suicide attack on the Indian embassy

Earlier this week, suicide bombers in Afghanistan rammed a vehicle laden with explosives into two cars entering the gates of the Indian embassy in Kabul. The two diplomatic vehicles had two of the most high profile diplomats at the embassy - the Defense Attache Brigadier Ravi Datta Mehta and Counsellor V Venkateswara Rao. They both lost their lives.

In addition, two other Indians, both Jawans from the ITBP, and 37 Afghan nationals were killed and 141 other individuals injured. Nobody has claimed responsibility for this dastardly act, but the Afghan interior ministry did not waste time in hinting at the involvement of the perennial pain for world peace, Pakistan. Of course, Pakistan did what Pakistan always does - deny it outright. After all, an unstable Afghanistan is not in Pakistan's interest!

Of course, the UPA government is "shocked" at this act, and condemns it in the strongest of terms. The Defense and Foreign ministers had an emergency meeting with their officials, and they promptly sent a team to Kabul. The usual talk of India not backing down from doing good work in Afghanistan is making the usual rounds, and I am really no expert in diplomacy to point at other factors, but I can try to think of some of them.

Assassinating two high profile officials together tells me that this was probably in planning for a long time, because the execution had to be precise. In addition, I believe that there could be insiders involved in the plan as well. There are long lines at the Indian embassy every day of Afghans seeking a visa to India. They were not the target. There are other important offices on the same road, and they weren't targeted. In fact, I read in a report that the terrorist's vehicle didn't even try to enter the embassy, it was headed straight for the defense attache's vehicle. This tells me that the Pakis have got to be involved in this, and that there was something deeper here. I don't want to go hunting for sensitive information, but it is no secret that India is one of Afghanistan's best allies, and this is not a War on Terror phenomenon. India and Afghanistan have been good friends long before that, and after the Taliban came into power there, India's influence was limited to supporting the Northern Alliance, whose one prominent leader was Ahmad Shah Masood. The NA was recognized by the UN, by the way, and the only country that actually recognized the Taliban were our immediate friends in the West.

Now that India is again making inroads into the country, there will be a lot of consternation in others minds, but India, in its new status as a nation with certain influence and power, needs to do what it needs to do in the country. We have probably done more for the nation without sending our security forces there than all the NATO armies. But this attack makes me think that maybe India should send a few forces there because it seems that the Taliban and ISI want to take it to the next level. Sure, I dont know if our present government have the balls to take any strong military decision, but I think its high time they did something good for the country before they are hopefully thrown out of power.

Rememberances and Movements

Before I begin to say anything, I am really surprised that its been a month since my last post! In some ways it seems longer than that, and in some ways, it feels it was way shorter than that. I will come to that later, but before that, I want to remember one of India's greatest sons - Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, who passed away at the Wellington Military Hospital in Tamil Nadu.

For those who believe in this nation's armed forces, and those who cherish its traditions and history will know of this man, who, even for me, seemed so immortal that I had hoped he just won't die, or rather, I just kept hoping God will keep pushing his death forward. Similar to my wishes for Lata ji and a few other people.

The General has left us a legacy, left us some of our finest moments in history, and I know that he is gone, but his legend will live. Newspapers and television stations have been running stories from his past, including his childhood, his life during the World Wars, but most particularly, his relations with the Prime Minister of India, Mrs. Indira Gandhi.

The fact is that Sam Bahadur was not just our general during that time. He was a leader during the 1962 war as well, the war we fought with people who Nehru gave up the permanent seat in the UN for.

Nehru's foreign minister was Krishna Menon, and he was no friend of the General. The latter was thus not in the good books of Nehru as well because of Nehru's proximity to Menon. Thus, from being almost axed, he was sent to the frontier when the Chinese drones attacked. Thus the ceasefire was enforced.

Then India's preperations for the '71 war and all that happened before and after it should be essential reading for all of us. The General and Mrs. Gandhi was two of the biggest personalities ruling India at one single time. She even feared he would take over the country during the emergency.

We will mourn his death, but it will cease, but his actions and his life will inspire us forever.

It seems difficult for me to talk about anything else in this post, but the fact is that I have been traveling, moved to a new city, Kolkata, and gone back to college. Things will come my way in heavier and more difficult doses, but nobody said an MBA would be easy. I don't expect it to be. And that is why I said the one month seemed so long. But at the same time, I have also had fun, had some happy moments and some very relaxed moments. Maybe thats why it seems small.

So now I write from the East.

so how's the weather been?

Actually, the weather's been pretty good in Dehradun I would say. It rained in plenty last few weeks, and then we had a few warm days, and it rained again today, although it was more of a tropical downpour. The weather's cool again; although I think it'll probably get hot again tomorrow.

See, this rain's nice for all of us, but it just isn't normal. There's supposed to be a summer for the most of this world, and with this erratic weather I have been seeing all over the world, I am beginning to wonder if global warming's really going to hit us a lot earlier than most of us anticipate.

I'm somewhat of a pessimist when it comes to Mother Nature. I just don't trust the human race to really get on its ass to try to save the world. For one, the developed world hasn't been changing its lifestyle at all. Oil's at an all time high, and yet the US government does not seem to be in any hurry to find a long term, sustainable solution. In fact, what does George Bush do? He will go to Saudi Arabia and ask them to raise their output. Chrysler and its group brands have been offering petrol subsidies to its consumers. The message from the American government and the American industry is clear - don't stop living the American way because oil is at USD 135.

