My beloved Mumbai...Part 2

If you're straight reading this "Part 2" then i suggest you read the 1st part. Both these parts are actually the views that i've expressed on a community on orkut. But, nevertheless, these views are my views. They're the views that i feel i have the right to express, a right that the Constitution gives me, unhindered by any other citizen of this great country.

the actual post that i posted on orkut starts from here....

"to my mind the congress lacks the political will to really investigate these terror attacks or any terror attacks for that matter.

all that the congress does is minority appeasement. the congress lacks the political ability and worse yet, the will, to fight terrorism. repealing POTA was the first of its acts to concede to terrorism. then, again, failing to execute mohd afzal, or rather leading the way in his clemency appeal was the next sign of not wanting to let go of its minority appeasement tactics. (the Honourable SC found him guilty and had ordered for his execution.)

but, then, having said that, how many can really find faults with these tactics.
when sanju baba was sentenced to 6yrs of RI, many of his "fans" said it was too harsh...the man had done his time..and all the usual melodramatic crap....but i'm sorry...wasn't this man in possession of AK-47 rifles that were used by the terrorists. How ironic, or rather unforgivably fitting (not for a second do i not sympathise with the victims of, or feel aggrieved by, the acts of last night) , that yesterday night, the terrorists used the same AK-47 rifles to unleash terror?!

When, scores of (young) men and women------fans as they call themselves, of this movie-"star" and some ppl who all of a sudden changed their lives to lead the peaceful, non-violent, all forgiving life, wrote into countless newspapers as to why sanju baba had to be forgiven-----they lost the right, in my mind, to the find faults with the system collapse that took place last night.

By literally propagating his freedom by referring to the "changed man", these ppl have sown the seeds for the posterity to suffer from. As a nation, we have time and again failed to have a general sense of natural justice prevail over us. We pardon the jehadis (afzal), we free our "stars" (sanju baba), we neglect our real problems, instead focus on the non-issues really..and we're the educated ones, not the jst literate ones, mind u!

what good is education, where the will to learn and evolve is lost?we applaud the man who changed Indian Railways in 4yrs..invite him to our IIMs (of all places) to deliver lectures, yet so easily forget the involvement of the same man in a fodder-scam...yet forget how after yrs of being the incumbent of the post of CM, Bihar still remains an under-developed state. dont we then for a second wonder, how could this man really pull it off? shudn't we?

how many of our leaders are really and truly worthy of representing us in the House...let alone, how many of them face charges and etc etc...

ive seen many ppl in this community support the MNS and sighting reasons that are at best childish...with an attitude like this, how far can we really go? how can we really be secure? if all we desire is to fight the bhaiyyas and the non-mumbaikars (so to call them), why will our elected representatives bother doing anymore?

we take pride in being the voters of the largest democracy in the world...but then, well, how many virtues of democracy have we really got imbibed in us? to start with, have we (got) tolerance? and, i guess, it jst ends there, right there!

many ppl oppose capital punishments.....many ppl who say that the afzals have children, well, what bout the ones who died? these terrorists, if caught, shud be most definitely hanged. if they're not, may be months frm now, u cud have a plane hijack with a demand for release of the same terrorists!

u know, its really surprising that for an educated bunch like ourselves, its really that god-damn difficult to learn from the past, ignore divisive politics, look beyond religion, colour, caste and focus on delivering justice to the aggrieved."


PS : Portions of this post have been edited as considered appropriate. But a no point have i altered the essence of the post.

My beloved Mumbai...Part 1

we all say that mumbai is resilient and will come thru this...im sure the ppl will...

having said that fortunately ive nvr had to be at the wrong end of these acts of terrorism..but i know a few ppl in person, some family frens, who've lost their loved ones...

it happened in the ghatkopar blasts...then the zaveri bazaar blasts..then the train blasts...the best bus' blasts...now these latest...

but to say that mumbai is resilient in the fact that the ppl go to their offices the very next day is to misinterpret the whole situation in the 1st place...theres nothing more insensitive to say about them...this is not resilience...this is helplessness....given the choice (which ive had today) id like to stay home (something that the govt has advised itself...also does make sense) but not everyone has really had the comfort of stayin indoors....

some ppl jst have to go to work as they really have no choice...its what they have to do for a living and with the latest attacks, the whole security system, or the lack of it, is transparently brought out. everyday that i take a train from ccgt to my place at nsp, a 1.5 hrs one-way journey, i do get scared cos u can nvr be sure, if theres a bomb in the train or not. what confidence do we take if our 24X7 patrolled train stations are such soft targets of terrorism?

ive personally seen the metal-detectors...manned posts...but whats the use if these ppl are going to be sloppy or not upto the task?

we've got to look beyond divisive politics...for instance, look beyond the bhaiyya barrier...
politicians divide us, they win our votes on basis like the bhaiyya issue..the SCs, OBCs etc...and we pledge them our votes..
terrorism is no longer confined to the middle east or kashmir or africa...its spreading like a virus...
we have to vote for candidates based on real issues and not issues that stem or originate or culminate in divisive politics.

