It is weird, but somehow I tend to get motivation to start blogging only at the end of the year. This is how the blog even started 3 years back.
This is yet another attempt to restart writing blog and try and be a bit more regular in the same. Specially, as these are happening times and if not now, then when would one write?
So here is to yet another attempt on writing blog. Thinking of writing a weekly blog now. All the best !!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
The monk who sold his Ferrari - Some Gems
Some absolutely stunningly soothing and healing commentary copied verbatim from the book
1. Everything happens for a reason. Every event has a purpose and every setback its lessons.
2. Failure, whether personal, professional or spiritual is essential to personal expansion. It brings inner growth and whole host of psychic rewards.
3. Never regret your past, rather embrace it as the teacher that it is.
4. Your mind is like a garden. If you nurture your mind like a fertile rich garden, it will blossom far beyond your expectations. But if you let weeds take root, lasting peace of mind and deep inner harmony will always elude you.
5. Though most people guard their gardens like soldiers, yet look at the toxic waste that most people put into the fertile garden of their minds;the worries and anxieties, the fretting about past, the brooding over the future and the self created fears that wreck havoc within your inner world.
6. Worry drains the mind of much of its power and sooner or later, it injures the soul.
7. To live life to the fullest, you must stand guard at the gate of your garden and let only the best information enter. You truly can not afford the luxury of a negative thought-not even one.
8. People think the same thoughts everyday, most of them negative. As a result, they have fallen into bad mental habits. Rather than focusing on all the good in their lives and thinking of ways to make things even better, they are captive of their pasts. Some of them worry abt failed relationships or financial problems. Others fret over their less than perfect childhoods. Still others brood over trifling matters including even how a store clerk might have treated them. As a result, they are blocking the enormous potential of their minds to work magic and deliver into their lives all that they want, emotionally, physically and yes even spiritually.
My favorites
9. No matter what happens to you in your life, you alone have the capacity to choose your response to it. When you form the habit of searching for the positive in every circumstance, your life will move into its highest dimensions. This is one of the greatest of all the natural laws.
10. Your outer world reflects the state of your inner world. By controlling the thoughts that you think and the way you respond to the events of your life, you begin to control your destiny.
1. Everything happens for a reason. Every event has a purpose and every setback its lessons.
2. Failure, whether personal, professional or spiritual is essential to personal expansion. It brings inner growth and whole host of psychic rewards.
3. Never regret your past, rather embrace it as the teacher that it is.
4. Your mind is like a garden. If you nurture your mind like a fertile rich garden, it will blossom far beyond your expectations. But if you let weeds take root, lasting peace of mind and deep inner harmony will always elude you.
5. Though most people guard their gardens like soldiers, yet look at the toxic waste that most people put into the fertile garden of their minds;the worries and anxieties, the fretting about past, the brooding over the future and the self created fears that wreck havoc within your inner world.
6. Worry drains the mind of much of its power and sooner or later, it injures the soul.
7. To live life to the fullest, you must stand guard at the gate of your garden and let only the best information enter. You truly can not afford the luxury of a negative thought-not even one.
8. People think the same thoughts everyday, most of them negative. As a result, they have fallen into bad mental habits. Rather than focusing on all the good in their lives and thinking of ways to make things even better, they are captive of their pasts. Some of them worry abt failed relationships or financial problems. Others fret over their less than perfect childhoods. Still others brood over trifling matters including even how a store clerk might have treated them. As a result, they are blocking the enormous potential of their minds to work magic and deliver into their lives all that they want, emotionally, physically and yes even spiritually.
My favorites
9. No matter what happens to you in your life, you alone have the capacity to choose your response to it. When you form the habit of searching for the positive in every circumstance, your life will move into its highest dimensions. This is one of the greatest of all the natural laws.
10. Your outer world reflects the state of your inner world. By controlling the thoughts that you think and the way you respond to the events of your life, you begin to control your destiny.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
2009 - A Decade review
The end of 2009 as an year is special in the sense that it not only marks the end of the current year, but also marks the end of a decade. It is still being debated what this decade must be called (example 90's or 80's etc). Here is my review of the decade.
