With Great Power comes Great Responsibility: India & the UNSC

It’s been 69 years since India became an Independent nation. The leaders that formed the government then thought that the time was right for India to govern itself. The government today believes that India is ready to be part of a committee that aims to keep the world secure, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). To this end, they have been looking for support from every quarter with the constant spate of foreign visits Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already made to several nations since his government came to power in 2014.

They feel the time is right for India to take its rightful place, seeing as it considers itself a leader in Asia. It is looked upon by various South Asian nations as a big brother, an insurance policy of some kind, against the threat that an aggressive China poses in the region.

For & Against India’s seat

But India has apparently failed in impressing contemporary world leaders who have opposed India’s most recent bid to restructure the UNSC like its reluctant friend US President Barrack Obama and its long-time ally Russian President Vladimir Putin. The third nation, China, in spite making tall claims of friendship during President Xi Jinping’s diplomatic visit, is still a regional rival along with another claimant to a permanent seat, Japan. However, the other two permanent members, France, under President Francois Hollande and the United Kingdom, under Prime Minister David Cameron, support India’s bid.

Other Contenders

Along with India, the other G-4 nations, comprising of Germany, Japan, and Brazil have all longed for a permanent seat in the UNSC. Germany, because of its GDP, which is the fourth largest in the world, Japan, because of its regional (albeit muted) power status in Asia, and Brazil, by virtue of being the only regional power in South America.

Shortcomings

Although India is slated to be the most populous country in the world by 2022, although its economy is great as an emerging market, although it has a stable democratic structure and although it is a responsible nuclear state, India hasn’t exactly been doing what one would expect members of a ‘security council’ to do.

• India hasn’t sent help to the coalition fighting terrorist groups outside its borders
• India is not involved in helping bring back a democratic government in Yemen
• India didn’t until very recently stand up for or attempt to mediate the conflict brewing in the South China Sea.
• India hasn’t spoken up on human rights issues in the Israel-Palestine conflict.
• India stood passively by in the Iran nuclear deal.
• India hasn’t done anything for the Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.

When you take a look at all these conflicts that India has deliberately avoided, stayed out of, skirted or just verbally condemned, it is hard to imagine that this country is a regional power which will do anything at all, even if it does get a permanent seat at the UNSC.

Favourable Statistic

However, there is one thing that certainly goes in India’s favour and that is the number of personnel it has sent to the United Nations Peacekeeping Force. India has sent 8,112 people and is third in terms of this contribution, Bangladesh and Pakistan holding the first and second positions respectively. The permanent members come nowhere close to matching these numbers.

Unfortunate Reality

However, merely these numbers cannot hide the fact that India has in fact chosen neutrality and made the decision to stay aloof from world conflicts even in this age of co-operation. Although India now contests that it just needs a two-third majority in the UN General Assembly to get a seat, the problem is that India might fall short on its claim to be able to handle that much power without taking on responsibility.

Owning up to the Real Issues at Hand

We see and are a part of a number of things that are wrong in society in daily life. We want to make them better, we want to be better as a civilization and we strive towards that very common goal with the rest of humanity.

But we sometimes lose sight of the bigger picture either by quickly finding someone to blame or getting caught up in unnecessary nuances that hide the real issue, which is then left to stagnate and dealt with at a later date.

Image Courtesy: pinterest.com

These are the issues that really need to be dealt with, the crux of the matter, the questions we should really be asking. Divided by categories, here are the real issues and their tangents we have been obsessing over.

Crime

Radhe Maa in a skirt or Radhe Maa abetting suicide

The self-styled ‘Godwoman’ known as Radha Maacame into the news recently for her apparently racy photos in which she is wearing a short skirt or a dress. Although the real issue of her involvement in the death of a woman in a dowry case came to light, everyone was obsessed more about her short skirt than her abetment of suicide. That says more than one thing about the Indian mindset.

Defence

Japan’s new defence bill or Chinese aggression in South Asia

Everyone, from pacifists, to students, to academicians, to the common people are opposing a bill cleared by the lower house of Japanese parliament that will allow their military to help their allies fight threats. This means, Japanese forces will once again be able to deploy beyond their shores. What is not being taken into consideration however, is the Chinese aggression in the South China Sea that is taking a turn for the worse and Japanese self-defence may be reliant on reciprocation of the same to its allies.

