More than a year to hang Kasab!! Is it something that we should be proud of??

Last week I saw an interview of our home minister P.Chidambaram in the wake of the anniversary of 26/11. He mentioned that he is glad and proud that Kasab was not punished hurriedly and it shows that what a great democracy India is where no one is above the law and even Kasab will be punished as per the judicial procedure. The whole world is watching that how India treats all the citizens equally.

I completely disagree with his viewpoint. The whole world is watching how it takes more than a year to punish someone in an open and shut case and that too in a fast track process. Will the Congress government ever understand the gravity of the situation and wake up from its sleep of complacency. The entire nation wants Kasab hanged at the earliest.

Also, this week marked the 25th anniversary of the most tragic incident in the lives of the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy. 25 years on, we are still discussing whose fault it was and how the nexus between the then state government of Congress and Union Carbide managed to brush off the issue under the carpet. I am sure 25 years down the line we would be discussing the same thing. And the then Home Minister also will mouth the same words, that all are equal in eyes of Indian law. Probably that's why we have committees after committees to discuss 84 Sikh riots, 92-93 Babri demolition, Gujarat riots, n number of scams by politicians and absolutely no conviction.

Is it surprising that someone who was convicted for the Gujarat riots was Zaheera Seikh( I am sure most of us have forgotten her name, the scapegoat made by the Gujarat govt and NGOs ), who saw her family being burnt in the infamous Best Bakery. She was convicted for perjury and for changing her statements in the court due to outside influence. Yes she probably was guilty of influence but was she the only one who ought to have punished? Or was it because she did not have a strong political clout like the others.

Its shameful that our country has such an abysmal track record of never ending court cases and judiciary influencing politicians.

Religion - a big question mark??

Its all over the media. The anniversary of 26/11 terrorist attacks in Mumbai is still fresh in our memory. It wasn't the first or most gruesome terrorist strike in India but it was definitely the one that held our nation to ransom for the longest time. It was also the one that made us all introspect our own systems. Media is full of the brave stories of those who sacrificed their lives, those who were innocent victims, those who had a miraculous escape, those who are left behind and the agony of each overwhelms you with grief.

What gives birth to such heartless, ready to kill themselves terrorists? Could be oppression, could be poverty, could be the greed of power, could be the anger out of seeing your community being tormented but can definitely not be religion. Which religion in the world advocates such a bloodbath? Which religion says not to respect other religions? Yet why do most of the religious leaders advocate such strong jingoistic ideas? Only because they can benefit from the power they achieve by such means?

I can understand a poverty stricken Kasab joining a terrorist group for money but I cannot understand a well educated, well to do Headley doing the same. What possibly can be a motivation for him? How can anyone who has read a Koran ever think that it is Allah's will to kill innocent people? Same goes for any other religion and religious groups. Which Krishna or Ram tells Bajrang Dals and VHPs to kill innocent nuns? Which religion advocates forcible conversions?

When will people stop being blinded by a handful of leaders who just want to gain power by using the name of God. I read 2 heart whelming stories of a waiter of Leopold Cafe and a taxi driver both killed in the 26/11 attacks and both leaving behind a widow and 5 and 4 children respectively. The first thought that crossed my mind was that how could a waiter or taxi driver raise 4 children? Should not the religious leaders be teaching that first. Rather they do exactly the opposite. Preach people to multiply so that their folk can increase. But what kind of community are you going to breed if you cannot afford to raise them.

I am upset because I only have questions. I don't have any answers. I feel helpless that why I cannot change things and why the leaders who can change do nothing about it. Why the whole saga of religion and humanity has just become a long question paper that no one can answer? And tomorrow if I want to become a leader then will I also have to take a similar path for making people listen to me? A path which preaches hatred towards other community.

Impotent Maharashtra govt and terrorization of Shiv Sena rocks the Mumbai boat!!

I am a proud Mumbaikar but these days I have to fight hard to defend my city. Sweltering weather, poor roads, overburdened infrastructure, lack of open spaces, the incompetent administration and the war of 2 Senas. The list is endless. Shiv Sena attacks IBN's offices in India. After Shiv Sena burnt effigies of Australian PM after the attacks on Indian students, one had to think of ways to defend that kind of reaction. Sena has proved once again that defense is not required. They time and again demonstrate that this is their basic nature and Australian, M.F.Hussain, Sachin, journalists all are equal to them when it comes to venting out their frustration.

