Remember this day...

...when we as a nation was shamed by a bunch of mindless drones. Same time last year, all of us were glued with horror to our television sets watching the reality show with the highest stakes ever: human lives and dignity of a nation. How different is our country after that gruesome incident? How protected are we from future attacks? Before we launch into a tirade on the ineffectiveness of our Government, read this informative article by Nita. We can without any doubt say that the level of preparedness is higher than what it used to be. But will this prevent future attacks?
Where there is a will there is a way. Its the innate human nature to resist against the defenses and find chinks in them. With a certain amount of preparation and lot of money, terrorists can stage such an attack anywhere in India. I doubt that even Mumbai could be an exception with all its alertness. This is in no way degrading our intelligence wings. Unknown to us, they may be thwarting several plots as we speak. Most of such counter terrorist operations remain classified due to several reasons according to insiders.
All the measures listed in Nita's blog is a step in the right direction. But if you look closely, these are steps taken for counter an attack from the terrorists. If a terror attack happens again, there could still be loss of life and property. May be the damage could be limited. What we should ideally do is strengthen our domestic intelligence and foreign intelligence agencies, namely IB (along with the state level intelligence agencies) and RAW.
Strong intel network can go a long way in mitigating the risk of an attack. It will enable us to nip such attacks at the planning stage itself. Terrorist activities involve a lot of money and lot of time. If we can successfully cut of the money supply to sleeper cells and eliminate the planners, we will go a long way in avoiding the attacks altogether.
Alas, things are not looking rosy at all on this front. I was shocked and filled with dread when I read the Indian Express series: The Rot inside RAW. If the five part series is more of fact than fiction, we can only pray for a divine intervention to stem the attacks. The series lambasts the National Security Adviser M.K.Narayanan for nepotism in appointing the top ranking officials in RAW, among a lot of other things. A more serious allegation is made against the expectant RAW chief A.B.Mathur of being a suspected double agent.
The series was the most depressing news item I read in a long time, especially in the backdrop of 26/11 attacks. Why can't our beloved leaders be a little more pragmatic when it comes to the more important functions of a nation like Intelligence? If RAW is in such shambles, we cannot hope that all is well with IB and other domestic intelligence agencies. Lets hope that the report is wrong. If it isn't lets hope our leaders mend their way. If not, there will always be remembering the attacks with no respite to forget them.
Read the five part series here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.

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Star Wars Facebook Status Updates

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Posted via web from Pain on the Posterior

Sena Vs Sachin

The geriatric Thackeray and a Shiv Sena on an alarming decline is desperate for some media coverage after the drubbing handed out by the people of Maharashtra in the assembly polls. Nothing new here, except that the level of desperation is at an all time high, with Bhatija Thackeray snapping up the votes of the insane ones. Desperate folks tend to be sharp or stupid. In this case, Oldie T chose to be the latter and a monumental one at that!
Sachin Tendulkar elicits the same emotions that the National Anthem educes from Indians. A gross generalisation, but its true at least for an overwhelming majority. The kind of reverence that Sachin commands is perhaps comparable to Maradona in Argentina. Its suicidal and plain stupid to target a person, who transcends the divisions in the nation with the silliest of allegations.
It all started with a harmless remark from Sachin: "I am a Maharashtrian and I am extremely proud of that. But I am an Indian first. And Mumbai belongs to all Indians." A statement true for all patriotic and sane Indians. The variables here are Maharashtrian and Mumbai. Replace them and any one in the country can reuse this statement merrily.
What does Bala dude do? Took his pen and launched a scathing attack on Tendulkar for terming Mumbai is for Indians. The whole country rises up lambasts Thackeray. Everybody thought that was that. An outburst akin to an embarrassing high-bass fart in public. Apparently, Shiv Sena liked it so much that they decided to pass more gas.
In comes the next one from the Shive Sena MP Sanjay Raut: "There has been no instance of Sachin extending a helping hand to other Marathi cricketers. Forget others, he did not even support Vinod Kambli." He then goes to old reminisce the old days of the powerful Mumbai lobby: "In contrast, Gavaskar when he captained India, had half the team drawn from Mumbai and Maharashtra. He gave Test caps to many Marathi players including Suru Naik and Zulphikar Parkar at least for one match."
(I barely know about the politics during Gavaskar period, I don't know whether Gavaskar was the nepotist or the board during that time.Knowing our cricket board, all suspicions point to them than the Little Master. To put things in perspective, Vinod Kambli made multiple comebacks to International Cricket during Sachin's reign. The person Kambli kept out during that time went on to become one of the greatest batsman in modern cricket: Rahul Dravid.)
So, he is accusing Tendulkar for not being a Nepotist? Huh! When did nepotism become the preferred path?
Questions: When these folks say that Mumbai is not for Indians and only for Marathas, aren't they questioning the territorial integrity of India and violating the constitution? Shouldn't such outfits be completely banned or at least barred from elections? How can they uphold the spirit of constitution when they publicly denounce it through their actions? What exactly is our media doing apart from running and rerunning the dramatised news reports? Shouldn't they be the ones asking these questions?
Else, we can just watch the drama unfold and sit back and enjoy. After a while, find the next issue to relish and continue our meaningless existence as citizens.