Social Issue

Politics or Human Rights in the Israel-Palestine conflict

Political deadlock between Israel and Palestine seems to have become a permanent feature for that part of the world. With uncompromising parties on both sides giving no room for a peaceful reconciliation, the conflict seems in no hurry to end. However, human rights abuses, both by militant groups as well as police forces seem to be sidelined in favour of sovereign territorial disputes, settlements and violence on the streets.

Culture & Heritage

Protecting Monuments or Stopping Conflict

Cultural heritage all over the world is in constant danger of being enveloped into the conflicts that result in their unnecessary destruction or the threat thereof. The destruction f the Bamiyan Buddhas (Afghanistan), the looting of Iraqi national museum (Iraq), the allegations of the Taj Mahal being a temple (India) and the threat to Palmyra’s ruins (Syria) is very real and disheartening. Religious intolerance and conflict will continue to exist till there is a shift in mindset or in vested interests, but heritage will not come back once it is destroyed.

Education

The Porn Ban or the need for Sex Education

Amidst the uproar on whether the Indian government has any right to tell its citizens what to watch on the internet due to them banning over 800 porn sites, the real point of sex education and its despondent state in Indian education has been lost. The government has cited immorality as its feeble excuse to try to get away with its regressive policy but all everyone can be bothered with is the right to watch porn. What about the real bad effects it has on children? The answer is lost in the echoes of morality, decency and the freedom of the internet.

Religion

Fanaticism or Blame Game

Religious fanaticism exists in almost every religion and even examples seem unnecessary in this case. How much ever one tries to deny it, everyone knows that fringe elements exist in every religion, the people who are either too naïve to figure out that they are pawns in a bigger game and those who do so for their own vested interests. But popular concentration seems to be on placing the blame not on these elements alone but on a broader spectrum of people, most of whom abhor these elements and wish to see them wiped out as much as any sensible human being.

Time for a reality Check, maybe?

Hence, to say then that we aren’t actually facing up to the real threat wouldn’t be much of an overstatement. Time to see things in a broader perspective, don’t you think?

In Defence of a Sexist Prime Minister

According to our honourable Prime Minister, being intolerant of terrorism is a great thing, especially is someone manages it doing it despite having ovaries. Impressive, wouldn’t you say?

Well, everyone else thought so too. It is indeed quite spectacular to see the leader of the nation doling out a generous serving of a sexist “compliment” to the leader of a friendly nation. One would think he would also feel the same way about one of his predecessors who despite being the only the second woman Prime Minister in the world, held a dim view of the whole terrorist agenda in general.

Just innocent Prime Ministerial banter as usual.

Well, it would be wrong to place the blame for a sexist remark squarely onto his shoulders alone. He is merely the victim of the latent sexism and masochism and the patriarchal mindset that has been traditional in Indian politics for so long that people stopped talking about it in the last century.

Surely our beloved leader did not mean to degrade the office of a fellow Prime Minister and sound condescending in the worst way possible just because that country is indebted to ours for their very freedom. If it came to that, he could make the same innocent mistake with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff or say South Korean President Park Geun-hye.

In fact, there is a counterpoint to this whole thing which shows how much the PM cares about women, even those who don’t need it. His government recently refused to consider sending omen to the front lines in battle because guess what would happen if they were captured and held prisoners of war. Wonder what horrors await them in those concentration camps reserved especially for Indian soldiers in the country that uses pigeons as spies!

Although, I’m sure female soldiers would have preferred the Union Defence Minister treat them the same as their male counterparts. But, this is India, the land where women need to be kept safe from foreign assaults but can be raped, mutilated, murdered and thrown out of moving vehicles in the capital of the country. I’m sure they understand that.

So please stop criticizing the Prime Minister, at least when he is on a foreign visit. He represents our entire nation and our thoughts and our actions and our behaviour. He is the embodiment of all that we are and all that we aspire to be. To speak against the Prime Minister who has male genitalia and is flaunting his oratory skills in a foreign nation is against national interest.

Hope he had a better time than PM Sheikh Hasina.


Note: This post is a sarcastic take on what may or may not have been a highly sexist remark by one Head of Government to another. Definitely not to hurt anyone's feelings and sentiments. it is also not to debase or to defame our PM.

