Cricket is alive and well...

His name is V.V.S Laxman and I was there for the 2nd test at Eden Gardens in 2001...

Perhaps the greatest test match ever...?

The dream never dies; only the dreamer, according the immortal words of that song.

Cricket will live on as long as people are on the planet.

Can you imagine an Englishman without his pint at a cricket match? Can you imagine how bored Pakistani and Indian cricket fans will be if the game dies? No more cricket?

Kerry packer, the modern day Lords of cricket and the man who revolutionized the game, has recently died in Australia at 68. He will be best remembered for introducing the world cup of cricket, the one-day version of the game and colored uniforms. He was also the richest man in Australia.

Yes, Kerry Packer is gone but his dream will live on. I once met Sunil Gavaskar when I was a lad. Sentimentality aside, Sunil, the game will never die, just like your 10,000 Test runs!

Trenton, AJ - I was only referring to Cricket's death for me. For me, it is dead. I wish you alive and kicking Cricket.

Rahul,

There was more to it

I remember very vividly, I was sitting in the VIP Pavillion next to a few teammates and Mr. Farooq Abdullah and all of a sudden I see people throwing chopped Goat intestines high up in the air. Within minutes the whole ground was filled with eagles. The match stopped for some time for lunch but only to my horror I see two young lads running towards the pitch. And guess what they did, Pulled the stumps and started destroying the Pitch.

How can I forget the last ball six, it was a "RamNavmi", I was watching the match at my uncle's place, as soon as the match was over,this huge stone breaks the window and I escape by a whisker.
I decided to leave for home, a disctance of less than a kilometer, which usually would take me 20 minutes on foot seemed like a cross country run. I have never witnessed such a mass euphoria and a pandemonium of hue and cry in all my life.

But Cricket still runs in my Blood. It can't die Rahul, it dies with you

It died for me. You know why AT? Because Ravi is no more. he was dragged out of the bus and shot dead - may be by cousins of those two boys who destroyed that pitch in 1983. That story later, my friend.

Cricket sounds like a most dramatic athletic endeavor.

The match stops for lunch? How poetic. :)

But not as poetic as Ernie Harwell describing a called thirs strike in, Detroit..."Here's the windup, and the pitch...STRIKE THREE on the outside corner. Canseco stood there like the house by the side of the road...."

Rahul,

I don't even have words to sympathise with you.

All I can say is wherever he is alonwith my cousin may they rest in peace.Yes and Amit too - the captain of Star Cricket club

Rahul, there is nothing to be ashamed if valley celebrates the victory of Pakistan. Just because someone is born in India doesn't mean that he needs to support only India. It is not a constitutional requirement. However, I was also ashamed watching the same game. I was (and still am) ashamed about Indian cricket in general and that game in particular. A small group of INDIAN BORN cricketers with INDIAN BLOOD got themselves sold out and threw the game to the Pakistani side. I find this more shameful than certain group of people in Srinagar waving Pakistani flag. Lemme ask you a question. There are thousands and thousands of Indians living in US. Let us say if US and India play a Davis cup tie and if Indian born US citizens wave Indian flag during the game, do you think it is a treason. It is a game Rahul. I don't understand why we should give so much importance to such a trivial issue and paint those Pakistani flag waving people as terrorists.

Rahul,

Cheer up ! , I think we are square after we buried them in the 2003 world cup match.
Akram and Waqar (two of their so called heroes) were given a farewell, they would never forget for the rest of their lives...

Dear Rahul,

I agree with Krish. We should learn to better appreciate a different point of view. If some people feel more affinity for another country for whatever reason, that's their privilege. Instead of trying force them to cheer for India, we should rather make the country so great that they will begin to feel differently.

We have too much bigotry in India. We discriminate against people because of their cast, color, language, culture, region and what have you. Muslims do not make it any easier, but the only way we can change their behavior is by changing ours. Rahul, I know I can't even begin to put myself in your shoes and understand what you feel given what you have gone through. But hatred is like a poison that will burn you all your life if you let it. Forgiveness is the nectar that will wash away the poison and give a new hope for life. I hope you will relinquish this unwanted baggage of bad feelings from your past, that torments you 24x7 like no human enemy could, and start a new chapter. Given your powerful writing, I am sure you can be the change that we all need.

