General Miscalculation !

To be a general is an extraordinarily arduous job.  Several  experienced and senior officers  have failed at it.  History records that during World War II,  Sixteen out of the 155 American officers who commanded Army divisions in combat were relieved for cause, along with at least five corps commanders. For every Marshall Gregory Zhukov and Napoleon there are many more that did not make the cut.  Military campaigns require meticulous planning; rigourous preparation; flawless execution; bravery and a highly disciplined & ethical personal conduct of the operation. Any deviation from these exacting norms has usually resulted in strong reverses in the field and even total failures; always blowing back on the leader.

Adolf Hitler commanded Nazi Germany to conquer large swathes of the continental Europe as well as chunks of Asia and  Africa.   His armies conquered France while holding off the combined might of the U.S., British and Russian forces during World War II. His armies  were masters of the successful military tactic; Blitzkrieg. That's as long as he was behaving as a military commander with a clear chain of command and delegation of authority to his generals in the field. Soon these victories got to his head and he decided to micromanage the war.  He simply ignored  his commanders and marched on Moscow with winter approaching. Hitler never expected that campaign to last as long as it did or the Red Army to provide the kind of resistance that it did. War  dragged into the severe winter months and Nazi war machine and men got trapped in the fierce bear hug of the old man Russian winter. Far away from their supply lines, wearing their spring uniforms and thin combat shoes; Nazi army's famous battle skills just froze out. Motivated by intense patriotism Red Army first stopped the Nazi march and then counter attacked; inflicting one reverse after another on the Germans. Russian march stopped only when they triumphantly entered Berlin and planted the red flag on the Brandenburg Gate .  Hitler single handedly managed to get Germany into this serious mess and despite  brilliant generals under his command , lost the war by overruling them. We all know how he ended. Defeated and dead  in a cold bunker ,with his brains blown out and  his country completely destroyed in the bargain. Just imagine if this Austrian corporal had been accepted into the art school as he had wanted to, he might not have joined the army in the first place and would never have got the chance to get promoted way beyond his station as Fuhrer. Hitler had an obvious talent for art so we might have seen him develop in to a decent artist instead of the worst villain in history. 

Every nation has had their share of good and bad commanders . Pakistan sadly has seen more than the usual "Jekyll and Hyde" personalities.  One reason could be that army has a larger than life role in their polity so it throws up more individuals to the top. As a result more bad apples come in the limelight with the army background as well . Pervez Musharaff is considered one of those apples. Admittedly he  got promoted out of turn to the post of the chief of staff by a crafty politician to serve his own political ends.  So some of the blame lies with Nawaz Sharief. What if Miyan sahib had  let normal seniority play its role ? But he did not. Whatever else Musharraf learned about war craft in the army , he definitely took Clausewitz's saying ," war is the continuation of politics by other means" to his heart. He is the one who single handedly brought Pakistan their latest military defeat - in Kargill. Badly planned, thinly disguised as a "mujahedin" action, shoddily executed and timidly fought, the general grossly over estimated his own capabilities in this campaign. What is worse that he not only kept the Pakistan Government in dark about what minefield he is stepping into  ; he kept in dark , his own commanders in the field  as well. Taking a big leaf right out of Hitler's Russian campaign playbook; he micro managed  the  movement and deployment of the attacking army units.   Things might have been salvageable had he got the enemy strengths and their response levels right. That was not to be. He miscalculated there  and got that estimate wrong too! By miles ! Indians responded with overwhelming force and vehemence. They deployed special forces; elite fighting units,  heavy field artillery and extensive air power against him.  Musharraf's armies were soon  running for cover. Abdicating and vacating  post after post. Thoroughly demoralized , totally defeated  and nursing their wounds; they had to leave behind their equipment and their dead for the enemy. It was a complete rout . Musharraf had to swallow his pride and go to his Political masters with his tail between his legs. Who in turn had to scamper around  Washington begging for a US mediation for a way out of the imbroglio. Whatever this comprehensive defeat did to the army morale; the campaign succeeded in wiping out the Northern Light Infantry divisions of the Pakistan army. This is the very campaign Musharraf is "proud" of.

And just as a post script, to get out of taking responsibility for his own follies, he also staged a coup against the same civil government which bailed him out.  That is another "feather" in his cap.  He "saved Pakistan", not realizing that had there not been people of his ilk, Pakistan would not need saving in the first place. While he was saving Pakistan for a decade or so , he believed in the mantra of "Enlightened Moderation". It sounded good to the western ear but nothing else came of it. Musharraf also claimed credit for the economy doing well during his regime; media getting a boost and surprisingly, for improved  relations with India. Really !  What he does not claim and knows nothing about is : who hid Osama bin laden? Who killed Benazir ? Who is using helicopter gunships on the baloch and how did Akbar Bugti die?  So much for his moderation and so much for his enlightenment! I guess he does not own a dictionary!

