Protectors also need Protection

The Indian Army has had its say wherever it has been deployed in times of crisis. The armed forces special powers act (AFSP) has enabled them to squeeze out the last bit of problems wherever it has been supported by the government. The problem arises when the same political class that granted them these powers thinks of selectively granting powers to them among all those stated in the AFSP because it affects their political agenda. Although annoying to the army , the fact is , this is the very reason why our country cannot be called an army controlled one like some of our neighbours. But of what use is a force if you cripple their efforts when they are just making break throughs or are in the middle of a problem and have thought out their plan of action especially after losing some of its officers as part of its operations? I am referring to the ongoing crisis in Kashmir today.

The situation in our northern most state today is not because the army faultered , it is because of political neglect. The violence which is ongoing in Kashmir is just a result of the political class being least bothered about the needs of the people belonging to the parts where the mass protests and subsequent violence erupted. The other day Omar Abdullah stated that these are the parts where the turn out  during voting is less than 20% of the population. this figure makes it abvious that the majority are not coming out to select a poloitical candidate of their choice or are simply confused as to whom to vote for. Omar also categorically stated that his party is not the ruling party in these parts. Due to a politically dicy situation he avoided further questions regarding the reason why violence broke out but what i reckon is, who ever is the elected representative from these parts is not going to be a person India can rely on to solve the problems in the valley.

The reason i say this because these crooks ask for funds from the state and central governments for development, at the same time they are also aware that there exists social unrest and negetive support for the ruling government only due to lack of developement which leads the youth there nothing to keep themselves occupied with. If there were to be development then it would amount to getting people busy in their own lifes, being satisfied with the efforts being made to improve their living conditions . But THIS IS NOT WHAT THE ELECTED CLASS OF THESE PARTS WANT. If things were to go this way then who would support the separatist movement, who would form the face of the protests when they needed to demonstrate the need to form a separate autonomous state. With these hidden agenda's in place developement never takes place. Where do the funds from the governments go ? Let's not talk about it.

This is where the army comes in. The Armed forces have experience in dealing with hostile environments like these and chalk out plans to tackle the situation . Just when they seem to be making inroads into finding the root cause of the problem and the situation seems to be more under control, they are asked by the ruling political class (who are under pressure because they are ruling the state and the pressure of the opposition parties seems to be mounting on them due to the worsening situation in affected areas) to back off and reduce the powers of the Army in these areas so that the opposition is happy(the separatist opposition).

Now we all know that fire has to be dealth with fire, firing with back firing or else one side is going to be bull dozed over. If the belligerent crowd comes with stones and knives our army can definitely not stop them with cheese balls, can they ? Casualties had to happen and did. The roudy boys who thought fighting the Army would be more exciting than going to school got injured and some even perished. Who bore the brunt of the blame, The Indian Army stationed there to bring the situation under control.

When it comes to how the Army handles suspected female terrorists and women in general in the violence prone zones of the country we cannot blame every male in the force. All of them are away from their families for 10 months/year, fighting loneliness and people whom they dont know and have never met because they are a threat to us, civillians. While the efforts of the Army to keep all its men occupied manages to prevent most officers from losing their sanity  , some of them fail to control themselves and resort to anti- social behaviour against women, others kill their commanding officers. You carry out a research and you will find that these barbaric acts are carried out by a minutely small percentage of the force and yet, the entire Armed forces is put in the criminal box of court to explain why its officers did so. The reasons are not too hard to fathom. They are desparate to be with their loved ones (officers who kill superiors) , loney and psychologically disturbed (officers who resort to anti-social behaviour).

To make matters worse the enitire Force is heavily scrutinised by the media ,subjected to criticism from all corners and have to fight demands for them to be put to task in civil courts for crimes a very small percentage of the force have commited, which is derogatory for the Force. I am not saying the giulty should not be punished because the loss suffered by the families that got victimised by the rogue officers has to be accounted for and the army takes measures to make sure those guilty are put to task , but the integrity of the entire force should not be questioned. What about all those who gave up their lives so that the situation gets better and we have a better tomorrow ?

