Twenty five years ago, the then Prime Minister of India, Mrs Indira Gandhi was killed.Shot by her own security guards, those who were supposed to be protecting her, but decided otherwise.
They were two Sikhs who had decided that they wanted to avenge the storming and destruction of so much,inside the Golden temple, Amritsar.
Not even beginning to realize, in their widest dreams, the kind of repercussions that would follow their calculated/miscalculated action.
Hours after that, the storm that would rage for the next many days in Delhi began.When a systematic pogrom to decimate and kill thousands and thousands Sikhs in retaliation was set in motion.
And now, it has been proved without a doubt that the state and administrative machinery in many cases, played a role in making it happen.
Today as I caught a part of a TV programme that tried to understand the "whys and hows" of that day and the days thereafter, I couldnt help but wonder...
If what happened that day could happen in a free and independent India, years after its Independence, what are the chances that it will not happen AGAIN?
AND AGAIN ...
AND YET AGAIN??
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Freedom- at what cost and lessons to re-learn
Sometimes we need to look back at history to appreciate where we really are today.For many a time we are guilty of taking things for granted. Or then treat them casually.
For instance, the fact that we(all Indians)are a free and independent people and that today we can do anything/go anywhere that we may choose to.
Yet this freedom did not come easy, in fact the price was extremely high. Particularly for the many, many tens of thousands of people who lost their lives, fighting for it.
Or then, the equally large number or even more, who were displaced from their homes and hearths and had to move to a completely different area resulting in the creation of two distinct and seperate nations- India and Pakistan.
Today, like manay times in the past, these same two nations are engaged in a war of words. For if India is convinced that Pakistan sends in people to mount terror attacks, Pakistan claims that India is funding the Taleban.
And so it goes on and on...and on. A vicious cycle/circle and one that really has no solution.
Unless those who matter and can make a difference to people's way of thinking can step in and reawaken the sometimes sleeping consciences.
So that we can really look deep inside our hearts and minds and sift the wheat from the chaff.
Because the lessons that we should have learnt from 1947 and Partition really need to be re-looked at.It is only then that we really will be able to awaken to a bright new morrow.
For instance, the fact that we(all Indians)are a free and independent people and that today we can do anything/go anywhere that we may choose to.
Yet this freedom did not come easy, in fact the price was extremely high. Particularly for the many, many tens of thousands of people who lost their lives, fighting for it.
Or then, the equally large number or even more, who were displaced from their homes and hearths and had to move to a completely different area resulting in the creation of two distinct and seperate nations- India and Pakistan.
Today, like manay times in the past, these same two nations are engaged in a war of words. For if India is convinced that Pakistan sends in people to mount terror attacks, Pakistan claims that India is funding the Taleban.
And so it goes on and on...and on. A vicious cycle/circle and one that really has no solution.
Unless those who matter and can make a difference to people's way of thinking can step in and reawaken the sometimes sleeping consciences.
So that we can really look deep inside our hearts and minds and sift the wheat from the chaff.
Because the lessons that we should have learnt from 1947 and Partition really need to be re-looked at.It is only then that we really will be able to awaken to a bright new morrow.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Tweeting...
"What on earth are you 'tweeting' for " I'd ask some of my friends who had signed up for it earlier this year.
Simply because I thought that it was a waste of time.
Yet, one day, it happened.
The day when I too bit the bullet.
And now I'm a 'twitterer/tweeter' as well and happy to be one.
Because like in many other things, there really is "a time and a place for everything'.
And so I do what I do.
When I want to.
Even if it is 'finally' being on Twitter!
Simply because I thought that it was a waste of time.
Yet, one day, it happened.
The day when I too bit the bullet.
And now I'm a 'twitterer/tweeter' as well and happy to be one.
Because like in many other things, there really is "a time and a place for everything'.
And so I do what I do.
When I want to.
Even if it is 'finally' being on Twitter!
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