Eventually his time came up and he was forced to declare elections, primarily for being stupid enough to pick a fight with chief Justice. He badly miscalculated.  Reportedly he either colluded to have Benazir Bhutto killed , or looked the other way. All of his calculations did not help him or the political forces he backed win the mandate. Ironically and expectedly, riding on the sympathy vote Benazir's husband won ! Miscalculating Musharraf had to send himself away in exile for several years. The allure of power  is magnetic though. He kept on planning his return to Pakistan and eventual rise to power again. True to his form he over imagined and under planned. Maybe this time  round his calculations were based on his Facebook friend's comments and likes. Or maybe he consulted a crystal ball. All we know  is that  he miscalculated and  when he landed back instead of the teeming sea of humanity he had dreamed about ;charitable estimates put the number of his greeters to a couple of hundreds .

His spook friends in the army he used to head, had advised him not to return. They told him to stay put in the salubrious foreign climes ; enjoy the fruits of his "service to Pakistan", and live the well provided for , ultra rich life of a  retired Pakistani general.  Why did they even bother? Did they not know "miscalculation" is general's middle name?  Although in his latest avatar Musharraf has totally abandoned enlightened moderation. Not even for name sake. Now he is the chief of a version of Muslim league. Maybe it is the rightist version, maybe it is the Islamist , maybe it is something else. Nobody is quite sure. Trouble with that  is that  enough members do not exist for this party and the sample size is miniscule. People are unable to form any definite opinion about them. The party is a serious joke,so is its leader.  

Musharraf  forgot that he was a commando a long time ago. Today he is an over the hill "has been". He forgot that he is unable to  para drop on the enemy camp, whip out  his Heckler & Koch  and shoot down everyone in sight ! Not any more! After his return he is being tied up in so many legal tangles that it will be major miracle if he escapes unmolested.  Musharraf has already been denied the permission to be a candidate in the elections, so there go his political ambitions up in smoke. In addition , his various bails have been cancelled in serious cases like Benazir murder  . He is facing  treason charges for subverting the constitution and staging a coup. He is in serious trouble and is technically already in jail. It is beyond belief that the general failed to see this coming during his campaign preparation! Anyway he will get ample free time in jail, during which he should read Sun Tzu's 'Art of War'. It may not moderate his risks but will surely enlighten him. The ancient Chinese Military treatise says," If you know the enemy & know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you'll also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you'll succumb in every battle". The above passage might have been written with him in mind.

Although the rumour in the street is that Khaki's are planning a rescue of their erstwhile chief, to avoid all those tumbling disclosures in the court singeing the army. If the street talk is to be believed, as soon as the elections are over Musharraf will be  provided bail to visit his supposedly ailing mother  who lives in his mansion in the middle east. Reportedly a middle eastern kingdom has kept a jet at  Musharraf's  disposal and will immediately whisk him away from the hangman's noose.  Hopefully never to be seen again in public. Everyone can then take a sigh of relief  and carry on with their lives! Sounds like a plan! Fear however is that  the miscalculating general will somehow manage to botch that  simple an operation too!  Well he can . He surely is capable.

 

Speed Of Darkness!

El Lissitzky, Poster, 1920, Titled "Schlagt die weissen mit dem roten keil" ( Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge)

" Two things are infinite "; Albert Einstein said; "the universe and human stupidity, and I am not sure about the universe". As is the case with several of his other theories,this one of Einstein's  theory, probably proposed in jest ,is hard to be proven wrong. Just as darkness is an absence of light;stupidity is simply an absence of intelligence.

Nawa-e-waqt is a well known newspaper published from Pakistan. Recently it reported a case of a 'suicide bomber' whose suicide jacket malfunctioned and failed to detonate properly. Result was that he himself  got severally injured and  passed out instead of getting blown apart as planned. Along with his victims he was also taken to a hospital. Some time later as he woke up in the intensive care unit his gaze  fell upon  the nurses milling around . Even in his weak and battered condition the bomber got electrified and started shouting, "I got them; I got them; I got the houries".... Normally the incident  would bring a chuckle or two to one's lips if it was not such  a serious matter.

