Why India will continue to be raped at the hands of terrorists?

I have been keeping quiet for too long a time. Many who used to follow my blogs have been asking me why I have slumped into oblivion and not writing much. And whatever I wrote were of little consequence. Friends, Readers - I have only 2 words to give as answer. Helplessness and Selfishness. Helpless at being able to do NOTHING in the face of whatever that has been happening and Selfish enough to be attending only to my goals. There were too many things that had my full-time attention and did not find time enough to write much. But here it is finally.

Why India will continue to be raped at the hands of terrorists?

1. Because we are dumb enough to be pursuing peaceful means of responding to an act of war.

2. Because the financial interests of our bungling politicians is far too entrenched with the criminals for them to stake an action against them.

3. Because our borders are more porous than sponge and there is little being done to stem it.

4. Because we care about our image regardless of what is happening on our sovereign soil.

Until these change, there is much less scope for any less terrorist attacks.

How many cities in the recent past have seen atleast one terrorist attack? Mumbai, New Delhi, Varanasi, Coimbatore, Bangalore? I am discounting Kashmir totally. That poor state has witnessed more acts of war than the rest of the world put together. I know it could be exaggeration, but what the heck?!

And how have we responded to these attacks? We conduct peace talks with the nations against whom we have solid proof of harboring terrorists. More specifically - our "friendly" neighbour on the north western frontier. Mr. Kaskar (otherwise known as Dawood Ibrahim) has been a guest of the country for a long time now. The man principally responsible for March 1993 Serial Blasts in Mumbai. If that had happened in any American city, by now, the man's mortal remains would have been squirming in its grave. But, he is enjoying freedom, breathing free air, fully protected by the establishment. How can India go into a diaglogue with a country that hosts the man with the biggest crime charges in India? Beats me!

Back in school days, we friends used to discuss fighter planes. What US had, what UK had, what the Russians had... etc. And finally what we Indians had. We used to pride that IAF was probably among the best in the world. We used to discuss with puffed up chests that should the situation demand, IAF jets would take off from their hidden bases near Mumbai and mince-down major enemy cities within 20-30 mins. As children, we used to sit and watch the republic day parade. An astonishing display of military prowess - tanks, missiles, army etc. Of what use are these if they were meant to be a huge pile of iron? Only money being wasted on the maintenance of these.

How many more lives will it take for the Indian Government to realise and take action like what the Bush government did in 2001 after the 9/11. The US forces pummelled the enemy into submission. And their agents and secret forces are taking out anybody that they believe is just talking against them. If they can do it, why not us? Are our lives any cheaper? Does their being a major superpower change the equation anyway? If so, how come Israel is launching an all out attack against the Hezbollah?

India wants to continue its goody-two-shoes image in the eyes of US. Because of vested interests in trade and all those things. The N-deal partnership is touted as the biggest pack in Indo-US ties. It may be. But these are fine, as long as we are protecting our boundaries and our soil. But no. The argument will be that the N-deal came through only because we have been a "responsible" power in the region. Responsibility in the name of mute acceptance is no responsibility at all. The nation owes its responsibility first to its own citizens and then to anybody else.

After 9/11 in NYC or London blasts, you could notice the obvious boost in security policies, security practices etc. So many immigration laws were changed, so many airport checks were increased, so many public areas were under continuous surveillance... nothing like that happening in India except for the surveillance - which again is minimal and ineffective. Why? It all costs money. And our politicians would rather stash their money in bonds and swiss bank accounts than use it for upgrading security. Their own interests are far more well served than those of the nation. I know this does not apply to all politicians but it does apply to the absolute majority. And those in the minority (the clean ones) will not debate for the credibility of their colleagues. They know well enough.

India should no longer accept peace as a means to resolve conflict. We can only accept this much. Enough is enough. When Mumbaikars returned to normal work on the same trains, it was not the never-say-die spirit, it was helplessness. Helplessness that they could do nothing else but accept that fate. Helplessness that they did not have options other than taking the same path again. Helplessness on the awareness that their government is not going to avenge such a crime. And more such helpless feelings. Is the government happy to see this amongst their own people? Does government also believe that it is helpless against these terrorist forces? If so, they ought not to sit where they are sitting.

India should take an action that once for all sends out a statement that we can no longer be considered as silently accepting any terrorist act on our own soil. I need not specify what I mean. Ask any Indian and they will tell you. Just make sure they are not in the government. You see, they are helpless!

Also read: Rediff article by Saisuresh Sivaswamy

South Indian Marriages - Tradition or Show-Off?

Fellow Bangalore Metroblogger, Usha, has written a piece about South Indian Marriages and the conspicuous consumption aspect of it. Must read! Follow the comments too...

