The music of democracy has quitened down... the big parties have blared the agenda out from the speakers and have appealed for their candidates and their policies.. and as always, the choice is between the devil and the deep sea.. and you can't swim.
The jury will deliberate, the votes will be cast. The results will stream in coloring the state in red blue green or saffron... The poor will fill their stomach with the bribe of toddy and vote in full confidence... then starve to death. The educated will wonder...what difference will it make, my lord?
Let the games begin...

The Ayodhya verdict

A wave of concern grips the nation in the days preceding the much hyped Ayodhya land issues. All those who remember the riots of 1992 are wary of what might happen post verdict. There is an air of uncertainty and apprehension...
I recollect one of Gandhiji's sayings which were printed in our NCERT school text books under the title Gandhiji’s talisman.
"I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test.
Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man [woman] whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him [her]. Will he [she] gain anything by it? Will it restore him [her] to a control over his [her] own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj [freedom] for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away."
When I recollect a face of the poorest and the weakest, I don’t see how this verdict makes a difference to his life.

I love my country. I say that from the bottom of my heart. If I were to be given a chance to choose the country I wish to be born in, I would choose India. Everytime. I love this place. The diversity, the tradition and culture.. every square inch is teeming in the most amazing colors .. there is a new culture, cuisine, climate, language, geography with every mile that you traverse.. Where else can you get so much variety. There is so much to India that I don’t think any one person can see it all or even know it all in his entire lifetime. We can but taste a small piece of it. And savour it for all its worth.
SO many people intelligent, sensitive, caring, helpful, talented, creative…. I salute them.
Imagine what we can do if we all move in the positive direction as a collective whole, rooted in our tradition looking on and embracing modernity. We can change the world. We have. One man born in India has left a bit of humanity in every beating heart. The man of the millennium, our own Mahatma. And so many more.
If you look for dirt you will find it. The question is, are you missing the flowers in the garden, stuck on the weeds? Moaning and complaining instead of going on your knees to pluck them off? You can make a difference. Have you done all that you can?
On this Independence Day, let us be independent from our prejudices and doubts. Let us open our hearts and minds. Let us work hard and sleep well. Let each one of us fulfill our potential. Let us find humanity in every face we see.

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

John Lennon

I was watching NDTV the other day that featured a report on the capture of the terrorist, Abdul Amir Qasab, the only one who was captured alive. The significance of that is yet to surface fully. India will no dubt benefit from his confessions to take the war on terror to its logical conclusion. The report featured the three brave police men who were behind the capture, one of whom, Tukaram Umbale, perished in his efforts. I was drawn to tears when I heard how he singlehandedly rushed out to confront the terrorist/s knowing only too well that the chances of escaping alive was an impossibility. And yet he did just that and "was shot five times in the stomach, but he held on to Qasab until others could reach him." We owe that man and his selflessness a great deal. I salute his courage.
I wanted to find out more about the incident and the man himself but the only thing I could "google" out was the same report text at the NDTV site. And I was left unsatisfied. The report hasn't done justice to the incident or to the bravery of the officer. While so much coverage was reserved for the higher officers who lost their lives, including Major Sandeep of the NSG, the lowly ranked cops have been hardly mentioned. And I feel that it is utterly unfair. People are shown paying homage to the senior officers but no one remembers the others. You cannot measure bravery by the rank of the martyr.
I also feel sad that these cops fought against the dreaded, highly trained terrorists with a lone rifle and lathis. Let not our security forces fight the terrorists with only bravery. Lets not take their courage for granted. Lets give them a chance to do their job with dedication and yet make sure they come back to their families at the end of the day. Its often the bravest of the brave that die and are decorated with gallantry awards. But the awards cannot replace the men.
Also to be remembered are the civilians who died in the attacks. Innocent lives snuffed out before time while they went about their lives not troubling anybody. The value of human life reduced to dust. Time, the faithful healer lets us cope with tragedies and yet dulls the pain to acceptance and finally helps forget them. We must not let that happen.
We must build a memorial so we never forget these attacks on our sovereignity, so the flame of anger and the determination to fight against the pestilence of terrorism burns eternally with a brightness that doesnt diminishes with the passage of time. Let the memorial remind us of all the brave officers and civilians who have lost their lives to terrorism all across the country. Let it remind us of every drop of blood that was shed to sully the sacred soil of our nation.

