Of death, movies and other stuffs...

So, the last time I wrote something here, was a time when Kapil Dev was in polka dotted diapers and dinosaurs used to prance around the earth with gay abandon. Ok, that’s a slight exaggeration about the extent of my absence, but you get the drift.

Absenteeism reasons, though I assume you care more about the dirt stuck under the nail on your left little finger than my absenteeism reasons, range from being busy with a domesticated and less grandiose version of that part of Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Ghum where Bacchan Saab tells SRK that he must not marry Kajol (Oh yeah, now this is the part which makes my female friends go "oh wow! Bata na Bata na ") , to , settling in a job where the best part of my day remains hitting the coffee button on the sputtering machine or discovering the OS on my laptop has crashed or for the matter of fact…even my laptop has crashed this time.

But this being a late weekend night when I rest with a un-full tummy and nothing much on the TV , I think I will talk about something , which is totally unaligned with the kind of person I am . I mean , considering the kind of person I am , the deepest conversation I should be having should be about some animal with a real bad digestion , but I say with the unflinching honesty of a Vinod Kambli on Sach ka Saamna , I am not trying to seem like the next Aristotle here . All I am trying to do is talk rather pointlessly about something which has been hovering in the back alleys of my mind since this morning with the feeble yet significant buzz of a mosquito trapped in your ear canal – Death.

Death, you know. That part of life which ends it. Considering that I have not yet not died though many sensible people have tried to eradicate me , I don’t know how it must be after death , but I do imagine it to be very quiet , relaxed , solitary and chill after death . I am not sure if there is a heaven for the good guys and a hell for the bad guys, and as a result, I am not very concerned about the old woman I pushed off the stairs last week. I mean, you understand how annoying it is to be not being able to rush down the stairs because a 67 year old ahead of you moves slower than a sofa, don’t you? But the fact remains that I am going to die someday, whether it happens when I am digging into a hotdog (I hope I have finished the most of it by that time, mommy says food should not be wasted) or it happens when I am wedged between the rubber tires of a MSRTC bus, whether I am going to be regaled by Arabian dancers in some heaven, or be served as supper to hungry devils in a green tubelight-ed hell.

And you know, what I am thinking about is that moment, that moment which is sitting delicately at the end of the road called life as it ends, yet opens up into the unknown chasm called death. That moment, when I will be on the verge of being lifted by death, and I will know in my heart “Shit yaar, yeh end hai, ab picchar baaki nahi hai mere dost”. Now no “Dawa ya Dua” can save me!! No more people , no more movies , no cars , no boss , no relationships , no money , no smiles , no Himesh Reshammiya , no fights , no competitions , no career , no TV , nothing , after the event called Death.That moment, when I will know in my heart, that irrespective of my willingness to go or not, I would be gone next moment. In that moment, I imagine myself to feel guilty about the heart I broke, happy about the smile I brought on a face, sad about the moment I should have told my mother I loved her but did not, proud of the moment I believed in someone and stood by her, happy about the times I spent laughing with my friends, grateful for the moments somebody knew me as I am and accepted me, heartbroken about being a son lesser than a son I should have been. And just experiencing a little of that moment by writing about it, I am shocked by how easily do I forget what really matters. Kitni choti choti baton par senti ho jaata hoon main!! I mean, how easily I forget that I am going to die and a lot of stuff doesn’t really matter.

How easily do I forget that however blind I may try to be to my reality, that moment will thrust the sum of deeds in my face without leaving me with an escape route?

How easily do I allow myself to lose perspective and be drowned in the useless ego fights , pointlessly hurting the very people I love , choosing not to express my love just because I am too proud to do so , not taking that stupid seeming but heartfelt leap because I never have . How easily I forget the impending arrival of that last moment, and as a result, how easily I forget what really matters during the moments I have between now and that moment. How easily do I let myself be scared by the insecurities of a life unknown and continue to suffer a situation I don’t enjoy when that moment will snatch away whatever fake securities I build around myself. How easily I shut up my heart and listen to all the voices around me, when in the end, the only voice I should be hearing is the voice of my heart. How easily I forget death, and thus, how easily I forget how to live. I mean, sometimes I really need this perspective check and get out of the holed up thinking and view life in a more cool manner. Saala khul ke jeena bhool jaata hoon yaar. I mean, I act like I have a lot to lose and get all scared and calculated, when hai kya mere paas khone ke liye?

