7-11.

We have seen one of the most gruesome acts of terror since 9-11. And a deja vú of 1993 Mumbai blasts. Lots of innocent lives lost. In the most tragic fashion. I know someone who had a miraculous escape from one of the affected coaches.
For the record, we STILL havent caught the culprits of the Mumbai blasts that happened 13 years ago. These guys live scot-free in the middle-east or in Pakistan. Makes your blood boil when you know that these guys are still at large and our Govt seems to do nothing. There was the Akshardam temple tragedy a few years ago. and the attack outside the Parliament in Delhi.

Frustrating YES.

Everyone seems to know how to handle the situation better than the Government itself. Some of the criticism is very valid. Infact a lot it. But what riles me is the level of ignorance people display, when they compare India with Israel and how we should probably use their method, which is very simple. n

They bomb - you bomb twice - they will bomb thrice..and that goes on. So these folks argue India should retaliate a la Israeli fashion. Nice. People conveniently forget 2 small facts.

1. Israel have been doing this for over 10 years now. Or even more. They cant buy a minute of peace with all this. Its a neverending viscious circle. Violence breeds more violence. And hatred leads to more hatred.

2. Israel is supported strongly and given a carte blanche by the US. All their excesses are condoned. Abetted. Even glorified on some occasions. US have been vetoing ALL resolutions against Israel in the UN Security Council for the past 50 years. One wonders who really has the veto power :). But thats another story for another day.

Retaliation is one of the most primitive of the human instincts. Not only human but instincts of all animals. But the people who are making these statements and writing this vituperative and vengeful things can be hardly termed primitive. These are well read and educated people. Makes me feel, what is all the education for if you are going to do what an uneducated and uncivilized person would do. What is the difference between you and the terrorists?

That said, I am not approving or condoning all the actions of the Indian govt in the aftermath of the various tragedies that happened in this country over the years. Disaster management is one area where we need a lot of improvement. Successive governments come and go, approach any tragedy with a certain level of amatuerism and ham-handedness and then move on.
What we need is an independent body who deal in disaster management and a long term investment in terms of resources and manpower that has the responsibility of prevent such acts of terror and react when something occurs. It has to be independent of the government to a certain degree to be effective and ensure that the lessons learnt from one tragedy are not lost when we face the same situation again.

And people, all of us need to be calm in moments like these. Any decision taken out of frustration or anger turns out to be the wrong decision invariably.

With all our heart and soul.
We are sure the great city full of amazing people that you are, will rise to the challenge and come up on top.
In this difficult moment our thoughts and prayers with all the people of Mumbai.

What a cowardly act from the perpetrators of this crime?
We have to work together to get these people to justice. I think many cities in India are vulnerable to this kind of attacks. The task of defending such attacks is very difficult. But our government and the authorities can atleast make it difficult for the terrorists to succeed by doing their duties diligently.

We are with you, Mumbai.

Hussain Sagar bridges not only culturally disparate Hyderabad and Secunderabad, known as twin cities all over the country, but constitutes a continuum between history and contemporainty. It was a quiet and placid lake of 24 kilometres built by Hazrat Husain Shah Wali on a tributary of the Musi during the time of that great builder Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah in 1562 to meet the water and irrigation needs of the city. This was much before the historic Charminar overshadowed every other landmark in the city. It is now popularly known as Tank Bund, a truncated version of its original expanse, and has acquired trappings and environs that enhance its appeal to tourists as well as the denizens of the twin cities.

Let’s take a quick round along the road around Hussein Sagar!!

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“Raju, May I have a glass of water please?”

I get my glass of water with a pleasant smile and a courteous nod. Raju gives me company on the bus everyday. Helping with handing around glasses of water, and keeping an eye on the road for the driver, Raju does his job very well. Always smiling and always ready for conversation.

Today, too, with both of us in extremely talkative moods, we managed to exchange quite a lot of information. Raju comes from Kurnool, a town near Mantralayam ( Yes, I know, my geography is bad, but I am relating to it in terms of places I know :)..). He had been working for A.Nageswara Rao, he tells me. My curiosity is piqued. I ask more questions, what kind of people are they? Did they treat him well?
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There was this little piece of news today. On how the AP Government is managing new inndustries. We always hear about how MNCs are wooed. But was pleasantly surprised to see how far the government is going to attract even domestic corporations.

AP has been trying for quite some time to carve out a slice of the Textiles pie. Somehow hasnt been able to achieve much. And so the govt approached one of the largest textile export houses (with 750+ crores turnover anually). And the whole episode started with someone from the govt calling up the CEO of the company saying that the CM wants to come and meet (can you believe this?). The person, very rightfully, said that he will come down here and meet the CM. At the meeting the govt asked him on what it will take for him to setup a factory here in Hyderabad. He resisted citing the lack of textile infrastructure and the upstream and downstream eco-system. Point blank the govt officials asked him on what all would he need for him to setup a plant here. He was surprised.. and probably skeptical as well. He went back…
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Mix, remix, re-remix, what is happening to Telugu film music?
It’s been a while since there has been an original tune, a creative beat. All we get to listen to is old wine in a new bottle, and the bottles are not interesting either.

Where once we had good, soulful music, like in Sankarabharanam or Swarnakamalam, there are now boring ‘teen-maar’ songs, with insipid lyrics and unmemorable tunes. It would be absolutely wrong to say it is because of a lack in talent. Maybe our music directors need to buckle up and worry more about producing quality music than about pleasing the ‘mass’. I doubt if the ‘mass’ is happy, anyway.

Music does reflect on a society’s mood, its personality. If that is really true, we have a long way to go.

Friday 30th June 2006.

One of the most eventful days I had experienced in the recent past, days of interviews or international travel not included.

World Cup Semifinal day. At work early. In a blue official world cup tee(somehow co-workers assumed I am supporting Germany ;-)). Great Hyderabad weather, humming to classics of Manu Chao(Qué hora son, mí corazón..). Pay day Friday. As Morpheus would put it: Fate, it seems has a strange sense of irony. The ebb and flow in the life of a ho-hum tech-worker.
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As the last of the summer burns away, a familiar sound is beginning to fill the air.

“Mom, I don’t wanna go to school”..That was from my neighborhood..

I chuckled to myself and shook my head as I walked passed the forlorn soon-to-be student last Friday. I almost stopped and asked the boy, who looked to be in fifth- or sixth-grade, why he did not want to school.

When I was his age, this was my favorite time of year. The stores were adorned the bright colors of the season. Folders, rulers, glue, notebooks. They all meant that school would soon be back in session.

Woohoo!

At the beginning of summer I would count down the minutes as school came to a close. But the excitement never lasted that long for me. Detective novels and short story books filled my summers. But no matter how interesting the selection, they just didn’t do enough to keep me intrigued.
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