

me: oh yeah I am just watching it

xxxx: religion is the worst mistake humans ever made

10:47 me: I was up till 4 am

xxxx: it does not help me in my day to day life

me: yeah true

xxxx: how does it matter if all are the same religion?

me: yeah true

things are very tough nowadays

I am utterly flabbergasted and angry

10:48 This is the result of total lack of intelligence

and the entire police were distracted

with other issues

10:49 xxxx: it is a sad state of affairs

me: true

xxxx: we need to pull up our socks and do something

we just cant talk

i am willing to do anything now

me: yeah

xxxx: only thing that stops me is that i would not want my family to be affected

me: yeah hey take it differently

10:50 it is affecting everyone

but it is tough to do something about it

there are people working on that and these terrorists have no religion and they are just beasts

10:51 xxxx: no...

me: Hey take care and be put at where you are

xxxx: it is religion that turns them into beasts

10:52 they don't have money

so religious leaders take that as a plus

and leer them

so they do anything for money to provide for their family

it is better to adopt the christian way

pay ppl to convert

rather than terrorise to convert

me: this issue is much deeper

I get your point of view

I am really being pessimistic and the events like this is going to occur repeatedly unless the intelligence is fortified, the police force is upgraded with latest guns, proper communication and advance threat perception mechanism put in force.

This entire event has left me frustrated, angry and impotent. I am going to leave this post without any conclusive end because this really has no real end, I mean the mindless terror.

Please see my earlier post in this blog, where I put my response to an article criticizing the Indian Police and their highhandedness in the bombing investigations...

Friday, 3 October, 2008

In response to the article Indians Question Police Response

This is in response to the article - India Police Say They Hold 9 From Hindu Terrorist Cell. With my contact details

Dear Sir,

This is in response to the article in The New York Times - India Police Say They Hold 9 From Hindu Terrorist Cell

I appreciate the fact that this article was a well researched one. But there are many other factors associated with this issue. If you take the picture in reality, most of the Hindus in this country distrust the largest minority in India and there can be elements in the larger community who are as capable of creating mayhem...

But as a whole the Hindu community is very tolerant to the other minorities. As the West respects the majority community and the Israelis think they have to support and defend their community, the Hindus have the right to defend themselves. When you have a major party in India who appeases and follow pseudo-secular idealism, it is natural for the extreme right wing to retaliate.

This issue did not start very recently, this was from the days of Indian Independence and that was the reason Gandhi was assassinated. This concept of tolerance or rather I would call pluralism was propagated with a very selfish intent. I support the views of Gopal Godse, who was the brother of Nathuram Godse...

"His Principle of Peace Was Bogus"

That is true.

You cannot stop someone from attaining immortality, but the means to that state should be in concordance with human nature. This Gandhi propagated the term Secular. This is the most vulgar word I would find in my Lexicon. This country does not need some salvation from the caste system, it needs tolerance by both the largest communities. The Muslims in India should participate in the legislature, the executive and the judiciary, to instill a degree of confidence and trust.

This report carried that the accused Colonel was studying Chinese, but he was doing a course on the Arabic language.

I would call this as a cheap journalism to hood wink the West for personal gains.

I would request you do a through research before acting on the Issue.

I would rather have an identity than being Secular or invisible.

Thanks,
Sastha Prakash.

A Cobbler in Ooty

Last week I had been to Ooty, my hometown and a place that cannot be surpassed by any other. They say it has become congested and polluted, but to me it remains still a beautiful place with the air crisp to the extent that it hurts your lungs when you take a deep breath, green and cold. Winter has set in early there and weather was good to have drink beside the fireplace.

When I was there I had to repair my leather slippers, I gave it to the nearest cobbler. He was a old man and had very meager tools and essentials. He took sometime to repair them and did a very good job. I asked him what was the charges and he asked me to give four rupees, I was surprised and I was ready to give that old man about Rs.15/- and I offered him Rs.10/- and asked him to have some tea. He staunchly refused to take the tip and was adamant in giving me back the change. I reluctantly took the change and thanked him for the nice job.

Back to my friend's place I told him the whole episode and he told me the most improbable story of that old man...

This man lives with his sister and both of them happened to be single and they have a small place to live and this man makes enough money to buy rice (Rs.10), some vegetables (Rs.10/-) and the most funniest part (to me) was he needs Rs.12 for a small of brandy everyday. He never takes more money from people and gets angry if offered more than what he had asked.

The summary of this story is that there are some people who are happy with what little they have and their needs are so little. I found this man so interesting that I was wondering if the greed, the want for material things or creating wealth has never crossed his mind or did he resign to this lowly existence. But I concluded both has happened and he had the courage to accept his limitations and lead a quiet life. This incident made me think a lot and it struck a cord in me with a short story I read long back, I am not sure of the title or the author. But the gist of the story is like this...

