IT Jobs and Instability

The IT sector in India seems to have the least job security of all. Any kind of financial upheavals mean huge job cuts in the IT firms, with many people losing their livelihood. It happens every time, all the time, and somehow this sector does not seem to learn any lessons.having been a part of the inner circle, I can confidently say that the IT companies employ much more people than what it really needs.

Though not on the highly paid employee list, I managed to sustain three whole years in a multinational IT firm. I say managed to sustain, because I am just not fit for a corporate job. Coming back to the point though, in those three years, I realised that the firm actually had people who were on bench (meaning - not working on a project, but employed and being paid by the company) for over six months. Many of these people wait, while some quit due to sheer boredom. Though never on bench, I have spent huge stretches of time without any work to do. The longest period that I recall was a forty day period, when I had absolutely no work to do, no trainings to attend, and not even a document to prepare or check. This meant eight whole hours of sitting in my seat each day, with absolutely zero productivity. And I was definitely not the only one. And inspite of that, they were rather reluctant to let go of me, when I quit.

Image obtained from cartoonstock.com

Working from home, is not a concept that India is till date very familiar with. Very few IT companies provide that option, and even if it does, it is meant for a very limited, high profile staff. So we end up having to sit out our eight hours in office even on days when there is absolutely no work, and there are many such days. In a company which employs over five thousand people, if it has even twenty percent of its work force sitting idle, its a complete drain on the companies resources. And this I believe results from lack of good management. Thousands of people are employed, when the company submits its tender for a project, if it loses out, the people still stay, but with no work to occupy them. When it comes to down sizing, the company finds too many people on its payroll, and very little to occupy them with.

I wonder why this state continues after so many jolts the sector has faced. Why the needless employment and then job cuts when lean times hit the market. There are many people who join the IT work force in India for the lure of high pay, foreign assignments, catapulting into the big league, but the sector itself is so badly organised, with no job security and no proper management, that it is like entering a time bomb. To save on taxes with high salaries, people invest, often in property, taking loans, and when they lose their job, its a mess worse than can be imagined.

Till the time the IT management pull up their socks, and actually plan things rather than the take-things-as-they-come attitude they currently display, this sector will remain as vulnerable as ever. Quality and quantity of the work force both need stringent checks in this sector. There needs to be work for every employee, and sufficient work, only then will it be a mutually beneficial relationship. In a sector, where employees and employers change their loyalties each minute, where the worker feels no connection or loyalty for its employer and hops off at every pay increment offered, and where the companies employ way too many people than it really needs, a break down is forever likely to happen. For all the instant money this sector has to offer, it still remains highly unstable and volatile. The slightest fluctuation in the financial markets, creates huge cracks in the IT sector.

While the money and on site assignments are very lucrative, the IT sector still has a long long way to go in terms of offering stability and security.

Jihadis, Really? Or just Barbaric Beasts?

I saw a piece of news , it was a follow up of the terrible attack on Bombay. It says that the hostages held by the terrorists in the Taj were made to strip, and further humiliated before they were actually killed. The same is said to be true for the Rabbi and his wife who were killed in Nariman House. I remember watching a neighbour of this Jewish couple saying something about them being brutally tortured before death on one of the news channels after these attacks. it did not make sense then, because nowhere else were there mentions of any kind of physical torture. their genitalia had been mutilated, and God knows what else had happened. These being the kind couple who had offered them shelter.

The terrorists kill for what? Every rational being, me included, have been saying that these people do not belong to any religion, and they are nothing but terrorists. But I am starting to doubt that now. Does any religion actually preach torturing innocent people? Does a holy book bid its followers to kill the Innocent common man for no fault of his? Does the religion say that killing is an acceptable act? Does Jihad mean killing people for no possible reason? I don't really know. I have not read the Quran, I have not read it because religion does not interest me, I am not too big on religion, any religion. But if I am constantly being bombarded with news and information where I hear people proclaiming to be doing good for a certain religion be killing innocent masses of people, I will tilt towards believing it.

I am not into religion, it barely interests me, in any form. Spirituality yes, but religion, no not at all. To me religion is a path to reach God, a state of purity. I am guessing all religions aim at getting its followers there. But out come these people who claim to be carrying out demonic acts on the name of Islam time and again. So much, that i finally begin to wonder, whether it really is about Islam. But I cannot bring myself to believe that religion can preach killing, or torture of innocent human beings. Many religions preach opposing oppression, or evil, but killing the innocent is definitely not waging a war against the evil. It is evil itself.

