So Called Secular State

"We, the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic."

Well, I feel I couldn't see the term secularism in our country other than in our Preamble. It is not sufficient to just declare that every man is equal before constitution irrespective of his religion, but it must be practised too. I am hundred percent right in making this sentence that we people lack the tolerance to other religions.

With the recent developments in India, the genuineness of secularism in our mother land is seriously questioned. When the violence due to Amarnath land issue is escalating, fresh violence have sparked in Orissa when a VHP cadre was shot death. The failure of the government to settle down the Land issue in Jammu and Kashmir has exposed the week management of our government.

The issue began when the government planned to allocate land for the Amarnath Yatra and handed it over to Amarnath Shrine Board, with the intention of helping the people who come for pilgrimage to Amarnath, by providing them with basic shelter and sanitation facilities. Muslim communities protested this move and in some places the protest turned violent and to pacify these agitating people the government recalled the order which gave the land to yatra. With this turn around of events, the members of the shrine board and the Hindu community started their own protests demanding back the allocated lands and the violence further spread in J & K. Road blockades became common and the Muslim communities started planning march to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Tensions escalated as various leaders including Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Yasin malik were arrested. As the state turned out to be burning every where and the march towards POK was handled with iron fist by the police and as the mob turned out of control the police started shooting, which further worsened the already deteriorating situation.

The scenario in Orissa is equally worse for no reason. The Hindu fanatics started attacking the Christian missionaries and burning the houses and the issue became so serious that Pope Benedict condemned this barbaric act. With BJP as its coalition partner, Navin Patnaik is put into an embarrassed situation and he could hardly take any measures to restore normalcy there.

Things don't change by just blaming the government for its failure to bring peace, people must inculcate the habit of respecting other religions. My serious concern is that many people in Kashmir are expressing their need for self right and independence from India. It is our duty to make them feel protected under one country INDIA. We shouldn't give room for things that further induce such feeling of seeking Independence among people as one cant forget the lessons from Partition of India. Minority communities must be respected and must be protected in a country like India. Let us not further complicate the issues and make the situation to run out of our control totally.

Writing blogs

Getting some stuffs to write about on the blog seems to be easy, but once I get into the topic, I feel that there are too many things that bother me while writing. With the intention to get the best opening for that particular topic, I spend a lot of time to construct the first sentence. Trust me, I feel drained out before making the first sentence. After getting the starting lines, further sentences keep pouring out and it seems I got my flow in writing. But grammar keeps bugging me now and then. Under the assumption that people don't bother much about grammar while reading, I too don't look into it much and try to have my flow.

Suddenly fear of giving erroneous statements strikes me when I start writing some facts. Oops, I will never let my blog to have any wrong or misdirected statements. I have to be cautious enough to make sure of the facts I am giving. When I feel that it is enough for this post , I just stop with that and then look for an ending note.

Then again confusion prevails over the choice of topic and I love to have a picture inserted in my blog and I look out for one relevant to the topic I am writing on. As i am new to this blogging, I feel I am spending more time to write. Well, its really fun to write blogs and interesting while facing some challenges while writing. Thanks to blog spot. Then catch u all in my next post.

The much awaited event of the year, The Olympics, has finally arrived with China as the host and the inauguration ceremony kicked off at 8:08:08 on 8/08/08 in the Bird's Nest stadium in a remarkable way with a spectacular display of fireworks and acrobatics. Olympics is the right occasion for the world class sports person to show case their skills and to set new world records. It is where one could see the stars in different fields in a single ground. It is the period when patriotism is at its high in the hearts of both the participants and the spectators. Games like this, really help in developing team spirit and establish a good relationship between the participating countries.

With Beijing being the host city, along with Shanghai and Hong Kong as the co host, every thing has been set up and the time to test the China's organisational skills has come and its a golden opportunity for China to add feather to its cap if it successfully hosted the event, which is stated to be the highest budget Olympics. And whether China could top the medal tally surpassing US also remains as a matter of concern to most of the people.

Nothing begins without stirring controversies and Beijing Olympics is of no exception. There were violent protests in Tibet, which is seeking autonomy from China, and it tried to get the attention of the countries world wide. And then followed the disruption of the torch relay in various cities including major cities like London and Paris by the supporters of Tibet.. It was the turn of some political leaders to snub the invitation for the opening ceremony, stating lack of freedom and rights to the people of Tibet as the reason for their refusal of the invitation.