There was an excellent German cobbler in London, who used to make handmade shoes which lasts for a longtime that the author found not much need for repair or go for a new one frequently. Then came the factory made shoes and the demand for the protagonist's shoes came down. The cobbler did not believe in the factory made shoes and did not accept the change. He insisted on making his own shoes to be sold in his shop. The things took for a worse turn and this cobbler died of hunger and poverty, which the author come to know very late to do anything.

In both the stories I could find a common link and that is what I call INTEGRITY and courage to go on with one's convictions.

It reminds me of Balzac's quote...

"Conviction brings a silent, indefinable beauty into faces made of the commonest human clay."

This is what I felt then and I thought courage is the foundation of integrity.

But I got confused again, I heard nothing but change is permanent. Oh my confusions goes on and on.

Cool Websites

Here is a list of cool websites...

1. Of course, www.youtube.com

2. www.jango.com

3. www.snapfish.com

4. www.orkut.com

5. www.wolfgangsvault.com

6. www.time.com

7. www.timesofindia.com

8. www.in.com

9. www.thefreedictionary.com

10. www.newsweek.com

I found them as the coolest websites on the web. But this is just my favourites and tastes differ. Do check them out.

Cheers. :)

The traffic conditions in India

This is from another blog and I found it interesting. It shows from the view point of a foreigner, but my opinions are the same. The drivers own the road and the pedestrians are supposed to move according to their whim and fancy. The pedestrians are second rate citizens according to the drivers of the cars and bikes.

____________________________________________________________________

For the benefit of every Tom, Dick and Harry visiting India and daring to drive on Indian roads, I am offering a few hints for survival. They are applicable to every place in India except Bihar, where life outside a vehicle is only marginally safer..

Indian road rules broadly operate within the domain of 'karma' where you do your best, and leave the results to your insurance company. The hints are as follows: Do we drive on the left or right of road? The answer is 'both'. Basically you start on the left of the road, unless it is occupied. In that case, go to the right, unless that is also occupied. Then proceed by occupying the next available gap, as in chess. Just trust your instincts, ascertain the direction, and proceed. Adherence to road rules leads to much misery and occasional fatality. Most drivers don't drive, but just aim their vehicles in the generally intended direction.

Don't you get discouraged or underestimate yourself except for a belief in reincarnation; the other drivers are not in any better position. Don't stop at pedestrian crossings just because some fool wants to cross the road. You may do so only if you enjoy being bumped in the back. Pedestrians have been strictly instructed to cross only when traffic is moving slowly or has come to a dead stop because some minister is in town. Still some idiot may try to wade across, but then, let us not talk ill of the dead.

Blowing your horn is not a sign of protest as in some countries. We horn to express joy, resentment, frustration, romance and bare lust (two brisk blasts), or just mobilize a dozing cow in the middle of the bazaar. Keep informative books in the glove compartment. You may read them during traffic jams, while awaiting the chief minister's motorcade, or waiting for the rainwater to recede when over ground traffic meets underground drainage. Occasionally you might see what looks like a UFO with blinking colored lights and weird sounds emanating from within. This is an illuminated bus, full of happy pilgrims singing bhajans. These pilgrims go at breakneck speed, seeking contact with the Almighty,often meeting with success.

Auto Rickshaw (Baby Taxi): The result of a collision between a rickshaw and an automobile, this three-wheeled vehicle works on an external combustion engine that runs on a mixture of kerosene oil and creosote. This triangular vehicle carries iron rods, gas cylinders or passengers three times its weight and dimension, at an unspecified fare. After careful geometric calculations, children are folded and packed into these auto rickshaws until some children in the periphery are not in contact with the vehicle at all. Then their school bags are pushed into the microscopic gaps all round so those minor collisions with other vehicles on the road cause no permanent damage. Of course, the peripheral children are charged half the fare and also learn Newton 's laws of motion enroute to school. Auto-rickshaw drivers follow the road rules depicted in the film Ben Hur, and are licensed to irritate.

Mopeds: The moped looks like an oil tin on wheels and makes noise like an electric shaver. It runs 30 miles on a teaspoon of petrol and travels at break-bottom speed. As the sides of the road are too rough for a ride, the moped drivers tend to drive in the middle of the road; they would rather drive under heavier vehicles instead of around them and are often 'mopped' off the tarmac.

Leaning Tower of Passes: Most bus passengers(students) are given free passes and during rush hours, there is absolute mayhem. There are passengers hanging off other passengers, who in turn hang off the railings and the overloaded bus leans dangerously, defying laws of gravity but obeying laws of surface tension. As drivers get paid for overload (so many Rupees per kg of passenger), no questions are ever asked. Steer clear of these buses by a width of three passengers.

One-way Street: These boards are put up by traffic people to add jest in their otherwise drab lives. Don't stick to the literal meaning and proceed in one direction. In metaphysical terms, it means that you cannot proceed in two directions at once. So drive as you like, in reverse throughout, if you are the fussy type. Least I sound hypercritical, I must add a positive point also. Rash and fast driving in residential areas has been prevented by providing a 'speed breaker'; two for each house. This mound, incidentally, covers the water and drainage pipes for that residence and is left untarred for easy identification by the corporation authorities, should they want to recover the pipe for year-end accounting.Night driving on Indian roads can be an exhilarating experience for those with the mental make up of Genghis Khan. In a way, it is like playing Russian roulette, because you do not know who amongst the drivers is loaded. What looks like premature dawn on the horizon turns out to be a truck attempting a speed record. On encountering it, just pull partly into the field adjoining the road until the phenomenon passes.