I know you are either confused or bored or both and would label the drivel above as some cheap regurgitation of some pocket sized Geeta I recently read. But you know, I am just talking to myself like those bollywood-ish village crack heads who roam around the village mumbling to themselves with their overgrown and uncombed hairstyles and are taunted and stoned by the half naked village urchins.

So chill, don’t walk out of this blog feeling all suicidal and kill yourself by smelling your own feet. Aise he baat kar raha tha kakke. And the movie season kicks in pretty soon now, with Kites already out and also crashed…and Rajneeti, Raavan following soon and I really need to spike up my movie watch counter this weekend. If any of you stays around Mumbai suburb and needs a company over a movie, I am totally in, though don’t think I am running some shady “friendship club” with those heart shaped ads in hindi newspapers. By the way, watched "What’s your Rashee” today, and even though the end is a bit “Hain??” types, the movie did seem pretty delightful and 'feel good' to me. Moral of the story - Harman Baweja is not that bad an actor. I mean, he is a bit wooden, but not exactly teak. Second moral of the story - Just because I noticed Harman does not mean I am not straight!

And so that would be all for the time being before I go back and cook some maggi for me now (Oh yes, it’s 03.48 in the night…ohh sorry early morning…or whatever you want to call this part….and I am really hungry, courtesy the fact that mommy offered me “kal ke raajma and parso ke chawal” for dinner)

Have a great time ahead!!

Happy reading….

DOES EDUCATION HELP US LEAD BETTER LIVES?

‘Education’. What does this term really mean? I am not talking about the literary meaning or dictionary meaning. Life is a great school and our experience teaches us so many things that no formal school or college cannot teach.

Recently I attended a Seminar on Higher Education. The Seminar was organized by a prestigious college in Mumbai and many eminent persons from various walks of life presented papers on the various aspects of higher education like its present status in India, ills of the present system, various report and suggestions, the challenges to be met, foreign players in the field, industry-academics inter-dependence and so on. All the speakers were very good and convinced the participants about their points.

What really caught my serious attention was the comments that just a couple of speakers made – should education limit its goal to making the person employable; is it the duty of the university merely to ensure that the graduates get into good jobs or it extends to transforming an individual to a more empowered, equipped and useful person; is it not the duty of the educators to transform the students to useful members of the humankind?

True. All of us go to colleges to earn our degrees, which will fetch us good jobs. But over the years, colleges have ended doing only this job. Gone are the days when students ‘gained knowledge’, ‘learnt life skills’, ‘became more responsible persons’, ‘became more socially aware’, ‘grew mature to face the challenges of life’ in colleges. It is sad to see the quality of graduates coming out of the colleges. But for a few, most of them are not equipped with social skills or life skills. Let alone the immature students, even many of the parents are not prepared to face defeats. Everybody wants to be only in the cream of the lot! How is it possible? All parents want their wards to be the toppers and all of them want their wards to be only engineers, doctors or IT professionals! Teaching, which is such a noble profession, is hardly given any respect. Only the worst of the graduates enter the academic field as a last resort and they too take up the profession just for the income! How can we expect such teachers to transform individuals, when they themselves are a frustrated lot of losers?

It was saddening to note that many of the leading colleges of Bangalore were on the verge of closure, as they were not getting enough number of students for the regular degree courses! People are shocked when some students passionately take up science studies and remark, ‘but why? Didn’t you get selected in an engineering college?’ Never mind even if the ward gets admitted to the worst of the engineering colleges!

