Ever since the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, I have been wondering if there is a solution to terrorism – religious or otherwise. Taking lives seems such a wasteful effort to any sane logical mind. I could not justify the reasons for killing innocent people. Yes being in the armed forces, I am in a profession where I could be asked to kill; but then I convince myself that when I do so it is while both sides are playing by some rules (however obscene they may be). But then when one of the sides is of no match to the other, does he play by the same rules? No, I don’t think so. That set me thinking; if the terrorists are not playing by the same rules then why are they targeting India? What has India done to come under fire? It is America and the western countries who are ‘waging a war against terror’ in Afghanistan and Iraq. So logic dictates that they should be targeted by these terrorist organisations. The reason why it is India is because we are in the neighbourhood, we are smaller and closer than the western countries and it is easier to show results here. After all whether it is our weak willed, thick skinned politicians or their venom spouting jihadi leaders, they have to show some sort of tangible result to their supporters / sympathisers. So the issue of Kashmir was raked up and action taken against India. A symbolic gesture like burning of an effigy; hit India and it is like hitting the western nations.
But how do you convince people that India is the enemy? While we say that the ability to think is what separates us from animals it is also our weak link. The mind can be manipulated and people can be brainwashed. A little misinformation, twist the information to suit your requirements and the same ideals which we use to maintain balance and sanity in the society, nationalism, religion, family etc, can be used to provide the spark to light the pyre of the mind.
So what is the solution? Do we fight with fire? Wage war against a nation? It may seem an effective solution initially; but it will only end up helping the enemy as it will validate all the claims of a big bully dominating a smaller country; or one religion fighting another. And as it can be seen in Afghanistan and Iraq, it will only worsen the situation. We will be stuck in the mire with no chance of getting out without loss of face. So what do we do? Indoctrinate our people (without discrimination of caste, creed, religion or ethnicity) that terrorism / extremism is not the solution to our problems. Choke the support to the terror groups within India, cut out the base for the terror organisations within our country. Basically brainwash our people that non violence is the path we should chose.
At this point I would like to divert a little from the topic. When my son was around two years old, like all kids his age, he was a bully, trying to dominate other kids. He would end up hitting other kids. With my beliefs and practice of non violence, how could my own son take to hitting other kids? So I took to explaining it to him that hitting other kids was wrong and he should not be doing it. And over a period of a couple of weeks I convinced him (or should I say brainwashed him) into believing that hitting other kids was wrong. A year later we moved to a different place with a different set of kids. Now at the new place he got beaten up often by other kids. At this point of time I was at a dilemma, all this while I used to tell him that hitting others was wrong and now he was getting beaten up and he was not responding because I had convinced him that it was wrong. End result was that he would end up crying every time. When I think about it I find so much of a similarity between this and what is happening to our country. All this while we have been brought up thinking that our path is one of non violence and if we brainwash all the people into believing that non violence is the path, then we will end up crying whenever someone hits us. Isn’t that what we have been doing after the ’93 blasts, the parliament attack and the present Mumbai terror attacks?
The solution lies in taking a middle path, convince everyone that we are all part of a whole, India. Stop splitting the country on the lines of religion, caste and ethnicity. Persuade people into believing that extremism leads nowhere, stifle the support to these terror organisations and at the same time take pro active steps diplomatically and militarily to hit these terror organisations.
Showing posts with label Thoughts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thoughts. Show all posts
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Monday, December 01, 2008
Mumbai terror attacks 1
I am sure all of us are as surprised at what has happened in Mumbai as the rest of the country (save those few inactive ppl who knew but chose to ignore it)... the accountability of the system is being questioned by all and i don’t propose to join the bandwagon.
We all know and agree that there is something wrong with the systems, especially the political one, one thing leads to the other, a dead political system leads to a dead bureaucracy, and a dying policing system. People are right in questioning the effectiveness of the cops with lathis and 303 rifles against terrorists armed with AKs, but while we voice our opinion for the powers to be to listen, we must also appreciate the fact that they are doing so unquestioningly.