Our roads do not have shoulders, but occasional boulders. Do not blink your lights expecting reciprocation. The only dim thing in the truck is the driver, and with the peg of illicit arrack (alcohol) he has had at the last stop, his total cerebral functions add up to little more than a naught. Truck drivers are the James Bonds of India, and are licensed to kill. Often you may encounter a single powerful beam of light about six feet above the ground. This is not a super motorbike, but a truck approaching you with a single light on,usually the left one. It could be the right one, but never get too close to investigate. You may prove your point posthumously.

____________________________________________________________________

The list does not end here, it is better not to repair the roads. When you have big craters in the road the traffic slows down and people can cross the road at ease. The one ways are created in abundance, this makes the pedestrian's life more miserable. No one stops and the traffic is endless and you have to walk more than half a kilometer to find a traffic intersection to cross. The other thing is the two wheelers jostle with the pedestrians in a traffic light to come in front and occupy the entire road. Don't ask me if there are sidewalks, there are sidewalks, you can proceed with taking the risk of spraining your ankle.

In my opinion every other person is concerned about his own welfare and no one gives even an ounce of consideration to others. Now the roads have become a place for venting your rage and give a damn to others.

This country is not a place for you, if you are disabled, considerate, softhearted, cultured and not intrusive.

Smokers stand up for your right of personal choice.

The present trend to ban smokers from all the office areas, campuses and in public areas is infringing on the right of one's personal choice. This has taken to alarming proportions. Who are they to decide where I should smoke and where I should not. When the government permits cigarettes to be sold, then they should allow us to smoke as well. I am a very responsible smoker, smoking only in private and in places where I do not disturb people and put off my cigarette when finished.

This is a global phenomenon. The facts and figures are all fabricated, blown out of propositions and magnified. There are no real surveys and do not have conclusive results. The trend of the lobbyists and activism is come to India. You will find one day, the same hypocritical zealot Bambodoss will say ban the booze as well, which he has already recommended to the government of Tamil Nadu.

The govt. should issue clear instructions where a person can smoke and where he should not smoke. Clearly demarcate the smoking areas. Provide a space for smokers in huge office complexes and public area. We have our rights and we are not to be treated as some sort of untouchables.

If someone comes up to me and say don't smoke here, I will say "fuck off" and I am waiting for a fine day for this to happen and I will take this fight to every extent possible. FYI, it did happen and I gave my knowledge of the smoking ban to the police inspector, he just walked away.

Before leaving this subject of propaganda, mention should be made of the oft-repeated canard that smoking imposes costs upon society, which must be paid by non-smokers...

Bullshit!

I say fuck off to everyone who tries to impose this ban on me, even to that Bambodoss who has no clue of the primary health care is in doldrums in India. Go to my village PHC, there is no doctor and the other staff whiling away their time and turning off anyone coming there say there is no doctor for the past nine months.

Hey, they say we are polluting the environment, have you gone to one of the traffic signals in Chennai, you will get choked. The government is doing nothing to check the pollution in the vehicles, the sound pollution has reached alarming proportions.

And how successful has the government has been in implementing any ban, they are hopeless bunch of jokers and have no clue how to run this country and their priorities lie in winning the next election and they will do any shit to achieve that goal.

This country is not friendly to the pedestrians, the disabled, the differently abled and the list goes on and on and on...

Aping the west is not going to solve any problem faced by the common people. Hey Mr Anbumani Ramdoss get real and come in terms with realty. I know you are a doctor from a prestigious college and put in rural service and things like that and I do respect you for that. I feel that is where it ends. Nothing can be achieved by creating any sort of propaganda, do a good job and you will be recognised and not by picking up fights with seasoned doctors who have seen the stark realities of governing a public institution and by picking up on an innocent bidi smoker who has to pay a fine of more that 2000% of the cost of a bidi, when he violates the ban.

Get real and do not ape the west.

In response to the article Indians Question Police Response

Dear Sir \ Ma'am,

This article is one of the shallow and the most inconclusive I have ever read. These kind of stories are running amok in India after the entry of poor imitators of the western media in India, that means sensationalizing every event that happens in India. There is a lot of serious flaws in this article.

India is a very big country with a population of more than 1 billion and the police to the population ratio is one of the worst in the world. In spite of this wide gap the police in India is doing a great job in policing, giving assistance during crisis, anti naxal operations, border patrolling, containing the frequent communal clashes and fighting insurgency. The police has done commendable job in identifying the culprits in this dastardly acts of bombing, which is done by cowards who do not have the guts to fight the army or the police in equal terms. Any form of terrorizing the country should not be accepted and try to discredit the police for their sincere efforts is not the solution or answer for these activities.

