Of Red Storms

The Indian Elections are just beginning. Billed as "the greatest democratic spectacle", these elections will decide which coalition will lead the Indian people for the next 5 years. Mindless squabbling & nonsesical verbal jousting are complimentary. "Promises", a staple of any electoral process, will be made.These "Promises", though they may be as realistic as a mirage for a dying man's parched throat, are nevertheless lapped up by an apparently knowledgeable Indian populance because of one simple reason. These "Promises" mean hope. A fool's hope, but a well-intentioned hope. The Indian government, past, present & future, are similarly hoping that the naxalite problem, if they are indeed foolish enough to regard it as merely a "problem", will disappear by itself. The reality is that a sizeable chunk of what we were taught is the "Indian Union" is now in the hands of these militant communists. Government writ no longer runs in over 240 districts in an arc that comprise Jahrkhand, Bihar, Orissa & Andhra Pradesh. The Maoists have attacked police patrols, schools, villages & electoral booths with impunity & more worringly, little resistance. A couple of days ago, a passanger train was hijacked by the naxalites & their raids have been increasing in ferocity & audacity. The only thing that stands in between a naxalite-inspired anarchy & India's heartland is a band of rag-tag police officials armed with wooden rifles & a "Salwa Judum" force armed with spears & the occasional smattering of WW-II era rifles. The maoists are armed with an arsenal obtained from raids on army depots & police armouries. The "Salwa Judum" is actually a paradigm of Government impotence & absence of any moral & constitutional responsibility. What do you do when your citizens are attacked by militants & living in a constant state of fear for their family & property? Well the Indian leadership very gallantly offers you WW-II rifles, some spears, 1 dozen bananas & a pat on the backside. So at the end of the day, you will still live in fear of an inevitable naxalite raid, but you will have a spear to keep you standing, a banana to eat & a rifle to beat your wife & kids. Has our Government lost all sense or do we expect too much from people who spend days trading charges & conter-charges over "pappis" & "jhappis"? Is this not a matter of national security of the utmost importance? Why hasn't it been an issue in the present election campaigning? It seems that unless the naxalites attack the Indian Parliament or attack a major metropolis & get coverage on CNN, the "Salwa Judum" & their bananas are the only major "threat" to their operations. The politicians & the Indian public at large needs to awaken to this very real threat to India's soveriegnity. The Army must be mobilized to crush the maoist menance which has left vast tracts of India under the red banner. Dedicated paramilitary forces need to be raised to engage the naxalites on all fronts. Rome was not built in a day & the ocean is made of a countless number of drops. The naxalites have already created a red lake, & it is imperative to check their advance & ultimately wipe them out before their rebellion fans the fire of other seaparatists.

