Has anyone been counting the number of terrorist blasts that shocked the nation in the last year or so?
Mumbai has always been the favorite target.. and the softest. The sheer quantum of commuting population makes it easy for the terror spreading extremists to play their deadly blood shedding games.. Delhi has the advantage of steep security owing to its high risk buearocrats. The North East ripples with violence on a regular basis but unfortunately doesn't get the coverage reserved for Kashmir...Bangalore wasnt spared but has been relatively safe from any large scale attacks so far. But Hyderabad was less fortunate... terror struck twice with apparent ease. Ajmer followed suit and now Ludhiana.
Extremists are striking at will at locations that fancies them without any resistance. Can you imagine this happening in the US or UK and not have serious repercussions across the world? If you look at the attacks in Kashmir and the rest of the country cummulatively, doesnt it feel akin to a full blown terror campaign? Are there any statistics on terror related attacks? The figures might startle us...
Does anyone realise that this country is at war? An insidious seceret deadly war striking at the very heart... threatening to rob the peace and integrity of this country? Are we truly a free nation when the common man steps out of the house not knowing whether he will be able to return safely? The attacks happened in our very own country not some distant unknown city across the globe. People who died are our fellow Indians. And they could have been you or me or some body close to us. Yet we just blinked our eyes a few times and switched the news channel...
The government has been analysing the blasts and fingers have been pointed. The wheels of diplomatic slandering are set in motion. "The law takes its own time" they placate us.. and at the end of it all the victims wait indefinitely for justice. Sometimes for years. Children wait for a safe world without the fear of being orphaned or maimed. While the rest of us are just too busy with our daily life celebrating the rising stocks indices... securing our lives and those of our kith and kin, unaware of the Damocle's sword that hangs precariously. All is well as long as we have our necks buried in sand so the enemy that we don't see doesn't exist.... until the day our neck is on line. It doesnt matter as long as we are not affected. To quote Phil Collins,"Its just another day for you and me in paradise". The victims, innocent and unwary, in a moment lost their lives. The mourners they leave behind are scarred for life. Some lost their only offspring to the havoc... others lost the sole earning member of the family... some had gone out to enjoy the evening with their family members not knowing that it was to be the last time... others had gone to pray at a tomb of a saint who preached peace and non violence. And life goes on for the rest of us.
What can we do about it other than express our anguish? Yes the government at the centre and the state need to beef up security and meet the threat head on... Terrorism is the bane of our times and needs special treatment. It won't just fade away. Terrorism is like a fire and a fire needs three components to cause damage... heat, oxygen and fuel. Cut off any or all of these and you can extinguish the fire... The extremists are the fuel. The hatred is the heat and oxygen is the money that sponsors terrorism. The government needs to tighten our borders so the extremists find it difficult to enter our country. But fighting the war of terror cannot be only the governements concern. We also need to chip in. We need to motivate our youth so they don't fall into the trap of extremism. Religious intolerence is the mother of exrtemism. Lets cut off the heat by erasing the communal hatred from our hearts and learn to love one another. Remember, when terror strikes it doesn't see ure caste or religion. Its a war against humanity. And did you know that one of the biggest channels of raising money for sponsoring extremists is through pirtated CDs and drugs? If the buying stopped it would definitely have an impact.
And above all let each one of us be responsible for our protection by becoming more cautious of our surroundings.. If you are in a crowded place it might not be such a foolish idea to look under your seats or in dark alleys for any mysterious unclaimed bag... Your action could save your life and those around you.
When our country fell prey to the Colonial exremists the common people stood up against them united and demanded their birthright... to breathe the air in a free nation.. to live in a country thats govererned by the people.
I t s p e r h a p s n o w t i m e f o r a n o t h e r r e v o l u t i o n .

Long time since i visited my page... well new fads and fashion are always grabbing your attention.

How much can one do in 24hrs....

Now thats some thing to ponder on.. why cant we have more hours ina day.. how about 48... so two rotations of the earth make one day..

so we have two sunrises and two sunsets in a day.. case u miss one....

and u can sleep for 12 hours without feeling guilty... thats only 1/4 th a day....

a month has only 15 days... so ure pay cheque arrives sooner :)

a New year is only 182 days away...

and u can browse all that you want.. there's just so much time to kill.