Regards,

Ravi

Krish,

Man, I am amazed at your sense of logic.

Burning Indian flag and cursing the country that feeds you is that a constitutional requirement. I think you need to have a relook at the constitution of India

Dear Krish, if the same thousands and thousands of Indians after that Davis cup match would come on the streets, start absuing the US left right and center.Detest, abhor, damage, everything that has USA written on it. Let me see how you and Uncle Sam would react.

Krish it's about belongingness and sense of pride, that so many thousands of Indians living in the US carry on their sleeves. If india is their Life, USA is their Soul

Anyways, you are comparing apples with oranges.

Let me ask you a question Krish, If India and Pakistan are palying a cricket game in Canada and you see two turban clad guys holiding a Khalistani flag would your blood boil ?

AT,

My logic is perfectly fine. The problem is the myopic vision of many Indians. Ravi had put it in wonderful words.

What do you call about thousands of Indians who live in US and talk crap about the US govt.'s policies. How are they different from these guys in Srinagar then. In my opinion, both are the same. They are expressing their right. It is typical of Indian right's Psyche to apply different standards to different people. So I am not surprised at the reactions to my arguments.

To your question on the India-Pakistan match in Canada, my reply is simple. it doesn't matter to me what flags he waves. It is only the pseudo patirots in India (and in fact, in many countries) who give so much about importance to flags when it comes to patriotism. For me, patriotism doesn't come on flags. It should come from one's heart. Giving importance to flags are for people who desperately seek some ideology to hang on.

If cricket dies in one man, it does not mean that it dies in the other fella. It is a perfectly normal consequence of events, however they may affect us.

By the author's logic, one can say that NHL hockey died in many when the season was cancelled last February. Ditto for major-league baseball fans. So, what's the point?

I was born on April 18. Sorry, I did not have time to read your post, but scanned it quickly ... since I speed read a lot stuff, as I always hope I don't say something inappropriate. Hey, but I did open the post and the story sounded somewhat familiar to one DC shares on one of his CDs. Again, I glanced at this post and hope I didn't miss something, as sports don't interest me.

Ravi Kulkarni, first to you. Sir, I have no bad feelings. But I believe in this: I forgive but don't forget. Forgetting this would mean stabbing history in the back.

And Krish, thank you for your comments. But friend, you missed the point. It is not about flags. It is about throwing half-eaten apples at Vengsarkar and then chopped goat intestines. And by comparing them with US-born Indian citizens, do you mean to imply that those who supported Pakistan are Indian-born Pakistanis? Yes, I agree all of them, who supported Pakistan are/were not terrorists, but all of them came out in streets in 1989, wearing shrouds and demanding that Kashmir be handed over to Pakistan and that they want it without Kashmiri Hindu men but with their women.

And your point about flags, friend, is not that too low an affair. Ask me, who has seen Indian flags burning every 15th August in Srinagar and it was me who has seen it unfurling with my own naked eyes on the Tiger Hills. A flag is a flag is a flag.

And Spencer, I forgive you. What I am talking about is too alien for you. But yes sir, i would like to tell you this:

If you knew how I survived
You would have committed suicide

Rahul, if throwing apples and goat flesh is a criteria to demean them, how come the behaviour of Calcutta crowd didn't kill the cricket. How come only such behavior by Kashmiris killed the cricket? More than throwing stuff at the players, Shiv Sena men went and destroyed the pitch in Mumbai (or whatever stadium it is). How come it didn't kill the cricket? On top of everything people with "Indian blood" like Azharudhin (not sure if many of the Hindu fundamentalist guys here will consider him Indian but for me he is an Indian), Kapil Dev and Jadeja sold the very Indian pride to bookies. How come such an act didn't kill cricket? I consider these acts to be more shameful than waving a Pakistani flag. In fact, if the Clive Lloyd's West Indies team were playing against India, I will be waving whatever flag is for West Indies. It doesn't make me any less of an Indian. All you Indians get stirred up if some English Ladies wear Indian team colors in SA world cup. Indian takes pride in the Indian roots of Kallicharan and Chandrapaul, who had played for West Indies. But if a group of Indians wave Pakistani flag, it is an insult to India and they are terrorists. What a big hypocrisy it is?

