Dreams do come true in UP

Are you an average cricket player who hasn't represented your state at any level but have dreams of playing Ranji cricket? Is your father an IAS officer in UP? If all the above hold true for you, you may realize your dreams like Kshitij Lal (son of Mayawati's principal secretary Netram) did...

It is the country’s premier domestic tournament and one step away from instant fame and an India cap. Players sweat it out for years at various levels to earn a Ranji Trophy call up because it can change their lives — and given how many young boys play cricket and dream of glory, the competition is viciously intense.
For most, that is. But if you’re the son of a top government officer in Uttar Pradesh, then, well, you just walk in to the Ranji squad. Literally.

UP’s Ranji squad, currently playing a quarterfinal against Gujarat, has an unusual passenger. A 17th (additional) member to the original squad of 16, Kshitij Lal is the son of Mayawati’s Principal Secretary, Netram.

Lal, 22, has been with the team since their league game against the Railways in Delhi about four matches ago and it seems like he’s here to stay.

The intriguing part about Lal’s selection is that he is neither recognised as a youngster with tremendous talent, nor has he ever represented the state at any junior level. He has his own team of friends and they get together for friendly games in local tournaments in Lucknow. So how has he made the grade? Everyone knows, but no one’s telling. He is there, say officials, “as per the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association's wishes”.

So what does Lal do at matches? This reporter has been travelling with the team through this season and Lal has spent his time on the sidelines either sitting or sleeping, even during games.

If he’s training, then it’s somewhere private. And unlike other extras, he does not even carry drinks, prompting India pacer RP Singh to ask on Friday: "Arre Lal, pani lekar nahi jaoge kya (Lal, won't you carry in the water)?” RP then laughed, because it was a rhetorical question.

At the last game in Bangalore, team sources say skipper Mohammad Kaif was very upset about Lal’s not doing duty like any regular extra and instead just sitting around. Kaif was reportedly told to pipe down. Players are resentful but nervous about the situation. The team management will say nothing about his inclusion. And if you ask selectors or officials, the standard reaction is, “Please mujhe marva mat dena. (Please don't get me into big trouble).”

You promise not to name them and they open up, warily. Lal, who bowls left-arm spin, apparently did turn up for UP’s under-17 trials in 2002. “He was accommodated for the trials as a favour to his father, who was then Sports Secretary,” said a then junior selector. “But even so, we could not select him for the team, he just wasn't good enough.”

So he's not good enough for the junior team but makes the Ranji squad? HT made two attempts on Saturday evening to talk to Lal himself about his cricketing credentials.

The first time, asked what he thought he had done to get into the squad, he merely laughed. “What should I say,” he said before walking off. Later, asked again, he didn’t laugh, just indicated he had nothing more to say. “What can we do?” a director of the UPCA told HT. “You know how things work in UP. We don’t want more trouble with the government here. Now his father has the CM’s ear.”

Another official is just belligerent. “How is it your business?” he asked. “It doesn't harm anyone and the UPCA has a right to oblige anyone through money that is its own.”

Which, actually, it is not. Every association makes money either from sponsors, gate sales from match receipts (taxpayers money) or from massive grants given by the Indian cricket board (BCCI). When this was pointed out, yet another official said any questions should be directed to UPCA secretary Rajiv Shukla.

Shukla, a Member of Parliament, was unavailable for comment, despite repeated efforts and messages left with his office.

(Thanks:Hindustan Times)

He's not Indian!!

Sutish Anand Sharma, the alleged Indian spy held in Lahore for his hand in the GOR (Lahore) blast, cannot be an Indian...First and foremost, no Indian spells his name as 'Sutish'...It is always 'Satish'...This "heinous Indian terrorist" cannot be a Hindu because he was not wearing a red sacred thread around his wrist when he was arrested...Pakistan, give us concrete evidence of his Indian nationality before you blame us for terrorism in your country...

For all those who are not Arundhati Roy fans

I received this by e-mail...

This year, in two pieces, one on Kashmir and the other on Mumbai, Miss Arundhati Roy has taken a position on these vital issues that is both offensive and false. The enclosed piece was carried by Outlook.

