Rushdie

Fighting words from Salman Rushdie on Mumbai Carnage:

 “There is no question that this was Pakistan. You could see it as an act of war. The West should be tougher on Pakistan. It is trying to play both ends against the middle – to look like the friend of the revolutionaries on the one hand and a friend of the West in the fight against terrorism. It can’t be both things. This country should make clear that as long as Pakistan harbours terrorists it’s not going to get any Western aid.”


This is at Timesonline. 

Arundhati Roy - Ghoul of Mean Things

This morning I received a message from Baskar, asking me to check A Roy's article in Guardian. I was wondering where was she? After all Mumbai terror gives her ample scope to nurture her pet topic. Usually she surfaces within a week in one of our leading magazines. However it took more than two weeks and a foreign daily to air her views. Quite understandable that none of our weeklies can risk an article of this kind, that too from a notorious person, given the current mood and climate.

I read it half way and dumped it. Whether you agree with the content or not, at least A Roy used to have a style and flow that keeps your interest alive in her writings. But this time nothing retained in my interest in her article. The article was hardly cohesive and far from a spontaneous response. She has just gobbled up all her pet hate topics like Modi, VHP, RSS, L K Advani, Hindu terrorism, Kashmir injustice, Islam's anger, Narmada dam, Singur,... etc and used them here and there along with Mumbai terror to make people see her point. What is her point? India deserve it. Yes, we deserve a writer and a pseudo-socialist like Arundhati Roy.

I think she was compelled to write as the Mumbai terror presented her a grand opportunity to put forth her vicious and venomous thoughts across to her readers and haters. Indian weeklies cold feet proved all the more good for her that now she has international audience via Guardian.

Every person has a right to air their views on the Mumbai terror and they need not agree with the popular opinion. However what the terrorists did to victims and at large to the psyche of Indian public is terribly condemnable. There can't be two opinions on that unless one is a terrorist. I did not come across a single sentence of condemnation of terror attacks and the perpetrators, by this over rated inetllectual (Please correct me if you find her condemning these acts in the article or if she had done it elsewhere).

What do you make of such people who use such an incident only to feed their ego and cast their aspersions on all and sundry. Baskar suggested that she is the Ghoul of mean things. She is a Ghoul (feeding on victims) of mean things (petty ego, mean mind and verbal diarrhoea).

Please read her article and post your views. Unfortunately there was no comments section under her article in Guardian. May be fortunately for Arundhati Roy. Arundhati Roy's article in Guardian

Snippets

We start with Bush: "There is some who say that perhaps freedom is not universal. Maybe it's only Western people that can self-govern. Maybe it's only, you know, white-guy Methodists who are capable of self-government. I reject that notion." -- George W. Bush, London.

Out from Pakistan comes the confirmation of what we alleged, and the Pakistan Government denied: "I don’t sell my sons" -Amir Kasab, father of Ajmal the captured Mumbai terrorist.This was his reply to a question whether he had received the 1.5 lakh rupees compensation promised to Ajmal by his handlers. Amir sells pakoras on a handcart, and seems to have more spunk than the intelligensia in Pakistan. He has also said, "I was in denial for the first couple of days, saying to myself it could not have been my son. Now, I hve accepted it"- this realisation has eluded the creators of public opinion and the Government of Pakistan so far.

But there would seem to be a glimmer of hope. "'In other words, our actions are making us look like criminals,' - Ayaz Amir, noted Pakistani political commentator, in The News. But too faint for comfort. He is doleful and plaintive, "There is nothing in Pakistan, not even the jihadi organisations like the Lashkar dedicated to vague causes, to compare with the courage and organisation of Hizbollah. And there is no leader in Pakistan, or indeed across the embattled world of Islam - a religion which we disgrace by our incompetence and cowardice - to match (Hizbollah chief) Hasan Nasrullah," He grieves not because he understands the futility of violence, but the compulsions of 'poor circumstances', empty coffers. So he is ready "to bid a final farewell to the diplomacy of jihad". We never knew that the Jihadis who attacked Mumbai were diplomats- the peace they seek to establish would be the silence of the graveyard.

Nearer home, we have more pressing matters. "Men are suffering in silence. It’s the only country where the father is not considered important for the child’’ Kamal Vikram, member, GHRS (Gender Human Rights Society). Making a case that men are suffering legal terrorism at the hands of women, GHRS cite the sad statistics that 57,593 married men have committed suicide compared to a mere 30,064 married women, and lament that all the deaths of women are ascribed to marriage problems, while the suicides of men are put down to financial problems.

