Panic Attack!!

In the past one year alone, I think I have read at least a hundred books and essays on writing...if not more. From Robert Olen Butler to John Gardner and everything in between, I have devoured with a doggedness that has left me breathless and panting. Natalie Goldberg's "Writing Down the Bones" and Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird" have filled me with hope but the Grand Summit still eludes me. Like the Mount Everest, it sits 29,000 feet above me swathed in plumes of ice. Five false starts, 40,000 words, four chapters rewritten five times over, I have not made the progress I had in mind. Being a creative professional, I am used to tackling a design problem on the running, pin it down and wrestle out a solution, five presentation sheets, plan, section, elevation plus views, bam bam bam, everything printed out while the clock is still ticking. So this is driving me to utter despair. I never spent so much time listening to the clock tick away in its corner in my entire life. Yesterday, I came across a piece of advice: write an outline for every chapter. Is that how its really done? Will it ever get done?

The Serenity Prayer

Oh Lord, Please give me the courage to change what I can change in this world, the serenity to peacefully accept what's beyond my control to change and the wisdom to know the difference.

May everyone in the universe find eternal inner peace.

Let's look beyond the Blame-game for a solution to cross border terrorism

Everyday I look at the headlines and find exactly the same thing being repeated. India blames Pakistan for the 26/11 terror attacks, Pakistan denies these allegations. Over and over again. I think its time we, Indians realized the futility of playing this 'blame-game' and not waste any more time expecting Pakistan to own up to any of the crimes it has been accused of, regardless of who the actors were, state or non-state. Its time we accepted that if Pakistan of its own free will wants to pursue a policy of raging a proxy war against India by supporting and giving refuge to terrorist outfits, there is no way we can stop it from doing so. What we can do is find ways and means to thwart their attempts and frustrate their evil plans. The reason why Pakistan (or non-state agencies within Pakistan) think its worth their while to pour in resources to fuel cross border terrorism in India is because they see the gaping holes in our own law and order system and the fallout of divisive politics within the country that they can take advantage of. If these holes were plugged would they be so forthcoming? If we took our anti terrorism laws such as POTA and NIA seriously and our law enforcement agencies and judiciary were free of political interference to act promptly and efficiently, would terrorists from across the border dare to act with such impugnity? I doubt it. No one wants to fight a lost battle, however ideologically charged they may be. I am sure they would seek out other 'easier' targets and divert their attention somewhere else. And while we clean up our house, we Indians should take some time for some serious introspection and ask ourselves the question most pertinent to our democracy at this point in time: what does secularism really mean to us? Isn't it time that Hindus and Muslims in India decided that this land has place only for those who can practice religious tolerance and live in mutual respect and that its high time that those that have other ideas should be prepared to be marginalized? This would put an end to the never ending debate about whether religious minorities in India are being given a raw deal and if they, in their festering resentment, are turning into allies for terrorist outfits from outside the country. It would also help us sieve out who exactly is 'with us' and whose allegiance lies elsewhere. Then when people are arrested under NIA, politicians will not be able to waste the nation's time crying crocodile tears over the so called 'ill treated minorities'.

Many people have been talking about bombing Pakistan 'to the stone age' as an act of retaliation, getting tired of the same headlines that I started this blog with. But I think bombing Pakistan would not only play into the hands of the terrorists because that's exactly what they want, it would ultimately proove to be counter productive. The real solution lies in getting our own act together like never before, in what I would term a true act of 'gandhigiri'. Let's frustrate the enemy. Let's do what's not expected of us. Let's surprise the world. We know that partly the anger that some people especially those running terrorist camps in Pakistan have against India is because we are secular, democratic, open -minded and of late, getting far richer than them. Let's make this a double whammy. Let's add 'safe' and truly 'anti-terror' to the list. I am sure the masterminds of the 26/11 attack and those of their kind will put a gun to their own heads and shoot themselves in utter frustration. It'll save us all the time and money that's been flushed down the drain, running between Delhi, Islamabad and Washington D.C with dossiers no one wants to take seriously.

PS: One thing that has been worrying me (like many other thinking Indians) is whether our lack of 'visible' aggression is sending out the wrong message to the world and to the terrorists, who possibly understand only one language, that of violence and terror. Is our strength being misinterpreted as cowardice or weakness? Or worse still, isn't it better to vent some anger than to bottle it all up inside like a pressure cooker about to explode? But then the voice of reason tells me, to hell what anyone else thinks. This battle cannot be won overnight. Its better to bide our time and act wisely, than to lash out wildly in rage and lose everything in the bargain. Let's learn from the mistake that the US made in attacking Iraq seething from the blind rage of 9/11....it has so far served no constructive purpose than to have made the world an even less safer place than before.

Someone is asking the same questions...

I feel so vindicated that at least one powerful voice asked the very same question I was pondering over yesterday. This person is the former prime minister of Pakistan, Mr. Nawaz Sharif who has said that Mr. Zardari is indeed lying straight off his face when he says that Qasab doesn't belong to Pakistan. In fact, he has slammed the Zardari goverment for cordoning off the entire village of Faridkot and not allowing International Media access to members of Qasab's family.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kasab_belongs_to_Pakistan_says_Sharif_also_slams_Zardari/articleshow/3861829.cms

I used to wonder if India was the worst mockery of the institution of democracy under the sun. After observing the pathetic state of lawlessness and corruption Pakistan is in, I have to admit that in comparison India seems almost utopic. But having said that I will also admit that if we don't watch out and elect people of higher moral and intellectual quality than the Deshmukhs and Mayawatis of our land, we are definitely going to end up like Pakistan with criminals at the helm of our nation, reducing the very concept of a civil state to a joke.

Who is lying - Zardari or the Indian Media?

For the past few weeks, Indian media has reported that Indian agencies are saying there is undeniable proof that the masterminds of the 26/11 terror attack have links to Pakistan. Yet one man, the President of Pakistan, Mr Asif Ali Zardari has been consistently denying these allegations. In fact, today there's an article on the NDTV website which says Mr. Zardari even denies that there is any evidence that Qasab, the lone terrorist captured alive from the Shivaji Terminus attack site, has anything to do with Pakistan. This after media reports on how Qasab's parents have been identified and the the whole family resides in Faridkot in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Well, they resided there till they mysteriously (and so predictably, what can you expect?) disappeared on December 3rd, 2008 presumably moved to a safe-house by the Pakistani government or worse, are now being held captive by some terrorist outfit. I say this in the naive belief that the two are separate entities. I just hope and pray that they are still alive and safe.

Well, the question foremost on my mind is who is lying? The media is not made of one or a handful of people. Its a much bigger network of journalists, reporters and other people. Could they all be lying? I am wary of nationalistic media propaganda that in the fashion of post 9/11 reports, drums up mass hysteria to lend support to a government that launches an unjustified military attack on another country. I also beleive that the Indian media, from time to time, does display such jingoistic tendencies but now that it has become pretty clear that public consensus in India is clearly against waging a war against Pakistan, what purpose would such propaganda or jingoism serve?

And why should we doubt the veracity of all these news reports when the man who denies them all, Mr Zardari, has been accused of money laundering by the Swiss, British and US goverments and no court has so far been able to give him a clean chit? Not only this, Mr Zardari also allegedly lied about his educational background saying he obtained a B.Ed degree from the London School of Economics and Business which cannot be corroborated. And for the records, I didn't make this story up nor did any member of the Indian media. This report comes from the media establishment in Pakistan.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\03\12\story_12-3-2008_pg7_17