Disparate Outlook

The Maoist

2010-04-16T23:52:00.000-07:00

In the last couple of days, three disparate incidents kept the news channels busy. The first one – Maoist attack on Indian Security forces, was covered well by media but then the TRP magic did its trick and media forgot the 76 dead security personnel. They became busy covering Sania and Shoiab Marriage tangle. As soon as their marriage was over Media became busy covering a juicy story of Money,Power and Sex between Tharoor and Modi . The first story is still fresh in my mind and I want to keep it fresh for everyone.

The big question today is whether Maoists issue is a security issue or a socio-economic one and how to deal with it. Nevertheless, yes, it’s a concern which is challenging India’s internal security. I am not a security expert or a social worker who is trying to solve it.

We Indians have to understand, that social neglect and oppression can lead to unrest and a hungry stomach when fed with a gun can lead to uprising. This uprising takes ugly shape it is dealt with a gun again and again ignoring the fact that the stomach is still empty.

Today use of force against the Maoists is must because we have lost the time by ignoring them and they showed their ugly face by hitting back at our security forces. What we should not forget while fighting the battle that the war will be won by knitting a tight socio-economic thread around this ignored civilization.

The joke of the hour is the government is using unmanned airplanes to trace Maoists in jungles, they do not know that technology cannot kill ideology. The Maoist Ideology has to be challenged by low tech grass root level social and economic reforms.

So what next to watch in your news channels, its Sania and Shoaib’s Honeymoon.

The German Valentine Gift

2010-02-14T07:29:00.000-08:00

Today, I have again taken my seat behind my writing pad after long time. This is my first blog in 2010. Well, I am back with my two estranged brother nations – India and Pakistan . What compelled your lazy writer to write, it’s Valentine Day.

14th Feb 2010, India woke up to the Valentine day’s German Gift. The city of Pune was selected for the gift. The gift caused India, 9 lives and more than 50 left injured. The estranged brothers once again entered into discontent with this bomb blast at German Bakery at Pune on pre eve of V day 13th Feb.

I expected this attack. Now, you will think the writer thinks he is a maverick. Well not, when the entire state’s defense mechanism is busy protecting the latest bollywood movie-“MY NAME IS KHAN” ,when the home minister of the state is busy watching Matinee show of the same movie, then people who want these two estranged brother nations to get more estranged, takes advantage.

Why the state police was doing so???? Well, there are politicians in this political system who believes that the only way to show that they are nationalist is to hate Pakistan. The state has to defend itself against these petty political mantras and give away to terror attacks.

This attack has a strategic importance also. Just few days back India took the first step to talk to Pakistan after 26/11, Mumbai attack. This proposed talk between the estranged brothers will again lead again easing tension in Southeast Asia but then there are people who do not want it to happen.

The valentine day is done for this year, the movie “MY NAME IS KHAN” is a superhit and we are left with finding out who is responsible for the attack instead why this attack?????

The New Fashion

2009-12-19T02:56:00.000-08:00

India is into a new fashion these days. It’s an addiction as daily new set of models are joining this fashion movement. This fashion phenomenon is a trend setter which has been given to us by one of our great and renowned class of society. This class of society is called Politicians and the fashion is called “Name A New State Today”.

Our politicians are not leaving any stone unturned to keep this fashion alive. The new Indian states are christened as Telangana, Rayelseema, Bundelkhand, Ghorkhaland, Vidarbha and the list grows daily. This fashion is so addictive that it brings out the hidden Nationalist emotion in a common man. This emotion makes the common man to disrupt law and order, burn buses, stop trains and even kill others to get his new state.

The power of this fashion is such that common man forgets that his new state will have same old politicians with new promises of Good drinking water, 24 hrs of electricity, no unemployment….. which by coincidence are all old promises which were promised and never kept in the old state by the same old politicians. The common man misses the fact that his fate will not change by dividing India into multiple smaller states but will definitely bring fortune to this great and renowned class of society, the politicians.

I am a common man; I agree a smaller state will have focused approach towards my plight which has not changed for years now. The tap in my house will have water now, my daughter will not feel afraid of returning home in late evenings, my son will get job now and the potholes in the roads will vanish. But then did my plight changed when Uttaranchal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh was born????

Our politicians know how to make fortunes out of common man’s dream. I love this fashion parade where the ramp is full of political leaders who hide their greed in the name of Nationalism.

I request my readers to become part of this fashion and name a new state daily.

The Nationalism Ritual

2009-11-21T23:58:00.000-08:00

One year down the memory lane, I am back with an interesting topic, Mumbai attack 26/11 . I am writing after long time, well, that is why I am a lazy writer.

Interesting topic! That is what I said, right? Well, for a Mumbaikar or an Indian it is not an interesting topic. For me, yes, it was a sad incident a year back on 26/11/2008, but today it’s an interesting one.

