Talibanisation of Afganishtan

Few years back I wrote "Blasphemy in the name of religion", I wondered how a person is termed blaspheme if the person don't agree to any religion or rules of a religion. History has shown as many examples where people have been alleged to have blasphemed against religion. Would we forget Galileo or Socrates? But years down the line their words, their research have proved to be beneficial to all. There had been a lot of Galileo s and Socrates who have done good for us but we turned deaf ears to them initially and later accepted the change.

Nowadays blasphemy have taken a new route, where people are beheaded and killed as they entertained themselves by playing music and dancing to it. Can you imagine where we have changed too. The people who beheads others are also humans but they consider themselves to be the protectors of a particular religion. They are of the opinion that they are correct and they know the respective religion unlike anyone. These are people who can cause bloodshed without a chill in the spine. I remember when I was young I saw a goat being killed during the Bengali Kali Puja and I felt a chill. Of course its not that I am a vegetarian but seeing a big goat getting beheaded is something different. Its good that many households in the Bengali community have abolished the ritual.

I am talking of the Talibans in Afghanistan who recently beheaded around 17 people including a couple of women too as they were dancing to music. Talibans have done this before too a few years back, they have killed several innocent Afghanistan in the name of religion and power. They started many rules in the name of religion where they have chained the freedom of women under various laws of Islam, many of them created by them and nowhere is depicted in the Holy Quran too.

Talibans have proved to be in humans who were responsible for the loss of hundreds of lives in Afghanistan a few years back before they were thrown out of power but it seems they are trying to hit back again slowly by showing their deeds if inhumanity in the name of religion. Talibans have destroyed many historical sculptures dating back to centuries as those sculptures were not of Islam. They were of Lord Buddha. The famous bamiyan Buddhas were destroyed even after repeated requests from all quarters across the world, but all requests went to deaf ears. Normally we preserve these structures as these ones are heritage sites. So question arises people who don't know the meaning of heritage , how do they expect to maintain the heritage of a religion which they claim to be theirs.

Is there a way Talibans can be turned to normal humans so that they have some normal human instincts instead of the animal instinct they have. Is it really possible only by gun shots or there are some other ways. I think the famous Divide and Rule policy might work in this. The Afghanistan government need to find out loopholes in Talibans so that they can be brought to a human court to turn into humans. A lot of psychologists need to work days and nights might be to turn these people. 

Hoping for a sunny day for Afghanistan.

Should India wait any more for AJMAL KASAB to be hanged ?

Ajmal Kasab is doing the headlines today as he was gifted with the death sentence today. Well, this man have made headlines many a times though He made himself famous with his pics in the CST in mumbai when he attacked the civilians with a AK47 in hand.

He was also accompanied by another militant Ismail khan who died in cross firing and Kasab was captured alive by a constable who took 5 bullets still held on to Kasabs gun so that he can be captured alive. I still remember that day, every news channel was showing LIVE the CST, Tajmahal hotel and other places hit in the attack, police, firemen were here and there trying to douse the fire. So many people lost their lives including police officers and security personnel.

The next few days the headlines had only details of the Mumbai attacks, news of people who lost their lives, news of security personnel who braved all odds. It was a black day in our country. Every body mourned the deaths of the ones who braved their lives for the safety of others.

Kasab if that's his actual name as there were many confusions on his name too initially because of language difference. India have spend close to 50 crores for the safety of the man who according to the courts of India waged war against the country. He was responsible for multiple innocent deaths and loss of millions of money.It was told that the government had to construct a special cell for him which cannot be destroyed by RDX too.

So why are we waiting to hang him to death. The government have got enough time to take out information from him. Initially Pakistan denied his existence as a Pakistani but later even Pakistan agreed that he is from Pakistan when many reporters traced him to his village faridkot in Pakistan.

We spend a lot of money in petting these dreaded terrorists who take our country as a place where they can do anything. Our judiciary system being slow indirectly makes the country loose more money in keeping these people alive. Moreover the almost abolishment of capital punishment have made things more worse. The judiciary should have a special system for people like KASAB. No further choices should be given for appealing to a higher court. There should be a fast pace system of coming to a judgement for these people.