Cannot help drawing parallels between Shiv Sena and any terrorist group. A terrorist group recruits dirt poor youth and brainwashes them to become suicide bombers while Shiv Sena recruits unemployed Marathi youth and uses them to drive fear. Both exploit a community's vulnerability to strengthen their hold. Both try to justify their means for what they think will lead to a good end.

Another question that comes to my mind is why no terrorist attack has taken place on American soil post 9/11 and why Shiv Sena behaves periodically bad in Mumbai? Answer is a good administration and a pathetic administration respectively. The impotent Congress govt in Maharashtra does nothing while the Thackerays of the world continue to hold Mumbai at ransom. If a Shiv Sena MP challenges a media house' right to criticize Bal Thackeray, he should be suspended from the Parliament for challenging the fundamental right of freedom of expression. As usual the government will not take any action and we will continue to be burdened with a spineless govt because of the lack of a better alternative.

Meanwhile the common man looks for excuses to defend the behavior of its leaders as the world watches the quality of men/women we chose to lead the nation.

Sachin's new sport - the great Indian tug of war

Sachin Tendulkar must be preplexed. While he should be enjoying completing 20 years in the world of cricket and setting a record, he is busy becoming a target for all politicians. His innocent remark about his being an Indian first and then Maharashtrian (weren't we taught that in school) has invoked response from all quarters of politics. The current scoreboard reads like this, Congress and BJP in favour of Sachin, Bal Thackeray (I wonder which school he went to) led Shiv Sena against him and Mr. Raj from MNS yet to declare. Raj must be contemplating that whether his remarks against Sachin will aleinate or bring together his Marathi folk. (And after his win in elections, even I think these things are of utmost importance.)

Sachin has definitely bowled a googly and Bal Tackeray struck it without thinking about the consequences. You can even be pardoned for speaking against Amitabh Bachachan in Maharashtra (no thanks to the way he associates himself to Amar Singh) but when it comes to Sachin its a different ball game altogether. Though this sounds amusing to me that because Sachin is a Maharashtrian his comment cannot be contested when he says India first but because AB is from UP his comment can be contested.

Its good to see Sachin rise to the occasion though. When any faction of Muslim does anything wrong, prominent Muslims are expected to publicly speak against them to show their patriotism towards India. I see an analogy because now prominent Maharashtrians are also expected to speak up against the so called Marathi Manoos gang.

For now it looks like that the great Sachin Tendulkar is also not spared in being made a scapegoat. Am sure he is not very ecstatic about being supported by some parties and them making an example out of him because he doesn't want to play political favourites. And while this happens, the whole nation watches our politicians playing the tug of war with the great man.

Why no politician protests about Manu Sharma being granted parole?

Firstly, I was not aware that convicted criminals could be granted parole because their mother was sick. Thanks to Manu Sharma, the convicted murderer of Jessica Lal, I know that now. A little research informed me that, "under Section 3 of the Temporary Release Act, 1988", the State Government has the authority to release prisoners temporarily on some basic grounds as stated in jail manuals. We all know that Manu Sharma's father is a Congressman and its Congress government in Delhi as well as centre. So it didn't come as a surprise that he was granted parole for visiting his supposedly 'sick' mother who looked quite hale and hearty.

But what took me by surprise was why I did not hear a murmur of protest from any politicians about this move. Obviously the move was a standing ovation to the corruption in India. Then why no MNS, SS, BJP came forward to create a ruckus over it and raise slogans? Manu Sharma was quietly released on a parole, right under our media's vigil nose and we didn't even hear a whisper until the reports of his late partying surfaced. And yet no politician thinks its a worthy enough topic to be raised in parliament. Probably it doesn't evoke sentiments of emotional Indians like religion and linguistic issues do.

Is religion losing its appeal?

