Posted by Maddy on November 29, 2008
I write this with tearful eyes as I watch the nation salutes its martyrs. The operation in Mumbai has come to an end after sixty hours. I have spent all these hours, like billion others in this planet, following what the enemy would call their most spectacular attack on Indian soil.
I am seething with anger and I am not alone. I have little connection with Mumbai , but does that not mean that I am any less angry.
I believe that we are a great nation with very competent people, but the defining hours from last two days have changed my views. How can so many competent people allow themselves to be ruled by a state which is so callous?
I have lived through this hell since my adulthood, first as a young sikh man who was a soft target for both the police and the militants during days of terrorism in Punjab.
I remember getting out of my house everyday and wondering if I would ever return back to its safety. The militants would drive and spray bullets on all and sundry on streets. Every loud noise would seem like an end. As a young Sikh, one would not know who would get you first, the police or the militants.
Twenty five years later, the grit and intellect of the people of India has transformed India economically. But, the same people have allowed its leaders to continue playing havoc with their lives.
The people of India have chosen to be swayed by leaders, who haven’t been able to provide the very basic that the civil society needs. Security, water, roads, energy and health and education. I have always been proud of Indian Defence forces. But our political leadership with its skewed thinking and narrow vote-based agenda., has reduced even that to tatters…..
We, the People of India
Its time to stand up. Its time not for exasperation, but for action. Its time for Indians to stand up and not allow the Politicians and the politics of this country to hold the people of India to ransom any more. Just as our nation stood on the brink of being one of the world leading economic powerhouse, the ineptness, the self serving interests and the corruption of our politics have once again brought us down. This country belongs not to the politicians but to the people of India.
It is a pity that it took a massive terror attack for te people to take action. It is a pity that innocent lives must be lost for the people of India to rise against the barbarians that rule us. It is also a great pity that it takes an attack on our our elitist bastions for us to to be motivated to take stands. For all the farmers that committed suicide, for all the bomb blasts in not so upmarket areas, for all the horrendous crimes perpetuated against the people in the rural areas have never created so much furor as this attack in Mumbai has.
Never mind. It is better late than never. It is time to take matter in our own hands. It is time to make amends for our own casual and selfish attitudes. It is time to make the voice of the people heard so loud that that our governments and politicians, those people in authority who seem to think they are the feudal lords and rulers are frightened into action.
It is time that we the people of India recognize that that the government is not our ruler, but our servant. They are elected by us, and paid by us to serve us. They have taken an oath to protect the very Constitution that they desecrate with impunity through all their actions.
And now technology has given the people of India a powerful voice. A voice that cannot be controlled by newspapers or by the media – for they too operate for the profit of their shareholders. It is the voice of the new media. Through the blogosphere. Through twitter. Through sms. Technology has given the people of India the means to take their destiny in their own hands, by making their voices heard loud and clear. By making our Democracy a true Democracy. Not a corrupt one that manipulated people’s minds through deliberate misinformation and ignorance.
If we the people of India want to see a Golden Age of India – we need to take it’s future in our own hands.
Mumbai terror attacks – this gets more confusing
Sitting in NY in my hotel room, trying to work out what is actually going on ! I woke up to search the internet and understood that it was all over. Now I am watching CNN and watching images of the battle still going on ! And now I am getting texts of people I or my friends knew that died in the attacks. How come such a small group continue to hold the Indian armed forces and Mumbai’s security and police force off ? And what are all the people doing hanging around watching the goings ? There is something completely tragic and surreal about what I am watching.
What was the purpose of the Mumbai terror attacks ?
As Mumbai mourns and limps back to semblance of normalcy, the inevitable questions arise. Who was behind this attack, who were the terrorists and why was our intelligence such a failiure and will our government continue to be so pathetically inept at leadership. But one question that will keep lingering is, what did the terrorists want ? What was the true purpose of their attack ?