Keeping the Peace: The UN Peacekeeping Force

The world celebrates the UN Peacekeeping Day today, the 29^th of May, but it hardly garners attention anywhere except in the camps of 16 operation bases around the world where the Peacekeeping force is striving to bring stability, establish the rule of law and end conflicts without resorting to war.

Strife is a global phenomenon and even now multiple armed conflicts are in progress either in the form of ethnic clashes, civil war, terrorism, dictatorships, coups or full scale war. More often than not, it is superpowers that intervene by either coercing or forcing both parties to co-operate and act as mediator but it may also happen that these nations may take sides in these conflicts.

This is the time where the need for a global non-partisan peacekeeping force betrays its importance. The UN Peacekeeping Force, comprising of personnel from all over the world, is the perfect third party to bring about a resolution to conflict.

The biggest contributors to the force are not the nations you expect. Expect surprises in the figures below which have been sourced from the UN website. These are the total number of personnel contributed by the nation:

1. Bangladesh – 9307
2. Pakistan – 8163
3. India – 8112
4. Ethiopia – 7864
5. Rwanda – 5575
6. Nepal – 5316
7. Senegal – 3570
8. Ghana - 3053
9. Nigeria - 2975
10. Egypt – 2937

Well, wasn’t that a surprise? Apart from the fact that none of the five nations that comprise of the United Nations Security Council feature in this list, the fact that the nations of the Indian sub-continent rank in the top 6 certainly show how much these nations and African countries who complete this list actually strive for world peace in spite of claims that they don’t contribute to the war on terror.

Image Courtesy: defencetalks.net

Although China makes it to the 11^th rank in the list of contributors to the Peacekeeping Force, the rest of the Big 5 are nowhere near. Here are the contributions of the Permanent seat holders in the UNSC:

1. China – 2899
2. France – 924
3. UK – 288
4. Germany – 194
5. USA – 95

This however, is not a condemnation of nations but a realization that those on whom the least expectation is placed often turn out to be front-runners in hindsight. It must also be noted that although these ‘developed’ nations my not directly be involved in the peacekeeping Force, they are the ones leading the alliance against major terrorist forces in the world today.

Although the force of arms is hardly the correct way to bring about peace, it is sometimes required to bring to sense to those who would prefer violence over cordial means and chaos over stability to establish control. This makes the UN Peacekeeping Force not just an interlocutor but a necessity in these times of grave turmoil.

On this day, the world should remember the lives given for the greater good of the world. People in conflict zones are actually thankful for the role these brave men and women have played in bringing some amount of calm to their days of unending warfare and nights filled with sobs stemming from constant nightmares. These angels of peace in Blue are worthy of the respect and reverence reserved for the highest form of sacrifice above and beyond the call of duty.

Will Palmyra suffer the fate of the Buddha?

It is international news of great distress that in spite of US claims of air strikes killing scores of ISIS terrorists, the group has made great advances into Syrian territory, today even seizing the ancient city of Palmyra, a UN World Heritage site.

History dates the settlement of Palmyra to 7500 BC. That is a hell of a lot back in time than anyone would like to think of. Documents from various parts of the ancient world describe the city in eloquent details and it seems to be as famous as Babylon or Constantinople in ancient trading standards.

Ruins at Palmyra.
Image Courtesy: UNESCO.

In case it isn’t clear, the Buddha referred to in the title are the Bamiyan Buddhas statues in Afghanistan (built in the 6^th century AD) which were destroyed by the Taliban when they seized control of the area near Kabul. They were dynamited and horribly defaced because the leaders of the Taliban believed them to be idols and hence, blasphemous.

Bamiyan Buddhas.
Image Courtesy: worldarcheology.com

Now, another heritage site, which predates the Bamiyan Buddhas my millennia, has come under the control of another extremist organization that may or may not decide to disturb the remnants left by ancient humanity by blowing it up in response to airstrikes by coalition forces.

Extremist organizations throughout history have wanted power but have had a distinct lack of respect for culture and heritage. Well, it does make sense that those who cannot value human life will not value history. Julius Caesar’s Roman legions set fire to the Library of Alexandria, which, if it were standing, would be the single most important point of reference for world history. In recent history, Hitler’s Nazi army seized a lot of art from Europe and a lot of it was destroyed or lost when the Third Reich fell.