How’s, whys etc will be answered in the near future, at least it will seem to be answered. The news will die down in a week or two. It will only remain in the memories of the few who have lost their near and dear ones. So what happens next? We sit and wait for the next 'breaking news'? Or crib and cry that the system is not doing anything, or isn’t good enough? Is that it? Guys, we are no longer the generation of tomorrow, we are the present of this country. If the system isn’t doing anything, it is because of us, all of us collectively have to take the responsibility for all that is happening in our country. Raising our voices is one bit, making it heard is another? In our respective capabilities we influence the future of our country. first thing is vote, and vote for someone you think is likely to do something for the country... I read somewhere that in case you do not find anybody worth it, you cross the entire list or there is an option at the bottom of the EVM. if more than some percentage of ppl exercise their vote to no one then the election is considered null and void. Maybe that would give our politicians something to think about.
Next, we don’t get carried away by the political posturing, and take our own intelligent decisions. I still remember that when we were in school there was no 'which part of the country you are from?', 'what is your caste?' etc... Today we are being divided on these very issues, why? Can’t we, as today’s generation, stand together and say that we are not interested in this crap... show us development and progress!
That is about all I can think of today, to repair the damage that is being done to our country... why don’t we discuss and put our minds together and think of something?
We all know and agree that there is something wrong with the systems, especially the political one, one thing leads to the other, a dead political system leads to a dead bureaucracy, and a dying policing system. People are right in questioning the effectiveness of the cops with lathis and 303 rifles against terrorists armed with AKs, but while we voice our opinion for the powers to be to listen, we must also appreciate the fact that they are doing so unquestioningly.
How’s, whys etc will be answered in the near future, at least it will seem to be answered. The news will die down in a week or two. It will only remain in the memories of the few who have lost their near and dear ones. So what happens next? We sit and wait for the next 'breaking news'? Or crib and cry that the system is not doing anything, or isn’t good enough? Is that it? Guys, we are no longer the generation of tomorrow, we are the present of this country. If the system isn’t doing anything, it is because of us, all of us collectively have to take the responsibility for all that is happening in our country. Raising our voices is one bit, making it heard is another? In our respective capabilities we influence the future of our country. first thing is vote, and vote for someone you think is likely to do something for the country... I read somewhere that in case you do not find anybody worth it, you cross the entire list or there is an option at the bottom of the EVM. if more than some percentage of ppl exercise their vote to no one then the election is considered null and void. Maybe that would give our politicians something to think about.
Next, we don’t get carried away by the political posturing, and take our own intelligent decisions. I still remember that when we were in school there was no 'which part of the country you are from?', 'what is your caste?' etc... Today we are being divided on these very issues, why? Can’t we, as today’s generation, stand together and say that we are not interested in this crap... show us development and progress!
That is about all I can think of today, to repair the damage that is being done to our country... why don’t we discuss and put our minds together and think of something?
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Roots
One Sunday morning, Mitali and I got talking over a cup of tea. Here in the North-east, if there is something that we enjoy it is our morning cuppa of Assam tea, listening to good music and chatting. That Sunday the talk drifted to the riots and disturbance which is breaking apart this beautiful country of ours. Do we need to discuss the ‘whys’? No I am sure we don’t. There is no doubt in my mind about the cause – POWER. The same power Hitler sought – the power to control people. So we left it at that.
The Mob
The next point of discussion was what can make a san, thinking adult man kill another in cold blood (women and children too). How can you live your life with the burden of someone’s life on your conscience? The only answer we could think of was that it is a mob on rampage and not necessarily an individual. The thought process of a mob need not necessarily be sane or logical. In the heat of the moment a mob can be singularly ‘mad’ while being sane, thoughtful, compassionate when split into individuals. There is no predicting what mobs are capable of; the killing fields of Orissa, the sikh riots of ’84 and a lot of other such event stand testimony to this fact.
My Identity my individuality
So that was that, or was it? In all this we started thinking about our own identity. I had been brought up in a congenial atmosphere where there were no regional or ethnic biases. Right from childhood I had been taught that we are Indians first and foremost, and then Konkanis, Kannadigas, Tamilians and Punjabis. And today, when I think back, I thank KV Kanchanbagh (where I did all my schooling) for teaching me this important and valuable lesson in national integration. We were all part of a whole. Our identity was of an Indian. We were a group of friends to whom religion, caste, home state etc had no consequence. Our enmity (of course I will not deny that we had so called enemys) was entirely based on trivial personal issues and disagreements and religion or ethnicity. As a kid we never asked a new student in our class if he was a Hindu or a Muslim or a Christian, nor if he was a Tamilian or a Gujju.
