Monday, December 31, 2007

2008's here :)

Never a saint without a past
Never a sinner without a future
Forgive yourself of all your sins
It's time to start all over again

Wishing one and all a very happy 2008 :)

Friday, December 28, 2007

Come 2009 and..

Gandhis and Bhuttos – nothing in common at first sight – may be as different as chalk and cheese. A closer look reveals the shared legacy of both the names – the habit of constantly living under the public eye – the pride of being called destiny’s children – the high of leading the nation into changing times – the low of untimely, unexpected, gruesome deaths in the name of the country. Yes – they do have many things in common – and another name went down in the books of history to justify this uncanny connect – Benazir Bhutto. Assassinated on 27th December 2007 in a suicide attack in Rawalpindi, Pakistan – exactly ten weeks since her much-hyped arrival in Pakistan.

The implications of her badly timed death, who benefits the most from her demise, what’s the future of Pakistan from now on, what will be the next move of the White House – these are the theories for the media and people to guess and for time to tell. An immediate impact on me though – as an Indian, I am worried about having an in-the-making-extremist state like Pakistan as a neighbour – it will only be a matter of time before the extremism and terrorism, in it’s full force – spills into main-stream India. This is an issue India will have to wake up to and take action against – real soon.

In 2009 India will choose her leader again. It would do well for Congress and BJP to think beyond their "Garibi Hatao" and "India Shining" (now – "India Rising") campaigns and try to include the various hows of tackling extremism and terrorism within the country. It will no longer suffice to treat another bomb blast within a city as an abnormality – the cites need to be prepared for such events – just useless talk and compensation money for victims might no longer be enough to shut the questioning tongues. After all, history is only repeating itself – a huge mistake of this century called the Iraq War happened in 2003 – but the man behind the whole farce was re-elected to the White House in 2004 for the sole reason that the average American believed that only Bush could protect him and his family from a man named Osama Bin Laden.

Like it or not – terrorism has already become a part of our lives – with more than 4 blasts in the country in the same year, things only look set to become worse – we need to start becoming more consistent about our worry for security within the country – else in a country of people filled with a selective memory of only all things good and long-term immunity to disaster and pain, an entire election might again just be won on the sole topic of farmers getting free electricity and water in his fields.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Christmas Cheer

Merry Christmas to one and all - from my family to yours.Christmas was as usual fantastic this year as well -something about this time of the year - there is so much love and happiness that it makes you want to smile for no particular reason all the time :)

Saw Taare Zameen Par today - watching it was a moving experience - this Christmas I really wish that every Ishaan Avasthi finds his Nikumbh Sir before it's too late.

Note to self: Taare Zameen Par makes me want to start painting again. I think I will.

Saturday, December 22, 2007

The search within

Heroes – we all need one – to look up to – to feel good about life – to feel safe – to know that we still stand a chance – to realise that it’s not all over. A hero could be anybody – a parent – a friend – a stranger – a celebrity. We always search for a hero – to lead the way – to set things right – to rescue us from the trouble we sometimes create for ourselves. What we only forget almost always is that there is a hero within each of us – waiting to be found. Initiating the search within – that’s a choice not everyone gets to make – that’s a choice not everyone wants to make.