The decade began with a lot of talk about how the Y2K problem will impact the world at large. It was not so much a problem for India considering that there was not that much computerization as in the western world. But certainly India was part of the solution to the Y2k problem. India was just beginning to reap benefits of the liberalization which was initiated by the Narsimharao Govt in the 90's and the educated middle class youth was part of the solution for fixing the Y2K problem. Companies like Infosys, TCS, PCS and Wipro were the early birds in the sense of giving the software industry a boom in the coming years. A whole lot of Indian youth got a chance to travel to USA and other western countries and help solve the problem. This was the first rendezvous for the ordinary middle class Indian youth with the capitalist west. Indians did a great job and once the Y2K bug was resolved, these new software companies kept leveraging the English speaking Indian youth by going up the value chain of the computer and Internet revolution.
If India was at the helm of the positive Internet phenomenon, there was another phenomenon which was growing and prospering in the neighbourhood in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The 9/11 attacks on the USA brought the western world (led by USA) at cross roads with terrorist organizations(led by Osama bin Laden and infrastructure provided by Jehadis in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and other parts of middle east). The attack on the nerve center of the America polarized the world as never before. Clash of civilization, as it was termed became part of the geo political jargon. This new jargon has dominated the world for the entire decade and does not show any sign of calming down.
India was also not isolated from this growing phenomenon. The attacks on the Indian parliament in 2001 and the attack on Akshar dham temple in Gujrat impacted Indians as never before. This was on the heels of the hijack of a Indian plane by Taliban and Pakistani Jehadis in late Dec 1999. All these events polarized the Indian society as never before. The result was a shameful display of Hindu backlash in western state of Gujrat. The Muslims were slaughtered and the social secular fabric of the state where Gandhi was born was torn for ever. This was not like any other Hindu Muslim riot. In view of the polarized atmosphere in the world at large, this gave more ammunition to the Jehadis to use the local wrong doings and resulted in a series of deadly bomb attacks through out India. All this was happening in India in conjunction with the rise of a India as a economic super power led by a well educated, English speaking young work force.
Throughout the middle years of the decade, western world continued at a bitter and deadly battle with the Muslim world. Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and Pakistan continued to be a battlefield. This meant the American hegemony was crumbling and a new world order led by China and India became more prominent. As Fareed Zakaria wrote in his book "The Post American World", American power under George Bush continued to go down. The land of opportunity that America once was, mainly due to the freedom it gave to its citizens and visitors, continued to dwindle as American became more insular and less open as a society. The economic, moral and millatry power of USA continued to deteriorate as never before. All this culminated into the worst economic slowdown in the world after the great depression in early 40's. This gave further ammunition to the notion of a post american world and the rise of India and China as the economic super powers. Both these countries were relatively still growing when the rest of the world (led by America) continued to shrink.
All this paints a very grim picture of this decade. And grim it is for sure. But there is also a ray of hope as this decade ends. US is led today by Barack Obama who ran a inspirational campaign and defeated the republicans. The economic crisis is also showing signs of a retreat and hopefully the new year and the decade will be much better than the decade gone by.
Here is wishing that 2010 and the new decade will be a great decade for the world, which will be peaceful and prosperous for all. Hopefully the clash of civilizations will turn into a conversation among civilizations. Wishing best to all for the new decade !!.
The decade began with a lot of talk about how the Y2K problem will impact the world at large. It was not so much a problem for India considering that there was not that much computerization as in the western world. But certainly India was part of the solution to the Y2k problem. India was just beginning to reap benefits of the liberalization which was initiated by the Narsimharao Govt in the 90's and the educated middle class youth was part of the solution for fixing the Y2K problem. Companies like Infosys, TCS, PCS and Wipro were the early birds in the sense of giving the software industry a boom in the coming years. A whole lot of Indian youth got a chance to travel to USA and other western countries and help solve the problem. This was the first rendezvous for the ordinary middle class Indian youth with the capitalist west. Indians did a great job and once the Y2K bug was resolved, these new software companies kept leveraging the English speaking Indian youth by going up the value chain of the computer and Internet revolution.
If India was at the helm of the positive Internet phenomenon, there was another phenomenon which was growing and prospering in the neighbourhood in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The 9/11 attacks on the USA brought the western world (led by USA) at cross roads with terrorist organizations(led by Osama bin Laden and infrastructure provided by Jehadis in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and other parts of middle east). The attack on the nerve center of the America polarized the world as never before. Clash of civilization, as it was termed became part of the geo political jargon. This new jargon has dominated the world for the entire decade and does not show any sign of calming down.
