A New Year

And ye, who have met with Adversity's blast,
And been bow'd to the earth by its fury;
To whom the Twelve Months, that have recently pass'd
Were as harsh as a prejudiced jury -
Still, fill to the Future! and join in our chime,
The regrets of remembrance to cozen,
And having obtained a New Trial of Time,
Shout in hopes of a kindlier dozen.

In short wishing you a happy new year

Have a great year

Musings

I am convinced more than ever that what I have always suspected is true "MY MIND IS MY BIGGEST ENEMY".

Its been there since childhood. I will not think the best but the worst. And the point is it has seldom happened but still I just cant control my mind.

Some people fear that others mock them. I fear my mind. It mocks me at every moment, convinces me all is for nothing and hammers in my head that I am making a caricature of myself.

There are times when in my head there are two people , haranguing with each other. Its like Jekyl and Hide arguing with each wins. Sanity still wins but the insane part ratlles the sane part a bit more each time.

Why the strong emotions? It was all happy till about two hours back and a small sentence then set off a bomb inside me.

Suddenly one feels like snapping at everyone. The sane part knows how incorrect it is and tries to bring back the state to normal but its impossible. Thankfully I am in a hostel where I can hide in my room but if I was with company I could say unforgivable words. That's the devil inside roaring out.

But then emotions make us human. The trick must therefore lie in hiding the dangerous ones.

And if one fails then..... Prozac Zindabad

Benazir Bhutto Dead

The latest news to come out of Pakistan confirms that Benazir Bhutto has died from injuries sustained in a suicide attack on her rally. If true and assuming it to be so, it signals a serious rise in level of conflict in Pakistan.

The signs are all there. Now there can be no short-term peace. The war in Pakistan has started. People could argue that we dont know who are the culprits and the blame cannot thus be appropriated but I am going to for the time-being assume that the culprits are the militant groups which have been so active recently. One problem however is that its been reported that she was shot in the head and neck. I am willing to accept that no one can stop a determine suicide bomber from blowing himself up but how the hell did a shooter get so close. Where was security.

The waves of suicide attacks that we saw recently are very likely to continue. Military action is not a balm that can magically wish away conflict. Its going to be a long journey.

Ms. Bhutto's death also brings into question the elections in Pakistan. The death of a leading candidate in such a brutal way brings into question how free the elections will be. Pakistan needs hope or else it could plunge deep into instability that would only bring further chaos. Of course her party could get the sympathy vote, but the question is who would be the new P.M.

Moving on,before a martyr of her is made I would like to remind the world of her legacy. As a P.M. she was once one of the most high profile
female leaders but her administration was accused of being very corrupt. She was Harvard and Oxfordeducated but during her time supported the Taliban(we all know who funded it) and also militant violence in Kashmir.

She returned from exile back to Pakistan despite obvious danger to herself. If she did it for the country ,it could be considered to be as courageous act as any possible.In fact after the earlier attack on her convoy when she had just returned, she said " I know some people will think it was naive to return to Pakistan despite death threats. But if you believe in a cause you have to pay a price... We are prepared to risk our lives. But we're not prepared to surrender this nation to militants."

But humans are more primitive. We always run after gains. The Bhutto family has played a deadly game with power, money and death. Her death could be the close of another chapter.

Benazir Bhutto followed her father into politics, and both of them died because of it - he was executed in 1979, she fell to a bomber today

Benazir Bhutto was the last remaining bearer of her late father's political legacy.

Her brother, Murtaza - who was once expected to play the role of party leader - fled to the then-communist Afghanistan after his father's fall.

From there, and various Middle Eastern capitals, he mounted a campaign against Pakistan's military government with a militant group called al-Zulfikar.

He won elections from exile in 1993 and became a provincial legislator, returning home soon afterwards, only to be shot dead under mysterious circumstances in 1996.

Benazir's other brother, Shahnawaz - also politically active but in less violent ways than Murtaza - was found dead in his French Riviera apartment in 1985.

She is survived by three children. It is a question who will be the next Bhutto to rise to center-stage

For all her faults, for all her short-comings, we in the end cannot deny her importance.The legacy she leaves behind is mixed but I hope her death galvanizes Pakistan's society against violence and the mad fire-breathing mullahs.

May Allah give peace to her soul.

Merry Christmas and the bigger picture

Well its a hot hot day here in Pune but I hope someone's enjoying a white Christmas.

I hope you have a great day and enjoy it all.

Since I am discussing Christmas I shall talk a bit about Christianity. Another of the Abrahamic religion's , Christianity has more in common is Islam than any other religion. Many people believe in a clash of religions or civilizations theory but I don't believe in such a thing. The problem is there are too many sabre rattlers on both sides of the fence. I did like the pope trying to initiate dialogue but when he asked "what good has Islam brought", I wanted to ask what good has Christianity brought. Because the kettle cannot call the coal black!! If there are examples that could be attributed to Islam's short-comings , there are as many that are valid for Christianity.
The pope wanted to set up an internal debate but he just firmed up the battle-lines.

Anyway moving on, if there is a religious leader I really admire its the Archbishop of Canteburry, Dr. Rowan Williams. Young and educated , religious yet having the strength to listen to the other side.