It is now the duty of international organizations to intervene on behalf of humanity to ensure that these ancient ruins are kept out of this war. It is time the United Nations stop issuing impotent protests and actually galvanizes some real effort into preserving this historical city.

Because what are we, if not the sum of our collective history?

Count your Casings: India out of Ammo

With mounting pressure on the Indian AirForce to induct more fighter planes to bring the country’s air defence capabilities to its full complement and to replace aging fighters that are killing off pilots even in times of peace, a new report by the CAG now claims that India can fight a war for only twenty days before it goes bankrupt on ammunition, leaving artillery battalions silent and soldiers scrambling to stab the enemy in hand to hand combat.

The CAG has slammed the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft for being only 35% indigenous, which means that 65% of its parts are sourced from other countries. So much for the Indian aircraft industry! The state of air defence seems to be much worse considering that the induction of the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (PAK-FA) is some time away and those are also being developed in Russia. The government has had to make rushed deals with foreign governments like France for quick induction of fighter aircraft at a higher price because Indian red tape can’t be avoided even in such dire circumstances.

The constant costly upgrades to the older Russian MiG and Sukhoi planes which should already have been decommissioned are eating into the defence budget. And still, the news of constant crashes due to malfunctions and burnouts resulting in the deaths of pilots and civilians are a stark reminder that India is playing a dangerous game with its sovereignty what with the threat of border incursions and artillery fire being regular events along its lines of control and disputed areas.

Image Courtesy: taxrates.com

On the ground, there isn’t enough ordnance to last for more than 20 days while the official requirement is that ammunition reserves should last for 40 days of intense warfare. Apart from that, all kinds of ammo required for the different types of weaponry also aren’t available. Apart from the snail pace at which production is in India, the procurement of the same is so slow that it cannot catch up with operational requirement till the year 2019.

Only the Indian Navy seems to made progress that is quite remarkable in light of the failures of the other two services. The INS Arihant submarine completed India’s nuclear triad. A stealth warship INS Shivalik, an indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant and the commissioning of a naval base in Gujarat have multiplied the force of the nation’s armada. The Indian navy also proved itself immensely capable of operating in a highly volatile conflict zone by evacuating civilians from Yemen.

However, the lack of ammunition for all the defence equipment the country possesses is a serious threat to national security. What is the point of a gun without bullets? Firing blanks won’t help chase out intruders, they’ll only serve to fool people who watch Hollywood movies.

Image Courtesy: weaponsman.com

Death by Blasphemy

I’m writing this post today because I think I know that barring natural causes or a horrific accident, I’ll probably be alive reading the response that you so considerately are going to write in the comments section. But it is not so for a lot of other bloggers and by ‘other’, I mean bloggers in Bangladesh who don’t know whether they’ll be alive to see their message reach their readers or not. They don’t know if they are safe even within the sanctity of their homes.

Image Courtesy: The Hindu.

Two bloggers are already dead in our neighbouring nation because they apparently wrote blasphemous stuff on their blogs. They were supposedly atheists who wrote critically of religion. I’m not sure of the content of their writing but the answer to anything is never violence. It’s not that things cannot be solved that way, but it is nobody’s right to inflict it on another.

Obviously, it is wrong to write hateful things about other religions and their leaders and so on and so forth but the punishment for that cannot be death. Causing mass agitation and public anger can be argued to have severe consequence but death for anything without the due process of law is something I believe no brand of religion would condone.

Freedom of Expression is a basic right that cannot be taken away from anyone and those radicals who seek to do so cannot claim to be doing it on religious grounds. These people need psychiatric treatment and a thorough explanation of how civilized society is supposed to function.

It is not that I’m supporting the bloggers without knowing what they wrote. It is easy for a writer to become a terrorist and even if an assumption is made that they wrote something that could and did hurt religious feelings, I think the due process of law in Bangladesh could have taken care of the matter. In any case, writing anything against anyone is no reason for violence and it certainly didn’t make these two bloggers legitimate targets.

Radical behaviour has become quite the norm, not only in one country but across the board. Fanaticism is rampant In India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, the entirety of Middle-East Asia, Northern Africa and Europe as well. Tolerance and co-habitation seem to be ideas of the past as different coloured flags are followed by the same weapons, murdering people with the same colour of blood.

When Terrorists ask nicely… you give them Nukes!

