Posts
Why is it that there is no movie with a smarter villain, capable of outdoing the hero at every turn? What if the story of the hero ends in despair, while the villain lives to conquer more? Isn't that closer to the truth of what transpires, particularly in India? Isn't it true that most crimes go unpunished, including corruption and rape?
So, why do we keep faith in the "forces" of "good" that might one day, possibly turn things around for us? The simple answer is that we do that instead of accepting that we don't have the strength in ourselves to fight all that is wrong. Our weakness finds solace in the feeling that we are on the "good" side. This way, we don't have to feel ashamed of who we are, even while we should. We have every reason to be appalled and enraged by the decay of moral standards, but we are perfectly all right expecting God to do the work we should be doing.
The morality cloud, with its labyrinth of philosphical perspectives, hides many layers of grey, and provides a nebulous sanctuary to avoid having to face the clearest of questions - are we willing to fight against evil even if it means having to kill? If answering to the dark side in us is the only way to sustain a victory of good over evil, are we ready to go there? Are we really on the good side, when we don't take pains to fight the smallest of crimes?
Good guys can win, but only when they are fit to win. Being good has absolutely nothing to do with winning, except that it might serve to give the individual an assumed sense of righteousness, strength and positive energy. Being perceived as "good" can in India, save you from the perhaps more honest perception of being "unfit". It is just the way we have twisted ourselves to believe that good and fit for us to trust are the same thing.
On a treacherous road to a religious destination, it is more important for a driver to have skill rather than belief in God, but our pilgrims winding through those roads will be happier if the car gets a timely pooja over a timely oil change. This is just who we are - fiendishly superstitious, and outrageously stuck to the idea of the good and the godly over the fit and the practical!
Is God truly on the side of all that is good? Oooh, big question! Honestly, I don't think God cares one way or the other, and a lot of weak rascals who are scared to talk about the need to be strong simply claimed God on their side in the name of being "good". So, how does all powerful God put up with villainy, deceit, untruth, and millions of other vices? Maybe God is on the other side, enjoying the joke? Personally, I'd leave God out of this equation, and do what we need to do.
It is hard to be good, no doubt. It is hard to be kind hearted, righteous, soft spoken, honest and caring. But it would be a lot harder if everyone was angry, cruel, loud, demanding, dishonest and uncaring towards us! So, we come up with this construct called civil society that all but ignores the natural "survival of the fittest" instincts we are born with. We have put in place every system where the sharpest of us can be kept down through the dullest in the collective, through a devious mechanism of rules and regulations. The dullest have subscribed to the idea of goodness and Godliness, so there is no way we will give leadership to the sharpest because they don't care much to look like God! See, we don't want leadership that challenges us. We want leaders that we can trash fairly quickly, which means they can't be that much ahead of us.
Thankfully, we do have the beginnings of a meritocracy when it comes to education and employment, however much of a farce both of these turn out to be for the average Indian. But when it comes to our cricket players, nothing but the best will do. If everyone in the country performs as well as our cricket team, we'd be a phenomenally advanced country. We ignore this fact, and give birth to icons, who must be "good" guys beyond all else. Abhinav Bhindra can never be as much of a "good" guy as Sachin Tendulkar, because SRT is an iconic influence who keeps it simple for the masses, but the gold medalist Bhindra is a more complex kettle of fish, capable of a sophisticated thought process, and some of his most insightful comments have been brought under the anti-national microscope! There aren't that many Indians who truly see Bhindra as being bigger than Tendulkar, even though his achievement clearly suggests unquestionable mastery. Bhindra will never be the icon the "little master" is, simply because he doesn't care so much about the patriotic tag while Tendulkar lives by it, much like Kapil Dev.
No matter what brings out our best and worst reactions, our politicians see through it all! That is how they maintain themselves above all law - after all, what kind of weakling would challenge a politician and his muscle power? If we really cared that much, we'd become a mob, raid the homes of our corrupt politicians, beat the crap out of them, and lynch a few. The security cordons that our leaders maintain have very little to do with any real danger from terrorists, but everything to do with the people they should and are scared of - us!
If we could shed our notions of being good, and simply took it upon us to become unabashedly strong in our support of what is right, we would be able to weed out the useless chaff fairly quickly, and make this country unpretentious and strong, clear in its ideologies as in its direction. That's an India all our Gods would be proud of.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Creative Politics, Please!
It has to be fear. Fear of change, fear of being chastised, fear of looking stupid. It is rampant upon you if you are the average Indian. In a culture of negativity comes a decision to make our country a democracy, and after thousands of years of kings and hundreds under the British, it is only natural that our beloved Mother India has a character that is twisted and confused, warped and unfit, and our politicians can only reflect that.
Still, we have come a long way in sixty odd years since independence, and will go much further faster if we drop our archaic notions of what is "good" and simply focus on what "works" for us. Our domestic policy of appeasement of minorities through reservations has by and large, not worked. Our foreign policy of non-allignment worked for a while before it became meaningless, and now, our coalition government looks great as an example of a shining democracy, but that is useful only for patting ourselves on the back, and terrible when it comes to getting something done.
