Thursday, November 27, 2008

In wake of the unthinkable events unfolding in Mumbai

ऐ दिल है मुशकिल जीना यहाँ.....

याद होगा आपको CID से यह गाना :

ऐ दिल है मुशकिल जीना यहाँ
ज़रा हट के, ज़रा बच के, ये है बम्बई मेरी जान।

कहीं बिल्डिंग, कहीं ट्रामें, कहीं मोटर, कहीं मिल
मिलता है यहां सब कुछ, इक मिलता नहीं दिल
इन्सान का नहीं नामों-निशान
ज़रा हट के ज़रा बच के, ये है बम्बई मेरी जान।

कहीं सट्टा, कहीं पत्ता, कहीं चोरी, कहीं रेस,
कहीं डाका, कहीं फ़ाका, कहीं ठोकर, कहीं ठेस,
बेकारों के हैं कई काम यहाँ
ज़रा हट के ज़रा बच के, ये है बम्बई मेरी जान।


Those are the problems of the past. Long back, the rich in Bombay had it easy and the poor were the only ones feeling the brunt of the ruthless efficiency of the city of dreams. The people of Bombay were accused of being unhelpful and uncompassionate. Well, may be you see some of those problems even now. It is so very often that roadside accidents, daylight shootings in public places, and alike events, draw out curious onlookers, not good Samaritans on the streets of Mumbai. However, by now, the Mumbaikars (not "Marathi Manoos") have acquitted themselves of such accusations with display of great character in times of distress.

Of late, the character of people of this great city has been tested once too many. In the Mumbai floods of 2005, civilians helped each other while government helped itself to another gold star incapability medal to bolster its already impressive tally. In the several bomb blasts since 90s, people have helped the persons on site and senior cops have put their lives on risk. The problems of old, still exist - the angry unemployed, the efficient underworld machine, the poor children, the unimaginable employment conditions and appalling infrastructure... However, now more important dangers to the city's lifeline have emerged. Long back the challenge was to make it to an apartment in the affluent South Bombay. The present day challenge is to make it to your natural death! 

4 people die on Mumbai's train track's everyday. 1.6 (8 out of every 20 such deaths) of those people fall off the train. 1 crashes himself onto the poles. The number of terror attacks on Bombay make you wonder why are the people in London and NY so pragmatic when they have suffered just one each. The British government has taken away any garbage bins in densely populated areas of Central London. There is a fear that the "terrorists" might leave a bomb in the bin. So, you throw your trash on the street and one of the hundreds of cleaning staff will pick it up. I can't see that as a solution in Mumbai. The city doesn't have garbage bins since even before the terrorists started appearing as often as the full-moon.

बुरा दुनिया को है कहता, ऐसा भोला तो ना बन
जो है करता, वो है भरता, है यहाँ का यह चलन

The cue to our problems is in the above lines. Since the 1980s Pakistan has been trying to pry on the emotions of the Indian Muslims and international terrorist organisations using the Kashmir issue. It didn't have much success until we messed up the minority confidence in the rest of the country. State sponsored, mob enacted blunders like Godhara, Ayodhya have left a lot of angry souls among the minorities. International terrorists used these angry, frustrated people to set up sleeper cells, now the biggest threat to India's internal security. The presence of sleeper cells means that now acts of terror can be committed in and managed from smaller centres like Jaipur and Lucknow with a frightening ease. India has a 150 million strong Muslim population. Even if a 1000 of them (0.0007%) join these hate-mongers, that is quite a lot for intelligence agencies to handle from among its own people. We could not have afforded to let our own people join the ranks of such insidious organisations, but we still let that happen. The rise of RSS, VHP, Bajrang dal, Shiv Sena and Modi has only hastened the process of radicalisation of local Muslim youths. Foreign terrorists have allies in India, from India. Now these terrorist organisations have internal routes on Indian soil that are difficult to monitor. Did we created the monster?

The Americans and British, who have been chased single-mindedly by the terrorists in the recent attack are also facing the consequences of decisions that their governments made. Osama has the unique distinction of being created by CIA and being chased by FBI. Pakistan's ISI is not far behind. In the Afghan war against the Soviets, the US bolstered the capacities of ISI to aid itself in gaining a foothold in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, by late 80s, India started facing problems from ISI managed terrorism on Indian soil. US turned a blind eye to it. Even when they knew that the claims were right, they did not bother to purge or pressurise the extremist elements in ISI. They were a strategic ally after all, so what if they were killing a few Indians. Now, Osama has come to haunt US as a monster it created. ISI is not far behind, once again. There is a strong and growing evidence of the hand of ISI and international terror groups in the recent attack. Bombing certain sites on Pak soil and sending polite requests of improving conduct to ISI are not going to work. US will have to excercise its strategic muscle on Pakistan.

Meanwhile, India has to remain sure that it does not get washed in an extremist agenda. There will calls for divisive politics immediately after the situation is resolved. Some Hindu extremist elements will try to ration their jungle justice to innocent Muslim folk. The government will have to show vigilance to not let such anti-social elements to have their way. Mobs should be kept out of imparting justice in this case. The opposition and government alike will have to show an uncharacteristic restraint in not trying to spark riots. Out of the close to 80 Indians that have lost their lives in this attack, there are also a close to 10 innocent Muslims that lost their lives as well. Terrorism has no religion except hate. Two Turkish Muslims got their lives reprieved on account of their religion but the Indian Muslims lost their lives in an act of indiscriminate firing. 

