INDIA AT WAR

WAR: Quarrel usually between nations conducted by force, state of open hostility and suspension of ordinary international law prevalent during such quarrel, attacks or series of attacks by armed forces; fighting as profession.

Writing contemporary history is one of the most hazardous academic professions, for chronicling events and analysing them is a tricky subject because of the inherent bias which creeps into writings. Furthermore, the turn of events and new evidences can make you look like a fool. But these are extraordinary times and since extraordinary situations call for extraordinary reactions, the common man has to speak out and stand up for his nation, values, culture and most importantly for the future generations, I offer my head for the chopping block. I do not wish my children to grow up under the shadow of guns and grenades instead giggles and gardens. Let the child know about Gandhi before he learns about Genghis Khan.

India is at war. The war is not between nations or religions but between an idelogy which professes pluralism and secularism against one which professe mindless violence, killing of innocents and vandalising. India is above religion, here Sufis existed with saints, here Tulsi, Nanak coexisted with Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti.

" Yeh ek nirlajja hamla hai" (This is a shameless attack), So spake the minister of state for Home affairs, Sriprakash Jaiswal in his reaction to the attack in Mumbai on 11/26 and continuing till the time of writing, as if to assert something which the common individual did not know. 'Niralaajata' (shamelessness) Mr. Minister!! Being the minister of state for Home and thereby responsible for the safety and security of the citizens, and with your shameless record of non performance on this front, you have the gall to call these terrorists shameless. Let me remind you sir, that you are a public servant and earn your salary from the taxes a common man like me and lakhs of others pay. At least the intentions of these terrorists are clear (and have been clear for decades), they want a decimation of this nation, its culture and in general everything it stand for and embodies. The 'shame' should be on you and your government for the ineptitude and callousness it has shown.

The country is in a state of shock and awe and all you can say is that the terrorists are shameless! What were you expecting Honourable Sir? Jalebis and Rossogollas??

The Prime Minister goes a step further and warns "neighbouring countries who support terrorists of consequences", without daring to name the countries and informing them of the consequences. When a country needed a man to stand up and say that the 'nation was at war, and we will win the war come what may", all we got was a timid Prime Minister evidently reading from a tele prompter and mouthing platitudes like “We will take a number of measures to strengthen the hands of our police and intelligence authorities. We will curb the flow of funds to suspect organisations. We will restrict the entry of suspects into the country. We will go after these individuals and organisations and make sure that every perpetrator, organiser and supporter of terror, whatever his affiliation or religion may be, pays a heavy price for these cowardly and horrific acts against our people,”

Kindly note the preponderance of the word "WILL'. Excuse me , Mr. P.M are we to assume that your government has been waiting for a carnage like this to happen and now you WILL do this and do that. Were the mindless loss of life for the past innumerable years not enough for the govt. to act as you now say you WILL? Who my respected sir, is responsible for the loss of life, destruction of numerous families, loss of property and most of all projecting India that is Bharat, as a soft target for anybody looking for a passage to jannat(heaven, for that is what these jihadis are brainwashed into believing) . Why can this country not ensure a quick getaway to Dozakh (hell) for these terrorists ?? Why can we not accept that Saudi Arabia with its oil money, more than Pakistan, is sponsoring these terrorists and their fundamentalist interpretation of Wahabism, in order to keep their focus away from the issue of control over the holy sites of Mecca and Medina ?

The P.M is also again mouthing ideas like a Federal Intelligence Agency and stuff. It would have been a good joke if lives were not involved. The govt. mouths the same ideas which it knows it is not going to implement, everytime the terrorists create mayhem and a few days later goes back to sleep. Nero was a King of Kings compared to the worthies we have. Atleast he played flute while Rome burnt, whereas our P.M looks in askance for permission to play flute from we all know who! Come on Sir, at least stand up against this menace . The country is behind you whole heartedly, provided you stand up and be counted.

The seriousness with which the govt. has faced terrorism can be judged from the fact that Terrorism was not even on the agenda when the National Integration Council met a couple of months back. This was subsequent to the horror of Ahemdabad and New Delhi. The meeting was ostensibly called to 'discuss' the internal strife between two groups of tribes in Orissa. Apparently the Vatican was displeased with the events in Orissa and therefore the meeting of NIC. The issue of Terrorism was added subsequent to loud protests from the C.M's of the other hue. Is this how we are supposed to face terror?

