Thursday, December 25, 2008

The celeb talks

Hi guyz,

I know i missed this week's Sunday deadline. It was not that i forgot, just that i couldn't find time to take off work. I know, some of you must have been thinking not even 15 mins off?. Well let me say i have been writing this for some time. Only now i could complete.

Let me start of with a few bashing. The Antulay comments was uncalled for, especially at the floor of the Parliament. It has no doubt affected adversely the Indian case on the international level. If he had doubts, he is a minister he could have asked the PM privately for an investigation. Secondly, this is more of a vote bank politics. The good thing about this comment is that now the smaller parties has lost the game to the Congress , BJP and communists. Why? Now every fundamental or close to fundamental Muslim will vote for Congress and the fundamental and close to fundamental Hindu will vote for BJP. The bad thing is about, this has split again the country on communal lines and now this 26/11 Mumbai attacks are turning out to be Hindu Muslim thought process. The govt does not want to loose the next election so they wont strike on Antulay. BJP and communist are not gonna let this go as they want to win more votes.

BTW, I just saw the TIME Magazines most memorable photos of the year and was very sad not to find even one pic of the mumbai attacks. Its a shame that TIME fails to see th pain of Mumbai and the problem of Indians. It would have helped India to convince a greater number of people on the issue.

Anyway let me come to this weeks topic. All the celebs are saying this and that. But the truth is there is no action. Amir khan has said in his blog and in the CNN_IBN interview that the youth of this country should come forward but he does not see himself as a politician. ie. You guyz go ahead and do something. I will come to the talk shows and encourage and there by not lock horns with the politicos. Shah Rukh Khan has also said something similar. I think if Sharukh and Amir had show some example than talk in front of camera in an a/c room it would have helped a lot.

Why blame the actors, where are the corporates? What are they doing. Lot of them said lot of things. Where are they now. They are still bribing the politicos and the bureaucracy.

In short everybody wants a bit of the air time, But nobody wants to do anything. I made a call for a political party in one of my previous blog. I am ready to start/join one. There are one or two parties that have started. One is "Yuva satta". Thats for the youth. what about the older generation? and the kiddos? Another is PPI. not People's party of India" but "Professionals Party of India". Now let me be clear. We need an all inclusive party A party that is secular by not taking about religion. A party that does not give a dam about creed, sex profession or age.

I posted on Mulund(E) community that we should all get together plan a protest and send the message clear to all local parties that they better get their acts together . Number of replies I got, is 7. All were, 49-0s or "tell me the place and time". Damn, Why don't you tell me the place and time mates?

every body is a celeb in his own right and everybody wants his air time. But nobody is ready to come forward and doing the dirty work. Just one message . If not today then tomorrow, if not you then your children have to clean this gutter up. It better we do it before it gets more dirty.

remember what i said in one of my first posts
"Dont Look for the change, Be the change"

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Mumbai Carnage(The need for an action plan)

Its now two weeks and more since the mumbai terror attacks. The protesters have gone back to their life. Politicians have gone back to the fights. Media has gone back to chasing stars and other news. The editorials are still pouring in. But its official. We are back to status quo. I am sure by now, the change ain't coming this time.

I am making this post on the back drop of the 13 December 2001 parliament attack anniversary and the visit of Prime Minister Gordon Brown to the subcontinent. The former event, i mean the anniversary has turned out to be another shame for us. There were only 12 of our elected representatives yesterday to pay homage to the martyrs. It was like the senior leaders of the major parties attending. It was like, they were there as representatives of these parties. I was just thinking, the cops should have just tried to save the senior leaders saying, saving them is equivalent to saving all and exposing them to the terrorists of 13/12 . The political game has not yet reached an end and hence Afzal Guru is still awaiting to know if he is gonna be hanged or not.

The British and Americans are 10 times better than us, look at prime minister Brown. He has made quite an achievement in Pakistan today including a 6 million pound deal of support to pakis (I am sure the behind door deal is, don't let that happen in Britan what happened in Mumbai and u can have that 6 million).