I found this news displayed on a Pakistani site, and the comments are really disgusting. That they are blindly denying their responsibility, is one thing, but to accuse India of giving out wrong information, you have to be really moronic. It is just unbearably tragic to see the innocent people bearing the brunt of reactions of acts of some other people's misdeeds.

Rich and Influential Non Parents.

With power, comes responsibility, a lesson the rich and influential in India would do well to understand. To them it seems to mean, with power comes free kicks and open right to lawlessness. No one is even surprised to hear of ministers' and bureaucrats' children embroiled in criminal activities. But I don't understand this. As a parent, I would want my child to be the best person he can be, provide him with the maximum guidance and support I can. Isn't it normal, that illiterate parents would want their children to be literate, the poor would want their children to be well off? Then how do the powerful men want their children to actually be bad?

To me parents are the ones who hold the hands of their children and teach them to walk the path of life the right way, with their head held high. But here the situation seems to be reversed.I can to a certain extent understand the pampering-the-child-because-the-parents-have-the-means theory, but to destroy your own child? One would have to be pretty heartless to manage that. I cannot think of anyone in the world who would think of drugs and alcohol(in excess ofcourse) to be good. No normal human being possibly could, but to not only allow, but encourage one's own flesh and blood to do it? Unbelievable. Rahul Mahajan being a case in point. A powerful father, lavishing his son with obscene amount of money, finally leading to a near death situation of the son, due to drug overdose? How can a parent lead a child to such misery? I just don't understand. Are these politicians so convoluted, so mindless, so selfish that they do not care about their own flesh and blood?

The first case of a politician's relative doing misdeeds, that I can recall is that of a French tourist, being molested(or was it raped??) by the grandson of the CM of Punjab. After that there was the Nitish Katara killing by the sons of DP Yadav(MP), Jessica Lall's murder by the Manu Sharma, son of MP Venod Sharma and many more. How do parents lead their children onto become killers, rapists... criminals?

When I was a child, I was studying in one of the rather high profile schools of New Delhi. The alumni and the current crop of students were children of many of the who's who of the national capital. Near the main entry gate of our school was a water cooler. The main gates were locked up tight at night because there was a residential hostel, as well as the Principal's residential quarters. On one of the nights, a group of boys who had passed out from school, dropped in at around three am, drunk and driving, mind you, and demanded that the school gates be unlocked, so that they could get a drink of water from the cooler. The guard was sensible enough to stand his ground and refuse to unlock the gates. He was then threatened, with the names of the perpetrators' father, uncle and all other influential relatives. the next morning the incident was narrated to us by the principal, the guard was applauded, and the act condemned. This is not a huge crime per se, but that was the first time I heard of the tu-janta-hai-main-kaun-hoon(do you know who am I)? syndrome. And it has stayed with me till today.

Things have worsened over time, and somehow the children of the influential and the rich have become a source of terror. These kids take everything for granted, knowing no one can really punish them, if they do something wrong, their parents' money and influence comes into play and they go Scot free. So the regular people like us, try to escape, if these punks try to create trouble for us, because we have taken it for granted, that they can create more trouble than we can deal with, and even standing upto them can have dangerous consequences.

What these parents liken to love and care, is actually a slow poison, that kills every good thing the child has, and takes them on the path of drugs, crime, unhappiness and eventual destruction. It is possibly a case where money and power actually overshadow the parent-child relationship, and kills the parental instinct. Or is it that these people have become so immune to their conscience that their parenting treads the same path? Whatever the reason, it is sad to see parents leading their own children to their downfall.

The Truth about Terror.

This article has been posted by a fellow blogger,Mad Momma on her blog and is also published in openspace. The author Anand Patwardhan is a documentary film maker. This article has not been published either by Times of India or Hindustan Times. But the truth resonates in it. Please spread it around as much as you can.

TERROR ATTACK ON MUMBAI

Terror: The Aftermath

The attack on Mumbai is over. After the numbing sorrow comes the blame
game and the solutions. Loud voices amplified by saturation TV: Why
don't we amend our Constitution to create new anti-terror laws? Why
don't we arm our police with AK 47s? Why don't we do what Israel did
after Munich or the USA did after 9/11 and hot pursue the enemy?
Solutions that will lead us further into the abyss. For terror is a
self-fulfilling prophecy. It thrives on reaction, polarization,
militarization and the thirst for revenge.