Our policy of keeping Kashmir in a "special status" has not worked at all, even though it can be argued that Kashmir has not been environmentally degraded by industrialization. How about degrading it with poverty? Yes Sir, we can deliver that. No wonder we have trouble there, and it just helped Pakistan infiltrate and cause mayhem of many sorts. Now, we have a military that is superior to that of Pakistan, but we do not have the mindset to wrest Kashmir out of Pakistan's grip. Neither do we want to concede and save millions of rupees fighting a war we do not want to win.
Our economic policies since Manmohan Singh came to the fore have been great. To turn our country from bankruptcy to where we are today is commendable. Here we have something that works, come as it did out of an impossibility to continue in the direction we had gone for a long time. See, we're good at rescuing ourselves from terrible dangers we cause upon ourselves!
We have been criticized for not having enough strong laws against terror. I disagree, and would go far enough to say, not many countries have much of a policy to prevent terror attacks, but have fairly good measures to safeguard a lot of places, but no country can claim to be attack proof. We have a huge coastline, lots of soft targets, a police force that cannot catch even a schoolboy on a fast sprint, and politicians that have no intention of delivering anything on any front, so it is going to take a while before we figure out how to combat terror. I'd say we're no worse at combating terror than we are at combating pollution.
What would happen if we got creative with our politics? It isn't as if we are going to sink if we got a few things wrong, since we get most things wrong anyway, and it isn't as if we'd feel shy if something worked out! So, what is stopping us from coming up with really creative ways of solving problems? A lack of ideas? That just cannot be since we Indians are full of ideas, especially after the fact. So, we need to find a way to get these ideas to the decision makers.
Let's start with terrorists. If they're looking for martyrdom, the best way to deny that to a Muslim terrorist is to bathe him (or his dead body) in pig's blood, and bury him in pieces along with a fair amount of pork all over him. If we telecast this, or send a DVD to Osama Bin Laden, the bastards who are members of LeT and other idiots fighting the so called Holy War, they can see for themselves how they are sending their young recruits into a guaranteed passage to hell. Take away the ultimate prize and they will think twice before attacking us.
We need to remove all nationalist emotion at a time like this. How dare we give terrorists the satisfaction of having attacked a nation? Do they deserve a reaction that brings out our flag? Shouldn't we reserve nationalist sentiments for much bigger causes than fighting a bunch of no good thugs with inflated notions? Who the hell is this cockroach Kasav to make us feel so strongly about our "country"? Why isn't anybody talking about this? All the emotional stuff that comes on our media plays right into the hands of terrorists that they are getting enormously bloated results. If the I and B ministry calls the heads of all the TV channels into a room and tells them point blank that if they don't stop this nationalistic shit, they will lose their broadcasting licenses, it is bound to have an effect. But then, that takes creativity and imagination. I wonder if nationalism can ever be replaced by pragmatism, that would be the beginning of light and growth, but right now, we have a bunch of clueless idiots in positions of enormous power and significance who can't see beyond some retarded idea of flag hoisting over a bunch of terror attacks.
Whoever came up with this idea of human chains? We form human chains for every rhyme and reason, and it is understandable in a time of great human grief, like the aftermath of a tsunami, but to give a bunch of extremists that kind of reaction - not my idea of putting them in their place. We should stop this nonsense and come back to "normal" in every way we can. Mumbai, I hope your resilience hasn't melted to this mushy stuff just because we as a nation poured it over you.
If Pakistan talks about "non-state actors" being responsible for terror againt India, we should quietly tell them what non-state targets we are about to bomb, and how it would really help if they could help us finding more non-state actors within Pakistan and how they can line them up near our non-state border for us to pick up and question and kill! If Pakistan drags its feet, it wouldn't hurt to drape the pork chops and pig blood in the Pakistani flag before giving the criminals a public burning on the stake.
There are five rivers that flow in Pakistan. All five originate in India. Now, that should get us thinking, for there is plenty we can do with river water. A biological agent that prevents pregnancies should do very well. One that makes people absolutely incapacitated physically will be a good one to follow up in an emergency. But then, there is the pesky issue of a River Water accord that we have signed with Pakistan, and the last time we wanted to build a dam across one of these rivers, Pakistan ran in panic to the UN to stop the project. Why this accord should hold good when Pakistan feels free to challenge the Kashmir Accession accord is beyond me, but doesn't have to be beyond our policy makers. Poisoning the waters, now that, is a trump card. Inhuman? How about the nuclear weapons both countries have?
We have to be creative in avoiding an expensive dramatic conflict with Pakistan, simply because it is unnecessary and should be more fun to see them implode instead of explode. Right now, it is one helluva clusterf@#k in that godforsaken country. If Pakistanis want to be really holy about sending their children to madarasas instead of modern schools, they should not want to go to other countries for a living. If they want to embrace a modern world and send people to play professional sport in other countries, they should make sure there is no other dimension that wants to take Pakistan to the stone age with their religious nonsense.
The country has no singular character, and we are all okay with that, but it really shouldn't involve any effort on our part, India's part, to have to deal with two Pakistans. For us, the bastards who come across the border to bomb our cities are the same as the people who go to other countries to study and later settle down there. Pakistanis are Pakistanis, and if one Pakistan wants to declare war against India, they are all our bloody enemies. Until we get this clear in our heads, we won't be winning any war. It is upto us to creatively bleed Pakistan and paint them in one colour, especially after an incident like Mumbai.
