a year of hope....

well its been over 70 days since my last post and i would like to apologize to my readers (a handful to be honest but clearly the feedback from them is highly appreciated) for the long hiatus. Apparently business tours and the administration tasks associated with with can make your world go round (:0) for a considerable amount of time - creating expense sheets, deleting them, re-creating them, time sheets etc etc - you name it, i got it.

Anyway a lot of changes on the personal front too had been keeping me away from one of my favourite activities - "voicing my opinions" and this platform

has honestly opened up new avenues in my persona that even i was nto aware of.

So continuing on that note and wishing my dear reader a belated but prosperous new year - i hope that i can continue doing what i had started last year.

Let this year 2009 be a year of HOPE for all the people of this world - amidst the political and social gloom let 2009 herald in a new chapter of socio-economic reforms and human uplift-ment.

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a failing state....

In a paper titled, "Is India a Flailing State? Detours on the Four Lane Highway to Modernization", economist Pritchett of Harvard Kennedy School had said, "India is today a flailing state — a nation-state in which the head, that is the elite institutions at the national (and in some states) level remain sound and functional but this head is no longer reliably connected via nerves and sinews to its own limbs. In many parts of India, in many sectors, the everyday actions of the field level agents of the state: policemen, engineers, teachers, health workers, are increasingly beyond the control of the administration at the national or state level."

Case in Point

1. July 25, 2008: Bangalore, India - A series of nine bombs exploded in which two people were killed and 20 injured. According to the Bangalore City Police, the blasts were caused by low-intensity crude bombs triggered by timer. Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, SIMI and Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba were the prime suspects behind this.

2. July 26, 2008: Ahmadabad, India - A series of 21 bomb blasts rocks the city within a span of 70 minutes. According to sources 56 people were killed and over 200 people were injured. Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami has claimed the responsibility of the blasts.

3. September 13, 2008: Delhi, India – The national capital was rocked from its slumber when five bombs went off in succession in Karol Bagh, Connaught Place, and Greater Kailash I, killing at least 18 people and injuring over 90. Two live bombs were reportedly defused. The relatively new Indian Mujahideen claimed responsibility for these blasts….sending an e-mail to media channels minutes before the first blast.

Well the media flooded the common man with coverage of these news items 24/7 on live, print and other media – well for a short period albeit. After a couple of days it was all back to square one – redundant politicians, insensitive media and the equally numb common man on the streets getting back to normalcy in quick time. Many will advertise this occurring as the general disposition of Indians to resume normalcy even in midst of appalling circumstances but have we as human beings and Indian have turned so numb that we are not cognizant of the fact that we need to sensitize ourselves of this situation. Its been 7 years to the date when the US was shaken by the terror strike at NY – its still draws emotional responses from almost every other American that I have come across. I am yet to come across an average Indian who feels the same way about the people and the blasts that rocked Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Delhi recently. Or the Parliament attack or the blast in Varanasi or Delhi (Sarojininagar earlier)? Have we all stopped caring?

It is almost nauseating, the repetitiveness of the words that the reporters and politicians keep parroting after each incident. Wish they stopped telling us about how ‘high’ are the spirits of the people in affected areas after these incidents. Whose spirits were high anyway? The people who lost loved ones? The people who were maimed for life? The people who were left in a vegetative state or coma because of the injuries they suffered in these blasts? The children who were orphaned? The families who were left without their wage earners? Who are they trying to kid? Who are they trying to convince with these statements? It is easy to stand outside the hospitals and near the bomb blast sites after the incidents have occurred already.

The media should have presented the news in a sensitive manner – bringing out the real emotions, the pain and the anger and that in reality the police were helpless in the face of such organized terro even in the state capital Delhi. Unless the truth is revealed, no serious effort will ever be made in this country to try and end this series of terror strikes unleashed with monotonous regularity by the terrorists. For too long we have been in a state of denial about this cancer that is eating our country from within. It suits our politicians to keep us in this state of denial by feeding us stories of ‘heroism’ and ‘stoicism’ in the face of these terrorist created situations. It is time now to stand up and say we are hurting, to admit that our lives are being cruelly affected, to show and share our pain and our tears.

Solutions can be devised only if we admit that there is a problem. So let us shame and force our leaders into acknowledging that terrorism is a real and serious problem that needs to be tackled now.

While the common man in India (especially Calcutta) debate for hours whether POTA or a new law be enacted with fervor by the govt. all in while in the middle of whether TATA should quit Singhur - we fail to realize that it is us who are indirectly responsible for the terror that is spreading within. The so caller “war-on-terror” if it exits should involve all. The Gandhis and the Mulayams and the Lalus and the Advanis should come together and form a time-bound terror elimination program. To resolve the petty differences and to liberate India from the dreaded scourge of jihad and all other kinds of terror we feel shy and instead keep ourselves busy in attacking each other, facilitating the country's enemies. Their dictates must show an impact on Islamic terror outfits (or any other for that matter), otherwise its papers and faxes would remain nothing more than a crude PR exercise. It's the bounden duty of Muslim leaders to make it sure and visible that those involved in jihadi barbaric attacks are condemned as un-Islamic and are practically declared non-Muslims like they have done with regard to many others in the past. And the common man should be equally responsible about the citizens duties ( I wish the common man was cognizant of the differences between a civilian and a citizen)

I do not wish to draw any analogies here – I do not believe that Muslims or any other community can be held responsible for such attacks – there were, are and probably will be people in any community who will fall out with normal social ideologies and norms.