The entire city of Mumbai in particular and the country in general are being held to ransom by an unknown number of fidayeens, with the common people looking on in horror. The streets throughout the country are quiter than usual without anybody knowing where the next attack is going to come from.It is as if doomsday or Apocalypse has arrived. This is India's 9/11. This is a frontal assault on everything the nation stands for. India is scared, India where Swami Vivekanand said, " Have No Fear, Fear is death, Fear is Sin, Fear is Hell, Fear is Unrighteousness, Fear is Wrong Life." But let us face it, we are scared. Sample the reaction of the cine star Amitabh Bachchan who expressed his fear in his blog, "Last night, as the events of the terror attack unfolded in front of me I did something for the first time and one that I had hoped never ever to be in a situation to do. Before retiring for the night, I pulled out my licensed .32 revolver, loaded it and put it under my pillow. For a very disturbed sleep," Imagine if a man who lives under high security feels like this .........

That the entire machinery was caught offguard can be gauged from the approach of the ATS from the video shots of the late Hemant Karkare and his team. The brave officer is seen to approach the battle ground with his entire team following him as if they are confronting poor farmers sitting on a dharna, rather than a trained bunch of motivated fighters who have undergone commando training. The result is that some of the bravest of the officers have lost their lives whereas a bit of planning would have helped them fight a larger battle for the sake of the nation. Regardless of the brave fight put up, the ATS does have some explanation to do regarding the manner in which these terrorist sneaked in and have created mayhem. And please do not accept the theory of targetting foreigners, western interests and entering the city through small boats. The simple fact is that India has been attacked, once again.

These people would have been in the city for months together making reconissance of the taregetted places. An attack of this magnitude is beyond the capacity of people merely entering the city with rucksacks and letting go. Do not be surprised if these guys were staying in the same plush hotels as guests beforehand, who were merely joined in by attackers from the front gate. The method in which these guys are holding out rubbishes the simple story being played out. Can we have some truth after the crisis is over?

Or is it!!!!

The methodology of hostage taking is the pinnacle of terrorist achievements for besides from using them as human shields, these unfortunate hostages can be used as bargaining chips for deriving maximum leverage (remember Kandahar) and last but not the least, it gets them unlimited media coverage. Media is like the lifeline for any terrorist group in order to propagate their message and instil fear among the populace.

FEAR... we keep coming back to the operative word in any act of terror. Saturated coverage (watch BBC if you do not believe this) by the media of the free world ensures you publicity which no Al Qaida site would do in a life time.

With the risk of being labelled a conspiracy theorist, I perceive this act as a mere dress rehersal for something BIG. Remember the hostage taking in Jammu a few months back and now this. It appears that the terrorists are graduating to a higher level with each experience. I would appeal to our security agencies and the intelligence guys to include this input while analysing the incidence after it is done and over with. Please remember Beslan in Russia where Chechen terrorists took around 400 school students as hostage. The very thought is terrifying, but this in-your-face terrorism has to be confronted.....and defeated.

The nation has reposed faith in its politicians time and again and have been rewarded with this. The politician-bureaucrat- criminal nexus needs to be broken in order to confront this evil. Have we ever given thought to the fact that these terrorists are using the conduits of local criminals who might be sitting abroad but have their kingdoms intact ( does the name of Dawood ring a bell) , to ferry in their arms, ammunition and personnel. These networks ensure safe houses, local intelligence, local personnel for these terrorists. It is an open secret that these criminals are used by politicians to launder their dirty money, win elections in bargain of safety of their illegal business. The bureaucrats as the legendary Shikhandi provide cover to this dirty nexus in exchange of plum 'postings', 'transfer of the irritants (Read the limited honest officers), easy money and stuff. It appears that the nation and its citizens is the least of their concerns. This unholy triumvirate has to be broken, and broken fast.

India has been at the receiving end of these terror attacks for decades now and it is an amazing fact that this country has no special anti terror law . The govt. is pleased as a punch when it states that the existing laws like the National Security Act is enough to confront this scourge . The POTA was scrapped because it was ostensibly against a particular religion. The argument was that even the existence of POTA did not prevent the Akshardham or the Parliament attack. The argument leads one to draw an analogy and ask questions like Dowry deaths inspite of an equally ‘draconian’ anti dowry act (Sec. 498 of IPC), and murders inspite of section 302. Do we mean to say that these laws should be scrapped because of events to the contrary. As to the argument of POTA being used against a particular community based on the statistical evidence of the number of people arrested under it, will please any politician point out the identity of the persons committing these terror acts ? I once again assert my previous statements that terrorism has no religion, so please…please treat a terrorist like a terrorist, not a Hindu or Muslim or Sikh terrorist. Laws do not prevent crime but they ensure punishment for a crime thereby deterring future wannabes. Law is one of the arms to fight a terrorist and let us not fight this modern day asura with one of our arms chopped off. Besides let the judiciary decide on the applicability of the law in each and every case. No law is above judicial scrutiny, is it ?