The Burden of Responsibility

Dear Miss Roy,

For many years now you have enriched the public life of our nation. First as a Booker winning novelist with a meteoric debut on the literary firmament, and then as an essayist, persistently pricking the conscience of a sometimes indifferent and ignorant nation, highlighting wide ranging issues of urgent concern. Over the years your provocative essays in the pages of Outlook magazine amount to a substantial intellectual achievement in their own right. One has not always agreed with you, but from big dams to the nuclear bomb, from the vagaries of capitalism to the dangers of American Imperialism, your writings on these important issues have left no one in any doubt about where you stand. Disagree with them as one might, your views occupied an intellectually coherent and morally compelling space in our public life. Until recently, when one read your two pieces on Kashmir and Mumbai with a growing sense of shock, anger, pity and dismay.

As a literary device, self loathing has its uses; the God of Small Things was a splendid lesson in the use of this sentiment. However I am not sure that nations and civilizations can organize their policies around this self indulgent mood. Your two pieces, 'Azadi' and '9 is Not 11' see you as usual in top form as far as style and rhetoric are concerned, but as far as substance goes, I think you have fallen into the trap of being in love with the sound and significance of your own voice. It is still a powerful voice, a seductive voice too, but because it chooses to amplify only those other voices that are prepared to sing in chorus, it is a voice bereft of any sense of moral responsibility. I am sure once again your latest writings will bring you further international recognition as a writer of conscience and conviction, striving tirelessly to expose the monstrosities of the Indian state and civilization. Dare I suggest that the Magsaysay and the Nobel Peace Prize, the Holy Grails of the seemingly rootless international intellectual might not be too far behind? But Madam, despite your great charm and greater intellect this is a Faustian bargain. For in doing so you are doing irreparable harm to the very idea of the intellectual as a defender of virtue and morality in public life who too, like the problems you write about, much as he or she would want to, cannot be removed from the context (your favourite word) that created her, nurtured her and accorded the civic and intellectual space for her to articulate and propagate her views.
As someone who for the past 12 years has worn the Khaki uniform, as a servant of your favourite object of hate, the Indian state, I confess to a persistent sense of ambivalence and despair about the manner in which I am expected to serve. At the same time I cannot deny an equally abiding sense of pride in the importance of what we are supposed to do and of the importance of institutions in general in giving meaning and protection to what would otherwise be a society ruthless and brutal, beyond even your considerable powers of comprehension and description. Therefore, I am offended and disgusted by your incomplete, incoherent and therefore immoral portrayal of the recent upheavals of Indian history. I used to think that you articulate the pain of the silent, marginalized, oppressed masses of our country. I had no idea that you held a brief for all those who never felt anything at all not just for India in particular, but who also actively profess violent rage at the shared values of the entire human race.

According to you, everything that the police and security forces do or say whether in Kashmir, or in the war on terror, or against Naxalism, is a falsehood, where as everything that is said by 'Kashmiri Freedom Fighters', or by the harmless theologians of the Lashkar-e-Toiba and their ideological cousins of the Al Qaeda, or by the peace loving disciples of Marx and Mao living a bucolic existence in the jungles of central India, constitutes sufficient grounds to indict the Indian state and civil society in perpetuity. The people of India have always had a tradition to look up to men and woman of the arts and culture to serve as their moral compass. One really wonders what lines of logic and ethics shape your sense of moral direction.

You seem to passionately believe in and defend the 'right' of the Kashmiris to ethnic, cultural, religious and geographical exclusivism. If this is correct than why we should vilify Raj Thackeray or any other chauvinist who seeks to preserve the purity (however defined) of his people (however defined) from outsiders (also however defined)? If the Kashmiris are justified in picking up the gun to safeguard their exclusive identity, then every part of India is justified in doing so. I do hope you have taken the trouble to examine the fundamental assumptions underlying all such movements based on an assertion of a cultural identity. The creation of a hated outsider, in the case of Kashmir, the Indian, in the case of Raj Thackeray, the bhaiya of UP and Bihar, and in the case of the jihadists, anyone and everyone who does not subscribe to their virulent strain of Islam, including Muslims, is common to all these ideologies but you seem to pick and choose the bigotries you will demonize and the bigotries you will defend. Is it possible to freeze identity to a moment in time and on the basis of this demand recognition, retribution and rights for all time to come?