The External Terror

Those who invoke America need only to analyze if its actions after
9/11 increased or decreased global terror. It invaded oil-rich Iraq
fully knowing that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, killing over
200,000 Iraqis citizens but allowing a cornered Bin Laden to escape
from Afghanistan. It recruited global support for Islamic militancy,
which began to be seen as a just resistance against American mass
murder. Which begs the question of who created Bin Laden in the first
place, armed the madarsas of Pakistan and rejuvenated the concept of
Islamic jehad? Israel played its own role in stoking the fires of
jehad. The very creation of Israel in 1948 robbed Palestinians of
their land, an act that Mahatma Gandhi to his credit deplored at the
time as an unjust way to redress the wrongs done to Jews during the
Holocaust. What followed has been a slow and continuing attack on the
Palestinian nation. At first Palestinian resistance was led by secular
forces represented by Yasser Arafat but as these were successfully
undermined, Islamic forces took over the mantle. The first, largely
non-violent Intifada was crushed, a second more violent one replaced
it and when all else failed, human bombs appeared.

Thirty years ago when I first went abroad there were two countries my
Indian passport forbade me to visit. One was racist South Africa. The
other was Israel. We were non-aligned and stood for disarmament and
world peace. Today Israel and America are our biggest military allies.
Is it surprising that we are on the jehadi hit list? Israel, America
and other prosperous countries can to an extent protect themselves
against the determined jehadi, but can India put an impenetrable
shield over itself? Remember that when attackers are on a suicide
mission, the strongest shields have crumbled. New York was laid low
not with nuclear weapons but with a pair of box cutters. India is for
many reasons a quintessentially soft target. Our huge population, vast
landmass and coastline are impossible to protect. The rich may build
new barricades. The Taj and the Oberoi can be made safer. So can our
airports and planes. Can our railway stations and trains, bus stops,
busses, markets and lanes do the same?

The Terror Within

The threat of terror in India does not come exclusively from the
outside. Apart from being hugely populated by the poor India is also a
country divided, not just between rich and poor, but by religion,
caste and language. This internal divide is as potent a breeding
ground for terror as jehadi camps abroad. Nor is jehad the copyright
of one religion alone. It can be argued that international causes
apart, India has jehadis that are fully home grown. Perhaps the
earliest famous one was Nathuram Godse who acting at the behest of his
mentor Vinayak Savarkar (still referred to as "Veer" or "brave"
although he refused to own up to his role in the conspiracy), murdered
Mahatma Gandhi for the crime of championing Muslims.

Jump forward to 6th December, 1992, the day Hindu fanatics demolished
the Babri Mosque setting into motion a chain of events that still
wreaks havoc today. From the Bombay riots of 1992 to the bomb blasts
of 1993, the Gujarat pogroms of 2002 and hundreds of smaller deadly
events, the last 16 years have been the bloodiest since Partition.
Action has been followed by reaction in an endless cycle of escalating
retribution. At the core on the Hindu side of terror are organizations
that openly admire Adolph Hitler, nursing the hate of historic wrongs
inflicted by Muslims. Ironically these votaries of Hitler remain
friends and admirers of Israel.

On the Muslim side of terror are scores of disaffected youth, many of
whom have seen their families tortured and killed in more recent
pogroms. Christians too have fallen victim to recent Hindutva terror
but as yet not formed the mechanisms for revenge. Dalits despite
centuries of caste oppression, have not yet retaliated in violence
although a small fraction is being drawn into an armed struggle waged
by Naxalites.

It is clear that no amount of spending on defense, no amount of
patrolling the high seas, no amount of increasing the military and
police and equipping them with the latest weaponry can end the cycle
of violence or place India under a bubble of safety. Just as nuclear
India did not lead to more safety, but only to a nuclear Pakistan, no
amount of homeland security can save us. And inviting Israel's Mossad
and America's CIA/FBI to the security table is like giving the
anti-virus contract to those who spread the virus in the first place.
It can only make us more of a target for the next determined jehadi
attack.

Policing, Justice and the Media

As for draconian anti-terror laws, they too only breed terror as for
the most part they are implemented by a State machinery that has
imbibed majoritarian values. So in Modi's Gujarat after the ethnic
cleansing of Muslims in 2002, despite scores of confessions to rape
and murder captured on hidden camera, virtually no Hindu extremists
were punished while thousands of Muslims rotted in jail under
draconian laws. The same happened in Bombay despite the Shiv Sena
being found guilty by the Justice Shrikrishna Commission. Under
pressure a few cases were finally brought to trial but all escaped
with the lightest of knuckle raps. In stark contrast many Muslims
accused in the 1993 bomb blasts were given death sentences.

