Why F-16's Hurt Pakistan? A Canadian Explains...

Before talking about the disaster in Pakistan, I would like to tell you about this marvelous “killing machine” called F-16. You know what a F-16 is, don’t you? Well, it’s one of the most popular fighter planes in the world.

They cost approximately $40 million each. And of course, during its lifetime, it will have cost one and half the purchase price for maintenance, repairs (and windshield washer – you wouldn’t believe the insane price of each can of windshield washer that these toys use).

So, coming back to the disaster in Pakistan. Terrible! If we weren’t talking about a muslim country, we could refer to the flooding as being of biblical proportions: 20,000,000 disaster victims. Just appalling.

Over the last two or three days we've been hearing voices accusing the West of a lack of generosity towards a very seriously afflicted Pakistan. People are being told off in Canada, France and Great-Britain. In yesterday’s La Presse, my colleague Marie-Claude Malboeuf mentioned that a humanitarian coalition had barely collected $200,000 for Pakistan whereas, during the same period of time, a phenomenal sum of $3,600,000 was collected for Haitians after the earthquake that devastated their country. The NGO (non-governmental organizations) are “stamping their feet”. They are getting impatient. They are clamoring of catastrophe and cholera. The most tragic thing is that they are probably right.

Internationally, the UNO has collected only 40% of the 460 million dollars needed for urgent aid. Nick Clegg, deputy prime minister of England has berated the international community for its stinginess: “The reaction of the international community is deplorable.”

But I’m extrapolating. I was talking about the F-16. Quite recently, a country acquired a brand new fleet of twenty or so of these fantastic killers in the air.

Which country was this now?

Yep, PAKISTAN.

Before going any further, I’m warning you: the writer of this article is a naive journalist. A naive journalist who admits it candidly and who wants to know: If Pakistan had $1.4 billion to acquire fighter planes from Lockheed very recently, why doesn’t Pakistan have $460 million to help its own “drenched” citizens?

I apologize to the Red Cross, to CARE, to Oxfam and other non-governmental organizations, but I, for one, will not give one red penny towards the humanitarian relief in Pakistan.

I will NOT give a penny to help Pakistan because Pakistan never had any problem buying military equipment or getting financial help to buy some.

I don’t mind helping Haiti, a small country that has nothing (except corrupted rulers). I don’t mind giving for help to Africa; it’s the least I can do.

I will not give to Pakistan as I will not give to the New Orleans fishermen who have lost their source of income since the oil disaster caused by BP in the Gulf of Mexico.

Zachary Richard (a Cajun singer from New Orleans) is going to produce, with the help of many Quebecois singers, a CD which profits will be given to the New Orleans fishermen. Then, they’re planning a charity concert. Concerts are very nice. Musical charity is very nice too. And I do sympathize with the New Orleans fishermen.

But here again, it’s your naive journalist who is talking. I wonder why I should give one penny to the inhabitants of the richest country in the history of humanity, whose source of income was annihilated by a giga-multinational company with a market valuation of $120 billion US, and belonging to one of the most lucrative industries – energy – on this planet.

It seems to me that the United States of America, that BP, that the energy industry have enough money to compensate the New Orleans fishermen and their families and the offspring of their families until 2060, at least.

But let’s come back to PAKISTAN. On July 19th, the New York Times published a condemning article on the tax system of Pakistan. A banana republic tax system, where the rich concocted a way to avoid paying taxes.

I’m not talking about not paying a little income tax… I’m talking about total tax evasion. I’m talking about a country where 10 million people should be paying taxes, but only 2.5 million do. And all of this is legal. The rich managed to come up with a plan which dispenses them from paying taxes. The New York 

Times mentioned that average – average! - worth (?) of Pakistani parliamentarians is $900,000. Nawaz Sharif, the Opposition leader, and a millionaire hasn’t, for his part, paid any income taxes in 2005, 2006 and 2007. “This system favours elitists, (a system by elitists for elitists) says Riyaz Hussein Naqvi, Pakistani a retired public servant who worked as a tax collector for 38 years. It is a distorted system in which the poor pays for the rich.”

What The Times did not mention but which you probably already know – I know that you read the international news in dailies with great interest – is that Pakistan already has nuclear arms. In fact, it owns countless nuclear missiles.

So, if I recap all this…

Pakistan is an oligarchy (a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes) which exempts the rich from paying income tax. Pakistan has money to buy F-16s. Pakistan has money to keep an atomic arsenal capable of destroying half the planet!