Guys, it is just a game. Leave it at that point. Don't politicize such events. if a Kashmiri muslim comes and tries to detonate a Bomb in New Delhi, then he deserves punishment for his act. However, if a Kashmiri muslim waves Pakistani flag, it is not a crime. It is their BIRTH RIGHT.

I live in US and if I want, I can wave an Indian flag in any event. I can have Indian flag in my house, in my car and even in my office. It doesn't mean that I am anti-US or a terrorist. I am just exercising my right as a human being and my love towards India. As simple as that.

Rahul, my question to you in response to your reply to Spencer.

Can the muslims in Mumbai and Gujarat call all hindus as terrorists or treat like how you are treating Kashmiri muslims. They have gone through exactly the same things you have undergone. I fully sympathize with your situation but it doesn't give you or any other Kashmiri to treat others with any disdain.

Hi Rahul

After reading your post, I was puzzled at the intensity of your reaction to your experience. In subsequent days, after reading some of the responses and your replies, I've begun to understand what you'd written about. Your reply to Spencer was most helpful, in pointing out that Spencer is unprepared for understanding your story (as are many other readers, I'm sure, myself included), as well as making quite clear how very negative your experience was for you.

On a much more minor level, I had a death of baseball, for me. I'd taken my son and some of his friends to Yankee Stadium, to watch the New York Yankees play baseball. We were all having a wonderful time, and some of the kids needed to go to the restroom. They came back crying (they were 12 years old or so), because they'd been attacked by a small gang of young roughs, who'd shoved them around and had stolen a jacket from one of the boys. I was utterly helpless to correct the situation and get the jacket back, and I had no way to get justice for the boys, because the ruffians had melted into the crowd of 45,000 or so, and there was no way to find them. It wasn't the loss of the jacket that was destructive, but the loss of face. I was shown my powerlessness, and so were the boys. None of us have been back to Yankee Stadium since that day, and none of us watch baseball on TV much during the regular season. We associate baseball with personal humiliation.

While our experience was mild considering what you wrote about, it was still quite powerful for us, and has continued to affect us until this day.

How much more powerful, then, must your experience have been.

Cheers, Heather

(On another note, I'd like to thank you for your contributions to Intentblog, as your posts are consistently among those that make me think and feel most deeply. Also, each time I respond to one of your posts, I learn more about writing, because I'm facing such a good writer. I am amazed how deeply I think about and understand writing when I respond to you, and I notice that I weep with joy a little each time, because of the depth and clarity of the experience. Thanks for this. Best wishes for the New Year!)

"However, if a Kashmiri muslim waves Pakistani flag, it is not a crime. It is their BIRTH RIGHT "

Krish, Please elaborate

"However, if a Kashmiri muslim waves Pakistani flag, it is not a crime. It is their BIRTH RIGHT "

Krish, Please elaborate

Yes, Krish, just saw your comments, referred to above by AT. Please clarify.

There is nothing to elaborate. As a human being, you have certain rights in a democratic country. If you like a cricket team and want to wave that country's flag, it is the birth right of the human being to wave the flag. As simple as that. I also don't understand what is the need to elaborate as I have clearly mentioned immediately after that

"I live in US and if I want, I can wave an Indian flag in any event. I can have Indian flag in my house, in my car and even in my office. It doesn't mean that I am anti-US or a terrorist. I am just exercising my right as a human being and my love towards India. As simple as that."

There is no way one can be stopped from waving another country's flag. It is part of a person's birth right and it is part of democracy and freedom. Hindu fundamentalists can whine that no one has the right to wave a Pakistani flag. But it doesn't carry any meaning.

Krish, I don't understand your zeal to portray everyone as 'Hindu fundamentalist'. Waving a flag is ok, if you are truly wanting to appreciate a particular team's cricketing skills. But that is not what happened in Kashmir on that fateful day. By the way, they were not Pakistani, but Jamaat-e-Islami flags, what we say in 1983 in the Sher-e-Kashmir stadium.

I also think that as an individual (refer to your earlier comment), i have made my stand clear on Gujarat. I consider it a blister on India's face. But what happened in Kashmir in 1989-90 and before and after that is a scar that will never heal.

And when I referred to Cricket's death, I meant it was dead for me. I wish every one else a happy and roaring cricket, whatever that means.