Road to racism and more : Part 3

To once again pick-up from where I left, well, before that, for those of you joining us mid-way, heres the link to the Part 1 in this series, and heres the link to Part 2. In Part 2 of this series, I spoke of how some people fret at even the identification of race and claim that to be racist. I do not buy that. Identification is not necessarily racism, but it surely could be terminus a quo in a racist act.

Also, as Ive said before that cultures influence ones takes towards many issues, issues that are ab initio social. Racism is no different. There are so many instances of us being racist in our daily lives as well. I mean, we can all camouflage ourselves and say that certain instances warrant the act of unequal treatments, but then, where does one draw the line? Are you a racist based on what you do and how you treat a member of a suppressed race? I would like to think not. Racism would mean nurturing an ill-will towards a community as a whole, well, more often than not.

Now-a-days you see Indians "stealing" American jobs, the BPO where you've had the Sharavaris turn into Sharons, but this was done with a purpose. So now, all Americans hate globalisation. No real surprise there, but then, now if they bad to an Indian, would that also be embedded with a tinge of racism, or is it really just racism from the very start? Would the Americans really have fretted as bad as they are now because their jobs are going to the Asians? Would they have done the same has their jobs been outsourced to their colonial ancestors? Maybe, maybe not. We'll never know.

In this part, I take a look at the men who redefined the world for the coloured people.

The Men of Honour

Another example of racism is the ICC. Yeah, Im talking cricket. With years that Malcom Speed was at the helm of affairs at the ICC no one saw a possible Australian threat, now, that a person of Indian origin is being talked of as the new ICC chief, the media just can be terrified enough! We all know what happens to Asians when they tour down-under. Remember the "no-ball" over by Mutthaiah in late 90s. Remember the "ball-tampering" incident involving the scumbag Darrel Hair, and remember his reinstatement. The Aussie crowd really grind up opposition players, though to be fair they give each player his due, but nothing then excuses the Australian media's complete ignorance of the acts of their crowd, but a complete symphony-like attack at the Indian masses. It is deplorable at mildest. I remember once when Mark Taylor and the Sri Lankan captain, Arjuna Ranatunga had a heated exchange of words, and then the Lankan came on top when he shot back at the Aussies comment about cultures, he said (something like) "Dont you talk to me about cultures. The Australians have been here for only 5 mins, our culture dates back 5000 years!" Way to go, HAIL ARJUNA!

Another instance of unbelievable racism by the ICC, while we're at it. Steve Bucknor was removed, and correctly so, because he just didnt get his act right. The Windies made all the noise about it, as much as they could. But whatever happened to fair treatment? Why was Mark Benson given a reprive for asking Ponting when that is clearly against the rules. How can a "dishonest batsman, become an honest fielder?" Why was Benson not made to sit out like Bucknor was? Im still trying to figure out. Going back to the ball-tampering, why was nothing done to Hair, when he had acted clearly without any proof, but Inzy was punished. Hair also, almost unforgivably, but not quite as we all know now, had asked for money. Im fed up of asking questions and expecting that the men who take decisions will ever answer them, cause right from our schools we're told, the teacher can quiz and question, the student can only "clear doubts".

The coloured people have often had the shoulders of people like Arjuna, Sunny etc. to bear the flags of equality for them. Outside of cricket, there couldnt be men bigger than Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., also, Tupac Shakur. If it were'nt for these men, the black in America would still have been negros, there would have been no NAS with his Nigger albums, he'd been back on some farm land of his farming, instead of earning millions.

Over the centuries of toil and hardships that the coloured race has been subjected to, many men have evolved. Men who've taken racism by its neck and broken it. For themselves, though surely. While on a visit to Hollywood, do not miss out a chance to inquire about one Mr. Sydney Poitier. Im sure you know all about the Denzel Washingtons, Morgan Freemans, Cuba Gooding Juniors. These men, and many more like them who never quite made it to the front page, or any page, have changed the way the world looked at the coloured race. Racism still prevails and will always keep on so, until we have "them" understanding that a black man has more to himself that big one(!), a jew is more than just rich, and when pronouncing IRAQ, its pronounced, E-RAAK, and not Aaye-rack!

So, who from India, other than our beloved Sunny, takes the racism to the perpetrators in the face? Dont even think of one Mr Singh, he does'nt do that well enough. He comes out as someone who has got more testosterone than brain impulses. We will never have another Luther Kings, another Mandela's, but we sure do need someone who will carry the flame that these men have lit up. But in our efforts to carry the burning flame, one must make sure that they dont fire it to the point that it spills out of the torch, for otherwise it'll burn the innocent too. We need to be cautious. In trying to "kick out racism" (as the English FA says) lets not tackle the ones who never played the game! But as for now, its game on. And may I add, we need a better referee than Steve Bennet! Ask Mascherano.

[comments expected, as always]