Happy New Year!!

Dear Friends,

I wish you in this new year...

The finest mornings...
bright sunny days...
for your success...
infinite ways...

silver linings....
in all the clouds...
freedom to you...
from all your doubts...

wisdom and knowledge...
to cast your spell...
you have arrived...
to world, you tell...

i wish you freedom...
from anxiety and fear...
GOD bless you...
this Happy New Year...

regards,
Parveen Kumar

An open letter to the Prime Minister...

Dear Mr Prime Minister,

Today I wish to represent to you a "common man" of India. Sir, I was very happy when this year started, with the economy reaching new heights everyday and my mood was elated with your prudence and leadership in making our country the next "Economic power" of the world. Something untoward and out of your control seems to have happened in the western countries that has landed you in the troubled water. This seems totally acceptable to me and I still stand behind you when you take some calculated measures to revive our dream.

The other thing that hurts me the most is the ease with which terrorists hit "likes of me", spreading throughout the length and breadth of the country. The terrorism has grown from being a limited company in two regions of Jammu and Kashmir and North-East India to a country wide problem. They are performing their part accurately till the last line of the script, then why you, despite being the Prime Minister of one of the few major powers of the world, are reluctant to even spell out a tough response. The infallible proofs of involvement of Pakistan in the recent terror strikes, alive terrorist ( a first of its kind), initial international support etc. , God could not have provided you with a better opportunity to take effective steps to defeat terrorism this time round, finally and squarely.

Why you failed to keep the nation above the politics, when the opposition would have heartily supported your aggressive posturing. There were many more ways other than a full-blown war. The public anger and anguish on the streets of the country was initially successful in some extent as in the wake of surmounting anger you adopted a pseudo-aggressive posture, which lasted as long as the public blood was boiling on the streets. The first political happening in the form of election again turned you to address to your vote bank constituency and you resorted to your old habits of "Process", "Due course of law", "International scenario"etc. The terrorists and Pakistan have learnt this long ago, and that's more than evident in the continuous attacks with increased intensity each time goes on to suggest that, only thing growing in India is "Patience".This happens because they very well know that you have "only words to give".

A very old saying goes like this, "GOD help those who help themselves", in corollary is the statement that, " World support the efforts of the country, who can stands for its own self". It's high time that your growth efforts on the economic front be supplemented by the increased efforts to stabilize our society and provide me, the "common man", the assurance that there is a concerned government, which will take care of my life, while I join the efforts of making India the next Superpower.

A fearful but an optimist citizen...

Lets Change Ourselves

I have been observing the electronic as well as print media from last so many days, specially after the Mumbai mayhem. The TV news channels have been organizing varied talk shows in which the esteemed guests specially from the entertainment sector are, talking of impracticle solutions and think that they are in a better position and possess better qualities to run the Government.

One thing that i find common in all those people is that they seem to preach what others aught to do. I still doubt that they themselves know what they should do. My point of view was well endorsed by Kailash Kher in one of the program done by NDTV, in tribute of the martyrs. He very well said that, "Inplace of suggesting everybody about their work, we should understand our duty towards the society, and perform our work with utmost sincerity. If everybody understands this basic and simple philosophy, the country will prosper at much higher rate and the hindrances in its path of growth will be removed."

Now the basic question that comes to our minds is that how we can contribute in the cause of our country. I had certain ideas in my mind , which i wish to share with you.

1. First and foremost we all should stop criticising our politicians, bureaucracy, police system and the prevelant system of governance as most of us criticise only for the sake of criticising. The perfect example for this is the celibrity couple of Saif Ali Khan and Karina Kapoor. They had to say something on this tragedy so they came in front of media and reiterated the demand of withdrawing the security of our politicians, which was also one of the point taken from certain talk show. They themselves enjoy and demand security from these very politicians, when they have comparatively much smaller social animosity. The governance is not done in vacuum and require certain conditions, which we should readily accept.