Life skills! Values! Reading rich literature! Learning languages! Community service! All these are becoming strange to today’s generation. How many of today’s students can manage homes, maintain relationships, strengthen them and be successful in their life? The increasing number of divorces, the dwindling family values, the rising number of deserted senior citizens, the increasing number of crimes committed by educated youth, the rising number of suicides by people belonging to the age group of 15-30 are all indicators of where our society is proceeding to.

In fact formal education does little to make the society more mature, responsible and peaceful. The value system that existed in our society ages ago was quite strong. Our parents did not panic when we failed in some subject or did not win a prize in a contest or even if some of us did not want to go to school. As long as we were able to carry on life independently and harmlessly, they had no issues. Nobody requires a degree to lead a successful life. One may not be an achiever in some field. But he can still lead a peaceful and useful life. My grandfather who was just a school pass-out successfully brought up 6 children, who are all leading very good lives. But today, I see how young couples are unable to manage even one kid, depend so much on their parents or others and end up in psychiatric problems.

Of course women have become more empowered, more educated and are more successful in various fields because of education. But on the other side, the society as such is losing many of its strengths and values, which cannot be filled by education. Our teachers taught us to respect our elders, live in harmony with our families and even sacrifice for the sake of our brothers or sisters or parents. But today, self-centered attitude is on the rise. Consumeristic society breeds self-centered individuals, who are more intent upon their personal growth and materialistic possessions rather than the good of the entire society. Capitalism has started being appreciated and adopted by one and all.

‘Survival of the fittest’ is nature’s rule. So, why should I bother? If I am successful, it is because of my own efforts and if someone is begging, it is because of his own making- this is what many feel today! Compassion is hard to find. Even philanthropy is done with some other motive. Children feel their parents are interfering and irritants very soon in their lives! They conveniently forget all the efforts and sacrifices of the parents and proclaim independence, hurting them. While they want to enjoy the support system of the family, they fail to recognize their responsibilities towards protecting the system.

In society, three to four generations used to live under one roof. Children separating from parents after marriage was also seen as a taboo. But today, children are separating from their parents immediately after getting into jobs. I am shocked to hear some youngsters studying in hostels comment, ‘I don’t feel like going home to hear my parents nagging me all the time’ and stay on in a third place even after completion of their studies, while the poor parents keep funding them and waiting eagerly for their return!

The so-called ‘love’ is the only emotion that the youth recognize and they go up to any extent to win their love- even murder! All other relationships –parents, sisters, brothers, cousins, etc. become secondary. Okay! If they glorify love, how come the same partners become unbearable immediately after marriage? Responsibilities are shunned and totally individualistic attitudes only cause rifts in them and they separate very soon in life, without even thinking about the psychological problems that their children will undergo!

Illiterate families living in the remote rural areas live happily. Each person is given his due respect and everybody contributes for the well-being of the family. Children grow in a secure atmosphere and get the love of grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins. Brotherhood and sharing come naturally to them. Just drive to a village and you will find the difference. Farmers who grow our food whole-heartedly and generously give us vegetables, fruits and grains that they grow freely, though they themselves may be living in abject poverty! No college or university taught them those values. Not that there are exceptions on both the sides. I am talking only about the majority!

Education in the real sense has to take on the responsibility of protecting the value system of the society, besides imparting bookish knowledge to the students. Education should teach students life skills. Students should be prepared to face any kind of eventuality in their lives. Life is not rosy at all times. One should be ready to pass through thorns too!

Physically, mentally, psychologically and spiritually stronger individuals should be coming out of our colleges and universities-marks and ranks apart!

Dead man talking

First thing first; my sincere apologies to all my friends for keeping them waiting so long for my new blog. The only reason being that I finally got a job and since then life's been busy, hectic and good too. But even when I am travelling to my workplace, I only think about what next for my readers. And finally, I am ready with few articles which will hopefully keep you engrossed.