Yes, to create chaos and fear at the heart of India’s financial capital. Yes, to make a statement of how easy it is create mayhem. But there seemed no pattern to their behaviour, other than random killings. At one time the media kept talking about them taking hostages – especially Westerners – but you do not take hostages without either using them to escape or make demands. These terrorists did not even think of escaping, reconciled as they were to their own deaths. Nor did they make any demands. While we thank God that they did not – if just random killing was their only motive, then they could have killed many more people than they did. With grenades and automatic weapons in a railway station – or with the taking over of two major hotels, the death toll could have been far far greater. Imagine if they had just randomly killed all the hostages instead of herding them together ?
Was there an objective that failed ? For all the carnage and death they caused, was this a failed attack where the primary objective was not achieved ? Or ( I would like t believe that ) were these attackers young men – almost boys – that could not carry out the initial objectives. Is it possible that once you are faced with people who’s eyes you can look into – who can talk to you – they cease to become perceived enemies, but human beings. Is it possible then that even a trained terrorist, would begin to doubt his fiery passions as he looks around and recognizes the sheer inhumanity of what he has done or is about to do ?
We may never know the answers, but it is important to search for them. Terrorism has to be stopped not only by by tight and ruthless security, but also by understanding the mind of the terrorist. For all the rhetoric of some of the terrorists being from Pakistan, all accounts seem to lead to the conclusion that a large number of the group were from India. We must at all cost try and stop our own people believing that the only way for them to make their statement is to kill their own people so indiscriminately. We as a nation have failed if we alienate our own people so much.
Who were the terrorists that sruck Mumbai ?
So who who were these people ? who are these people that we so easily brand as fanatics and terrorists, or muslim extremists ? It is so easy to hide behind ‘isms’ and tribalism. I saw only one picture of a young man that looked barely 19 years old. He looked like a boy who I would expect to see in college in Mumbai. I put myself in his shoes – and at 19 I was barely discovering the meanings of my life and was spending most of my time coming to terms with myself. What motivated this young man to come out with an AK 47 and a few hand grenades and kill innocent people indiscriminately ? Its easy to write someone off as a muslim extremists and fundamentalist. That is usually a mind that is looking for simplicity and easy answers. Unfortunately that is exactly the mind itself falls prey to fundamentalism, of any kind.
The search for simplicity and the inability to look at life in it’s complexity is often mistaken for the search for purity. It is not. Purity is far more deep and far more complex than simplicity and can only be arrived at through compassion. I am not saying we should be soft on terrorism. I am trying to fathom it.
The world is in turmoil. We cant just write of everything as fundamentalism. We need to understand why it happens, and strike at the root cause. The root cause cannot be Islam itself. It is the deviant expression of a religion that leads to such acts of barbarity. Such barbarity was prevalent even in Christianity n the dark ages – just look at the horrendous stories of the crusades and the Spanish inquisition. It has occurred often in Hinduism too.
What goes on in the mind of a 19 year old when he decides to kill innocent people indiscriminately ? Knowing that he will probably die doing this himself ?
Mumbai in mourning
Yet again. And as the day dawns in Mumbai the city will wake to count its dead and injured, and inevitably, as it always does, the count will rise painfully. And yet again the government of India and its members, whether on the national or state level, will make the right noises. And yet again the government will soon forget and go back to blaming each other and make political capital out of the tragedy of the ordinary citizens of India. And then back to electioneering it is. Back to political machinations and negotiating it is, with only the next elections and political power in mind.
Or maybe not this time. For this time the very bastions of the elite were attacked. The Taj and the Oberoi Hotels. Where some of the rich and powerful were caught in the cross fire. Even a delegation from the EU parliament. Maybe this time the political bosses of India will accept that a cancer of communal disharmony and terrorism is destroying the fabric of our society and we stand at the brink of the end of a society and civilization that the fathers of our Constitution dreamed of. Destroyed by the politics and politicians of our nation.
