Minarets or no minarets??

The recent vote in Switzerland to ban the construction of Minarets has yet again raised a lot of questions. Many instances like this in recent times in Europe is reflecting the growing disenchantment of europeans with its Muslim population. With the upsurge of terrorism and Muslim Fundamentalists, social and economic problems associated with immigration has taken a back seat and religion has become more important.

The growing resentment is very clear with the Frech President Sarkozy openly deriding the burqas and head scarves, the third largest party in Belgium openly opposing the "mushrooming of mosques" to name a few. In a recent Europewide study,among 14,000 correspondents,52 percent in Spain, 50 percent in Germany, 38 percent in France and 25 percent in UK harbored negative feelings about Muslims.

Is Europes' phobia with muslims justified??...this issue will open a Pandora's box....
Practically speaking, what harm can the construction of a minaret bring??....Its a symbol of Islamic architecture and its generally built alongside the large urban mosques...these mosques are run by moderate imams and so the fear that Jihad and terrorism would be preached from them is also unjustified because those imams who preach violence generally lay low and are always on run from the police.

But on the other hand, there are also justifications for this islamophobia...long and historically hostile relations between islam and christianity, constant demands by muslims for special treatment such as segregation of genders in public swimming pools, illegal practices of polygamy and ignorance  of core European values of free speech and separation of church from state. With the recent arrests of 5 Muslim-American citizens in Pakistan who wanted to join terrorist outfits or the arrest of Richard Headley and Rana,again two muslims citizens of US in association with Mumbai terror attacks have stoked a fear and resentment among the general masses which is far worse than the petty issues of Burqas and Minarets.....if the trend continues,it will be difficult to contain this resentment and prevent the alienation of muslim population from general masses not only in Europe but around the world.

December Fever.....

 December has arrived... it is considered the "holiday month" especially among the "desis" who work in firang countries...reason is simple....there are more holidays this month due to christmas and New Year...add a few days of your own and you have got a substantial vacation to go to India...where else ;)

Now its not that all desis go in december only...some even go in Navratras (esp. Gujjus) and Diwali etc....depending upon "family reasons" (read marriage,birthday etcetc) or holidays available but majority goes in december....then there are flurry of activities involved prior to the travel....long shopping lists are given or e-mailed...the excitement is electric....  

Its not that our good old desis are not into tourism....they do go to other places but if you are expecting us to climb mountains....hike on dangerous trails or safari in Kenya then forget it....we are not into "freakish" holidays...we would rather go to known commerical tourist destinations and have a civilized vacation but all this for a short time...because whenever there are bulk holidays the destination will always be india...

So heres wishing all the desis a Happy Holiday....everyone will be back in 2-3 weeks because lets face it..however "home sick" they may feel...no one really wants to stay back :))

Team India....No.1 :)

My heartiest congratulations to Team India which has finally become the No.1 Team in the world....it took 77 years to achieve this but we have done it afterall :D.....

Way to go boys....we are all so proud of you...keep it up!!!

Weekend Breakfast...

Here I am... cozily tucked in my quilt... nursing my tonsils and a running nose and dreaming about a breakfast of aloo parathas :)).....sad thing is that this dream wont come true unless I move and make them myself....a year ago I couldnt imagine myself waking up on a saturday morning and thinking of making aloo parathas...hell I wouldnt even wake up at 9.30 am on a saturday morning...its too early for a saturday :P....but now alas, things have changed.....actually I wouldnt wake up even today but my incessant coughing and hurting tonsils arent letting me sleep.....

With the temperature hovering around 4-6 degree celsius outside, I even contemplated braving the chill outside and get some readymade breakfast and hot coffee from outside but I am again tired of the bland breakfast of Donuts, Muffins, Pancakes,Croissants,Buns etc.....what I am craving for is the typical Desi Weekend Breakfast of Aloo Parathas dripping with ghee and curd and that I will not get anywhere at this hour unless I cook it myself......these are the times when I miss my home the most.....and I also wonder if my mom also felt lazy on these mornings because she never said so and always cooked whatever we demanded ...Love u mom :))....and I also wonder if I would be able to generate this same warmth and care about myself in my kid(s).....