To begin with, the idea of 'Dead man talking' came to me when I was just pondering over a particular article published in a magazine at my workplace. However, that particular was article was real and mine is totally fictional with a pure intention of making you readers feel good at the end after reading it.

Anyways, I will let my work do the talking now. Hope you guys like it.

Dead man talking....

I died this morning in my sleep due to massive heart attack. It was about 4.30 am, but my wife noticed it after two hours. My neighbor, Dr. Satish declared me dead and said that he would have tried to save me, had he been called in time.

It is a Monday. By 10.30 am, people known to me got the news and started coming to pay their last homage. I am placed in the hall in a conspicuous location, with enough space for people to move around and have a closer look at me. I my self (you may like to read as ‘my soul’ which is still around) am standing in a corner of the room, looking at the events unfolding after my death. May be I will leave to heavenly abode, after the last rites.

I noticed my wife Aruna, still in her night suit, crying inconsolably, besides my body. Sitting next to her is Nitya, wife of my neighbor Satish, trying to calm Aruna. Satish and his wife were around since morning and made most of the arrangements. On a routine day, by this time, I and Satish would meet at the lobby on our way to work, after saying goodbyes to our wives, usually taking about sundry issues like the coming elections or unkempt corridors of our apartments.

I noticed Satish getting a little impatient. Poor guy, he is really in an awkward situation. He discreetly indicated his wife to come outside. When Nitya came out, he said in a low voice that he is getting late to his clinic. Nitya told him to go and get ready, and she would come in while, hoping some other women would come to stay with Aruna.

I could see my other neighbors coming in. I could make out that they were on their way to office, as they are dressed in formal office wear. As expected, they lingered on for a short while, made their presence felt, and left.

After a while, my office colleagues came in as a group. May be they have come by the office bus, which is generally used for such exigencies. My assistant Govind, my secretary Richa and my Driver Nandu, all stood mournfully by my body for a while, and came to the corner where I was standing, to let others pass by.

Govind said to Richa and Nandu, “What a nice man he was. Very untimely death. I was shocked to hear this. Can’t still believe.”

Nandu and Richa nodded sadly in agreement.

I felt glad to hear these kind words from Govind.

Wait, is this all? No.. Govind is saying something more. His lips are not moving, but I can hear what is being said by his mind. Govind is saying, “God has his own ways of dealing with people like this man. He tortured me for the past two years. He made me do his personal work, as if I am employed in this office to attend his private jobs. He made me run to his bank, which is half a kilometer away to deposit his cheques and check his balances. Made me chase the RTO office guys for his driving license. Had never let me use the office car even for his personal work, while this driver Nandu is smoking and gossiping throughout the day in the parking lot. What a sadist he was. Inspite of making me work like a donkey, he never gave good appraisal report about me. I would have got promoted last year, but for the poor rating given by this bugger in my confidential report. Good riddance. May be, Mr. Mathur will be my new boss. At least, he will not ask me to walk half-a mile to check his bank balance. As such he will be glued to Richa and will not have time to give me work. By the way, did I wish Mr. Mathur this morning? ..”

I got shock of my life. (Oops.. Can’t say so, since I am no more alive.)

I turned to Richa. Richa is keenly looking at Mathur, my colleague and friend. Her eyes are welled up with tears and she is looking very sad. Mathur, my best buddy, who was standing by my body, is trying to make his way towards Richa.

Richa, my secretary for past three years, must have understood me better than Govind. Let me listen.

Well. Richa’s mind is saying, “ Hope Mathur comes here. I can cry on his shoulder. This man died at the right time. He was not allowing me to spend time with Mathur. Whenever Mathur came, he would give me some typing job and send me away to the computer isle. Stupid man. He never understood, Mathur came only to see me and not to gossip with this crappy old-fashioned man. Hope I will now be posted as secretary to Mathur. Once I become his secretary, it should not take more than six months for Mathur to propose to me. May be by next year, I will be Mrs. Mathur. Ha, I can imagine myself cozying up with Mathur in his Mercedes Benz.”