It is not as if his is a one off case.Unfortunately he is not alone and his tribe is increasing. It is also not a case of an unlettered, uneducated ,impoverished and a brain washed individual either. Someone that got easily influenced by radical elements and lost his sense of reality.  Just before he was hanged, Afzal Guru; a far more sophisticated, typically middle class , comparatively well read and decently educated individual requested his family to "respect the stature he has attained and thanked Allah a thousand times for giving him this stature". The act of terror for which he was hanged; Dec 13, 2001 attack on the parliament; was an act of honour for him. According to an earlier letter he wrote in 2008; that surfaced after his hanging, he took strong exception to hizbul mujahidin chief Salahuddin's remark of describing these attacks as a 'conspiracy'(of India). " We should never feel ashamed of December 13", Guru maintained.

Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism is Robert Pape's analysis of suicide terrorism from a strategic, social, and psychological point of view. The book first published in 2005 has some good pointers although I do not agree with his hypothesis  that suicide bombers are  only after a secular and strategic goal. In my opinion it is rarely the case specially in the current context where radical salafist Islam is the DNA of worldwide terrorism.  In fact the word 'secular' itself is anathema to them. Author tries to prove his point by talking about now extinct LTTE and Khalistan movement. However it is well documented that  even in those cases  the terrorism was not " secular". Battlelines were drawn across a religious divide and  blind faith provided the impetus and rationale for their terrorism as well. Pape's  ideas however are not the point of debate here.

The main question remains as to what should be done with a terrorist? Where are we going wrong in managing this menace? The first big mistake we make is hiding the origin and inspiration for terrorism. For the sake of being politically correct or at the altar of political expediency we keep on telling and repeating the lie that terrorism has no religion! It actually has and unless we stop lying to ourselves , we can not even begin to find a counter. Secondly we must stop treating the terrorist as a common criminal and terrorism as a law and order problem. Terrorist is not a common criminal and hence the current laws, rules , judicial processes and punishments  meant to control crime are inadequate to deal with it. 

Deterrence comprises of denying the opposition their strategic goals and highlighting the futility of their methodology. Sadly we have failed in producing even a namesake deterrent  so far. Most governments are still diffident and unsure about taking the terror head on but none is worse than the Indian establishment. There was no rationale for hanging Guru at this time after they kept him alive for 12 years! Except to derive a very narrow political mileage against political opponents. Even a right thing done for entirely wrong reasons loses its validity. It was not even deterrence either. Remember the terrorists are brainwashed to seek death and by providing it the government only provided fodder and impetus to the myths fueling terrorism. It also unwittingly provided help in getting the most mileage that a terrorist and their support organizations could get out of this episode. As later events are proving, they have lost no time is cashing on it. Why in the world would any terrorist be deterred by a hanging. This gives them the "religious martyr" ( Gazi) status they are seeking in the first place. Terrorism is successful for them . Hanging Guru  will do nothing to stop future attacks and I am not  even so sure about any political benefit accruing to the party in power. If anything, death of their choice should be denied the terrorist. This will defeat one of their main strategic goal. Sadly we do not even want to understand the kind of beast we are dealing with. Problem really begins with us lying to ourselves that terrorism has no religion. Talk about infinite stupidity!!

Light travels at a speed of 186,000 miles / second; by inference darkness which  is an absence of light also travels at the same speed. It is our choice if we let light recede or ensure that the darkness is mitigated. The way forward has some milestones we must pass. Firstly we must evolve a national consensus about terrorism. Politicking with this issue is doing incalculable harm . Outlandish claims of existence of Hindu terrorism takes the focus away from the job that needs done. If there is evidence of it, government must act immediately and nip it in the bud . Otherwise it is counter productive at best to spin yarns for the sake of votes. Actually it is no less than treason; because if it is a lie you are plying with national security; and if it is true you are failing your duty to guard national security!

Also we must deny ground to the terrorist. Understand that a foreign terrorist just can not operate without local help. Shut that help down and we'll see the number of terror incidences nosediving as if by magic - instantly!  We must set our own house in order before blaming this or that country. It is just a lot of hot air and empty rhetoric anyway. It will never get us any results. Pakistan will continue with the same policy as before , no matter what. Fact is  that they also have no choice, but that is quite another discussion. As for us , we can not afford to wait for terrorists to strike anymore. Assume the worst because they will do so again and soon. We are already at war so we have to act proactively and use full force at our command to smash home grown modules before they have acted or provided succor to the inimical alien forces. This will mean taking some tough decisions. 

Effective local intelligence gathering and taking swift forceful action based on the information must be our watch words. Hit them and hit them hard. Learn from the drone strikes USA is making in Pakistan. Their principle is to take the war to the enemy. We must act on the same principle and take the war to the terrorist in their lairs spread all over India. It is not the time to be coy or spare the rod. Forget fanciful ideas like "human touch'; it is just another word for " let the terrorists regroup" . It does not stop terrorism entirely but it will act as a deterrent ; it will degrade their strategic objectives and it  denies them a ground  to operate. In the process  if they get liquidated  before they have had a chance to perpetrate an act, the event will pass without too many ripples. If they get caught, they must either be dealt with swiftly or locked up quietly and remotely ; without allowing them any leverage or concessions. What was done in the case of Guru is a prime example of how a terrorist should not be dealt with.