But all that does not help those who’s loved ones were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Those that have lost their lives or injured. Those that were just ordinary citizens going about their daily lives expecting that the least the elected government would do is protect their lives. The war is not at our borders any more. It here at home against the forces that are trying to destroy our society from the inside.
Why are we spending all our resources fighting for an inhabitable piece of moving ice called the Siachin Glacier when our major cities are under threat ?
Yes, the people of Mumbai will once again show courage. As they have done before through floods and bombs and terrorist attacks. I just hope that the Hindu fundamentalist forces do not come out in the streets, provoked as they usually are by political powers. That is exactly what the terrorists want – a disruption of our society and fighting, killing and carnage on our streets. We need to mourn and we need to be compassionate – and when the period of mourning is over, we need to re evaluate what is happening to our society.
Paani- Coca Cola and Water tables in Rajasthan
I often wonder why the Indian press does not take up this issue – nor does the Indian government. The huge calamity looming over India right now, that will potentially make economic growth grind to a halt is not the US subprime crisis, but the shortage of ground water that is gradually eating away at agriculture. This is not about a bad monsoon or drought. It is about accelarating erosion of ground water levels in India. 60 % of Indian agriculture depends upon ground water. I remember as a kid in Delhi playing in the small vegetable patch kept by my grandfather in Nizamuddin. There was a hand pump that would bring water up at the first stroke – and then in a few years the hand pump went completely dry. As did the vegetable garden.
As part of the sustaining an ‘agriculture revotion’ in India, the ‘tube well’ as it came to be known was encouraged and promoted as the mantra for the agricultural revolution. It was successful at that time – but we are now getting to grips with the ecological consequences of that ground water becoming more and more scarce. It needs to be managed, and better ways must be found to replenish it through management techniques like water harvesting. With our glaciers retreating and rivers becoming more unreliable, its our only hope.
However it does not help that companies like Coca Cola are allowed to freely suck up ground water in areas that are already water stressed. First in Kerala – where the Coca Cola factory sucked up so much of the ground water that paddy fields in surrounding areas went dry ruining the farmers, and now the same in Rajasthan. It is not an equitable competition for a scarce resource between the farmers and Coca Cola, who has the capital to build deeper and more powerful bore wells. And get electricity (through the government as they are classed industrial or by their own generators) 24 hours a day – while the farmers are only able to operate their bore wells based on a very interrupted and non reliable power supply. Lets not blame Coca Cola – they are a multinational committed to a return on shareholders value. Lets blame ourselves and our government policies. Here is a link to PBS interview with farmers and Coca Cola – click on the streaming video link within the site.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/july-dec08/waterwars_11-17.html
Actually if we put an ‘environmental’ cost to a can of coke, or branded bottled water – both should cost at least 4 times what they are available at now. So we consumers also carry a large part of the blame for what has become an effective privatization of water resources in India. We consume carelessly….
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The NY ‘Indie’ approach to film and Deepak Chopra. NYC musings
Whenever I come to NYC the first couple of days are a little strange. I do not feel like being alone and constantly ask my assistants or others to come and have breakfast or to just hang out. But in a couple of days I become quite independent and begin to get used to the streets and cafe’s of NY. I rediscover myself as fundamentally a street person again.
Of course NY to me is hugely associated with one of my best friend Deepak Chopra, who unfortunately is away promoting his new book on Jesus. I miss the hours of walking around drinking coffee exploring ideas on consciousness – and whether we truly exist and who we really are. All on the streets of NY as all of life (and many beautiful women) pass us by. And of course he invites me to his radio show where I become his co host ! Imagine speaking about consciousness to the world with Deepak Chopra. Life can be such fun sometimes.
Deepak is also the most productive man I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. he just does not stop doing things. he makes me feel completely useless as he writes book after book, does lectures all over the world, runs his Alliance for New Humanity, teaches, trains and beyond all that he still retains time to be compassionate, kind and loving to strangers. Still makes time for his family. Ask him and he will tell you that it is because he has seen life as play and he does things without looking for any reward. I truly love this man.