India was also not isolated from this growing phenomenon. The attacks on the Indian parliament in 2001 and the attack on Akshar dham temple in Gujrat impacted Indians as never before. This was on the heels of the hijack of a Indian plane by Taliban and Pakistani Jehadis in late Dec 1999. All these events polarized the Indian society as never before. The result was a shameful display of Hindu backlash in western state of Gujrat. The Muslims were slaughtered and the social secular fabric of the state where Gandhi was born was torn for ever. This was not like any other Hindu Muslim riot. In view of the polarized atmosphere in the world at large, this gave more ammunition to the Jehadis to use the local wrong doings and resulted in a series of deadly bomb attacks through out India. All this was happening in India in conjunction with the rise of a India as a economic super power led by a well educated, English speaking young work force.
Throughout the middle years of the decade, western world continued at a bitter and deadly battle with the Muslim world. Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and Pakistan continued to be a battlefield. This meant the American hegemony was crumbling and a new world order led by China and India became more prominent. As Fareed Zakaria wrote in his book "The Post American World", American power under George Bush continued to go down. The land of opportunity that America once was, mainly due to the freedom it gave to its citizens and visitors, continued to dwindle as American became more insular and less open as a society. The economic, moral and millatry power of USA continued to deteriorate as never before. All this culminated into the worst economic slowdown in the world after the great depression in early 40's. This gave further ammunition to the notion of a post american world and the rise of India and China as the economic super powers. Both these countries were relatively still growing when the rest of the world (led by America) continued to shrink.
All this paints a very grim picture of this decade. And grim it is for sure. But there is also a ray of hope as this decade ends. US is led today by Barack Obama who ran a inspirational campaign and defeated the republicans. The economic crisis is also showing signs of a retreat and hopefully the new year and the decade will be much better than the decade gone by.
Here is wishing that 2010 and the new decade will be a great decade for the world, which will be peaceful and prosperous for all. Hopefully the clash of civilizations will turn into a conversation among civilizations. Wishing best to all for the new decade !!.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Wake up Sid
We watched Wake up Sid yesterday in one of the many swanky multiplexes in Indore. It was a good experience watching a movie again in India with close friends.
I found the movie to be a fascinating one with a simple but lovable story and gripping music. The direction was very nice and refreshing. The depiction of the characters was very real and full of the contradictions we see in our daily lives. The rich spoilt college kid is a character we have all come across in our lives. At the same time, the character of Konkana was very lively and something that any middle class Indian kid could relate to. Although in this case Konkana was from Kolkatta, but Bombay (to hell with Raj Thackrey) has fascinated every body including me. Konakana is full of dreams and has a lot of determination and conviction to make it come true. Since she has grown up in a middle class environment, she is aware of the ground level reality and is ready to adjust in life and not loose focus.
On the contrary, Ranvir's character also has a different kind of realism and is representative of a kind of "divide" that exists in urban India of "the haves" vs "the have nots". Life has been so comfortable for him (thanks to his father's flower shower business) that he is totally unaware about the hardships of life and everyday battles that the middle class has to go through. The director has been able to show the frustrations of Ranvir when he is out of his comfort zone and is forced to think about his "roti, kapda aur makaan". The "credit card culture" which we all are becoming a victim of is also highlighted in his character when he tries to use a credit card at a "paav bhaji stall".
The story reaches towards a tipping point for Ranvir when in a powerful scene Konkana makes him see the reality and prods him to take care of his life and to wake UP. In the meanwhile, Konkana who thinks of herself as mature and "not a kid" finds out in a rivetting scene that her boss thinks she too is a kid for liking old hindi music as opposed to the elite Jazz music. This and the insecurity towards Ranvir makes her feel vulnerable and she too needs a shoulder to cry on (which not surprisingly happens to be that of Ranvir !!)
In a true Bollywood style, the things take turn for the GOOD and Ranvir finds his passion for photography. The story then reaches its climax again in a true Bollywood style and they supposedly live happily ever after.
