The Idea of a Safe India

How safe are we?

How safe are we?

In the 80’s, there was terror in Punjab. Then there have been continuous terror incidents in Kashmir from the late 80s and early 90s. But the 21st century brought with it a new kind of terror in India. Terrorists now managed serial blasts all across India, and also carried out personal fidayeen attacks in many cities of India. Apart from the terror attacks, there has been religious violence in Gujarat and continuous attacks on Churches across states. There has been violence in Mumbai over North Indians, in Rajasthan over Gujjars demanding a lower SC status, in Punjab over Dera Sacha Sauda, and then there is Naxalism in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar, and many other states. So what happened to the idea of a Safe India?

Terrorism have took a new turn in the last decade. Terrorists now dared to attack the Red Fort in 2000, the Parliament in 2001 and the Akshardham Temple in Gujarat in 2002. There have been bus/car bombings in Mumbai in 2003, serial blasts in Delhi in 2005, serial attacks in Varanasi in 2006, bombings at Mecca Masjid, Hyderabad in 2007, serial attacks in Delhi, Jaipur, Bangalore, Ahmedabad in 2008 plus the 26 Nov Mumbai terror attacks the same year. Terrorists have managed to attack us by sea and land alike. They have come from across the border and there have been home grown Indian Mujahideen as well. There have been bomb blasts at popular markets and fidayeen attacks at religious places.

Apart from terrorism, we have seen the Gujarat riots of 2002, attacks on Churches in Orissa and Karnataka in 2007 and 2008 and many other small incidents. There has been caste violence in Maharashtra over the issue of North Indians and in Rajasthan when Gujjars wanted a lower status to get more reservation. It sounds strange somebody resorting to violence to get a lower status, but it is true. There have been incidents in Punjab over the Dera Sacha Sauda and later over the killing of a Dera leader Ramanand in Vienna. Attacks against dalits have also continued to take place throughout India over the last decade.

Naxalism is active among 220 districts and 20 states of India. According to RAW, there are 20,000 armed Naxalites in India. Even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have regarded them as the biggest internal threat to India. According to reports, more than 6000 people have died due to Naxalism in the last two decades. There are regular attacks on police stations and slaughter of officials by Naxalites in these areas. Coming to the original question, is India safe as a state considering the violence in the last decade. Why can’t we feel safe even in our own country? There is fear of Pakistan based terror, home grown terror, religious violence, caste based violence and naxalism.

So what has gone wrong in the last decade as the idea of a safe India has gone for a toss. We have one of the largest armies in the world, yet we are the most unsafe country it seems. We are going places, our GDP growth rate is the fastest after China, yet we cannot guarantee the safety of our own citizens. Everything India has achieved over the last decade has been because of its private sector while the government has continued to be slow and disappoint ever since. We can only hope this situation will improve and our elected representatives take their tasks seriously before it is too late. I just want to be safe in my own country, Is this too much to ask?

The Positive and Negative Sides of Us

An Eclipse of Black over White

An Eclipse of Black over White

We all have positive and negative sides to our personality. Sometimes we are the cheerful son, ever helping friend and a polite human being. Yet sometimes we can also be selfish, jealous and disrespectful to others. Nobody has escaped these two sides of human nature, the only thing that separates us is with which side we decide to associate ourselves with.

The only difference between a criminal and a philanthropist is in the mind. The old cliche that says that “Human mind is a wonderful servant but a terrible master” probably explains that. The criminal has allowed his insecurities and fears to overcome his mind and better judgment to justify his acts. And the philanthropist’s strong will power has allowed him to overcome his fears and do good for the society in large.

In our daily lives, we come across many different people. They may be colleagues, friends or family members. Let’s take a moment to think about how we interact with these people in our day to day lives. You will be amazed to find out how quickly we forget the good sides and instead focus on the negative sides of people. How water cooler gossip in the office or phone gossip between family members bring out the worst of everyone and hides the good. See how our TV soaps are only tales of deceit, fears, jealousy, greed and not of honor, bravery, honesty and truthfulness.

“Hate the Sin, Not the Sinner“, goes a popular saying. Now if everyone has their negative and positive sides, it basically comes down to us that which side we needs to focus on. Even if we assume that one person is outright cruel and insensitive and deserves every brick you throw at him, he will have a softer side to him. But by that logic, you will be happy/pleased if he changes to a good person. Now, either we can focus and spread gossip about his daily acts of cruelty or praise him, defend him for the one good act he performs sometimes. And how does one expect good out of someone when you never look at that person with trust and confidence, but always with suspicion? And when are his chances of developing his positive traits more, when you gossip about him (which will eventually reach him) or spread word about his good acts?