In your world view, the wrongs of Indian security forces of the last twenty years, and the failures of Indian state craft before it, are sufficient justifications for Kashmiri grievances, just as the wrongs of Babri Masjid, the Mumbai riots of 1993, the Gujarat riots of 2002, will justify Islamist terror against India, and the wrongs of corrupt governance and poor administration will justify naxalite violence, in all perpetuity. Why should only these events be accepted as justification for settling scores by shedding the blood of innocents? By this logic the Crucifixion of Christ amply justifies the Holocaust. We non white societies must all be allowed eternal rights to slaughter the Europeans for the sins of colonialism and slavery. Islam itself had a long history of violent conquest and forcible conversions, perhaps that should justify an eternal crusade or dharmyudhh against Islam. The Greeks and Romans have their own scores to settle with the Christian Church. The Latin Americans have their own grievances with Spain and Portugal. Seen this way human history is merely a parody of the eternal theme of perpetrators and victims, and all present violence, no matter how barbaric or senseless can be justified with reference to some past grievance, and we must allow these grievances full expression no matter what. Only then would we return to a state of original purity where all historical sins of the past and present have been fully avenged and the moral ledger as you see it stands perfectly balanced. Only thing is after this bloody book-keeping there may not be anyone left to enjoy the fruits of such a 'just' society.

The Indian state, whose sworn servant I am, is by no means a perfect entity. It is certainly corrupt, it is sometimes brutal and it is often indifferent to the sufferings of the weak and the powerless. But it does have a vision and aim based on certain civilizational values that are uniquely Indian. Demography and history dictates that these values have a prominently Hindu flavour. It is undeniable that these values have come under attack at times from the Hindu right as well. But even the most rabid of the Hindutva forces do not see the world united under the saffron flag by force of arms, as is the Islamist project of one world under the Green Crescent, or the Naxal project of one world under the Red Star. It would take a pretty breathless and brainless leap of logic to equate violent, local outbursts of Hindu chauvinism, abetted by the sins of commission and omission of the state apparatus, in themselves however repugnant and indefensible, with the atrocities on a global scale that were inflicted by Communism in the 20th century or the outrages that are now threatened across all parts of the world by jihadi Islam. To call the foreign funded insurgency in Kashmir and the terror attacks across the country as justified blowback for the failures of the Indian state and civil society is both false and callous. It implies a failure of the imagination and the intellect and the complete abdication of moral responsibility by you.

One could indeed forgive you Ma'am if you were purely an artist. Art has at the best of times a complicated relationship with truth and life. But in your avatar as a public intellectual, you cannot abandon your commitment to the demands of truth, accuracy and the ability to discriminate between the varieties of human experience and action. The liberties you have exercised in the past and continue to do today, however gratuitously and offensively, do not exist in a vacuum. I am not sure if any of these liberties would have a place in a Naxalite Utopia or a Jihadi Caliphate or even in a self-determined Kashmiri paradise that you eloquently espoused. As visions of human perfectability they are far more flawed than the vision of India that you love to denigrate. In any case, the liberties that you have recently taken with the sensibilities of proud Indians too exist in a cultural, political and constitutional context, a context that is ultimately safeguarded by men such as Hemant Karkare and Major Unnikrishnan with disregard for their own life. Remember that next time you use your poisoned pen to vent your twisted logic on a polity that deserves better from its intellectuals.

Warm regards


(Abhinav Kumar)

The author is a serving IPS officer. Though these are his personal views, they hopefully reflect the anguish of an entire fraternity of proud Indians in uniform.

Suicide bombers for sale

Do you have a personal score to settle and want to make a big statement in the process? Buy a suicide bomber ...No, I'm not kidding...Apparently you can do this in Pakistan...

Swedish,corrupt?

To me the Swedish are extremely boring…They all look alike (tall and blonde) and they don't know how to eat (their top contribution to world cuisine is an insipid dish called meatballs with lingonberry sauce which you'll get to taste in all its glory if you visit their other boring and mediocre contribution to the world - IKEA)…Ouch!!! But today I realized that I have been wrong all along...They are as interesting as the Indians and Chinese…The Nobel Prize committee has been hit by a scandal…Scandal? Do the Swedish even have a word for this in their dictionary? According to news reports investigators are looking into trips made by Nobel jurors to China...The inquiry is also looking into why the Chinese invited the jurors...
The last time China claimed a science price was in 1957, when two Chinese researchers won the physics award.”