One of the essential arms in fighting this terror i.e. the Police needs immediate reform. All of us saw the visuals of the brave guys of the ATS enter the battle zone with their outdated bullet proof vests while confronted with an enemy who is trained like an army commando and much more motivated. The ATS or any such force needs special equipments along with special training. The SWAT in the U.S.A is a special police force which tackles such exigencies. I wonder whether the ATS guys are trained on a regular basis judging by their work in the past one month, wherein they had been dragged unnecessarily into a political event. The investigation should be the part of a specialized team and the operations part should be left to the other experts. You cannot have officers like Hemant Karkare ,Vijay Salaskar and Asohk Amte both investigating as well as executing cases. Unfortunately we will not be having them anymore, but will we learn from our mistakes ? We better do, for these brave, nay very brave officers looked like Abhimanyu getting into the Chakravyuha without knowing how to get out of it.

The reform has also to come from within the police officers who have to stand up and be counted . For too long they have played along with the politicians for petty gains but the chickens have come home to roost. Senior police officers are ssen more in high profile parties rather than on their rounds. In small cities and towns the situation is far worse for the senior police officer is like the Mai baap for the place. They will bow before the local politician who generally is a ruffian/criminal, but will thrash a poor man on the street mercilessly. The police officers need to look within.

Mumbai has been brought on its knees. Our soldiers are fighting a very brave battle but the damage has been done. The purpose has been served for the masters as well as the perpetrators. The shrill propaganda of these youngsters having eliminated three of the top anti terror officers as well as holding on against the Army, the MARCOS and the NSG will earn them more recruits. Not for them the reason that the forces are proceeding cautiously in order to minimise collateral damage. They do not prescribe to the Indian ideology of each life being important . They proscribe to the ideology of mindless violence and such propaganda is like a boon from the God.

My thoughts are with the people held hostage and the brave sons fighting to save them. My prayers are with them. May God give them courage.

But this nation will be doing a great disservice to the dead police officers and the common men and women who fell prey to these beasts, if we remain in the shock and awe in which we are right now in. The people have to get up and like Arjuna take the pledge after the death of Abhimanyu to avenge the death of these brave people. The govt. has to be forced to confront this demon. Remember the NATION IS AT WAR. The sooner we understand it, the better.

Like Swami Vivekananda said: “ The goal may be distant, but awake, arise and stop not till the goal is reached.”

Let this message go down to the terrorists that this nation of Ashoka, Samudra Gupta, Akbar, Shivaji, Rana Pratap, Guru Gobind Singh, Bhagat Singh, Jhansi ki Rani will not be cowed down. We will fight for our culture, our spirit, our History and for everything that is INDIA.

Borrowing from Winston Churchill in the face of the advancing German war machinery before the battle of Britain :

“ We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”

Amen….

VANDE MATARAM

P.S : My condolences to the families of the brave officers who laid down their lives for the cause of the nation and to those killed in this act of mindless violence.

THE GREAT NORTH INDIAN MARRIAGE

Marriage is perhaps the only industry in India which never faces the threat of recession. Therefore while the BSE index and the Nifty go for a toss, while the Airlines refuse to lower the fares inspite of a massive fall in ATF prices and find no passengers, while the prices of essential items skyrocket inspite of fall in inflation figures (govt. ones of course), the Marriage season is in full bloom in India. If you look around, you will see all Hotels booked out, all caterers engaged, all rental vehicles booked in advance, musical bands booked out months in advance, massive crowds in Saree showrooms.......RECESSION !! What's that ?

Since tis the marriage season I would like to get caught in this fever and bring before you a description of a marriage ceremony and its attendant baggages. Any reader looking for some constructive ideas please desist from proceeding further. Not that the blog usually contains any constructive ideas, but let's not digress any further.

The time is 8:00 P.M in any North Indian city. It is well past the 7:00 P.M deadline indicated in the invitation card for the starting of the Baarat as it is called, but the groom is still roaming around getting ready for the Baarat. Nobody in the family is bothered about the delay since the accepted norm for the baarat to proceed in the country is at least two hours behind schedule for you do not want the bride's family to notice that the groom is too anxious to get married. Marriage after all is an extension of the game of Chess. Mind games you see, never let the opponent realize your anxiety, for then you loose the upper hand. Besides you also do not want the bride's family to be caught unawares, for the mandap for the ceremony is still half ready, the stage for the reception ceremony has fallen short of flowers and most importantly the bride is still in the beauty parlour, getting ready with layers of make up. Obviously, she needs to 'look beautiful' doesn't she ? When you live in India you follow Indian Standard Time, don't you ? Not for us the firang business of respecting time.

