Friedman on Mumbai and Pakistan

I have already confessed my love for Friedman's op-ed in NY Times. His recent article on the Mumbai attacks "Calling all Pakistanis" is one of the very few logical viewpoints about the India-Pakistan situation, from the Western media. (For most part, the Western media has very little clue about the Geopolitics of that part of the world and tries to treat it as if it's curable using Advils and Tylenols. Exhibit A: Wolf "the" Blitzer).
Quoting Friedman:
"When Pakistanis and other Muslims are willing to take to the streets, even suffer death, to protest an insulting cartoon published in Denmark, is it fair to ask: Who in the Muslim world, who in Pakistan, is ready to take to the streets to protest the mass murders of real people, not cartoon characters, right next door in Mumbai?"

Dark Days Ahead

Saare jahaan se acchaa Hindostan hamaara...
Hum bulbule hain iski yeh gulistan humaara...

The last 48 hours have been a living nightmare for many. Many lives have been lost, many more to be lost. This week in Novemeber 2008 could change the course of times to come in this land of a million mutinies and counting. Once the gunfire stops and the smoke dies down, mud slinging and exploitation of the incidents will begin (rather than introspection and a measured but necessary retaliation), parties will blame each other, certain elements in the media will downplay the role of our holier-than-thou neighbors and religious fundamentalists will only add fuel to the fire. The entire country is sitting on an ever ticking time bomb - nobody knows when the clock goes silent and the bomb explodes.
The Optimist in me is trying hard to imagine a scene when a leader emerges out of this crisis who guides my home to safety - not hoping for prosperity just yet, just a safe home....Too much to ask I suppose!
Dark days.......very dark days ahead.

Mumbai Again!

In 13 years there have been 6 blasts in the same city, that is almost 2 per year!! The nation carries on, the city and the nation carries on!

Its all in the spirit of being a Mumbaikar or an Indian or is it callousness or is it acceptance of the fact that every 2 years we must sacrifice a couple hundred innocent citizens? I salute Mumbaikars for all their tenacity to endure the blasts, the floods, the riots with unimaginable courage, patience and a "I will pick up the pieces and go on with my life" attitude. It makes my chest swell with pride, when ordinary citizens take charge of the situation - I read of numerous stories of people offering to give stranded citizens free rides to take them home, people from nearby slums using their only bedsheet as a stretcher to carry the victims to the hospitals, Teenagers lining up hospitals to donate blood!! But then it hits me that these very people who are helping today might be at the receiving end within 2 years.

Our Government has failed its people, I cannot fathom any free world country letting its people die on a regular basis at the hands of the same enemy year after year! My chest would be swelling twice as much if my leader and my Government would take some action.