AS the present uproar in the country says that KASAB should be hanged soon, I completely agree to this as no further taxpayers money should be wasted for people like this. Of course chances can be given to live and improve but to those who feels guilty about their deeds but people like KASAB don't. There were instances where he went on record saying that what he has done is for the good. He agreed to the ideas of the militants who derived the plan of bombing mumbai.

People like Kasab should never be given a chance to live , only then it might bring in changes to the ones who still idol worship him. Exceptions should be given to those who understands their guilt and seeks forgiveness. 

Is it time for BLOOD PLATINUM now?

Diamonds are said to be a woman's best friend. They are like immortal, we have heard stories of famous diamonds across the world. Kings and Queens used to adore them. Many empires used to fight for certain diamonds.There are more such stories on diamonds.

Now diamonds which was a dream of many have become a household jewelery for many now. Even the middle classes are running for diamonds now. For a few thousand rupees one can get a good diamond earrings or rings or empty your pocket a bit more and you get necklaces and what not. Diamonds are not that dream for the middle class and a sign of prosperity for a few.

But how many of us know what goes on in a diamond mine, what goes on to those miners. How many of us know that this diamond mining industry involves child labor too. Not only child labor there are so many miners who suffer from malnourishment, poor wages, severe health issues, and moreover they are made to stay in places near the mines which is next to hell. Many types of diseases are rampant in these areas too.

All these at the cost of a overpriced diamond which we die for. The people who are actually getting the diamonds for us are paid a measly wage and sold off in the market at a higher price. There are places in the world like in certain regions of South Africa diamonds are mined by terrorists outfits and sold in lieu of guns and bullets. Children as young as 9-10 are made to work in these places as they comes in cheap. There are children in such places who are bonded for life as their parents might have taken a loan from these people and since the rate of interest is high the paybacks which they do goes off for the interest only and the main amount is not paid. Moreover illiteracy is also another factor which eats in the roots , its like those feudal lords in ancient India.

The movie BLOOD DIAMOND shows the pathetic conditions of such laborers. The recent news about the conditions of the laborers in the platinum mines in South Africa adds one more example to this. The fault of these people was they protested against the low wages for which they got paid with bullets. Platinum is another such costly metal after which we are running nowadays. I remember years back when Ben Johnson or Sachin Tendulkar had a platinum on them we used to say that it suits them. Now you can get platinum also for a few thousand bucks. The reason: savvy marketing of platinum have also increased like we see for diamonds: DIAMONDS ARE FOR EVER. So now would it be the time for BLOOD PLATINUM like BLOOD DIAMOND.

Death of a Legend-NEIL ARMSTRONG

I remember during my childhood when I was going through a book on space , I learnt about the 1st man to land in space. It was a book I got as a prize from my school. It had pictures of the great men who went to space. Likewise Neil Armstrong was the 1st man on moon , Yuri Gagarin the 1st man in space and Laika the first animal in space, not to forget our own Rakesh Sharma to be the 1st Indian in space.

Then years later there was an email which wanted to prove the landing of Neil Armstrong to be all false, it said that it was all made up and gave all sorts of reasons to prove that it was a hoax. It seemed that history has been changed. The email was trying to say with all pictures of the landing, telling something of the shadows of the man which fell on the surface. I found it really hard to believe what was being sad. So at last after much fight within myself I ended up deleting the email.

Later I googled about this and found some details of the theory which the email suggested. It seems that there were mainly  three reasons which  seemed to be more significant than the others offered:
1: USA had to win the space race against the then called USSR.

2: Cold war was on and USA had to prove it was well ahead of the USSR as USSR had been sending unmanned spacecrafts to the space and if USA sends a manned shuttle to space it would automatically go ahead of all including USSR who was at the epitome of technology during those days.

3: It is also claimed that NASA faked the landings to avoid humiliation and to ensure that there is not stoppage of fundings for its different programs.

After going through all this I felt what famous actor TOM HANKS told "We live in a society where there is no law [against] making money in the promulgation of ignorance or, in some cases, stupidity" when he was asked about his opinion on these theories after his movie Apollo13 and documentary FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON was a complete truth.