I am not that naive after all… Pakistan has the means to help its own people.

Note from Pierre (the fellow who send this article around): If I remember well, on September 11th 2001, when the Twin Towers in New York were destroyed by terrorists, yes I do remember very well having seen live television coverage showing adults and children from Iran, Pakistan and other muslim countries, dancing in the streets and having a whale of a time because the United States had been touched right in the heart. They were elated because thousands of Americans were killed.

Well now that they’re in deep sh.., they ask for our help!!! And what will they do to us in five years, in ten years?

NO THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

By Patrice Lagacé

La Presse

Montréal

*The views expressed in this post are solely the views of Patrice Lagacé and in no way represents the views of the blog owner. The same has been posted here with the sole purpose of sharing the article with the readers of this blog.

But a question that is really worth asking here here is 'Why is there so much hatred among people against Muslim countries?' - After all one can't clap with one hand nor there can be a smoke without a fire. It is time for all the leaders of the nations - elected or otherwise to stop mis-leading people and to work collectively towards global peace. It is also high time we all do some soul searching and think where & when did the world take a wrong turn for the worse?

Divide And Rule India - Then And Now.....

'United We Stand & Divided We Fall' 

- a phrase well known to all of us - it has been a moral of many a stories that we all have heard during our growing up years and at the same time pages of history are full of real life illustrations of how unity has helped most of the nations and have been destroyed by disunity.

India, perhaps is one of the biggest example of what unity and disunity does to a nation. Unity is what gave India its independence, but the disunity gave India - partition and slavery. India was a country of small princely states and due to disunity among the princes and kings, there were various attacks by foreign rulers and even British took maximum advantage  of discord among various rulers and easily converted India into one of their colonies. Scars and wounds of partition that British gave us, have still not healed and the pain is still felt by India.

Although Indian history is in abundance with lessons of how divisive policies destroyed this once upon a time great country, politicians of today have chose to forget the history lessons and of course it also doesn't help that most of the politicians are not educated and wouldn't know the history of the land they represent. The way the politicians are running amok in a rat race to gain power, will soon make India a country with divided states rather than a super power or a united secular sovereignty that it is today.

Post-Independence India had 14 States and 7 Union Territories which has now become 28 States and 7 Union Territories. Some of the states where created by States Reorganisation Act of 1956, but others were created by dividing a state on the lines of linguistic and religious differences. Now we are facing the rancor for a separate state of Telangana and as well as the the problems in Kashmir are known to everyone. Certain decisions taken by politicians post-independence are coming to haunt us after six decades of independence. During the 1947, the politicians committed and agreed to restructure India on linguistic and religious basis and hence some of the states were formed on these lines where as some were left as they were and now taking a leaf out of that history, the politicians of today, albeit for their personal political mileage, are demanding the fulfillment of promises made in the past era - Kashmir being a big glaring and burning example of the same. 

It is really surprising that our politicians will go through each and every word and sentence of the constitutional history to further their political supremacy, but will not pay heed to what India has had to bear in the guise of divisive politics. Of course it is not entirely correct on our part to put the blame squarely on the shoulders of  our politicians, as they are one of us and are elected by us to represent us and the system. One can't expect them to become pious and God-like overnight as soon as they become politicians. 10 out of 10 times one will reap what they sow and in today's time it is true that each and everyone of us wants to be all powerful, influential and famous, whichever way we can. It is also our apathy towards our country in general that have given our politicians leeway that they can get away with anything.

But it is high time now when we all wake up and say enough is enough.  We, as the public and our elected representative open up their eyes to see how the power rat race is hurting the country. The divisive politics destroyed the royal rulers of India and the same thing will happen to our rulers of today. Due to the stoicism and ruthless stubbornness of our politicians, India is on the destructive path leading to regional ghettos. In these ghettos, the rulers of the state (chief ministers/leaders of influential political parties) will divide people on the lines of language/religion/culture etc. and will drag India back to the days that were similar to that of Pre-British days, where in basic human characteristics of self preservation will once again surface and each ghetto or regional state will safeguard  only their personal well-being and enrichment. The country will not benefit from this regionalism as macro decisions and economics will be rendered redundant and micro economics will rule the roost.  This will not only hinder the country's development but also harm it's citizens.

Today if an American is asked as to where he is from, his evident reply will be that he is from the state of Texas or Indiana or California etc, but very rarely will he say that he is from America, and this is exactly what I am dreading will happen to us Indians. Today we proudly say we are from India, but a day will come when we start saying that we are from Karnataka or Maharashtra or Gujarat or Madhya Pradesh....