Senior Taliban leaders who gathered at Pakistan’s Republic Day celebrations on March 23 submitted a petition requesting Prime Minister Sharif to hand over 10 nuclear warheads with complimentary missiles to them to aid in their latest plot against India. This petition was signed by leaders of major terrorist organizations from around the world in return for a certain share of warheads to each of them.

Commanders of self-proclaimed ‘Jihadist’ organizations like Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, Al-Nusra Front and Hezbollah have claimed signing the petition on their social media profiles, pages and handles using hash tags like #NuclearBoom #KafirsGoneDead #WMDism #LolObama #IronDomeDown #WeWantKashmir

Image Courtesy: Google Images.

Indian Union Minister for Defence, who was on his way to board his private plane for Goa because in his words “Summer is here”, had this to say on the matter, “Our boys are doing a good job at the border so no need to worry. If you need more details, go to Singh, he just had a chat with the people over at BSF.”

The Indian Armed Forces staff had just three words to say and sang it in such unison that could possibly be the envy of the cast of Glee. They said, “Bring it on!”

The Pakistani PM has declined to comment on the matter and his spokesperson assured the media that the parliament was deliberating on the subject and a decision would only be made after discussing all aspects of the nuclear request.

[This is my article for the Faking News website. You can and probably should read it here: Terrorist organizations sign petition for Pakistan to give them some nukes]

Note: This post has been written for Faking news. Did you notice the ‘Faking’ before the word news? That’s because this is a parody of mainstream news and is supposed to be taken in jest and humour.

Besieged on a Train

They came carrying the wind in the tails of their dresses. Claps of thunder announced their arrival and the threat of assault assuaged and permeated the beings of almost everyone but the strongest of will as the wheels of the train turned once more. We knew that we were helpless against them at least till the train came to a stop again and that wasn’t going to be anytime soon.

Trapped!

They moved from coach to coach, seat to seat, identifying their targets, sizing them up. Shifting uncomfortably under their gaze, travellers tried to hold their composure. Only a few succeeded. A few regulars along this route had faced this threat before; many hadn’t. They hardly knew how to react. They had only heard stories of them doing unimaginable “things” to those who didn’t acquiesce to their demands. To face this threat in reality was a completely different ball game. They were living the horror they had smirked at in the confines of their homes. They weren’t finding it so funny now.

As the dreaded ones came upon this shifty bunch of travellers, they saw just the back of some heads and the petrified faces of others through their kohl-smeared eyes that bored through everyone as if in disgust; or was it anger?

The travellers knew what they wanted and few who wished to avoid confrontation just paid them what they could. Others didn’t. Whatever reasons they might have had, they never revealed, instead just turning their faces to look out the window or at each other in supposedly knowing anticipation of what was to follow.

The invaders didn’t take rejection quite well.

Shouts and screams emanated from the coach, punctuated with sobs and claps and o someone eavesdropping, the clamour would have probably sounded like a massacre in progress.

They had taken what they had come for. They always did.

Image Courtesy: www.desertusa.com

This is what usually happens on almost all trains that pass through Maharashtra from Gujarat. People get terrorized by these violent groups of eunuchs who literally demand money from passengers as if it were their right to get paid – just for asking. And if they are not paid, they start screaming, hitting people and in worst case scenarios, even expose their genitals before those who don’t pay up.

They mostly harass men and especially behave very badly with labourers who hardly earn enough for their own bread, much less pay them. It is my personal experience where I’ve seen gangs of these thugs climb aboard and beat up innocent travellers who don’t wish to pay these ruffians.

There’s even more.

There are a number of groups of these thugs who climb aboard a rain at different stations and leave before the next gang climbs aboard. I’ve actually witnessed five gangs come through the train I was travelling in at one point of time. It was the most harrowing experience I’ve had in a train.

Image Courtesy: www.mid-day.com

Now I know that eunuchs are discriminated against and that they don’t get jobs and then this is what happens. But this does not mean that innocents have to suffer for the failure of the system and that the all of them should be blamed for the actions of a few rotten eggs. When asked to comment on this situation, the Public Relations Officer of the Western Railways said that this problem was bound to remain till the government doesn’t resolve whose jurisdiction it is to deal with these miscreants.

And so, even the Indian Railways believes that this problem is not going to be solved anytime soon.