I didn't portray you as a Hindu fundamentalist. What I mean to say was that Hindu fundamentalists make an issue about flag waving by Kashmiri muslims but it doesn't mean anything. People who don't have fundamentalistic ideas should be able to see it in a different light. There is no point in making an issue out of someone supporting Pakistan against India in a cricket match.

My point is as follows. Whatever has happened in Kashmir in the last 50 years is bad for both sides. Kashmiri Pandits have suffered terrible attacks. But if we really have to put an end to kashmir issue, we need to act from a higher plane. I also understand that it is easy to talk when someone hasn't suffered in that crisis. However, my point is that people like you, who can think clearly and logically, should rise above the Hindu-Muslim politics and pave a way for permanant peace in that region. If people like you (I am putting an emphasize on you as compared to many others in this blog with an idea like yours) continue to harp on it and take a ideologically strong posture and write an article like above, I can bet we will never have peace in Kashmir. Rahul, you have a better chance than anyone else in this forum to take a position of magnanimity. You have an unique position (with an impressive talent to articulate your views in an excellent way) to lead the youth and smoothen the ruffled feathers. You are in a position to put off the flame on the Hindu side and lead them to a higher plane. It is people like you who should play a bigger role in ensuring peace by being magnanimous. If you make an issue of muslims waving Pakistani flags and shouting against Indian cricketer, there is no way others (who cannot think as rationally like you) can be magnanimous and reach the higher plane wanting to achieve peace than conflict. This means, we CANNOT have peace in that region. When the whole world wants to have peace, if you are going to write an article like this, I think we are slipping down not moving forward. In short, you can do better than what you have done in this article. We need people like you to take the leadership level to advance peace in that region. A person of your caliber shouldn't do anything to increase the division in the society. You should actually be doing something to reduce the gap.

Krish,

I was going to respond to you on why waving Pakistani flags is different from waving US flags when a person of US origin is in India or vice-versa.
But I had a look at your blog before that.(Every second post has something against the BJP)
And that saved me from a lot of effort.

You are very welcome to view the world through your tinted glasses.

I, of course, am not a man given to as evocative prose as Rahul, so I'll just suggest a couple of things though Krish.

Try telling a terrorist victim anywhere - or a riot victim, that he/she needs to "take a position of magnanimity" and "reach the higher plane wanting to achieve peace than conflict". (please include the other suggestions of yours that I missed out).

Let us know what the reactions are.

Bangaloreguy,

Tinted glass is any day better than the shameful myopic vision. In fact, I am proud to ware one.

Also I didn't tell each and every person who has been a victim of terrorist attack to take a position of magnanimity. I know it is not possible for them to look at it unemotionally. I asked Rahul to do it as he is quite capable of doing it. He can then go and lead others into the higher plane.

Also I am not apologetic about my blog. I consider BJP to be same as Al Qaeda or LET. In fact any BJP supporter have no right to talk about LET and Al Qaeda supporters because they also support a similar organization only with Hindu mask.

Typo. It should be wear not ware.

Hi Heather,
I have come back to intent again, between a nice outing outdoors, and cleaning projects at home, and feeling so much this Jan. 2nd.

I do 'see' a writer in you! I find sharing certain experiences of my own - painful. I have felt abuse at another's hands. I have been around harsh and cruel words and actions. It only takes a moment, and that moment becomes seared into - the fabric of my/our being.

As Rahul has said above - if I could find words to say - how I 'survived' - perhaps I too would say - it would take another's life. Maybe. I have read of this. Just recently, in this city where I live. Someone young, committed suicide.

There is a place where I have stumbled into, grown into, of Understanding that has allowed a release of the suffering. A form of surrender. I cannot be free of my memories, but I choose not to be held in bondage to the memories that would indeed torment me day and night, if not for the Moment that Arrived, which 'saved' me.

Dear Rahul - you touch the deep place in me, and thank you for the courage to write and share from the deep places, to bring to us here.

With love,
~ Kate

A very happy New Year everyone.

Had a break and Rahul just had to read you first and so have few comments of my own - even tho' its many days later.