A nation's collective will is the biggest weapon against fissiparous tendencies. The US and China have shown that. They too faced Islamic terror, but handled it with a resolve that got united support by the people and all shades of political colours. Indians can fight each other on a hundred issues of political programming or power grab. But on the question of our sovereignty and security we must stand united, as one – and it must be visible too. After all, where would all these leaders take their money and enjoy it if India doesn't survive? Even to enjoy the loot they must have a station to leisure and be free of threats. To say this is too rude and crude, yet, seeing the Delhi, Jaipur, Bangalore and Ahmadabad blasts, what can a citizen pray for? Security and a collective will to converge on national interest.

Act fast and act now should be the core mantra - r else just like Pritchett the entire world would be looking at us as a flailing state thereafter.

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Calcutta in my heart.....

the story goes back more than 2 decades back to a small family settled in the heart of a bustling city we now know as Kolkata. A young boy was born on a fateful day of Sankranti - reminiscent of the fact that it marked also the day of the creator read “Karthik” of Hindu mythology. While he grew up knowing his alma-mater as Calcutta he took pride in the fact that Calcutta was unparalleled in its own sense – neither vast nor lonely as the capital Delhi and never ever on the move 24/7 like Mumbai. Warmth of its people and the cultural heritage it entailed (that was debatable by random acts of foolhardiness by its people) – always made it stand out amongst the contemporaries. While the education he received through the best schools and colleges in the state made him a little impulsive of performing the Herculean task of taking the world by its horns and bringing it down like the dreaded serpent in Greek mythology – its was few years later spending time away for further education and job life made him realize that there was lot more to life. And a lot more to what Calcutta had led him to believe – the naïve mind was in turn for a big jolt.

While in this years away from Calcutta which was later re-christened to Kolkata – the charm was probably lost with the change in name and maybe the change of heart. Maybe the alma–mater did not want a change – perhaps the name itself had come to epitomize its uniqueness. Somewhere yes the city seemed to have a change of heart with a change in name – the spirit of Calcutta was lost.

Coming back to the boys story – most of his friends had left a lot earlier post school or after college – either in other states of India or in the US. And most of them never came back – probably they in hindsight realized that the city was a lost cause. Inefficient politics and a care-not attitude of people – basically meant that the city was taken for granted. Seeing all the boy felt that he was alienated – the lakes, the streets and the skyline though apparently similar had somehow lost their calling – the glitzy malls and the glitter of people seemed to have drowned the voices of lil children playing in the parks, an odd couple sipping on a cup of coffee in coffee house or the cheer of boys fighting it out in the mud and drizzle in maidan.

The boy in between his years away from Calcutta had grown into a man – looking life from a much different angle that most of his age. Experience had taught him to be cautious and at least sometimes politically correct at certain situations. While all these years the family and his love – were the only reason for him to rush back once in a while – the city’s cold arms took the heat of his hearts emotion away, leaving love was so difficult. But what he realized much later – the love was lost long time back, the city’s cold menace has drowned his love in depths where his voice could not reach. The city he could no longer call home – he chose to remain aloof at times – not wanting to return at times conscious of the fact that the pain inside may not have subsided enough. The family back in Calcutta – was the only light at the end of the tunnel for which he made an occasional trip home. He visited many place throughout the years – saw the length and breadth of many and soaked in the cultures of many places – yet none could he call home. None where he could cuddle up in a monsoon afternoon after a round of khichdi and ilish mach – none where could look at the skyline and imagine going back all those years – those wonder years where life could be anything, you could challenge the world and dream to win, where the world was your oyster – where you had not actually grown up. Growing up sometimes takes away the romance in life – the city might have actually grown up – Calcutta might have been a uncanny teenager trying to find its feet in this world and ultimately found its feet – but I wonder how many of us would want the old Calcutta back.

Oh Calcutta – we want you back, to the glorious.

And coming back again to our story the lil boy was me – it’s the collective stories of millions of people that have shaped the story of Calcutta – the city is wired up with the collective emotions, the tribulations of its own citizens.

One of the biggest exponents of the talk show bizz in the States once commented, “The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams”………….. – I wonder if we all tried a bit harder maybe our lives could have a lot better and the city could have taken a different shape over the years. But then again its normal human tendency to take the easy way out.

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laughter is the best medicine...

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the clueless Indian...

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