I could see Mathur moving closer to Richa. He took her hands into his and said, “Richa, you seem to be disturbed. I think it will be better if you come with me. I can’t let you be here for long.” Richa gave a long mournful look at my body, while her tender fingers with long nails polished in pink were still getting soothed in Mathur’s hands.

Richa was wrong. Given the rapidity of progress, I expect she would be Mrs Mathur in a month’s time.

My driver Nandu was chatting outside with the bus driver. I heard him saying,“Sahib was such a great man. Always took good care of us whenever in need.”

I peeked into Nandu’s thoughts. Nandu’s mind was saying, “God’s ways are really unpredictable. What a miser he was. He died leaving so much wealth behind. He never helped any body. Last week when I asked for twenty thousand rupees for my daughter’s wedding, he said he himself is in need of finances to repay some loan. Who on earth would believe this? As if I don’t know how much he earns and spends. But at least his wife will have a good time with all the money.”

Oh my wife!. I rushed back in to the house.

My wife Aruna, my lovely, devoted wife, still in shock, is in semi-conscious state. She is looking so tired and helpless. I wish I had not objected her wish to pursue MBA after our marriage. What will she do now? Oh God, why did you let me die so soon??

Suddenly a loud voice crashed in my ears, “Sudhir, wake up, are you not going to office today?”

Who’s asking me this weird question? Don’t they know dead people need not go to office?.. Well it is Aruna. She is trying to wake me up.

Wake me up from death?

No wake me up from my dream.

I opened my eyes, clock is showing 7.30 and Aruna, still in her night suit, is holding chapatti dough in one hand and jostling me out of sleep with another.

I jumped out of bed and rushed into bathroom.

As usual, I met Dr.Satish in the lobby. He was calling up taxi as his car refused to start. I offered to drop him at his clinic, which is not exactly on my way to office. But I didn’t regret driving that extra mile for him.

On my way to office, I tried to reconcile my dream. I realized, this might be what is called as paying for our deeds. Good or bad.

I called Govind into may chamber and told him that I have revised his Confidential Report ratings and recommended him for promotion this year. He was glad. He thanked me vehemently.

While going out of my chamber, I told Govind, “ Govind, why don’t you use office car when you have to go out? As such Nandu is doing nothing throughout the day. He is always seen smoking and gossiping in the parking lot.”

Govind looked at me in surprise.

I couldn’t stop my self from saying, “Govind, don’t bother about my driving license any more. I will take care of it this weekend”.

Govind walked out of the room in trance.

Not to mention, I called Nandu and gave him a cheque of twenty thousand rupees, and conveyed my best wishes for his daughter.

I called Richa to my room when Mathur came by, and requested him to take Richa for lunch today, on my behalf. I told him, today is very special day and calls for grand celebration, as Richa has completed three years as my secretary, and she deserves a grand treat for bearing with me all these years. I added, I can’t join them because of a meeting this afternoon.

I called up Aruna during the day, and told her to take out her graduation certificate and other records, so that in the evening we can fill the MBA admission form together.

If I die tomorrow, I know I will be at peace.

Brain wrecker- 2

(This is the second part of my highly disliked Brainwrecker series. You are advised not to read the first part before reading the second part. Any damage to your brain or thinking capacity is purely intentional and won't be acknowledged by the writer).

Rahul was stunned to see Megha standing at the beach as soon as he came out of the tent. For miles and miles, blue water could be seen and it felt so romantic that he ran towards Aarti and took her in his arms. Suddenly the music stopped and the lights were turned on in the room. Rahul realized that Rajni was not standing by his side but she had already fallen down unconscious on the sofa. He started pacing up and down in the hall thinking about how to tackle this national crisis. Suddenly his phone rang and as soon as Ramesh answered the phone, Swati drove away towards the exit. He ran after her asking her to stop but she refused to stop the plane and the captain realized that they were about to take off and suddenly the balloon burst. Ramnaresh Sarwan was the next West indian batsman to walk in after Sehwag was out in the 24th minute of the first half. The excitement was increasing every second as the Prime Minister walked in to make the historical announcement that would change the future of the world.