And finally, a wonderful description of freedom as a state of being. It might be impossible for us to come by, but the words paint a brilliant picture of the natural state of independent self: "I awaken between three and five, meditate for one or two hours, go straight to my desk and work till one or two P.M. The type of meditation I do varies, but the basic form is "the practice of the morning." or "ultimate guru yoga," where the true nature of one's own mind is the ultimate guru. The practice is: Upon waking, or upon passing from dream state to the waking state, look directly into the mind, inquire directly into the source of consciousness itself--inquire "Who am I?" if you like, or practice looking directly into the looker. Upon inquiring into the self, the self disappears, dissolving back into radiant Emptiness, and consciousness rests as absolute Freedom and Fullness, unbounded and unlimited, unborn and undying, unseen and unknown." - Ken Wilber

Uncomfortable Questions

Guess who wrote this:

"Initially I wanted to take our politicians for task. I began to write but realised that for them I had only expletives and abuse of the filthiest kind,. I realised that the adjectives that were pouring out for them would never be published. My article would have been a series of "@%*$*%#"

"I leave you with one regret. How I wish the attack on Parliament had been as successful as the one Mumbai had to endure, then I would have thanked the terrorists for ridding us of these "F%$&#$G B#&%@%&S""

This is Tushar Gandhi, founder-president, Mahatma Gandhi Foundation, writing in The Financial Chronicle (1.12.2008), page 11.

I can understand his anger, but I am shocked at the overflow of rage. Would we be better off with all our MPs shot dead by terrorists?

We seethe with anger, and want immediate action, and are voluble about the necessity for change. But see this: just three reports I noted thins week:

I don't set out to be popular, my thinking is, if you want to think independently, you should first of all question your own feelings, your own first reactions. Speak to an individual, never speak for a group. And it is important to ask uncomfortable questions, because if you don't address them, sooner or later, you will have to search for impossible answers.

We seethe with anger, and want immediate action, and are voluble about the necessity for change. But see this: just three reports I noted this week:

According to the the Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report of the UNESCO, India has sustained one of the world's highest economic growths for the last two decades, but in social indicators for child mortality, nutrition and child health, India lags far behind Bangladesh and Nepal with lower levels of income and economic growth. If India had reduced child mortality to Bangladesh levels, it would have had 200,000 fewer deaths in 2006.

About 2,00,000 children die every year, most of them due to malnutrition (46% of our children are underweight)- and no interest in the media, no one asks the Health Minister of whoever to resign, no one wants to kill all the politicians. Why is that?

According to India State Hunger Index published  by the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute, "When Indian states are compared to countries in the 2008 Global Hunger Index, Madhya Pradesh ranks between the war and famine ravaged Ethiopia and Chad... In fact India’s rate of child malnutrition is higher than in famine ravaged Sub-Saharan Africa ...more than a fifth of India's population, more than 200 million, the largest in the world, is already hungry"

What is our reaction to this? Do we feel any pain or outrage? Madhya Pradesh fares worse than Ethiopia and Chad! Do we ask its Chief Minister to go? India’s rate of child malnutrition is higher than in famine ravaged Sub-Saharan Africa  What is our reaction to it? More than a fifth of India's population, more than 200 million, the largest in the world, is already hungry- and how do we feel about this?

According to  data  released by the Bureau of Police Research & Development (BPRD), the Indian police force is under-manned, inadequately-trained and ill-equipped. According to Bloomberg, which cites a report of the Institute of Peace and conflict Studies, India has an average of 122 policemen for every 100,000 people. This  is much lower than the United Nations' average of 222  How much do we spend on training each of these scarce policemen, who shoulder more responsibility? A measly Rs 1,975 per policeman every year, that is the all India average. In 2006, governments spent a meagre Rs 12,488 per policeman per month. That includes the salary of the policeman, so you can imagine how little would be left over for anything else..

If you are underprepared in a vital matter such as internal security, the terrorist attack on Mumbai comes as no surprise. Did anyone in the media go hysterical over this? Did we ask for the resignation of the Home Minister, the Prime Minister?

The problem is, the media is obsessed with sensational reporting- and goading us into hysterics.

My suspicion is, these facts are easy to bear because they are not visceral. There is no face to the villain here, but with terrorism, you can put a face and name, so you are interested.

And far worse, these statistics are so boring. If poverty is an art film, terrorism is masala. We want to wage war against terror, but war on poverty? It is so dull and uneventful. Development is a bore, but terrorism- it is spectacular. That is where action is, so we feel drawn in, want to know more and more.

I do't understand people, really, here in India, the mentality of our citizen and media. Or else why do we feel such anguish and outrage over violent events, but apathy and indifference to silent suffering?

The Taj

All I am doing today is blogging, it seems.

It is a way of keeping control of emotions, I guess.