Anyway neither this post nor this blog is about bashing. This week i wanna talk about taking on terrorism. We are always asking Pakistan to do this, to do that and crying around saying they are doing nothing. But what are we doing about terrorism thats brewing in India. Nothing. The first thing the Indian govt needs to do is that we clean out the in house terrorists (though it includes the politicos..lets exclude the for the time being... lol).

Let the govt come out with an action plan saying that n such and such time limit we would clean out terrorism in India. Let the say that in 6 months we are focusing on this part of the problem and then the next six on another part and so on. For this the first thing the govt need to do is to identify the issues pertaining this issue. As a common citizen these are some possible measure that the govt can take.

Make the eastern borders(incl Nepal) impregnable. The start ground action. Lets say they decide to start with NE terror groups including assam. Let the army be given the task to take them out. Simultaneously extend Operation Sadhbavna( the army's people relation program) that has been very successful in Kashmir to this part. Then we can force the hand of Myanmar junta to allow us to join them and conduct operations on their land with their army on their western borders where these terror groups have training camps.

Once cleaned out, focus on the naxals. The prime minister himself has said the Naxals are the primary concern for India. So lets take them out. Break their corridor, make inroads and be ruthless. Educate ppl to not support them, arm ppl if required and let army control those areas where the local administrations(incl police) are finding difficult to reach).

Then turn the attention to the sleeper cells in India. Don't destroy them but penetrate them. Identify the international links. For this the govt will have to do a lot in taking into confidence the Muslim community. It is near impossible unless we have somebody from that community in our side. There are hundreds of the patriotic and many will come forward if we show respect and confidence in them.

Only after clean the house can you think about taking on outsiders. These attacks are going to happen as long as there is local support and these attacks can't be done so frequently by just outsiders. If we don't take care of insiders before going out after the outsiders we will lose the battle from inside. Hopefully the Indian leadership has some thoughts in this line.

I will be back next week, with new topic. Don't Forget, 26/11/2008, Mumbai. 178 people lost their lives, how many more will lose? Time will answer.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Mumbai Carnage (Defining a new political order)

So, the mumbai investigation has started going murky with all the allegations and counter allegations. Wat else did u expect? Congress fought over a week to decide the new CM. Now its a open revolt. The new CM's first words "There was not pressure on MLAs to support me".... i was just for a second expecting him to rather say "Mumbai has been a lesson, we will not make anymore mistakes". Foolish me!Shiv Sena has asked for presidents rule in Maharashtra, why not . The president is a maharashtrian. So they are not actually going away from mumbai for marathi policy. Very well.

Anyways no bashing and no blaming them. They are trying to survive and we are too. But our survival is different. We are trying to survive as a nation. So Let me get to the topic of this Post. A New Political Order. We all by now are clear that the current political order ( i mean all the parties together) cannot or more correctly 'will not' save us. We are gonna fend for ourself. I want every citizen to consider the anger on this fraternity we have had for years and consider that Mumbai 26/11/2008 is just an immediate cause for the action. And wats the action?? I say lets start a political party.

OUR NEW PARTY

By now 1/3rd of the readers have closed this browser, 1/3rd is lauging and the other 1/3rd is shaking their head(either with support or thinking 'this will never work'). Anyway, For all these groups let me say. We can work and more importantly we have a common enemy. The political order. We must work together.

Why do we need a political party? You know the behavior of a lion. It will toil or fight only if it is challenged in its pride land. Our politicians are the same. There is not doubt that they are capable. The problem is that they are not channelized. So if we can be successful party either we can put these guys out and make a change or give them a strong run for their money and make them really work some good for the people. Anyhow it will be in the interest of the people.

What should the party do? There are a few immediate things that the party should do. First, remove the caste based partisan system in the Indian govt system.As long as it is there the politicians are gonna go back to the vote bank politics, Second, right to call back elected representatives.

Third, separate security from law and order and make it a subject matter of the union while maintaining law and order as subject of state. Fourth, have a regulatory authority for agriculture and agricultural products like the TRAI or RBI for telecom and finance. A politics independent authority that can take issued based decisions when it comes to agriculture.