It brings with it an interesting trial for a person who has grown older, one more year, in Indian Prison; an interesting coincidence of an Investigation Agency which came out of the womb after 9 months of gestation period; an interesting love-hate relationship of a two estranged brothers; an interesting one-year Indian Nationalism ritual.

Kasab is one year older today, breathing Mumbai’s same air which he polluted a year back with his bullets. The trial is going on for a year now just to prove that India’s judiciary does not discriminate between a Kommon man and Kasab. Isn’t it interesting?

NIA – National Investigation Agency was formed in January 2009, they did not wake up with the Assam blasts , they did not wake up when the Naxalite nexus was blowing off of rail tracks and cell phone towers, they did not wake up when Hadley and Rana were roaming in India freely and planning for another attack. They finally came out of the womb after nine months in October when America told them about tourist escapades of Hadley and Rana. NIA is born at last. Isn’t it interesting?

India and Pakistan are not in talking terms today because of 26/11. This interesting love hate relationship has a long history. The estranged brothers hated each other after parliament attack, they were in love when they were exchanging buses, they hated each other after Kargil, they were in love by when they played cricket together. Aren’t the estranged brothers – India & Pakistan are in an interesting relation?

We, Indians remember everything when it finishes a cycle of one year when our news channels tell us that 26/11 has come again in 2009. The cellphone operator only remembers about welfare of our Police force after one year when he tells us that we need to talk for one hour on 26/11 so that the money raised in that one hour goes to Police welfare fund. A lazy writer comes out of its laziness to write because he feels people will find Mumbai attack 26/11 interesting, after one year only. Isn’t it interesting?

The Political system - The Prince and The Future

2009-06-13T08:41:00.000-07:00

Let me tell you, a small fairy tale…..

“Once upon a time there was a prince charming, who fought for his Kingdom’s independence. Once the kingdom is liberated, he was the undisputed king. He ruled the kingdom for years together. His daughter also became the Queen charming and ruled the kingdom. Then came Queen’s son, the new prince charming and became the king of the nation.”

My dear readers, what do you call someone whose great grand father was Prime Minister of The Indian Nation, whose grand mother was also Prime Minister and whose Father was too a Prime Minister. Well, I will call him THE PRINCE or rather, for me, he is RENAISSANCE PRINCE.

The Renaissance Prince charming arrived in the arena of the Great Indian Politics and secured his place for the throne of King. Well, why I call this gentleman a “Renaissance Prince” is because he has not only changed the rules of the game but also set his own rules. The prince charming went around from one village to another, waving his hand to the people of India and pulling the crowd behind him. The smile on his lips did not fade during the entire cycle of election. The young prince brings along with him a genre of young Indian political leaders.

The Prince today calls shots in India’s largest and oldest political party, Congress. The party looks at him as their next prime ministerial candidate. I look at him as just the prince charming; he is yet to prove his political acumen. He is young and vibrant. He is the youth icon for Indians today.

Does Rahul Gandhi have the capability to rule India in 2014? Is this foreign educated prince understands the Indian ethnic diversity and their needs today? Does Rahul understand the geopolitical and demographical neighbours of India? Does Rahul have the shrewdness to face the Left – Communists and the Right –BJP of India’s Politics? Well, I cannot predict future, but can India’s future have a place for him. Let’s wait till 2014…….

The Men of Honor - Punjab.

2009-02-08T08:27:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, there was a war between two brothers, oops! Two nations. One Nation has pitched its Army disguised as Mujahideens and another nation has pitched its Army without any disguise.
The world knows this war as Kargil war. Well, I am not going to talk about Kargil war. Now, in this war, there was a regiment, of great men of honor. This regiment, when it was proceeding towards the war zone, was stopped by a group of camera totting press reporters. These reporters stopped the boys of this regiment to take their photograph, so that their photo can appear as part of the cover story, one Indian Magazine was writing about the war. These Men of honor denied the cameramen the honor and pointing towards the mountain Peak, said, “We will only pose for the photo, when we hoist the Indian Flag out there and come back”.

These “Men of Honor” belong to Sikh regiment of Indian Army. The Sikhs come from the land of India’s Green revolutionaries, PUNJAB.
The state of Punjab has given birth of two states of India and one state of Pakistan since its inception. India carved out Himachal Pradesh and Haryana from Punjab and Pakistan took West Punjab out of it.
The state of Punjab is unique. The only state in India, whose people took arms against the Nation and the today they are with the Nation. The only state in India, whose history has introduced a new religion to the world, Sikhism. The only state in India, who gave the Nation its first modern temple, Bhakhra Dam – The first Hydro electric Power plant. The only state in India with Punj ( five) rivers (aab).The only state in India which share its Capital,Chandigarh, with one more state of India, Haryana.