Gandhiji once said that “Be the change you wish to see in the world“. Now, I am sure that none of us wants to be treated badly by a family member, or ignored by a good friend, or deceived by a business colleague. But are we, each of us as individuals, doing our part? Are we not giving in to our negative sides when we gossip about a colleague, family member or a friend? Instead of all this, if we focus on their positive sides and behave in the same way, we will fill our days with lots of happiness and joy and prevent health problems like blood pressure, etc…

Even if you don’t care about what I have said above or don’t believe that some people have positive sides too, I would still (try to) treat everybody in the best possible way I can. For one, I don’t want to be the person I hate by doing the same stuff that I hate in another person. And secondly, I believe that I my life span of say 60-70 years (of which 26 years are already over), I don’t want to waste my time hating others, there is enough good in the world to focus on and spent the remaining time of my journey on earth.

Two Teams, 13 Days, and Totally Opposite Results

India and SA - Top 2 in ICC Rankings

South African cricket team is on tour to India these days. This included a 2 test series which just concluded 1-1. South Africa won the first test by an innings and 6 runs, threatening India’s number 1 position in the ICC rankings. But India came back strongly in the second test to defeat South Africa by an even bigger innings margin, thus retaining their ranking at the top of the table. My point is how can two teams playing cricket with the same players, under same conditions and within 3 days of each other, produce totally opposite results in the two matches. And this had happened many times before and continue to happen in bilateral series, two matches held closely bringing very contrasting results.

So what factors decide which team wins a game. The team composition and the form of the players, the ground and pitch conditions, the home-away factor or is just about the team who handles the pressure and the mind game better. In the aforementioned India-SA series, the players were same, their form could not have changed much in 3 days, the conditions at both the venues were very similar, Graeme Smith (SA’s captain) won the toss in both the matches and batted first, but the results were exactly opposite. Or is it just some strategies that decide the outcome of the match depending on whether they work on that specific day or not.

South Africa totally batted India out in the first test and were looking to do so again in the second test, when Zaheer and Harbhajan got some quick wickets in the third session of the first day. Was it Harbhajan who did something different, or were the African batsmen overconfident after the huge win in the first test? Or was it just luck that Harbhajan’s tricks worked that day and not in the first test. But that this session was the difference between the two test matches is sure, and had SA managed to bat in the 3rd session like they had done earlier, India would have been no more in the number one position.

You might say India adopted, created new strategies to get the SA batsmen after the first test debacle, and they work. Agreed, players make strategies, learn from their mistakes, and Indians must have done so after the first test. But what I am contesting is the totally different results. If SA would have one the first match by 100 runs and India the second one by 150 runs, it would have been ok. When the top two teams fight, you expect close matches and close results. But you don’t expect a innings defeat to either side in two matches being played. An innings defeat means one team’s total domination over the other, and skills / talent to get such domination cannot change over 3 days.

If skills, talents, players, strategies were not the reason for these two opposite results, what were? Does it only boil down to pressure in the end? Does how a team handles the pressure of a game, how it copes with the various ups and downs during the match decide the fate of the match? Is it only the ability to cope over pressure that make some players and teams click on one day and flop on another? In the end it seems cricket still remains a game which is played in the mind as much as it is played on the field.

Sometimes things go as planned, but the biggest test of players and a team comes when it faces a tough opposition and when your plans don’t work. You might have the best batsmen in the world, but if it your bad day, you can lose your tail in less than 50 runs, as has happened so many times with India. You might have one of the best captains and some good positive players, but how you react to your lows will decide whether you win or lose a match. “A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for” — very rightly said by John A. Shedd and the same looks true for players and teams, if you are never tested, you will never know how good you are.

So the recent series showed that the Indian team is not just number one by fluke, and it has the talent and skills to bounce back and turn things around. That is the stuff of champions, and I am proud that I can call my team that 🙂

An Open Letter to Shiv Sena

My Name is Khan

A MNIK poster on the roads

This is an open letter to the so called protector of Marathi rights, the Shiv Sena. For those who don’t know, Shiv Sena is a major political party in Maharashtra headed by Bal Thackeray, and fights elections normally in an alliance with the BJP. The letter starts below –

Dear Shiv Sena Members,

First of all, congratulations of being a responsible political party in Maharashtra who thinks that blocking the release of a Shah Rukh Khan movie is more important than working on other civic management issues in Maharashtra and Mumbai. These other “less” important issues like lack of safe drinking water which results in diseases like diarrhea, cholera which in turn leads to high infant mortality rates.

Mumbai, where most of you Shiv Sainiks work, is a city of 14 million people but over 60% of them live in slums. And the slum population is still increasing every year. There are traffic problems, lack of housing, poor water and power distribution system, and yet you attack Shah Rukh, Mukesh Ambani and Sachin Tendulkar for saying the obvious. And remember, every time you protest / attack, you are wasting money paid as tax by your own Mumbaikars!!