If we don't open our eyes now, it may be too late before we realize and maybe have already been enslaved by either China or America. As it is today our markets have been in the clutches of Chinese manufacturers and at the same time we are being bullied into submission over various policies by American politicos.....

Why India Needs Narendra Modi?

I cam across an article by Mr. Suhel Seth that had been posted online on 19/10/2008.

I am recreating the same in whole without any amendments as wanted to share Mr. Suhel Seth's views with my readers.

-::-::-::-::-

Why India needs Narendra Modi?
Suhel Seth
Posted online: Oct 19, 2008 at 2338 hrs

Let me begin with a set of disclosures: I have perhaps written more articles against Modi and his handling of the post-Godhra scenario than most people have; I have called him a modern-day Hitler and have always said that Godhra shall remain an enduring blemish not just on him but on India’s political class. I still believe that what happened in Gujarat during the Godhra riots is something we as a nation will pay a heavy price for. But the fact is that time has moved on. As has Narendra Modi. He is not the only politician in India who has been accused of communalism. It is strange that the whole country venerates the Congress Party as the secular messiah but it was that party that presided over the riots in 1984 in which over 3,500 Sikhs died: thrice the number killed in Gujarat.

The fact of the matter is that there is no better performer than Narendra Modi in India’s political structure. Three weeks ago, I had gone to Ahmedabad to address the YPO and I thought it would be a good opportunity to catch up with Modi. I called him the evening before and I was given an appointment for the very day I was getting into Ahmedabad. And it was not some official meeting but instead one at his house. As frugal as the man Modi is.

And this is something that the Gandhis and Mayawatis need to learn from Modi. There were no fawning staff members; no secretaries running around; no hangers on…just the two of us with one servant who was there serving tea. And what was most impressive was the passion which Modi exuded. The passion for development; the passion for an invigorated Gujarat; the passion for the uplifting the living standards of the people in his state and the joy with which he recounted simple yet memorable data-points. For instance, almost all of the milk consumed in Singapore is supplied by Gujarat; or for that matter all the tomatoes that are eaten in Afghanistan are produced in Gujarat or the potatoes that Canadians gorge on are all farmed in Gujarat. But it was industry that was equally close to his heart.

It was almost like a child, that he rushed and got a coffee table book on GIFT: the proposed Gujarat Industrial City that will come up on the banks of the Sabarmarti: something that will put the Dubais and the Hong Kongs of this world to shame. And while on the Sabarmati, it is Modi who has created the inter-linking of rivers so that now the Sabarmati is no longer dry.

He then spoke about how he was very keen that Ratan Tata sets up the Nano plant in Gujarat: he told me how he had related the story of the Parsi Navsari priests to Ratan and how touched Ratan was: the story is, when the Navsari priests, (the first Parsis) landed in Gujarat, the ruler of Gujarat sent them a glass of milk, full to the brim and said, there was no place for them: the priests added some sugar to the milk and sent it back saying that they would integrate beautifully with the locals and would only add value to the state.

Narendra Modi is clearly a man in a hurry and he has every reason to be. There is no question in any one’s mind that he is the trump card for the BJP after Advani and Modi realises that. People like Rajnath Singh are simply weak irritants I would imagine. He also believes that the country has no apolitical strategy to counter terrorism and in fact he told me how he had alerted the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and the NSA about the impending bomb blasts in Delhi and they did not take him seriously. And then the September 13 blasts happened! It was this resolve of Modi’s that I found very admirable. There is a clear intolerance of terrorism and terrorists which is evident in the way the man functions; now there are many cynics who call it minority-bashing but the truth of the matter is that Modi genuinely means business as far as law and order is concerned.

I left Modi’s house deeply impressed with the man as Chief Minister: he was clearly passionate and what’s more deeply committed. When I sat in the car, I asked my driver what he thought of Modi and his simple reply was Modi is God. Before him, there was nothing. No roads, no power, no infrastructure. Today, Gujarat is a power surplus state. Today, Gujarat attracts more industry than all the states put together. Today, Gujarat is the preferred investment destination for almost every multi-national and what’s more, there is an integrity that is missing in other states.

After I finished talking to the YPO (Young President’s Organisation) members, I asked some of them very casually, what they thought of Modi. Strangely, this was one area there was no class differential on. They too said he was God.