While I was a child I always wished to be an astronaut so that I can go to space and see the beauty with my own eyes. Well that didn't happen after all.yesterday when the news came that Neil Armstrong is no more,these memories came back. A man who was the first to land on the moon is indeed a task to reckon and remember for years to come. This is of course history which cant be changed like we read histories of our kings and queens years back which cant be changed. Can anyone deny the inventions of the likes of Galileo,Copernicus, Albert Einstein, Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose,Satendranath Bose or Subramanyan Chandrasekhar. NO, we cant as their theories and inventions have made history and is learnt still now. we will keep reading about these people for years to come. Even though we will not read about these people in our history text books but will remain immortal in science books to all. As NASA says:"As long as there is history, there will be Neil Armstrong".  

Are Rioters BORN or BORNE?

Who are these people who we call rioters? Are they are part of us-the common man. Do they eat,drink,sleep? Do they have jobs to go to everyday?

A lot of such questions arises in my mind when I think of riots. Today morning I saw that civil riots have claimed 100 lives in Syria. Well, Syria is far away , what about  the ongoing riots in Assam? So many lives are lost, and in a nation where we are already reeling with many natural issues like floods and drought at certain parts of the country such a riot means wastage of tons of money.

Where do these rioters come from? Are they made or they are born rioters. Here I remember writing an essay during my school days : Are criminals born or they are made? Well the essay aptly fits this purpose. Rioters are none but criminals only the nomenclature is different.

So how do a normal human being become a criminal. There are quite a lot of opinions on this . Many say its the family they are from and many say its their nurture which makes them a criminal. But there are other opinions too. The famous psychologist Sigmund Freud was of the opinion that every humans have a criminal tendency but the socialization process curbs down the criminal tendencies.

Theres a saying that every human being has a good element as well as a bad element in his/her. It depends on a lot of factors which one comes out. I feel it also depends on that person as to what he wants to be.There could be a lot of reason for a criminal mind. A child witnesses crime in his/her home, stays in an area where crime is rampant can make him a criminal or might make him a very good person who hates crime. Thats where a psychology of a person comes into picture. But these are exceptional cases.

We mostly see  crime getting in ones nerves , which is contrary to many who say crime is in the blood. A doctor can have a child who in years to come can become a criminal , on the other hand a criminals son can become a doctor for the poor.

I personlly believe that crime is not born in an individual, it is borne. The greatest example being the hundreds of militants in different parts of the world-they are recruited in a good name, their brains washed and made into an animal who lacks all human touches. They become so out of the world that they fail to recognise their own parents, relatives and friends. Moreover there are certain terrorits who are well eductaed ones too and come from a good family background. So how comes they turn into criminals? e.g Osama Bin Laden- the dreaded terroist whose head had a million dollar bounty from USA. Not only Osama bin Laden , but there are more such militants across the world who chose the wrong way. There are many scientists who are found to be a part of these groups. Even it has been found that people in a country's army were in cahoots with a terrorist group.

Coming back to rioters who are also criminals after all, are not born but borne. They are either brain washed to cause damage to society and take law in their own hands. Think of the various riots in India itself. Starting from Independence , the most common riot in India has been based on religion. The main two religions in this subcontinent, the hindus and muslims have fought since time immemorial. Whether you talk about the Bombay riots or the Godhra riots or the 1993 ayodhya riots which shook india and its tremors are heard still now in Indian Courts.

What do these people gain from riots. Crusades and riots have never helped anyone since time immemorial. The 9 crusades which the world knows off happened to regain back religious territories like Jerusalem being a important place. The first crusade was launched on 27 November 1095 by Pope Urban II in response to an appeal from Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, who requested western volunteers to help him repel the invaders from Anatolia. Here again we learn that he asked for volunteers but nowadays are any one asked to volunteer, people just raise their voices to promote themselves and people surprisingly do fall for the trap too.

So we humans have a long way to go , righfull education is not the only way to avoid riots and innocent people turning criminals, there is a special need of psychological education so that one donot turn to a rioter. Proper education, not in terms of pure bookish knowledge but a knowledge find ones spiritual self to maintain oneself in the righteous manner and not against the law is of utmost importance.

If WIKILEAKS were in India!