Bon voyage!

Legitimate Targets

Two days back, the wife of a terrorist leader was captured by the Lebanese armed forces. This came three days after the wife and child of another terrorist leader were captured by the same army. Whether this says something about their intelligence source or is pure dumb luck is another matter; what came after these arrests is what is really amusing.

The latest arrest was of the wife of a regional al-Qaeda commander who is apparently very upset about this particular development unlike al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIS), another terrorist group, who didn’t even blink at the arrest of one of his wives and a child.

The al-Qaeda guy however, lost his cool and declared every woman, child and man in Lebanon legitimate targets for his terrorist operation. He demanded his spouse be released or the holding forces be ready to face his mighty wrath that would befall anyone within the blast radius of his ‘holy’ bombs.

Commander, with all due disgust, allow me to explain how you’re just stating something that is so passé that even the guy sending your message to the army is chuckling at your naivety.

Image Courtesy: Google Images.

Did you really not blow up innocent people before this? Have you never sent suicide bombers to blow up a busy marketplace or a place of religious worship before? Do you not already have the blood of innocents on your hands and on your soul? Have you not blackened your heart with the funeral fires of thousands of people who died because of your fight for ‘God’?

How can you say that these innocents are legitimate targets now? Was massacring them illegitimate before? Then why did you do it? Do you deny it? No? Why am I not surprised?

How do you expect God to be proud of you when you try to forward your vested interests in His name? You do not want people to fear God, you want them to fear you. You want to give reason to your madness and so you keep telling yourself, your mindless followers and the world that what you’re fighting for is a ‘holy war’ and not to make yourself king of the mountain.

You are no better than the ‘legitimate’ dictators, both, ruling and deposed. In fact, at some level they are better than you because they make no pretence of the fact that they want power. You cower behind your imaginary excuses and the lie atop the bodies of the slain with a ‘legitimate’ reason.

You talk of legitimacy? You have no right. Your wife is probably safer in the army’s hands than are the possibly hundreds or thousands of women that your brainwashed ‘holy warriors’ have raped and murdered to satisfy their ‘holy’ selves. You cannot speak of legitimacy. The very word is dishonoured by being present upon your tongue.

The only thing legitimate by human standards is for you and others like you to hang for your crimes against mankind.

The Battle for all Mankind

Months have passed since this blog saw a post on its virtual wall and still readers are hoping to see something worthwhile here. I am honoured. With this post, I’m hoping to be back on the Blogosphere with the same zeal that I entered into it with.

The world is going through a rough phase, a very rough one. Humanity as a whole today has the curse of battling two adversaries, both capable enough to wipe them out or corrupt them to a degree beyond which it would be virtually impossible to go back to life as it knows it. Both are also incapable of shaking the human spirit and will if world chooses to come together and fight the pincer attack that Mother Nature and human nature have encircled us with.

The two-pronged attack brought about by the pride of man and his greed is a test of human commitment and co-operation at the highest level. This test can either force us to withdraw into ourselves even more or come together to fight an enemy of the entire race.

The Ebola virus. Credit: Google Images.

On one hand is the dreaded virus that has affected more than 10,000 people and threatens to overrun the human race if not contained and decimated. On the other hand is the radical religious group that threaten to plunge the world into the third World War in order to establish its caliphate in the Middle-East. Between the both of them, they are capable enough to make sure that we are either decimated or at the very least, set back by decades in terms of advancement. And, if one were to use the other in propagating its means to achieve its ends, it’s going to be even more dangerous because if the virus has killed so many people in its natural form, it is unimaginable to think what havoc its weaponized form could cause.

And at this time, when international co-operation is in the best interests of the world, India, or rather its government has decided not to be part of any coalition battling these killers. Neither has it sent forces to battle the terrorist threat, nor has it sent medical personnel to battle the Ebola virus.

Proposed Islamic State Caliphate. Credit: Google Images.

The Islamic State’s influence has already reached India and it is just a matter of time before Ebola does and nobody who is Indian needs to be reminded of the fact that we are not in a position to contain an epidemic of such proportions, and we will not be in such a position for a very long time. Help begets help. If not out of compassion, the Indian government needs to send help to fight on both these fronts to make sure that they never reach our doorstep.

