Reading Jasmine....

"Jasmine Revolution" is a phrase which we all have been familiar with since the last few months. Most Arab countries have been ruled by dictators since the past few decades. The movement started in Tunisia against the 23 year rule of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali with mass protests against the curtailing of basic rights, dignity and freedom. The Tunisian revolution had great success and spunk which spilled over its boundaries to ignite its neighbours resulting in the ouster of the former Egyptian President of 30 years - Hosni Mubarak; and the ongoing protests in Libya against Muammar Gaddafi's 41 year rule. The same revolutionary attempt has again sparked in China. Such attempts have not been infrequent in China over the past half a century, but due to the fantastic emergency mechanisms of the communist elements of China, they have never succeeded. Just a small whisper of the word "Jasmine" and the Chinese establishment goes ballistic !!

Now, all the above cases have a common link.

A Carrot, an Egg or a Coffee Bean?

Into the month of March and as the World Cup action picks up with Ireland's upset of England a few days back and South Africa again going "chokers" to cave-in to a 6 run defeat against England today while chasing a small total of 171, a few important news might just be missed during the news scan. Today I want to highlight another courageous act of defiance and truth plus a technological progress by the Nation thanks to the DRDO. 

DRDO successfully fired a Missile Interceptor and achieved desired results off the coast of Orissa. A variant of the Prithvi II was intercepted successfully by the interceptor which was fired 5 minutes after the target missile. This test bolsters the nation's defence capabilities and is a shot in the arm for building a shield against foreign threats.

Now speaking of interceptors, one brave interceptor lost his life on March 2, 2011 in Jharkhand.

Tightened Screws....

A sharp drop in blog visits signaled the advent of the Exam season !! Less time on the internet (which is unfortunately interpreted as just a source of time-pass) and more time buried in books; drooping shoulders; dark and tired red eyes and an invisible phantom burden pressing on the back. Yes, we are indeed in the age of competition. The full force is felt in a nation like ours where population growth is disproportionate to the supply of quality education and infrastructure. So, instead of asking God for a stronger back to handle challenges we see our HRD ministry place a lighter load and we, the people, directly or indirectly support it by playing along.

I gather that a new concept of a co-coacher is taking roots. Take-up Teachers or Co-coachers are men who visit students one on one while they revise (read vomit) answers one after the other in the run-up to the board exams.

Courage Personified....

"Long time no See?!!" would be the most appropriate blog starter for today !!
Hoping all of you are doing well; enjoying life, its challenges and problems and racking up your brains to find up solutions or trying hard to realize "why" something happens. Well, "why" is something which has made its presence felt and persisted with its stay in my head more often than not in the past 20/30 days. I am sure I will be getting the answers if I look at the right places; while looking around for these places, like many times before, I have found something worth sharing and worth deriving inspiration from.

Fighting till Death....

We woke up on our 62nd Republic Day, 26th Jan 2011, to a sad news. I have been meaning to write this blog in its immediate aftermath but I have been down lately, disappointed by a few of my recent failures in life. But as we all know, that is how life is and I hope or rather believe that good things are on their way. As far as the news report is concerned, yes, I am talking of the barbaric murder of Additional District Collector of Malegaon, Yashwant Sonavane in Nashik District.

Personally I feel that the state of affairs today is what I will term as a Banana Republic.

Changing Guard....

As we near the Republic Day, tensions somehow, as always, are building up. By now, most of you would have heard about the BJP's Ekta Yatra to unfurl the Tricolour at Lal Chowk, Srinagar on 26th Jan and I believe every person who calls him/herself a child of this great country must be happy that finally someone in the political class are willing to demonstrate that they have guts !!

The fact that the ruling party and the Jammu & Kashmir Government have opposed it just affirms their fear that Bhaarat is changing.