But what they also added very quickly was if India has just five Narendra Modis, we would be a great country. I don’t know if this was typical Gujarati exaggeration or a reflection of the kind of leadership India now needs! There is however, no question in my mind, that his flaws apart, Narendra Modi today, is truly a transformational leader! And we need many more like him!

The writer is Managing Partner, Counselage

Why Fight Over A Language?

The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter. There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.

Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.

Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensi bl riten styl.

Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.

If zis mad you smil, pleas pas on to oza pepl

Why Mumbai Belongs To All Of Us???

Why Mumbai belongs to all of us?

By Tushar Gandhi Feb 07 2010

The “Mumbai for Ma­rathi Manoos” wa­r cry has once ag­ain been raised to shore up the sagging political fortunes of the Thackeray family.

When the Shiv Sena-BJP combine came to power in 1993, under the guise of  reverting to the original name they replaced Bombay with Mumbai. I wonder when they will discard the anglicised Thackeray and revert back to their original Marathi surname Thakre?

According to ancient history, a grouping of seven islands comprising Colaba, Mazaga­on, Old Woman's Island, Wadala, Mahim, Parel, and Matunga-Sion formed a part of the kingdom of Ashoka the Great of  Magadh, ironically in North India.

The Bhaiyas and Biharis whom the Thackerays accuse of being outsiders in Mumbai, come from the region, which was a part of Ashoka the Great’s empire.. We judge everything according to history and the history of Mumbai proves that its earliest known ownership was with a North Indian.

The seven islands of Mumbai passed through many hands, the sultans of Gujarat, the Portuguese and the Bri­tish. Every ruler left behind proof of residence in Mumbai.

The Mauryans left behind the Kanheri, Mahakali and the caves of Gharapuri more popularly called Elephanta.

The sultans of Gujarat built the Dargahs at Mahim and Haji Ali, the Portuguese built the two Portuguese churches, one at Prabhadevi and the other St Andrews at Bandra. They built forts at Sion, Mahim, Bandra and Bassien.

The Portuguese named the group of seven Islands ‘Bom Baia’, Good Bay.

The British built a city out of the group of seven islands and called her Bombay.

The original settlers of the seven islands, the Koli fishermen, worshiped Mumbaidevi, her temple still stands at Babulnath near Chowpatty.

The Kolis called the island Mumbai, ‘Mumba, Mother Goddess’.

In 1662, King Charles II of England married the Portu­guese Princess Catherine of Braganza, and received the se­ven islands of Bom Baia as part of his dowry. Six years later, the British Crown leased the seven islands to the English East India Company for a sum of 10 pounds in gold per annum. It was under the Engli­sh East India Company that the future megapolis began to take shape, after the first war for independence Bombay on­ce again became a colony of the British Empire.

History has forgotten this but the first Parsi settler came to Bombay in 1640, he was Dorabji Nanabhoy Patel. In 1689-90, a seve­re plague epidemic broke out in Bombay and most of the European settlers succumbed to it. The Siddi of Janjira attacked in full force. Rustomji Dorabji Patel, a trader and the son of the city’s first Parsi settler, successfully
defeated the Siddi with the help of the Kolis and saved Bombay.

Gerald Au­ngier, Governor of Bombay bu­ilt the Bombay Castle, an ar­ea that is even today referred to as Fort. He also constituted the Courts of law. He brought Gujarati traders, Parsi shipbu­ilders, Mu­slim and Hindu ma­nufacturers from the mainla­nd and settled them in Bombay.

It was during a period of four decades that the city of Bombay took shape. Reclamation was done to plug the br­each at Worli and Mahalakshmi, Hornby Vellard was built in 1784. The Sion Causeway connecting Bombay to Salsette was built in 1803. Colaba Ca­useway
connecting Colaba island to Bombay was built in 1838. A causeway connecting Mahim and Bandra was built in 1845.

Lady Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, the wife of the First Baronet Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy donated Rs 1, 57,000 to meet construction costs of the cau­seway. She donated Rs 1,00,000 at first.. When the pro­ject cost escalated and mo­ney ran out half way through she donated Rs 57,000 again to ensure that the vital causeway was completed. Lady Jamsetjee stipulated that no toll wou­ld ever be charged for those using the causeway. Today Mumbaikars have to pay Rs 75 to use the Bandra-Worli Sea­link, conne­cting almost the same two islands. Sir J J Hospital was also built by Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy.