In short, we loved the movie and enjoyed it.
I found the movie to be a fascinating one with a simple but lovable story and gripping music. The direction was very nice and refreshing. The depiction of the characters was very real and full of the contradictions we see in our daily lives. The rich spoilt college kid is a character we have all come across in our lives. At the same time, the character of Konkana was very lively and something that any middle class Indian kid could relate to. Although in this case Konkana was from Kolkatta, but Bombay (to hell with Raj Thackrey) has fascinated every body including me. Konakana is full of dreams and has a lot of determination and conviction to make it come true. Since she has grown up in a middle class environment, she is aware of the ground level reality and is ready to adjust in life and not loose focus.
On the contrary, Ranvir's character also has a different kind of realism and is representative of a kind of "divide" that exists in urban India of "the haves" vs "the have nots". Life has been so comfortable for him (thanks to his father's flower shower business) that he is totally unaware about the hardships of life and everyday battles that the middle class has to go through. The director has been able to show the frustrations of Ranvir when he is out of his comfort zone and is forced to think about his "roti, kapda aur makaan". The "credit card culture" which we all are becoming a victim of is also highlighted in his character when he tries to use a credit card at a "paav bhaji stall".
The story reaches towards a tipping point for Ranvir when in a powerful scene Konkana makes him see the reality and prods him to take care of his life and to wake UP. In the meanwhile, Konkana who thinks of herself as mature and "not a kid" finds out in a rivetting scene that her boss thinks she too is a kid for liking old hindi music as opposed to the elite Jazz music. This and the insecurity towards Ranvir makes her feel vulnerable and she too needs a shoulder to cry on (which not surprisingly happens to be that of Ranvir !!)
In a true Bollywood style, the things take turn for the GOOD and Ranvir finds his passion for photography. The story then reaches its climax again in a true Bollywood style and they supposedly live happily ever after.
In short, we loved the movie and enjoyed it.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Back to India
We are back to India after 2 years from a good US trip. Though, we intended to stay for a bit longer, but in view of the economic recession, we decided to move back and spend some time in India. One of the best experience in US was the chance to move around and see a lot of places in and around US. Some of the places we saw in US were Chicago, NY, Florida, San Jose and Hawaii.
In the past, I have not really been a keen traveller in India. It was only after coming to US that I wandered around in US and developed a hobby of traveling and seeing places. Having come back to India, it is a dream and also a very important aim of our life to see many places in India. Be it the "dil walon ki dilli", "himachal ke pahad aur wadiyan", andaman islands or the fabulous south India, we wish to see as much as we can.
US is an amazing country. What they have achieved in terms of infrastructure, civic awareness, freedom of speech, sense of humor and creating a land of opportunities is mind boggling. I had a great working experience as well in US and learnt a lot during my stay there. However, no country or society is perfect and US also has some serious issues at hand and I am sure they will work to solve them.
One of the best experience in US for both Divya and me was attending the Obama speech in Grant park in Chicago after his historic victory. I can never forget the entire election process and subsequently the privilege to listen to magical words of Obama.
I also intend to pursue my blog more seriously and may be even start a travelogue.
Lofty goals may be, but we really intend to travel in India. All the Best !!!!
In the past, I have not really been a keen traveller in India. It was only after coming to US that I wandered around in US and developed a hobby of traveling and seeing places. Having come back to India, it is a dream and also a very important aim of our life to see many places in India. Be it the "dil walon ki dilli", "himachal ke pahad aur wadiyan", andaman islands or the fabulous south India, we wish to see as much as we can.
US is an amazing country. What they have achieved in terms of infrastructure, civic awareness, freedom of speech, sense of humor and creating a land of opportunities is mind boggling. I had a great working experience as well in US and learnt a lot during my stay there. However, no country or society is perfect and US also has some serious issues at hand and I am sure they will work to solve them.
One of the best experience in US for both Divya and me was attending the Obama speech in Grant park in Chicago after his historic victory. I can never forget the entire election process and subsequently the privilege to listen to magical words of Obama.
I also intend to pursue my blog more seriously and may be even start a travelogue.
Lofty goals may be, but we really intend to travel in India. All the Best !!!!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
PM in waiting?