Rohit couldn't think about any escape route, he was circled by the aliens who had alighted from the UFO on hearing his car horns. They were very tiny in size and no more than one feet each but he was still scared of the small guns they held and was not sure of the type of bullets the aliens used. He rued the fact that he honked at a UFO and not at a stray cow. Sanjana decided to be brave and jumped down from the eighth floor balcony only to land on a bed of roses. With all the greenery around him, Rajeev could not realize why he was kidnapped by Akbar's army when they could have simply bought him over by offering him a date with the gorgeous girl. Hardik finished his bowl of soup as he got ready to go to bed. It was extremely unnerving for someone who had never held a feminine hand to find a hot woman inviting him inside her bedroom. As soon as Shravan entered her bedroom nervous and excited about something good going to happen, she told him that she wanted him to get rid of the cockroach which almost crawled onto her feet.

I could not load the GTA Vice city onto my computer because the idiotic CD just refuses to get installed and I had to be content by just eating Golgappas. As Riya gave the card to the cashier, he refused saying their swipe machine was not working and Shruti had no cash on her. My hands ached from typing but Ryan kept running because stopping meant putting Mahi's life in danger. The Chinese scientist created artificial snowfall to end the drought which had been affecting China for the last 38 years and I have also ordered some artificial chinese rains for Delhi as it never rains there in the rainy season. As soon as the plane touched down on the tarmac, he waved the taxi driver to stop. Pakistan president said that they will not buy tomatoes from India because they had a good harvest of potato in Swat valley which is not the short form for sophisticated weapons and tactics.

Indian army has decided to recruit all the blue line bus drivers to man their tanks and to crush any Pakistani soldier who comes in their path during the India - NewZealand one day series. American president Barack Obama found it extremely difficult to convince L.K. Advani that he was not calling in to discuss Ram Mandir fund raising but to discuss the Indo-Pak relations after the Delhi government introduced a bill to build new flyover linking Lodhi Road to Commonwealth Games Village. Niyati was crying for help as aliens took him away and I wanted to help but my broom flying session was not complete so I could not do anything to stop the aliens as they grazed the grass disguised as cows.

Brain wrecker- 1

(The following blog is the most mentally debilitating and confusing stuff you are going to read at any point of time so please read it slowly and carefully to get the actual gist of the story.)

Rahul was very happy that evening when he stepped out of his office building and moved towards the car park. His class teacher had given him very good remarks on his English homework and she had specially mentioned this to all his fellow neuro-surgeons during the operation table lecture. Later that night that, Rohit's arithmetic’s and his vyakaran were classic examples of a cricketer par excellence.

Rajat walked towards the car park looking at the visuals on his mobile screen and he cried profusely just by looking at the pictures on the walls. He reached his slot and jumped on to his Nissan truck to drive off towards his house located in Southern part of Delhi. Just as his BMW screeched to a halt at a traffic intersection on the US-Canada border, he lowered down the window glass and called out to the man selling coconut water. The lady walked towards the car asking him if he wanted fosters or any other brand of champagne. Rahul said that he just wanted a copy of the day's Times of India and didn't want to stay over for dinner. He got the coconut water and paid 50 takas to the Bangladeshi who was selling the beers and drove off. Soon he reached an isolated part of the highway with tall and glitzy buildings all around and huge billboards lighting up the entire area. He entered the stadium to find it jam-packed with 120 thousand cricket lovers who had filled in to watch the Wimbledon final between Rajyavardhan Rathore and Tiger Woods. The weather was nice and sunny and the few people who were at the stadium were quite prepared to get a sun-tan under the floodlight towers.