The only guys who are restless are the musical band guys for it is a very auspicious day for marriages and this lot has three appointments for the night. The astrologers in India ensure that certain days are declared most auspicious for marriages and getting married on this particular day apparently brings unlimited prosperity to the new couple. This is an added protection after getting the Horoscopes of the couple matched. That a majority of the marriages nowadays end up on the divorce table, is nobody's case, but since this is not a post on social issues, let us proceed. This 'auspicious' day has a particularly auspicious effect on the Pandits performing the ceremonies for they can charge exorbitant amount for the services, the same goes for the aligned sectors, musical bands, marriage houses, caterers, hotels, railways. In economics they call it the Domino effect. The musical band guys are anyway placated with assurance of extra payment and they are content.

Finally by 8:45 P.M the groom is ready and the marriage procession starts its journey towards the marriage house which is located around 1 km away. Since I am not invited to the high profile marriage parties which are held in swanky upmarket hotels I can only describe a marriage which take place in 'marriage houses' which is nothing else but a house with a lawn to hold a certain amount of people .

The procession is now on its way.

The musical band now strikes a beat with the tune "AAJ MERE YAAR KI SHAADI HAI", which is the immortal tune for all marriages. The song which was picturised on Shatrughan Sinha around 3 decades ago still remains the no. 1 spot for marriages and no North Indian marriage can be complete without it. But the purpose for which it is being played i.e the great North Indian marriage dance, fails to pick up. The friends and relatives of the groom are simply loafing around the procession. The groom apprehends disaster, "Will my marriage procession be like a funeral procession?" He mutters to himself. " Why have these idiots come ? Just to eat!" he is irritated to the hilt and calls one of his friends to his side, "Saalon khali khaane aaye ho kya? Yaad nahin tumhari shaadi mein main kitna naacha tha?" ( Have you people come to eat only? Don't you remember how much I danced in your marriages?) It appears that the groom was the resident Helen for marriages.

The friends column now begins to stir . Everybody is trying to drag the other to the dance floor it seems. But the response is not the most enthusiastic. Now the parents of the groom also start worrying about this lack of enthusiasm and start exhorting the relatives for some action of the Prabhudeva type. But the procession is most lethargic although it has occupied the major portion of the road and a traffic jam is slowly building up. In North India the govt. has by a secret order willed the entire road to marriage processions on these marriage days. These are the only days when even the cattle on the roads give up their inalienable right to roam around.

A massive traffic snarl is slowly building up behind this procession. The commuters caught in the jam start remembering the 'Maa-Behens' (mothers and sisters, another North Indian speciality) of the Baaratis. Since it is an auspicious day for marriages most of the commuters are themselves proceeding for some marriage or the other. They will themselves be blocking some road or the other very soon and will be at the receiving end of these abuses, but as long as you are the aggrieved party make the most of it.

One of the friends or cousin of the groom who is scared to death of the dancing ritual and is simply walking along with the baarat now takes over traffic management, thereby indicating his utility to this procession. This fellow makes sure that the groom and his parents notice this good samaritan act and for this purpose he manages the traffic from very near to the groom's car, all the while assuring the groom not to worry about anything. Not that the groom is worried about anything else besides the 'dancing' ritual, but even then this friend shows off his worth. That he himself becomes the target of the abuses thrown by the stranded commuters while managing the traffic is of a lesser concern to him than 'dancing'. Intermittently, he also proceeds towards the front of the baarat pretending to keep the baaratis and the musicians in a queue, so that everybody else also notices his contribution towards the well being of the baarat.

Meanwhile the fire cracker guys have started their job in earnest. Crackers, fluorescent lights are being lighted in the middle of the road. The people crossing the street take evasive actions, motorists stop to avoid the explosion and throw some more curses but what is a marriage procession without these fire crackers, guidelines of the govt. regarding noise pollution, hospitals , the sick, the elderly, be damned. After all "AAJ MERE YAAR KI SHAADI HAI".

The head of the family, usually the elder brother of the groom's father or some other elder walks proudly in front of the baarat, a shawl neatly folded and kept on his shoulder. In these days of nuclear and sub nuclear families, his importance is only nominal like the President of India, which is shown by his walking all alone, but even then he does not want to miss out on marriage food and some nominal ritual respect. Furthermore this marriage will give him an opportunity to crticise the arrangements on both ends, once he gets back home. It will be good fodder for months.