We must learn the ropes quickly as time is running out fast. We can not control entirely whatever is happening in Afghanistan or how USA or Pakistan will behave. Neither can we dictate what secret pacts will they ink with each other or with Taliban.  All we can control is how  we modify and apply our own security policies within our own country. We need to be proactive not reactive. Post 2014 the challenges are going to increase exponentially and this kind of dilly dallying, self serving and  knee jerk reactions will certainly  lead to a security crisis of catastrophic proportions. There is no other choice but to act now. Remember that the darkness will move in with the speed of light.




 
 

Three Little Pigs!

Once upon a time when pigs spoke rhyme and monkeys chewed tobacco, 
hens took snuff to make them tough, and ducks went quack, quack ,quack,O!

So this is an old children's story, told and retold many times and in many different ways;depending on what message was sought to be emphasized. However one thing that is common to all variations is the Mama pig who sends  her three little pigs out in the world, where a  mean wolf huffs and puffs  at their respective homes made of straw , sticks and brick. Straw  home is blown away and the stick one comes crashing down. Only one home  remains intact. Obviously it is the one made of bricks. Children are supposed to learn several good things from this story. Like how they should not be lazy and how they need to keep their wits about......

It is all very nice as long they do not learn about constructing homes from it! It  really is an old nursery  story that may not be taken  very seriously by adults today, yet they do !  Building science and technology knowledge we have toady does not support the story and its suppositions.  Take R-value for instance which is a measure of thermal resistance.Under uniform conditions it is the ratio of the temperature difference across an insulator like a wall and the heat transfer per unit area,  through it. Higher the R-value of a structure, better its resistance to heat loss or heat gain. Terrible though it sounds but solid brick and mortar structures, including reinforced cement concrete ones have way lower R- value than the one made with wood or surprise - surprise; straw ! That was the choice of the lazy pig. Or was he the smart one?

How can you build with straw ? You can and you should too ! Straw buildings have been made in almost every country in the world and across various climate zones. Some buildings have been standing for hundreds of years. Even when they were made with older technical know how. New knowledge and building methods have made this construction far more viable and desirable. Straw is simply a biodegradable byproduct of agricultural produce and a lot of it simply gets wasted anyway except what is fed to farm animals. So it is cheap to begin with even when it is not completely free from your own fields. No energy resources or raw materials are used in producing it, unless you count the solar energy, which is absolutely free and abundant in India. Straw is available locally to villages and farming communities where it is meant to be used. So transportation costs are near zero. End users can make the bales themselves which are then used as building blocks of the construction. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HMsO42hTVA

The concept of straw bale construction is easily understood by even novice builders. With some supervision by one knowledgeable straw bale trainer, first-time builders and  home owners can assist in the construction process. Maybe build it as a family project. Which most do anyway even now with their brick dwellings to save on labour  costs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEdDfGg5ngA
A simple manual baling machine can be made at home. Even Pine  straw can be used for hilly terrain where it is available.

http://www.appropedia.org/A_Hand_Powered_Hay_and_Leaf_Baler
http://essmextension.tamu.edu/pinestraw/baling.html
       

Despite what might seem logical, properly constructed walls made from straw bales have proven to be flame retardant. A serious consideration in a place like India where open cooking fires are still common and will be for a long time. Homes made with straw bale can have insulation values of R-30 or more. Brick has an R- value of 0.2 as a comparison !  No it is not a typo ! Straw means comfortable inside temperature both in summer and winter with minimal use of artificial cooling or heating devices. These people can not afford them anyway , even if there is power available to run such devices.Which it never is. Unlike  brick walls which under the forces of economics is usually  4" thick;  the walls of straw-bale buildings are 18" thick and can easily support  the roof  for most homes.Without the need for any other complex load bearing structure. This makes construction simple and accessible to a lay person. Although it works fine in colder Himalayan region too ; what does it really mean for an agrarian and largely hot tropical climate like India?