Firstly, I can quite understand why Gavaskar made that comment. My first visit to J & K was by bus from Jammu to Udhampur many years ago.I was pretty irritated because the bus, already overloaded, was stopping at almost every turn to pick up even more people. I requested the conductor to please let us proceed without interruption as we were already running late and there were busers to follow which could be used. His reply, much to my surprise, was "Yeh India nahi hain" (this is not India). Being a hot headed young man, I didn't let it pass but that is irrelevant here. The point is I can understand Gavaskar's statement.

I remember listening to the commentary on that cricket match and can still experience the sense of disquiet I felt. This is the first time since then then that I have got a first hand report and realise that what we were hearing was nothing compared to actual events.

Mind you I agree with those who say that we need to be tolerant and accept the fact that people are free to cheer whomsoever they wish to and wave whatever flags they want. I can understand people waving Pakistani or Aussie or any other flag and side with any team in a sport. It's similar to people of Indian origin cheering for India in England in an Indo - England match.

What I do not understand is how that is relevant in this case. This was a match between India and the West Indies, where did Pakistani flags or of any other organisation come into this? Obviously it was a political statement being made which had nothing to do with cricket. So while accepting their right to wave whatever flags, no law against that, I think it was an act of boorishness and in extremely bad taste. Just as I think the same thing about the recent similar incidents during the test match in Kolkatta over the Saurav Ganguly affair. No wonder a paper reported that some of the players when they left Kolkatta, are reported to have said that they were happy to be back in India. I feel political leanings or ideology, right/left whatever, has nothing to do with sport. Some may consider this naive - that is their opinion - they are entitled to it.

I think people are missing out the point. If they wave a Pakistani flag in India-WI match, it is still their birth right even if Pakistan flag is irrelevant to this match. They like that country and they wave the flag. I see this in the following way. Waving Pakistani flag inside the Indian territory IS NOT illegal. They have the right to wave it. However, I want to point out that their intentions are not "clean". My argument is that they are waving the Pakistan flag in a match between India and WI to provoke Indians. Their idea is not to show their support to Pakistan but to provoke people who have allegiance to India. It is pretty much evident from their actions. In such a scenario, I would say that Indians should not get provoked by such acts and consider it part of the game we are watching. If Indians don't react and ignore them, they will eventually fade away. It doesn't mean that India needs to give out Kashmir. I just want the Indian side to be more magnanimous and just take it as a cricket match. If the people in the Indian side of things do this instead of taking an ideologically hatred posture, these kinda actions will fade away (I am not saying terrorism will fade away but certain tactics like waving Pakistan flag in India-WI match will fade away). The magnanimity on the Indian side will make saner individuals opposed to India rethink their policies and eventually it will trickle down to a big chunk of populationm, when they slowly realize the futility of the militant struggle.

Well it is just my opinion. People are entitled to take ideologically strong positions but it will definitely not lead towards peace in that region.

Rahul:

I somehow do understand Krish's point of people have the "right" to choose what they want to do in an open society. "To be with us or them" should not be an option.

However, Krish's example of waving an Indian flag in US is not the same as waving Paki flag in Kashmir. I would consider waving Saudi flag a day after 9-11 in the Yankee stadium as more of an equal behavior. The results .... I am PRETTY sure would be disastrously DIFFERENT!

Regarding your story... I think this is better understood if one goes through that humiliation himself of being totally powerless as Heather pointed out.

Krish, of course, seems to have good intentions and logic to start with but a closed and inflexible mind. For someone who advocates "Freedom and Choice" he is a remarkable proponent of the most famous Bushism "Either you are with me or my enemy"! So, I do read what he writes once in a while .... but cannot seem to have the urge to let that affect me intellectually, emotionally now.. for I know the conclusions were made even before he wrote his first sentence.

Recently, I met this guy who was born and brought up in Srinagar and a Kasmiri Muslim whose family had great ties with Abdullah family and he would always side with Pak in our discussions. In my case I thought I was remarkably calm with him.. because I did feel he had his rights to make his choice.. he had.. for Pakistan. And thats fine with me.

But what is not fine with me is when someone like him goes around trashing Indian streets and property and hassling Indian citizens and acting just rowdy.. that is unacceptable.