As he got up after a relaxing sleep, Sonia started recalling the events of last night and a naughty smile spread over her rose-petal lips. She was riding her horse quite superbly and the dacoits were nowhere in sight. It seemed that her Ferrari was no match for the Santros which the Pakistani soldiers used to chase her down. She realized that it was quite dark and after so many hours of leisurely driving on the mountain roads, it was time for her to stop and gaze at the beautiful night sky.

"Rashmi, please finish your homework before you go out to play with your friends" said Aakanksha's mother as she ran out to hit Prakash with a sandal. Sonia got down from the car and saw a nice green meadow spread over several acres and a mesmerizingly beautiful night sky. The entire stadium was reverberating with chants of "Come on India" as the galloping horses relaxed.

Slumdog millionaire has won a lot of awards and accolades however at the same time Aamir's hairstyle has also drawn a lot of attention and its really shocking to see that Mohd Aasif admitted to drug consumption as Sachin ran to field the ball and by the time the missile hit the terrorist hide out in Pakistan Jayasuriya had completed his century which meant that Messi needs more strength and success to equal Pele’s world record number of football victories otherwise Sonia got down from her horse and walked towards a stone and sat down on it only to find that it was a giant ridley turtle and not a stone. She was scared and Prakash couldn't tolerate the pain as India was heading towards a 3-0 defeat in the world cup tennis finals at Wankhede Stadium Mumbai.

The public outcry against the infamous Mangalore incident where 40 Ram Sena activists were stoned by women who were allegedly molested by the terrorists has gathered momentum all over America and Australia even went to the extent of stating that they will stop playing cricket with England if the dirty water overflowing in the streets is not stopped by the BMC. The night was really cold and even though he was a Wizard, it was very difficult for Captain Stone Cold Steve Austin to keep sitting on the broom as it soared through the skies and bone-freezing breeze hit him in the face.

Swati understood that the beauty of this weather is to enjoy the pakoras and the soft music playing in the cybercafé but just then Shefali's phone rang and Rahul stopped his Nissan truck as he could not believe his eyes. There was a giant saucer type UFO parked right outside his balcony and the cricket lovers were forming a long serpentine queue to enter the circus armed with AK-47s, hand grenades and some of them even were on board T-72 battle tanks.


(To be continued....)

Have we forgotten Mumbai??

We have come close to one year of that gruesome terrorist attack that went on for 3 days. What happened in Mumbai in November end was unthinkable horror. People who were sleeping at home, people who were stretching on the pavements to relax after a hard day's work n people who were partying in the supposed to be safe and warm environs of five star hotels were riddled with bullets and blown to bits by grenades. Patients and their relatives lodged in a hospital were shot dead and innocent passengers waiting at the city's main railway station were hunted down. The horror of that night was beyond imagination.

I know that it’s already an old story and most people have spoken about it, argued and yawned about it. People have moved on and the extraordinary rage that was witnessed has subsided into the routine calm and carelessness of the great Indian populace. We cried for blood, talked about revenge and blah blah however, now most people won't even bother talking about it because it has been added to another of the dust wrapped incidents of terrorist attacks witnessed by us. However, for a person like me things have really changed. One can no longer feel safe anywhere. You don't know when from which corner a terrorist will jump out and blow you to bits or may kill your dear ones in front of you even when you believed that you are at a place far off from terrorism. Till this incident happened, I used to think that such incidents are fortunately not possible in our cities. When I read about the blowing up of Mariott hotel in Islamabad or read about the routine car and suicide bombings going on in Afghanistan and Iraq, I used to believe that it happened there because those are areas ruled by militants and though militancy is prevalent in India but still that kind of incidents were unimaginable. Now everything is scary because the unimaginable happened right in front of our eyes.

I am still scared, wounded and upset about this and I want things to be done in such a manner that the perpetrators of that night are destroyed and repetition of such acts is not possible. Time has lapsed but my frustration has only increased by seeing nothing concrete happening and mere press releases going on from all sides. Is that all we wanted, are we satisfied or should I say we are waiting for the next live coverage of terrorist attacks which will earn billions for news channels by providing them viewership for the breaking news.