The bulk of our media, policing and judicial systems swallows the
canard that Muslims are by nature violent. Removing democratic
safeguards guaranteed by the Constitution can only make this worse.
Every act of wrongful imprisonment and torture that then follows is
likely to turn innocents into material for future terrorists to draw
upon. Already the double standards are visible. While the Students
Islamic Movement of India is banned, Hindutva outfits like the RSS,
the VHP, the Bajrang Dal, and the Shiv Sena remain legal entities. The
leader of the MNS, Raj Thackeray recently openly spread such hatred
that several north Indians were killed by lynch mobs. Amongst these
were the Dube brothers, doctors from Kalyan who treated the poor for a
grand fee of Rs.10 per patient. Raj Thackeray like his uncle Bal
before him, remains free after issuing public threats that Bombay
would burn if anyone had the guts to arrest him. Modi remains free
despite the pogroms of Gujarat. Congress party murderers of Sikhs in
1984 remain free. Justice in India is clearly not there for all.
Increasing the powers of the police cannot solve this problem. Only
honest and unbiased implementation of laws that exist, can.

It is a tragedy of the highest proportions that one such honest
policeman, Anti-Terrorist Squad chief Hemant Karkare, who had begun to
unravel the thread of Hindutva terror was himself gunned down, perhaps
by Muslim terror. It is reported that Col. Purohit and fellow Hindutva
conspirators now in judicial custody, celebrated the news of Karkare's
death. Until Karkare took charge, the Malegaon bomb blasts in which
Muslims were killed and the Samjhauta Express blasts in which
Pakistani visitors to India were killed were being blamed on Muslims.
Karkare exposed a hitherto unknown Hindutva outfit as masterminding a
series of killer blasts across the country. For his pains Karkare came
under vicious attack not just from militant Hindutva but from the
mainstream BJP. He was under tremendous pressure to prove his
patriotism. Was it this that led this senior officer to don helmet and
ill-fitting bullet proof vest and rush into battle with a pistol? Or
was it just his natural instinct, the same courage that had led him
against all odds, to expose Hindutva terror?

Whatever it was, it only underlines the fact that jehadis of all kinds
are actually allies of each other. So Bin Laden served George Bush and
vice-versa. So Islamic and Hindutva jehadis have served each other for
years. Do they care who dies? Of the 200 people killed in the last few
days by Islamic jehadis, a high number were Muslims. Many were waiting
to board trains to celebrate Eid in their hometowns in UP and Bihar,
when their co-religionists gunned them down. Shockingly the media has
not commented on this, nor focused on the tragedy at the railway
station, choosing to concentrate on tragedies that befell the
well-to-do. And it is the media that is leading the charge to turn us
into a war-mongering police state where we may lead lives with an
illusion of safety, but with the certainty of joylessness.

I am not arguing that we do not need efficient security at public
places and at vulnerable sites. But real security will only come when
it is accompanied by real justice, when the principles of democracy
are implemented in every part of the country, when the legitimate
grievances of people are not crushed, when the arms race is replaced
by a race for decency and humanity, when our children grow up in an
atmosphere where religious faith is put to the test of reason. Until
such time we will remain at the mercy of "patriots" and zealots.

Anand Patwardhan
November 2008

Speak in One Voice

I have written about this before, and I am writing about it, yet again, because it never ceases to dishearten me. It is the absence of a common language for communication in India, an Indian language. Long ago, there was a slogan for India, which said Unity in Diversity. Now I think it is just Diversity with no Unity. There are so many beautiful languages in the country, but not one language is known by all its citizen. Why?

It is really sad, when I sit in a foreign country, and the only language I can use to communicate with some fellow Indians is English. I have nothing against English, nor against the people personally, but it is just the state of things that make me sad. People fight within their own states to use only the local language of the state, and as a result we have not one common language to interact in except for English, sometimes not even that.

How do we unite, if we cannot even share our thoughts, we don't posses so much as a common means of expression. I have pushed Hindi, and will continue to do so as the national language of the country. If people have issues, let them. It is not my mother tongue, but I know it, and know it well, and also Hindi, or its various dialects are spoken by a majority of Indians. So I think its high time that the few who don't know it, make some efforts to learn the language. Learning a language does not make anyone small, it is a way of connecting to your own country, becoming more proficient in understanding and exchanging ideas. In a time when we stand to face terror threats to our country, does such meaningless rigidity and biased bickering not oppose our own cause?

