.bringing down the beast.

It’s unimaginable what human beings are capable of doing to each other. Three days of mayhem in Mumbai leaves us stunned and asking a lot of questions.

The attack wouldn’t have happened if the young perpetrators, before setting off to kill innocent people have had asked themselves; is it worth fighting and dying for an ideology or a political cause that demands the blood of 5000 innocents? If there is a force that is smart enough to convince the worthiness of this cause and mentally prepare educated young men to kill innocent civilians, then that’s the enemy we have to bring down.

A war against terrorism can’t be won with weapons and tactics because rules of a conventional war don’t apply here. You can cut off the funding and burn down the infrastructure of a terror organization, but how can you fight a highly motivated terrorist? You just can’t. Of course, you can neutralize him, but it’s just a matter of time before someone replaces him. ‘One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter’ I believe this was said about Yasser Arafat, after his death. To the Palestinians he was a great freedom fighter and the Israelis considered him as a terrorist. While we thank our armed forces for killing those terrorists, a group of aspiring ‘freedom fighters’ might be keenly listening to the inspiring story of how ‘a few young men lost their life fighting the evil Indian armed forces’ and they will soon arm themselves to fight and die like their heroes.

People in the Indian subcontinent have lost faith in the political system. Most of Pakistan’s politicians are educated in the west and have charming personalities. But they are just the pretty political faces of the country; they don’t have control over their army, the ISI or anything for that matter. These politicians are so helpless, they risk losing their head if they criticize the army of make a move against the local terror groups. Pakistan has become a safe haven for breeding terrorists who are capable of doing unimaginable crime against humanity.

In India, political parties are like warring clans. Close to 200 people have died in the Mumbai attack and the opposition leader was not ready to visit the place along with the Prime Minister, nor was he willing to attend an all-party meeting, fearing that it might help the ruling party in the coming election.

We have forgotten that the power lies in our hand. We let a petty politician like Raj Thackeray unleash terror on North Indian immigrants. He ordered his henchmen to strike upon the poorest of poor. Where is he now? He hasn’t uttered a word since the terror attack, maybe AK57 and grenades are too much for him to comprehend. There were reports of three MPs stuck in Taj during the attack. MPs usually have their dinner in five star hotels? Who is paying for their luxuries? We must not let anyone rise above the law or forget his responsibilities to the nation.

This gruesome incident has brought us together as a nation, stories of selfless sacrifice will be always remembered and a stronger faith in our country will bring down this beast one day.

Oh Mama… It’s Obama!!

After 21 months of campaigning at an expense of over $2 billion, America selects Barak Obama as its 44th President. It’s amazing to know how much time and energy this country has put in, so that it gets a leader it so desperately needed.

African slaves were first brought to Jamestown, Virginia in 1619; 400 years later, a black American becomes the President of the country. Obama promised, Change; by electing him, the country has proved how much it has already changed.

I was listening to Obama’s acceptance speech. “This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change…..” he said. I wonder how ready he is for this job. He has to fight a global financial crisis, bring back troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, deal with the climate change issue and the list goes on. He doesn't look very confident; maybe he is just tired after the election. I really hope he lives up the expectation and delivers the ‘change’ he has promised.



REAR VIEW: I am using WORD 2007 in my laptop; it didn’t recognize ‘Obama’ until I added it to the dictionary, till then it suggested ‘Osama’ :D