Then the earthquake in Sichuan province of china burdened the already tough job and China has showed resilience and now it has made a good, if not the best opening. Now the bell has rung and the games and the track events has begun, now what bothers people is the medal tally of their country. It is really sad when we think whether our country, Mother India, with 100 crore people could bag atleast a single medal. With the senior athletes already expressing their views that it is hard to expect any medal in track events as such. Can Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi pair bring laurels to our country by springing a surprise win over their top seeds? Or will Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore repeat his magic and secure one more medal? Of course, our men's hockey team failed to qualify to the Olympics. We shouldn't forget that hockey is our national game and it has once brought home a handful of gold medals.

When people dreaming to set new world records in the Olympics, participating in Olympics remains a dream for most of us. It is easy to point out the fault at the government for the inadequate funds for the games and the lack of infrastructure and the facilities available and the poor and biased selection procedure in our country. But people should also know the importance of games and the pride it gives when we win a game. We have a long way to go and several changes in the administration of the sports board has to be made and the children be encouraged to get into sports field from their budding stage.

Lets remain optimistic as of now and hope that our players bring home a couple of medals. Well I am ending my post with yet another dream, a dream day when we have a decent medal tally in the Olympics.. Hopefully my dreams will get realised one day.

Oops.. Terror Strikes EveryWhere..

India is one among the countries which are badly affected by terrorist strikes over the years.. It is really very saddening and hard to hear about the recent bomb blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad. Then the news that about 20 bombs were defused in Surat makes people feel worried about the security of their lives in India.. Thanks to the squad that averted the bombs from getting exploded in Surat , which otherwise would have turned as another major disaster. The bomb blasts in Bangalore seem to have planned and executed with the sole intention of terrorising the people. All the eight bombs planted in Bangalore were of low intensity and were triggered one after the other in an interval of just ten minutes or so, there by creating panic among the public and there by inducing a feeling of fear in the hearts of the common people...

The intensity of the bomb blasts was high in Ahmedabad with the death toll rising to around fifty.. Some organisations claiming responsibility for the bomb blasts in Ahmedabad, declared that these bomb blasts were an act of revenge for the bad treatment meted out by minority Muslim community during Gujarat riots in 2002.. Of course, there had been many incidents of communal violence in Gujarat!!!

Though incidents like these are not uncommon in India, one cannot forget the the terror attacks at Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad, attack in IISC, Bangalore, serial Bomb Blasts in Mumbai and many such incidents.. But these tragedies shouldn't be just left as such, more serious steps has to be taken.. It couldn't be said whether the intentions of the masterminds behind the bomb blasts were fulfilled, but a number of innocent people suffer for no fault of them.. Losing their dear ones, close friends or getting maimed and the wounds left in their heart could not be healed or forgotten and there can be no consoling words to comfort the affected people, who wouldn't have even thought of such a tragedy in their lives.

It is time we think beyond the horizon and look for steps to curb these inhuman activities. The government shouldn't stop itself from just announcing compensation for the affected people.. Just feeling sympathy for the suffers wont do any good, some concrete measures should be taken so that people can recover physically and mentally from the after shocks. Not to forget to mention that, “Prevention is always better than cure.” Definitely we should look out for steps to prevent such incidents in the future.. We should study from the fundamentals and analyse the basic motives of the terrorist behind these acts.

The intentions of one terrorist organisation will vary with the other and they may be correlated or may not be.. But what actually brought all these people to enter into a field where they have no respect for lives, including their own life and other people's lives? They don't fear death, have no courtesy,no soft corners in their heart to worry about the families affected because of them... Is that these people are born with a stone heart and so that they chose to become terrorist ? Definitely it is not the case.. It is not that easy to get into terrorist mind to understand their problems or to find out the driving force in them that keeps them going without concerning about other people's life..

The real situation should be understood and the intentions of the terror groups should be carefully studied. But solutions to these cannot be just told in a line or two, as it involves complex and tough measures from both the sides. But we cant expect a peaceful life, if we don't take any appropriate actions, actions in the sense not just the retaliatory steps to combat the terrorism but identification of the actual problems and steps to address them... Bringing the terrorist to a round table to hold peace talks with them will seem definitely impossible, but a kind of it has to be done.. Though it is not some thing practical, some sort of solution has to be worked out sooner.. Well, lets hope one day the dream day of peaceful India comes true..