Suddenly the musical band hits jackpot with the immortal song from the movie UPKAAR, " JAHAN CHAUDI CHHATI VEERON KI" (Needs no translation). It is as if the entire brigade of friends and cousins have stepped onto a bed of nails, so vigorous is the dance movements. The marriage dance is completely different to any civilised form of dance anywhere in the world . The dancers put on a show as if there is no tomorrow, hands are flung about, some simply jump up and down, some take out their handkerchiefs and convert it into a beena of a snake charmer. Not to be left behind, some pretend to be snakes and imitate steps from Sridevi's movie Nagina . Some boisterous baaratis have by now clambered onto the shoulders of other fellow baaratis as if there is a wrestling match underway. The groom has now got a grin on his face and looks like a smug cat, the parents are also grinning from ear to ear.

The female baaratis have now been exhorted into action. But their dance steps are more routine and less vigorous for obvious reasons. Their dance ritual their forming a circle and lifting their hands together while moving around an imaginary circle. It is more of a refined "RING- A - RING-A-ROSES", but hey anything goes!! Some of the more healthy ones (Healthy as in highly overweight) join in by simply clapping their hands in encouragement. They are the female counterparts of our friend who is still managing the traffic and pretending to be overworked.

The Party has just started.

The traffic has by now come to a grinding halt, since these dance rituals ensure that a snail could outsprint this procession. But this is how it is supposed to be, isn't it? There is an ambulance with its sirens blaring, some fool had to fall ill today only. But like true sanskari Indian baaratis, the baarat refuses to give way. Maybe they are doing this guy a favour, for he will face hell at the hands of the doctor and his diagnosis and its accompanying paraphernalia which is modern medical science, so why not go to hell straightaway and save yourself the bother?

The baarat after nearly two hours of struggle nears the venue of the marriage. The bride is in the meanwhile getting herself recorded from various angles by the video photographer. It is mostly the profile of her in her bridal finery. This shot is mostly seen in the marriage C.D's in the form of 4 images of the bride juxtaposed around each other with stars all around and the song "EK LADKI KO DEKHA TO AISA LAGA". The great late R.D.Burman must be cursing himself for creating this song.

Anyway, the baaratis then spot the family of the bride waiting to receive them and all hell breaks loose. It is as if they have stepped onto a live electric wire after taking a bath. The dancing motions ( if you can call them that) increase in their ferocity and the movement of the baarat stops completely. It appears that their lives will end the moment they stop dancing, even Hema Malini was not dancing so desperately when Viroo was chained before Gabbar Singh. But this is the final frontier, so make it count.

The movement of the baarat has come to a complete halt.

Inspite of repeated requests of both the brides and the grooms father, the friends and cousins refuse to move forward and carry on with their aerobic exercises, oops... dancing. Every dancer seems to be pushing the other one around, so vigorous is the throwing up off hands. The musical band is playing all the songs in its repertoire for now money is being thrown around by various assortments of uncles of the groom. A baarat is a place where people who haggle for two ruppes with a rickshawaalah throw hundreds of rupees in the air without a care in the world.

Finally the dancers get physically exhausted and troop into the marriage hall to let the real proceedings begin. The marriage is now running around four hours behind schedule, but for us Indians who talk of a heritage of thousands of years and believe in Yugas which consist of millions of years, it is like one Nano drop in the ocean.

The groom is now sitting atop his 'throne' on the reception dais, surrounded by friends who have by now started ogling at the females present on the brides side. This is the courting time and it is no holds barred, whoever can first strike a conversation immediately leaves his friends behind for now these 'ruffians' (you cannot call them friends in front of females) now only have a nuisance value.

The next step in the marriage is the ceremony of garlanding of each other by the bride and the groom or the 'Jaymaal' as it is called. It is the most macho of ceremony for the groom for he refuses to bow down his head for the garlanding by the bride in an act of one upmanship, duly egged on by his friends. At times the bride has to be physically lifted to garland the groom amidst much clapping. The groom pays for this act for stupidity and buffoonery by bowing his head throughout the remainder of his life before his wife. So much so for macho man.

Now the photography session is formally inagurated on the reception dais . Everyone clambers onto the stage and surround the would-be-couple for a snap and if fortunate enough, for video photography. Not everyone gets his mug recorded by the cameraman, which is reserved for the special few. Anyway the photgraphs have a special pattern , the elderly stand in an Aashirwaad (blessing) giving posture, the friends surround the stage as if they have just won a sporting event, some even raise their fingers in the ubiquitous V sign, why..... well nobody knows, but that is the way it happens.