I recently watched a CNN-IBN debate on the fatwa issued against Vande Matram by Darul Uloom. The supporter of the fatwa insisted that bowing to one's nation is unIslamic as one can bow only in front of Allah. The one against fatwa (also a Muslim) accused the Darul Uloom of misinterpretation of Vande Matram. Then there were accusations that it was Shiv Sena - BJP who triggered the fire by making Vande Matram compulsory, knowing that it was against Islamic principals. Few argued that when Muslim children could sing Prayers to Lord in Convent schools then why not Vande Matram. Suddenly the debate shifted to how innocent Muslims are made victims of police terrorism hunt. The role of Home Minister Chidambaram was also debated because he had gone to Darul's convention as they had passed a fatwa against terrorism too. Poor HM was accused of pseudo secularism and by the saffrons and not doing enough for Muslims by the Islam hardliners.

And all this made my head reel. I don't want to take sides because I don't have any opinion on this. The whole debate seems pointless. Didn't religion originate to civilize people? To give them sense of right or wrong and make them love their fellow humans. If this is what religion has transcended to, do we need a religion? If it teaches us to only look at the negatives in other religions and has just become a tool in the hands of the leaders to manipulate the naive, hasn't it lost its original purpose?

Yet history shows us that anarchy mostly prevailed in countries that didn't follow religion and civilization came earlier to the ones that did. But sadly a handful of leaders at the top have changed the course of religion. I thought the whole debate was pointless when there was so much that needs to be done for the upliftment of poor in the society, when everyday number of Muslims are being killed by Islamic militants and Hindus by Maoist militants. Ultimately the terrorists will unite to form a religion of their own, one that will terminate the world contrary to the religion that helped the human evolution.

A song about 26/11....how about hanging Qasab first?

Indians are an emotional lot and many a times we look like emotional fools in the eyes of the world. The following news items does makes us look foolish. A song is being prepared which will be sung by Sonu Nigam and will also have the voice of Amitabh Bachchan, dedicated to the victims of the 26/11 terrorist attack at a day long function commemorating the victims. Now, I am not against the song or dedication but the fact that Qasab is still alive and kicking and has made our judiciary look like a circus is much more crucial issue to be resolved that making a song.

Many innocent lives are lost in terrorist attacks every year. Be it Maoism or Islamic militant groups or LTTE or ALFA or any other group, we as a nation have not been able to do much about tackling the menace. Should we then go around making a song for every attack or make it a yearly process dedicating to all? Making a song, lighting a few candles, giving an emotional lecture and making a few speeches looks silly when the accused is still not convicted. Its similar to making an emotional video when our cricketers go for the World Cup and playing it again and again on air while India gets kicked out in the Prelims itself. Its very irritating and just highlights our incompetency even more.

Won't our police look foolish while arranging a function when the main assassin is asking for mutton biryanis and deodorants?

Why dont we have good roads in India?

Recently, on a car journey in Melbourne, I was admiring the roads of Australia. Being a Mumbaikar, I am not used to smooth roads devoid of potholes that are not dug every few centimeters. Australia, is the first country I have traveled to outside India and hence I have only the Mumbai roads to compare with. Seeing the poor conditions of the roads in our country, I always thought that probably it was a soil issue that supposedly good quality roads were full of potholes during rainy season and that most of the roads were forever going through repair work.

This time I was traveling with a civil engineer who has worked on road construction projects in US, Pune and now in Melbourne. I asked him is corruption really the reason for our roads to be so bad or it has something to do with the texture of our soil or any such technicality? I always like to give a person the benefit of doubt and though I know that road construction projects involve huge kickbacks between contractors and politicians, I still believed that probably something was naturally wrong with our roads. He said that corruption is the only reason for poor roads in India. He says he was exasperated with the corruption while working in India and didn't want to continue in such an environment. In most of the cases, there are under the table deals while rewarding the contracts and probably the contractors lose so much money in bribing that they compensate by using sub standard material for building the roads. And more repair work means more revenue for them, so more the number of repairs needed, better the business.

Other than this, I think there is no reason that why Mumbai, which is the financial capital of India should have such a poor infrastructure and be challenged by rains year after year. Its sad that corruption takes away so much of the taxpayer's money and we have to forcefully accept such conditions. Sometimes I wish I would have done law. I would sue the government and contractor for every poor road in Mumbai and for causing irreversible damage to my back by traveling on them.