I have once come to Mumbai for a marriage, but have not seen Taj.

Here is an article by Aravind Adiga in The Times Online. Please click the link and  read it in its entirety, it is good- emotional, but not sentimental; angry but not outrageous.

And here a moving passage from him about what Taj means to him, and to the man on the street:

"But what has really made this particular attack personal, even for those of us who have not lost family or friends to the terrorists, is what has happened to this hotel.

"When other Indians say Taj, they mean the world-famous marble monument in Agra; when people in Bombay speak of the Taj, they mean India's grandest hotel, the Taj Mahal hotel at the Gateway of India. The middle-class can afford to have tea; richer people can dine here; and only the super-rich, or visitors from abroad, can stay in this hotel. And yet all residents of Bombay regard this hotel with an intensity of pride and affection. We love the Taj because it is, frankly speaking, better than anything else in this city.

"Life in Bombay is profoundly unjust; more than half the residents live on the pavement or in the slums. Naturally we admire the fact that the Taj was founded in a fit of egalitarianism and fair play. In the 19th century, the legend goes, an Indian tycoon was refused admission into a whites-only hotel; he decided to start an hotel where a man would never be judged by the colour of his skin. In a young city where so much is transient the Taj has endured for more than a hundred years; it has the aura of antiquity in Bombay that Caesar's Forum has in Rome. In a badly planned metropolis, where so much is a disaster - the traffic, the water supply, the general infrastructure - the Taj sets a standard of excellence. Thanks to its exquisite service, rooms and food it is regarded as one of the world's great hotels; indeed, foreign visitors to Bombay seem to love the Taj at least as much as the natives do.

"In a class-obsessed city, the Taj is exclusive - but never snobbish. (The other hotel that was attacked, the Trident, probably charges less for its rooms and food, but has the distinct reputation of being a rich man's hotel.) Many working-class Mumbaikars save for weeks to have a coffee at the Taj; and then they save their receipts so they can show their relatives and friends.

"The hotel's interior may be reserved for the rich, but the famous exterior can be enjoyed by everyone. The palatial façade is a whimsical blend of Renaissance, Mughal and Gothic styles, and the net result is a celebration of all that's hybrid, improbable and incongruous in this world, making the Taj a perfect emblem for Bombay - the city that was dredged out of swamp and sea and populated with migrants from across the world.

"In this city of dreams and cinema, this hotel creates the best-loved civic space - the plaza around Gateway of India, where you might go with your family for a Sunday promenade, or to watch the ocean, or purchase some peanuts for a quick snack. In many ways, the Taj is more like a town hall than an hotel. And to see it burning and wounded and charred and vandalised like this is like seeing St Paul's attacked during the Blitz."

More is the pain.

Adhithi Devo Bhava!

Homages are due for every one of the people that died in the horrible attack in Mumbai. But I will honour just one person, and through him, all those who have been slain by the bullets and grenades of the death machines.

According to the news report in Washington Post, twelve years ago, Alan Scherr committed his life to meditation and spirituality. Now he has been here and has died.

The Scherrs were among 25 participants from the Synchronicity community who had traveled to Mumbai on a pilgrimage to visit several ashrams, Now he and his 13 year old daughter have died, and four others pilgrims have been injured.

"Alan committed most of his adult life to meditation, spirituality and conscious living," the statement from Synchronicity, the spiritual group to which Scherr belonged, said. "He was a passionate Vedic astrologer and meditation teacher who inspired many people to begin a journey of self-awareness and meditation. He was committed to making a positive difference in the world and devoted himself to the community he lived in."

The Synchronicity statement described Naomi as "a bright and lively young woman who loved spending time with people and living life to the fullest. She was passionate, if not a little mischievous, and will be fondly remembered by many of us for colorful hair styles and radiant energy."

According to The News & Advance, "Scherr came to the organization in 1996 when his daughter was just two months old. She was home-schooled, finished the eighth grade a year early, scored 92 percent on her SSAT and had planned to apply to the Emma Willard Academy in Troy, N.Y., to attend high school." Now the little child is dead.

"In India, Naomi had been working on an essay to accompany her application to the boarding school, had gotten her nose pierced, obtained shawls and Indian garb, scheduled some massages and was enjoying her pilgrimage". Her life has been snuffed away by the rank breath of a stale and sterile ideology, smothered by the claustrophobic fumes of hatred.

The spokesman for the group to which Scherr belongs, has this to say about the terrorists: "They’re walking where their feet are.Like 95 percent of the people walking the earth, they are fragmented or in denial, so to speak." The people who inspire terror should be ashamed, but they won't, not until they come face to face with terror in their everlasting hell.