The growling in my stomach has increased and like a substance addict,it will only be satisfied with aloo parathas so guess I will have to move my lazy bum afterall.... :))

A Tribute to Heroes

Today on 3rd December, 38 years ago, the Indo-pak war of 1971 started after Pakistan's pre-emptive air strikes on several indian air bases.A conflict that was triggered by the massive genocide carried out by Pakistan in erswhile East Pakistan particularly targeting hindus and massacring 3 million people overall. This war got over in less than a fortnight by 16th december after Pakistan faced a humiliating defeat in which it lost half of its navy, a quarter of its airforce and a third of its army. For Pakistan,it was a complete and humiliating defeat in which it lost half of its territory,significant portion of economy and its geo political role in south asia.




Gen. A.A.K Niazi, Commander of Pakistani forces in Bangladesh surrendered to Lt.Gen. Jagjit Singh Aurora on 16th dec 1971 and India took about 90,000 prisoners of war which constituted of Pakistani soldiers and their civilian supporters,who were later released in Simla Agreement of 1972.India also gave back more than 13,000 sq.kms. of land it had seized during the war although retaining a few strategic areas like Kargil which later became as focal point for war between the two again in 1999.




Be it the 1971 war or the Kargil War(1999) or recently the Terror Attacks in Mumbai (2008), our soldiers have displayed  amazing acts of bravery and courage to fight off the enemies and emerge victorious.
This Post is a tribute to all our martyrs and our brave soldiers who endanger their own life in order to protect ours...who stay awake so that we can sleep peacefully.

Proud to be an Indian....Jai Hind!!!

The Appeal...

Another very entertaining novel by John Grisham. Exposes the dirty little secret of Political Games behind the election of Supreme Court Justices in the state of Mississippi. It is also very frightening in the sense that big business and major insurance companies indirectly channel so much money into these elections through dummy corporations in order to fund the election campaign of their candidate for the Supreme Court.

As a result of this manoeuvre, their chosen candidate floods the advertising and television spots with his campaign and also acquires unlimited resources and secure a seat at the bench. This elected candidate after becoming the Justice will ofcourse always side with the big corporations and hence all the big litigations against these big business will be either reversed or rendered. As a result of this, many major insurance companies have become fearless and now dont settle out of the court because they are so confident about the outcome.

The story of how a well packaged and well marketed candidate can even become a Supreme Court Justice even though he/she does not have any experience at the bench....a very interesting read.

Glitzy Weddings....

It seems the wedding season is on, especially in Bollywood where a lot of weddings have taken place recently. Although almost everywhere in the world, getting married is the most important thing in anybodys life, in India the wedding functions are a mega event. No stone is left unturned and people go far beyond their means in order to make it the "best" because a  persons' capacity to spend in a wedding also decides his stature in the society.

                       

For example, take Shilpa Shetty or Eisha Koppikar's wedding.....there was news of a so called "bridal war" between the two ladies regarding the wedding card....venue...arrangement...designers and what not. Media plays a even greater role in adding up to the frenzy...Shilpa's jewellery designer was interviewed....what kind of jewellery she'll wear was speculated upon....her dress designer was interviewed too....previous clips of her dressed in a bridal trousseau from her movies and magazines were taken out and scrutinized to predict how would she look in her "real" wedding......there were news of her so called "blouse malfunction" at her reception. Same frenzy was around Eisha Koppikar and the media cried foul when she invited them to her wedding and then ignored them there!!.....

One would think what happened to sensible journalism??.....Who cares about who is designing their jewellery or which designer is designing their bridal trousseau??..... I admit the talks of trousseau and jewellery might interest some and why not, even I am interested in them but not in the minutest detail in which everything is scrutinized and reported again and again just to fill in the news time. Its stressful for the guests as well because they need a new dress and a set of jewellery for each function.....more the number of functions...more the number of dresses...more money spent and the worse part is you can never wear it again because of the damned cameras and video shoot. If you dare to wear it again some nosy female is sure to remember it and point it out loudly to embarass you.

These Hi-fi weddings aside..even the middle class is deep into it. People tend to spend far beyond their means and there is always a competition about who can spend more. It is such a status symbol that some people even drown in loans in order to make the wedding function appropriately glamourous. Maybe thats why the divorce rate is lesser in India (who would spend that much all over again!! :P:P).......

Its high time sense and sensibility prevailed :))