India has everything to gain by painting to the world at large that Pakistan is a rogue state, which it is. There should be no thought spared to decent Pakistanis who want a peaceful life, for it is THEIR business to rein in their extreme elements, not ours to understand how hard it is for them. India can get really clever and disturb Pakistan economically and socially, by doing a few creative things. This captured terrorist Kasav has said he was offered 1.5 lakhs to do what he did. We can offer 20 lakhs to people who can give us information about terrorists like Dawood Ibrahim. We should begin by paying the sum to a few Pakistanis! What a riot that will start! If 1.5 lakhs is enough for someone to give his life, 20 lakhs ought to settle it in our favour. Creativity is everything. If we can make people buy Rin soap instead of Nirma, we should be able to figure out how to get Pakistanis to play in our favour.
Loss of productivity is a huge loss. Every traffic jam is a loss of productivity. It isn't that hard for us to create loss of productivity in the multiple for our neighbour. After all, waving the flag of "TERROR" works in miraculous ways. Pakistan has given us all we need to raise flags of terror everywhere not quite in its favour. We can use this in very nice ways to eat away at Pakistan's economy through its lack of credibility. The fact that they are always teetering between civilian and military rule should give us great joy, not worry, like our politicians and self proclaimed experts claim. In the foreseeable future, the UN will have to "invade" Pakistan as peacekeepers, as warring factions will take over those non-state areas that the government of Pakistan doesn't control. This would take some genius within the Indian political mechanism, but since India is a big contributor to UN peacekeeping missions all over the world, it will work in India's favour massively, if the Indian Army could enter Pakistan under a UN flag. We will really get to keep the peace in the way we want, while having the sanction of the world.
Military governments are not looked upon very favourably by the world community. Pakistan is no self sustaining island of prosperity. Pakistan isn't as economically untouchable as we are. They can ill afford sanctions to be slapped upon them. India should convince, bribe, bully and cajole all international aid agencies to suspend all aid to Pakistan, get all Pakistani charities under an umbrella of suspicion, ensure that all their ships are searched extensively at all ports of call, ensure that all Pakistani citizens pass through separate highly scrutinized lines at airports, their planes are searched and treated like bombs, and do everything possible with our media machinery to put so much pressure on every Pakistani citizen till they change their ways, collectively, not individually. It is possible, but needs some creativity in our decision making processes.
There are several regions of Pakistan that the Pakistani govenment doesn't control. Waziristan for example. These won't be bad places for some of our missiles to start hitting some targets, particularly since our satellites can pick up some pretty dramatic imagery. If we can see how ripe mangoes in the Sunderbans are, we can definitely see terrorist training camps. If there are any monkeys with guns running around with beards in these areas, they are fair game. There is so much confusion in that area right now, with the militants being attacked by Pakistani army, the army being attacked by the militants, Americans shooting at the militants, Pakistani army hating the fact and wanting to thwart the American military, and the resulting confusion can only be increased in sparkle by our missiles hitting some targets. The Pakistani army doesn't dare start a war with India while they can't even fight these dope funded groups.
It is no secret that the drug trade funds the militants in this area. It is their currency. We could destroy their market by following the trail and replacing it with a supply from a South American country. Colombia, Peru and other such banana republics can produce any amount of dope and strip these mountain monkeys in Afghanistan and Pakistan from competing. If they can pump millions of rupees in counterfeit Indian currency through Nepal, we can bloody well make sure the price of heroin drops till the teeth start falling out of impoverished drug dealers. Of course this would take a great deal of awareness in theatres of action very far away from where we are, but we have ambitions of being a superpower don't we? So, why can't the fools in New Delhi come up with some New Ideas?
The biggest sham, which we should continue with, is the peace process. We should continue our bus diplomacy, train diplomacy, and even some jackass and mule diplomacy as we see fit. This is all about image and if there is one country whose image has taken a beating and is guaranteed to take a bigger hit, that is Pakistan, not India. We should overtly do everything to continue to look like the caring neighbour who sees terrorism as much of a Pakistani problem as it is India's. Yeah, sure, it is as much Pakistan's problem, but it is our problem because of Pakistan, and not Pakistan's problem because of us. Big difference. Let's use creativity to keep the squeeze on.
For example...we can also use this time of subdued belligerence by Indian Muslims and suggest strongly that we enact a uniform civil code, without which our country is doomed in any case. Offer the Muslims a straight deal - You want to accept a uniform civil code, you can do so right now, or else, accept a criminal code for Muslims that is different from others, and we can use Saudi Arabia as a shining example to copy from. That will be the last time anybody ever talks against a uniform civil code. To think as Indians, we certainly cannot paint ourselves in different shades on the basis of this nonsense called religion. Religious freedom should always take a backseat to unfairness, if the progress of India shouldn't take a backseat to archaic notions.