The other day one of my neighbours paid me a visit, and we were sitting around chatting, when I said a couple of Hindi words, and drew a complete blank from her. I did not quite get it, till I realised that it was the Hindi she did not get, I switched gears to English immediately, and that was it. It felt bad, because Hindi is not a language that runs in my family either, but I know it, it is not the mother tongue of my husband either. But we both know it, and can converse fluently in it. We know it because its a common language that binds most of India together, and if we know it, why don't the many others? Why can they not take such a little bit of effort to unite?

Why do we bicker and fight and hurt our own selves, when just a little bit of effort is all that we need to unite. Back in school, we had once had T.N.Seshan as the chief guest in our school morning assembly on the day before the 15th of August. The skies were overcast, and when he took the mike, he said, "If it starts to rain during my speech, do not leave and go. What can you do for the country, if you cannot even get wet?". The words remain with me more than a decade later, and I am sure it remains with all the five thousand students who stood there that morning, and cheered. These are the tiniest little things that we can do, the power of which is immense in binding us to each other. Understanding and being able to have basic communication in a language is one of the smallest things we can do. But we don't, instead we fight, we resent. We let the evil politicians, get the better of us. How can knowing a language be harmful in anyway?

Wake up my fellow country men, bond, and fight together, as one against the real enemy. Embrace a language as your own, as one of the entire nation. Show the people who try to divide us, in this small but significant step, that we are together, we stand together, UNITED.

Apathy Good-Bye

Apathy, an emotion or probably the lack of one, which most people adapt to, as a form of self preservation of kinds. It is easier to live life, if we ignore the plight that is not ours, we can remain happy, as long as it is just about ourselves. And in a world which is so full of pain and agony, this is possibly an evolutionary requirement, apathy. But like everything in the world, too much of anything is not good. Complete apathy, is a scary and frightening situation.

It has been a long time now that we have shut ourselves up and gone on with our lives, as long as the things did not personally hurt us. Some of us are still lucky to be surviving unscathed from the fury and hate, but for how long and till when. The more we take, the more we are dished out. Things which start out small, become big, they grow and we then face the snow ball effect. The last time in living memory, that there has been any kind of uprising against injustice, is the Mandal Commission agitation. Students actually stood up and raised their voice, unfortunately, though a lot of precious lives were lost, and the quota did come into effect a few years down the line, after the situation had cooled down. This was an act of blatantly favouring the vote banks against the greater good. People raised their voices, and reacted, but the heat cooled off, and things continued as planned, and the increased quota was brought into effect. And no one did anything.

The state of affairs in the country is a result of years of apathy, apathy from people like you and me. We do not know our rights well, we don't mind paying a little bit of bribe if our work gets done, we live our lives in cushy comfort, trying to block out the world outside. How long and how far could the country go this way? Somewhere the breaking point would be reached and the entire system will melt down. We look up when big events like the Bombay attacks happen, and point fingers, not ever realising that it is actually the result of many years of our own wrong doings that have led to this situation.

When I say we don't know our rights, I really mean it. Do you know that if an accident victim is admitted to the hospital by someone, the police does not have the authority to ask for the person's details. Yes, we can take an injured person to the hospital and leave without giving any of our details, not even out name. A lot of the times people do not care to help because of the fear of retribution of some kind, but what if no one even found out who we were. There are loads of things like this, even I am not aware of it all, but we need to know, we must know our rights. It would be wonderful if schools, started to impart this kind of information as part of the curriculum, Our Rights, Duties and Laws, as the citizens of India. It is imperative knowledge, we all need to be aware of such things. Its only after a mail started doing the rounds, did I find out that after sunset and before sunrise, a woman cannot be arrested by male police officers in the absence of a female officer, and the male officers cannot have physical contact of any kind with the captive, which means they cannot even push, pull or drag. So if we say that the policemen are abusive or misuse their power, it is because we let them, due to our ignorance.(Things seemed to have changed now, with the courts ruling in favour of arresting women in the absence of female officers.) So we are as much to blame as are the ones who do the bad deeds. If you want to, you can read the Indian Constitution here, the link was left by someone in one of my earlier posts.