These writers are concerned about the so called perpetrators of these cowardly act, but I don't even see one article about the state of the victims, the injured, the families of the killed or any rehabilitation work. Even they do not mention this in passing breath. This misguided sense of sympathy or coming to conclusions about the police excesses are on the raise in India does not augur well for the over worked police force in India.

It is better not to mention about the Muslim community in India. They are given more than equal chance in every field of Indian society, they have a very strong lobby in the centre for their well being, their welfare, and the get enough and more reservations in higher education, free Haj travel and government jobs. But this community wants to have a different identity and do not consider themselves as Indian as a collective word. There is a department in India called the Minorities affairs, they provide all types of assistance to these so called minorities, like scholarships, job reservations, take up exploitation issues, abuses and racial belittling cases seriously and give them enough protection in form of taking up criminal cases against the abusers or exploiters of these communities.

The government and its machinery is taking every effort to provide parity with the majority community and the political parties have exploited enough in the name of secularism and so called exploitation of the minorities. The Muslim dominated area of Kashmir is given enough exemptions and provisions, but have they come with a good solution to this simmering problem for more than 60 years? This dilly dallying by successive governments have complicated this issue to a point of no return. The majority is in the feeling that enough money, lives and time has being spend and there is no going back. The social activists and the media are in the favour of giving full Independence to Kashmir. This is a vicious circle and there is no end to this.

I would conclude by saying the Muslims should be more Indians than be Muslims and this mistrust by the majority and the suspicion of them being abettors of terrorism will stop. Or they can continue being salesmen of fake foreign goods and selling footwear for more than 300% margin. They should come to the forefront of Indian politics, have more representations in the armed forces and get themselves to serve the nation. I am not saying this as a concerned Indian but as a fellow lover of human kind and do ask that writer to come up with something more substantial and conclusive.

Thank you,

Best regards,
Sastha Prakash.

Comment to the Times of India

This post really saddens me, but I am forced to write this...

This is a very hypocritical view of the Times of India, nowadays the press has taken so much freedom to report every crap that happens. These people bombed and killed innocent lives and their faces are covered. But someone who tried to cheat an actress' property, their photos get published before they are proven guilty. These people have the same rights as the terrorists, as they are innocent until proven otherwise. Shame on you to bring up such a topic on how their faces were covered. It is very saddening to say that Indian Muslims indulge in every nefarious activities, starting from selling fake foreign goods to peddling footwear for more than 300% profit. There are very few Muslims who are beyond these cheap politics and fanaticism. This community should concentrate on improving their nature of jobs, their ways of life and give importance to the fact that they are Indians more than that they are muslims. It is easy for me to comment about these things sitting in my comfortable chair, but I really don't know where these situations are leading to.

Rahul Gandhi, the dilettante.

On the continuing of the present day politicians, this is about Rahul Gandhi. In this post it shows how a legacy continues without enough qualifications or justifications, but just being born to the Nehru - Gandhi family gives them the natural right to rule. Rahul Gandhi, has a lot of gaping holes in his past life, educational qualification and his previous job history. It is distorted and no one has a clear picture. This again comes under the Election Commission's purview to disclose the relevant facts about the future MP, MLA or the Prime Minister of this country.

A brief history of Rahul Gandhi...

Rahul Gandhi attended St.Columbia's School, New Delhi before entering the The Doon School. Rahul Gandhi attended Doon from 1981-83 before being home-schooled for security reasons. His admission to St Stephen's College was controversial as he was believed to have been admitted on the basis of his abilities as a competitive pistol shooter, which was disputed and left the school in 1990, after one year of education.

The Harvard alumni records list him as attending between 1990 and 1993 but not as completing a degree. He transferred, reportedly due to security concerns following his father's murder, to Rollins College in Florida where he completed a B.A. in 1994. During the parliamentary elections in 2004, Gandhi claimed that he had received an MPhil in Development Economics after attending Trinity College, Cambridge. Media enquiries report that he attended under the alias ("Raul Vinci"). He worked in London with the strategy consultancy firm Monitor Group, before returning to India in late 2002 to run an engineering and technology outsourcing firm in Mumbai. But none of this has been confirmed and whenever someone tried to rake this up, his team of image lawyers have slapped defamation cases, like in the case of Newsweek and a blog run by Hindu Unity was shut down.

The other controversies were the statements uttered by him, which has hurt to the people of Bangladesh and about the Babri Masjid demolition would not have happened if there was anyone from the Nehru - Gandhi family at the helm. These were real irresponsible and arrogant remarks, which was condemned but nothing could stop him going forward with his plans of projecting himself as the future leader of this country.

This nation is plagued with this dynasty rule and giving importance to one family, by not seeing the capability of progeny of the illustrious leaders. It is taken for granted that the progeny will be as good as their ancestors.

There are a few questions that I would like to ask Mr. Gandhi...