We are non-aligned in war, but need we be non-aligned in every international coalition? Can we not recognize the need to take active prevention measures before an action by the enemy forces a reaction that may be too late to prevent the loss of life that is inevitable in a nation such as ours?

For long we have remained the Switzerland of Asia but perhaps it is now time to recognize that if we want to be recognized as the South-Asian powerhouse we claim to be, we need to step up and do something to prove it. This is not a battle for the USA or Africa; this is the battle for mankind.

India: An Island

India has long been the butt of international jokes relating to how she is so weak, so vulnerable before her neighbours.  How she cannot even fend for herself despite having the second largest land army in the world after China.

Image Courtesy: Google Images.

India has, since her independence in 1947, been a staunch advocate of not having a first strike policy against aggressive nations. She has also almost always maintained a neutral standpoint on international hostilities between other countries, including the Cold War. However, this restraint is now being mistaken as a weakness by her allies and most importantly, her enemies. This is why she is now facing danger from all four of her borders. However, the others do realize what a great power she can be and in fact is; hence the constant opposition to her taking a permanent place on the United Nations Security Council.

It is possible that this weak nature of India’s defences is due to a lack of strong leadership at the centre. But whatever the reason, these threats to India do exist. This forced me to do a wee bit of research on the subject after writing a post in August on the same topic: India under Attack.

I came up with four articles on all four threats that India faces from all sides:

India under Attack – I (China)

India under Attack – II (Pakistan)

India under Attack – III (SriLanka)

India under Attack – IV (Bangladesh)

Today, it’s not like India doesn't have allies, it’s just that they aren't in her vicinity and hence she has effectively become an island today, in spite of being one of the two major powers in South-Asia.

Of Trial and (T)error

Everyone in India and possibly half the world knows of the most controversial Prime Ministerial candidate for the 2014 General elections in this fair country of ours, thanks to the numerous news channels who have nothing else to report. And everyone certainly knows what he has done, what he is doing and what he will most definitely keep doing in the future and I’m not going to insinuate anything about the same, least I be arrested and thrown in jail for voicing an opinion.

Image Courtesy: Facebook.com.

It is well documented that that there have been several attempts on his life, both allegedly as well as allegedly proven, supposedly in retaliation to his (mis)deeds of the past. Now, the state police have tried a lot to thwart these “terrorist” attacks on his life but everyone keeps blaming them for wrongly shooting up people all over the place. I respectfully disagree.

How are the security forces supposed to protect their leader without killing people and branding them terrorists?

How are they supposed to bring about an air of mystery around their leader without creating controversy and then blaming the other political parties for doing it?

 How in the world are they going to propel him from CM to PM without having him on the front page of every newspaper and on every second sentence spoken by Mr. Goswami?

Isn't it obvious then that the latest spate of bombings in his rally were by those ‘terrorists’ who just wanted to kill him using small explosives and bombs without timers? In fact I’m surprised that no alleged terrorists were shot up and instead a couple of them were caught by one of the security agencies. Well, you know what happens when you cry “wolf” all the time, nobody is going to believe you when it really comes. But I believe them (please don’t send me to jail).

That being said, the irony that I’m writing about the unnecessary publicity of the man I’m writing about, hasn't escaped me. But then, somebody had to and today, the truth really is that you might love him, you might hate him, you might not care about him, you might have not yet formed an opinion about him, but you sure as hell can’t ignore him.

Note: This post has it's roots firmly planted in sarcasm and is meant to be taken in good humour (if you like it that way). These views are the author's alone and just to be on the safe side (not to be thrown in jail), all characters mentioned herein are fictional and bear no resemblance to any person dead or alive.

India under Attack

It has recently come to my notice that our great country, India, is a sovereign nation. I was surprised at this revelation. I always thought we were an open nation for anyone to come in and chill out and leave if and when they wished to do so. I didn't know that foreigners couldn't just stroll into our borders and kill people and claim our territory as their own and basically try to intimidate this great giant of South-East Asia.

Well these false notions of mine must have been generated due to what the successive governments of this country have been portraying to its people and the world for the longest possible time I remember. This country seems to do nothing at all when its neighbours deliberately try to provoke it. This country not only refuses to retaliate, but also stubbornly seems reluctant to even defend itself.

Our Western neighbour constantly keeps sending terrorists into India to blow up people and places and lots of other things but we behave like all is well and invite their politicians to hang out in Delhi. We even agree to start peace-talks over and over again because they manage to break the cease-fire every now and then.