The Punjabis, residents of Punjab, are fun loving people. They love dancing and Singing. Bhangra, predominantly a male dance form is complimented by Gidda, the female dance form. The political intellect of Punjabis, have given India President and a Prime Minister. The scholarly Punjabis have given India great Poets and their famous legendary love epics.

A recent Bollywood movie song talks about these “men of honor” aptly.

“ Singh is King, Singh is King, Har koi jane,
Singh is King, Singh is King, Duniya Pehchane”
(Every one knows and the world acknowledges that Singh is King)

The Country and The People - Movie Nationalism

2009-01-17T06:04:00.000-08:00

“I was ready to pay 2000, but did not get the ticket for the first show”, said Murugan sadly, to his elated friend Selvam. Selvam is happy and excited today. He was standing in line from night and was eying the ticket window like a hawk. When the most eyed, ticket window opened in at morning 10 AM, Selvam was pushed by a wave of a giant Tsunami of Fans of his favorite star. He survived the Tsunami and got the ticket by 12 PM. Murugan was unlucky to survive the Tsunami.

“No Tickets, Sir. I can get you for tomorrow’s morning show” said one of the voices, coming from behind. Murugan turned and looked into the eyes of a thin limping man with a short face.
“How much”, Murugan asked immediately without wasting a single second, keeping the eye contact.
“Three thousand, not a rupee less.”
“Done, when do I get the tickets”
“ Just 15 mins before the show, meet me at the same place” said that thin man and gesturing his fingers in such a way, as if he was begging. Murugan knew, out of his experience, that this is not a begging gesture, the man was demanding money. Murugan gave the man Rs2000/- and said,
“Remaining, with the tickets”.

“Sir, if you do not find me here, just, go the ticket window and ask for Anna”. Anna disappeared in the crowd quickly. The Big Brother, that’s what Anna means in Tamil. Murugan was aware of the nexus between the cinema owners and the ticket blackers. He was not bothered, after all he was going to watch his favorite Superstar, Rajni tomorrow, in Padayappa. He also worshipped, poured milk and chanted Mantras of success, for the mega cutout of his mega star, Rajni, the previous day.
Tamil fans are fanatic, when it comes to Rajnikant or Kamal Hassan.

This is not the case in Tamil Nadu, we Indians are fanatic, when it comes to movies or the movie stars. We eat cinema , drink cinema and sleep cinema. We love gossiping about the star’s life, talking about them. .We, Indians, derive our lessons of life and inspiration of life from the dialogues of our movie stars. We are ready to elect them to our Parliament, just believing that they can change the Country and fight the evil as they do it movies. We Indians breathe the movie songs and live the dance performances. Indian Movies depict the win of good over evil, they take us to the joy ride of a romantic life. We are emotional, when it comes to movies.

The Nation And The Security - Clock 2009

2009-01-10T08:08:00.000-08:00

“Welcome to 2009”. Nay, I am not welcoming you guys to the New Year. This is what one of the disparate groups of eastern India, ULFA (United Liberation Front of Assam) said on 2nd Jan to India. Guwahati was rocked by serial blasts killing 5 and injuring more than 30 the “Ahom” nation. Ironically, the Indian democracy had its first FBI in the form of NIA, National Investigation Agency, on 1st Jan 2009.

The count down 2009 has begun. Oops, its count up. This year starting, we will count up, a small, common and frequent occurring phenomenon. This is small because the Nation’s polity never woke up till it affected the Classes, in the fag end of 2008 otherwise it was allowed to take its toll on Masses. This phenomenon is common and frequent in India as in 2008 it occurred almost every month and in every big city. This phenomenon we know all as “Terror Attacks”.

The Taj was attacked, our politicians rose up and did nothing different by blaming their estranged brother Nation. The TV channels relate Mumbai Blasts to Hotel Taj Attack. Everyone forgot who died in Mumbai railway terminus because they were masses and Classes only stay in Taj.

The clock has counted one with the Guwahati blasts. Here is a dialogue from an offbeat Bollywood movie –Sehar,“ kuch hadse aise hote hai, jo siyasi soch badalne ni taqat rakhte hai.” There are some incidents which has the power to change the political thinking of the Nation. Mumbai Attack was one such hadsa.

So, do our politicians have started thinking differently, do our intelligence agencies have started thinking differently? I do not think so, 9th Jan 2009 saw another blast in Guwahati in Maligaon Bazaar killing 2 and injuring 11.

The clock has starting ticking and the count in 2 ……

The “TA TA” State – WEST BENGAL

2008-10-05T05:04:00.000-07:00

3rd Oct, 2008, the cultural Capital of India proved on this date that

“WHAT INDIA THINKS TODAY, BENGAL WILL THINK AFTER 20 YEARS”

On this date, West Bengal said “TA TA” to Tatas for their NANO car project thereby distancing themselves from industrialization and growth, by another 20 years.