Now, for heavens' sake, let's get creative about getting something done without the aid of our dumb as bricks politicians. All these fools are interested in is screwing our country and making money for themselves. Let's come up with ideas to remove the incentives politicians get by winning an election. It is time our politicians are ignored and the country progressed on the initiative of our own people - yes, you and I. That would mean we do everything a little differently, a little thoughtfully, and that we spend a bit of time and energy to help fix the system where it isn't working.
Still, we have come a long way in sixty odd years since independence, and will go much further faster if we drop our archaic notions of what is "good" and simply focus on what "works" for us. Our domestic policy of appeasement of minorities through reservations has by and large, not worked. Our foreign policy of non-allignment worked for a while before it became meaningless, and now, our coalition government looks great as an example of a shining democracy, but that is useful only for patting ourselves on the back, and terrible when it comes to getting something done.
Our policy of keeping Kashmir in a "special status" has not worked at all, even though it can be argued that Kashmir has not been environmentally degraded by industrialization. How about degrading it with poverty? Yes Sir, we can deliver that. No wonder we have trouble there, and it just helped Pakistan infiltrate and cause mayhem of many sorts. Now, we have a military that is superior to that of Pakistan, but we do not have the mindset to wrest Kashmir out of Pakistan's grip. Neither do we want to concede and save millions of rupees fighting a war we do not want to win.
Our economic policies since Manmohan Singh came to the fore have been great. To turn our country from bankruptcy to where we are today is commendable. Here we have something that works, come as it did out of an impossibility to continue in the direction we had gone for a long time. See, we're good at rescuing ourselves from terrible dangers we cause upon ourselves!
We have been criticized for not having enough strong laws against terror. I disagree, and would go far enough to say, not many countries have much of a policy to prevent terror attacks, but have fairly good measures to safeguard a lot of places, but no country can claim to be attack proof. We have a huge coastline, lots of soft targets, a police force that cannot catch even a schoolboy on a fast sprint, and politicians that have no intention of delivering anything on any front, so it is going to take a while before we figure out how to combat terror. I'd say we're no worse at combating terror than we are at combating pollution.
What would happen if we got creative with our politics? It isn't as if we are going to sink if we got a few things wrong, since we get most things wrong anyway, and it isn't as if we'd feel shy if something worked out! So, what is stopping us from coming up with really creative ways of solving problems? A lack of ideas? That just cannot be since we Indians are full of ideas, especially after the fact. So, we need to find a way to get these ideas to the decision makers.
Let's start with terrorists. If they're looking for martyrdom, the best way to deny that to a Muslim terrorist is to bathe him (or his dead body) in pig's blood, and bury him in pieces along with a fair amount of pork all over him. If we telecast this, or send a DVD to Osama Bin Laden, the bastards who are members of LeT and other idiots fighting the so called Holy War, they can see for themselves how they are sending their young recruits into a guaranteed passage to hell. Take away the ultimate prize and they will think twice before attacking us.
We need to remove all nationalist emotion at a time like this. How dare we give terrorists the satisfaction of having attacked a nation? Do they deserve a reaction that brings out our flag? Shouldn't we reserve nationalist sentiments for much bigger causes than fighting a bunch of no good thugs with inflated notions? Who the hell is this cockroach Kasav to make us feel so strongly about our "country"? Why isn't anybody talking about this? All the emotional stuff that comes on our media plays right into the hands of terrorists that they are getting enormously bloated results. If the I and B ministry calls the heads of all the TV channels into a room and tells them point blank that if they don't stop this nationalistic shit, they will lose their broadcasting licenses, it is bound to have an effect. But then, that takes creativity and imagination. I wonder if nationalism can ever be replaced by pragmatism, that would be the beginning of light and growth, but right now, we have a bunch of clueless idiots in positions of enormous power and significance who can't see beyond some retarded idea of flag hoisting over a bunch of terror attacks.
Whoever came up with this idea of human chains? We form human chains for every rhyme and reason, and it is understandable in a time of great human grief, like the aftermath of a tsunami, but to give a bunch of extremists that kind of reaction - not my idea of putting them in their place. We should stop this nonsense and come back to "normal" in every way we can. Mumbai, I hope your resilience hasn't melted to this mushy stuff just because we as a nation poured it over you.
If Pakistan talks about "non-state actors" being responsible for terror againt India, we should quietly tell them what non-state targets we are about to bomb, and how it would really help if they could help us finding more non-state actors within Pakistan and how they can line them up near our non-state border for us to pick up and question and kill! If Pakistan drags its feet, it wouldn't hurt to drape the pork chops and pig blood in the Pakistani flag before giving the criminals a public burning on the stake.
There are five rivers that flow in Pakistan. All five originate in India. Now, that should get us thinking, for there is plenty we can do with river water. A biological agent that prevents pregnancies should do very well. One that makes people absolutely incapacitated physically will be a good one to follow up in an emergency. But then, there is the pesky issue of a River Water accord that we have signed with Pakistan, and the last time we wanted to build a dam across one of these rivers, Pakistan ran in panic to the UN to stop the project. Why this accord should hold good when Pakistan feels free to challenge the Kashmir Accession accord is beyond me, but doesn't have to be beyond our policy makers. Poisoning the waters, now that, is a trump card. Inhuman? How about the nuclear weapons both countries have?