2. Lets not be instinctive sentimental, and lets try to strengthen our emotions for rest of our lives. The candlelight vigils and the sloganeering would achieve nothing. I am not being cynical but a little bit pragmatic. Lets promise ourselves that we will remember the martyrs not just for few days , not just on the next 26/11, but we'll keep them in our hearts for the years to come and help in what ever small way we can for the aggrieved families. The enormity of the incident overwhelm us for some time but after that we leave the victim's family to suffer alone. The recent example being the families of the martyrs of the 13 December attack on the parliament.

3. A popular phrase among people these days is " nothing good can happen of this country". I request all of you to stop being so pessimistic and try making changes in your surroundings yourselves. Don't expect Govt to fix every problem. If you want to change this system, get into it and then try and change it rather than sitting outside and criticizing it. We talk about Govt's inefficiency in tackling the issues, how many times we falter in our simple and easy works.

4. We all wanted our response to the Mumbai attack. We demanded our Govt to be like USA in the retaliation to the rogue elements. I think that we have our own ways to respond to this troublesome situation and in the coming times world'll remember how India, the emerging superpower, behaved in the moments of crisis. However there are many things that we should learn from the USA. We should learn the 'go getter' spirit by which America remains the pioneer in almost every field. Let us try to put in our best in everything we do. Our programmer should make the best prgramme in the world, our scientists should carry out the best possible and path breaking research, let our morale be so high that even if i am a sweeper, my aim should be to clean the street so effectively that the people passing through that street should look for a while.

We can all make our little contributions in some or other significant ways. Let the change begin. Let Me be changed first....

The Smallest Change!

People are angry and are talking a lot. Rather they are preaching, and that too, to one and all. Politician should do this..., police should do this..., intelligence has failed and should be upgraded....etc. They are talking about big fundamental changes. This requires certain amount of preparation on the part of citizens as well.

The most beautiful thing about change is that it starts with very small steps and after gaining a considerable momentum only, it starts taking big leaps. What we, justifiably angry citizen of India, are forgetting is this basic premise. I know that among the people with high rage i might look like a feeble, weak person. But i want the people to be fully aware of the demands that the new system of response to this terrorist attack would come with.

I would like to suggest some changes that people should bring in themselves to help the system to be geared up to handle any eventuality as well as its general well being.

1. Now that the security apparatus will be strengthened, it'll demand people of greater patience, while they would be made to wait longer in the queues. So people should be more accomodative of the ensuing changes.

2. Some policeman's martyrdom should not be necessary to generate faith in the police system and respect towards the police personals. Their work is tedious and always attract wrath of people. So, lets start giving them their due respect.

3. Learn from the NSG commando's spirit of 'Doing our duty'. Pay your taxes in time and in accordance with the law, so that Government 'll have greater resources at its disposal to upgrade our security apparatus.

4. The recent election turn out has indicated that people of India are awakening and participating with unprecedented vigour in the democratic process of the country. We should pledge to carry on the momentum to its logical conclusion in the forthcoming parliamentary election and lets give ourselves an able and strong Government, which could stand in the face of rising terror activities and take India to its rightful place in world.

This is the least we can do to strengthen the hands of Government in our pursuit of a better and safer India.

Pragmatic Solutions

We have already visited the trauma associated with the recent Mumbai blasts, time and again, thanks to the over enthusiastic media. The pain is being relived through the numerous survivors tales played out again and again. Now the time has come to think about pragmatic solutions to the problem at hand.

As expected Pakistan has refused to hand over the terrorists, mentioned in the list provided by the Indian officials to the Pak high commissioner. This, following the rationalist argument was more on expected lines as no nation can hand over its nationals to any other country, easily. The stress being on the word EASILY. So according to me the options that opens before India includes:

1. Diplomatic efforts should be made to present the terrorism faced by India in a better way, to make the western countries believe that the attack on Mumbai was some kind of prelude to the bigger and more sinister attack in US, Izrael or any European country. As the US forces fear of the resurgence of Taliban along the western borders of Pakistan, it would not want to give any excuse to Pakistan to withdraw its forces from the western frontiers.

