Hey Folks!
I doubt if there is any reader left for this blog, but if any of you has thought of dropping by - "Hey there!"
Its been tough to keep up with blogging as I have been consumed with several critical tasks like diaper changes, swimming classes and peek-a-boos that I have been biologically morphed into enjoying. Anyways, it doesn't matter why I couldn't blog. All that matters is I am here today; and that it doesn't bother me if no one happens to drop by though I will be happy if someone does read. Think about it, there is a kind of peace in this thought.
Read a nice book recently - Three Cups of Tea. Its about this American guy, Greg Mortenson, who has built schools in remote areas around Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The writer could have done a better job in English, but the story is amazing!
Also saw a wonderful movie "Harshchandrachi Factory". Its about Dadasaheb Phalke and how he went about making the first Indian cinema in an age when there was no movie technology in India, when the common man hadn't even heard of movies. Very very amazing story, and a well-made, fast-paced and light movie too. Do watch if you find one with subtitles.
The happy part of life is that I have another book lined up that promises to turn out good.
So Kiddo hears in Planet Earth that there are 6 billion people on Earth. His conclusion: I am the 6 billionth person, Mom. And Baby is 6 billion+1th.
Unbearable summers in India, no trees, no parks, just tall buildings and vehicles. And now a monsoon full of many illnesses - around 40,000 malarial cases in Mumbai alone. There was one thing I realized very keenly in India that we have this adaptability that now I have started feeling is holding us back. We find workarounds for things and kaam chala lete hai instead of taking them head-on and changing them. It reminded me of what hubby was telling me once when he was working with Israeli engineers - that if they are not happy with a piece of code, they scrap and completely rewrite. Whereas, we tend to work around it. I am not getting into the merits or demerits of re-coding, I am talking about the mentality difference. I had felt this very keenly in Switzerland too where the countryside is mostly dairy based. But the level of sophistication developed in dairy farming is amazing.
India is going big nevertheless. You can feel it in the air. I somehow feel Indians are very good at businesses. The way in which business are being build, customers are being developed... its mesmerizing.
Bad floods in Pakistan. I think India should help a lot and use this opportunity to make a good faith gesture to the people of Pakistan. Somehow I cannot completely grasp why Al Quaida is such an important threat to United States. I mean yes, they did the 9/11. But is the threat proportional to the risks and money US is spending on going after them?And the publicity and propaganda and volunteers US is giving Al Quaida by it's heavy handed actions. I think many western countries share my view, else how to you explain Nato forces being so slim numbered compared to US forces.
However, Al Queda is a real threat to India. They can create havoc in India, similar to the havoc they have unleashed in northern Pakistan. And so it is critical to build bridges and join forces to defeat this snake. There is too much bad blood, but relations need to be built. People to people. Yes Kashmir is flaring as I write this. But guys, get over Kashmir. Neither us nor them have the capabiltity to get the whole of Kashmir, and in the ego-needled status quo we are hurting the people there, and ourselves too. Time to say bygones be bygones and find a way ahead. Like we did with China even though they control some part of Kashmir. Why is it that feud between brothers is always the most vicious?
Thats for now, folks. Time for swimming classes :o)
Its been tough to keep up with blogging as I have been consumed with several critical tasks like diaper changes, swimming classes and peek-a-boos that I have been biologically morphed into enjoying. Anyways, it doesn't matter why I couldn't blog. All that matters is I am here today; and that it doesn't bother me if no one happens to drop by though I will be happy if someone does read. Think about it, there is a kind of peace in this thought.
Read a nice book recently - Three Cups of Tea. Its about this American guy, Greg Mortenson, who has built schools in remote areas around Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The writer could have done a better job in English, but the story is amazing!
Also saw a wonderful movie "Harshchandrachi Factory". Its about Dadasaheb Phalke and how he went about making the first Indian cinema in an age when there was no movie technology in India, when the common man hadn't even heard of movies. Very very amazing story, and a well-made, fast-paced and light movie too. Do watch if you find one with subtitles.
The happy part of life is that I have another book lined up that promises to turn out good.
So Kiddo hears in Planet Earth that there are 6 billion people on Earth. His conclusion: I am the 6 billionth person, Mom. And Baby is 6 billion+1th.
