New year, new hope

If you are looking for a person who has been alone in his ideas and away from his ideals for a long time, talk to me. Since many months now, I have been forcibly (part of the force is my own lethargy) sucked into a tiniest buttonhole of misinformation and ignorance resulting in utter lack of clarity and confusion. I was reeling under the constant rush of bad news enveloping me from all sides-- repeated failures of our foreign policy, successive governments' ineptitiude in handling naxals and other separtist groups, negligence towards the largest Indian industry-- our agriculture, and finally desecration of our history, our culture, our religion, and our pride not just elsewhere, but also in our own country and by our own people...

Sounds just like Denethor.. sitting in the high chambers of Minas Tirith and peering intently into the Palantir controlled by the dark lord.

Without my own knowledge I had gradually become something called "alpasantoshi"-- a person who finds satisfaction in "half-achievements" or simply put, I was an "aspiring under-achiever". I was thinking whether we can salvage something at all from the stranglehold of the current divisive politics, political correctness of the intelligentia and western consumerism. Worse, my faith in my culture, tradition, and my own self was looking very jaded--just an oft-repeated rhetoric, nothing too serious. I actually believed that Pakistan must be made more stable because a less stable Pakistan's nuclear arsenal would be out-of-control and that, that would be dangerous for India.

But now, the tide has turned, atleast within my own self and that is more important. With the announcement of the election results in Gujarat, a glimmer of a new hope is born. But this is a victory in just one battle, though a significant one, in a prolonged war. There is lot more work to be done. Modi is, no doubt, a great leader. But I didnt know that till now. So, along with Modi, let me offer my salute to the five and haf crores of Gujaratis who opened my eyes to the reality.

More about the same topic... Dogs!

Bangalore:
"A man runs fastest when chased by a dog!" This was the response from an athlete who clocked his best timing in the Bangalore International Marathon on Sunday. Just as the participants approached the 20-km mark on the service road in Kalyan Nagar, it was not the cheering crowds that greeted them, but barking dogs eager to snap at their heels. The first to bear the brunt were athletes from Kenya and Ethiopia, who were in the lead. "It was very scary. Never in my career had I come across such a situation. It took me a while to recover from the shock," said Kenya’s Makau Nzioka, who finished second. "

From: Dogs, traffic halt marathoners , Times Of India, Dec 17th 2007.

Imagine-- people from even a highly poor and war-torn African country like Ethiopia, and even those from Kenya, a nation that hosts part of Serengeti, havent faced such a situation!

Hail the Dogs of Bengalooru!

The 'Dags' are back!

Sheep Killed (The Hindu, Dec 04, 2007, Bangalore):

A pack of five dogs attacked a herd of sheep and killed them, early on Sunday. The pack of dogs entered a sheep’s pen in Vasanthapura, near Uttarahalli.

The Subramanyapura police said that 15 sheep were bitten and killed by the pack of dogs. Sources said that the dogs had attacked two children in the same area earlier. However, the police were not able to confirm it.

Any ideas on how the police can confirm if it was the same pack of dogs? Also, 15 sheep in a single sitting by just 5 dogs! Thats something to ponder. On the lines of what the great Brick Top said in Snatch, I will be wary of any man who keeps a pack of such 5 dogs!

Some quotes from hardtalk, BBC

"The developing nations... [need not] develop according to the same old dirty polluting pattern of the west."
-- Al Gore, quoting Dr.Rajender pachauri on Hardtalk, BBC.

"We [The US] have taken care of Iran's two major enemies-- Saddam Hussain and Taleban."
--Valerie Plame, Ex-CIA undercover agent on Hardtalk, BBC.