We have to be creative in avoiding an expensive dramatic conflict with Pakistan, simply because it is unnecessary and should be more fun to see them implode instead of explode. Right now, it is one helluva clusterf@#k in that godforsaken country. If Pakistanis want to be really holy about sending their children to madarasas instead of modern schools, they should not want to go to other countries for a living. If they want to embrace a modern world and send people to play professional sport in other countries, they should make sure there is no other dimension that wants to take Pakistan to the stone age with their religious nonsense.
The country has no singular character, and we are all okay with that, but it really shouldn't involve any effort on our part, India's part, to have to deal with two Pakistans. For us, the bastards who come across the border to bomb our cities are the same as the people who go to other countries to study and later settle down there. Pakistanis are Pakistanis, and if one Pakistan wants to declare war against India, they are all our bloody enemies. Until we get this clear in our heads, we won't be winning any war. It is upto us to creatively bleed Pakistan and paint them in one colour, especially after an incident like Mumbai.
India has everything to gain by painting to the world at large that Pakistan is a rogue state, which it is. There should be no thought spared to decent Pakistanis who want a peaceful life, for it is THEIR business to rein in their extreme elements, not ours to understand how hard it is for them. India can get really clever and disturb Pakistan economically and socially, by doing a few creative things. This captured terrorist Kasav has said he was offered 1.5 lakhs to do what he did. We can offer 20 lakhs to people who can give us information about terrorists like Dawood Ibrahim. We should begin by paying the sum to a few Pakistanis! What a riot that will start! If 1.5 lakhs is enough for someone to give his life, 20 lakhs ought to settle it in our favour. Creativity is everything. If we can make people buy Rin soap instead of Nirma, we should be able to figure out how to get Pakistanis to play in our favour.
Loss of productivity is a huge loss. Every traffic jam is a loss of productivity. It isn't that hard for us to create loss of productivity in the multiple for our neighbour. After all, waving the flag of "TERROR" works in miraculous ways. Pakistan has given us all we need to raise flags of terror everywhere not quite in its favour. We can use this in very nice ways to eat away at Pakistan's economy through its lack of credibility. The fact that they are always teetering between civilian and military rule should give us great joy, not worry, like our politicians and self proclaimed experts claim. In the foreseeable future, the UN will have to "invade" Pakistan as peacekeepers, as warring factions will take over those non-state areas that the government of Pakistan doesn't control. This would take some genius within the Indian political mechanism, but since India is a big contributor to UN peacekeeping missions all over the world, it will work in India's favour massively, if the Indian Army could enter Pakistan under a UN flag. We will really get to keep the peace in the way we want, while having the sanction of the world.
Military governments are not looked upon very favourably by the world community. Pakistan is no self sustaining island of prosperity. Pakistan isn't as economically untouchable as we are. They can ill afford sanctions to be slapped upon them. India should convince, bribe, bully and cajole all international aid agencies to suspend all aid to Pakistan, get all Pakistani charities under an umbrella of suspicion, ensure that all their ships are searched extensively at all ports of call, ensure that all Pakistani citizens pass through separate highly scrutinized lines at airports, their planes are searched and treated like bombs, and do everything possible with our media machinery to put so much pressure on every Pakistani citizen till they change their ways, collectively, not individually. It is possible, but needs some creativity in our decision making processes.
There are several regions of Pakistan that the Pakistani govenment doesn't control. Waziristan for example. These won't be bad places for some of our missiles to start hitting some targets, particularly since our satellites can pick up some pretty dramatic imagery. If we can see how ripe mangoes in the Sunderbans are, we can definitely see terrorist training camps. If there are any monkeys with guns running around with beards in these areas, they are fair game. There is so much confusion in that area right now, with the militants being attacked by Pakistani army, the army being attacked by the militants, Americans shooting at the militants, Pakistani army hating the fact and wanting to thwart the American military, and the resulting confusion can only be increased in sparkle by our missiles hitting some targets. The Pakistani army doesn't dare start a war with India while they can't even fight these dope funded groups.
It is no secret that the drug trade funds the militants in this area. It is their currency. We could destroy their market by following the trail and replacing it with a supply from a South American country. Colombia, Peru and other such banana republics can produce any amount of dope and strip these mountain monkeys in Afghanistan and Pakistan from competing. If they can pump millions of rupees in counterfeit Indian currency through Nepal, we can bloody well make sure the price of heroin drops till the teeth start falling out of impoverished drug dealers. Of course this would take a great deal of awareness in theatres of action very far away from where we are, but we have ambitions of being a superpower don't we? So, why can't the fools in New Delhi come up with some New Ideas?
The biggest sham, which we should continue with, is the peace process. We should continue our bus diplomacy, train diplomacy, and even some jackass and mule diplomacy as we see fit. This is all about image and if there is one country whose image has taken a beating and is guaranteed to take a bigger hit, that is Pakistan, not India. We should overtly do everything to continue to look like the caring neighbour who sees terrorism as much of a Pakistani problem as it is India's. Yeah, sure, it is as much Pakistan's problem, but it is our problem because of Pakistan, and not Pakistan's problem because of us. Big difference. Let's use creativity to keep the squeeze on.
