Chaos in the Hills

This week it was the turn of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in Darjeeling to go for a show of strength by making the lives of the masses miserable through their ‘weapon’ of bandh.
In the past week, we have seen the same sort of game being played in Rajasthan, diametrically opposite to Darjeeling on the map of India. And the commonality of the issues comes out in form of the general people, who want to live their life peacefully, being forced to suffer at the hands of a few.Coming back to Darjeeling, for quite some time now, there has been unrest among the Gorkha majority in this place. They have been demanding a separate state for the Gorkha speaking majority.

The question that arises every time the demand for a state arises on the lines of linguistic majority is, what if every linguistic group starts demanding the same for their people. We know that dialect changes every 5 kms in India. Won’t that mean that there should be states of the size of a 100 square miles or something of that sort? And would they be states or Ghettos?It is an example of the state machinery acting impotent to put to rest the growing view that a few in the society can get anything that pleases their whims and fancies, just by getting on the roads and wreaking havoc.

The GJM had called for a day long bandh which was metamorphosed by them into an indefinite one. The result was an exodus of summer revelers from the popular hill station. I ask the GJM leaders, where would they get money to run Gurkhaland (the name proposed for the new state), if the kill the Golden Goose, tourism, with their own hands? But that would be beyond the levels of comprehension of the few who want to taste the power.

In Rajasthan and in Darjeeling, we have come across the Nation being held hostage to the whims of a few socially challenged people.If the same Governments are made to face a position like Kandahar, I bet they would be ready to wait and watch, and then sell the Nation to the devil, the terrorists in this case. Seems, no one has the guts to counter such issues, because if they do, they end up sacrificing the vote bank.

Sorry and pathetic state of affairs.

MBA Students convicted for Murder

I was bewildered to read about the case of two MBA students, Aditi Sharma and Praveen Khandelwal, being convicted for the murder of Aditi's former lover. I feel sorry for the parents of the deceased, Udit Bharati, who was killed by the duo out of the former's opposition to the accused duo's relationship.
It shows how deep the moral degradation has reached in the society! We are talking about young men and women who were studying to get a better job, a better life. Liaisons and relationships do culminate during the college years, and they die down as well. There is bound to be resentment from one party if they feel that they have been taken for a ride or something of that sorts.
But to do away with that person is a cowardly act of the severest nature. You are talking about a person's life. You are not merely hitting him or bashing him up, you are killing him. Finito!
Did the killer duo ever think of what Udit's family would go through, after they get to know that their son is dead? Did Praveen try to put himself in Udit's shoes and think for a moment for the poor chap's family?
To lace the prasad that Udit was given, with poison, is murder in cold blood!
A life sentence is a lease of life that the accused have got that they don't deserve.

My heartfelt feelings go out to the father who had to cremate his son. The mother whose sobs won't ever end. To the family of a young man, who wanted to do something good with his life, but could not take the ups and downs of a relationship at the face of it. The guy who must have had a vision for his life.

I do not know who Udit was, nor the killers. But as a human being, as a young man, as someone who loves his family and is loved by his family, I feel terrible to have read such a display of hatred and cadaverous emotions.

Myanmar Junta - Living in a World of their own

The recent wreaks of nature lead to catastrophic results in Myanmar (Burma) and China.
The former bore the brunt of one of the worst storms in the region's history, and the latter had a part of its heavily territory reduced to ground by way of an earthquake. But the similarity ends there, a gruesome one, however.

The Chinese showed exemplary disaster management skills and several thousands of troops were mobilized to the effected areas in order to provide the much necessary relief supplies. The troops helped in evacuation and the engineers along with the troops worked hard hours for over a week, recently, to prevent another disaster that loomed to drown several hundreds of people owing the formation of a 'quake lake'. (A quake lake is a lake kind of formation that comes into existence when the debris from landslides prevents the flow of a river further downstream, and water keeps seeping in from the upper course of the river).

The Chinese even accepted offers of help from other countries in the rescue and rebuilding mission. We have to bring to fore the fact that the Chinese do not allow much foreign participation in internal matters. But the situation demanded that the help must be accepted to ease the pain and agony of those who have lost everything. Home. Family. Children. All they have is a strong will power to survive.

On the contrary, not far south of China is Myanmar. The country has been under military rule since 1962. The thought of democracy stinks of rebellion to the ruling generals. The fact that the country was ravaged by e devastating storm did not deter the Generals to hold a referendum to give legitimacy to the new Constitution that they have proposed. We need to pause and ponder for a moment. We are talking about holding a referendum in a country at a time when there are rotting corpses littering the highways and over 1.5 million people with nothing over their head and no food in their already famished bellies. we are talking about a catastrophe that has just resulted in instant deaths for almost 45000 people. And what do the Generals decide, instead of the relief effort, hold a bloody referendum!
It is an international crime in my eyes to deny the possibility of survival to a human being. The Generals declined any help from the international community. They wanted to show the world that they are a great nation and can take care of themselves. Grow up for God's sake! You are living in 21st century! There are people dying, YOUR people.

The thorn of the matter is the ideology that has been bred into the Generals over time. The fact that they have access to the riches that an ordinary Myanmarese can't even dream of, is attributed to the hold they have over everything. Media liberties are curtailed. There is a reign of terror. No one can rise against the 'JUNTA'. The leader of the Myanmarese government is Senior General Than Shwe. A person who appears to be there for the masses, but the opulent wedding of his daughter brought the reality out in the open.

Have a look at this You Tube clip that shows the Senior General's daughter's wedding reception.
The world has to get rid of people like Than Shwe. They are a blot on the face of the world. There have been an estimated 60000 deaths as a result of the shoddy handling of the relief efforts following Cyclone Nargis.
There has to be accountability and there has to someone to take responsibility for the horrendous way the situation was handled.
Than Shwe told the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon : This is the most candid talk I have had with anyone from the outside world.
Wow! No wonder he gave such a statement. The statement reflects the mindset of that person, who considers Myanmar to be a separate entity. Not part of the global village we live in. Well, he didn't complete his high school studies, but that's a different story, isn't it?
And lastly, one of the few countries who have diplomatic relations with Myanmar is India. No comment from the Indian Government on the poor handling of the situation in Myanmar.
India's Foreign policy. What's that? Anyone heard of it?