Agreed that this method is not a panacea for the chronic housing shortages and astronomical home prices in India's burgeoning and bursting at seams cities. Villages and countryside is another matter where poor marginal , small farmers and farm workers live in very tough conditions. That's where nearly 70% of the total population is . They do not have a lot of funds to spare yet do not lack traditional wisdom, fortitude and knowledge. Although it has been smothered by  consumerist and materialistic half baked knowledge and propaganda . Adobe buildings are known to all of them and it is just another step up . In fact some form of straw construction is known to them already.They will easily adapt if they are shown how to channelize what they know with what they need to know more. It is  sad to see badly made brick dwellings that are incomplete ,ramshackle and totally inadequate to provide shelter; across the length and breadth of the country.The home owners can not complete it or maintain it for lack of money and would not think of the straw and earth as a  viable solution for  lack of knowledge and guidance. They can easily help themselves but there has not been any  effort to spread the word and  dispel the myths surrounding it at the governmental  level. Clique of Construction materials industry, architects and contractors as expected are not going to be interested  in something that does not benefit them.  The little pig was right  to use straw .This story needs to be told. Some information can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw-bale_construction

More background knowledge is available at:

http://www.bre.co.uk/filelibrary/pdf/projects/low_impact_materials/IP15_11.pdf

http://files.uniteddiversity.com/Ecological_Building/strawbaleguide.pdf

 

And there is  certainly a need to revise the story . Let's try this one.  Three little pigs went out in the world. They  banded together and called it "Pragaash"; meaning the "Light just before dawn". Unfortunately before the dawn could break out  several big bad foul smelling wolves started huffing and puffing at them. Blinded by their  own clouded vision and visceral hatred of light known as "Dugaash", this pack of menacing mentally blind wolves managed  to snuff out the band and force everyone back in darkness ; the absence of light. Light known as "Gaash" will elude us  too if we keep quite at this injustice to "Pragaash". Now this here is a children's story that every adult should take very seriously.

 

Message in Black border.

 
Larry Niven is a celebrated science fiction writer well known for his “RingWorld” series. In 1966 he also wrote the story,” Bordered in Black”. Traditionally a message bordered in black is used to announce death. In this story two astronauts reach a planet deep in space in the Sirius system. This planet was known from a previous robotic exploration to include an earth like atmosphere. During their orbit they find that a continent of the planet is bordered in black. After exploring the edges of the smaller continents and discovering that the ocean hosts only one life form, a single species of algae, they decide to closely examine the large continent with the curious black border.


To their utter shock and dismay they discover that the black border actually is an enraged mass of trapped human beings feeding off the algae and feeding on each other. The story, however, ends on a hopeful note, with the project leader believing that Earth can help the humans at Sirius. Crewmen however strike a fearful note by speculating that the humans on our earth were seeded by those same cannibalistic aliens!

Science fiction sometimes comes true! The United Nations defines "major wars" as military conflicts inflicting 1,000 battlefield deaths per year. The new millennium began with much of the world consumed in armed conflict or cultivating an uncertain peace. As of mid-2005, there were eight Major Wars under way with as many as two dozen "lesser" conflicts ongoing with varying degrees of intensity.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/index.html

Most of these are civil or "intrastate" wars, fueled as much by racial, ethnic, or religious animosities as by ideological fervor. Most victims are civilians, a feature that distinguishes modern conflicts. During World War I, civilians made up fewer than 5 percent of all casualties. Today, 75 percent or more of those killed or wounded in wars are non-combatants. From Afghanistan to Syria and from Pakistan to Palestine; Egypt; Congo or Yemen; it is the same story being repeated again and again. We are killing each other for little “algae”; and feeding off each other. In the animal kingdom there is an established food chain. Worms are food for a small bird, that becomes food for birds of prey and it goes on along various groups. Animals kill too, but for food. When they attack and fight it is for their survival. They have left it to the worst animal on the planet; Humans; to kill; maim; assault and tear other innocent humans apart just for the fun of it! As they did the other day in a moving bus.

If an alien ship arrived in the earth’s orbit today it would certainly see a black border around burning continents and they would be smart enough to realize that the earthlings are so far gone that they can not  be helped . Afraid that we’ll contaminate their world with our depravity, they do not touch base with us. The message in the black border is clear to everyone but us. Science fiction has come true as our nightmare.
!

What to say when someone dies!

"The Death of Marat" Oil on canvas by  David, 162 cm x 128 cm, 1793 , Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium

Let me confess at the outset that I really do not know what one should say when someone dies. I have mumbled something meaningless at times; more out of nervousness and a blank mind than anything else. At times I have kept quite and avoided the subject even at the cost of appearing disinterested. Even when someone close passes away I find words hard to come by. They feel intrusive and inadequate to say the least. My favourite uncle  had an accident  years ago. He passed away after a couple of days in a vegetative state in an ICU.  He died young. What sort of words could have brought relief to his wife and  little children at the time? Decades have passed since. I  still get an empty feeling just by thinking about it. Imagine the pain and emotional turbulence his immediate family went through. Actually we really can not be in their shoes , but we must say something ; most of the times! It is expected of  the living!