The carpets used on the ramp to the stage are so worn out from use that they defy the law of friction. People on the way up, especially females with their fashionable high heels cannot get a good grip on the carpet and feel a sliding motion, as if the earth is slipping beneath. But the risk of embarrassment due to falling in front of so many people makes them focus even harder, and they somehow manage to reach the summit. Human minds can do the impossible when under duress, and this definitely is one of them.

The food session is one of the best and most awaited events in the marriage. Most of the people are here for the food only, not necessarily for the sake of food but for criticising it, for the moment they step out of the marriage venue they start cribbing, "Accha nahin tha, is se accha to Sharmaji ke yaahan tha, samay barbad hua," ( Food was better and Sharmaji's place, what a waste of time). That they have hogged like a pig and that they said the same at Sharmaji's marriage, is well.. a matter of detail only. Since we Indians have given up on the communal system of feeding at marriages (not the secular-communal, you fools, but the communal where everyone sits together and food is served by family members) , in the similar manner in which we have given up on the joint family system, a queue immediately forms in front of the food stalls. Food is now served by the employees of the caterer, and the serving of a particular item they give at one go is so small that even an ant might die of starvation after eating it. The person who wishes more of the same looks with pleading eyes towards the server for more of it. The derision with which the second serving is provided makes the person receiving it wish that the earth would open up and swallow him , but the thought that he has brought an expensive gift makes him detremined to carry on.

Espresso coffee is also being served. This coffee is much in demand at the marriage ceremonies, more so because beneath an outer cooler layer of foam it is scathingly hot. Innumerable tongues are scalded which results in lesser consumption of food.

The best or the worst part of this queue system (depends on which side you are on) is that it is impossible to go back for a second helping once you have partaked the first round of food, because you will have to enter the queue from behind the last person, and if for example you want a second helping of the delicious chutney, you will have to cross fifteen stalls in a queue which is moving even slower than the baarat, for a bit of chutney. Most of the people, except the bravehearts do not even try.

But the most anticipated of all delicacies is the Ice cream, which is uniformly White in colour. Which flavour? Which Brand? Don't even ask ! Not even the caterer knows this secret. But everbody wants a bit of it. People from 8-80 make a beeline for it, inspite of the fact that the person serving ice cream will pretend that he is spending for it from his own pocket. The slices which are served are thinner than a finger and any attempt for a second serving will ensure sarcastic looks from the server, looks which rob you of dignity, self esteem .......in short Looks which could Kill. This is the item which is finished of the fastest and late comers who were till now saying, " Line khali ho to chalein" (Let the queue thin out) can only curse their luck. People who never spend a single paisa in eating ice cream rush the fastest to this counter and never complain of the size of the slice or the sarcastic looks of the caterer. People with sore throats and fever, convince their family " Ghar chal ke gargle kar lenge" ( will gargle after reaching home). But ice cream they must have !!

The macho youngsters in the meanwhile have no time for coffee and ice cream for they are busy with their Kingfishers and Vodkas. Vehicles accompanying the baarat are placed conveniently for this rendezvous. These macho guys enter the cars surreptitiously and take a swig of the Amrit (nectar) as they call it, and giggle like school girls. Liqour does strange things to the mind and soul, they say.

Meanwhile, the real event for which everyone has gathered i.e the Marriage has also begun unnoticed. The Pandit is chanting verses which nobody understands. Even the Pandit at times is confused as to whether he is chanting the correct mantra for the occasion or not. But since nobody is concerned he carries on nevertheless, vedic mantras and rituals have basically become a formality for authenticating the marriage, nothing more. Intermittently, someone from the groom's side interjects, "Panditji, jaldi kijiye" (Hurry up). This is the best part about Hindu religion, you can ask Panditji to hurry up. Imagine somebody asking the maulavi or the padre to hurry up. Boring people these Christians and Muslims, I tell you.

The bride and the groom give each other the coy look. The rest of the baaratis are sleeping or are on the verge of sleeping. Since the majority of the baaratis have left there are only around 10-15 people left on each side. Some of them are hanging around because they live far off and going home bedecked in jewellery late at night might not be the best ending after a sumptuous meal. There are these fellows who make a living out of snatching and robbing you see! That most of the jewellery adorning the females has its origins in another kind of loot (under the table kind) is besides the point.

Finally after the the rituals which nobody has paid heed to, the ceremony is over. People are woken up from slumber and it is bidaai time as dawn is breaking. The crowd has thinned out even further as day break ensures even more desertions. The father of the bride is by now haggling with the tentwalaahs.