On this date, the dream of becoming Chief Minister of the State and defeating the Left, said “TA TA” to the Trinamool leader, Mamata.

On this date, the Buddhadeb proved that he has said “TA TA” to his leadership skills and political intellect, forever.

The State Politics, National Politics and the International Politics made its affect felt and the world’s first cheapest car of Indian origin, left its first home before it was even born. Let us try to understand, the dynamics which lead to this historic show and players of this big game.

The cast consists of

Ratan Tata – The blind man.

Buddhadeb – The feeble King.

Karat – The Clown in disguise.

Mamata – The stubborn Traitor.

Manmohan – The Puppet King.

The Story unfolds…
The people of West Bengal, I doubt, would have ever known Ratan Tata, till he became blind. One fine day he had a dream of making World’s cheapest car “NANO” when he saw a family driving on a scooter. He went on realizing his dream and selected the kingdom of West Bengal as birthplace of Nano. It’s just a coincidence; Bengali meaning for “NA”, in English is “NO”. Till this time Ratan Tata was able to see but then a blindness of a special kind enveloped him. He was not able to see through the promises made to him. He started believing in the Indian political system which back stabbed him when he needed its help, the most. He was not able to see through the decision of selecting Singur, for his Nano’s birthplace, which was a Trinamool bastion. He was not able to see through the incompetence of the feeble king – Buddhadeb’s ability to control the opposition.

Blindness gripped him so much that he was compelled to say “I still have a great deal of respect for the leadership of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee”; on the day he announced his withdrawal from Singur.

The chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, came to power with a vision of giving West Bengal a push towards Industrialization. He never knew, at that time, that if he has to realize his vision, he has to be politically correct in dealing with his own party and the opposition party. When I say, “Politically Correct”, I mean the typical Indian style of governing a state, using the intelligence agencies to dig into political rivals, using the police machinery to silent the yelling rivals, seducing the foes to become friends by giving them suitcases. But then a Gentleman chief minister like Buddhadeb cannot be “Politically Correct”.

But when he back tracked on his statement on “Bandhs”, but when his government land acquisition process made the farmers berserk, but when his state police undermined the Singur Agitation and opened fire, when he did not learnt from the Nandigram fiasco and allowed Mamata to block National Highway for weeks, was he acting in the right spirit of a Gentleman chief minister. He was only showing his trait of a feeble and weak leader who can only announce revised compensations and pray to the Tata’s to not to go back.

A traitor is that person who goes against the state and shakes hand with the Nation’s enemy. Neah! Mamata Bannerjee cannot be a traitor.
Can taking help from the Maoists of the state is not a trait of a traitor? Can blocking a national highway for weeks together thereby trying to choke the lifeline of the state, is an act of a patriot? Well, I left it to my readers to decide it.

First chemical hub at Nandigram, then Tata’s Small car project in Singur, next in pipeline is Reliance Fresh – how can a responsible politician have this agenda? Well, if the politician had a vengeance that I will go against any thing which the ruling party is doing, then this agenda holds good. No matters the state plunges into darkness of non-industrialization, no matters how many people loose jobs, no matter how many good opportunities are lost for growth, Mamata will not budge. A opposition party leader who not only work against the ruling party but also against the state and its people, does not have a sense of what is good for her own party as well as her own political career, can only deserve to be an arrogant traitor.

Now to conclude, we will read the clown and puppet story. There was an Indian puppet king who always did what the Italian Queen will say. He had the support of an Indian or Chinese or Russian – I am not sure. One day the Puppet king decided that he will no longer be puppet and went ahead to shake hands with Uncle Sam for Kingdom’s nuclear deal. The left, under leadership of Prakash Karat, gave some restless nights for Manmohan Singh, our King. The king went on to strike the deal, without the support of left, endangering his own government, which made Prakash Karat a clown in distress. Then, came the payback time, Prakash Karat’s decision to withdraw support from ruling party over the Nuke deal, was returned back to him. Congress told straightway that they cannot do much for the Singur issue rather the state should deal with it, on its own.

Its time for Bengal to think, what they want to be “ An intellectual forward looking Indian state or irrational dead state whose disgruntled youths will add to the numbers, of the Maoists, in future.”

Also Read

The Left - West Bengal.

The Country and The People - Sports Nationalism

2008-09-06T21:27:00.000-07:00

Lets take the nationalism of the Indians first.

Today, Vijay has left his office early and hurrying back home fast, its thirty past five in the evening. He is caught up in the Bangalore Traffic near BTM and worried if he will be able to reach home early as he has planned. His children have not gone out for tuitions because Sharma sir has told them yesterday
“Tomorrow’s Class is cancelled but stay at home”
“Thank you sir, even papa will be back home early” said Rahul, 13 year son of Vijay, smiling.