We pay bribe, yes we all do, and without fail, I can point a finger at each one of us who pays the extra bit to get the work done. Don't do it. I promise you I will not, starting today. Each one of us has to do this. It will not happen over night, but it will, and we have to be on the right side of things. Bribes are paid to the traffic havaldar, the peon in the government office, the clerk who holds our file. We have to stop. Our work might get delayed, we may have to suffer some inconvenience, but is it not worth the effort, for a better tomorrow, a bright India for our children? If there are no bribes, the unscrupulous would not gravitate towards government job, and we would have a better and efficient workforce there.

There are a million things against us now, and the only way it can be set right is by our own efforts. Its time to get proactive and not reactive. Reactiveness will only have a cascading effect on us. If we are alert, honest, active, we can make things fall in place, and most importantly we as people need to be united. We cannot , simply cannot break the unity and give in for a small personal benefit. Because when you do that, and continue to bribe, you travel along cratered roads too, face power-cuts, water shortages and remain unsafe always. Its not just about the small petty benefits , but also about a better standard of living, about walking down they roads and feeling happy looking around, not living in an expensive high rise and looking at slums all around. Accusing others of wrong doing is no use, it has to be an effort from us, we need to give the best to get the best.

Premio Dardos

Shalom from the Red Moonrise read this blog and deemed it worthy of being bestowed with this an award called the Premio Dardos. Her blog says this award is bestowed with the purpose of "acknowledging the values that every blogger shows in his/her effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary and personal values every day.". Thank you Shalom, for deeming this blog worthy of such acknowledgment and appreciation.

And there are the bloggers I read, who I think are truly deserving of this honour, and I wish to pass it onto them, as a small token of my admiration of their efforts.


Reflections - I love the sense of humour and honesty this blog has.

D - She feels deeply, and cares about things. She speaks up for what she thinks is wrong. Her writing is beautiful, just like her.

Chandni - A girl with loads of compassion and passion.

The Mad Momma - She cares, she is outraged by the wrongs around her, no matter how miniscule, because they do matter. She is extremely open and honest.

Calcutta Chromosome - Through his posts, he brings about a sense of awe, at his wit, his writing style and his unique viewpoint.

Mamma Mia - She writes with her heart, as a mother and as a person.

Gouri Dange - This lady knows her mind and has no issues with calling a spade a spade. She speaks what we all think.

Jira - I like her blog, because she finds meaning and beauty in the smallest things in life.

No rules as such to this award, feel free to bestow it on any blog you feel deserves it, and link them up. And a small request, please do display it on your blog.

Gratifyingly Delightful

.....is it, to be appreciated by fellow bloggers.

Reflections, who looks at the smallest things in life from such a witty perspective and D, whose writing is sheer poetry have chronologically over the past few days bestowed me with the 'Butterfly Award'. Had it not been for the attack on Bombay, this post would have been done long back. I am ecstatic, because this is my very first award, and more so at being awarded by two of my most favourite bloggers. Both would have definitely been on my list of awardees, had they not been the ones who gave it to me.

The Rules of the award -

1. Put the logo on my blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3. Nominate 10 other blogs.
4. Add links to those blogs on your post

5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

I pass on this award to -

1. The Quirky Quill - Her blog posts are usually hilarious, and always witty.
   
2. Bohemian Rhapsody - She has the cutest incidents to report, and a great sense of conviction and passion about things that matter.
   
3. Random Thoughts - Its a blog with sense, care, compassion and passion.
   
4. Twisted DNA - Humour, wit and laughter, that is what this blog is all about.
   
5. Thirtysix and Counting - Chic, sassy and sarcastic humour, it keeps me glued.
   
6. Boos' Baby Talk - A mommy blogger, with an amazing sense of humour.
   
7. The Brat, The Bean and Bedlam - A blogger, who is a mother, and a lot more. She is the most arduous and regular blogger around.
   
8. Unchaahi - Simply because this blog speaks passionately for a cause.
   
9. Random Harvest - A blogger, who knows her mind and speaks it.
   
10. Color Me Turmeric - A sight for sore eyes, simply beautiful.

Addendum - Spontaneous Mini has also re-awarded me with the Butterfly award.

And Now We Fight.

Now the attacks are over, the terrorists are dead or in captivity, and life, well mostly it is going on. But to leave it all behind and just move on blindly will be a grave mistake I think. There have been umpteen terrorist attacks in the country this year, and we are pretty much sitting and twiddling our thumbs, while this nonsense continues. We need to look at things we can do, things that are within our grasp as the lay common man.