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A-ward!

Award just after getting out of 'a ward!' Bad pun, but good feeling! Chitz awarded the Kreative Blogger Award to me! Yay! Please start the slow clap while I accept the award!

Thank you! Thank you Thank you!
These awards generally come with a catch or few. Lets see!
1. Tell 7 things about youself that nobody else knows.
2. Pass on this award to 7 other people.
3. Comment on their blogs to let them know that they are tagged.
Hmmm...
Lets start with the first condition!
Seven things about me that nobody else knows.
See the blogs name? Confessions of Dangerous Mind. There has been several dangerous (to me!) confessions in this blog, so I cannot say I am giving out some fresh stuff!
1. I really want to eat Mutton Brain Fry. Now! Only if I wasn't under house arrest and on a diet fit for a goat.
2. I love watching rain through my window, lying down on my bed. Somehow the visual makes me very happy.
3. I have an irrational fear of number 13.
4. I love books. I can spend hours in a book store and library.
5. My first book was a Malayalam picture story book made in the USSR. The main characters where kittens, dogs, snow men, rabbits, bears, porcupines (with a red shoe!)...I still have some part of the book with me.
6. I loved being naked as a kid. I used to come from school, do a strip dance, and run around naked around the home. Every day, till I was 8-9.
7. I hate hypocritical dudes. Except me.
Every blogger is creative, just like every baby is beautiful. So I bestow the award upon all bloggers! Since it would be a hassle to go and post comment on every blog, I am skipping that step!
P.S: Check out the Kerala Cafe review at Through The Motions!

Yellow!

Aah...the beautiful colour that heralds the arrival of proper spring with the marigolds! How I love thee! Not anymore! Not since my turned yellow due to acute jaundice on a fine Saturday afternoon in Guruvayoor. There I was, happy as a bee, waiting for Kerala Cafe to start after hanging out with friends at Vineeth-Shalini wedding, and Neo drops the bombshell.

'Dude! Your eyes are yellow! Jaundice! Escape!'

Like I said earlier, I had been feeling pretty crappy over the past one month. The morbid fears and a very pedestrian appetite to boot. I got back to Bangalore on Sunday morning, picked up my laptop and headed to Trivandrum.

I got to the hospital as soon as I reached and the doc asked me to take blood and urine. Funny story: The lab girl was confused between my urine and blood samples. It was that bad! In the afternoon, doc came near me and checked the pulse.

'Alive! You should be dead by the amount of bilurubin in your blood!'

Strangely, I was feeling not that bad. Sick, yes. Deathly sick, no! So started my week long prison break! It was awful. Food mainly consisted of fruits and vegetables, followed by even more fruits! In the mornings I got some respite as I had to eat idli very early to take the medicines. Apart from that, the entire week was spend simply lying on the bed and eating fruits. The sad part was the mobile network. I couldn't even check my Google Reader! After a very long time, I spent a week away from Internet. It was not too bad actually!

The last results at the hospital were not good and the doctor was not in favour of discharging me. But I insisted on it as I was feeling okay and they had stopped giving me IV. It was pretty much useless lying there simply. Besides, I had to get in touch with work and sort out several issues. I started working from home this week and my team has been absolutely smashing! They had taken care of everything that was pending from my side! You guys seriously rock! You are the best!

Back to my laments. Still I am quite sick according to the tests. So food is exclusively fruits and vegetables. I guess I am turning into a birdie! At least 2 more weeks of house arrest is staring in my face. On the plus side, I am getting to spent a lot of time with my parents which I could never do ever since I moved to Bangalore. On the minus side, all they have to talk about is my marriage and future plans. That sucks. Period.

On the bright side of things, Chitz gave me the Kreative Blogger award! Thank you! Bouquets please folkses! Do wait for my acceptance post!

Later days citizens! Drink lots of water! Eat lot of kappa pazham! Show solidarity with me!
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