Hindu Casteism - The Devil's Spawn

Hinduism is the oldest religion known to mankind. By nature, most Hindus are benevolent & tolerant. However, as in most religions, there is a size-able minority intent upon infecting this great religion with their hate & malcontent. The unity of Hindus as followers of the same religion is at stake here. The issue of Casteism is the biggest problem facing the Hindu community & has been so for quite some time. I fail to understand the logic behind dividing human beings into classes. Is a Kshatriya baby physically & mentally more developed at birth than a Dalit baby? Are "Harijans" born with a contagious infection that would strip away our flesh if we dared to touch them? The answer to these stupid questions is "NO". Unequivocally, unabashedly NO. Many so called scholars blame the scriptures for ordering the ancient Hindus to divide themselves into a social stink-pot. Is that true? NO again. The caste system came into existence so that the so-called upper castes could live in relative luxury. The lower castes were "destined" to pick up the garbage & make sure that the upper castes has everyone at their beck & call. It was formulated by the upper castes so that there was always someone around to their wipe their elephants' arses. The scriptures don't endorse it. Period. It is physically nauseating to witness the plight of these so called Lower Castes in India. They are socially isolated & parents in small towns & villages actively restrain their children from going anywhere near them, lest they get infected by the Untouchables. But the same parents go to temples & pray to their gods, not realising that they break the most basic tenets of Hinduism when they treat their fellow Hinduism in this revolting fashion. Even the youth of today, the Gen Next, who consider themselves to be on a moral high ground, use the terms "SC & ST" as an abuse. How can I call myself a practicing Hindu if I fail to give due respect to my fellow believers? I do not know the exact term used for the person who runs the Shamshan Ghats, but these people are social oucasts except for the day when they have to be approached for arranging a person's funeral. If this person, who helps us in attaining Moksha, cannot be respected, who should be? The recent spate of violence against Christians in Orissa is a point in case. Most of the Christians who were attacked were actually Dalits, who after being fed up of the social discrimination & the mental stigma which accompanies it, chose to adopt a religion whose preachers promised them money & a better life for their traumatised children. Can we really blame them for taking this step? No we can't. But the VHP & its minions do. They erase the distinction between us & the terrorists in Afghanistan by attacking & burning innocent people for converting to Christianity. If the president of VHP was socially discriminated against, his job was taken from him, & his family was abused as Untouchables, would he grin & bear it?
Would he still go to a temple, knowing he would be refused permission to enter? & would he refuse if a Missionary came to him with a way out of this hell? Most certainly not. So instead of burning the innocent people in Orissa & elsewhere, Mr. Togadia should burn the misgivings in his own soul. Isn't that what Hinduism used to mean, & hopefully still does to a few? You want to end these conversions Sir? You want to burn those responsible? Then burn 95% of all Hindus. It is our hateful glances & insulting comments which force people to choose between another way of life or death. The VHP & the Bajrang Dal now want to make sure that the other way of life results in death too. Woe to them & all their ideologues! When will we learn to tackle the root of the problem? I urge all true Hindus to make efforts to end this discrimination once & for all. Religious unity is a very important precursor to sustainable social development. Politicians, devoid of their caste-based vote banks will be forced to address real issues. I fervently hope to have convinced you, because we don't have any other way to a peaceful society.

The End Of Evolution ?

Human evolution is grinding to a halt because of a shortage of older fathers in the West, according to a leading genetics expert.

Fathers over the age of 35 are more likely to pass on mutations, according to Professor Steve Jones, of University College London.

Speaking today at a UCL lecture entitled “Human evolution is over” Professor Jones will argue that there were three components to evolution – natural selection, mutation and random change. “Quite unexpectedly, we have dropped the human mutation rate because of a change in reproductive patterns,” Professor Jones told The Times.

“Human social change often changes our genetic future,” he said, citing marriage patterns and contraception as examples. Although chemicals and radioactive pollution could alter genetics, one of the most important mutation triggers is advanced age in men.

This is because cell divisions in males increase with age. “Every time there is a cell division, there is a chance of a mistake, a mutation, an error,” he said. “For a 29-year old father [the mean age of reproduction in the West] there are around 300 divisions between the sperm that made him and the one he passes on – each one with an opportunity to make mistakes.

“For a 50-year-old father, the figure is well over a thousand. A drop in the number of older fathers will thus have a major effect on the rate of mutation.”

Professor Jones added: “In the old days, you would find one powerful man having hundreds of children.” He cites the fecund Moulay Ismail of Morocco, who died in the 18th century, and is reputed to have fathered 888 children. To achieve this feat, Ismail is thought to have copulated with an average of about 1.2 women a day over 60 years.

Another factor is the weakening of natural selection. “In ancient times half our children would have died by the age of 20. Now, in the Western world, 98 per cent of them are surviving to 21.”

Decreasing randomness is another contributing factor. “Humans are 10,000 times more common than we should be, according to the rules of the animal kingdom, and we have agriculture to thank for that. Without farming, the world population would probably have reached half a million by now – about the size of the population of Glasgow.

“Small populations which are isolated can evolve at random as genes are accidentally lost. World-wide, all populations are becoming connected and the opportunity for random change is dwindling. History is made in bed, but nowadays the beds are getting closer together. We are mixing into a glo-bal mass, and the future is brown.”