Go Sweden,go!!!

Mentally, women are inferior to men

If you are a Pakistani woman and want to be treated as a person (like your male peers) by the law, then you are in for a rude shock...According to an article in the Dawn, "The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) has declared the term ‘gender equality’, used in Section 7(a) of the National Commission for Status of Women Ordinance of 2000, ‘vague and un-Islamic’ and called for its repeal." The Council explained that "the concept of ‘gender equality’ was impracticable because of ‘distinct differences’ in anatomy and physical and mental capabilities. The CII described the term as ‘absurd and un-Islamic’."

Ajmal Kasab kidnapped from Nepal before 2006: lawyer

This report appeared in the Pakistani daily The News:

RAWALPINDI: A Pakistani lawyer C M Farooque claimed that many people, including Ajmal Kasab, were arrested before 2006 from Kathmandu by the Indian agencies with the help of Nepalese forces.

He said Ajmal Kasab went to the Napalese capital on a business tour. His application regarding his arrest was lying pending in the Nepalese Supreme Court in which a reply was sought from Nepalese forces and Indian High Commission.

While talking to the Geo News, C M Farooque Advocate said the Nepalese forces arrested almost 200 people including Ajmal Kasab before 2006 and his application in this regard was lying pending in the Nepalese Supreme Court in which Nepalese forces and Indian High Commission were made respondents.

The advocate said he wrote letters to Pakistan and Indian governments in this regard. He said that he had also addressed a press conference in Nepal highlighting the issue in which he revealed that the Nepalese forces arrested Ajmal Kasab and many others and held them at an unknown place and that these people would be used for their ulterior designs at some later stage. He said that he had no contact with Ajmal Kasab ever since he disappeared.

The lawyer said he was still pleading the case of Kasab and was to visit Nepal towards the end of this month. The Nepalese Supreme Court had repeatedly issued notices to the respondents to furnish their reply but they did not submit any reply.

Advocate Farooque said he had filed the petition in the Nepalese Supreme Court in February 2008. He said he was running an NGO, ‘Voice of Human and Prisoners Rights’ and the parents of Ajmal Kasab contacted him for help in this regard after appealing to the Pakistan Government for help.

The people arrested in Nepal had gone there on legal visa for business but Indian agencies were in the habit of capturing Pakistanis from Nepal and afterwards implicated them in the Mumbai-like incidents to malign Pakistan.

I didn't know that the Indian government and RAW were capable of thinking so far ahead...

First World Beggars

How to make money during a recession

Are you a young woman between 20 and 30 looking for ways of making money in these hard times? If you are, then you need look no further than your ovaries…According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, young women have an exploitable asset in their ovaries…

The going rate for a surrogate is about $25,000. Egg donors generally receive $3,000 to $8,000. But a few agencies advertise that they'll pay much more for specific characteristics. One ad running in campus newspapers promises $25,000 for a donor who is "100% Jewish with ... High SAT Scores... Attractive, at Healthy Body Weight and Free of Genetic Diseases.

Whenever the employment rate is down, we get more calls," says Robin von Halle, president of Alternative Reproductive Resources, an agency in Chicago where inquiries from would-be egg donors are up 30% in recent weeks - to about 60 calls a day. "We're even getting men offering up their wives. It's pretty scary."
James Liu, a reproductive endocrinologist at University Hospitals, Case Medical Center, in Cleveland, says there is no waiting now for egg donors since his roster has swelled from the usual 4 to 17.

Andrew Vorzimer, an attorney who represents prospective parents in Los Angeles, says the usual six-month wait for a surrogate in California has vanished as well. "Many of these women have college loans to pay off or they want to help buy a house or provide for their own kids' education," says Mr. Vorzimer, who is also CEO of Egg Donation Inc., a recruiting agency.

Well, it looks like a good deal despite the daily hormone shots, harvesting of ripened eggs with a needle and a ban on sex...It definitely beats the hell out of kidney donation and it pays much more...

Elect Simi Grewal as PM!

