The New Breed...

The recent attack on Srinagar has once again brought the Kashmir issue to the forefront. And this was one of the main objectives of the terrorists and their handlers across the borders. In a chilling encore reminiscent of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, two terrorists opened fire at Lal Chowk and then hid themselves in a three storied hotel. They were killed after a 22 hour operation. One policeman and nine civilians lost their lives. While the vast majority may be quick to dismiss this as another common incident in the troubled valley, they would be very wrong to do so.
This was not just a random attack by religious fanatics. This was a coordinated and well planned mission against India with specific objectives in mind. The objectives being:
A. To stir up the Kashmir pot again in order to take away focus from Pakistan’s internal problems and war on terror. This would also provoke India to take steps against Pakistan which can then be used as justification to move forces away from the Afghan border.
B. To cause increased discontent and distrust in the capabilities of the Indian security forces among the common public.
C. To inflict massive financial damage to the state and the country.
And by the looks of it, they have succeeded in their goals. For further proof, here are some excerpts of the conversations between the terrorists and their handlers.

Chief: Allah ka karam. Khair aap sunao..kaise soorte haal hai ? ( By God's grace, all is well. How are you?)

Terrorist: Ladh rahe hain dushman ke saath.(We are fighting the enemy)

Chief: Allah taala aapko istaqamat de. (May Allah give you strength)

Terrorist: Aameen, Aameen, Aameen.

Chief: Goya ji, aapne murde ghoron mein dobara jaan daal di. (You have revived an old and dead issue)

Terrorist: Insha-Allah, Insha-AllahChief: Inshallah aapki qurbaani se, is mehnat se, nayee tareekh-e-Kashmir par achcha asar padega. (Your efforts and sacrifice will help revive the fight for Kashmir. It would be good for the cause.)

Terrorist: Ameen.Chief: Kashmir ke tareekh, Insha-Allah dobara apne usi tarz par aayegi. Bada Achcha asar padh raha hai iska. (Your efforts are proving to be good for the Kashmir cause)Terrorist: Saare saathiyon se kehna hamaare liye dua karein. (Tell our brothers to pray for us.)Chief: Insha-Allah sab yehi dua kar rahe hain ki. (Everyone is praying)

Terrorist: Baaki koyi nayi taazi. (Anything new?)

Chief: Koi nahin. Allah ka kaam hai, saathiyon ko himmat de..jitne der chala sakte ho, utni der chalayein. (May Allah give you strength. Prolong it as long as you can.)

Terrorist: Insha-Allah. Jab tak hamare paas hai, ladenge inke saath. (Till they are with us, we will continue to fight)

Chief: Ehtiyaat ke saath..ek ek do do karke mashroof rakho. Inka zyaada se zyaada kharcha aayega. Dabav padega inpar. (Fire intermittently and carefully. It will cost them more and put pressure on them)

Terrorist: Lakhon ke hisaab se inka kharcha hua hai. Kal ek baje se shuru kui hhai fight..puri raat chalti rahi hai. (They have already spent lakhs. It started at 1:00 yesterday, and it continued overnight.

This is the new face of terrorism. Fanatic misguided youth used as precision weapons to achieve set goals by their controllers across the borders. And this is way more terrifying than the random bomb blast. This means there is a deliberate attempt to systematically erode the foundations of our society and economy. An attempt which is aided by the ineptitude of those that govern us. In the face of this we as citizens must do our best to help alleviate the situation.
I request all my fellow countrymen to be alert and on guard. Help the security apparatus keep you and your loved one safe. The next time you complain about a long wait at any security checkpoint always weigh the loss of those few moments of time against the loss of the rest of your life. Take pride in following laws and not breaking them. Let the police and other security forces concentrate on what their real job is. Keeping us safe from the enemy. So far all they manage to do is try and keep us safe from ourselves.

