Srinagar, the City of official neglect!
“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard of their own interest. We address ourselves not to their humanity, but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantage.” This complex truth of […]
They are ‘out like the Archimandrite’!
Poor history – it’s once again at the receiving end. In fact it has always been – certainly in this part of the world because here successive governments of the two main political groupings have conveniently been using it to sanctify and add value to even the ordinary and mundane things and matters, which otherwise […]
I bow my head in shame
I bow my head in shame. We have not only let down the minor Boniyar girl, but we have exposed our moral bankruptcy to the hilt. And that is really shameful! When Kathua rape and murder happened, we were up in arms against the gruesome incident, demanding exemplary punishment to the accused. Notwithstanding the politics […]
God bless those who say what they feel must be said!
Even as it is a known fact that all revolutions must have ideologies to spurn them on, however, it is also true that “in the heat of the conflict these ideologies tend to be smelt into rigid dogmas claiming exclusive possession of the truth”. And this is where the tragedy lies, because dogma is the […]
Doing what one can with what one has…
In ‘The Professional Radical’, Marion K. Sanders quotes an interesting anecdote. He says one of the greatest political organizers the world has ever seen – Saul Alinsky was once lecturing at a college run by a very conservative, almost fundamentalist Protestant denomination. After the lecture was over, some students came to Alinsky, and narrated their […]
Mess on roads!
Developed West: If you are driving a car and you hear a siren – of an ambulance or a police car – you simply pull up to the side to make way for them. The rule-book says you can’t just slow down but you have to stop, and people obey this rule so religiously that […]
Using ‘national myths’ to polarize people
William Ury once said: “dealing with the differences is today one of the greatest challenges facing human beings.” True, what we are seeing happening these days is that the differences of opinions and worldviews are actually being exploited to breed conflict. And what is really unfortunate is that it is not only the regular “conflict […]
When defending indefensible is confused with serving ‘national interests’!
More than two weeks have passed since Major Leetul Gogoi of Budgam human-shield infamy was caught from a local hotel here along with a local girl. But so far not much has been heard about the progress on the investigations against him. On May 25, the Army chief General Bipin Rawat, who was here, promised […]
Extolling courage, resolve, and sacrifice
If there is a thing all the different political leaders and formations here are unanimous about – it is the SACRIFICE. This is why word ‘sacrifice’ has become a flag-post of the entire political discourse here, with both mainstream and separatist parties claiming its ownership, so much so that past experiences as well as future […]
When will political speeches translate into actions?
Even as the words and terms like ‘fast-track’ (development) are recent entrants into the official vocabulary, they too have become sort of clichés now. Cynicism aside, the unfortunate reality remains that whatever is being said in political speeches is not visible as much on the ground. This is indeed the great worry. Politics alone […]