2. Pakistan is already going under big time financial trouble due to the world recession, and is the biggest gainer in the trade under the SAFTA regime. India has provided many concessions along with the "Most Favoured Nation" status to Pakistan. India should withdraw all the previleges provided under SAFTA in result damaging Pakistan, economicaly.

3. Although many quarters are asking India to move to UNSC for some kind of sanctions on Pakistan. But in my opinion, we have tried those UN options earlier too with disasterous results.

4. India is a growth story and Pakistan, like any other nation wants to share the growth prospects that come with the assocation with India. This fact was substanciated when recently Pakistan Prez. Zardari came for the HT Leadership Summit. The denial of this assocaition would result in doom for Pakistan.

5. There can also be formation of a "termination team" following the leads of Izrael and selectively eliminating all those responsible for this attack and the previous attacks in India.

6. Selective and precise air strikes can be conducted to neutralise the terrorist camps in POK and in interior Pakistan.


The political leadership of the country today, however doesn't seem to be interested in following any of the tough approaches. They always resume to the countless rhetorics like :
# ...condemn in strongest words......
# ...looking in the matter......
# ....have serious concerns.....etc.

Now is the time to act, if the present incumbent Government fails to act, then we, the citizens of India have to act in decisive manner in the coming Parliamentary elections to remove them so badly that no future Govt. can dare to undermine the public anger and emotions.

So, lets pledge that each one of us will vote this time and will chose and send responsible and brave people in the Parliament.

UPA : Un Patriotic Alliance

This has been a long holiday for me from the blogging world. But the present state of affairs in the country and the total callous attitude with which the present government has handled all these issue have compelled me to write about the pathetic position in which we stand today. I will deal with the issues one by one.

THE TRUST VOTE

Many of our media friends on the suggestions of some political parties have rightly called this as "Winning of Trust vote But Losing The Confidence of The People Of India". The parliament which was till recently termed as the temple of democracy now stand degraded as the "MP's Trade Centre". The shameless way in which the MPs were sold with their individual price tag have resulted in a National Shame. Even the state machinery like C.B.I were used to frighten the MPs from various parties to vote for the trust motion. And imagine the irony of the situation those MPs had to ask for protection from the central ministry which was in the very first place misusing the state apparatus.

The second attempt of subverting the truth to come forward was done when the sting tapes were not allowed to be shown to the common public, citing the reason that the matter is with the Chair of the lower House, but the stings done by the associates of the ruling party dealing with the same matter were not seen from the same prism.

THE SETHUSASAMUDRAM PROJECT

Meet the worthy people in Government Of India and applaud their guts, because they can question the existence of Lord RAM, living in the land of RAM. O Lord! please forgive these poor souls coz they don't know what they say. Well with an Italian lady at the helms of affairs one can expect things like this. But i am more sure about their incapability to say such a thing about the Prophet. It's the calmness of the 80% strong majority i.e Hindus that they are still seeing the next days but the government should not mistake the calmness of the sea to the cowardice, remember when the sea will rise it can create disastrous tsunamis. The issue of sethu could have been amicably solved, but again the mismanagement of the government was more than visible.
Firstly the existence of Lord Ram was challenged and now the existence of sethu is being questioned. One of the scholars of The 'Kamban Ramayan', from which the government has taken its recent clue, clarified in one of the leading dailies that there's no mention of the burning or destroying of the bridge by Lord Ram, as claimed by the government.

This all shows how insensitive this government has been regarding the issues related to the faith of the Hindus in this country.

THE AMARNATH ROE

The biggest communal face of the government has been, beyond doubt, exposed by the handling of the SHRI AMARNATH SHRINE BOARD land transfer case. With only three-four days of violent protest in Kashmir, the government bent on its knees and revoked the land transfer orders passed by the state Cabinet. But the continuous agitation and protest by the people of Jammu went unnoticed by the state as well as centre government, which has now entered into its 38th day. Now also the gravity of the problem came into limelight only when the resultant economic blockade by the Jammu Sangharsh Samiti started affecting the Kashmiris. The lax attitude of the Prime Minister can be understood from the fact that he waited for the region to boil to its maximum before trying to search for a solution by calling an all party meeting.