Unbearable summers in India, no trees, no parks, just tall buildings and vehicles. And now a monsoon full of many illnesses - around 40,000 malarial cases in Mumbai alone. There was one thing I realized very keenly in India that we have this adaptability that now I have started feeling is holding us back. We find workarounds for things and kaam chala lete hai instead of taking them head-on and changing them. It reminded me of what hubby was telling me once when he was working with Israeli engineers - that if they are not happy with a piece of code, they scrap and completely rewrite. Whereas, we tend to work around it. I am not getting into the merits or demerits of re-coding, I am talking about the mentality difference. I had felt this very keenly in Switzerland too where the countryside is mostly dairy based. But the level of sophistication developed in dairy farming is amazing.
India is going big nevertheless. You can feel it in the air. I somehow feel Indians are very good at businesses. The way in which business are being build, customers are being developed... its mesmerizing.
Bad floods in Pakistan. I think India should help a lot and use this opportunity to make a good faith gesture to the people of Pakistan. Somehow I cannot completely grasp why Al Quaida is such an important threat to United States. I mean yes, they did the 9/11. But is the threat proportional to the risks and money US is spending on going after them?And the publicity and propaganda and volunteers US is giving Al Quaida by it's heavy handed actions. I think many western countries share my view, else how to you explain Nato forces being so slim numbered compared to US forces.
However, Al Queda is a real threat to India. They can create havoc in India, similar to the havoc they have unleashed in northern Pakistan. And so it is critical to build bridges and join forces to defeat this snake. There is too much bad blood, but relations need to be built. People to people. Yes Kashmir is flaring as I write this. But guys, get over Kashmir. Neither us nor them have the capabiltity to get the whole of Kashmir, and in the ego-needled status quo we are hurting the people there, and ourselves too. Time to say bygones be bygones and find a way ahead. Like we did with China even though they control some part of Kashmir. Why is it that feud between brothers is always the most vicious?
Thats for now, folks. Time for swimming classes :o)
Comments
I can get off the facebook now :)
And I think the resistance to getting anywhere is from losing face (votes) rather than ego of the parties involved in India and Pakistan.
What solution would you suggest? Status Quo? Autonomy? independence?
First, history is hard to forget in the short-term–so the people who feel that have been wronged in/because of Kashmir aren't going to be willing to "let bygones be bygones" (I don't blame them). Just talk to Rajat about Kashmir for example.
Second, politicians make it a big issue. That makes common people think it is a big issue. It took me one course in Psychology and a trip to the US to realize that Indians and Pakistanis are very similar to each other culturally, and to see "the big picture". It is the same process that makes most of the people here think that terrorism is a big threat and that we should do something about it. You should read Schneier on Security for some really good articles on security in general (including computer security and terrorism). See this for example.
What's the book that you're reading?
Religion makes every issue more complex as it takes people away from logic. Add to it, putting an army someplace is the surest way to lose the hearts of people there. So there is a lot of ill-will developed.
However, it is imperative to note that lives of Kashmiris on both sides of the LOC, are bad. There is almost no economic growth, tourism is floundering, families are split by the arbitrary LOC. The POK also has a travesty of a parliament where half seats are empty because they are supposed to be filled from candidates from Indian area of Kashmir, where ofcourse Pakistan cannot hold elections. Thus its a perpetually hung parliament which does nothing but blames India because nothing can be done. Its a travesty.
As I was saying the other day, read any Indian newspaper, and read The Dawn (the only Pakistani newspaper I know) and you will immediately see that people view one incident from such different point of views! So proposing a solution, or saying 'bygones be bygones' isn't going to work.
What we need is a political solution, followed by an economic one. It is critical for the poor denizens of this Shangri-La. And given the geo-politics, it is also very important for the citizens of rest of India and Pakistan. Because the terrorism coming through there (India), or coming because the armies are focussed there (Pakistan) are going to affect our lives very directly.
"ajacha thalak batmya"
but still you have readers and all these comments.
I happen to paste the URL when my name had appeared in the newspaper for my performance and no one has even bothered to read it..
As arul rightly says NOT FAIR