Julian Asange- the name is familiar to almost everyone now and so is the name WIKI LEAKS. The founder of wiki leaks is Julian Asange. He has been in the news since wiki leaks started publishing inside stories of governments across the world. He is not only in the news , he is also on the run for getting sentenced.
Doesn't this resemble our India's Tehelka? Tehelka brought out a huge storm in India a few years back, we learnt how the editor in chief had to face numerous odds because he spoke the truth about the politicians and their numerous scams in our country.

So think now, if Wiki leaks starts publishing details and scams of our country god knows how many more scams are going to come out. India is already reeling with controversies and scams, with wiki leaks our investigation depts will have a helluva task on their heads and we will find regular uproars in the parliament and in the VidhanSabhas. We might also see a few fights in these places of power which we saw a few years ago in UP.It will be a great pandemonium show from India.

I was thinking if really such a day arises when we wake up in the morning , the newspaper man drops in the paper and we find the headlines: WIKI LEAKS DOES IT AGAIN: New scam unearthed in India. We will find not only newspapers bearing the same headlines but all news channels with the same breaking news. The named ones will have their own ways of defending or running for cover. The parliament will have no more topics to discuss, the opponent political parties will again ask for resignation of the PM as usual.

The government in power will issue a notification that it has asked CBI to look into the matter and CBI who already has its hands full will have one more to pursue which will result in one more file in the Indian Courts where there are already a plenty lying for a final judgement. As of Dec 2011 there are 3.2 crore pending cases in the Indian Courts.

In August last year wiki leaks reported a few names of black money holders in the country who have stacked their money in a German bank. So think if wiki leaks leaks out the whole list there will be countless names running for cover. Will it increase the load on our income tax officials, every one or the other day there will be raids in one or the other house. It would be a countless list of politicians, businessmen and who not.

Now think if Julian Asange comes to India !!! will he really dare to come here looking into the backgrounds of many of our politicians. Would he like to risk his life, wont he feel safe in Ecuador where he has got shelter now.

Talking about what could happen if wiki leaks was in India full fledged, there are other concerns too. Concerns of the safety of the country as there would be many such leaks which are not supposed to come out in public. Every country should have something which should remain undercover else it might cause security concerns for the country.

Bringing out details of corruption and inefficiency is good , it makes people aware of whats happening in the country with the tax payers money but secrecy should be maintained too in scenarios which could cause harm to the security of a country. Wiki leaks runs basically on donations and on information from whistle blowers thereby making it a powerful organization with lots of information. To quote a famous dialogue from the movie SPIDERMAN : With greater power comes greater responsibilities, aptly fits the purpose. Julian Asange can be a friend to many countries too where he has become a FOE for many now.

Do we Indians really believe in the equality of all?

Have anyone seen the recent promos of Kaun Banega Crorepati this year. There are quite a few amazing promos but two of them stuck a chord. I feel these promos have been made as a PR for KBC but if thought of it otherwise it is also applicable to our society.

Its a known fact in our country how a poor can be deprived even though he/she has all the abilities. Here I am talking about being poor financially and not by caste and class. The affluent few can move their holds and use them for better prospects of their children whether it is about admission in a good school, college or even in job markets. Government jobs are rare for the poor, a very lucky few gets them and those whose parents/relatives are in some good govt posts already gets the job easily even though they are not fit for it. The aphorism here is quite true even though pompous.

One such promo substantiates this. We see a small boy who is brilliant in his studies as well as sports but cant reach the 1st position as there is someones else son who is given the 1st position every time.Even when he is about to get a job he misses out on that too as the concerned employer gets a call.... Is it because his father is poor and the other child has a rich father?

This really happens in our country since ages. The schools are supposed to be neutral in nature, they are supposed to give moral support to these poor children wherein they fail to do so either because of some rich parents who might be donating a lot of money to the school every year or might have a lot of political connections. Having a lot of political connections is quite common too whether it is in a village or in a city. The free government schools who impart free education to the poor are also in this. They give importance to those children who have politically influenced parents.

India is a country where more than 33% fall below the BELOW POVERTY LINE(BPL).Then a majority is the great Indian middle class and then the rest falls under the affluent category. We Indians have politicized this BPL matter too. During times of election we see the candidates running after this BPL category people with heavy promises of their uplift. The government of India have launched a BPL card which many are yet to receive. I remember when I was in Calcutta a year and half back i overheard a rickshaw puller literally slanging the local corporator and MLAs for making false promises. He was of the opinion that these people will make the worlds biggest promises if possible before the elections and once the election is over everything is forgotten. He was saying he is not going to caste his vote this year as according to him its of no use.This rickshaw puller even though not educated enough understood the fact behind vote banks, hopefully we all will do one day.