 There is a lot of help available in the form of books and even on the internet that teach you the correct etiquette and verbiage that may be used on such occasions. You may do like David did by  painting the picture above about his friend's death.  This will avoid words altogether. They also invented obituaries a long time ago. A formal way of saying the right things and sympathizing with the bereaved. Newspapers are full of such messages and one can learn from it easily. It is noteworthy that most of the obits will use the words like ''sad demise". People who talk about the dead are sad at the loss. You realize that not everyone gets to read their own obits like Mark Twain did. He corrected people by saying that " the reports of my death are exaggerated." He could since he was alive. Most other people are dead when their obits come out. They can not confront you , they can not correct you and they can not object. You have to be balanced. you owe it to yourself.

Even when Osama got killed in the commando raid, believe me it was a sad event. There is nothing happy about it. The fact that you had to kill another human being is  sad in itself. But sadder it was to see people dancing and making merry afterwards.If you look back at the newspaper headlines from  the day Hitler's body was found after he committed suicide in his bunker, you'll not see any  exuberant and graceless words. One could sense relief  that finally the war is nearing its end but no more. But then it was another era. Electronic medium did not exist. TV was in its nascent stages; no one had heard the word internet and no one needed to "trend on twitter". 


I even find the whole chest thumping showoff and harsh commentaries that came out after Kasab was hanged quite tasteless and unnecessary.  He had to pay for his sins and he did it with his life. I can not understand why anyone would not consider this a sad event? A young person who could have been a productive member of society ;who could have been a help to his struggling family and taken care of his mother in her old age, was guided along a wrong path with the result that he turned into a terrorist and a mass murderer that had to be put to death. What's so merry about this that you'll distribute sweets ? Obviously it is difficult to say something in praise of the dead in such cases , but is it so difficult to just zip up? There is a lot of confusion about who actually said " It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt", but it is worth pondering.

Bal Thakre evoked strong emotions when he was alive.  Millions followed him and a lot more despised him. Eventually as is the law of nature he passed away. Somehow all of his intellectual and political adversaries who did not dare to say harsh words for the fear of retaliation when he was alive, came out with strong and  blanket indictment of his life even before his body turned cold! History will of course evaluate Bal Thakre in a  more comprehensive fashion than his critics or his supporters ever can but a sense of balance and dignity immediately after someone passes away is definitely a good idea. Millions are not born and millions do not die everyday. Each of them is an individual and each of them deserve their life to be celebrated and their death to be mourned.

A strange incident happened as well where an immature set of comments by two nobodies on Facebook was considered worthy of arresting them by police. These ladies certainly ought to get some extra help about what to say when someone dies  but it is nothing compared to the coaching required of the police officers who decided to arrest them. Luckily the courts have thrown the prosecution's case out of the window but the officer's  skill levels of policing and threat assessment have proven lower than zero. They should be retrained for a desk job or at least transferred to traffic duty. It would also be wise if they learn the difference between plain stupid, objectionable and prosecutable , when someone says something about dead! It is their job.

 

Loose Change.

Life is a series of changes. Dead things are the ones that do not change. They deteriorate. We all seek change and throughout the ages young men and women have had dreams of changing the world. World does change. It has changed even before my own eyes and it is changing as we speak. The question is what is it changing into? Is the world really a better place than before?

As a young man I believed totally in the power of art and expression. We truly believed that music, drama, paintings and the written word will change all of us into a better human society and balanced individuals. It will enlighten and allow us to have smoother personal and social interactions. We trusted that it will pave the way for an equitable society. We all wanted to be the agents of that change!

That was years ago! It does feel that those thoughts belonged to a stranger I do not know! It was a time when kids would band together and perform "Ramlila" in the local park. Younger ones would insist on buying a 'Hanuman' mask from the vendor who came on a bicycle. Today they all want an iphone. It was the time when a poor student such as myself could invite himself to a performance of Wadali brothers on the lawns of Sangeet Natak Academy and sit next to Shabana Azmi on the grass! Try doing such a thing today! Well, it can't be done any more. There is a solid wall of commerce and security standing between. It was a time when the librarian from their reference library would let me take frightfully expensive art and design books home over the weekend for my assignments on his own responsibility. He was a good soul and he trusted me to bring them back safely on Monday morning before they could ever be missed. He just wanted to help. Internet ensures that students do not need such help any more and trust ...... Let us not even go there, it quite out of fashion!

