Sachiniti

January 20, 2009

19 years to the 19th day of 1990: Exodus of Kashmiri Pandits

Filed under: India n Me,opinions,personal,Random,This Gets To Me,Truth of India — Kaveeta Oberoi Kaul @ 8:41 am
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Aditya Raj Kaul sent me this poignantly moving piece . Yes it is time we were awakened from our slumber and reminded of the grim reality. Kashmiri Pandits mercilessly terrorised and compelled to evacuate their homes while the administration sat back quoting incapability. The numbers of Pandits were not as many to evoke a nation wide stir. Wonder what would have been the situation had Muslims been made to scurry away from thier home towns! We all know the answer.

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By Aditya Raj Kaul

I wake and feel the fell of dark, not day

What hours, O what black hours we have spent…

– Gerard Manley Hopkins

19th January 1990. Kashmir was breathing still; Kashmiri Pandits lay hidden like frightened pigeons in their own nest. Today on behalf of my fellow brothers and sisters, I wish to revisit the pain of my separation from my own home 19 years ago, when the cruel hands of Allah-Wallahs butchered members of my community for being idol worshipers, for rejecting the call for unholy jihad and for siding with their own nation India. (more…)

December 18, 2008

Octroi Is Back

Filed under: India n Me,Mumbai,opinions,Random,This Gets To Me,Truth of India — Kaveeta Oberoi Kaul @ 1:21 pm
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Update: Wow!! Am updating in six minutes!! My letter to the CM Mr. Ashok Chavan has already received a response. Have to admit Mr. Chavan sure means business and that is real heartening news. I sent him the mail at 13.09 and at 13.15 I received this response which was NOT automatically generated. (more…)

November 27, 2008

Mumbai Under Seige By Cowardly Terrorists But..NEVER AGAIN (Sticky)

terrorist

New face of todays terrorist. A jeans clad, mask less, young, vibrant, remorseless, 21 year old Ajmal Kasab presently captured and under arrest! Pic taken at VT station by Mr. Sebastaian D’souza, Mumbai Mirror photographer, in a bravura display, amidst gunshots and at great risk to life.

Updated: Anger is a luxury we cannot afford. Hopelessness an emotion we dare not feel. Forgetfulness a crime we cannot indulge in. I promise to keep this post as a sticky for one year henceforth so that neither me nor those who chance to visit my blog  ever forego the memory of the attack on us Mumbaikars in particular and Indians in general. In an effort to tabulate the developments as they occur, the direct fallout of public anger and action, Government changes will be recorded here. At the end of the year we will know at a glance just what our resurgence has accomplished.. Hope you are all ears Mr. Minister. We will survive despite you!

For further updates click on header.

Update 15th Dec’08: Bombay burns from within, yet. There is a semblance of calm. But scratch the surface and the wounds reveal, bleeding, raw, pernicious. We arent willing to and wont allow a forgetting of the incident..thank God for that! Media’s role in keeping the hurt alive cannot be spelled out enough. It has been more than a breaking news story. Thank god for that, again! trite as this may sound but the catatonic results of the attacks has most certainly been an awakening like never before. The common man has been shaken out of his reverie to realise what ‘ People Power ” actually connotes. One wailed long and often at how the average Muslim refused to vocalise his angst against the Islamic terrorist. Fundamentalists, right wingers, left, rebels, across the board have proven this time that Islam is not about fanatical killing and jihad is not about war on the innocents. One cannot elucidate enough how the sight of slogan shouting Muslims, their ire against the attacks clearly marked, did soothe strained relations which may have festered over the years. India seemed on the brink of Unity..once again. Vande mataram! The ultras intention backfired in all areas of conflict. Physical. moral, national and International.

Sanctions for a NSG commando force for Mumbai, adequate weaponry for the Police force and outposts for the Naval Command along the Coast are further measures instantly approved.

How do we deal with Pakistan? Should we believe their swearing of innocence and claims of victimisation on similar lines?  Is the clamp down on LEt and other nefarious groups genuine? Simply put is Pakistan responsible for the war on Bombay city? Are we willing to peel off the illusionist shades that create an opposing mirage of innocence? Too many contradicting scenarios that cloud sentiments.

Perhaps all we need now is a clear focus on securing our frontiers. Let us not permit a fallout of mis-governance on the part of our neighbours to spill over on our shores. Either they handle their bandits or summon our help!!

(more…)

November 6, 2008

O Ma Send Us An Obama

Barack Obama

Barack Obama

A long forgotten emotion held reign yesterday.Never before has one witnessed this kind of mass jubilation, frisson of euphoria, unadulterated joy than when Barack Obama won the race to become the 44th President of the US of A. Tv channels screening his victory speech captured not just the historical moment for posterity when the dream of Martin Luther King 40 years earlier saw fructification, but also captured the tears of joy, glistening with Hope..of a new America, of change, of renewed vigor to fight the challenges that so far seemed insurmountable. (more…)

September 30, 2008

Navratris Are Here’

Update 4th October 2008: Ashtami is on 7th Oct. This is the day of “KANJAK” when 1,or 3,5,7,9 little girls are fed with halwa, puri, kaala channa, potato curry and boondi raita, along with either a chunri or cash. Symbolic of the nine av tars of Mata Durga, we worship the girls by washing their feet, tying a mauli around their wrists and they in turn apply tikka to the head of the family and tie a mauli around his wrist.

Cannot control some morbid thoughts that overtake my senses. Its all very well to worship your own daughters or those of others, even a servants child, on a festival such as this all in the pious (?) hope of winning over Mata Lakshmi and invoking her blessings. But the other 364 days of the year are spent either aborting a female child or burning brides or selling ones daughters into prostitution. What a bunch of criminal hypocrites we Indians can be…!!! Okay.. I am done now with my rant.

Its time again..One of my favourite festivals Navratri or nine(nav) nights (ratri) spent in propitiation, music and dance,commences today. “Mother” as Goddess in the form of Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati, is worshipped as the primal source of energy. Colour, revelry and festivity take on a tint unparalleled with any other Indian festival .

“Durga Puja’ in Bengal , corresponds with Navratri elsewhere. Ma Durga is worshipped for nine days, and immersed on the tenth, after having, as legend goes, vanquished the demons or ‘rakshasas’. Perhaps this is meant to subtly advise us to conquer the demons of anger, jealousy, pride, greed and seek Mother Durgas help in doing so.

“Garba” or “raas” as dance forms are pre-dominantly Gujarat centric. However, now that Navratri has grown to become one of the most awaited festivals nationally, garba and raas too have joined the ranks of popular dance forms, as Bhangra.

Just how innovative were our ancestors can be gaged when analysing the origins of ‘garba’.

garbo.jpg

“A “GARBO” is an earthen pot with holes all around and “Light” within which signifies (more…)

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