India + Pakistan = A Heir To The Kingdom Of Humanity

Any idea of a United India could never have worked and in my judgment it would have led us to terrific disaster

proclaimed Mr. Jinnah in a Presidential Address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on 11th August, 1947. 61 years hence, & 4 wars later, I'm certain that Mr. Jinnah would want to change his opinions. Not a possibility as he would have to come back from the dead, & the chances of such a travesty happening are the same as those of democracy flourishing in Pakistan. His "Great Dream", the nation he wanted to lead to the status of "World Power" is today a bonafide Al-Qaida franchise. It is a "World Power", but only in the world of hate, murder & terrorists. India, on the other hand, in spite of its intrinsic flaws, is on the verge of becoming a player in the "Great Game". Years can be spent discussing & analysing the reasons for the position where we find ourselves, but the need of the hour is to be strong & deal with the present. Never has the future appeared bleaker in our time than it does today. The US has foolishly fallen for the oldest trick in the book & rushed out of its fortress to fight in the open. They drain their wealth & youth on wars abroad, even as their financial systems collapse due to shrinking liquidity. Indian families with money in stock markets & dreams of a better life suffer & the Muslims simmer with anger at the finger-pointing after every bomb blast, which is now a common-place occurrence. Even reading about a murder or a rape in the newspaper is as mundane as a visit to the loo. These are dark times indeed, & more will come. But it is in times like these that people think, & new ideas are born. Ideas that would have appeared as ludicrous as the election promises made by our politicians, yet bringing with them a hope for a brighter future. One such idea is the re-unification of India & Pakistan to create the Greater India of old. It might sound like a fairy tale idea from a drug addict, given the bankrupt Pakistan economy & the Islamic militancy problem. By unification, I am not referring to a total unification i.e. political, economic & military. Both the countries should retain autonomy on internal matters, but have a unified political setup to face the world. A panel should be set up to recommend deployment of forces from both the sides, when necessary. This setup should have an equal number of representatives from both the sides, so that decisions can only be taken with the consensus of both the countries. Now before you dismiss these radical ideas, consider the benefits this would accrue to the nations. A Greater India would be the most powerful entity on the Eurasian land mass, second only to the USA on the planet. The oil & gas from the Baloch region of Pakistan would halve the total import bill of Greater India. A joint Indo-Pak defence force would sound the death knell for every terrorist in he sub-continent. The Chinese will have to play second fiddle to the military & economic might of Greater India. Though it is highly unlikely that anybody would have the courage to carry this idea to fruitition, it is only a glimpse of what could have been. Unfortunately, the most likely circumstance which would result in a Greater India is the invasion of Pakistan by India. Thank you Mr. Jinnah.

The First Battle

How can Paris quake with fear, when we do not have our own island under control ?