Bidaai is a ritual which is most poignant, but by now everybody is so tired that it is best done and gotten over with. There are only 3-4 of the grooms blood relations and friends who are still accompanying him whereas the brides side consists of females only. The rest have simply disappeared. The weeping bride is bundled into the vehicle and waved off. The bride weeps for one day and makes the groom pay by making him weep for the entire life or maybe she weeps because she now visualises her bleak future after marriage to this fool.

This my friends is the Great North Indian Marriage. What afterwards?

Well let me borrow from the great philospher Socrates,

"My advice to you is to get married. If you find a good wife, you'll be happy; if not, you'll become a philosopher".

SOME MORE QUESTIONS

Circa 1946, Mohd. Ali Jinnah was steamrolling his opposition and humanity with his drive for Pakistan. Kashmir was of special interest to Jinnah because of its majority population of Muslims and most importantly its strategic importance. But Jammu and Kashmir which was under the reign of Maharaja Hari Singh was lorded over by another strongman Sheikh Abdullah of the National Conference. Jinnah inspite of his best efforts failed to win over Sheikh Abdullah, and true to his style, launched a vitriolic attack on him, "this man tells me that he is on my side, but when he goes out he calls himself a nationalist. He cannot be trusted." Maybe Jinnah had been pampered by the indulgence of the Congress leaders. But the Sheikh was no Congressman. He retaliated in good measure, "Jinnah is not even a Muslim, he cannot recite a single Kalima from the Quran."

Jinnah faced massive protests wherever he went in Kashmir. In Baramulla,a young National Conference worker Maqbool Sherwani presented Jinnah with a massive garland. The moment Jinnah was about to board his vehicle Sherwani took off the cover of the garland. To Jinnnah's horror the garland was entirely made up of an assortment of footwear. Jinnah immediately left for Rawalpindi.

But evidently Jinnah did not forget this humiliation. For a few months later when the 'tribals' who in reality were the Pakistani army in mufti, launched their incursion, Baramulla faced the brunt. Even the churches were not spared as the missionary sisters were raped and murdered enmasse.What became of the Hindu and Sikh women who had taken shelter there, is a story which was never known.

The Pakistanis after capturing Baramulla were only 30 kms. away from the Srinagar Airport. Maharaja Hari Singh had acceded to India and the Indian forces were on their way. The Srinagar Airport had to be kept free for the Indian forces which had already started landing, but were miniscule compared to the numerical strength of the Pakistanis.

Time was of essence.

Maqbool Sherwani, now pretending to act as an informer promised to show the Pakistanis a shortcut to the Airport.Leading the convoy on his motorcycle he took them on a merry go around and ensured that they lost their way.

The Indian Army took full use of this opportunity and Jammu and Kashmir was saved.

But Maqbool was not.

He was crucified by the infiltrators on an electric pole in Baramulla town by driving nails through his body. He was subsequently brought down in a hail of bullets. Maqbool Sherwani became a martyr for the sake of the nation. Mahatma Gandhi paid tributes to Maqbool Sherwani in his evening prayer meeting.

The Indian Army performed heroic deeds in that campaign, General Thimmaya took his tanks to a height where tanks had not gone before. Hannibal would have been proud. Major Somnath Sharma earned the first Param Vir Chakra in the Indian army during that campaign. That our leaders lost what Maqbool or Major Sharma became martyrs for is besides the point.

What hurts is that were we even educated about the martyrdom of people like Maqbool Sherwani? (I myself read about this supreme sacrifice in an article by a retired army officer, recently.) Or maybe that is what our political elite wanted. For martyrdom has become the preserve of a selected few who rake it for political gains. Elections have been fought over the dead bodies of 'martyrs',with the opponents not even fathoming how to react.That there was a difference between 'martyrdom' and 'political assassination' is well,.... again besides the point.

Today no political leader visits the grave of Maqbool Sherwani is a fact which needs no corroboration. The fact that accusatory fingers were raised at the martyrdom of Inspector M.C. Sharma at the Batla House encounter is an indirect corroborative evidence that this country gives a damn to people who go beyond their call of duty. Even the National Security Advisor M.K.Narayanan has endorsed the authenticity of the encounter but the fact is still not sufficient for some, or so it seems.

The country is today witness to the shameful spectacle to the attempt to denigrate the prestige of the Indian army, subsequent to the arrest of Lt.Col. Purohit by the Anti Terrorist Squad of the Maharashtra Police for his alleged involvement in the Malegaon blast. All and sundry have joined in, albeit subtly. The Indian army, perhaps the only institution which can truly claim to be Secular, which puts duty before self, an institution which is in the vanguard of fighting terrorism, fighting floods, fighting communal riots, fighting the aftermath of earthquake, saving children from their falls into open borewells, has an additional fight at its hand. It has to prove its Secular credentials to the politicians duly abetted by its lackey,in this case the police.