The shipbuilding Wadia family of Surat was brought to Bombay by the British.. Jam­shedji Wadia founded the Bombay Port Trust and built the Princess Dock in 1885 and the Victoria Dock and the Mereweather Dry Docks in 1891. Alexandra Dock was built in 1914.

A Gujarati civil engineer supervised the bui­lding of the Gateway of India. The Tatas made Bombay their headquarters and gave it the iconic Taj Ma­hal Hotel and India’s first ci­vilian airlines, Air India. The Godrejs gave India its first vegetarian soap.

Cowasji Nanabhai Daver established Bombay’s first cotton mill, ‘The Bombay Spinning Mills’ in 1854.

By 1915, there were 83 textile mills in Bombay largely owned by Indians. This brou­ght about a financial boom in Bombay.

Although the mills were ow­n­ed by Gujaratis, Kutchis, Parsis and Marwaris, the wo­rk­force was migrant Mahrashtri­ans from rural Maharashtra.

Premchand Roychand, a prosperous Gujarati broker founded the Bombay Stock Ex­change. Premchand Roychand donated Rs 2,00,000 to build the Rajabai Tower in 1878.

Muslim, Sindhi and Punjabi migrants have also contributed handsomely to Mumbai.

Mumbai is built on the blood and sweat of all Indians. Apart from its original inhabitants, the Kolis, everyone else in Mumbai, including Thackeray’s ‘Marathi Man­oos’, are immigrants.

The writer is founder president, Mahatma Gandhi Foundation

Jobsworth And Rudeness- I'm Back In Britain.

Do You Put The Glass Down?

Everyone is suffering from stress related illness whether it is rich or poor. Have you ever thought how did stress became a permanent companion? The answer is very simple - 'YOU HAVE ALLOWED IT INSIDE!' We forget that we have a life beyond problems and continually worry about about them. I am not saying that one should overlook problems or push it away, but other things in life also should be given equal time. 

I have seen people totally stressed out and then taking out their frustration or anger either on themselves or on other loved ones. Stress is one of the main reason that we are seeing drastic rise in suicide cases. So what should one do? Well though it is easier said than done, but make an definitive effort to put stress away at the end of the day. 

To explain it in a much more better way I am citing an illustration that I received in an e-mail

a few days ago: 

A professor began his class by holding up a glass with some water in it. He held it up for all to see and asked the students, 'How much do you think this glass weighs?'

'50 gms!'...'100 gms!'...'125 gms!'... the students answered.'

I really don't know unless I weigh it,' said the professor,'but, my question is: What would happen if I held it up like this for a few minutes?

''Nothing' the students said.

'Okay what would happen if I held it up like this for an hour?' the professor asked.

'Your arm would begin to ache' said one of the students.

'You're right, now what would happen if I held it for a day?

''Your arm could go numb, you might have a severe muscle stress; paralysis; have to go to hospital for sure!' ventured another student; all the students laughed.

'Very good. But during all this, did the weight of the glass change?'asked the professor.

'No' the students said.

Then what caused the arm ache and the muscle stress?

'The students were puzzled. 

'Put the glass down!' said one of the students.

'Exactly!' said the professor.

'Life's problem are something like this. Hold it for a few minutes in your head; they seem okay. Think of them for a long time and; they begin to ache. Hold it even longer and; they begin to paralyze you. You will not be able to do anything. It's important to think of the challenges (problems) in your life, but it is EVEN MORE IMPORTANT to put them down at the end of every day before you go to sleep. That way, you are not stressed, you wake up every day fresh and strong and can handle any issue, any challenges that comes your way!

'Remember to 'PUT THE GLASS DOWN TODAY!'

My Name Is Kaul & I Am Terror-Struck By Khans.

'My Name Is Khan' has made the headlines for the right reasons as well as the wrong reasons. There are many who felt that the movie was unduly targeted because of the comments passed by one of the personality attached to the movie, while there are others who felt that the comments passed by Shahrukh Khan was in a bad taste when he himself didn't bid for any of the Pakistani players for his own IPL team. There are also a small faction who believe that all this was a part of a well staged publicity stunt to pull the crowds to the cinemas.

My view is that Shahrukh Khan should have restrained himself as he is a public figure and anything he says can be blown out of proportion or can be easily misconstrued irrespective of what he meant. 