Somewhere in Delhi, a young business man Nakul is also struck in traffic near Paharganj and he has called his wife thrice whether she has come back home from shopping. Chatterjeeda’s bicycle has got punctured today; he is cursing the roads of his town Changernagore and pushing it fast towards his house. Mr. Venugopal’s son Ramji today morning went to the Temple to offer prayers to that today’s evening should bring would luck for India.

Why is this anxiety across the country? Why people are running home as if today is doomsday? Today lovers point is not so crowded but the beer bars are jam packed and bachelors have gathered in one of their common friend’s house with packs of fags.

It is India Vs Pakistan game of cricket in its new squeezed Avatar in 20-20 world cup, today. It is not just a game; it is a war- A war which is no less than the Kargil War. Today, the Indian squad of 11 is under tremendous pressure not for facing Pakistan in the Arena of 20-20 world cup but for understanding the fact that the entire Nation is just eying at them. The nation’s izzat ( prestige) is at stake and they can only honor it. Their houses will be stoned, their effigies will be burnt and they have to live under police protection in the coming weeks, if they loose the match today. If they win, they are the demi-gods of the nation, they will be worshipped like any other God and the cola companies will be after them with hefty cheques.

Nationalism at its peak with the fervor of love for one’s country is just boiling. The people want their team to defeat Pakistan rather to win the match, though it means the same in English but it makes lot of difference in India. The emotion that ferments out of the nation, in defeating Pakistan is much more caustic than winning a match with Pakistan. This feeling is comparable to a jihadi’s love for its religion, a fanatic’s love for his extreme extremism and you can find it only in India.

Indian nationalism can pardon the country’s Cricket team for loosing to England forgetting the fact it is the same country which ruled us for 300 years, depleting us from our natural resources and wealth but the nationalism will not accept a defeat from the neighboring half brother nation at any cost. We Indians are emotional when it comes to Pakistan, a country whom our army defeated thrice in the game of war since both of the estranged bothers became independent. Well a brother can only be emotional about his brother; it’s a blood relationship.

At last, India defeated Pakistan in 20-20 in a dramatic way with the winner being decided by bowl out. A series sounds of cracker fireworks can be heard now, at night 1 AM, the sky is lit with brightest colors of fireworks. There are people distributing sweets in the street and marriage music bands are pressed into action, they are playing the latest bollywood songs. The people of the nation is out on streets at night 1 AM dancing to madness, an ecstatic trait of our Nationalism. Police is tense, as they fear some of the Muslim houses can be attacked in the middle of night by the frenzied crowd on the street, a fanatic trait of our Nationalism.

“India never lost to Pakistan in any world cup till date” Rahul heard from Sharma sir next day in his tuition class.

Also Read

The Country and The People - Introduction

The Freedom Movement - First Battle Lost.

2008-09-06T10:40:00.000-07:00

Let us now try to understand what really led to the , so called, first war for Independence and why we never got independence in 1857.

Let us still go back, riding on our time machine, 100 years before 1857.

Here, we are in a village near today's Murshidabad in West Bengal. The day is bit cloudy and the date is precisely June 23rd, 1757. My respected readers will be thinking that how can I so confident that this day is a cloudy day. Well, I am just assuming, as that day it rained heavily and that rain was to last for just an hour. After this hour of rain, history was destined to change its course, from Mughal India to British India. This village, on this un-fateful day, will witness a battle, drench with rain and soaked with treachery and betrayal.

People like us will always blame the history for the pangs of present. Well, history is slave of the people who lived and behaved, the way they were not supposed to, at that time or God wanted them to behave as they behaved at that time. I am not sure about on what really history depends on, but one thing is sure, that day Siraj ul Daulah’s ammunition was not prepared to face that unworthy rain. It got drench and lost its firepower soon.

Then one more thing happened, as it was destined to happen. Siraj ul Daulah’s army launched the ground assault thinking the enemy firepower has met with the same fate and there, they were just wrong. The Nawab’s army came under heavy fire power unexpectedly.

Next in the episode is the incident, which each British, in India, will use as a “lesson learnt” from Lord Clive, was the final nail in the coffin. Mir Jafar, the previous army chief of Nawab betrayed his cruel Master, who had insulted him in the past and shifted his loyalty. This new friendly gesture of Mir Jafar was to avenge his demotion from Army Chief and make his dream of becoming Nawab of Bengal, a reality. Well, as we all know, dreams and realities are ways apart; hence Mir Jafar became the Nawab but nothing more than a Puppet Nawab in the hands of East India Company.