I just love his speeches. From last years christmas day sermon:--

In his sermon for Christmas Day, Dr Williams tells how, whilst visiting a crèche attached to Bethlehem’s Holy Family Hospital funded by international donations, he cradled an abandoned new-born child in his arms. He recounts asking the hospital's director, Robert Tabash why the standard of care was so good, despite the harsh economic conditions in the town:

“Dr Tabash said that all of this is important simply because ‘the poorest deserve the best’ …'The poorest deserve the best': when you hear that, I wonder if you can take in just how revolutionary it is. They do not deserve what’s left over when the more prosperous have had their fill, or what can be patched together on a minimal budget as some sort of damage limitation. And they don’t ‘deserve’ the best because they’ve worked for it and everyone agrees they’ve earned it. They deserve it simply because their need is what it is and because where human dignity is least obvious it’s most important to make a fuss about it.

Dr Rowan Williams also urges pilgrims to visit the Holy Land in support of all the communities who live there. Reflecting on his recent experiences in the region, he says that one of the striking things about the visit was the challenge posed by the lack of hope for a political solution:

“One of the most chilling things on this journey to the Holy Land was the almost total absence in both major communities of any belief that there was a political solution to hand. So step back from that for a moment and ask, ‘What do both the communities in the Holy Land ask from us – not just from that convenient abstraction, the “international community”, but from you and me?’

What was needed to create trust and hope, he said, was ordinary people reaching out to the region:

“Go and see, go and listen; let them know, Israelis and Palestinians alike, that they will be heard and not forgotten. Both communities in their different ways dread –with good reason – a future in which they will be allowed to disappear while the world looks elsewhere. The beginning of some confidence in the possibility of a future is the assurance that there are enough people in the world committed to not looking away and pretending it isn’t happening. It may not sound like a great deal, but it is open to all of us to do; and without friendship, it isn’t possible to ask of both communities the hard questions that have to be asked, the questions about the killing of the innocent and the brutal rejection of each other’s dignity and liberty.”

Anyway this year he has called to take care of the planet. Another minister has called to welcome immigrants and not to leave them out. Read the message

The Dead Haunt us from the past

Omayra Sánchez was one of the 25,000 victims of the Nevado del Ruiz (Colombia) volcano which erupted on November 14, 1985. The picture was taken shortly before she died. She was alive for three days trapped and no one could help her.

Omayra was trapped up to her neck in water, concrete, and other debris for three days before she succumbed to gangrene and hypothermia. During three nights of agony, Omayra seemed strong but was suffering. According to a journalist who kept records of the events, Omayra sang and had normal conversations with the people who were trying to help her. The little girl was thirsty and scared. On the third night, Omayra began hallucinating, saying that she did not want to be late for school. At some point she asked the people to leave her so they could rest.

Television coverage of the disaster introduced her to the world when she was still alive. The photo shown here was taken hours before her death and published after her death.

I was looking at the photo when I realized the antiquity of the photograph. Omayra has been dead for 21 years. On the day of the volcano erruption, I was three months old. On the day she died ,I was three months three days old.

The 23,000 deaths may be a statistic but each death is an individual tragedy.

Its something to think about. We humans call ourselves so civilized, our civilization is at its Zenith and still such tragedies occur.

To everyone who reads this post, I have only one request. Download the photograph on your comp. And then once its done , open the photograph with windows picture and media viewer and zoom it to the size of your monitor.

And look into the eyes and imagine three days of suffering before a horrible death.

Some people consider photographs to be a sacrilege. It is said that each photograph captures a part of the person soul.

Maybe a part of the soul of Omayra Sanchez stares back at us!!!

Bye. Happy musings

One tight slap

This incident happened yesterday as I was going from my college hostel to the mosque for Eid-ul-Zuha prayers.

Now my college is situated on a highway and the location itself is quite outside the main city. As I drove out of the gate and had driven like ten metres ahead , I saw a motorcycle parked on the side of the road. A couple were standing next to the bike with the lady's back to me while the guy stood facing her , so consequently I could see his face. ISnce our college is on a major interconnecting road, I assumed they were one of the hundreds of people who trvel over 15-20 km one-way for work.

I was still a little way off when the guy swung his hand and gave the girl a tight slap. Now I can assure it was no playful spank coz with the swing he had I am sure the slap was solidly painful. I can be sure because I know the strength a guy has.

It was early morning and except me I think no one saw the slap. Even the pillion rider on my motor-cycle did not see it.

I was still like 4-5 metres from where the couple were and I slowed my bike to stop and assist. But then I realized a thing. The girl had not moved from her place, there was no sob, no indignation from her, no cries for assistance. She had accepted the slap. And me stopping had no relevance. It was finally a personal matter.

Why do females accept physical abuse? A recent poll in India revealed that more than 50% of women believe that their husbands have a right to beat them up. Is not it said. People like me can cry themselves hoarse over the need for violence-free homes but if women accept violence as a natural thing, nothing will happen.

Anyway though I did not stop , I wish I had stopped and told the guy this-"Be careful. The lady can slap you and by law you cannot punish her. But if the lady had decides to report you for the slap, you are going to jail under the Domestic Violence Act". The only question si did the lady know of the act.

Teraa chehra kitna suhaana lagta hai By Kaifi Bhopali

Tera chehra kitna suhaana lagta hai,
Tere aage chaand puraana lagta hai.

Tirche tirche teer nazar ke lagte hain,
Seedhaa seedhaa dil pe nishaana lagtaa hai.

Aag ka kyaa hai pal do pal mein lagti hai,
Bujhate bujhate ek zamaana lagtaa hai.

Sach to ye hai phool ka dil bhee chhalni hai,
Hanstaa chehra ek bahaana lagta hai.

ANother beautiful Ghazal. I love the third sher.

Eid Mubarak

Eid mubarak to EVERONE .

hAVE A BEAUTIFUL DAY