It is election time in India and the political scene is nicely setup now. Being an avid follower of politics in India and world at large, I thought it will be prudent to actually take sides in this election and decide which party and person is better to rule India at this time.
Although India is a parliamentary form of democracy as opposed to USA which is a presidential form of democracy, recently political parties have started the practice of announcing their chief ministerial or prime ministerial candidates. BJP specially has been doing this consistently in state and central elections.
So here is my opinion on some of the candidates that are in the fray.
1. L K Advani
He has been the strong man of BJP and for long the think tank of the BJP. The duo of Atal ji and Advani has shaped the BJP and Jan Sangh earlier and taken the party to this level. Although, I have had several ideological differences with the BJP as a party, but I feel, Advani is the best person to lead our contry. His ideas and ideals are very praiseworthy and he has shown tremendous amount of credibility and commitment to the national cause. He is a true democrat at heart and a man who has been in politics for more than 5 decades, and has been in opposition for most of his political career. This itself prooves that he is not in politics for power and truly believes in "nation first" approach in his politics. At the same time he has performed reasonably well when NDA was in power for 6 years. His performance as home minister and later as deputy PM was very good and he did a lot of things, which if given more time would have succeeded. No mention of Advani would be complete, unless one talks about his controversial speech about Jinnah in Pakistan. He was misunderstood by his own people, but ultimately was vindicated, when the party and the so called pariwar accepted him as the PM candidate. I have immense respect for him for not backing out and maintaining his views.
2. Manmohan Singn
Manmohan Singh is probably the first non-political PM of India. He first came into limelight for his role in the 90's when he opened the Indian economy under the mandate given to him by the then PM Narsimha Rao. What he did then was the best thing that has ever happened to India. The events then really showed the country and world how a crisis can be turned into an opportunity and ultimately a reward for generations to reap. When he was elected as the PM (after Sonia bowed out of the race), the idea was that he will handle the governance part and Sonia Gandhi will handle the political component of the Central Govt. As it turned out, it is not possible to separate out the two. As happened in the case of nuclear deal, the PM was the only person pushing for the deal. For that I give credit to him. However, this govt under him has like other Congress govts, not done enough to tackle terrorism. The way Mumbai attacks were handled, left many questions unanswered. The biggest problem I see in Manmohan Singh is communication with public at large. I have never seen him interact with the media and convey his thoughts clearly. In today's world of internet and over communication, how can Manmohan Singh get away with such abysmal level of comunication? I don't think, in the end it has helped his govt or his personal image. He seems to be a bureaucrat/academician trapped in the political ramblings and looks totally out of place and out of touch with ground reality. He probably is a VERY good minister for finance, but can not lead the country.
3. Narendra Modi
Narendra Modi, another political heavyweight from Gujrat BJP is known for his "moditva" which I like to call as "macho hiindutva". Although he has done a lot of development work for the state of Gujrat and has turned the state into a engine of nationa's economic development, but how can we overlook the immoral acts that were done under his govt in the post Godhra riots? Specially, as till today, he has not shown the kind of remorse as is expected for a Chief minister of a state where the minorities were badly crushed and killed in what was proclaimed to be an act of state sponsored terrorism? So till he comes out clean on Godhra and is willing to take all the stakeholders (minority or majority) together and provides demonstrable justice to the people who were directly impacted in the riots, he will always find it impossible to be able to gain support of the entire country. To be a PM, he needs to be acceptable by larger sections of the society. So Mr Modi, for this reason alone, I would not support your PM claim at this point of time.
4. Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gnadhi has a tremendous advantage (unfairly) because he has a Gandhi surname to use and hence has a lot of political capital associated with him by default. However, I don't think, he is even close to being ready for being the PM of this country. There are a lot of tests yet for him and he needs to demonstrate his capability, maturity and even understanding of the problems being faced by the country and what his thoughts are on the same. So Mr Rahul Gandhi, its time to get hands dirty and learn the realpolitik and the reality of the Indian state.