This is not using your name or your power...

1. Have you ever stood in a queue for Kerosene in a ration shop?

2. Have you travelled in a suburban train or a bus before or after office time?

3. Have you been to a RTO office for procuring a learners license?

4. Have you been to a passport office to obtain an application?

5. Have you ever been to a municipal office to obtain a birth/ death certificate or even a caste certificate?

6. Have you ever felt the pressure of living within your wages?

7. Have you ever been to a police station to complain and file a FIR?

Sorry Mr. Gandhi...

You have never done this before. Try doing this and find the exact position of the common man. I feel unless you have encountered the problems the aam admi face, you can never understand and lead this country. You can comment sitting on a lofty position and with your false sense of concern.

It is easy for an actor's son to become an actor, it is easy to become a doctor for a doctor's son and the list goes on...

But to become the best in one's chosen field is strewn with a bed of thorns, but it is easy to follow when the ground work is done.

Mr. Gandhi, you have had it easy all through your life and I feel that you are just misusing the Nehru - Gandhi dynasty name to attain your life goals. There were days when Mrs. Sonia Gandhi used to hide in the Italian Embassy fearing her life in the times of trouble. Now she is the Rajmata of this country.

This surname used by your clan is of convenience, as Feroze Gandhi, was Feroze Gandhy...

I would say get real and if you are really concerned in leading the country, get to the grassroots and work in tandem with the poor and understand their needs, their pulse and then get into politics. I appreciate your project of identifying young leaders without any past affiliations and training them to be your trusted lieutenants.

But I still doubt your sincerity and your intent.

Mayawati, the Maverick

This is a starting of a series of views on the politicians in India and my views about them. I can't help but to write about this maverick of a politician, who is making ripples in the Indian political arena.

Mayawati is the most uncouth, corrupt, devoid of decency and decorum you can ever find in in the history of Indian politics, in spite of her high educational achievements. She is a trained lawyer, was a school teacher, aspired to be a civil servant and so on, but this does not reflect on her stature of a high ranking politician, she is absolutely crass and loud. Maybe it is the way she wants to project herself and I don't agree with that because education instills some degree of refinements in a person. She takes pride in her short lived government with the support of the BJP in the past and claim that if she can become the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for four times, then she can become the prime minister of this country. If you take that statistics in consideration I think Karunanidhi has qualified himself many times more than her.

She is corrupt to the core and has assets worth Rs. 52 crores. She has distributed her wealth among her relatives and in spite of the Supreme Court pulling up the Central Bureau of Investigation for the status of the disproportionate assets cases, still the cases are to be brought to a logical end. The election commission requires every candidate to furnish details of his or her assets and the sources, but she has stood elections and won from when her wealth was at Rs. 1.1 crores to 11 crores to now 52 crores. She banks on her status as a dalit and takes advantage of it to the hilt. She should be arrested and a judicial enquiry should be formed to look into the disproportionate assets case.

I don't know what pride she takes in being a dalit's daughter, even if the others do not want to call them with caste names, they just want to remind everyone they are still dalits. The want to keep this status as long as possible to gain maximum mileage. Do you think she really wants to uplift clan? No. She needs to keep enforcing that they are oppressed and want to maintain that status quo.

She has brought down every standard set by the other preceding Chief Ministers and other politicians and created new unholy and disastrous trends in Indian politics. She cannot claim that it was only because of Ambedkar or Kanshi Ram played the very important role in the upliftment of the dalits, there are a lot of other humanitarians who have played a pivotal role and call it natural process, no one can be oppressed for long. She wants to preserve the dalit territory to herself and gain maximum mileage out of it.

Her statues are an eyesore in the horizon, I don't know how low can she get by installing more and more statues of her across UP. This maverick should be reined in or the nation would go into another spell of misrule and widespread corruption.

New Developments in the Miserable State of Affairs

I actually feel bad writing this post, but this is the stark truth as I perceive.

The first thing to be mentioned here is the nasty court battle regarding an abortion of a fetus above 2o weeks old. This was really uncalled for and took hold of the entire media attention. Things which are to be close door affairs are discussed in full glare of the media and setting a different tone all together. I am not against abortion or for abortion, but I feel there should be some ethics followed in this practice and the abortion laws of 1971 still stands fast in spite of lot of advances in the medical facilities, I am not sure if this is (modern medical facilities) a gift or a bane to the human kind. No one is sure until the baby is born if it is disabled or has serious health conditions later in life, it is just tests which is not completely conclusive. But there is a very wide gap in ascertaining the survival of the unborn baby.

I think every fetus should be given a chance to be born, of course not in some cases where there are serious other issues involved. If the court allows the abortion of the fetus above 20 weeks, euthanasia should be legalized. There is more involved in this, the main thing is man playing god. It has been a disaster in every region where man has try to change the natural flow of things and this is no exception.

But now what is on the news is that the concerned lady has had a miscarriage, it really puts doubts in the minds of people. It is blamed on the media that the stress and attention given to this case has led to this miscarriage, very convenient. So the intention, so the outcome. I do not want to comment on this further. It is their conscience and it is a matter of ethics.

