Facts n Fiction

The weekend was bad, rather not so good; my back ache had buckled me to the bed, not allowing me to stay in one position for more than 4-5 minutes. I was surfing through the television channels lying on bed, and soon I noticed that I was doing nothing but going from 0 to 54 (that is the only number of channels I have on my television) and then again 0 to 54, and then again and again. I was tired watching that Indo-Pak terror debate, reality shows were irritating me, and I couldn’t handle any more breaking news with my broken back, neither was I interested in any kind of saas-bahu or the rona-dhona type of soaps, south Indian films dubbed in hindi were a big NO, I was in no mood for business news either, I had also had enough of Ghajini and Rab Ne trailors, songs, and reviews. I remember, only thing that possibly kept me glued to any particular channel was the advertisements – Limca (I love this ad for its jingle, the zing, and the babe, of course), Raymond, Bingo , few insurance

I remember, as a child, and then many years later, seeing small children playing this game of forming a round chain holding hands, and singing “Ring-aa-Ring-aa Roses” , turning round in circles and then jumping down onto the ground. I see a similar situation today, when I keep browsing through the news channels for proceedings on the recent 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks. Yet, still I do not see anything concluding and convincing. The political leaders, both ruling as well as those in the opposition, along with Pakistan, US, and many other countries, security agencies, intelligence units, media have formed a similar round human chain, merrily singing tunes of hatred, cooperation, agitation, and running in circles. I just wish that they collapse soon. At least, some one more capable would rise and bring things into action. Almost a month now, and we still are playing around the proofs that we have, Pakistan blows them off, we go to US and other nations for help, and things again start f

In my last post, I wrote about how our nation has been disintegrating and that unity has almost diminished. However, I seem to be changing my opinion looking at the strong protest rallies, candle lighting campaigns, and listening to the voices that echoed at the Gateway of India yesterday and all across the country. Though I strongly condemn the notorious acts of the terrorists, I also somewhere wish to thank them for provoking the youth of this nation, getting them united and making then think, retort, and question the governance. I have seen the “Incredible India” and “India Shining” , and I now see “India Rising” , which hopefully is to preserve the glitter of that shining India. “United we stand” today. I feel a sense of pride that for once we have forgotten our regional boundaries, and got together to analyse the situation and come up with possible solutions. I see the “Spirit of Mumbai” rapidly transforming into the “Spirit of India” – we all are ready to fight back. Having g

60 hours of battle, 180 dead, around 350 casualties, and loss of some of our patriotic heroes – could be a wrap up of disheartening mishap that Mumbai faced last week. And we have faced many attacks of varying magnitudes in the past. Then there were a few at the domestic level as well. The instability, the communal intolerance, the political greed have left us all scared, tortured, and emotionally tormented. A phrase I learnt in school, “United we stand, divided we fall” (also had scripted a skit on this theme then), soon appeared to be diminishing over all these years, and we were taking pride in the opposite. Blaming each other, neglecting the issues, talking about the problems over a cup of tea and forgetting them later, and so on, are only things that mattered to us. While on one side we have the heroic deeds of the commandos, the police, the army, and sacrifices of innocent citizens, on the other we have security lapse, callous and ignorant government, and illogical opposition le