Terrorism in India

Did some research on the published reports of terrorist attacks on India. Tried to see the trends - if our successive administrations have been able to provide security to the citizenry, perhaps indicated by a fall in incidents and/or fatalities.

The tragic results are as follows -

"Do not stand at my grave and weep"

A poem by Mary Elizabeth Frye:

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am in a thousand winds that blow,
I am the softly falling snow.
I am the gentle showers of rain,
I am the fields of ripening grain.
I am in the morning hush,
I am in the graceful rush
Of beautiful birds in circling flight,
I am the starshine of the night.
I am in the flowers that bloom,
I am in a quiet room.
I am in the birds that sing,
I am in each lovely thing.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there. I do not die.

Song - "Genda Phool"

Came across this rocking song from Dilli-6: "Genda phool".
Awesome mix of hip-hop sound to the simple and visual traditional lyrics.

सैयां छेड़ देवे
ननद चुटकी लेवे
ससुराल गेंदा फूल

सास गारी देवे
देवर समझा लेवे
ससुराल गेंदा फूल

छोड़ा बाबुल का अंगना
भावे डेरा पिया का हो

सास गारी देवे
देवर जी समझा लेवे
ससुराल गेंदा फूल

सैयां है व्यापारी
चले है परदेस
सूरतिया निहारूं
जियरा भारी होवे
ससुराल गेंदा फूल

सास गारी देवे
देवर जी समझा लेवे
सैयां छेड़ देवे
ननद चुटकी लेवे
ससुराल गेंदा फूल

छोड़ा बाबुल का अंगना
भावे डेरा पिया का हो

बुशशर्ट पहिने
खायिके बीड़ा पान
पूरे रायपुर से अलग है
सैयां जी की शान
ससुराल गेंदा फूल

सैयां छेड़ देवे
ननद चुटकी लेवे
ससुराल गेंदा फूल

सास गारी देवे
देवर जी समझा लेवे
ससुराल गेंदा फूल

छोड़ा बाबुल का अंगना
भावे डेरा पिया का हो

Civilization

A piece of Wikipedia’s section on Motifs(themes) for Joseph Conrad’s "Heart of Darkness":

"Throughout the novel Conrad dramatizes the tension in Marlow between the restraint of civilization and the savagery of barbarism. The darkness and amorality which Kurtz exemplifies is argued to be the reality of the human condition, upon which illusory moral structures are draped by civilization. Marlow's confrontation with Kurtz presents him with a 'choice of nightmares'—to commit himself to the savagery of the unmasked human condition, as Kurtz exemplifies, or to the lie and veneer of civilized restraint. Though Marlow 'cannot abide a lie' and subsequently cannot perceive civilization as anything but a veneer hiding the savage reality of the human condition, he is also horrified by the darkness of Kurtz he sees in his own heart. After emerging from this experience, his Buddha-like pose aboard the "Nellie" symbolizes a suspension between this choice of nightmares."

Our response to terrorism and our capability as a state:

Our impotent leaders say "Pakistan needs to dismantle its terror infrastructure".

Let me ask why is this so much on our consciousness as a nation-state? As a measure of the foreign policy offensive, its "sounds" good but lets just go ahead with the assumption that Pakistan has gone beyond the point of no return and will remain a terror state. Then what I want to raise is have we answered fundamental questions relevant to the environment within our world, our borders?

Assuming our armed forces and other border vigilance infrastructure (paramilitary forces, customs, coast guard etc) are doing the required job, large scale terror attacks within our cities are not possible without internal support. This support translates into aspects of:
- Logistics
o Arms
o Food and accommodation
o Local intelligence – recce, security layout, area/building layouts, information on peak hours etc
- Finances: Money laundering etc
- Indoctrination

Have we put on our requisite efforts as a sovereign state to cut off these supply lines to terrorists?
- Have we targeted sufficiently and successfully elimination of organized crime groups within the country that provide the launch base for the terror attacks?
- Have we focused on removing centers of indoctrination in the form of fanatic groups, dogma-led institutions; focus on spread and unequivocal emphasis of prominence of civil society by the state and the citizenry? The radicalism is spreading increasingly…
- Have we deployed requisite controls on our capitals/financial system to cut off the financing options for the terrorists?
- Have our government departments progressed enough on deploying controls to eliminate forgery other ways of bypassing of state’s eye by the miscreants?

The answer at best is "don’t know". This is because there is no focus internal strengthening. We, like a infant in a diaper, just know how to scream foul play, complain, cry and/or chest thump to be the fourth largest armed forces, largest democracy, oldest civilization etc. We have given up our sovereignty (adult thought and action in continuation of the example) and now just our comfortable (even proud many a times) at the notion of sucking up to the West and beg them to help us and give us attention.

Our forefathers dream of self-reliance could not even be realized on the material front let alone in terms of the national mind-set, in terms of this society being capable of shaping and realizing its own destiny as a nation state.
Our legislature is united in its impotency and irrelevance as is evidenced by multiple failures to respond emphatically during Kargil attacks, Dec 13 Parliament attack, Mumbai 2006 train blasts and Mumbai 2008 gunfire attacks; by the impunity with which known enemies of the state have been leading their lives like Dawood Ibrahim, Masood Azhar, Memon Brothers to name a few

Are we capable of leading ourselves as a society at all? Do we deserve the independence our forefathers gave their life for?