The Amarnath issue is getting worse further and further and the government at the centre is just watching as an outsider. This behaviour of the Hindus and Muslims of J&K is totally unacceptable. This kind of situation is not there in any part of the country except J&K, it makes it worse because the centre does not have a strong backbone to crush the situation and bring normalcy. What do the people gain by this sort of mindless and wanton disruptions of peace and tranquility? Nothing, the produces gets rotten in storerooms and the godowns and no safe passage to the markets They do not realize that these kind of disruptions give a mileage to the politicians and the people with vested interests.

But the great news is Abhinav Bindra has won the first gold medal for India in the Olympic Games. This is a great news and a reason for the entire nation to rejoice. Thank you very much Mr. Bindra. This is totally an individual's effort and the unquenchable thirst to succeed.

There is a totally a misguided false sense of Patriotism, on the Independence day. Later all the promises are forgotten, no wonder Samuel Johnson said, "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." And Malcom X said, "You're not to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it."

I am not going to end this post by saying Jai Hind, but I strongly stand by every human being in this world and there is more than some love to one's nation alone.

Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it. George Bernard Shaw.

Good times and Series of Uncertainties.

The magic of Olympic games is back. I used to enjoy the entire games watching on the TV in my very young age. The excitement, the vibrancy, the mix of people, the courage, the indomitable spirit, the patriotism, the competition, the joy, the ultimate test of endurance and stamina, all these and much more. When the games come to an end, I used to feel a void in my life after sharing this period with the entire world. I want to appreciate the Doordarshan for bringing in the highlights of the day, which was an anticipated event in our life during the 80s and the early 90s. Sebastian Coe, Carl Lewis and the beautiful Russian gymnasts who used to bring in joy and excitement during those days.

The Chinese have recreated history again with their mind blowing display of fireworks and spirit of life once again. But, I don't want to comment on the politics and other issues where the world is divided. Yes, there are a lot of ethnic strives and discontented souls, but this is not the right arena to display this. The Tibetan issue, the communist regime and other political uprisings. Now is the period to rejoice and give an opportunity to bring out the good in the mankind. Healthy competition and friendship is what we should to be focusing now. There is a different place and venue to fight out these issues. Let us enjoy the moment and forget about the present day-to-day problems, which is going to remain much after the games are over.

Now back to the Indian politics. The Amarnath Cave Shrine land transfer has gone bad to worse and the entire state is paralysed. Now, what I don't understand is you have a different rule for the Kashmiris and the rest of India. The non Muslim Kashmiris cannot buy land and when some part of their land is temporarily leased out for some good cause can create a situation where the demography can change and entire state comes to a standstill. I blame the centre and the policy of minority appeasement.

The Congress nor the so called secular parties can enforce an uniform law and are still trying to please every tom, dick and harry of a community for their safeguard of the future vote. Again I don't understand this, is the nation important or the victory in the next election important? They should abandon these absurd policies of secularism (pseudo-secularism?) and work for the common good.

Next is the series of bombings across the nation. This is a very coordinated effort by the subversive elements, but again what can the Intelligence agencies and the police do to prevent these unfortunate incidents? Nothing!

The problem is explosion of the population and you see concentration of the population in the urban areas and is drastically increasing and they become easy prey for these cowards (terrorists or as the Congress calls them militants) to act. The government is not concentrating on the rural areas, where there is ample opportunities of employment. Now with the rapid improvement in communication and accessibility, the government should focus on the farming and allied trade to flourish, so there will be no shortage on food requirements.

You find a lot discussed on the nuclear energy and some nonsensical talks about outsourcing industry, why don't they think about the basic requirements of the aam Janatha. There is also a growing discontent in the ordinary citizens that causes these sorts of problems. Here I am not commenting on the Muslim population which is really close minded and the efforts to broaden their horizon beyond the Quran and their strict doctrines has utterly failed. There is no respite to these issues and problems faced by the nation, until we have a structural and fundamental upheaval.

I don't believe in democracy, negotiations, negotiations and no action. Sick is not the word. The army comes up with an announcement they will tolerate to the maximum extent and then will use minimum action. This is bullshit, when the army comprised of a mix of the entire country fighting for the territorial integrity of the nation remains a mute spectator. This is absurd, we should rather give them their share of land and watch them go to the hell, the way Afganistan has gone. Let them uphold their idiotic dogma and rot.

Like I read some column in one of the major newspapers, when a minority of the nation becomes a majority, they take all the privileges and treat the rest as some sort of inferior creatures. What does Omar Abdullah mean by we won't sacrifice our land? This is absurdity, as there are millions of Muslims living in the other parts of the country and when everyone comes up with this logic, there would be utter chaos.

I feel anarchy and absolute anarchy can only save this country. Maybe we should give the Supreme Court the free hand to rule this country. With their acrid tongue and mind blowing observations they can bring any lowly crappy politicians to their knees, like they did to Karunanidhi.

