--- A Soldier's Letter To Our Dear President

--- A Soldier's Letter To Our Dear President While we awaited the pay commission bounty The IAS got there first and now, President Aunty We have no choice but to be blunt We are third class citizens, though manning the front The bureaucrats who decide things for us Have truly shown their animus And we who defend our dear nation Have again been shown our lower station When the seventh pay commission comes around We will no doubt lose more ground Then Colonels would equal civilian clerks In salary, status and other perks Generals will wait on worn out chairs Outside IAS Officers' lairs A once proud service is now so degraded That though their uniforms still be braided They are demoralised and wait to retire And then take up their pens to fire At those they served all their life In times of peace and in times of strife The lesson from this, our children we tell Is that, if in life you want to do well And this, I am sure, every soldier endorses Do not ever join the forces Just become a doctor or a pleader Perhaps, even better, a political leader Or an IAS officer, with his red light Why face the enemy, why risk a fight When the nation you guard does not value you much And treats you merely like a handy crutch To support the government in civil disorder Or when the enemy threatens the border But when the time comes to share the pie They get all antsy and ask - why??? So Madam President, hear us out A change is going to come about And we, the most courageous of all Will soon be replaced by the petty and small Alas, your government would be squarely to blame For this avoidable national shame

Terror Attacks

Isn't it a matter of introspection for the Indian authorities that while the US homeland has been free of terror attacks ever since 9/11, India has been suffering them with alarming regularity. Hardly a month passes without a major terrorist incident in one of India's major cities. What are the lessons that we need to take from the US ability to keep terror at bay? What are the factors that make India so much more vulnerable? Following are possibly some.

Although America is a much more open society in terms of freedom from restrictions on civil liberties and imposing on citizens through intrusive checks and balances, the law enforcement and intelligence agencies appear to be doing a better job of preventing any incidents. One aspect is sheer competence, which needs a drastic improvement in our case. The second, I suppose is techincal support available to the US agencies, which is not unachievable for us. The third aspect is the sheer size of our population and the unorganised or disorganised nature of our society at large. Fourth, I suspect is the fact that in the largely anglo saxon population of a country like the US, the perpetrators of such incidencts who would by and large be asian, would stand out, affording better monitoring ability.

Besides, there are some more serious issues in our case. The politician - criminal - police nexus on one hand, and the policy of vote bank politics leading to minority appeasement, or at least exaggerated sensitivity to minority sentiments in dealing with terrorist suspects, on the other, are other factors that facilitate the perpetrators of such hideous acts in India. US, on the other hand, apparently is free from such encumberances when it comes to dealing with terrorism, which it very rightly treats with the severity that it deserves.

It is high time that our political class wakes up, takes a reality check and putting national interest over and above any other considerations, personal or political ambitions notwithstanding. They must strengthen the hands of our law enforcement and intelligence agencies in every way possible. The country must have effective legislation to deal with terrorism, which is nothing short of war on the nation and humanity. The issue of terrorism must be tackled with complete political consensus, rather than playing petty politics on the issue to score brownie points.

The time has come for our country to stand up as one and face the menace of terror in a concerted and decisive manner.

Ant and the Grasshopper Really a class analogy..

An Old Story:
The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away. Come winter, the Ant is warm and well fed. The Grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.

Indian Version:
The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The Grasshopper thinks the Ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering Grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the Ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving. NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering Grasshopper next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant's house.
Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter.
Mayawati states this as `injustice' done on Minorities.
Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticize the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper. The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the Grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance) .
Opposition MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for 'Bengal Bandh' in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry.
CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among Ants and Grasshoppers.

Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.
Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the ' Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act' [POTAGA], with effect from the beginning of the winter.

Arjun Singh makes 'Special Reservation ' for Grasshoppers in Educational Institutions & in Government Services.
The Ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, its home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV.
Arundhati Roy calls it ' A Triumph of Justice'.
Lalu calls it 'Socialistic Justice '.

CPM calls it the ' Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden '
Koffi Annan invites the Grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.
Many years later...
The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar company in Silicon Valley,

100s of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India,

..AND

As a result of loosing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the grasshoppers, .
India is still a developing country…!!!