Why? Because she’s beautiful, smart, cultured and stylish and will make us proud at international meets…Like other politicians, her clothes are pristine white but while they rush off to meetings, she rushes off to rendezvous…She has spent a lot of time with the first family of India (the Kapoors) and knows what dynastic rule means…She has extensive foreign policy experience because she can see ‘Pakistani’ flags in the slums surrounding the Four Seasons Hotel where she maintains a suite…She knows how it feels to brave the elements without clothes (‘Siddhartha’) and can therefore identify with the poor…She will not prosecute ordinary citizens if they don’t pay their taxes (in fact she'll encourage them not to)…With her experience, she can work wonders for India…

Simi’s Cabinet

Special Envoy to the US – Shah Rukh Khan
Special Envoy to Pakistan – Shabana Azmi
Home Minister – Sanjay Dutt (his extensive experience with guns & prison will help)
Minister for Activism – Aamir Khan
Defence Minister – Akshay Kumar
PR Minister – Suhel Seth
Press Secretary – Shobhaa De
IB Chief – Ram Gopal Verma
Media Advisor – Barkha Dutt
Sports Minister – Salman Khan

Leader of the Opposition - Rishi Kapoor (His experience in 'Karz' will enable him to expose her politically)

(Inspired by a message on FB and her appearance on We The People on NDTV 24x7)

Professor Mayawati

Mayawati is ecstatic!!! She, a Dalit woman from UP, has managed to teach an educated and suave American male politician a thing or two about making money through politics… Over the years, she has been accused of selling MP and MLA tickets to the highest bidder and has apparently accumulated a multi crore fortune in the process…Like her, the Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich has been accused of brazenly putting up for sale his appointment of Barack Obama’s replacement in the United States Senate…What Mayawati could not teach him however was how to avoid getting arrested by transferring honest law enforcement officers who wanted to investigate her dealings…Unfortunately for Mr. Blagojevich, the law caught up with him and he was arrested from his home on charges of conspiracy and soliciting bribes...Bravo Professor Mayawati!!!

India needs a leader like this !!

This e-mail was forwarded to me...The copy in bold is by the originator of the e-mail and the rest is from a newspaper report...I am saddened by the fact that educated Indians think like him/her...Has he/she forgotten that India is a secular country and not a Hindu one and that Indian Muslims are not immigrants?But if by chance the originator means that all citizens of this country should abide by its constitution and laws, then I agree with him...SIMI, are you listening?

HI
The views of former Australian Prime Minister

Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on Wednesday to get out of Australia , as the government targeted radicals in a bid to head off potential terror attacks.

Separately, Howard angered some Australian Muslims on Wednesday by saying he supported spy agencies monitoring the nation's mosques. Quote: 'IMMIGRANTS, NOT AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT. Take It Or Leave It. I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Bali , we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Australians.'

'This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom'

'We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society . Learn the language!'

'Most Australians believe in God.. This is not some Christian, right wing, political push, but a fact, because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.'

'We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask is that you accept ours, and live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment with us.'

'This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you every opportunity to enjoy all this. But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christian beliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom, 'THE RIGHT TO LEAVE'.'

'If you aren't happy here then LEAVE. We didn't force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept the country YOU accepted.'

Maybe if we circulate this amongst ourselves, Indian citizens will find the backbone to start speaking and voicing the same truths.

If you agree please SEND THIS ONand ON
to as much as Indians you know

Australia says 'no' to use of red pen by teachers

Australia, if you want real problems please let us know...We will be happy to export some of ours...

The teachers in Australia have been asked to stop using red pen to mark students’ work as it can harm their mental health.

A kit devised to help teachers to focus on mental well-being of the students offers a list of tips by experts that points out: “Don’t mark with a red pen (which can be seen as aggressive), use a different colour,” according to AAP report here. The kit was submitted in Queensland’s parliament today by Deputy Opposition Leader Mark McArdle.

“Given your 10-year-old Labor government presides over the lowest numeracy and literacy standards of any state in Australia, don’t you think it’s time we focused on classroom outcomes rather than these kooky, loony, loopy, lefty policies?” McArdle asked Premier Anna Bligh in parliament.

Bligh said the question was trivial at a time of the economic crisis. “Thousands of Queensland retirees for example are seeing their superannuation earnings go through the floor, and the opposition wants to speak about the colour of pens being used by teachers in the classroom,” Bligh said.

Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg said there was nothing wrong with teachers using a red pen. “How crazy is this government?” he said.

But Health Minister Stephen Robertson, whose department devised the kit, said youth suicide was such a serious issue. “If mental health professionals determine that as one of a number of strategies teachers should consider, then I’ll support them every day of the week,” he said adding, “This is not a matter for ridicule, this is serious.”

Thanks: Business Standard

A List of Shivraj Patil's gaffes

You want Afzal Guru to be hanged. (At the same time) you are saying that don’t hang a person who has gone to Pakistan (Sarabjeet Singh)....These people (the
BJP) want others to be hanged. What are you doing? You are saying don’t hang that person (Sarabjeet Singh) and you say hang this person (Guru) here.

There are bits of information available with us (about the designs of terrorists)...what we do not have is the time and place of the attack.

- Mr Patil in the wake of twin Hyderabad blasts in August 2007.

The Government is not interested in using weapons. They (the Naxalites) are our brothers and sisters and we know that this is a socio-economic problem rather than one of law and order. We can solve these problems through dialogue and discussions.

- Mr Patil in April 2005. When criticised during a discussion in the Rajya Sabha for sympathising with Red terror, he said there was “nothing wrong in calling those born in India as our brothers and sisters."


Thanks: The Economic Times

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Who Is The Shoddiest Reporter Of Them All?

Answer: Barkha Dutt
She should just shut up…Not only is she annoying but she’s also a bad reporter…

During the Mumbai terrorist attacks, her sensationalist style of reporting was at it’s peak…According to Wikipedia, during the Kargil conflict Indian Army sources repeatedly complained to her channel NDTV that she was giving away locations in her broadcasts thus causing Indian casualties…Apparantly eight Indian Army officers and jawans were killed when she started broadcasting at the border despite being advised not to by authorities…She has also been criticized for being insensitive towards causalties and asking them insensitive questions…

During the Mumbai siege Ms.Dutt (and other reporters) not only gave away the POA of the Indian security forces but also let the ‘handlers’ of the terrorists inside the hotels know how many guests were stuck…At one point hours after the hotels were taken over, she called the head of the Oberoi Group live on TV and asked him to estimate the number of hostages remaining at the Trident…He in turn like a fool let her and the terrorists know that there were still around a hundred…

Her apathy and insensitivity was at it’s best in Mumbai…She repeatedly asked freed hostages and family members of hostages who were still inside the hotels how they felt…WTF??!!!

In Ms.Dutt’s weekly talk show We The People, she is more concerned about time running out than getting answers to her questions - she literally interrupts and cuts short her guests’ answers…I mean, the show is about getting answers so important questions but if guests are not allowed to make their points and respond to other guests’ questions/accusations, what is the point of having the show? It seems more like a group discussion to get into a business school – the one who can interrupt at the right time gets his point across…
In ten years since the Kargil conflict, Ms.Dutt has learnt nothing and yet has become the Group Editor of NDTV…What say you Mr.Pronnoy Roy?

Hotel Taj: Icon of whose India?

The following is a very interesting post written by Gnani Sankaran a Tamil writer from Chennai...

Watching at least four English news channels surfing from one another
during the last 60 hours of terror strike made me feel a terror of
another kind. The terror of assaulting one's mind and sensitivity with
cameras, sound bites and non-stop blabbers. All these channels have
been trying to manufacture my consent for a big lie called - Hotel Taj
the icon of India.

Whose India, Whose Icon ?

It is a matter of great shame that these channels simply did not
bother about the other icon that faced the first attack from
terrorists - the Chatrapathi Shivaji Terminus (CST) railway station.
CST is the true icon of Mumbai. It is through this railway station
hundreds of Indians from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, West Bengal
and Tamilnadu have poured into Mumbai over the years, transforming
themselves into Mumbaikars and built the Mumbai of today along with
the Marathis and Kolis

But the channels would not recognise this. Nor would they recognise
the thirty odd dead bodies strewn all over the platform of CST. No
Barkha dutt went there to tell us who they were. But she was at Taj to
show us the damaged furniture and reception lobby braving the guards.
And the TV cameras did not go to the government run JJ hospital to
find out who those 26 unidentified bodies were. Instead they were
again invading the battered Taj to try in vain for a scoop shot of the
dead bodies of the page 3 celebrities.