Tell me friends, is my confusion justified or should I also shrug my head, get up and stop talking about it till the location and date changes or should we expect a better deal this time so that we can plan the future by having an assurance that a stray bullet or grenade is not going to hit us anytime. Is it a crime to talk about taking steps which ensure that we don't fear terrorist around the corner when we walk into the street.

I came up witht this write up as I personally felt that my previous post for the series did not have conclusive ending. So this is the final part of War on Mumbai series. It really took me long to complete the series and even more long was the process which I went through in getting all the right content for your reading.

Hope you guys liked my articles and I am waiting for your feedback on the same. Your feedback would help me analyze my own writing and I would make sure I don't repeat same mistakes in my future blogs.

Thank you for being there!!!

War on Mumbai-3

Few lessons from the deadly terrorist attack.

After the horrific terror attacks on Mumbai that were carried out over a period of three days, one was captured alive, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab. He is been treated in the prison like a princes and his demands too are increasing with each passing day. Right from Kababs, to writing a letter, to a perfume, free walking space and many others. What can be interpreted from these? I can only interpret that Indian laws are too lenient that we all are allowing such things happen and the trial of the terrorist is a joke now.

The brazenness of the incident combined with its potential to destabilize the region already has the counter terrorism world searching for lessons learned. Few have emerged.

The public expects competent law enforcement: By any measure, India’s response to the crisis has been underwhelming. Initial news reports suggested that some armed police officers hid rather than shoot at the attackers as they fired into crowds of bystanders. Others were simply outgunned. Meanwhile, the country's elite counterterrorism unit took some 10 hours to attack hostage-holding militants because Mumbai, a city of 13 million, has no SWAT-type group capable of fighting back.

The country's top security official, Home Minister Shivraj Patil, had already tendered his resignation. The prime minister, meanwhile, promised to overhaul the country's counter terrorism capabilities and create four more hubs for the elite response unit, which he did fulfill. But, in fairness to the Indian security forces, several security experts say that even an American city faced with simultaneous attacks at a rail station, major hotel, tourist hub, and religious center would be hard pressed to muster enough commandos.

Low-tech attacks can do tremendous damage. The attack itself appears to have required little specialized knowledge from the attackers. Automatic rifles and hand grenades appear to have done the most damage. Ten guys with guns and hand grenades in shopping malls in 10 different cities—or even spread out in one city—could bring this country to a standstill.

Terrorists can influence elections. From Madrid to Iraq to Pakistan, the fact that major terrorist incidents occur around elections is no coincidence. One particularly poignant half-page newspaper ad from an opposition party features a blood-stained wall and the words "Weak Government." Pakistan is no stranger to election terrorism. Candidate Benazir Bhutto was killed by terrorists during a heated election campaign against former President Pervez Musharraf.

The cure may be more deadly than the disease. India and Pakistan, the nuclear-armed neighbors have fought three wars and been close to several more. The last major military escalation came in 2001, when terrorists attacked the Indian Parliament, killing 15. (The Indian government also laid blame for that incident at the feet of LET.) The group's involvement in the Mumbai attacks could endanger recent cooperation between the nations, which in turn could complicate efforts against al Qaeda in the tribal regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, U.S. official’s fear.

"There are larger goals here, namely the hope that an attack against India would end intelligence sharing and cooperation in the region and allow [LET] and other terrorist groups, including al Qaeda, greater freedom to operate," says one U.S. military intelligence official. "These were very public, televised attacks designed to force the Indian people to demand a response from their government. Sometimes the response is more important than the actual attack."

Despite promises of reform, don't expect systemic change. In the past year, India has experienced a dramatic upsurge in terrorism. Cities including Bangalore, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, and New Delhi have been on the receiving end of terrorist attacks.

Happy Independence Day!!

Jai Hind!!

Source: CNN-IBN and US News Week