A Hindu retort to this tragedy will be an act of terrorism as well. India has to realise that it does not have the luxury that US and UK enjoy in the fight against terrorism. UK is an island. US is too far away from the centres of terrorism. There isn't enough population potential to be radicalised in comparison to India. Both these countries have the financial muscles to invest a lot on defence. India, will have to think a solution for itself, something original and innovative. It should be based on restoring communal harmony through education, taking down divisive politicians, improving security infrastructure and above all uniting ourselves against unworthy villains such as hatred.

These perpetrators of hate should know that:

दादागिरी नहीं, चलने की यहाँ
यह है बोम्बे, यह है बम्बई मेरी जान


खुदा हाफ़िज़।

May lord give peace to the victims of this tragedy and my great nation.

जय हिंद!!!

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Common Oxymorons

Some of the most common oxymorons (oxymora) that I have heard in the past few days:

  1. "I am funny" - That wasn't funny enough.
  2. "I am creative" - Should have found a more creative way of saying that.
  3. Somebody sending you a message "Take your own time" 6 times in a hour! How can I take my own time if you throw panic my way every few minutes. The best expression of "take your own time" sentiment is to not contact the other person at all. Then, he/she will take his/her own time and express gratitude for your compassionate behavior (of course, the expression of gratitude is also mute).
  4. "I will be there in 13 minutes" - No, you will be here in 15 minutes. You are just trying to numb my brain by puzzling me through a mathematical nuance. How dare you?
  5. "I love the Tesco beer" - No, I will not take this one. Nobody "loves" the 20 pence 6-pack Supermarket brand beer/piss water. You "like" it (because it's cheap). Let us leave "love" for the cheesy ones.
  6. "Needless to say ... blah blah blah" - Why say it then?


I will add more as I think of them. I know that the last two aren't exactly oxymorons, but you get the drift. Right?

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Another gem from Quote of the Day - my opinion of Soap Operas, Reality shows and current news channels

Television is the first truly democratic culture - the first culture available to everybody and entirely governed by what the people want. The most terrifying thing is what people do want.
- Clive Barnes

Sunday, September 21, 2008

The heavy leaf, the fallen page

"Let us have our coffee in the music room, Dorian. You must play Chopin to me. The man with whom my wife ran away played Chopin exquistely. Poor Victoria! I was very fond of her. The house is rather lonely without her. Of course, married life is merely a habit, a bad habit. But then one regrets the loss even of one's worst habits. Perhaps one regrets them the most. They are such an essential part of one's personality"
- Lord Henry Watton to Dorian Gray in "The Picture of Dorian Gray".

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Wandering thoughts - II

Racism:
I do not support Indian bowler Harbhajan Singh (Bhajji) on the recent issue of racially abusing Aussie Andrew Symonds. I do not buy the argument that Indians can not be racist because they are brown. Indians are among one of the most racist people in the world. We call whites as racist! To prove my point I will ask you a question - how many Indian people are ready to get married to black people? To the same people I ask - now how many of you are ready to get married to white people? Since we all know the statistics that will come out of such a survey, we should just throw away the argument that Indians can not be racist. I don't give a rats ass about whether Harbhajan actually called Symonds a monkey, he probably is one anyway.

Misracism:
After the ICC bought the retarded argument that Harbhajan can not be racist because he is brown, a lot the among Australian folk had their blood boiling in their veins. Next match, when Harbhajan was fielding close to the boundary, the Aussie crowd was taunting him - "Harbhajan is a Wener." Now the funny bit is that they do not know about Harbhajan's proficiency in English. For most parts, Bhajji must have been thinking - "Why are they calling me a Winner? I never get the sarcastic Aussie humour."

Lack of real issues:
I have realised that the British have no real domestic issues to talk about. This is why the front page of their newspapers are full of celebrity images. There is little their government can do to change their lives radically. The real serious topics in their media are international in nature. No wonder that weather is a dandy conversation starter in a country where the it is inconsequential (They get no real floods, no blizzards, no hurricanes and the worst is an irritating drizzle). Listening to BBC Radio 4, I am astounded by the kind of things they talk about:
  1. A presenter has brought has brought in a high level lawyer to his studio to air his views on a consumer protection debate. Case - A man in England has sued Tim Burton, the director of Sweeny Todd, for misleading him with the advertisements. Seemingly, he had gone to see a gory misadventure and it turned out to be softy musical for him. In the BBC studio they were talking about the complainant's rights. What rights? Right to be an idiot. Is that a fundamental right now?
  2. BBC is actually pretty good. It calls real experts to discuss issues, even if the issues are not real. Private radio channels are worse. They hire dumb Radio Jockeys who can speak 100 words in a minute without thinking. Quite an achievement. Everyday, Red Dragon FM gives counselling to people about topics like marriage, aggressive husbands, how to handle gay children, etc. What makes me wonder is that how come the listeners think of this RJ to be fit to counsel on topics that psychologists and sociologists would take several paid sessions to deal with? Do they really believe that a moron, who is playing a Britney song at every 10 minute interval, is really concerned about giving his honest best opinion on their personal lives? Baffles me.
A bite from my favourite BBC radio comedy, The Now Show -
"A conservative MP has been arrested for calling Prime Minister Gordon Brown a liar. Apparently, he had breached the Official Secrets Act"