As a result of that, today, I am (appearing to be) a minority in my own country. A Konkani born in Mangalore, brought up in Hyderabad, married to a Bihari who grew up all over the country. And I think what that makes Adu? With our moving all around the country as part of my job, wonder if I am forcing Adu into becoming an ‘Indian’. Are we losing our identity as Indians? Or is that the Maharashtrians, the Tamilians, the Kannadigas and the Bengalis of this country are taking over? In that case what will happen to us ‘Indians’?
The problem with us ‘Indians’, and I refer not to the Maharashtrians, the Tamilians, the Kannadigas and the Bengalis but the Indians who also happen to be from Maharashtra or Tamilnadu or Karnataka or Bengal, is that we prefer not to get involved in this ‘jhanjhat’ (for the want of a better word). For if we did and rioted on our own then what would be the difference between ‘us’ and ‘them’? This thought process leads to inaction and that in an indirect way encourages ‘them’ to do what they do.
The Solution
What do we do about it? There are lots of ways in which we can contribute. I could think of a few which I have penned and I am sure every one of us will have his or her way of contributing preventing our extinction.
1. Voice your opinion, start speaking out. Gather support and bring more ‘neutral’ people into our fold. I am sure there are more of us out there.
2. Don’t get carried away by people who say that someone else is getting a better deal (a very difficult proposition I agree). It is just a political game plan to split us all up on any and every possible pretence. Do all of us want to end up as just vote banks or do we want to contribute to the electoral process and betterment of our country.
3. Lastly on a humorous note – let’s have Military rule!!
The Mob
The next point of discussion was what can make a san, thinking adult man kill another in cold blood (women and children too). How can you live your life with the burden of someone’s life on your conscience? The only answer we could think of was that it is a mob on rampage and not necessarily an individual. The thought process of a mob need not necessarily be sane or logical. In the heat of the moment a mob can be singularly ‘mad’ while being sane, thoughtful, compassionate when split into individuals. There is no predicting what mobs are capable of; the killing fields of Orissa, the sikh riots of ’84 and a lot of other such event stand testimony to this fact.
My Identity my individuality
So that was that, or was it? In all this we started thinking about our own identity. I had been brought up in a congenial atmosphere where there were no regional or ethnic biases. Right from childhood I had been taught that we are Indians first and foremost, and then Konkanis, Kannadigas, Tamilians and Punjabis. And today, when I think back, I thank KV Kanchanbagh (where I did all my schooling) for teaching me this important and valuable lesson in national integration. We were all part of a whole. Our identity was of an Indian. We were a group of friends to whom religion, caste, home state etc had no consequence. Our enmity (of course I will not deny that we had so called enemys) was entirely based on trivial personal issues and disagreements and religion or ethnicity. As a kid we never asked a new student in our class if he was a Hindu or a Muslim or a Christian, nor if he was a Tamilian or a Gujju.
As a result of that, today, I am (appearing to be) a minority in my own country. A Konkani born in Mangalore, brought up in Hyderabad, married to a Bihari who grew up all over the country. And I think what that makes Adu? With our moving all around the country as part of my job, wonder if I am forcing Adu into becoming an ‘Indian’. Are we losing our identity as Indians? Or is that the Maharashtrians, the Tamilians, the Kannadigas and the Bengalis of this country are taking over? In that case what will happen to us ‘Indians’?
The problem with us ‘Indians’, and I refer not to the Maharashtrians, the Tamilians, the Kannadigas and the Bengalis but the Indians who also happen to be from Maharashtra or Tamilnadu or Karnataka or Bengal, is that we prefer not to get involved in this ‘jhanjhat’ (for the want of a better word). For if we did and rioted on our own then what would be the difference between ‘us’ and ‘them’? This thought process leads to inaction and that in an indirect way encourages ‘them’ to do what they do.
The Solution
What do we do about it? There are lots of ways in which we can contribute. I could think of a few which I have penned and I am sure every one of us will have his or her way of contributing preventing our extinction.
1. Voice your opinion, start speaking out. Gather support and bring more ‘neutral’ people into our fold. I am sure there are more of us out there.
2. Don’t get carried away by people who say that someone else is getting a better deal (a very difficult proposition I agree). It is just a political game plan to split us all up on any and every possible pretence. Do all of us want to end up as just vote banks or do we want to contribute to the electoral process and betterment of our country.
3. Lastly on a humorous note – let’s have Military rule!!
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