The bigger question is that how a piece of less than 40 hectares of land transferred, to be used by the shrine board only two months of a year, can change the demography of the Kashmir region. This is utter NONSENSE!! However the government has some how come to agree with this ridiculous argument presented by the separatist elements in the valley. Through some of my friends from the same region and some media sources I know that there are many Muslim and Gujjar organisations in Jammu, which came out in full support of the view of Sangharsh Samiti.

The main reason of anger and frustration in the Hindus in particular and Jammu people in general is not merely on the land transfer issue, but the bigger issue involved is the indifferent and some time neglecting attitude that the subsequent State and Central governments have taken towards dealing with the people of the Jammu. There's always a talk of Kashmiri but not a 'Jammu & Kashmiri'. This issue has just provided the people with right opportunity to vent out their pent up anger. The Centre should not miscalculate the gravity of the situation and have to rise above the petty politics involving only the valley, if they truly want to settle this dispute in an amicable manner.


THE SIMI FIASCO

Another shameful act of the government, where it seems to forget the death of its civilians in series of bomb blasts just a few days back. SIMI, one of the main conspirator & logistical supporter behind the heinous crime, which was banned since 2001 was left free to propagate its agenda of 'bringing back the Muslim rule in country' ( I fail to understand how!) in the lack of evidence against the organization. The victims of the bomb blasts, who must be fighting hard to come to terms with the loss they have suffered and the time when the government must have taken more tougher stand to secure the nation, this disdainful inaction of the government to produce evidences against a militant organization has further inflicted pain and anguish in the hearts of the people of India.

On top of that, UPA's beloved railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav & its new found saviour Mulayam Singh Yadav came in the open support of the till recently banned organisation. Even distancing from these traitors won't justify the UPA's stand of having relations with these anti nationals. They deserve to be thrown out of this pious country so that right thinking people could come forward to boost the morale of our soldiers and police force who are fighting with the menace of terrorism with bravery.

At the end I would like to ask you all to come forward to give an end to this partisan politics of this government and help our beloved nation make a new beginning. The question may arise in your mind that how can you and me contribute in the development of our country. So, first and foremost we all must vote in the coming elections and make sure that we send competent people to run the government and also, pledge to stop the spread of misinformation and strengthen the TRUTH.

JAI HIND...

The economic might and media's win

Hey dudes,

India is surely rejoicing along with the Indian team and it surely is one of the occasions when everyone of us can rightly be a part of it. As if the ouster of Bucknor and the induction of Bhajji was not enough the match referee has also inducted Bred Hogg under the same rule of ICC , under which Bhajji was given a three test match ban.

More than the win of a cricket team, its a win of the economic might of the Indian cricket control board, which flexed its muscle aptly to bend the international body to put its act together and behave in a manner as the Indians wanted. I am sure that no other cricket team could have got the same treatment. Rightly so, Indian body represents the financial source of international cricket. Its the richest cricket board, and represents the aspirations of more than ONE BILLION people who treat the game as their religion. India represents the biggest market to any consumer product, which these players gleefully endorse. Many Indian MNC's too have endorsement contracts with various Australian players, who would have lost much of their money if things happened otherwise.

The second player of this match which surely deserves 'Man of the match' award for this pronouncement is MEDIA. From the day when all this happened the media was beeming the picture of a dejected Bhajji and all the blunders committed by Australians and umpires. This created a wave of sympathy for him and made Indians angry to such an extent that majority of us were willing to call off the tour and wanted our team back home. I would not go into the legitimacy of this frenziness. Media slowly but steadily developed this issue as an issue of National concern and channelized the concerns of the fellow citizens.

Overall i would congratulate my fellow Indians for their victory at an international platform. I hope this enthusiasm is maintained and enhanced by our fraternity. India needs such tempo and ferociousness in various other fields such as petroleum acquisitions and nuclear deals, then only can it find its rightful place of a SUPERPOWER in the world arena.