Source: Bharat-Rakshak

India - Security - Part I

Nowadays, national security seems to be a buzzword people throw around arbitrarily. However in reality it is not at all a laughing matter. For a large and diverse country like ours, it is of paramount significance that we make our country secure for the welfare and growth of our people and our economy. Without that, all our aspirations towards superpower status will come up against an unassailable wall.
To begin with, let’s consider the unique situation faced by India. We have Pakistan and China as our primary neighbours. And even someone living under a rock in the desert would have heard by now that we don’t really make a happy family. We are constantly at war with both, mostly covert but at times overt too. Then there’s Bangladesh, who owes its creation to us, but seems to take pleasure in humiliating us at every foreseeable opportunity. We have an ambiguous relationship with Nepal, Bhutan and Burma whose details I do not quite understand. On the southern side we have the water and Sri Lanka where we have bloodied our nose once. So it is fair to conclude that we are not exactly living in the Sea of Tranquillity as far as the external factors go.
Now let’s look inwards. Things get even more interesting here. The North is highlighted by the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir which is probably one thing about us the whole world has heard of. Then we travel to the North East where even Google maps recently had Indian Territory with names in Chinese script. Wonder why that might be. The word ‘disputed’ comes to mind again. And then we of course have a plethora of states with different languages, cultures, food habits and lifestyles. I have lost count of how many as we keep adding a few every so often. If that were not enough diversity, we have multiple religions and castes. In short we have segregated our people in as many ways as possible. And it is amidst this diversity that we seek our democracy and unity. One does not need an analyst to tell you that it is not a very simple problem to deal with.
So it is this complex situation that needs to be addressed when one talks about national security. To start, let’s break it up into slightly more manageable pieces.

To be continued…

India - The Middle Class

It is one of the most ubiquitous words used in common parlance in many Indian conversations today. The Indian ‘middle class’. That widely spread out group of people in every Indian town and city. I came from a middle class family, as did most of my relatives and friends. And all through childhood we heard mention of this group of people. The news media, films and television also apparently pandered to the tastes of this group. But who are these people who make up this middle class?
About 2 decades back India was still not liberalised. The market had not opened up. Ambassadors and Premier Padminis dominated the street. The tiny Maruti 800 was just making its presence felt. ‘IT’ did not exist as anything but a pronoun. People saved rather than spent. The working class in a city were broadly divided into those working in ‘private firms’ and ‘government servants’. Students studied aspiring to become either doctors or engineers. Arranged marriages were the norm. Doordarshan on the idiot box was the one and only form of visual stimulation. In the interim years some changes happened that turned that world on its head.
The Indian middle class is today stuck in one of the most difficult times a generation has to face. It is the classic devil and deep sea conundrum. The Information Technology and outsourcing boom has meant the middle class suddenly has a lot of expendable income. It also means that the spending power on luxuries has multiplied. The fact that most of the children have grown up in an increasingly cosmopolitan environment has meant a greater influx of Western culture in the household. Attire, appliances, language and media has changed to reflect this influx.
This influx has been accepted in varied levels by our families. But what is creating the biggest conflict is the influence of the so called western culture into the middle class lifestyle. Western culture cannot simply be explained away by any one particular factor. It is more of a lifestyle choice. A choice that more people are adopting every day. And while its very easy to start going with the flow, along the way one starts realising how far it takes one from the basic lifestyle of the earlier middle class. Some examples are as follows. Students today have the option of getting ready money by working at a call centre. This also means that they don’t need to study beyond their high school levels. And commercialism has reached stupefying levels where its money and only money that seems to make the mare and all her relatives go.
But hold on, is this not the lifestyle that we associate with a capitalistic society like say, the US of A. And the main reason they are facing a shortage of skilled and educated workers today is because they chose to make quick money at the cost of their education. By spending money and shunning savings. And today the US firms are facing some very hard times as they cannot afford to employ their own people and have to rely on foreigners or outsourcing. There are not enough qualified Americans to take the place of all the Asians in the US. And that is why they have to wait for another generation to grow up and study in the more classical sense of the word, before they can reclaim what’s their own. As a country, India has not reached the level of prosperity that the US had before the recession hit. And yet in blindly aping them we have already imbibed a lot of the traits that led to their current situation. I am not predicting that the same fate awaits India. But the trend seems to be there.
This brings me back to the Middle Class. Since these are the people who make up most of the educated and qualified workforce of India, they will make or break us. This is a huge force we have which needs to be channelled in the right direction if India is to reach the superpower levels we claim. And these are the very people who need to start thinking of the consequences of their actions on the country as a whole.

My India...

In my brief hiatus from blogging, I have been thinking a lot about India. No, I'm not homesick. More on the lines of the various factors that make up India. In the next few posts I will put forth these ideas into words.

Six Steps to Ecstacy...

Rev the engine to optimum RPM. Shift higher. Rev match and let the clutch go. Rev higher and feel the power spool in smoothly. Then do it again and again. Six times. The sheer thrill of the perfectly executed gearshift. Six different notes played by the exhaust. Just that will make me buy a stick-shift over and over again.