5. Pranab Mukharjee
He is probably the dark horse to be the PM in my opinion. He is the man who I feel is the only politician in Congress who has a vision, grasp, breadth, understanding of issues faced by the country today nationally as well as internationally. Unlike Manmohan Singh, he is a real politician as well and has been the savior of this govt politically. He was the person who was talking to the left during the entire time and has known to have good contacts across the political spectrum of India. Even Advani recently hailed Pranab da and praised him for his role. Internationally, he is the most visible face of India today. He has talked straight and in stern fashion with Pakistan and tried to convey the anger, frustration and disappointment of 1 billion Indian people in his conversations with diplomats and world leaders. If Congress comes to power this time, I really feel, he should be made the PM instead of Mr Manmohan Singh.
Considering all the factors, I feel, the only person who is ready at this point to be the PM of this country are either Mr Advani or Mr Pranab Mukharjee. Of the two I would support Mr Advani more than Pranab da, simply because Mr Advani needs to be given a chance to complete the tasks that were incomplete in the Vajpayee govt.
I wish my best luck to Advani and wish he wins the Indian elections which should be announced any time now.
Although India is a parliamentary form of democracy as opposed to USA which is a presidential form of democracy, recently political parties have started the practice of announcing their chief ministerial or prime ministerial candidates. BJP specially has been doing this consistently in state and central elections.
So here is my opinion on some of the candidates that are in the fray.
1. L K Advani
He has been the strong man of BJP and for long the think tank of the BJP. The duo of Atal ji and Advani has shaped the BJP and Jan Sangh earlier and taken the party to this level. Although, I have had several ideological differences with the BJP as a party, but I feel, Advani is the best person to lead our contry. His ideas and ideals are very praiseworthy and he has shown tremendous amount of credibility and commitment to the national cause. He is a true democrat at heart and a man who has been in politics for more than 5 decades, and has been in opposition for most of his political career. This itself prooves that he is not in politics for power and truly believes in "nation first" approach in his politics. At the same time he has performed reasonably well when NDA was in power for 6 years. His performance as home minister and later as deputy PM was very good and he did a lot of things, which if given more time would have succeeded. No mention of Advani would be complete, unless one talks about his controversial speech about Jinnah in Pakistan. He was misunderstood by his own people, but ultimately was vindicated, when the party and the so called pariwar accepted him as the PM candidate. I have immense respect for him for not backing out and maintaining his views.
2. Manmohan Singn
Manmohan Singh is probably the first non-political PM of India. He first came into limelight for his role in the 90's when he opened the Indian economy under the mandate given to him by the then PM Narsimha Rao. What he did then was the best thing that has ever happened to India. The events then really showed the country and world how a crisis can be turned into an opportunity and ultimately a reward for generations to reap. When he was elected as the PM (after Sonia bowed out of the race), the idea was that he will handle the governance part and Sonia Gandhi will handle the political component of the Central Govt. As it turned out, it is not possible to separate out the two. As happened in the case of nuclear deal, the PM was the only person pushing for the deal. For that I give credit to him. However, this govt under him has like other Congress govts, not done enough to tackle terrorism. The way Mumbai attacks were handled, left many questions unanswered. The biggest problem I see in Manmohan Singh is communication with public at large. I have never seen him interact with the media and convey his thoughts clearly. In today's world of internet and over communication, how can Manmohan Singh get away with such abysmal level of comunication? I don't think, in the end it has helped his govt or his personal image. He seems to be a bureaucrat/academician trapped in the political ramblings and looks totally out of place and out of touch with ground reality. He probably is a VERY good minister for finance, but can not lead the country.
3. Narendra Modi
Narendra Modi, another political heavyweight from Gujrat BJP is known for his "moditva" which I like to call as "macho hiindutva". Although he has done a lot of development work for the state of Gujrat and has turned the state into a engine of nationa's economic development, but how can we overlook the immoral acts that were done under his govt in the post Godhra riots? Specially, as till today, he has not shown the kind of remorse as is expected for a Chief minister of a state where the minorities were badly crushed and killed in what was proclaimed to be an act of state sponsored terrorism? So till he comes out clean on Godhra and is willing to take all the stakeholders (minority or majority) together and provides demonstrable justice to the people who were directly impacted in the riots, he will always find it impossible to be able to gain support of the entire country. To be a PM, he needs to be acceptable by larger sections of the society. So Mr Modi, for this reason alone, I would not support your PM claim at this point of time.
4. Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gnadhi has a tremendous advantage (unfairly) because he has a Gandhi surname to use and hence has a lot of political capital associated with him by default. However, I don't think, he is even close to being ready for being the PM of this country. There are a lot of tests yet for him and he needs to demonstrate his capability, maturity and even understanding of the problems being faced by the country and what his thoughts are on the same. So Mr Rahul Gandhi, its time to get hands dirty and learn the realpolitik and the reality of the Indian state.
5. Pranab Mukharjee
He is probably the dark horse to be the PM in my opinion. He is the man who I feel is the only politician in Congress who has a vision, grasp, breadth, understanding of issues faced by the country today nationally as well as internationally. Unlike Manmohan Singh, he is a real politician as well and has been the savior of this govt politically. He was the person who was talking to the left during the entire time and has known to have good contacts across the political spectrum of India. Even Advani recently hailed Pranab da and praised him for his role. Internationally, he is the most visible face of India today. He has talked straight and in stern fashion with Pakistan and tried to convey the anger, frustration and disappointment of 1 billion Indian people in his conversations with diplomats and world leaders. If Congress comes to power this time, I really feel, he should be made the PM instead of Mr Manmohan Singh.
Considering all the factors, I feel, the only person who is ready at this point to be the PM of this country are either Mr Advani or Mr Pranab Mukharjee. Of the two I would support Mr Advani more than Pranab da, simply because Mr Advani needs to be given a chance to complete the tasks that were incomplete in the Vajpayee govt.
I wish my best luck to Advani and wish he wins the Indian elections which should be announced any time now.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Response to Mumbai Attacks
It has been close to a week now since we had the terror attacks in Mumbai. Now that the emotional rhetoric is settling down, we need to take steps to handle the internal angle and the external angle of the terror attacks. External angle is more difficult to handle as we still don't know what the exact reply to Pakistan should be. I think, war as an option should not be ruled out. Once the diplomacy efforts are done with, we should look into "hot pursuit" option. Though this is not going to be easy as what will we attack in Pakistan?
Besides, the war is not a comprehenive solution. The common example given in favor of war is to look at USA and Israel and the fact that since 9/11 there has not been any terrorism act against USA.
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But that is factually not correct. There might not have been a terrorist act in America, but they have been in war since 2001 in Iraq and Afghanistan. And close to 4000 soldiers have died. In a way, the common man in streets of American has not died, but the soldiers are getting killed all the time. So in a way inspite of the war, Americans are still getting killed by terrorists. Besides, just imagine the impact it has had on US economy. No wonder, people are fed up of this war. Also, American is way out of reach of the Jehadists. Its geographic outreach has helped America, otherwise in the last few years, they have made the world more dangerous and polarized and has had no effect whatsoever.
Similarly we don't want to be Israel as its not as if the israelis are never killed. They keep getting killed in the constant war like situation they are in.
I think, we need to do the following.things as a long term solution.
1. Strong Anti terror Laws - Have strong anti terror laws and speedy trials, so the terrorists like Masoon Azhar can be tried quickly and hanged to death.
2. Strengthen our internal security which is abysmal right now. We are so vulnerable and have so many porous boundaries that the terrorists keep infiltrating.
3. Conversation among Religions - Develop an atmosphere where the religions are talking to each other. Recently Advani ji did a very good thing when he talked to the Christians regarding the killings in Orissa. The same should happen with the Muslims. Important thing is who do we talk to in Muslims. Recently the "Dar-ul-uloom" has said couple of very good things and they even asked the Muslims to not slaughter cows on eid. I think, we need to promote more of the moderate Islam. India has long had a tradition of what is called as the "Sufi Islam" and we have all grown up listening to some very good sufi music. We need to promote them and make sure a strong muslim middle class is created.
4. Inclusive Growth - Today our society is polarized. We have a huge divide between the"haves" and "have nots". We need to have policies which are more inclusive in nature and have a far greater reach. The Muslims have for various reasons not been able to be part of the economic success. I think, we need to make sure that not only Muslims but many other classes are also part of the economic success. World over the economics is moving from blatant captialism to a more "humanised capitalism", where many more people are brought under the "haves".
5.Communal Harmony - Make sure incidents like Gujrat are not repeated. I like Modi and what he has done for the well being of his state, but unless he takes all religions with him, he will never be able to be a pan indian leader. Even if Gujrat happens, we should make sure speedy trials and quick and fair justice. This will reduce the chance of muslims becoming more millitant.