Finally, a unified controller for security and intelligence forces. Who will have rights to ask questions and give orders to all internal security forces and civilian intelligence agencies. RAW and The Defense Forces must be kept out of their command but should be asked to communicate with any and every other organization through this authority, This will help in keeping track of information passed, action taken and pinning responsibility.

Many will look at the party idea sceptically, but it can work. If every middle class family in this country comes out to donate 50/- to this organization we can fight any party head on and the corporate houses will then be forced to back it.

But the problem is we should not allow many parties to crop up. It will again fracture and join with the political order. There should be only one party.

And one important thing, in India for a party to be acceptable across the nation it should have a sensational issue backing it. eg:, Congress uses the name of the congress party that was dismantled after the independence movement. It therefore enjoys the support for the original congress especially since its initial members were mostly members of the original one. Then we have the BJP which came to the fore after the Babri Masjid issue(today is its anniversary, and i am sad of the pain that has been inflicted on my Muslim brethren irrespective of whether ram was born there or not. If Ram was alive, he would have happily had a mosque in turn for the peace that would have prevailed in this country.)

These are the only two parties that we can call national others are just there in pockets. Th mumbai is one that is sensational and one that all people are hurt about. This can unite and garner support.

Finally, everybody says "i am in, tell me the time and place". Don't say that. You say the time and place. Don't look for the change, Be the Change.

I tried to start a small rally in my locality by posting in its orkut community. I got three responses in three days. No more replies. How many more such assaults can we forgive and forget. I mailed about this blog to more than 100 ppl. I am sure not more than 30 have read it. Why look at friends, I have around 15 cousins, only one replied, I have not been able to talk about the situation to more than two. This is first time in my life i am being proactive for my nation. For the first time i am resolved.

I DON'T WANT MY CHANGE, I WILL BE MY CHANGE.

with words of Robert Frost, the most suited for this situation let me leave you . I will be back at least on next Sunday if no sooner.

"Woods are Lovely Dark and Deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep "

(I have had some good responses also, some have requested for specific topics. Will be writing on them very soon)
(Plz forgive my mistakes with spelling and grammar, was never good with them)

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Mumbai Carnage (Part 2)

Well Well, am back, a little bit cooler after all that politico and media bashing. Let me not get into that anymore though kerala CM and other politicos deserve some more. Straight to the point.... Where do we go from here? What do we do now on?

We all have been crying from last Thursday night against the politicos. Will change of heads be enough? What policy changes do we expect? Which party is gonna help us out of this? Do we as citizens have a role to play? What abt the media? and most importantly... are u ready to sacrifice some freedom for more security. Before i get to these stuff let me put to rest the most hot topic discussed these days every where. "Are we gonna hit Pakistan"?

That is an non existent option for me and i don't think any govt for that reason would be foolish to risk that or for our bureaucrats allow that. Why? simple. We all know there are hundreds of sleeper cells in India maintained by the ISI. Do u think they will sleep when India and Pak are at war... The enemy will bleed us from inside. Also the naxals, the terrorists in the North East and most importantly the chinese who claim Sikkim, Arunachal and wat not will not sit quite.... every damn opponent will try to strengthen their position. We 'll loose the war not from outside But from inside.

Secondly, how long can we sustain a war when the world is at financial crisis? Do u think US will really back us when they want the pak army at the afghan border. Neither is Russia as close as it was to us earlier to help us keep the Chinese out of the chess board. Even if we get a truce with the other terror groups inside India what garuntee that they will honor it? Lets be very clear ...... we are cornered..... We can't go and start hitting around...

So wat do we do now? We need Change.. and not in one front

1) Political - either the mentality of the politicos must change or we the people should push them out. We need rules and regulations for who can be a minister and who cannot (would a 10 std pass be recruited as s/w engg?).. he must be some where close to understanding the system. This is the rite time for a CITIZEN MOVEMENT.

2) Media- They should be more responsible. Follow stuff, not let things slip out of memory..... Media has proved its metal by doing this... Priydarsini Matoo, Nitish Katara cases are apt examples. And must play a constructive role via reports and editorials. Must inspire the citizens.