For example...we can also use this time of subdued belligerence by Indian Muslims and suggest strongly that we enact a uniform civil code, without which our country is doomed in any case. Offer the Muslims a straight deal - You want to accept a uniform civil code, you can do so right now, or else, accept a criminal code for Muslims that is different from others, and we can use Saudi Arabia as a shining example to copy from. That will be the last time anybody ever talks against a uniform civil code. To think as Indians, we certainly cannot paint ourselves in different shades on the basis of this nonsense called religion. Religious freedom should always take a backseat to unfairness, if the progress of India shouldn't take a backseat to archaic notions.
Now, for heavens' sake, let's get creative about getting something done without the aid of our dumb as bricks politicians. All these fools are interested in is screwing our country and making money for themselves. Let's come up with ideas to remove the incentives politicians get by winning an election. It is time our politicians are ignored and the country progressed on the initiative of our own people - yes, you and I. That would mean we do everything a little differently, a little thoughtfully, and that we spend a bit of time and energy to help fix the system where it isn't working.
We are not the same, people!
Yousuf Raza Gilani, the PM of Pakistan went on record a few days ago, stating that the cause of terrorism is poverty, disease and unemployment. Well how come only Pakistanis see terror as an alternative to povety, disease and unemployment? Know what we Indians do? We get a job, get ourselves to hospital or move to look for a job. We do not see our lives getting better by offering our lives to take others' lives! (How many terminally ill people would actually want to become terrorists? This Gilani is smoking something not yet sold this side of the border!)
For a while Asif Zardari, the so called democratically elected President of Pakistan said he doesn't "think" the terrorists who attacked Mumbai were Pakistanis. In fact, he said he doubted if they were Pakistani! How can he think and have doubts if he hasn't been presented any evidence, and why would Pakistan act to close seven terrorist training camps under US pressure if they still didn't have enough evidence of their country's involvement?
The repeated parrot squawking that comes from Islamabad is now a different shade - "You can't say the government is complicit just because the wrongdoers are Pakistani!" Well, what a change from "non-state actors" that were conjured up not too long ago! The truth is that Pakistan has been caught on its conniving backside on a sharp knife. Any which way it twists, it is going to hurt from now on.
As recently as today, the well known characters that Pakistan claimed it had under house arrest less than a week ago, are now miraculously "not in Pakistan"! Gee, we must all be idiots. Pakistan must be enjoying this game. And just before this diabolic claim, came the assertion that there is no evidence to put on trial Masood Azhar or anybody else currently being sought by India. Very dramatic indeed!
What we as Indians should realize is that Pakistanis are fundamentally different from us. Mentally, they are formed by two thirds of their post independence period under military rule. Socially, they are neither Islamic nor modern. Pakistanis in the US and the UK will act like they are very much part of the modern mainstream, but they also send money to charities that fund very illegal causes like terrorism. Somehow, Pakistanis always find a way to justify their behaviour, just like Imran Khan, the famous cricketer once said he doesn't know any fast bowler that doesn't tamper with the ball to get unnatural swing!
The lack of clarity right now in New Delhi comes from not knowing what yardstick to use to act against Pakistan. The truth is, Pakistan cannot be embarrassed. Pakistani diplomats will see anything as a victory as long as they can put on a show of some sort to postpone the next embarrassment. They are low in their approach, but cloak it with a smile as good as anybody else's. That is how they pull off their heists of complete deceit. Starting with Musharraf who projected himself as a friend of America in the war on terror, and then siphoned off a majority of the 100 million dollars he was given, to Gilani, who repeatedly says Pakistan is acting because of UN pressure, not India's, Pakistan has always placed the most conniving, shady, shadowy, slimy rascals in their top positions. In India, we simply set higher standards for we are fundamentally capable of seeing ourselves as righteous people.
There is without a doubt, an inferiority complex at play in Pakistan. Just like is so evident in Nepal. Neither country will ever be as powerful or as wealthy as India. In Nepal, strangely, there is even open animosity against India, Indians and our perceived "arrogance". It is easy for Indians to be seen as arrogant in Nepal, because we are used to better service. If we have expectations of these two countries that are much weaker than us, to be able to do even the simplest things we can do here in India, we'd be sadly mistaken.
Everything India does, Pakistan will want to copy. It has virtually nothing to contribute to the world on its own, and is forever doomed to be in India's shadow. Being an Islamic country doesn't exactly poise it for modern growth, either. But pride is a terrible alternative to incompetence, and Pakistan hasn't yet found out. Pakistan cannot take advantage of everything it gets from the world outside, like aid and weapons, and continue to act like it is a shining island of righteousness! It is bloody well answerable, no matter what it pretends to be or not be.
The responses that have come from Pakistan started with denial, matured to blabbering, and has now settled on jingoism. Gilani is trying to put up a brave face, but is a political fox, nothing more. Pakistan has no statesman the world would respect, like Manmohan Singh or Vajpayee. It has what most seedy shops have in tourist areas - a front! The real shops that offer value show up in reviews in global magazines and books. This is where India has scored heavily over Pakistan. No matter what, India has a good image worldwide, and it hasn't come upon us by accident. We have worked for our prosperity, we have worked for our place in the world by taking morally high paths in every forum.