Barkha Dutt hosted a talk show last night in which the Mumbaikars got together for a debate on the aftermath of 26/11. There were those who survived the terror strikes. And those who lost somebody they knew. The mood was angry as it should be. People are just not willing to sweep this incident under the rug anymore. They have faced enough and are not willing to make anymore sacrifices. The politicians have been patronising the citizens of India for too long. They have manipulated the public to dance to their tunes. Taken them for granted. Fooled them with false promises and sugar coated tongues. Thrown morsels at them after promising them heaven. And we let them rape us. And kept quiet. We were too busy to stand up against them. The problem of the person next door was not our problem. Its time we united. The problem of every and any citizen of India is Our collective problem. Just by electing a government to power doesn't absolve us from our responsibility. We have the power to create them, and the power to make the machinery perform. We have the power to bring them down when they have failed us. We have the power to be the change that we seek.
To ensure that such an incident does not happen again in this country we have to address it from two sides. One, if there is a problem do everything in your power to limit the damage. Have better security, educate common people, make our cities more secure and safe.
The other thing and the most important is to PREVENT such an incident from taking place.
1) India needs to send a strong message to the world that we will not tolerate terrorism on our soil. Trying to establish ourselves as a peace loving non violent nation should not be to the extent of projecting ourselves as a soft nation. If war is not a solution, then who is preventing us from going after the terror networks and their established sites. When America went after the Al Quaida it became a US problem. WE preferred to not get our hands dirty. We preferred to sit on the diplomatic fence. WE didn't want to stir the hornets nest. But we still got stung. WE have been getting stung for too long. And other than shouting foul we did nothing and exposed our weakness and vulnerablilty to the terror mongers. Like the nerd that was too weak to fight back we cried when we got bullied. Lets stop playing the role of a friendly neighbourhood hero. No one is standing and applauding our stand. Play the game fair by all means but don't get beaten by twisted rules and foul play.
2) If democracy is of the people, by the people, for the people, then these very people have to be responsible with their votes. You decide the government that will come to power. And once voted, WE don't want to wait for four years to see the change. If any elected member of the assembly or house under performs we need the power to vote him out. A 'call back' system has to be put in place. but before voting the right candidate We need a forum where we can check out every candidate's profile and experience before casting our vote. An official website should be created where the candidate standing for election has to enter his past performance, qualification, and future manifesto with plans to make them work. Should he /she be found failing in his promises then he needs to stand trial in front of the people who voted him. And remember, lets not vote for people who will be "good for me". Lets get people in power who will be "good for us". DON'T LET THEM MAKE ISSUES. YOU TELL THEM THE ISSUES YOU WANT THEM TO TAKE UP.
3) If you think the government is not doing its job, then be a part of the government yourself. Be the change you want to see. I have lots of hope from the youth. Lets stop pointing fingers and take responsibility. Make the change. Its time for a revolution and change. Its the youth of its time that fought the British out of this country. It will be the youth of our times that takes our country out of this age of disillusionment and anguish.
To its basics, it means, one, get the policy right. Two, get the government right. Demand the government that you seek. And three, Be that government.

Its the 28 th of November, 2008. A quarter hour remains before the new day begins. I lie awake at night crying. Sleep eludes me. I remember the face of a crying child, just 2 years old, who has lost his parents to terrorism. Terrorists who stormed the Nariman House in Bombay killed a Rabbi and his wife who were held hostage. Their child "rescued' yesterday is now an orphan.
I imagine him weeping because he is away from his parents. He doesn't understand why they are not with him. He is comforted by strangers. He is looking over their shoulder to spot his parents who will now never come to hold him again. He must have cried himself to sleep and will wake up to an uncertain life without his parents. Who will take care of him? He will cry for days inconsolable until one day he learns that his parents have gone for ever. While he is at the whims of strangers. And even in the best of foster care, can they ever match the love and care that he would have received from his parents? What destiny lies ahead for this unfortunate child for whom the nightmare has just begun? His innocence died with the bullet that killed his parents. Forever.
I too am a mother. I underwent the pangs of labor and delivered my baby girl who is now six months old. I have held her whenever she cried and comforted her. There are times when she only wants me and is not comforted by anyone else. She will cry till she comes into my arms. She needs me to put her to sleep, to feed her, to make her feel okay when she is afraid. And to think that poor little kid will never have these moments again just breaks my heart. There is something only a mother can do for her child. You have to be a mother to understand the pain of separation. I now know. I understand what the hapless mother felt at the moment just before the bullet ripped through her body. She was dead even before the bullet could kill her. She died in that fraction when she realised her child would be an orphan. To lose a parent is bad enough. To lose both in a moment of madness at an age when you cannot comprehend the reason or understand why it happened, is crushing. Did the mother beg her killers to spare her for her child? Did she plead to them to kill her but at least let her husband go so her baby would not get orphaned? Can there be anything more hopeless than losing your parents?
So many children get abandoned for various reasons. How much more tragic is it to lose your parents to senseless violence. Nothing, nothing can justify this act. No matter how persecuted you are or how wronged, the sin of killing this child's parents is unpardonable.How many such babies have been orphaned all over the world in wars and because of terrorism? No matter which part of the world you live, which language you speak or which religion you follow (or were born into) the pains of labor that a mother undergoes is the same. The cries of a child pleading to be comforted by her mother is the same. The affection a father feels is the same. There cannot be a martyrdom after such a heinous crime. No God will forgive this. There will be no peace for the perpetrators in this world or the next. This hatred garbed in supposed vengeance will never be forgiven. The curse of every weeping mother and every crying child will forever be on them.
Death comes to all. But its what you did while you lived that counts. You can kill innocent people. And you can live on. But the blood is in your hands and you can never wash it off.I wish we could go back in time and prevent this crime. I wish the child did not have to cry. I wish no child had to cry. WE can take pride in being humans when there are no more tears in innocent eyes.

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 .