Just some trigger-happy buffoons, eh?

Then there are our Eastern neighbours who ‘unintentionally’ just wander into Indian territory and settle down in our eastern states .These people are also known as aliens because they have no right whatsoever to settle in another country without permission from two respective governments first. But since we believe in the phrase, “Atithi Devo Bhava” (Guests are God), we let them stay in our big beautiful land of opportunity.

Population problem? No problem!

Our very friendly Southern neighbours can’t be forgotten. Just because they have an unmitigated prejudice towards some of our countrymen, they cannot be deemed bad, right? Yeah, they treat human rights like toilet paper and consider the sea corridor between our nations to be their own personal waterway but so what? They can be allowed certain indulgences for being stuck on a small piece of land next to our humungous country. So we keep quiet about their tantrums and just because they are too tiny to bother about, we pucker up the courage to condemn them in the United Nations.

Wow! We did that? Sweet!

Last, but not the least, let us take a look at our Northern frontiers. The land-where-everything-is-made has apparently run out of space to build more factories and they need a little territory from us it seems. And well, they’re not asking for it, they’re just claiming it to be their own. And we just stand and stare and send our minister for defence to have a little peace talk. Wait! Where have I heard that before?

Hey, you want some land? Ask the Gujarat chief minister, he’s giving out land for free anyway.

Now I know that we cannot afford to antagonize all our neighbours because we certainly aren't ready for war but can we not do a little more than lodging letters of protest or holding futile ‘peace-talks’? Then there is the argument that we will be called perpetrators of war in the UN but I think that the time for making excuses has passed and we need to do something to protect the interests of this nation.

For how long are we going to stand by and watch while Pakistan wrecks havoc within our nation?

For how long are we going to tolerate Bangladeshi nationals residing illegally in our states?

For how long are we going to be pressurized by Sri Lanka, an island country the size of a peanut?

For how long are we going to keep watching while China claims that the northern half of our country is their backyard?

… And they say that India is a Superpower.

Can a Writer be a Terrorist?

I know that many of you who have opened this post are very intrigued as to what follows. I’m sure many will vehemently disagree with what I have to say but I’m also sure that a select few will understand what I’m talking about here, which is very important because writers, I believe, have a moral responsibility to their readers. So I’ll begin from the point where I feel the line is drawn between voicing one’s opinions and inciting the mass.

It is quite common for writers, even more so than others, to feel strongly about issues that assault their region, state, country, religion, caste, community, etc... Sometimes, I feel that writers feel the utmost impulse in these cases to voice their opinion on the matter. It may so happen that the writer/s that have chosen to voice their thoughts in the public domain may do so very vocally, i.e. in a most precisely accurate or in a biased manner. In a very soft approach or in a very direct accusation. In an objective and distant style or in a highly subjective and opinionated piece of work.

It is all very hunky dory till the people feel that something should be done about the problem OR that it was time to take action OR that it was imperative that the government did something about the issue OR that the opposition party had to question the government OR a petition needed to be filed OR a candle-light march should be organized OR there should perhaps be a ‘Bandh’…

Till then it is all very good, but what happens when a writer’s work is so flammable that it ignites hatred in the people, either against one another or the government? What happens when, due to a single article or a book or false propaganda or misuse or misinterpretation, a writer’s work becomes a weapon in the minds of people, who are then turned into senseless monsters of rage?

Doesn't then the Writer become a Terrorist? Is he/she not igniting the fuel of anger in the public and whitewashing their brains into turning upon each other as animals? It may so happen that the writer’s work is misused by someone else as a tool of violence. This is seen in the case of major religions everywhere, since a lot of religious texts are misinterpreted to incite hatred against other people. In that case, I cannot say who is to blame. But if the writer, in all sense and proper frame of mind has written something that incites the readers to act against the law of the land or against humanity or against a general code of morality, then that writer can, in my opinion, be called a terrorist.

All I can say in conclusion is that some fervour, a little motivation, some morale building is acceptable, inciting hatred is NOT. Writing, just like teaching and healing is a sacred profession and is to be practiced with the utmost care, keeping the sensibilities of the society and age in mind. A writer wields immense power and with

"Great Power comes Great Responsibility"