With his battle lost by the Mughals, the French also lost their monopoly on the trade in Bengal. Now it was only East India Company who was going to get access to the rich grounds of Bengal and use Bengal as a gateway to rest of India.

Our history will remember this battle, by the name of this small hamlet, as BATTLE OF PLASSEY.

Also read
The Freedom Movement - The Introduction

The Left - West Bengal

2008-09-05T10:47:00.000-07:00

The tigers of whose land are known as Royal tigers,
The performers of that land gave the Nation an Oscar;
The intellectuals of that land bought the Nation two Nobel;
The Scholars of that land authored the Nation’s National Anthem;
The polity of that land realized the Nation’s first grassroot level governance “Panchayati Raj”.
The planners of that land ran the Nation’s first tunnel rail to answer the growing capital city’s traffic.

“What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow”
The statement once aptly described the Indian state of West Bengal, also once known as the intellectual capital of India.

The citizen of the land start their day with sweets, their afternoon with fish, evening with adda and night ends with sweets, again. The children of the land do not attend Piano, Karate or Swimming classes; they go for Music, Painting and Classical dance classes. The young are crazy about football but their favorite sportsman is Sourav - the ex-Captain of Indian Cricket team. O the Bengalis !!!

“The past is glorious, the present is furious” my wife says so and I concur.

But why she thinks so. Well, the answers lie in the changing values of the political system of the state. The political system which has never changed for more than 25 years, whose ethos are derived from Russia and China, whose believes are divided over Russia and China again, whose values gives fuel to the extreme philosophy of the naxalites of the Nation.

The Indian state of West Bengal whose eastern half is a Nation, Bangladesh, forms the chicken neck of Eastern India. This state is ruled by the country’s left parties, predominantly Communist Party of India –Marxist ( CPI(M)) with its allies Communist Party of India (CPI), Forward Bloc (FB). The opposition parties, in the state, today (2008) are fragmented between Congress and Trinamool Congress.

The tail end of my wife’s quote is justified, as this year; two new geographical locations of the state started glowing in the world Atlas – Singur and Nandigram. Just a year back these two places were just places, unknown to the people of the state even. They were just one dark black dot on the map of the state, hidden and lost among the other dark black dots representing the small villages of the state.

Destiny was waiting for these two places to change them and make them the hotbed of turmoil of the changing values of the 25 year old political system. The changing values of the ruling party clashed with changing values of the opposition party. These clashes gave rebirth to Singur and Nandigram. With this rebirth, the competency of a gentleman chief minister was tested in the field of politics and he failed miserably. With this rebirth, the role of an arrogant opposition leader was tested and she failed too. Two failed leaders and two new reincarnate villages are struck at the crossroads of Industrialization and Agriculture.

Also Read

The "TA TA" State - West Bengal.

The Nation and The Security

2008-07-28T04:26:00.000-07:00

As per Hindu mythology, Hriranyakasyap was granted a typical wish.

He can never be killed by a Human or by an Animal.
He can never be killed at Morning or at the Night.
He can never be killed inside the house or outside the house.

This means he can attack anyone at anytime in any place. This is what is happening today in India. Our lives are at stake. The Hriranyakasyap of terrorism can strike us anywhere anytime at his will.

India is running through an era where the establishment needs to differentiate between a Naxalite and a Terrorist, a Maoist and a Jihadi, an Extremist and a Militant. As a legacy of our democracy where we presume that we do not differentiate between people or community, we are also not making an attempt to distinguish between a rebel and an insurgent.

Destiny met Hriranyakasyap in the form of Narasimha – A Man with a Torso of Lion, who exterminated him in the twilight hours of the day on the doorstep of his house.
India needs a Narasimha to tackle terrorism who can strike at the edifice of terror ideology with a stratagem mix of political and apolitical will.

Security problems are internal as well as external in nature when it comes to a Nation. These problems become evil when the custodians of the system neglect a “special set” of people to devour their political hunger. This “special set” changes its phenotypical traits based on genotype of hunger. This “special sets” then tend to look for a belief to tender. This belief can always be fed by an ideology. Ideology can be based on religion, economic, social groupings, color of skin or anything which affect the day to day life.

When these “Special Sets” start believing in an ideology, they look for “Separate Space” for themselves, so that their ideology becomes a doctrine. This “separate space” can be a nation or an independent state within a nation. This “Special Sets” when they resort to violent means to achieve their “Separate Space” they are termed as outlaws.

In India we know these Outlaws by different names – Naxalite, Extremist, Kharku, Jihadi, Terrorist, Maowadi, Militants. The problem which has become an Evil now is a resultant of our internal “Special Sets” getting support from external “Special Sets” and vice versa. But in this game of supporting each other to get mutual benefits, these “Special Sets” dilute their ideology and in turn play into the hands of external “Special Sets”. They also compromise on the “Separate Space” in turn giving way, to get handled by corrupt power hungry politicians or intelligent undercover sleuths.