Whatever changes that are being brought in the developed world are the changes that these societies have been forced to adopt. Now I see there is talk in the US about saving, a concept that was completely non-existent in that country till a few years ago. Now people are maybe beginning to feel that the government will probably not be able to take care of them when they grow old.

In fact, I feel Europe will be more affected because of maybe cultural factors. They are a very protected society, and for some reason, I feel that they are going down on research and innovation, which, in the past few decades, has been an exclusive domain of the United States and Japan. I think I could probably take Germany as an exception here.

As for the developing world, I am very, very sad to see the road they seem to be taking. It seems India does not want to learn any lessons from the past. In fact, India is not known to learn any lessons from the past. The America of today is reeling under financial strain because of its extravagant, materialistic lifestyle, and the Indian society is more than happy to adapt the same, without any qualms or any inhibitions at all.

We all have heard real life stories of farmers reeling under debt because they are unable to pay it in time because of various reasons, but the new Indian who is unable to pay his/her loan is not an entrepreneur or a farmer, but an urban consumer who simply can't keep up with his/her lifestyle. People today, especially the youth, are too busy living the western life to think about anything else. I relate this to an addiction. When its new, the addict will go all out.

When the west accuses India of saying it is not doing enough to save the environment, and India says it has every right to bring prosperity to its people, I really don't know what stand to take. I agree, India has a right to bring prosperity to its people, but I believe India can also be at the forefront of a sustained environmental revolution. We can live happy, we can consume all we want, but not in the way the developed countries consume, but we can be environmentally responsible at the same time.

Our electricity infrastructure is in doldrums. Most of it is lost, there is always more demand than production, and many new giant fossil fuel based projects are planned. Yet at the same time, I have heard scientists say that most of India's hydroelectric production capacity is yet to be tapped. This is something we can focus on.

Our rivers are dying, and they need to be protected. There need to be a massive drive to enforce proper waste disposal mechanisms, proper waste water treatment, effluent waste treatment, and a massive, massive, water harvesting and preservation campaign at all levels. We need to do this for ourselves, not for anybody else. So what if we have a 110 crore people, if we plan, there will still not be a water problem. Bring about rainwater harvesting in all parts of the country. Establish massive recycling plants for urban waste, make a sincere effort to preserve our rivers and natural resources, and I am sure we will be much happier people.

But how many decision makers will think like this? How does one bring out a change in the perception of our decadent society? These are very difficult questions, and thinking about the most obvious answers to them is what makes me a pessimist.

BJP wins Karnataka!

BJP has won the Karnataka Assembly elections, winning 110 seats out of the total 224 seats.

Congress, and those despicable local sons of the soil in Janata Dal (Secular) managed only 80 and 28 seats respectively. This will be BJP's first government in the south. People say this is the sign of things to come in the coming union elections. Congress politicians have been vehemently calling this a local issue having no bearing at the central level, but I don't believe a word of that. Congress has lost state elections in most states in the last 4 years, I suppose they are all local elections too, and Congress is probably hoping to ride on its 'successes' of reservations and minority appeasement into its next term at the center.

I am happy to see that the Gowda family has been reduced to nothing. I suppose that's inevitable when you are a two-faced, deceitful politician. I am really hoping the BJB grabs on this opportunity, and does great work in Karnataka, because this will have a good effect on its LS poll chances.

the pressure's been paying off

I am really used to writing about myself on the internet, and personally, it freaks me out, but I think I should probably mention a really grand achievement of my live.

I have made it to IIM Calcutta.

I started last year without an aim and without a plan. Well, a plan to stay in India that is. Thanks to a lot of factors, I worked towards this competition in earnest, and thanks to the Almightly, its paid off. I always considered myself the dark horse - an NRI for the past six years, not an engineering degree, and without any science education in the last eight years. But hey, I proposed, and God disposed. I can't even imagine the number of absolutely smart kids I must have left behind. They were better than me in maths, maybe DI, and probably had a lot more practice, but I got through. But enough with beating this subject to death. Perhaps this blog is again speed up once I report to the Joka campus.

By the way, this journey hasn't been without its hiccups. Arjun "sycophant" Singh implemented the OBC quota, obviously on instructions from his gutless and divisive party, so that delayed the results by around three weeks. I had fears in my mind whether they will cut general seats to accommodate the new applicants, but fortunately that wasn't the case.

I can't bitch enough about the entire quota system in education. Only recently did I hear of the government's efforts to increase educational funding and other grants. This is the only way to go in our education system. We need to design it that it is equal for everyone, and everybody has an equal opportunity to get in.

The problem lies in the economically weaker sections. But the government isn't thinking about the economically weaker, it is thinking about the apparently 'backward' castes that it aims to exploit for their votes. This has been the quota trend for all our independence. What the government needs to do is ensure that the economically weaker students have enough money to fund their preparations, and if they make it, fund their tuitions.

The problem with our skewed and absolutely messed up economy is that even when they try to target the weaker sections, the only group of people who usually benefit are the stronger among the crowd. For example, because of a lack of accountability and unreliable tax set-up, the rich pose as poor to avail government benefits. Similarly, most perks for the "backward" castes are lapped up by the rich and politically strong amongst them.

I doubt our politicians will ever get rid of the quota systems in our every part of the state as the constitution envisions, and this situation will only get worse, and probably force a lot of good brains to flee. I am sure Dr. Ambedkar is turning in his grave seeing how his great name is being exploited by today's politicians for their own gains.