About South Indian Marriages on Usha's blog "Agelessbonding"

Cross-posted on my wordpress blog.

Food Fest at Bangalore Metblogs

Slurp! Yumm!! Lick Lick!!!

It was a 2 day fest that happened on Bangalore Metroblog that saw frenzied posting about various eateries and cafes in Bangalore. If you are a true foodie, you should not miss this one.

Check this out on Bangalore Metroblog.

Why DidTheyReadIt?

DidTheyReadIt: You Sent It, But Did They Read It?

The site proudly proclaims that it will revolutionize the way people would send and receive email. After reading what their technology can accomplish, I am thinking that the revolution is sure to happen, only in the negative sense.

In my org, we use Lotus Notes 7 as the corporate collaboration tool which obviously includes email. Now, there is a feature built into it called "Return Receipt". Opinions obviously differ, but I consider it as one of the most intrusive features that defeats the purpose of individual privacy. Any email sent by a sender with the RR on it smells of distrust. Like someone sends over an invisible sleuth with the email to check if the email was read by the recipient. Some people really love to set that flag on with their emails. There were those who were supportive of it as it provided them with tracking. What is the need I ask? Do you want to feel self-important and see if your emails were actually read or not?

RR's - accept it or not - are an intrusion into one's privacy. That I read sender's email or not is not the sender's business to know. If I do and if I have to respond, I will. If I do not want to read it because of multiple reasons that may apply, I will retain it till such a time that I find time to read it.

Now, it is going one step further. With the service from didtheyreadit.com, you can find out if your mail was read for 3min, 32secs by your recipient who was vacationing in Guatemala while claiming to be attending a business conference at Rio. Why the heck do they care? Is it not important enough that the email was read? Another lopsided view of the equation is that, the recipient would not know if the sender was himself vacationing in Guatemala while claiming to close a business deal in NYC. Why only the recipient? Let it be two sided. Let each other know where they were while doing their emails.

All in all, I sometimes find it exceedingly stupid for people to conjure of such ideas and then bring it live on internet for common use. This service is only useful for those who do not trust the people to whom they are sending their emails to. So much for a more liveable world, huh?

Journey through the Earth

I came across this website that showed where you would end up if you dug a straight hole through Earth and travelled through it. Ofcourse, we are not going to keep in mind the obvious impossibilities of travelling through the Earth's cross. We will just believe that our hole will be a straight line starting from right below the spot where we stand and going on till it reaches the outside of the crust again. Surprisingly, most of my childhood dreams of reaching United States of America through this hole in the ground got dissolved in the South Pacific Ocean. If I ever embarked on digging this hole, I know I should take my swimming trunks with me. :-)

Anyways, this little stupid childish trip of mine reminded me of one of my favorite novels from childhood. "Journey to the center of the Earth" by Jules Verne. Arne Saknussemm. The holy grail like character who seemed to have done the trip to the center of the earth guides Professor Otto Lidenbrock and his nephew, Axel on retreading the same path, along with the trustworthy and resourceful Hans. When I first read the novel, I was filled with the same enthusiasm that filled the Professor. I remembered the Icelandic words used in the novel and used to look at distant mountains musingly.

I have since then read the novel atleast 3-4 times with the same enthusiasm that I had as a child. Only that, as a 8 year old, I believed it could be true. And much later, I realised that it has to be fiction. :-)

Sometimes, it is lovely to be ignorant and read fiction believing that it were all true. It fires away our imagination! And it is wonderful to have us live through the imagination, vivid enough to have believed that we experienced the same! :-)

If you are interested to read the online version of the book, here are some links where you can do the same.
1. http://www.online-literature.com/verne/journey_center_earth/
2. http://jv.gilead.org.il/vt/c_earth/
3. http://www.4literature.net/Jules_Verne/Journey_to_the_Center_of_the_Earth/

Wishing you a wonderful journey to the center of the Earth! bon voyage!!

MMHROTD

Abbreviations are fashionable, ain't they? Abbreviations are especially great in chat rooms and SMSes. The above is an old one... and quite apt for the occassion today.

Anyways... cutting a long story short - It's my birthday today and well, a good day to resume blogging after 1.5 months almost. In the meanwhile, I have been sick, bogged with work, moved to my new apartment etc etc.

So, here I am, back to my former self, much healthier, much relaxed and all those positive things that you wish for. And thankfully it has happened, than not!

A lot of things have happened in the world that have merited my attention and the need to write as well. But I have not. And now onwards, I would write more. Hopefully you should all get to see more good stuff here than before. :-)

Until later...
sd/- rubic_cube

Also posted at my other blog which I am going to permanently migrate to - http://rubikcube.wordpress.com. I will maintain both blogs concurrently for a while and decide to sunset this one by fall or winter of this year.