In all probability, the unidentified bodies could be those of workers
from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh migrating to Mumbai, arriving by train at
CST without cell phones and pan cards to identify them. Even after 60
hours after the CST massacre, no channel has bothered to cover in
detail what transpired there.

The channels conveniently failed to acknowledge that the Aam Aadmis of
India surviving in Mumbai were not affected by Taj, Oberoi and Trident
closing down for a couple of weeks or months. What mattered to them
was the stoppage of BEST buses and suburban trains even for one hour.
But the channels were not covering that aspect of the terror attack.
Such information at best merited a scroll line, while the cameras have
to be dedicated for real time thriller unfolding at Taj or Nariman
bhavan.

The so called justification for the hype the channels built around
heritage site Taj falling down (CST is also a heritage site), is that
Hotel Taj is where the rich and the powerful of India and the globe
congregate. It is a symbol or icon of power of money and politics, not
India. It is the icon of the financiers and swindlers of India. The
Mumbai and India were built by the Aam Aadmis who passed through CST
and Taj was the oasis of peace and privacy for those who wielded power
over these mass of labouring classes. Leopold club and Taj were the
haunts of rich spoilt kids who would drive their vehicles over
sleeping Aam Aadmis on the pavement, the Mafiosi of Mumbai forever
financing the glitterati of Bollywood (and also the terrorists) ,
Political brokers and industrialists.

It is precisely because Taj is the icon of power and not people, that
the terrorists chose to strike.

The terrorists have understood after several efforts that the Aam
Aadmi will never break down even if you bomb her markets and trains.
He/she was resilient because that is the only way he/she can even
survive.

Resilience was another word that annoyed the pundits of news channels
and their patrons this time. What resilience, enough is enough, said
Pranoy Roy's channel on the left side of the channel spectrum. Same
sentiments were echoed by Arnab Goswami representing the right wing of
the broadcast media whose time is now. Can Rajdeep be far behind in
this game of one upmanship over TRPs ? They all attacked resilience
this time. They wanted firm action from the government in tackling
terror.

The same channels celebrated resilience when bombs went off in trains
and markets killing and maiming the Aam Aadmis. The resilience of the
ordinary worker suited the rich business class of Mumbai since work or
manufacture or film shooting did not stop. When it came to them, the
rich shamelessly exhibited their lack of nerves and refused to be
resilient themselves. They cry for government intervention now to
protect their private spas and swimming pools and bars and
restaurants, similar to the way in which Citibank, General Motors and
the ilk cry for government money when their coffers are emptied by
their own ideologies.

The terrorists have learnt that the ordinary Indian is unperturbed by
terror. For one whose daily existence itself is a terror of government
sponsored inflation and market sponsored exclusion, pain is something
he has learnt to live with. The rich of Mumbai and India Inc are
facing the pain for the first time and learning about it just as the
middle classes of India learnt about violation of human rights only
during emergency, a cool 28 years after independence.

And human rights were another favourite issue for the channels to whip
at times of terrorism.

Arnab Goswami in an animated voice wondered where were those
champions of human rights now, not to be seen applauding the brave and
selfless police officers who gave up their life in fighting terorism.
Well, the counter question would be where were you when such officers
were violating the human rights of Aam Aadmis. Has there ever been any
24 hour non stop coverage of violence against dalits and adivasis of
this country?

This definitely was not the time to manufacture consent for the extra
legal and third degree methods of interrogation of police and army but
Arnabs don't miss a single opportunity to serve their class masters,
this time the jingoistic patriotism came in handy to whitewash the
entire uniformed services.

The sacrifice of the commandos or the police officers who went down
dying at the hands of ruthless terrorists is no doubt heart rending
but in vain in a situation which needed not just bran but also brain.
Israel has a point when it says the operations were misplanned
resulting in the death of its nationals here.

Khakares and Salaskars would not be dead if they did not commit the
mistake of traveling by the same vehicle. It is a basic lesson in
management that the top brass should never t ravel together in crisis.
The terrorists, if only they had watched the channels, would have
laughed their hearts out when the Chief of the Marine commandos, an
elite force, masking his face so unprofessionally in a see-through
cloth, told the media that the commandos had no idea about the
structure of the Hotel Taj which they were trying to liberate. But the
terrorists knew the place thoroughly, he acknowledged.