I am here to edit and do the post on the short film I shot called 3 Graces in Beunos Aires. My editor is Jacob Craycroft who also cut the short I did for the series called ‘New York I love you” Jacob has a different approach to film which I could best describe as the ‘NY Indie approach’ to film. It is quite distinct than the ‘Hollywood’ approach and I must say that this being my second film based out of NY, I prefer the Indie approach as it is far more edgy and exploratory cinema than the ‘Hollywood’ approach. And it permeates through all skills like scripting, producing, production design and photography. I think I am going to enjoy this process very much even though we work with much lower budgets here. maybe that is why we can be more exploratory and edgy.
Will write more about NYC and how the edit is going. Right now we are still finding the film. There are so many stages of making a film and at each stage you are finding new meanings and and new point of view. But nothing is more exciting a process as editing in finding new meanings in your film, provided the editor and you are willing to evolve together. For film is the one art that is so collaborative that compassion, love and the art of communicating with other human beings is a gift that one tries to acquire.
Nutrition vs the Karma of the food you eat. Is food cooked with love better for you ?
Sitting in the airplane on my way to New York, trying to decide what to eat, my mind wanders. I am not a vegetarian, though I would like to be. Not because it is healthy or because being vegetarian is environment friendly, but because I believe that the food I eat effects us far beyond its nutritional value. The food I eat carries the karma of the violence of the slaughter house. It carries the karma of the pain of the animal slaughtered. And I am not separate from the karma of that animal, and all the karmas of each process/person involved in getting the food to my table. Add to that Karma of my own self, the attitude and thoughts I have as I eat that food. Phew ! that is a is a lot to think about as I am chewing my food !
Perhaps the extreme yogic philosophy of eating only the fruit that has fallen off the tree, encompasses other loftier ideas of humility and harmony with nature. But why is food cooked with mother’s love always tastier and better for you ? Is there something we still have to discover about food that goes beyond the analysis of its nutritional spectrum and the daily doses of supplements we consume so massively ?
Does a prayer before eating actually make food better for us ? – I think so.
India as the world leading ‘Influence economy” ?
I was asked by the Hindustan Times to write about my perspective on the 21st century ambitions of India. Here is a transcript of the article.
“How can you define the ambitions of a collective, especially when the collective is over I billion people ? Driving towards 1.5 billion or maybe even 2 Billion if the planet can support that. For far too long India’s ambitions have been defined by the aspirations of the privileged few, almost as if at it’s center lay the ambitions of it’s feudal masters that demanded to be supported by the rest of the underclass at the cost of their own aspirations.
That is changing. And the change is going to accelerate so fast that those that have been used to privilege will be caught napping, as will the rest of the world. For this is India’s century and it will happen in-spite of the politics of India and the politicians of India. Because they will become completely irrelevant. And their irrelevance will be caused by the spread of New Media.
As fast and cheap broadband becomes available, and access to the internet reaches every home, every mobile handset in India, over a billion people no longer trapped in the cage of misinformation and ignorance will suddenly flower and explode into a fervent desire to express themselves, to educate themselves, and to take part in global culture. shaking off a century of repression and ignorance. Nation state boundaries in this century will in any case become irrelevant and will be redefined by cultural boundaries as the internet and social networking sites start to erode the very idea of emotional commitment to ‘set in stone’ physical/geographical boundaries.
So the India I am talking about is the spirit of it’s culture. Not it’s geography. It is the culture of India that will influence the rest of the world, and since culture defines how and what we consume and the way we consume and behave, it provides the very fundamentals of economic behavior and growth. This is not something that economists like to agree with because it takes away their ability to make economic projections based on simplistic equations of ‘8% growth and 12 % inflation, therefore an ‘x’ percent rate cut’ without taking into an account all of human behavior. Economics is not a compassionate science and therefore can never be quite accurate a predictor of the future. Never has.
Consider this…..
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