The Heaven - Jammu and Kashmir

2008-07-07T23:16:00.000-07:00

CHAPTER I

“Ya firdaus barruhe jamInast,
aminasto aminasto aminast!"
"If there be a paradise on earth, It is here, it is here, it is here!"
This was once said by the great Moghul Emperor Jahangir about a kingdom which he never knew after 400 years, the same kingdom will become the hotbed for conflict in South Asia.

He also never knew his great words will be ridiculed as
"Gar dozhak Jaminast,
Aminasto Aminasto Aminasto!"

Well India, as I always say, is unique in all respects. To understand this uniqueness let me introduce an old word to you all, it’s called ‘Majority’, when we say it, we talk about numbers. So India has Hindus in Majority and Muslims in Minority, the uniqueness lies in Jammu and Kashmir, the only state in India where Muslims form a considerable majority.

Before we go into understanding one more disparate outlook about Kashmir in details…..We need to refresh our vocabulary with few more old words; the first word which comes to my mind is “Kashmiri”. Well, ask any person who understand a little bit about India, this word will mean to him nothing more than “a native of Kashmir”. Let us understand, this utterance, does not bring in the segregation of religion, as this word is common for anyone whether Hindu or Muslim, born and bought up in Kashmir.

Now let us go a bit more deeper into one more word, "Kashmiriyat". To be frank i have not framed this word, you can find it referenced on Wiki also. The behavour of being part of Kashmir, to take pride in owning the history and culture of Kashmir is nothing but Kashmiriyat. Again this behavour is free of any relegious affinity.

Do not take me like a teacher who is just teaching some words and their meanings. Why am i saying this is, because we will be learning about three more words before we plunge into details of the state which is a live training field for Indian Army today. Well, the words are "Plebiscite" , "Panun" and "Azad".

Plebiscite means a direct vote, which decides acceptance or rejection of a particular propossal, by the people. This means, it talks about deciding on a proposal which already exists, not coming up with a new proposal or modifying the existing proposal. Also, a pleboscite can have only two answers either a YES or a NO.

Let's take the the next one, Panun, the meaning is simple and easy to understand. It means "Ours". We will not go into details of, how is word is coined, why is it coined and who coined it. We will deal with this is the later Chapters.

The last word in this chapter in "AZAD". It is the same word which Subhas Chandra Bose used to christen his Army. It is the same word which reminds us of a freedom fighter who preferred to shoot himself rather than dying at the hand of Britishers.
This word means "FREE". Sometimes I debate, whether being "free" is same as being "Independent"or can a "dependent" be "free". I leave it upto my readers to argue, while we keep our first step in THE HEAVEN.

To be continued…

The Freedom Movement - Introduction

2008-07-06T08:49:00.000-07:00

I will call it as Movement rather than Struggle because a struggle signifies a opressed fighting against a much more superior enity than itself. Our Freedom Movement was not a fight with a superior power rather amovement to make the Britishers understand that they are no great.

Well, a question always arises in my mind, why there was no organised movement against the Mughals but there was one against the Britishers. The answers perhaps lies in the way the the Badshah governed the subcontinent as compared to the Queen. The Britishers came to India to increase their own bounty while the Mughals came to establish a new dynasty.

I am not supportive of Mughals or the way they ruled. Only one thread is common between these two periods of our history- We were nver ruled as a one country by our own people where as we were ruled by our own Kings or Rajas in small territories of their own thereby setting up or following their own customs and traditions.

Indian Freedom Movement's first war for independence, as everyone knows was fought in 1857. I beleive there was a second war for Independence, which was also fought, before 1947.This war was lead by a self determined tiger, Subhas Chandra Bose. Then there was this third war, which gave us independence. Never in the history of this world or in future such a war will ever be fought. A war without an Army, without weapons , a war for independence which is non Violent in nature.

Also read
The Freedom Movement - First Battle Lost.

The Political System

2008-07-06T03:48:00.000-07:00

Indian politics is unique in all respects where uniqueness lies in the nature of the political parties and the ethos governing their rationale of becoming a political party in Indian Politics.

There are parties who derive their thinking and philosophy from Russia and China, they believe the greatest leaders ever born are Lenin and Che Guevara, yet they are well customized themselves to a democratic parliament system.

Let’s talk about one more party who derive their thinking from Savarkar and Lord Rama to some extent, they believe the greatest leaders are only born in Hindustan, they believe they are the caretakers of all the temples, yet they were not able to build one when they came to power.

There is one more party which lies in-between country’s left and right, this party thinks Indian Independence was their gift to this country, they believe a leader is a leader when his surname has Gandhi, yet they ruled this country for more than 40 years.