India have a long way to go, affluent people will always rule over the poor but there should be a parity in situations where a brilliant and a deserving person is shown the door or is deprived, institutions will keep asking for donations in the name of development fees but they should also have the ability to rise over the bribes and the affluent people in our country should know the actual credibility of their siblings. Of course exceptions are there...not necessarily all siblings of affluent people do not have merits and vice verse, that's why a parity , a sense of equality should be there in all...

India in a Turmoil-II

In my last post for INDIA IN A TURMOIL , I talked about the ongoing riots and communal diversification in the country. Today I am writing part II of it..

Today I would like to talk on the plight of our fellow Indians from the north eastern part of our country India who is considered as one of the largest democratic countries in the world.Students, working professionals from the north eastern parts who are staying in different parts of the country are running for their lives, we hear these people who are staying in parts like Bangalore , Pune etc leaving in hundreds.

Why this his happening. Yesterday 2 students as young as students of class X were threatened to leave PUNE in 2 days..WOW! 2-3 days back Pune station saw all of a sudden more than thousand people from north eastern states flocking to Pune station to leave for their land. Doesn't it sound Ironical...Leave for their land...aren't they Indians...isn't this their lands too. After all India is a motherland for all of us. They have the same rights as much we  have in cities like Pune, Bangalore and such other cities where they are facing atrocities going as far as their lives are at stake.

Which parent would want their children to stay in a place far from them where their siblings life is at risk without any fault of theirs. I remember my school days, college days where I had a lot of friends who are from the north eastern states but it never came to my mind they are not a part of our country. Depending on the geography of the north eastern parts they look similar to the Chinese but does that mean that they are from China.

A few days back there was a news that many Indians are joining medical colleges in china rather than their home country as cost of MBBS or MD is cheaper in China compared to India looking into the huge donations which needs to paid to the medical colleges. Can you imagine people from western countries come to India for undergoing different surgeries as it is cheaper here and those who are operating on these westerners are trained in china??

Well the reason why I talked about Indian students going to China is because if the same thing happen to our students in China how would we feel? So are these people going to go to China to fight...they would not dare to. Riots in Assam are happening for multiple reasons..starting from hunger for power and land, a wish to have their own state for some groups like the BODOS and one will find more such reasons if one starts searching for one.

So why should we penalize those who are not a part of these rebels. Its like the north easterners have become a brand now to be kicked out. Remember a few years back there was such a same plight of many people from Bihar, UP who were asked to leave the state of Maharashtra by a political group. History repeats itself, now from people of Bihar, UP attention have turned towards people of the north east.

This is absolute bigot ism on the part of a few people who love wear and tear of our society and thereby our country which is already bleeding with a lot of scams, eating out a lot of public money.There is not a year where there is no scam in our country.Bigots and the so called puritans of our Indian society have come out in the masses to clean the ones which according to them are the dust, forgetting the dust they have collected on them since long.

The worst of all , these issues turn political, so called political gurus of India start an uproar during such shameful acts in our country hoping to increase their vote banks and we Indians do fall prey too. Its high time we Indians, esp the common masses come together to choose what we really want in the country, and we know whats causing a bad image for the country.

Satyamev Jayate- 65years of Indian Independence

15th August 1947, a memorable date for all we Indians, we celebrate independence day with much fanfare. We hoist our national falg on this day, we offer garlands and flowers to those who fought for freedom starting from Gandhiji to Netaji Subhas chandra bose, from mangal Pandey to chandrasekhar azad. Its a day of happiness, its a day to remember that we CAN.

But the same time when we look into the other aspects of our society all these happiness goes bleak.There a lot of issues burgeoning in our country like fire which our freedom fighters wont have thought of. If they were alive today they would have been shocked to see whats happening to the country for whose freedom they fought so much.