Only if you remember these are the same people who have brought pride to Mumbai and to India for the last many decades and continue to do so. You ask Shah Rukh Khan to go to Pakistan for supporting Pakistan players, yet your supremo Bal Thackeray invites Javed Miandad at his house. You blame Sachin Tendulkar for saying he plays for India and he is an Indian first, but have forgotten the fame Sachin has brought to Mumbai, India and Indian Cricket. You attack Mukesh Ambani for saying Mumbai is for all Indians, when most of Ambani’s (and Mumbai’s) business comes from all over India.

When India’s constitution guarantees the right to freedom of speech and expression to every Indian, who are you to consider yourself above it? You lost in the last assembly elections, and I hope you don’t think tactics like this would make you win the next one. And if you have to protest, what happened to the idea of peaceful protests? Where did you get the idea that disrupting public life, resorting to violence and attacking prominent personalities will do you any good.

Or maybe you are just in a race with MNS to grab the “most headlines in newspapers” award. Because you feel your own Mumbaikars don’t know what film to go watch, and what all you do is more important than the farmer suicides which are happening in rural Maharashtra unabated. Or maybe it is just frustration at continuously losing elections in Maharashtra that you choose to participate in a headline grabbing race with MNS.

Instead of doing all this stupid stuff, when will you wake up to what Mumbai actually needs. What about protesting for wider roads, an efficient rail system, and sufficient power and water supply? Why don’t you spend time with the youth of Mumbai training them, educating them, and make them more competitive to stand national and global competition? Why not be responsible for a change and go out and meet farmers in rural areas and understand their problems and search for solutions?

I think it is time for you to ponder over what you have been doing and what your city and state needs. Participate in active discussions in the assembly instead of disrupting assembly sessions or remaining absent. Being a responsible opposition party only can help you win the elections next time, and it’s high time you realized that!!

A Nightout at Office – The midnight of 30-31 May 08

Out of the few night-outs I have had in office, this one was special. Well, technically it was not a night out as we left back around 2 am, but the experience was unforgettable and as I have videos to back it up, so I decided to write about it.

It was 30th May 2008 and posting forms work was in full-swing. The 3 of them (Neha, Poorva and Gunjan) decided to work late. I was not in any mood to stay the whole night in office so we decided that we will complete our work and leave by 12 midnight. So, they all started work and I started watching a movie so that it would be over by 12.

Toy Story is a good movie, and it is fun to watch when people around you are working hard and trying to concentrate. The movie got over at 12 and as expected their work as not over yet and they decided to burn the whole night coding. That was too much for me and I decided that its time for some fun now… 🙂

But I didn’t knew what was in store for me that day (or night). I was attacked, I had to attack back (only in self-defence) and there were people who did the job of “Aag me Ghee Daalne Ka“. The below video clearly demonstrate how 2 people are talked up to actually start up a fight.

Now, before you watch the videos, some points to note. Firstly, the commentary might make me look like the biggest culprit because it is done by the “Aag me Ghee Daalne Wali“. Secondly, we will come back to this point later.

So here goes the first video, the Fire Igniter

Some people just need a reason to attack, verbally or physically, and she is one of that kind. The below video will demonstrate how was I attacked and I had to run all over the office for my survival to stay dry. Not all are lucky though, and I was drenched.

So the second video goes below!! Holi Hai!!!

People who know me knows that I am the seedha saadha saint guy but when troubled, you are asking for trouble, big trouble 🙂 So I acted, only in self-defence, and this was the second point to note which I left for later above. The below video captures some part of it where I attacked but fails to capture when 3 dangerous gals attacked me back and the whole cafeteria was flooded. So here goes my small attack :-

By this time, it was around 1 am and we realised it was the office (not some playground) and there were CCTV s installed (god knows whether they were working or not, hopefully not!!). So we thought what might be in store for us the next day as the security guard has taken a couple of rounds around the area and we pretended as if nothing has happened. But the wet floor and carpets were testimony to what we had done.

So the cleanup act started. Me, Poorva and Gunjan started the cleanup act, using newspapers and tissue papers to soak the waters from wherever possible. Neha, as usually lazy, was only filming the whole process rather than helping us out. Well, that was also necessary and I am really grateful she took these videos that day!! So here goes the Cleanup Act :

As people say, strange situations can lead to unknown capabilities being discovered in human beings. And that night we got the proof. Poorva had a tremendous ability to clean things up, even use a pocha (sweeping cloth) in the process. As her coding, her ability to finish any task to perfection was clearly evident here. Here goes the video as a proof. Don’t go at everybody laughing at her, because every wise and great man was once laughed at!! I hope the same goes true for ladies as well!!

To know what happened to those Posting Forms for which they have worked so hard, they finally went live on 20th August, the below image is one from that day showing the tremendous multi-tasking abilities of the Ghee Specialist.

Your comments are welcome!! And I am missing those days… There are many other stories but there are no videos to support me, and my scars have also healed, so lets end here.