There are other small or rather regional parties whose contribution to Indian Political system is nothing but adding to the numbers in Parliament for the party in majority and gaining some benefits out of this support for their respective states or rather regions.

Indian politics lives and breathes in a multi-party system which means, nothing but, each one can have his own political party. Now we need to understand who these people, who lead these political parties are. I am not trying to dig into someone’s biography, what I am trying to do is, just giving a try to find a common thread in the leaders of our political system.

Let’s take the oldest party in our political history which was once lead by the legendary Subhas Chandra Bose. This party, came into power just after our Independence and was destined to rule Independent India for more than 40 years. We will start with the current who’s who.

A Sikh from Assam who never contested a Lok Sabha Election or a Lady from Italy who accepted her fate in Indian politics, after her husband’s death, to give my reader’s a milieu. To cause to be unable to think with clarity or act with intelligence or understanding is known as confused. That is exactly my state of mind is, when I look at the leadership of this Party.

Lord Rama was born to kill the evil King Ravana so that peace prevails and everyone lives happily. He should have been cursing Himself on December6 ,1992. “Ek Dakka aur do ……thod do” (Means Give one more push, ……will fall). These slogans were coming from a dais which were occupied by, along with a rest of the so called custodians of religion, one of the future leaders of India's right winged political party. A native of Gujarat, loves to tour India on a chariot and yearning to become Prime Minister, at least once, before he retires from Indian Politics.

To be Continued...

The Country and The People - Introduction

2008-07-06T03:43:00.000-07:00

I do not know shall I call it India or Hindustan or Bharat the reason is this country is unique in all respects where each community has its own GOD to believe, its own dialect to talk, its own food habits to eat, its own dance forms to amuse and each community changes every 500 kms.

We are a country where we have commonalities yet they are unique in nature - A Bengali can understand Oriya but finds it difficult to read, Idly is loved by Tamils and Kannadigas yet their Sambar are unique in taste, A Manipuri and a Gharwali may look like twin brothers but they cannot understand each others language.

There are three things which are common in each and every person of this country - they are crazy about movies, they love or rather die for cricket and loves to talk or rather gossip about politics.

There are 28 states and 7 Union Territories that make India as one Nation as of 2008.A time stamp in the unit year is needed when we describe the territorial boundaries of our exclusive nation. Before the year of 1947, we were not mere few states but a conglomerate of nations together. Then post 1947, we were partitioned as India and Pakistan - The brothers who passed the class of 1947 together. Brothers are brothers; they are together today also - India being the nation with second largest Muslim Population and Pakistan being the second largest Muslim country. Let’s stamp the brothers again with one more year 1971; world’s third largest Muslim country is born. Now we were India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. It’s not that all, by 1910 Bhutan was to detach, by 1919 Afghanistan was branched out, when came 1923 Nepal was a separate kingdom. The post 1947 divisions were result of great Indian Politics and pre 1947 divisions were gifted by Great Britain. Mother India is still giving birth to States by continuous churning its boundaries- younger siblings are Chattisgarh, UttaraKhand and Jharkhand. Few more are undergoing metamorphosis – Telangana, Darjeeling.

“sare jahan se achcha hindostan hamara
ham bulbulen hain us ki vuh gulsitan hamara
ghurbat men hon agar ham, rahta hai dil vat̤an men
samjho vuhin hamen bhi dil ho jahan hamara
parbat vuh sab se uncha, hamsayah asman ka
vuh santari hamara, vuh pasban hamara
godi men khelti hain us ki hazaron nadiyan
gulshan hai jin ke dam se rashk-e janan hamara
ay ab-rud-e ganga! vuh din hain yad tujh ko?
utara tire kinare jab karavan hamara
mazhab nahin sikhata apas men bair rakhna
hindi hain ham, vatan hai hindostan hamara
yunan-o-mir-o-ruma sab mit gaye jahan se
ab tak magar hai baqi nam-o-nishan hamara
kuchh bat hai kih hasti mitti nahin hamari
sadiyon raha hai dushman daur-e zaman hamara
iqbal! koi maram apna nahin jahan mein
malum kya kisi ko dard-e nihan hamara!”

Our Hindu majority Nation is best described by the Muslim Poet, Iqbal, in the above poem. On the contrary, The People of the nation cannot be depicted by any poem because they are Indians. I may be sounding a bit pro-nationalist but then I am only taking the privilege of being a proud Indian and I will be the same privilege throughout the essay below.

People of any nation are known for a trait of their own. An Indian is known for his multiple traits. I am not trying to underestimate any of the nations and their citizens on this earth but as I said earlier I am just enjoying the feeling of being an Indian. The traits, we Indian enjoy, are the traits of the soil of the Nation.

Also Read

The Country and The People - Sports Nationalism