Today Morning I was watching this reality show on Star Plus : SATYAMEV JAYATE. Todays was a special episode coz' it is 15th august. The host the famous Amir Khan was just telling us how much donations different NGOS have received since the start of this program and then started the old editions. One of which was killing the girl child in the womb. We met 3 women who have taken the brunt of their husbands and in laws only because they gave birth to a girl child. It was brought to light that the so called educated people are into more killings of the girl child compared to the poor ones.

I remember an example of a family where the husband himself is a doctor and tortured his wife as she was not ready to go for an abortion-sonography results showed a girl which again is illegal in this country. There was one more where the husband tampered the face of his wife with his nails and bites. Are these humans or animals in the disguise of animals.

One more astonishing news I came to know that in the 60's and the 70's doctors in government hospitals who used to advocate female foeticide- the reason after independence many were of the opinion that girls and females are responsible for increase in costs and problems in the country. So instead of giving birth to a girl it is better to give birth to a boy , so it was female foeticide which became rampant during that time. Then years later when a group of activists revolted against this unsaid rule it was too late and that late is still on.
will come back again with more......

Happy Independence Day!!!

This year we will see India celebrating its 65th year of Independence. I feel more happy because of the 6 medals which INDIA bagged this year in the Olympics. Compared to the last Olympics the performance was overall better.

We say Sushil Kumar bagging the silver medal after his bronze in the last Olympics, he might have bagged the gold only lest the dehydration and cramps he was suffering from. But still he got somewhat he wished for. I saw ini the paper Sushil Mishra was of the opinion that he needed this after he failed to bag the silver in the Beijing Olympics. Then we had the silver from Vijay Kumar added with the 4 bronzes.

Of course if we compare with countries like Trinidad and Tobago India's count of medals were much lower where we as a country have more people and ability to develop more people for such international games. India's performance have always been dismal in such games. Only a few handful sports are there where India has a name of its own, like cricket, chess, billiards and lawn tennis and that also mostly in doubles tournaments.

This might sound cynic but that's what we are and even though we try to do something big we get embroiled in controversies. Remember the commonwealth games in Delhi?

Well whatever controversies we get embroiled in, still when medals come in we feel happy. we find people beating drums, lighting crackers and giving our Olympians a hero's welcome. These are times we feel we are together as one country.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY !!!  JAI HO!!

India in a Turmoil

India is going through a lot of turmoil these days!. Starting from natural calamities to human made calamities. Where one part of the country is announcing droughts the other part is flooded...and thats when we have different religious communities rioting for god knows what-is it power or land or sovereignty?

In Assam we saw floods washing away so many districts rendering  millions homeless. We see so many people leaving their homes looking for a higher land, we see people neck dip in water trying to save themselves searching for a place to stay. Do we know which religion they belong to? Does the rain gods show its fury to any religion in particular. The answer I am sure is No......

Isn't this the time when we all should come together for the people of assam and the other flood affected areas instead of fighting for someone's self. Riots are nothing but clash of ideas which comes in the disguise of religion usually or at times in the name of power and sovereignty.

The riots yesterday in MUMBAI proved this one more time. The concerned who organized the march in favor of the Muslims are of the opinion that they expected a turn around of 1000-1500 but it turned out to be more than 50000. Are we living a life of ignorance. Such news spreads like fire and it has also been found that it was spread using SMS.  Two people died, a few policemen are fighting with death, and hundreds of vehicles vandalized. Would this bring peace in ASSAM or would this give food to the affected people in ASSAM who were bound to flee for the floods first and now the riots. There are hundreds who are terrified to re turn to their own land. This reminds of the Singur mishap with the TATA factory where we found people of the same village fearing to go back to their own lands and homes.

When we Indians will learn the need of the hour. When we would learn to leave in peace and harmony. During our school days we used to write essays on democracy, unity in diversity etc :are this going to stay as essays only to be penned in different words by school goers or we are going to do something about this. I feel like asking these rioters sometimes , Have they ever written or heard of these essays in their school life which ever language it might be? Are all rioters illiterates, ignorant?

This reminds me the lines of late Indian freedom fighter and poet , KABI NAZRUL ISLAM- eki brinte duti kusum...meaning two flowers on one stalk. He was referring to the Hindus and Muslims as two flowers on the same stalk. Would this remain as a dream of the famous poet or we will see the light one day?