Unity in Diversity.. Really?

It’s the month of India’s 65th Independence Day and everything is turned upside down by a few rumor mongers who took it upon themselves to make an issue out of an event which they had no relation or connection to. And, then started a mass exodus. People leaving, for the north eastern parts of the country, in hordes, railway stations in major cities clogged as people running for the fear of one thing necessary for everything else, their LIFE.

Even after the panic started and railway stations in major cities were besieged with thousands of passengers heading to northeast cramming the platforms, staircases, booking counters, waiting lounge, waiting for the elusive special trains and other trains, while no satisfactory action was taken. Other than a few pacifying and comforting words and assurances of security, where was the action? The government was trying to put the blame on our neighbors and social networking sites, while in the states they were giving assurance of protection whereas nothing was forth coming.  One fact everyone missed was that the government was giving assurances of protection on one hand, and on the other it was putting up Special trains after Special trains. If that didn’t give a mixed message I don’t know what did. Then came the news (blow for some) of banning bulk messages and restricting the limit to 5 sms’s/day. In the age of Whatsapp, Blackberry messenger and Android phones one can only wonder of kind of impact that would have had on people who were “allegedly” behind this(#Clueless). 

Now that everything has been said (not done), the D-Day came and went and nothing major(other than a few incidents) has happened (hopefully won’t happen). But instead of first seeing that order is restored in the country everyone has been blaming everyone else for everything. We Indian’s are really masters when it comes to blame games. And now comes the big question, Will these people come back? What will be the action taken? Will they safe after they are back? Will be miscreants be booked? We can only hope. 

This exodus shows us what we truly are. We proudly say “Unity in Diversity”, but how many of us truly believe in this. Isn’t it time we remove the mask and say that we only believe and relate to people who are from our state, speak our language, eat the same food and blah and blah and blah. In a previous post I asked this question, do we really have an “India for Indians”? At present the answer seems like a big bold NO.

Disclaimer: These are just my views and opinions. Not trying to hurt any sentiments - regional, personal or otherwise. Peace.

Finally on the TOP..

Finally the Indian Cricket team has reached the heights that it promised to achieve but always flattered when within catching distance. Finally a decade long quest to attain the top spot in the rankings has be achieved, though the team could have finished the year in first place in Test and ODI's(they could have won 4 of the 5 games against Australia, but ended up winning only 2 and losing 2 by 3 runs). But still its a commendable feat to say that the team will be finishing the year in top spot(probably).

I remember watching the India-Australia Series in Australia almost a decade ago when the Australian team was laying its claim to be the best in the world. They were totally decimated, and the team had a famous tag line when went with them "Tigers at home, Kittens away". well, no longer. The new look team India is no longer a team which depends on one person. It all started with the Australia's tour of India, Ganguly's First as captain, the famous victories in Kolkata and Chennai(one of the best Test series that i have witnessed, on par with The Ashes, which England won in 2005). If that ill-fated tour of Australia in 1999-2000 taught many players harsh lessons about the game and the rub of the green, then it was the next visit there that really laid the platform for what India have gone on to achieve since. Having overcome the improbable odds to thwart Steve Waugh's quest for Indian glory a couple of years earlier, India went into the series without being overawed or intimidated. With a little more luck on the final day at the SCG, they could even have won under Sourav Ganguly's captaincy. Whatever you say about Sourav Ganguly, he was one person who added steel to the Indian Claws, making them tigers from cubs they actually were. He instilled in the team a spirit of defiance which is carried on by Dhoni and his men now.

The ascent, though achieved, was not smooth. Quiet a lot of off field issues have been witnessed, the dismal show the the world cup, Sydneygate, Ganguly-Chappel Spat, Kumble Retirement to name a few. But nothing has affected the players on field performance. Even with all that the objective has been achieved. Sachin Tendulkar , India's longest-playing cricketer, said this series victory was a "special" moment in his career. "This is a reflection of what we have been able to achieve in the last 20 months or so. It is a special day for me and all the Indians. It is great to be sitting on the top."and truly it was. Many have come and gone, some contributed, some didnt, some shone, some failed miserable, but almost all of them have in some part contributed to the effort. One effort that comes to mind is of Sanjay Bangar's(he didnt play in the team much), whose first-day defiance alongside Dravid was so pivotal in India squaring a series at Headingley in 2002

Though it might take a lot of consistency to keep the no1 position. The current Indian Team, under the guidance of Gary Kirsten and the captaincy of MS Dhoni, is capable of doing that and more. With the team already winning the inaugural T20 World Cup and now the Number 1 spot in Test cricket, guess the next thing on the agenda will be, other than maintaining the current position, to go No1 in ODI's and also winning the 2011 world Cup.

Tendulkar and the other weatherbeaten warriors alongside him has done as much as anyone to get India to where they are now. And regardless of what happens over the next few months, it's something to savour. In a country where both administrators and fans are obsessed with cricket in coloured clothes, whether it be over 50 or 20 overs, the players deserve much credit for keeping their eyes on the red ball. After the horrors of a decade ago, these are the best of times.

Congrats....

Remembering 26/11

Its been a year since the country was witness to the horrific events of 26th November 2008 when a group of terrorists ran amok in the City of Mumbai. That 70 odd hours of ordeal is hard to ‘forget’ and ‘forgive’. The whole country came to standstill and people watched ‘terror at its worst’ live for three long days. The memory of those days of horror is still afresh in the minds of millions of Indians who watched those audacious terror attacks. The media frenzy generated could be compared with those generated after the 9/11 attacks.