Life meanders on the path of destiny..

To the distant unknown...

Moments just whizzing and whooshing past..

Leaving you older than yesterday....

While u go on in your mudane life

And search for a meaning to your existance!

Why are we so insecure about our identities?
Why are we scared to mention our religion? or caste? or sex... or nationality?
WHy this fear of persecution....
What kind of a world is this?
Why feel we are superior or inferior when God made all equal? Did you come with a passbook in your hand that said you have special priviliges in this world to look down on others????
"Let him throw the first stone... who has not sinned"

what happens to u when u learn to drive!!!

ure confidence goes up... :)
any vacant spot to others looks like a parking space to you...!

you shop less... only to places where there is parking and never on weekends and evenings! so you save money which you can spend on gas! :P
global issues starts making a difference to you!....for instance the price of an oil barrel ..
you will know the location of all local gas stations
you have to become a chauffer for others...:( often when you where eying the couch to sink into!
most likely when u need to be dropped somewhere..............no one who knows to drive will be around :((

your cool quotient goes up! ;)

you feel like God!!!!!!!!

What would life be without wishes? Its like the fragrance of a flower... not the real thing but enjoyed all the same.

Like some one said, you are never given a wish without being given the power to fulfill it. Hmm… well that’s not entirely true.. We do have dreams that sometimes never come true… that by the very nature of its elusiveness intrigues us and attracts us which we chase after like a mirage in the desert - to the point that we are totally obsessed with it and raise it to such heights that we convince ourselves that our happiness depends on the fulfillment of that one all consuming desire. Sometimes the desires remain unfulfilled, and we recollect it wistfully, dreaming of a life that could have been. Should we be fortunate enough to eat the fruits of the said desire…once fulfilled, it doesn’t take much time to relegate it to anonymity with hardly a moment of thought spent cheering or mourning. That’s life.

The lines of a ghazal comes to my mind…

Duniya jise kehte hai… jaadu ka khilona hai

Mil jaaye to mitti hai, kho jaaye to sona hai!

The world is a magical toy. What you get is dirt.. what you lose is gold!

We only need to look at our personal experiences to realize the wisdom of these words.

Those who have read “Gone with the wind” would draw a parallel in the story. Scarlet who is obsessively in love with Ashley (only because he loved another woman and thus became unattainable) discovers at the end that it was never Ashley that she loved or wanted or needed but Rhett whom she mocked and derided all the time.

Sometimes in retrospect we realize that receiving what you didn’t want or conversely not getting what you scrambled after, was a blessing in disguise.

How many would answer that truthfully?

Sometimes the fulfillment of a desire brings with it untold misery. Have you read the story of a “Monkey’s paw”? The “monkey’s paw” had the power to bring three wishes come true and a family of three is amused by the story. Ridiculing it they laugh and wish for a 1000 pounds and forget about it. The next day, the son who is working in a factory meets with an accident and perishes. The compensation his parents receive for the death? 1000 pounds. Well, guess it pays to be careful before you blow the lash off your palm with a wish or fall on your knees spotting a shooting star. Many a fulfilled wish brings with it many a regret.

Anyways, all that said and done, there are some times sweet little wishes or needs that entered the realms of our consciousness and quickly forgotton which comes true in mysterious ways… Beware all you skeptics, for here we are at the threshold of the mystic.

These sweet wishes that come true often go unnoticed in our busy life. Like, has it happened to you that you wanted to buy a book and with in days a friend drops in with a gift for you… precisely the book you wanted! Or you remembered an old school friend you lost touch with and within days she calls you up out of the blues!

Well, I have been thinking about buying a hair band to tie up my hair when I sleep. I normally don’t but now that my hair is long for the first time in my life, they get awfully tangled and I felt the need to do something about it. Meanwhile, my brother in law bought an Easter egg for his pretty neighbour but at the last minute chickened out. And left it behind when he left for his place of work. So post easter and post his departure we did the honors of breaking it open and out came goodies among which there lay … a blue hair band!

Sometimes, don’t miss the trees for the forest!!!