Younger generation has a constant refrain that older people lapse far too easily into the past. They are right in a way, past is not a good place to linger although It is not such a bad place to visit ! If you see that past troubles are repeating themselves with more and more virulent strains of the same; you've got to dig deep for some solutions. Ram got sent away for fourteen years but when he returned the darkest night was brilliantly lit like a day in his welcome. It is the sign of the times that hardly anyone cares any more if he returns or not; much less give him a welcome. Ram a symbol of respect, truth, love, propriety, equality and care for public will has less and less impact on our personal and social life. Of course we have not forgotten to party hard and long during Diwali.

Sita of public good stands abducted. Ravan of corruption and inequality is still attacking Ram and seems to be winning. Lanka may or may not get burned but Ayodhya is smoldering. This is not what we dreamt ! Launch of windows 8 does not necessarily make this a better world. A new BMW M6 in the drive way does not either. However if every child can go to school and does not have to roll beedi's in a sweat shop, it would be. If we could put a roof over every homeless, it would be a better place. If people could get access to clean drinking water it would be a great change  It is not asking for a lot but even this little requires setting our priorities and ensuring that public resources and lands are used for public good, not for personal profit. Even when we have to sell them, public exchequer must get a fair price for it......... dream; dream on!

Maybe our efforts were not enough so our results are not what we set out to achieve and now life's large bills are mostly spent for people of my generation. Just some loose change remains. But it remains still and I want to be the same naive young man who believed that a story and a picture will change it for the better. It will and it must. Ram had to float stones for a foot bridge over raging seas and fashion a winning army out of mere monkeys. Without minding the handicaps, lack of resources and personal setbacks he pressed on, engaged Ravan and won! Why can't we fight  back with loose change? We may not dispel the darkness entirely but we can certainly light a lamp.

May thousands of lamps light your way. Have a great Diwali and  God bless you all!

Picasso's Protest!

"Head of a weeping woman" A study by Picasso in preparation for "Guernica"

 On 31 st October 445 BC , Ezra read the book of Laws to Israelites in Jerusalem. In 1541 AD , Michael Angelo finished painting "The last judgement" after four years of hard work. In 1815 Humphrey Davy patented his famous safety lamp for miners but in 1922 Mussolini became premier of Italy on this day.  In 1952 first thermonuclear bomb was detonated at Marshall islands  and the day in 1984 did not prove to be  very auspicious either.  

Indira Gandhi was shot dead by her own body guards. Tragic and treacherous as it was, what followed  this murder was cataclysmic ! Reverberations are still felt as they were last week, when K. S. barar was knifed in London. Completely innocent individuals were killed by crazed  mobs in retaliation of Mrs. Gandhi's murder.  Totally unrelated businesses and property was destroyed and set to fire by vandals. It was mindless and senseless violence. What made  it worse was the fact that the mob targeted their own. Individuals they lived with ; individuals they interacted with and did business with on a daily basis . There was no shame , no sense of responsibility and no sense of propriety.

It was also my first brush with riots. My first hand experience.  As the news of violence filtered in through the state controlled media, I got anxious about the safety of several people I knew. One of them was my class mate who lived in seriously affected central Delhi. My home was 20 km. away but I set out on my old bicycle to check on him.  Eventually I reached my friend's home after two hours of cycling and rang the doorbell. I could sense someone looking out of the spyglass in the door but the door would not open. Nothing happened for the next  ten minutes or so, in which I rang the bell a couple more times. Each passing minute made me more anxious and I was sure some great calamity has befallen them.

Eventually my friend opened the door a crack on safety chain. After initial greetings and purpose of my visit was clear to him, he let me in and quickly bolted  the door back from inside. I was glad to see them safe and only  months later as we were wolfing down bread pakora with tea in our canteen he confided that for those ten minutes they were debating if I have come as a friend or a foe.  It really took a huge leap of faith for them  to open the door that day!!

Really !! What were they thinking ? Could I have done any harm to them at all ? I wish the answer was no , I could not have . Not true though ! Their fears were genuine. I could actually have had them all killed  that day or at least bring utmost devastation to their family with the flick of my index finger. For a large part of that 20 km journey to their home I had travelled alongside a murderous crowd. Crowd that was looking for a target - any target. I could have pointed them. That set of crazies did not need any more encouragement than that. They were already put in a violent trance by a vitriol spewing leader type of an individual who was exhorting them in the name of "netaji". Promising money, unlimited booze and complete protection from law ! Those that have lived in East Delhi know who "netaji" was and it was not Subash chandra Bose. Thankfully I kept my sanity that day , otherwise it would have been very easy to be a part of that gang of criminals being egged on by power hungry politics.

Guernica is a small  village in Spain that was bombed by the German and Italian war planes during the Spanish civil war; resulting in devastation and extensive civilian casualties. Much like the drone attacks in FATA . Picasso's protest against it was the famous painting of the same name. Unlike suicide bombing , terrorism and wanton rioting that politicians encourage; this protest has endured the test of time. Sadly Politicians have not changed their spots so far and we the people are as gullible and culpable as ever.