The entire saga started with the arrest of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, whose Motor Cycle was allegedly used to implant bombs in Malegaon resulting in the death of 5 people. The ATS should be commended for its prompt investigation, especially in view of the fact that not much headway has been made by it in the Malegaon blast of 2006 in which 37 people were killed, apart from the arrest of some SIMI activists or the Mumbai blasts of 2006.

The electronic media is having a field day in covering this investigation, 'HINDU TERROR' says one channel in the background of its presentation, which anyway is saturated. The discussion revolves around how Hindus are also becoming terrorists. Now the ATS is also investigating the involvement of Purohit and Sadhvi in the Samjhauta express blast a few years back, the Nanded blast investigation is being reopened. The way things are proceeding do not be surprised to see the WTC attack, the Mumbai blast of 2006 also being credited to these motley bunch of people. One Dayanand Pandey, an apparently self styled guru has been picked up . The credit of being the 'mastermind' is changing every day. The best part of the investigation pertains to the fact that it appears that the entire interrogation is being performed in front of these busybodies from the news channels. Some body in the ATS is leaking worse than the sinking Titanic, for reasons not for us to conjecture upon. Somebody please remind the ATS guys of discrete investigation being in their professional call of duty . Or is there more to the investigation than meets the eye?

Praveen Swami in THE HINDU, has gone a step ahead and done a complete analysis of the genesis of 'Hindu Terrorism', notwithstanding the fact that certain literature which was used during the freedom struggle has been selectively interpreted. These people are not far from branding Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki at par with the goons from Jaish-e-Mohd and Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Incidentally, a few weeks ago, our friends from the media were stressing upon the need to delink terrorism from religion and stuff like Islam not sanctioning acts of terrorism. Now words like 'HINDU TERROR' are casually being bandied about. My congratulations to these media guys. But please feel free to use the epithet of 'Muslim Terrorism' next time Muslim Terrorists attack a predominantly Hindu India, in order to follow norms of fairplay and avoid accusations of double standards.

Congratulations again on succeeding in dividing terrorists into Hindu and Muslims. It is the mindless urge like this to increase TRP ratings which provides criminals of all hues ammunition to incite fellow criminals, my dear friends, but do we really care? For years our media friends justified acts of terror as 'revenge for Gujarat riots' or 'revenge for the Babri Masjid demolition' and castigated people like L.K.Advani, Narendra Modi, RSS, more than the terrorists themselves. Drawing on the same analogy of revenge can a Hindu child/youth affected by acts of terrorism not seek revenge from the people he feels to be behind the acts of terror ? Any answers ? An act of terror is an act against humanity irrespective of the logic behind it and so it should have been, but in our yearning for votes, sale of books, acceptability amongst the pseudo liberal media, look at the mess we have gotten into.

One issue is intriguing and maybe the ATS or anyone else will clear the air on this. Apparently the motor cycle of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur was used to place explosives in Malegaon, the discovery of which has led to these arrests. If the same is true then it must act as a disgrace to the tribe of the criminals, since you are not supposed to leave any evidence at the scene of the crime, let alone using explosives on your own motorcycle. How disingenuous!! If an armyman, who also worked for the Military intelligence, was also part of this naivety, then I call upon the govt. to disband the Military Intelligence unit ........our ATS guys do better.

But we as a country do not want questions but only answers, therefore the 'Army is getting communal' , 'Hindu Terror', 'Save Afzal Guru' campaign prevails over logic and reasoning. For example any answers to the fact that any bombing attack needs months of meticulous planning even for trained army personnel, an organisation, training, reconnaissance missions. If the motley, unconnected group of people such as the accused in the Malegaon blast could carry it off, then only God can save us from the Al Qaida and its friends.

Let us not forget the sacrifice made by unsung heroes like Maqbool Sherwani and Major Som Nath Sharma for the unity and integrity of the nation. Our politicians might stop eulogising them but let us pay our respect to these real heroes by not dividing terrorists into Hindu terrorists or Muslim Terrorists and damaging the interest of the nation. A Terrorist is a terrorist and should be dealt by the rule of law. Elections might come and elections might go, but the country and its institutions remain.

The Indian Army remains awake so that we can sleep. Let us not denigrate the brave sons of the soil for the sake of a few votes.

JAI HIND.