I vividly remember watching a sports program on TV and switching channels and suddenly stopping at a news channel(guess it was CNN IBN) which was showing footage of the attack. I at first thought that it was the shooting of a new movie and only after a few moments realising that the shooting was real and it was really happening. And what followed he the next 60 hours was something that no movie could ever show. Having lived in Mumbai not long ago i used to have horrific dreams of this at night. And i remembering waking up the next day and walking towards the TV one thing only " is it over yet? is it over yet? Pls god.. Let it be over" And finally it was.. But at what cost..

Lets face it.. Whilst the last commando and the last hostage may have left the scene, and the last burnt tile or broken door been replaced months ago, the truth is Mumbai and the whole of the country will not be over it until we are able to squarely face what happened to us during those three days. What is more confusing is the fact that justice has not been served.

Now it has been a year when Mumbai was shaken, infact the whole country. And when I think of it today I still go numb… I go numb because of the fact that nothing has been done to give justice to the people who lost their lives that day, they are still mourning and hoping for justice. Kasab should have just been hanged without trial to say the least. Even though he was captured and investigations were put forth and a trail was going on, no judgment has been passed yet which makes up question our own judicial system. And the latest we hear is that the government has spent 31 crores for that man. Now that puts a lot of doubt in the minds of the common public.. Pls.. At least for the sake of the thousands of lives that changed after the event, for those brave soldiers and Policemen, For the sake of the country.. Let justice be served...

Once IC-814 took off for Pakistan, the terrorists won the advantage, and eventually achieved their aim of freeing some of the sub-continent's most dangerous men at Kandahar. "Never again", we said hoping that the country would not suffer at the hands of those terrorists again. But Mumbai 26/11 happened. Well This time also we'll say "Never again." But lets hope only this time we mean it..

Saluting those brave Commandos and Policemen who risked their lives for the cause of the country.

Ending my post with a line from a movie
We are resilient by force not by choice – A Wednesday...

Happy Diwali!!!!!

The festival of lights, Diwali(Deepavali) is here. Diwali is Sanskrit for row of lamps; therefore it is but obvious that Diyas are an integral part of Diwali celebrations. The sound of crackers and the smell of sweets, the smile on the faces of ppl, the light of the diyas , the colours and many more things make this festival a real special one for all.

On the ocassion of diwali i dedicate this song to all....

Yeh din jahaan mein har kahi
bhar de roshani usi ke pyar ki
dil dil se woh mila de
har chehra woh khila de
rut laaye aaj khushiyon ki
mere tumhare sabke liye happy diwali
saare sitaarein uske liye happy diwali!!

HAPPY DIWALI to one and all!!!!!!!!!

Happy Independence Day

This is a funny pic that i found when i was surfing on the net(which i'm doing whenever i'm at home)

Happy Independence Day

The New 7 Wonders

A event was conducted to crown the new 7 world wonders of the world. out of s list of 20 or so beautiful monuments 7 had to be selected and the results were to be declared in Lisbon,Portugal on 7-7-07. One of the wonders was our beloved Taj Mahal. The voting started months ago and by the start of the final stage of voting Taj was no where in the top seven. This generated messages in news channels "is India sleeping?".People started telling Taj wont make it to the top 10,forget the top7. People then realized that what was happening and then started the massive campaigning to vote for taj. Even many celebrities started to take part and people messaged, emialed, scrapped their friends and relatives to vote.and the votes started piling in

When the dust settled on the gala event in which the results of the poll was announced, guess what Taj was among the top 7, one of the new 7 wonders of the world. the new seven wonders are

The Great Wall, China	Petra, Jordan	Christ Redeemer, Brazil
Chichén Itzá, Mexico	The Roman Colosseum, Italy	The Taj Mahal, India

Machu Pichu,Peru

This shows that if Indian people are challenged to anything they don't back down. they will stand up and give their best.

India- The Positives and Negatives

Well India is a developing country and is considered as one of the future economic powers. But for that to happen the country must produce good citizens first. We look everywhere and find people lambasting about everything they could find about this country. They just look at the negatives that are and not the positives.I could go on and on writing about the prejudice the citizens of the country throw against it but it would be better if i put a speech by our beloved President Dr Kalam here.This was a speech he gave at a function at Hyderabad.Just spare 10 minutes and read it. This was forwarded to me by a friend.

* The President of India DR. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam 's Speech in Hyderabad . *

" Why is the media here so negative?
Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our
achievements? We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success
stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why?
We are the first in milk production.
We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.
We are the second largest producer of wheat.
We are the second largest producer of rice.
Look at Dr. Sudarshan , he has transferred the tribal village into a
self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements
but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters. I
was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the
day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The
Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a
Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid
and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The
gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the
newspaper, buried among other news.

In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are we so
NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign
things? We want foreign T. Vs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign
technology.

Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that
self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad giving this
lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal
in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed India . "

This was the inspirational speech given by a man whom we all idolize.To make a country great first the citizens of the country must be great. We can give commentary form out side a field about how bad the field is. thats the easy way out that most people take. But to make the field clean clean we have to enter the field to make it better. So people if you dream of living in a developed India first we have to develop ourselves. At least for the generations to come lets make our country great so that they can proudly say that they live in INDIA.