You'll see this again and again as in Satanic Verses case. Very few had read the tome before such a hue and cry was raised against it. People who have declared bounties on the writer's head and who have recently raised the amount higher proudly claim not to have read it yet they want him executed. Book is banned in several countries where dozens of violent incidents and several deaths have  taken place during this time. Similar is the case of The recent "Innocence of Muslims" movie excerpt.I have seen the entire movie and it is certainly an affront to movie making. Yet the way to protest it has been to kill US ambassador in Libya and rioting in several cities in several countries! How mindless can you get? What logic a Pakistani has to burn down his own city and go on violent rampage against his own. All to prove that Islam is a religion of peace! All of which they did when they celebrated "yaum e ishq e rasool"(day of love for prophet), recently. Didn't  someone tell them that they have proved exactly opposite of what they set out to prove? Thank their political leadership that  in order to project their own power they made that imbecile producer of the movie look good and what is worse- right !

Riots are about politics. Normal people do not riot. They indulge only when politics dehumanizes them and denudes them of decency. It orchestrates criminalizing the population and takes their power of thinking away. Having said that an individual must be  responsible for his own conduct. Almost 100 years ago an author ; pen name M.A. Chumapati  (real name is not very clear), wrote a book named "Rangeela Rasool". It was published in 1920's by Mahashya Rajpal of Lahore. The book dealt with a rather personal aspect of the founder of Islam and hence it became controversial. Rajpal , the publisher never revealed the name of the author; although he was taken to court for denigrating a faith. Eventually court acquitted him of all charges although the book was and remains banned to this day.

In answer to this book another book " Muqudus Rasool" was written but that response was not considered quite enough. Politics came into picture and started poisoning minds. A young man Ilm- ud -din became crazed enough to walk up to the publisher Rajpal and stab him to death. It reminds one of the film maker Theo Van Gogh's murder but the story does not end here either! This was a great opportunity for politics to queer the pitch again and squeeze every possible benefit out of this incident . Ilm -ud-din was caught and brought to justice for murder. His defence was led unsuccessfully by none other than Jinnah himself ; the founder of Pakistan.  The murderer received death penalty. The date was 31st October 1929.

 Reportedly a mass hysteria was created and thousands were exhorted from pulpits to attend Ilm -ud- din's  funeral; which they did. Major ideologues like Iqbal and other leaders exhorted his praises to the gathered masses and a common murderer was thus fashioned into a martyr. As soon as Pakistan came into being Ilm-ud-din was declared a gazi (religious martyr) and a mosque inside Mianwali jail; where he was hanged; was named after him. In addition to that several other memorials ,hagiographies, dramas , TV shows, books etc,were officially commissioned. He became a shining beacon for all generations to come.

Story would have ended here but several decades later  another crazed young man named Mumtaz Qadri aimed his gun and shot to death Salman Taseer. Governer of the same province Ilm-ud- din belonged to. Ironically Qadri , a police commando was tasked with protecting Salman's life. In an environment where  Ilm-ud -din is a hero worth emulating how could Qadri  not be influenced by what is right and what is not? He did not want to be left behind.  He wanted to be a hero as well; so he executed the person he was charged to keep safe! As his own will dictated he became a law keeper with no regard for law!  The Lawyers of the high court garlanded him and showered flowers on him for committing murder in keeping with the same upside down criteria of right and wrong ! He is a bigger hero than Ilm-ud-din. It was shocking but I am surprised that  anyone could be surprised by it . The seeds were planted years ago! Ask 14 yr. old Malala Yusufzai. She will tell you if she recovers from the bullet shot point blank in her head ! What kind of beasts do this? Actually it is none other than you and me! We are responsible.

 You reap what you sow and you can never kill an idea by killing a person. The book "Rangeela Rasool ", has survived murder of it's publisher for that last 100 years. That as well as "Satanic Verses" is available online very easily. I saw "innocence of Muslims" online  just because I got curious to see what is it that can generate so much violence? Otherwise I would not have bothered being an audience for it. Remember an idea can only be countered by a better idea! Malala Yusufzai's idea of educating girls is a better idea than the terrorist's idea of burning girl's schools and shooting up kid's. 

 Protest if you have to. Only remember; hardly anyone knows the commanding officer of the Condor Legion, Oberstleutnant Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen, from the Spanish Nationalist Command who actually commanded that terror bombing on Guernica. Everyone on the other hand knows Picasso and his protest " Guernica". It will endure for 1000 years - maybe forever.