Is it so difficult to obtain a ground plan of Hotel Taj and discuss
operation strategy thoroughly for at least one hour before entering?
This is something even an event manager would first ask for, if he had
to fix 25 audio systems and 50 CCtvs for a cultural event in a hotel.
Would not Ratan Tata have provided a plan of his ancestral hotel to
the commandos within one hour considering the mighty apparatus at his
and government's disposal? Are satelite pictures only available for
terrorists and not the government agencies ? In an operation known to
consume time, one more hour for preparation would have only improved
the efficiency of execution.

Sacrifices become doubly tragic in unprofessional circumstances. But
the Aam Aadmis always believe that terror-shooters do better planning
than terrorists. And the gullible media in a jingoistic mood would not
raise any question about any of these issues.

They after all have their favourite whipping boy - the politician the
eternal entertainer for the non-voting rich classes of India.

Arnabs and Rajdeeps would wax eloquent on Nanmohan Singh and Advani
visiting Mumbai separately and not together showing solidarity even at
this hour of national crisis. What a farce? Why can't these channels
pool together all their camera crew and reporters at this time of
national calamity and share the sound and visual bites which could
mean a wider and deeper coverage of events with such a huge human
resource to command? Why should Arnab and Rajdeep and Barkha keep
harping every five minutes that this piece of information was
exclusive to their channel, at the time of such a national crisis? Is
this the time to promote the channel? If that is valid, the politician
promoting his own political constituency is equally valid. And the
duty of the politican is to do politics, his politics. It is for the
people to evaluate that politics.

And terrorism is not above politics. It is politics by other means.

To come to grips with it and to eventually eliminate it, the practice
of politics by proper means needs constant fine tuning and
improvement. Decrying all politics and politicians, only helps
terrorists and dictators who are the two sides of the same coin. And
the rich and powerful always prefer terrorists and dictators to do
business with.

Those caught in this crossfire are always the Aam Aadmis whose deaths
are not even mourned - the taxi driver who lost the entire family at
CST firing, the numerous waiters and stewards who lost their lives
working in Taj for a monthly salary that would be one time bill for
their masters.

Postscript: In a fit of anger and depression, I sent a message to all
the channels, 30 hours through the coverage. After all they have been
constantly asking the viewers to message them for anything and
everything. My message read: I send this with lots of pain. All
channels, including yours, must apologise for not covering the victims
of CST massacre, the real mumbaikars and aam aadmis of India. Your
obsession with five star elite is disgusting. Learn from the print
media please. No channel bothered. Only srinivasan Jain replied: you
are right. We are trying to redress balance today. Well, nothing
happened till the time of writing this 66 hours after the terror
attack.

Quotes

If it had not been (Major) Sandeep's house, not even a dog would have glanced that way

- Kerala CM V S Achuthanandan responding on Monday to the family of NSG Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan slain in the Mumbai terror attack during commando operations

Some women wearing lipstick and powder have taken to the streets in Mumbai and are abusing politicians spreading dissatisfaction against democracy. This is what terrorists are doing in J&K. Instead of saying Pakistan murdabad, they are saying politician murdabad.

- Bharatiya Janata Party vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi

Some WTF Moments

Here is a link to a post which lists some WTF moments during the Mumbai siege..Here are some excerpts:

Commandos are landing on the Nariman Building. They seem to be tip-toeing down. They are communicating to each other through hand signals. Secrecy & surprise are paramount. And NDTV is showing this live!!! With informative commentary on how many commandos have landed and so on. Perhaps NDTV's research has shown that terrorists only watch cartoon network during missions.

The CII Chief Mentor, Tarun Das, has suggested that many conferences should be held to combat terrorism. I presume they will meet all day in exotic but safe spots and come out with a resolution condemning terrorism. There goes Al Qaeda's chances on getting listed in the BSE.

While all the TV channels have been uniformly hysterical, Barkha Dutt seems to have emerged as the first among equals in the race for the most words with the least sense. By asking the relatives of hostages bizarre questions - "How do you feel?" and "What will you do if your husband doesn't come out?" - she has piled insensitivity on top of stupidity. Basically the thugs have taken the hostages and the media is spreading the terror.