It is the same inferiority complex that leads to the making of terrorists. They are all losers in their own minds, trying to get a slice of fame, of greatness. They just want to be noticed. Usually when they get noticed, they get killed, but that doesn't matter as long as they get noticed. This is the low mindset we are fighting against. There is no winning against this mindset. There is no changing this mindset as long as we are focussed on moving forward. Pakistan has been left far behind. They love to say that India and Pakistan have the same problems. They love to say we are the "same" people. Any association with India is really nothing but their desperate attempt to claw out of their inferior position.
We have learnt diplomacy, put in place a system that cannot be scoffed at, and despite all our failings, we have achieved enough in sixty odd years to feel pretty good about. We certainly are closer to perfection in all the stands we have taken as a nation than the USA can ever claim to be. But we should learn not to apply these diplomatic yardsticks to Pakistan. Pakistan is that yapping puppy at the heel, and it does not understand anything other than a kick to its face, and this time hard enough to knock a couple of teeth out. There are some of us who might want to kill the son of a bitch, but that may not be necessary. We can always kill it if it becomes a rabid dog.
To India, Pakistan does not figure in its every day considerations. Pakistanis could easily be as indifferent as India, but for some reason, it cannot. India shows up on TV, all of a sudden slicker and richer, and being touted as a superpower in the making. Pakistan cannot openly aspire to be like India. So, it is easy to cloak jealousy and envy in finding faults with India. Kashmir is a big fault, and we should thank ourselves for giving it to the Pakistanis. If we had been imperiously powerful like the USA, we can only imagine how shrivelled Pakistanis would feel. We are fast getting there and that is what is hurting Pakistan right now.
Our television invades their homes, our culture of prosperity is there at an arm's length, but they cannot taste it. They have never won a war against us, and now, our professional cricket league is something Pakistani cricketers are getting rich from! It suddenly looks as if Pakistan should love India, but understandably hating the success of India as an economic power. A feeling of impotence, inferiority and sometimes, utter despair seems to grip Pakistani leadership. This is not going to evaporate overnight. People retiring from the Pakistani military establishment are bound to support groups wanting to cause mayhem in India, self proclaimed strategic experts will not hesitate to suggest India, Israel and the USA are an anti-islamic nexus - as if this nexus would exist if we weren't fighting the same "Islamic" enemy!
Indian muslims will continue to be the confusing lot they do not understand! It was incredulous when they asked Irfan Pathan whether he would play for Pakistan, just because he is a Muslim. He immediately said, "No chance" with his infectious smile, as if to say, "What the heck are you talking about?" To Indian muslims, being muslim is a separate thing from being Indian. They are largely happy to be both, no matter what arguments they have with other extreme religious fanatics in India. The fact is, given all that has transpired in Mumbai, there has been no anti muslim reaction in India at all. This is so loudly conspicuous in its absence that Indian muslims of all economic strata would have undoubtely taken note of. Life goes on. That's the great thing about India. There is an India beyond this nonsense of terrorism.
We are superior to Pakistan in every possible way. For us it is a matter of deciding how much we want to pay to put Pakistan out of its misery. We cannot win efficiently against Pakistan until we decide how much we want to damage it. There is no way it is going to get away unscathed for its actions or inactions. But we need to get over this notion, however remote, that we can treat Pakistan as an equal. It simply isn't and will never be.
For a while Asif Zardari, the so called democratically elected President of Pakistan said he doesn't "think" the terrorists who attacked Mumbai were Pakistanis. In fact, he said he doubted if they were Pakistani! How can he think and have doubts if he hasn't been presented any evidence, and why would Pakistan act to close seven terrorist training camps under US pressure if they still didn't have enough evidence of their country's involvement?
The repeated parrot squawking that comes from Islamabad is now a different shade - "You can't say the government is complicit just because the wrongdoers are Pakistani!" Well, what a change from "non-state actors" that were conjured up not too long ago! The truth is that Pakistan has been caught on its conniving backside on a sharp knife. Any which way it twists, it is going to hurt from now on.
As recently as today, the well known characters that Pakistan claimed it had under house arrest less than a week ago, are now miraculously "not in Pakistan"! Gee, we must all be idiots. Pakistan must be enjoying this game. And just before this diabolic claim, came the assertion that there is no evidence to put on trial Masood Azhar or anybody else currently being sought by India. Very dramatic indeed!
What we as Indians should realize is that Pakistanis are fundamentally different from us. Mentally, they are formed by two thirds of their post independence period under military rule. Socially, they are neither Islamic nor modern. Pakistanis in the US and the UK will act like they are very much part of the modern mainstream, but they also send money to charities that fund very illegal causes like terrorism. Somehow, Pakistanis always find a way to justify their behaviour, just like Imran Khan, the famous cricketer once said he doesn't know any fast bowler that doesn't tamper with the ball to get unnatural swing!