Next is the entire drama of the confidence vote in the parliament. Lot of unwanted and belittling scenes happened during this period. Like the display of cash by the BJP members and the desperate attempts by the ever opposing left was a clear indications of making a fool of themselves. It really hurts to see veteran politicians to be standing in the wake of that maverick Mayawathi, who has no sense of decorum and decency. She projects herself as the future Prime Minister, god can only help us when she is. The wealth she had amassed can put a seasoned businessman to shame. The explanations by her are really hilarious, contributed by the people. Okay, if that was the case, where should the money go back to? The people, is it not?

The entire country is collectively mesmerised by this uncouth and so called dalit leader, whose only objective is create statues of herself and exploit the so called dalits and projecting herself as the future leader of the oppressed masses. These people will survive and they have no intention to upgrade their clan, so they have the advantage of the deprived community status. She has come up with some new absurd and nonsensical allegations that the CBI had offered to overlook the disproportionate wealth case, if she voted in against the no confidence motion. I am amazed at the fact that how low can one become to preserve their power status. The only upside of the entire no confidence motion proceedings was Ms. Priyanka Gandhi's attire, which was really hep and had a very confident and business like look.

The nation cannot save itself with appeasing every tom, dick and harry in each community, but by taking strong measures beyond the next general elections. If a work well done will be appreciated and any slip will be condemned. Get real Ms. Sonia Gandhi and clan. Just get yourselves clear and lead this nation out of its misery, even if you loose the next election.

The aim of the party should be nation first and next comes individuals. As long as there are power hungry politicians, there can be no progress. Take for example Deve Gowda, who is still making a spectacle of himself, who had become a prime minister by chance and not out of his personal charisma or the popularity of his party. Now, with reasonably average intelligence, anyone can get into politics and keep their poll worthiness by appeasing their community and giving false sense of pride.

As the Supreme Court had said even god cannot save this country. This is not a cry of desperation and is the truth. Infighting, infighting and infighting. It is better off to have anarchy and everyone is for himself than having this drama of democracy. (In anarchy you die only once and not everyday)

The latest Tamashas (as my friend puts it)

Left is really becoming a pain in the ass for the UPA as well as the whole nation. What have they done other than bickering and raising more than 300 oppositions in the past four years. I think the Manmohan Singh led UPA should say good riddance to these Non Indian Residents, whose allegiance lies with China and the Maoist principles. I feel instead of going in for a strategic partnership with the US, they should have gone to the French who have a clear mandate and their 80% of the power needs are taken care by nuclear energy. But, the US would not let this happen, they want to sell the out dated technology to India, typical capitalist tendency, cash in maximum out of the advantage. I am not arguing in favour or against, but as far as the deal goes it would do good to India, we will be not isolated from the NSA and we would have more Uranium, this should be taken as an advantage and the govt. should proceed and get the deal finalized. Damn the left, their only concern is to put brakes where ever it is possible, just because they are left.

Next is the Aarushi Talwar case, this is a shame on the nation and the entire case has taken so many U turns and twists that it would put a detective novel to shame. It was first blotched up by the UP police, then the media took over and next the CBI is on it . I think this should be ended at the earliest, because

1. The humiliation cause to the family and the intense pressure on them which would make their lives difficult in the days to come.

2. The classic example of who done it, should be rested and all the fingers point towards the servants of the Durranis and the Talwars and these servants had easy access to Kukris and the circumstances points a strong connection here.

3. Aarushi was a such naive 14 year old girl and her name dragged to dirt should be avoided. This is where the 'champion' of woman's rights Renuka Chowdary should step in.

4. Now it is the tendency to sensationalize each and every incident to the maximum extent possible by the media, there are so many new agencies, newspapers, TV channels and 24 hours new channels who are fighting for TRP ratings, they try to get the maximum leverage of these crimes to hold the attention of the viewers.

This is where the government has a pivotal role to play, put a blanket ban on the proceedings and come up with a conclusive and final outcome.

Next is the Mayawati wealth hoarding. It is great that the CBI has reopened this case. Some say the new allegiance created in the centre has prompted this measure, I am sure this is a good start for a gross violation done by this iron lady, who has played a very cunning role in getting the votes by playing the caste card and the even garnering the Brahmin votes. She says that the Rs. 60 crores wealth is a contribution of the people, but where should this go, this should have gone back to the people in form of welfare and other measures and not to her personal coffers. Hope this case come to a logical end and this should instill fear into future wannabes to think twice.

All these incidents are just the history repeating itself, but when will this vicious circle come to an end?