I hope the political class understands that they should not cripple the Army's efforts once they have been stationed at sentitive locations that need their service because they are trained in handling such situations and pulling them out just when they are on the verge of cracking open the issue will only demoralise them and the next time they are called upon to serve us and they are not living upto it due to the lack of respect for their work , they will be blamed again. Our belief in the Army is what fuels their operations more than the arms they use to put things in place. I also urge the media not to whitewash the achievements of the Indian Army for they have saved the pride of the nation way more number of times than any single body of the country ever has.

The Armed Forces have been left alone when they need support but they were always there when we needed them. They deserve a lot more respect and reverence that what is meeted out to them at present. If that happens the Army will not need a Sachin Tendulkar to come as brand ambassador of an Army Wing to lure the youth in. It will fire up the youth to put on uniform and serve the nation for nothing else but pride. The Army yields GUNS to get its job done but needs respect & ROSES to keep moving on in the rough and dicy terrains of Politics and National Defence.

The national game (Satirical Writing)

'Root cause analysis(RCA)' is the technique used to locate the source of a problem in scientific terminology. Ever thought of Golf geting ahead of soccer on a world stage. I know , 'Naaaaaaaaaaaah' would be the first thought that will come to most of us. There is a genuine reason for it which would simply be that soccer gives us 90 mins of non stop excitement which golf can never match up to. It is pretty easy to prove this in just one line ..doesn't really need 'root cause analysis' eh. But if we have to find out why one important game is neglected in our country and what can be done to save it from further disgrace i see no harm in applying it. Lets apply RCA to the sport that is 'on paper' the most important game for us which is 'Hockey'.

What should the national game of India be ? I would say it should be Cricket. One may have never heard of changing the national game of a country but i think its time we did so not for anything else but to save our national game from further disgrace. I am not a big proponent of Cricket myself but the numbers make it the most important sport in the country . The two most gripping problems that hockey faces in our country are lack of sponsorship and lack of viewership. Lets look at different angles to this problem and the proposed solution.

Sports is entertainment and wherever there is entertainment  what counts is the mass appeal it generates in terms of numbers , the amount money that has to be put behind its promotion and the bottomline being what kind of return on investment will it generate.Having said that, both in terms of money and viewership Cricket wins hands down. No sport can survive without viewership at the national and international levels the reason beng viewership is directly related to the amount of money that comes in for the sport. I may be sounding cliche in the last sentence but we cannot deny it.

Indian Hockey may have won 8 Olympic Gold medals while cricket is yet to be counted in the Olympics as a game. Indian Hockey dominated the world scene between 1928 - 1956 remaining unbeaten in the Olympics while Indian Cricket managed a world cup win somehow but never really managed to hold on to the number 1 position for more than a few months . Funny eh, so much talent , so much money in the game but still the stats are so poor in comparison. Wonder where all the money actually goes !! Talking about the 8 Olympic medals has the popularity gone up by 8 times in our country ? the answer to that is in our minds already.

For some wierd reason our psyche does not register Hockey as a game of importance or rather excitement which is why it lacks the basic ingredients that can fuel its popularity. On the other hand just think about Cricket along the same lines. Funny again because both games have 11 players a side, both use the ball of similar size and both have something to hit the ball with (but of a different shape). The major difference crops up when we think about the way the two games are played. In Cricket players of one side can use their hands to hold the ball while Hockey doesnt allow that at all . When it comes to handling the ball the fielding side is involved in aiming at the stumps . Does that make it more interesting....Oh i was so deep into fielding that i almost missed out on batting. Cricket seems to thrive on the big hitting involved in batting , the 4's and the 6's none of which is a part of hockey. Our hockey seems to have the same old two goal posts and players running around to put the ball the opponent's net. Doesnt the last sentence sound familiar, doesnt it sound like the game we all love....The Beautiful Game...Soccer.

As far as physical contact is concerned and the subsequent physical bouts it can generate both have considerable risks. While soccer tops among the two , but in Hockey you have a really hard ball which is always struck firmly enough to fracture anyone it hits directly and our Hockey players do not wear helmets apart from the keeper ofcourse. Which translates into the fact that our Hockey players are brave hearts. Compare these risk factors with Cricket. Our beloved batsman is protected with all kinds of gear from head to toe(reminds me of saurav ganguly :-D). All our fielders do no have to run most of the time. The select few in the direction the ball is hit and is thrown and their opposite counterparts on the field to avoid an overthrow. Pretty relaxed i would say by the standards of Hockey. I guess sledging was intentionally brought in by the ICC to spice up the game a bit otherwise the gentleman's game would be a bit too boring to watch (after all everything needs to be marketed :-) ).