, said a now forgotten King of England when his aides reported on a rebellion in Scotland. The same applies to India today. With daily bandhs, curfews & what not in Kashmir, the bombings of police stations in the Naxal infested, nay, controlled areas, & monthly bomb blasts in major cities, India is like a man whose internal organs are decaying & shutting down just before a boxing bout. With every day that the Government of India wastes in Cabinet meetings & iftar parties, these diseases strengthen their evil influence over our mighty nation. When terrorists attacked the Parliament in 2001, the so-called "seat of democracy", the "heart" of India, the Indian Army was mobilized almost immediately. But they were left standing on the border. For one whole year, the muscle of this nation was left to rot as our politicians haggled with the "masterminds", Pakistan. The mobilization was meant to show Pakistan the military might of India, but what Pakistan saw was the crippling indecisiveness of the country's leadership. The tanks were called off the "hot pursuit" & the politicians returned to their immoral ways. But when the honest, hard-working, law-abiding citizens of this country are ripped to shreds in trains, markets & places of worship, there is no mobilization of troops. Are the citizens not the soul of the democracy ? Is the family that is killed on a joyride in the Mumbai trains not the heart of our democracy ? To the politicians, the answer is NO. The only thing that is being mobilized after the serial blasts 2 days ago in Delhi is the party cadre of the political parties to "capitalize" on the aftermath. The bombers are usually never caught. Instead, the police picks up a suspicous-looking innocent Muslim & proclaims its "investigative abilities". What we need is an autonomous intelligence agency with a licence to kill. Ther should be no strings to the Government & no answerability to the judiciary. As oppressive as it may sound, red-tape laden CBI or RAW are as effective as the Indian hockey team. A MOSSAD-esque agency would do India a world of good. Furthermore, captured terrorists should be killed in the same fashion in which they committed crimes. A bomber should be slowly stretched until his bones separate from his evil flesh. Human rights activists who complain should meet the victims of bomb blasts. In the eastern parts of our country, Naxalites, or rather Communist soldiers have absolute power over vast tracts of our Motherland. They have guns & bombs to rule as they please. Against this Maoist horde stands a handful of villages, cobbled together in a hasty manner & christened Salwa Judum. Armed with sticks & a few old rifles, they are expected to fight off the Naxalites, who openly talk of their intention to seize Delhi & establish communist rule over India. Whenever these two sides meet in combat, which is quite often, the Salwa Judum are massacred. The few police pickets that dot the region are routinely raided by the Naxalites, who kill all the vigilantes & take the weapons. Where is the Army ? Apparently, the Army is only to be used as an "intimidating" tool in situations like the Parliament attack, when the politicians themselves are faced with the prospect of a one-way ticket to Hell. So till the Naxalites don't attack the Parliament, they can conquer what they please. By the grace of God, we are blessed with the bravest & finest soldiers in the service of Mother India. The Naxalites should be completely obliterated by unleashing the most fearsome weapon in our arsenal, the Indian soldier. An example should be made for all to see the capability & might of the Indian forces. Every single Naxalite should be hunted down & bombed from the air, sea & land to send a message of "No Tolerance" to those plotting evil deeds against the Motheland & her children. Right now, the Army is used to control crowds at religious places or told to sit tight in their barracks. When not doing either of them, the Army is occupied with the "Kashmir problem". The Kashmiris, a term used as a reference to all the people living in J & K, but not in Jammu, are a queer lot. They are bankrolled by the Indian state, salivate at the prospect of jobs in Indian metros, & thrive due to sacrifice made by the innumerable Indian soldiers who keep the Pakistanis at bay. But the Kashmiris had no issues with the forced flight of the Kashmiri pandits, think they deserve autonomy, berate the Indian state for "cruelties" & outrageously, demand independence. Kashmiris are not aliens as far as I am concerned. The have the appearance of a normal human being & thus, do not deserve any special status. They have to understand that a soldier is a human being & humans make mistakes. No mistakes should have been made, & no mistake should be forgiven, but to say that India has been "cruel" to them is a sign of a whole people in fantasy mode. They conveniently forget the thousands of soldiers, the vanguard of our beloved nation, who have died fighting to keep the enemy out of Kashmir, a cause they deemed worthy of their life. The Kashmiris need only to look at the progress made by their economy & society in the last few decades & compare that to the desolate landscape of PoK. Yet we hear & see young Kasmiris out on roads paved with Indian money, shouting like rabies-infested apes & demanding independence. Independence ? They fail to realize that it is not independence that they will get, but a fall into ruin. Kashmir cannot survive without India, much as a infant cannot be separated from the mother & be expected to survive in an Al-Qaeda training camp. They need to be told this in the harshest of manners, but with our clenched fists in our pockets. Fools like the JKLF & its minions should be arrested at once, & tried for betrayal & high treason. The "autonomous" tag should be removed, never again to appear in our future. There will be discontent, but the most important issue is to force the Kashmiris to understand, once & for all, that they are & will always be, a part of the great nation of India, & that they are not special. The isolation of our North-Eastern states from the rest of our country is a cause of great concern. Only because of a slight difference in our facial appearance, our brothers & sisters from the North-East are made to feel like aliens. The land of the mighty Brahmputra is neglected by our Government & no effort is made to develop that region. Instead of developing highways & adding more trains for that region, our politicians are content with insulting each other on the issue of "horse-trading" ("Pig-trading" should be used, considering the people involved). The sons of the Seven Sisters are a sturdy, industrious folk who have been & will always be an asset to our Motherland. Better infrastructure & a heavy investment in promotion of tourism to the Nort-East, blessed with the beautiful handiwork of God himself in its landscape, should be a priority of our ineffectual Government. Lastly, we come to people like Raj Thackeray & other assorted politicians, who put self over the country. Maratha Manoos ? What about INDIAN ? Raj Thackeray should campaign for the Neanderthal Manoos if he wants to go back to his roots. It is extremely unfortunate that so many people in Maharashtara assaulted North Indians after getting a load of this Manoos rubbish. Is this not an attack on the Indian democracy ? We all need to realise that we are INDIANS above all our tribal allegiances. Indian before being a Punjabi, Indian before being a Hindu & an Indian before being a Maharashtrian politician. Until we all pledge our unwavering allegiance to the idea of that INDIA, our destiny will always be the same as in our past & the present, one dominated by others. Raj should be imprisoned for atleast 15 years, without bail or chance of parole for an attempt to malign the Motherland. I would appreciate suggestions if you have any.