Tanya Anisimova, 42, a concert cellist and composer from the Moscow Conservatory as well as a Synchronicity member and a native of Chechnya, has this to say: "This is about peace, the whole place is about peace." She prays for her slain comrade the best way she knows how to: "We need to pray, and I need to make this cello sound" she said. In the end, victory shall be hers. Her cello shall definitely silence the guns and grenades.

Alan Scherr seems to have been a disciple of Master Charles, who trained under Paramahamsa Muktananda. There is a revealing article by Scherr at www.realization.org. Please read this, I found it moving, especially when I came to the last paragraph:

"For me, real freedom means living life in each moment, as it unfolds, without concepts or conditions. It is a life very few choose because it requires an orientation and re-prioritization of life that is, in many ways, antithetical to our modern Western culture. And yet, it is always available whenever one is truly focused upon self-mastery. The miracle of this life continues to unfold for me on daily basis." 

It is a pity that such a noble man as Scherr should die at the hands of these scum  with poisonous blood in their heart and empty words in the head. But it always has been thus in India. And there is no dishonour in such death.

It pierces me like a sharp dart, so painful is my anguish that we in India have let this happen to a guest who loved this country beyond belief: "Scherr has expressed a preference that he be cremated, possibly with ashes to be strewn in the Ganges River." How can we recompense his love and respect? No way is there, words are of no avail.

He is with God, and he has found a place more in tune with his heart than this loveless, shrivelled, doomed, divided earth, where 'God' is getting to be a curse word worse than all those four-letter words, and the priest rant and the fundamentalist chant carry more violence than gangsta rap.

The Nefarious Agenda of the Terrorists

I found this wonderful blog named in plain words, "Counterterrorism Blog". It has a panel of contributors who are responsible and know what they write about- they are experts with credence, people you can trust. They keep a series of posts on India running, and they give a very good group of newslinks. 

As far as I could tell, they are neutral, and their aim of being 'a gateway to the community for policymakers and serious researchers', able to 'provide realtime information about terrorism cases and policy developments' is achieved with credible amount of success.

If any of you are interested in what is happening in India and how this all fits in with the wider scenario, please check this blog. And I am sure the committed among you will follow this blog and find useful information.

Now this is what they have to say about the unholy and satanic attack on innocent civilians in Mumbai: 

"The "emirs" have sent these armed elements in their 20s to strike at Indian psyche. One goal is to sink the Pakistani-Indian rapprochement. In Islamabad, the new Government is engaged in operations against the big Jihadi boys ojn the north western frontier. It is quite possible that the Mumbai attacks aim at triggering tensions between the two old foes so that pressure would be released against the radicals in Pakistan. In any event, this is a large Jihadi operation against one of the emerging economies and the largest democraciy n Asia. The goal is to target India as a power engaged in the War on Terror but also to further destabilize the region, including Pakistan and its neighbor Afghanistan."

Going by the larger trend, I tend to agree with this.

So my request to whoever is reading this is, please don't blame the Muslims in general. Don't incite hatred through your comments. We are all one here, some of us might make mistakes, but in spirit we are all Indians. We used to be, and should continue to be an inclusive society.

Mumbai's pain is my pain

I woke up to the devastating news of gun men taking control of most high profile, high security buildings of Mumbai. It's perturbing to hear about an attack of such scale across Mumbai by terrorists. What a big intelligence and security failure? My prayers and thoughts are with those who died and injured in the terror attack.

Questions keep coming out of mind, as more and more news come out. We don't have the answers now and we may not know the answers for many of our questions. But one thing is for sure. We must all stand united and be brave. I was touched and also pained by the sight of ATS chief wearing the helmet and chest guard before entering the Taj Hotel. The top man of ATS walking to fight terrorists speaks loud about the situation. Soft governance and vicious politicians are the bane of this country. It is time we, Indian citizens, learnt our lessons.

In rediff B.Raman, Former deupty secretary at the cabinet secretariat has written an article on this situation. Please read it. He asks whether our nuclear establishments are safe. This, coming from a man who served as one of the top bureaucrats is highly disturbing. Unless he sees a motive in the top echelons of our safety and security, such a question would not come out.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/nov/27raman-are-our-nuclear-establishments-safe.htm

Corruption and the greed for power is corroding the iron of our safety.

My mind is clobberred by incessant thoughts coming out of my anguish and pain. All that I want to say is this. The union government and the state government have failed to save its citizens and the guests. They were sleeping or pretending to be asleep while terrorists planned and walked into Mumbai to carry out an attack of this scale. They are wholly responsible for the intelligence and security failure. What are they going to do? I guess, they will cling onto power, because that is what they want.