Summing up everything, Hockey is more similar to the game which is the most popular game in the world, than Cricket. Hockey rules make sure that the risks and excitement are more than cricket , players run around more than in Cricket which adds to the intensity, but inspite of all this Hockey just doesn't generate enough attention amongst us today to remain labelled as the national game of the country !? Our RAC has just lead us to believe that the problem lies in the what we percieve as exciting and the way it
 is presented to us comes into the picture here.

I hope some sponsor stumbles upon this write up of mine to find out the deep **** that Hockey is in . I think better marketing , better camera positioning which will lead to better viewer experience (because TV viewers are the main target today ) can still save the game . On the contrary if they think that 'we cannot experiment with money, we are a profit driven organisation and we can only put money where we are sure to reap benefits' then i think its time we renamed our national sport. A national sport is supposed to be one which is culturally related to that country . When Cricket is broadcasted they say Cricket is a religion in India. They never talk like that with regard to Hockey !! I cannot blame them because the ground reality is in their favour.

So spread the word countrymen, let Cricket be renamed as the National game. It will save our country a lot of shame when they show the Hockey players' plight regarding the kind of match fees they get. The governing body eats up whatever paltry sum that is generated out of the game and our needy and deserving players get slose to nothing.

Remember that spreading the word is a winning way to get things done. A word which was never meant to be in the dictionary can be found in a standard dictionalry these days simply because it has gained popularity worlwide. We have no conclusive evidence of Adam and Eve making out but half the world believes that we are from them . Havn't seen it but we still believe it :-). Thats how strong spreading the word can be .Then why not give Cricket the status that it deserves. Nobody controlled it .It just happened. After all  our famous constitutional lines go well with Cricket - 'It is a game of the people , by the people and for the people' . All the more a reason why it should be at the No.1 spot on paper for us. Once this happens there will atleast be something that matches with the ground reality in our country :-).

It is a negetive approach but it is still a solution to save Hockey from further disgrace and salvage whatever respect is left of it and the players. Let it die in oblivion once it is delisted, atleast the players will not have to cope with the shame that comes with the neglect.

The Refreshing Heat - The Heat is harsh but nevertheless a necessity

The weather we often describe as harsh teaches us a lesson
every season brings with it a weather that in our life has a reason
we always complain about it being so fleeting in nature
but man forgets 'has he not  been of the same kind in past and will be in future'
on the desolate road of life where man has no stature

the same applies to each and every season through which we live
they are a reflection of what we are and to life what we give
they teach us the hardships that one faces during the course of life
and leave behind the footprints of those experiences in the manner we deal with parents, children and wife
on the desolate road of life where we are always in strife

So here we live in the middle of the hot summer of May
where the days are so unbearable that away in the colder pockets we stay
away from the rays that bring us nothing but hope
away from the very thing that that we long for when the winters give us a grope
on the desolate road of life where away from the problems, with easy solutions we always elope

As you walk under the hot sun the hot blast makes you look for a shade
the sweat makes you feel as if your patience and tolerance are beginning to fade
we look at the sunburned poor man pushing on the desolate road his livelihood cart
and we look up and curse the heavens for making us burn till we get that heat shudder from skin to heart
on the desolate road where our skin feels as if every pore is being struck by a dart

Yet that very shade is a sign of how the sun has blessed us with cover
If it is a tree we have it because at some time the sun had given it a tough summer
If it is concrete we have it because people had once toiled with patience and without slumber
which now makes it stand, tall and strong to give us respite
on the desolate road of life where forces of nature have placed the ball of fire at a killing height

Elements of nature like heat have a hard as well as carnal way to teach us what to life we should be giving
for inspite of hating heat it is the same element that lovers long to feel when on each other they are moving
hate stems from discomfort from our surroundings
be it people or nature problems along our path will always be abounding
But let us face this element with patience and positive elements we possess
heat is a passing element and will be replacd by pleasant breeze which'll pass through you hair like a caress
that is when people will be forced to think about the natural phenomena this unforgiving
on the desolate road of life as an element that makes all heat around us as refreshing
as the rays of sunlight on a cold winter morning which form our day's first blessing