In my view, EVEN if ONE person in Srinagar is proud to say he is an Indian.. it would be my duty - if I were an Indian PM - to take care of him and his property there... without ANY regard to the "rights" of any other person. As an Indian official or a citizen - my duties of citizenship are towards India and its citizens and NO other. If others become a law and order problem in India - then they need to be dealt as such without any regard to their "rights in India" .... they can approach the country of their choice, then, to fight for their "rights". I cannot hand them the cake and feed them too.

Everyone has a right to choice and also the inevitability of its consequences to face later. You cannot do something and avoid the necessary consequences citing your "own rights" when you didnt give a damn about others!

That is why I have always felt that Kashmiri Pandits were let down by the Indian Government and the Indian people... rather than by their Muslim neighbors.

Cheers,
Desh
Drishtikone.com

Desh,

Brilliant!

Hi Rahul, your name is not there in the list of contributors. Would you please make sure it is added to the list.Thank you. God bless.

Rahul, your name has been added. Please disregard above comment.

Welcome back Desh with your crappism as opposed to my Bushism. In fact, you and your strong ideological friends are the ones who are close to Bushism than me. Your argument shows clearly that you are more ideologically driven than driven by common sense. It is not entirely surprising for me at all.

Even in your example of waving Saudi flag after 9/11, technically it is the right of whoever was waving the flag to do it without terming it illegal. It will only be insensitive. I have also clearly told that the intentions of people who are waving Pakistan flags are not "clean" (I cannot help you if you cannot read my sentences). As far as the right of the individual is concerned, Kashmiris waving Pakistani flag is no different from Indians waving Indian flags in US and it is no different from waving Saudi flag after 9/11. It is their birth right to do so. The best you can say is that they are insensitive to the feeling of host countries. In the case of Kashmiris waving Pakistani flag, they are insensitive and provocative. This doesn't mean the death of cricket. Well, it is difficult to make ideologically driven people like you to understand what it is. You think comparing me to Bush will provoke me. It won't because I am used to right wing hardliners calling such names about me. You are free to compare me to Bush, Rush Limbaugh or Bill O' Reily. It doesn't matter to me. But it doesn't take away the point that people like you are more ideologically driven than driven by common sense.

Krish:

I said:

"for I know the conclusions were made even before he wrote his first sentence."

and you started:
"Welcome back Desh with your crappism as opposed to my Bushism. "

Thanks for proving my point!

What you so wonderfully elaborated is what I agreed with .. but who cares... judgments gotta be made.... and made in a hurry.. sense and reason be damned!

Cheers,
Desh
Drishtikone.com

Desh, try to tackle the issue than personal attacks.

Dear Rahul,
Are you creating a book of poetry of your own? Are you in collobration with one of the bloggers at Intent? Is this a commercial venture?

~ Kate

I do hope you will continue to share your story/novel here, and with continued dialogue in the threads, with the posters that write personal notes to you.

Krish, that has PRECISELY been my point ALL along... but I have yet to read a cogent and a sensible argument from you devoid of venom spewing on any fora (including your own blog)...

Anyways.. the issue cannot be tackled ina day in this case.. there are times when the Lincoln approach is imperative - of a war to keep the Union intact vs letting it go apart and disappear... and in that sense my anger towards the Indian Govt. is more pronounced! They not only pampered the J&K state.. but also thorroughly mismanaged by letting a family of incorrigible playboys rule it for so long... and then could not handle the growing Paki influence!

As far as Pakistan and its intelligence is concerned - I have very little trust in them... so I would not want to change much in terms of the Army situation there. In fact, we should just make it legal for rest of Indians to settle there and buy land in Kashmir area - to hell with Art. 370!

As for the peaceniks in our country.. they should be packed and sent to the border or places like Kupwara and asked to make their speeches there... rather than lighting inane candles in the full security of Wagah.... soon.. they would shut their mouths up! Its easy to shout loudly at a jawan who in rain and snow with lousy and dripping ponchos fights bravely against a bunch of killers who have no limits....

...its quite another to be there with no arms and at the mercy of the killer and protesting their methods. THAT is the test of non-violent fundamentals.... not with a paper and pen in hand sitting on a nice table and chair... or in the lap of full security! One Dan Pearl style beheading and non-violence will get an unceremonious burial right there!