Disturbing Trends in India

The past two months India has seen some of the most interesting, disturbing and mind boggling activities, politically and otherwise. First the Gujjar agitation. This whole concept of getting a backward status for a few sops from the government had put the entire Rajasthan out of gear for more than a fortnight, trains disrupted and the entire state coming to a stand still. A lot of people were killed by police firing. Then after a lengthy parleys and meetings by the leaders of the state ruling party and the Gujjar leader Bainsla, it came to a "favourable end" for the Gujjar community. You could see that how an entire state could be brought down by a small community to the knees. Now the trend is any minority community can put in unreasonable demands and can get away with any atrocities committed during its agitation and get want they want. This can spread to other parts of the country. The leader of this agitation was seen flying all around in helicopters and the state treating him as a celebrity. But, what exactly the government should have done is arrest this character for disturbing peace, disruption of day-to-day activities, creating mob frenzy, loss of public property and bringing loss to the exchequer. He was given a high pedestal by the state government and his unreasonable demands were met. This way the government has set a precedent for people of every minority community to come up with this frivolous and unreasonable demands and hold the government for ransom.

Like other issues, this to ultimately boils down to appeasement of the so called minority communities in the society. I have no qualms against any protests, but as far as it remains peaceful and reasonable. We need politicians with strong backbone and tackle issues with a rational mind and not playing to the tunes of these so called minorities. I am not against reservation, but the reservations cannot go on and on for ever. It is more than 60 years after Independence and still the mindset is way back in the 1940s. Has there been any survey as to determine the status of the backward communities? NO. Has there been any study so as to find out who is benefited by this reservations? NO. Still the government depends on the survey done ages back when the British were ruling India. Times have changed and the only people who were benefited by this reservation is the people living in the urban areas, who had the resources to utilize these reservation and kept this to themselves, their progeny and vigorously protects their territory. They say the reservation should exclude the creamy layer of these backward community and after bringing in this resolution the government raises the bar for the average income of the creamy layer exclusion. Again, all this is done for vote bank politics. But, whereas these backward communities in the rural area are still in the primitive shacks, with no facilities for education, health and these people have no inkling of the entire reservation schemes and if they knew about this, they don't know whom to approach. The reservations is just restricted to the urban areas and whereas this should have benefited the needy in the rural areas.

The next issue is the ongoing mockery of the constitutional rights guaranteed by the Indian Constitution, the tirade against the non Marathis in Mumbai. Raj Thackeray can go on issuing dikats and giving virulent speeches of Maharastra only for the Marathis and the north Indians and the others should not be allowed to co-exist there. This man should be arrested and criminal proceeding should be taken up. But, instead the government is still dilly dallying with these bigoted idiots, who think that the great city of Bombay was created by the Marathis and the long dead Chatrapatti Shivaji, who was just a guerrilla fighter who never had the guts to fight a full fledged war against the Moguls, but actually what Bombay or Mumbai is now, is because of the migrants and their hard work. When the tilling, sowing and taking care is done, these sons of the soils come for the harvesting. The same goes for the great Bal Thackeray, whose ancestors according to some reports say that they came to Mumbai as migrants in search of a better life. When the constitution has given every Indian the right to travel and make a living in any part of India, it has to be enforced to the core. This issue is not only subjected to Mumbai, but to whole of India, where this kind of discrimination is rampant, if not as outright. Migrants face a lot of taunts, abuses and ill-treatment by the local community, which is pretty bad in some cases. Or it would be the best to segregate India into linguistic and religious regions and all given the independence to be independent countries, with independent polices and rights.

The third one is the agitations going on in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, I find it funny when the government is allotting a few acres of land for the pilgrims to the Amarnath yatra, for their basic needs such as temporary shelters and toilets, at the same time the government is providing massive subsidies for certain community to go and perform religious duties in foreign countries. These agitating people must be ashamed of themselves as they think that by allotting of 100 acres of land would lead to the population explosion of the Hindus and thereby their majority would be reduced. Here again the local politicians play a big part in stroking communal emotions to disrupt the daily activities of the entire state.

Anyone can protest against anything in the country, but by peaceful means and not by these divisive tactics and resorting to violence at the drop of a hat. These leaders who instigate such riots and communal feelings should be arrested and taken to task. The should be made accountable to all the loss faced by the government and there should be a law to curb any violent demonstrations and strict action to be taken on all the perpetrators of this mindless and wanton disruptions and destruction. And not appeasing these so called minority leaders for a few more votes in the future elections The power hungry politicians in the centre and the state are to be blamed for all these issues, we need someone with a strong backbone to bring out some sense of responsibility and accountability to this country and its country men.

I am ashamed to live in a country where people want to call themselves backward and underprivileged, where the constitution says that all Indians are equal. This caste reservations, caste system, divisive policies, minority appeasement, religious bigotry and the list goes on are the true bane of the country and not the population explosion or illiteracy which are presumed to be the stumbling blocks of growth and prosperity. I think the present day politicians have taken the old British way of dividing and ruling policy and now these politicians have perfected this art.

End of this stupidity

Is this the real life
Is this just fantasy
Caught in a landslide

No escape from reality
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see
I am just a poor boy, I need no sympathy
Because I'm easy come, easy go,
A little high, little low,
Anyway the wind blows,doesn't really matter to me, To me.

Nothing really matters,
Anyone can see,
Nothing really matters, nothing really matters to me.