3) Security forces - Should be better equipped, should create specific forces for specific tasks (no more NSG as black cats), Restructuring of intelligence teams, more importance to ground level intelligence. Better use of Technology ....we have the supposedly 3rd largest pool of professionals and still our armed forces have to shout and signal orders.... We should make better use of softwares and hardwares. If we had used softwares and hardwares that can identify people in rooms from outside the army could have much more easily saved ppl earlier. Or they could have relayed info amng various teams inside the hotel. I sometimes feel that the defense forces of India some how are averse to computers. look at the vacancies for IT/Computer engineers. And lets pay them more money damn it!

4) System - There must be a process in the Indian system. If a intelligence input is made there must be a system to track and update. Not just intelligence, whether it be planning, new projects, initiatives. we need smtng at least like a project traq in Indian governing system


5)Corporates - The Tatas, Birlas and Reliances and the big corporate houses need to stop accusing the govt. They have a role to play here. Why cant we have a system where if a software company gives free software for security or govt the govt not give them tax perks or free land in return... rather than paying real money? Why cant instead of the corporates making donations in cash...donate in kind like a hardware company come up with security devices, textile company with clothing (fcrse let them have their name as a logo...no ads plz... i dnt want my army advertising ).

6) Citizens - We have a a much greater role. We should be ready to give up our freedom for more safety. Ready to be frisked every now and then. Have a social security number. Lets not just demand more but do more. One immediate thing that we need to do is not to vote for wrong guyz. If all ur candidates are wrong just dont vote (i think there is smtng called 49-0 or No Vote...will check and blog on that). lesser or greater the devil is he is a devil at the end of the day. We say youth should act, but we are the youth, we should not say but act. Why not a political party to counter all the devils... to clean the system lets get to the system. I am ready for it. And this blog is part of such a campaign.


The great martyrs who gave their life don't need your condolences or need you to attend their cremations. They need your action. By action i don't mean going out on a protest rally, blaming the politicos or anything. What i mean is that we have to work even harder now, in what ever you do from a coolie to a corporate king. We need to double our efforts. To make India a super power in the world. Economically, security wise, medically development wise and what not. We should drive hard for a day when our enemy should ask us for the money to buy the bullets that he is gonna fire at us. This should be the tribute to the martyrs. There can be no greater respect.

I will keep writing on ways to be a better citizen on this blog and do my bit to not let the mumbai carnage slip out of memory.

While writing this blog i created a mail id indiaagain@gmail.com and thought of asking all of you to mail to that email address and say that we will create a political party and send petitions and all.. Spending another moment on it i feel, its not worth it. If u still feel like joining me, mail me at indiaagain@gmail.com, lets get together and do our little part. Remember the story of the squirrel when Ram built the bridge to Lanka. India now needs hundreds of such squirrels. We cant start mass movements by signing petitions or sending emails. What we need is to be proactive.

First thing i would like to happen is a PIL asking for a law to allow me to recall my elected representative or say that none of the candidates deserve to be my representative, because democracy is not a Yes or No question.

(plz forgive my mistakes with spellings and grammers, was never good with them)

Monday, December 1, 2008

Mumbai Carnage (part 1)

Well, my first blog is here

Well, my first blog is here. Would have really loved to start off with something brighter but lets just say the time has forced my hand to start of with a much sadder note. After all being a mumbaiker cldn’t just turn a blind eye to what my beautiful city has had to go through again. Well I will also join the chorus to say “THIS IS THE LIMIT”. Bu I would like to differ at a many a good no: of points.

From a Carnage to a Circus

Let me confess. I committed a lot of murders in last few days. And my victims, our soft spoken PM , L K Advani, Modi and Deshmukh at least 10 times each (while I was in the toilet, while hitting the sack at nite, or while traveling in the Mumbai localllll). I am sorry but I think I can now write a new blog on “how to kill politicos”..lol. But the politicos never stop to amaze me, “Bade Bade shehro mein aise ek haath hadse ho jathe hai”….. wat a comment… Well that comment would have made the LeT feel as if they hvnt even been able to say “booooo” to the indian politicans. Wat a reply? And I applaud Mr. Deshmukh for his great ideas even in the face of adversity. After the great indian innovations of religious tourism and medical tourism here he presents a grand idea called “Terorrist Tourism”. He could start letting people go into Taj to take a peak after paying a ticket of 10 or 20 bucks. Well what a way to show respect to your able officers. But BJP nevers shy’s away from competition. If congress makes a blunder they will not be far behind. Mr Naqvi is the great leader of BJP who is now going to decide who can offer condolences and prayer meetings and who cannot. May be BJP should try adding that to their election manifesto, that they would enact a law not letting reporters with lipstick cover terror situations or westernized girls to offer condolences. Well thanks but no thanks, I would rather prefer the shariah law.