It is really disheartening to see that the NSG commandos had to arrive in BEST buses at the Taj President to combat the terrorists. It was worse to see them take nearly three days to actually overpower the terrorists. If the official figures are to be believed and there were just four in the Taj, two at Nariman House and two at the Oberoi Trident, then indeed its shameful to the pride of my country to know that it took as long by such a huge number of commandos, policemen, Marcos, army men to overpower just these. I am sure they are well trained and equipped to handle such situations, so was there an issue between the various agencies there? I would not rule out the possibility. In no way do I think of our brave soldiers as any less valiant, but the strategists are what I am confused about. Was there a lack of proper planning, a proper attack plan? Maybe not because there were so many guests/ hostages at stake. But it is really discouraging for the average citizen to see such a slow and late response to the terrorist attacks, especially when the brave men were prepared to actually stand up and face the militants, the infrastructure, the planners, the logistics let them down, delaying them and causing heinous loss to precious lives. Indeed it is sad, and quite shocking when said in context of such a grave situation.

The politicians are off to being their filthy selves again, passing the blame onto everyone else, and never ever taking responsibility. Vilasrao Deshmukh ofcourse took the cake with the wonderful touring of the mangled Taj with his filmstar son, and the son's director friend. And no matter how much Ram Gopal Verma says, he was just there, we all know it is b******t. Would you or I have been allowed to look around, when the CM was around? The politicians are scum, we know it, as do they, but can they not have some respect for all the people who have died, the brave soldiers who laid down their lives to save their unworthy one? Its shockingly shameful, because these are the very people we elect to take care of us, protect us. And let me clearly add, they are not leaders, but just public servants. They eat our money, and show their true colours once in the office. R.R. Patil ofcourse had great quotes to offer, wonder how it would have been if his family had been among the victims in this attack. Its these people with such lackadaisical attitudes that kill the citizens of India,when they call such a massacre, just an incident. These people need to have their face blackened, and publicly whipped and stoned. The political parties, cannot show unity even in the face of such disaster, and they want us to elect them to be our government? The new ad by the Rajasthan CM is so pathetic, with her blaming the Congress for the terror attacks. Gaining political mileage out of such a sad situation, that's what these people do. They are politicians,nothing is sacred to them, and they will milk anything they can to get their own interests served. I don't really believe that the things would have been much different had it been any other party in power at the moment. I would not even be surprised, if we find out that some politician actually aided the terrorist, after all we have someone like Narendra Modi in power in this country. He is a terrorist too, and have no doubt about that. I had friends who were living in Gujarat at the time of the Godhra incident, and it was a well known fact that the police were ordered to not 'interfere', if Muslims were being attacked. Yes, he is a terrorist, and he is in position of power unfortunately. He plays dirty, communal politics, and wages the terror war too. I equate a Narendra Modi and his like to any other terrorist, and possibly worse, because a terrorist is openly hostile, while these dirty creatures, pretend to be good guys. At the end of the day I think politicians are as bad as the terrorists themselves.

When there are terrorists, there is no religion, no community. And we would be fools to label them as such. These are not normal human beings, their souls are too distorted and mutilated for them to be human beings. Its sad that there are films glorifying terrorists and other criminals, because no matter what no one can be excused for killing another human being, unless its for self defence. No it is not done, no matter what the reason. The two terrorists who were at Nariman house, had lived there on the pretense of being students, had taken advantage of the hospitality of the kind Rabbi and his wife, only to render their child an orphan a few months later. Namakharam!!People who are righteous(as the terrorists claim to be) do not pretend or lie. If it is revenge, or an act of passion, it is not planned nor is it acted out in cowardice. A man who is convinced of his acts, does not lie, like these two terrorists who spoke to a new channel when the attack was underway, and lied about everything, from their origin, to their numbers, and all else.(I really don't understand why the channel actually aired this nonsense, accompanied by with their pathetic style of journalism.)If they are so to say, brave men, let them fight a war with the armed and equipped defence forces. But no, they are cowards, who will attack unarmed, helpless, innocent people. The terrorists are demons, they are pure evil, they belong to no religion, no community, they are just forms of the devil. Please stop associating these people with any community, because they belong to none. They are killers, mass murderers and that is the only identity they have. And we need to fight them as such. When we give them communal identities, we further their cause, rather than kill it.