Therefore, Krish, next time you come out with your non-violence crap... it better be about how you stood against a goon twice your size with a gun in his hand .. .. and how you still loved him and stood your ground. Nothing short of that will do! Its time enough to call the bluff of arm chair, careerist non-violence advocates like you!

Cheers,
Desh
drishtikone.com

Geeta, thanks for your concern. Kate, yes, Tanzan and me are trying to get out an anthology of poems. But i will keep on writing on Intent.

Dashing Desh, you are back! Hooray.
Did you enjoy your time in India? Did you spend the holiday with family and friends?

Now that you are back, you can see you are here among friends at Intent. I did miss you!
~ Kate

Dear Rahul,
You are so good at the novel and storytelling process - with the emotions and descriptions, and the story you have pulled us all into.

I see in you, a gift and talent, that needs no collaboration.
~ Kate

Hi Kate:

thanks for the welcome, Ma'am!! I had a good time in India... it was good to be back ... in just a years time things have changed tremendously! Well beyond my imagination - for good and for bad.

How were your holidays? Hope you had a warm Christmas and New years!

Cheers,
Desh
drishtikone.com

"As far as Pakistan and its intelligence is concerned - I have very little trust in them... so I would not want to change much in terms of the Army situation there."

Neither do I trust Pakistani Army and its intelligence services. But I trust my common sense which clearly says that the ONLY way India can become an advanced country is by having peace with its neighbors. I can bet you cannot be an advanced country and live in peace if you have an enemy as a neighbor. To be in peace with Pakistan, we need to GIVE UP our ideological posture and settle the issue with common sense. Ideological postures have never worked in a long term and it will never work in the future too. Any ideological whinings will complicate the matter further than take us towards peace. This is what many Indians who have ideological postures in such issues should realize. US wuld have been a different country altogether if Canada or Mexico were to become its arch rivals. The ideological posture by the Indian right has got two enemies to India on the crucial northern side. It is also a common sense that we cannot win a war against China and we cannot win a war against Pakistan without inflicting a HUGE loss on our side. In such a scenario is to take a common sense approach than ideology driven approach. It is too dangerous if the ideology is driven by religion than anything else. The only way we can stop Pakistani "tactics" is by taking them to trust and making the people there realize that India had achieved its success because it shunned religious ideologists and fanatics after independence. Once this is done, peace will just follow. Having a failed state as neighbor and bullying them with your religious ideology is a surefire recipe for disaster.

PS: Just see the comments above and find out who started the personal attacks first. Anyone who is sane can see that from the above comments.

Desh,

"As for the peaceniks in our country.. they should be packed and sent to the border or places like Kupwara and asked to make their speeches there"

Instead of telling what to do with peaceniks and spreading the philosophy of violence to the rest of India, why don't you pack up and go to Kashmir and fight and kill the terrorists? Why do you want to wait until you become the PM? If you are so concerned with the plight of Indians in Kashmir, why don't you go there and fight and kill the terrorists there? If you truely believe that violence is the answer to the violence and if you are so anxious about the Indians in Kashmir, the best course of action will be to quit the job in US and join Indian army or if you can't join the army, form a private Sena (like Ranveer Sena in Bihar) and get people like Dara to join you and go to Kashmir and get rid of the terrorists. Realise that writing jingoistic, antagonising posts while sittiing at the comfort of a posh home is worse than what the peaceniks do.

Yes, in fact, you are the worst kind of creature. Migrate to a rich country, make good amounts of money, live a very good life and incite illiterate/unemployed youths in India to hate their neighbours and to murder and rape and thus spread the religiours haterd to the rest of India. And then find justifications for such violent cruel actions in Newton to Vedanta, saying "You cannot kill."! Horrible!!

Deash,

"Therefore, Krish, next time you come out with your non-violence crap... it better be about how you stood against a goon twice your size with a gun in his hand .. .. and how you still loved him and stood your ground. Nothing short of that will do! Its time enough to call the bluff of arm chair, careerist non-violence advocates like you!"

I hope too you will do the same. Stop hitting the keyboard now! Get off from the arm chair ! Leave the home at once! Buy some AK 47 b4 u leave US! Go striaght to Kashmir! And once out of the air port, start to shoot every terrorist!

For God's sake, realise the consequences of what you are doing and do not try to spread violence to the rest of the India.