Hey BTW, I just forgot to ask, where is Laloojii, Mulayamji and Paswanji. Neither did I hear from Sir Chandrababu Naidu or the great Communists (whether they be L M N O P or Q or even be without a Q). Lalooji can think of taking a leaf out of Deshmukhji’s book … he can make more profit for railways by running train via Jaipur, Ahmadabad, Surat, Mumbai, Hyderabad. May be even extent it to kannur in kerala. The Home ground of SIMI. Marthi Manoos Raj Thackerayji… now u can come out of ur house, some Maharashtrians , south Indians and north Indians together have killed the terrorists 3 days back so that u can safely pursue ur holy war. Let the circus begin. I am sorry to say this but MNS guyz,,,, ur Raj Thackrey is not half the maharashtrian Hemant Karkare or Vijay Salaskar turned out to be. Jai Maharashtra( with full repsect and a feeling that I too am a maharashtrian… may be born a south indian..But I live here… this is my home and I like maharashtra as much as I like my mother…).


Well, why blame the politicos alone, even the media was not far behind.And by writing the next few lines I am gonna ensure that no media house is gonna read my blog any more. Well at least not NDTV and Mumbai Mirror. What I am talking about? Well Barkha Dutt screwed up big time while otherwise meticolous coverage of this carnage by NDTV. Well she was standing at the door steps of Taj on the Saturday morning when NSG had just done taking care of all the terrorists ( I hope the took good care ) and shouted up to the NSG guy on the first floor who was looking out of the window “Any more terrorists”. I just blurted out “Sweatheart, do u think NSG is drunk to let u so close with a terrorist alive?”. Well my second fav statement was a whole article from Mumbai Mirror. The article carried how smartian a paper it was by not carrying messages of various B list stars and wanna be starlets. Lemme just ask.. What are you guyz then doing now by writing four columns on these stars and their PR people? Look who is crying foul at others trying to take mileage out of situations. Anyway Times Now, CNN-IBN , Headline Today had their share of blunders, with one of these channels saying ( I think CNN… not sure) saying that they had warned abt sea routes almost a year back.


Let me be frank here the media is though lesser but still a culprit. Wat do they do once they have broadcasted these stings and operations? How many times do they back up, revisit and update ppl on the status? They make as much money as possible with the initial hue and cry and then just let it go. We need a strong media to build a strong nation. Not a media that just sensationalizes news but ensures that the common man does not forget it. A media that loads his guns as the common man fights his wars. Asks the right questions to the right ppl and more importantly repeat the question till an acceptable answer is received.


The Indian media I am very sad to say is not mature enough to self censor and self direct (I still remember the images of a police officer begging a reporter not to go into the hotel behind the terrorists folding his hands and shouting “Please, Please…..”). I some times fear that Indian media will try to broadcast live the rape of a girl than try to stop it. That too is rape. A rape of morality of us viewers, a kind of thinking that pen is supreme that sword. Its strong but not supreme I should remind my friends in the media. Though after saying all this, I should say that they were far better in covering this carnage than previous times.



Well, my first blog is here

Well I just wanted to write a few good ideas on how to deal with the current situation and how to fight this war… Not the “War on Terror”… But an internal war….a war for security, accountability, focus, use of technology and most importantly a better leadership. But all this bashing just took up al the space.. So please wait for my next blog. I am not asking for a fan following or smtng. Just ready my blog. Sleep over it and use any idea that I give if u can…..and fcrse gimme some that I can use (other than the idea of “Stop bloggin”…lol). Looking fwd to some good encouragement.

(plz frgv me for the spelling and grammatical mistakes...never was good with them)