The lack of clarity right now in New Delhi comes from not knowing what yardstick to use to act against Pakistan. The truth is, Pakistan cannot be embarrassed. Pakistani diplomats will see anything as a victory as long as they can put on a show of some sort to postpone the next embarrassment. They are low in their approach, but cloak it with a smile as good as anybody else's. That is how they pull off their heists of complete deceit. Starting with Musharraf who projected himself as a friend of America in the war on terror, and then siphoned off a majority of the 100 million dollars he was given, to Gilani, who repeatedly says Pakistan is acting because of UN pressure, not India's, Pakistan has always placed the most conniving, shady, shadowy, slimy rascals in their top positions. In India, we simply set higher standards for we are fundamentally capable of seeing ourselves as righteous people.
There is without a doubt, an inferiority complex at play in Pakistan. Just like is so evident in Nepal. Neither country will ever be as powerful or as wealthy as India. In Nepal, strangely, there is even open animosity against India, Indians and our perceived "arrogance". It is easy for Indians to be seen as arrogant in Nepal, because we are used to better service. If we have expectations of these two countries that are much weaker than us, to be able to do even the simplest things we can do here in India, we'd be sadly mistaken.
Everything India does, Pakistan will want to copy. It has virtually nothing to contribute to the world on its own, and is forever doomed to be in India's shadow. Being an Islamic country doesn't exactly poise it for modern growth, either. But pride is a terrible alternative to incompetence, and Pakistan hasn't yet found out. Pakistan cannot take advantage of everything it gets from the world outside, like aid and weapons, and continue to act like it is a shining island of righteousness! It is bloody well answerable, no matter what it pretends to be or not be.
The responses that have come from Pakistan started with denial, matured to blabbering, and has now settled on jingoism. Gilani is trying to put up a brave face, but is a political fox, nothing more. Pakistan has no statesman the world would respect, like Manmohan Singh or Vajpayee. It has what most seedy shops have in tourist areas - a front! The real shops that offer value show up in reviews in global magazines and books. This is where India has scored heavily over Pakistan. No matter what, India has a good image worldwide, and it hasn't come upon us by accident. We have worked for our prosperity, we have worked for our place in the world by taking morally high paths in every forum.
It is the same inferiority complex that leads to the making of terrorists. They are all losers in their own minds, trying to get a slice of fame, of greatness. They just want to be noticed. Usually when they get noticed, they get killed, but that doesn't matter as long as they get noticed. This is the low mindset we are fighting against. There is no winning against this mindset. There is no changing this mindset as long as we are focussed on moving forward. Pakistan has been left far behind. They love to say that India and Pakistan have the same problems. They love to say we are the "same" people. Any association with India is really nothing but their desperate attempt to claw out of their inferior position.
We have learnt diplomacy, put in place a system that cannot be scoffed at, and despite all our failings, we have achieved enough in sixty odd years to feel pretty good about. We certainly are closer to perfection in all the stands we have taken as a nation than the USA can ever claim to be. But we should learn not to apply these diplomatic yardsticks to Pakistan. Pakistan is that yapping puppy at the heel, and it does not understand anything other than a kick to its face, and this time hard enough to knock a couple of teeth out. There are some of us who might want to kill the son of a bitch, but that may not be necessary. We can always kill it if it becomes a rabid dog.
To India, Pakistan does not figure in its every day considerations. Pakistanis could easily be as indifferent as India, but for some reason, it cannot. India shows up on TV, all of a sudden slicker and richer, and being touted as a superpower in the making. Pakistan cannot openly aspire to be like India. So, it is easy to cloak jealousy and envy in finding faults with India. Kashmir is a big fault, and we should thank ourselves for giving it to the Pakistanis. If we had been imperiously powerful like the USA, we can only imagine how shrivelled Pakistanis would feel. We are fast getting there and that is what is hurting Pakistan right now.
Our television invades their homes, our culture of prosperity is there at an arm's length, but they cannot taste it. They have never won a war against us, and now, our professional cricket league is something Pakistani cricketers are getting rich from! It suddenly looks as if Pakistan should love India, but understandably hating the success of India as an economic power. A feeling of impotence, inferiority and sometimes, utter despair seems to grip Pakistani leadership. This is not going to evaporate overnight. People retiring from the Pakistani military establishment are bound to support groups wanting to cause mayhem in India, self proclaimed strategic experts will not hesitate to suggest India, Israel and the USA are an anti-islamic nexus - as if this nexus would exist if we weren't fighting the same "Islamic" enemy!
Indian muslims will continue to be the confusing lot they do not understand! It was incredulous when they asked Irfan Pathan whether he would play for Pakistan, just because he is a Muslim. He immediately said, "No chance" with his infectious smile, as if to say, "What the heck are you talking about?" To Indian muslims, being muslim is a separate thing from being Indian. They are largely happy to be both, no matter what arguments they have with other extreme religious fanatics in India. The fact is, given all that has transpired in Mumbai, there has been no anti muslim reaction in India at all. This is so loudly conspicuous in its absence that Indian muslims of all economic strata would have undoubtely taken note of. Life goes on. That's the great thing about India. There is an India beyond this nonsense of terrorism.
We are superior to Pakistan in every possible way. For us it is a matter of deciding how much we want to pay to put Pakistan out of its misery. We cannot win efficiently against Pakistan until we decide how much we want to damage it. There is no way it is going to get away unscathed for its actions or inactions. But we need to get over this notion, however remote, that we can treat Pakistan as an equal. It simply isn't and will never be.
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