6. Delink terror with religion - Just as if some disgruntled hindus exploded few bombs, the entire hindu community does not become a terrorist, same logic should apply to Muslims. Politicians should learn a very strong lesson. Two days before Karkare was killed, a famous politician in Indore questioned Karkare. Only 2 days later when karkare was killed, the same gentle man had the audacity to go to Karkare's place and offer 1 Crore Rs to his family?? Does he think the people are IDIOTS? I am very happy that the slain family did not take a penny from such a politician. Bottomline is terrorism has no religion and neither are all terrorists muslim.
I feel, India is the only country which can showcase such a unique model where we have all religions living peacefully and helping each other in nation building. That is how the "Sanatan Dharma" has always been and that is only how the sanatan dharma will continue to be Sanatan dharma.
I speak this as a true, proud and practicing Hindu.
Besides, the war is not a comprehenive solution. The common example given in favor of war is to look at USA and Israel and the fact that since 9/11 there has not been any terrorism act against USA.
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But that is factually not correct. There might not have been a terrorist act in America, but they have been in war since 2001 in Iraq and Afghanistan. And close to 4000 soldiers have died. In a way, the common man in streets of American has not died, but the soldiers are getting killed all the time. So in a way inspite of the war, Americans are still getting killed by terrorists. Besides, just imagine the impact it has had on US economy. No wonder, people are fed up of this war. Also, American is way out of reach of the Jehadists. Its geographic outreach has helped America, otherwise in the last few years, they have made the world more dangerous and polarized and has had no effect whatsoever.
Similarly we don't want to be Israel as its not as if the israelis are never killed. They keep getting killed in the constant war like situation they are in.
I think, we need to do the following.things as a long term solution.
1. Strong Anti terror Laws - Have strong anti terror laws and speedy trials, so the terrorists like Masoon Azhar can be tried quickly and hanged to death.
2. Strengthen our internal security which is abysmal right now. We are so vulnerable and have so many porous boundaries that the terrorists keep infiltrating.
3. Conversation among Religions - Develop an atmosphere where the religions are talking to each other. Recently Advani ji did a very good thing when he talked to the Christians regarding the killings in Orissa. The same should happen with the Muslims. Important thing is who do we talk to in Muslims. Recently the "Dar-ul-uloom" has said couple of very good things and they even asked the Muslims to not slaughter cows on eid. I think, we need to promote more of the moderate Islam. India has long had a tradition of what is called as the "Sufi Islam" and we have all grown up listening to some very good sufi music. We need to promote them and make sure a strong muslim middle class is created.
4. Inclusive Growth - Today our society is polarized. We have a huge divide between the"haves" and "have nots". We need to have policies which are more inclusive in nature and have a far greater reach. The Muslims have for various reasons not been able to be part of the economic success. I think, we need to make sure that not only Muslims but many other classes are also part of the economic success. World over the economics is moving from blatant captialism to a more "humanised capitalism", where many more people are brought under the "haves".
5.Communal Harmony - Make sure incidents like Gujrat are not repeated. I like Modi and what he has done for the well being of his state, but unless he takes all religions with him, he will never be able to be a pan indian leader. Even if Gujrat happens, we should make sure speedy trials and quick and fair justice. This will reduce the chance of muslims becoming more millitant.
6. Delink terror with religion - Just as if some disgruntled hindus exploded few bombs, the entire hindu community does not become a terrorist, same logic should apply to Muslims. Politicians should learn a very strong lesson. Two days before Karkare was killed, a famous politician in Indore questioned Karkare. Only 2 days later when karkare was killed, the same gentle man had the audacity to go to Karkare's place and offer 1 Crore Rs to his family?? Does he think the people are IDIOTS? I am very happy that the slain family did not take a penny from such a politician. Bottomline is terrorism has no religion and neither are all terrorists muslim.
I feel, India is the only country which can showcase such a unique model where we have all religions living peacefully and helping each other in nation building. That is how the "Sanatan Dharma" has always been and that is only how the sanatan dharma will continue to be Sanatan dharma.
I speak this as a true, proud and practicing Hindu.
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