We cannot wait for the government or its agencies to get up and help us. We have to take the steps ourselves. When we Indians, think of the government, it is as a synonym for corruption and inefficiency. Right from the top brass to the clerks and peons in government offices. Corruption and inefficiency is what defines them. It has been this way for so long now, that we have forgotten to even realise that this is not acceptable, it is wrong. I can recount a million tales of blatant corruption here, but there is just no sense in that, because I am sure you will have a million more to recount. We all know what it is like, and how it is. We need to regain the awareness that corruption and the government cannot be synonymous, they cannot go hand-in-hand. We have to be stern and strict about that. We can no longer fear the policemen when we see them on the streets and shut up our mouths when we see them take things from the shops without paying.We have to speak up, and we all have to do that. When I was doing my Diwali shopping this year, and there were loads of hawkers on the streets selling their wares, a policeman(in plainclothes) just came by, yelled at the hawker we were buying from, picked up a couple of her things and walked away, as if that was her punishment. I ran behind him, and got the things back, I told him I wanted to buy those things. If I hadn't he would have just taken them home, because cherap diyas and rangoli colours are of hardly any use in the police station. There are two things I wish to point out here. One, I would have been a little indulgent at this act of misusing his power, if he actually would do his duties well, provide me with real protection from the bad guys, and not harass me. But the thing is if he had been doing all of those things, he would not really steal, would he? If it is really illegal for those hawkers to sit on the streets, remove them, don't steal from them. Second, it was the reaction of my mother-in-law later that shook me up. I had just instinctively handed over my child to her, and ran behind the policeman,when I returned, she was almost trembling. Her face was pale and scared. She made me promise I would never do such a thing again. She was scared because in our country, we cannot even have faith in the people who are supposed to protect us, to actually not harm us instead. Because here policemen rape and kill at will. We have to oppose this, we cannot say.... chalta hai(its ok).The Mad Momma has pledged to not take the easy way out in the future,and we all need to do it. No paying the bribe to the clerk, to get a telephone connection fast, no bribing the traffic havaldar if we are at fault, we have to stop, ourselves, to make them stop. And whenever possible, whenever we are asked for a bribe, remind them of things that make them inefficient, gently, and then ask them how can they have the face to ask for money. Gandhigiri, yes try that, but let us do it, let us not remain complacent and let things happen to us. We have to do it.

A fellow mommy blogger has come up with some concrete steps too. And I really like them, because we have to start from the beginning, wash off all the dirty stereotypes, and misconceptions from our hearts and minds, and start afresh, and what better place for that than the children. We need to instill in them a prejudice free mind, where there is no judgement, no labelling, where humanity is prime. We have to not let them tread on a path which says 'XYZ community is bad'. Let the labeling, if any be based individually, on a person based on his deeds, not those of others. The schools, the teachers have a great role to play here. They can instill the right morals, the right values, a love for mankind, a prejudice free outlook, a real understanding of what is right and what is wrong.

It is high time we took things in our own hand, start out on our own, we cannot depend on anyone else. We as people, as human beings, not only in India, but all over the world, need to unite and fight these goons. We have to stop bickering, we have to stop being brainwashed by politicians with vested interests, we have to be more tolerant, we have to remove our prejudices and fight the terrorists. That is how we will fight, by uniting, and staying strong. Not letting the politicians or the goons divide us. We have to stand together and tell them that they cannot divide us, that we are all bound together by humanity, a force far greater than all others. It is high time now, that we realise the need for a change, a change that starts right from us, and changes the whole world. We cannot wait for someone else to do it anymore, we have to be the change.

A Small Homage

When the people on Indian soil were under threat, there were men who stood up to shield the people from the bullets of the militants. These were brave men, brave, strong men who went up there to fight those cowardly goons, ready to give up their lives to save ours. Some of them lost their precious lives, extremely precious, in a world where people are so self absorbed that it is a rarity to find men who would willingly step into the line of fire to protect others. I salute these bravehearts in my small, puny, almost insignificant way, pay my homage and respects to these wonderfully brave men. They did in flesh and blood what we pay to see heroes in movies do, actually fight the evil and take the bullets to save the innocent people.

Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan

Hemant Karkare

Vijay Salaskar

Ashok Kamte

Gajender Singh

I bow my head in your honour, and pray for the restful peace of your souls. You have even in your death stood up and fought for the weaker, protecting them and nurturing their lives.

Salute!

This homage also goes to the other security men who lost their lives, but did not get much of a mention. And to the fire fighters, who without any protection for themselves, went about their duties and saved many a lives from burning to death.

I am proud to be a part of the same nation which is the motherland of brave men like these, and all the other forces that fought hard to save as many innocent lives as they could.