With context to the movie there have been a few open letters addressed to Shahrukh Khan, one of them noted why Pakistan should not be considered a good neighbour and why India should avoid all kinds of ties with the bad neighbour, but one that really touched my heart is what I am reproducing it here. This letter has been doing rounds in e-mails and has been written by some Kaul, but no one is sure about the identity of the writer. So here it is for the readers to comment on it:

Am sure, you liked the Movie "My Name Is Khan."

Following reflections make a lot of sense in present context in INDIA. 

From: 

I am not Khan. 

My name bears a different set of four letters: K A U L. Kaul. As those who know Indian names would understand I happened to be born in a family which was called Hindu by others. Hence, we were sure, we would never get a friend like Karan Johar to make a movie on our humiliations and the contemptuous and forced exile from our homeland. 

It's not fashionable. It's fashionable to get a Khan as a friend and portray his agony and pains and sufferings when he is asked by a US private to take off his shoes and show his socks. Natural and quite justifiable that Khan must feel insulted and enraged. Enough Masala to make a movie. 

But unfortunately I am a Kaul. I am not a Khan. 

Hence when my sisters and mothers were raped and killed, when six-year-old Seema was witness to the brutal slaughtering of her brother, mother and father with a butcher's knife by a Khan, nobody ever came to make a movie on my agony, pain and anguish, and tears.No Karan Johar would make a movie on Kashmiri Hindu. Because we are not Khans. We are Kauls. 

When we look at our own selves as Kauls, we also see a macabre dance of leaders who people Parliament. Some of them were really concerned about us. They got the bungalows and acres of greenery and had their portraits worshiped by the gullible devotees of patriotism.They made reservations in schools and colleges for us. In many many other states. But never did they try that we go back to our homes. 

They have other priorities and 'love your jihadi neighborhood' programmes. They get flabbier and flabbier with the passing of each year, sit on sacks of sermons; issue instructions to live simply and follow moral principles delivered by ancestors and kept in documents treated with time-tested preservatives. 

They could play with me because my name is Kaul. And not Mr Khan. I saw the trailer to this fabulous movie, which must do good business at the box office.There was not even a hint that terror is bad and it is worse if it is perpetuated in the name of a religion that means Peace. Peace be upon all its followers and all other the creatures too.So you make a movie on the humiliation of taking off shoes to a foreign police force which has decided not to allow another 9/11. 

The humiliation of taking off the shoes and the urge to show that you are innocent is really too deep. But what about the humiliation of leaving your home and hearth and the world and the relatives and wife and mother and father? And being forced to live in shabby tents, at the mercy of nincompoop leaders encashing your misery and bribe-seeking babus? And seeing your daughters growing up too sudden and finding no place to hide your shame? 

No Karan Johar would ever come forward to make a movie, a telling, spine-chilling narration on the celluloid, of five-year-old Seema, who saw her parents and brother being slaughtered by a butcher's knife in Doda. 

Because her dad was not Mr Khan. He was one Mr Kaul.

Sorry, Mr Kaul and your entire ilk. I can't help you. It's not fashionable to side with those who are Kauls. And Rainas. And Bhatts. Dismissively called KPs. KPs means Kashmiri Pandits. They are a bunch of communalists. They were the agents of one Mr Jagmohan who planned their exodus so that Khans can be blamed falsely. In fact, a movie can be made on how these KPs conspired their own exile to give a bad name to the loving and affectionate Khan brothers of the valley.

To voice the woes of Kauls is sinful. The right course to get counted in the lists of the Prime Minister's banquets and the President's parties is to announce from the roof top: hey, men and ladies, I am Mr Khan.The biggest apartheid the state observes is to exclude those who cry for Kauls, wear the colours of Ayodhya, love the wisdom of the civilisational heritage, dare to assert as Hindus in a land which is known as Hindustan too and struggle to live with dignity as Kauls. They are out and exiled. 

You can see any list of honours and invites to summits and late-evening gala parties to toast a new brand. All that the Kauls are allowed is a space at Jantar Mantar: shout, weep and go back to your tents after a tiring demonstration.Mr Kaul, you have got a wrong name. 

A dozen Karan Johar's would fly to take you atop the glory - posts and gardens of sympathies if you accept to wear a Khan name and love a Sunita, Pranita, Komal or a Kamini. Well, here you have a sweetheart in Mandira. That goes well with the story.And you pegged the movie plot on autism. 

I wept. It was too much. I wept as a father of a son who needed a story as an Indian. Who cares for his autistic son, his relationship with the western world, his love affair with a young sweet something as a human, as someone whose heart goes beyond being a Hindu, a Muslim or a proselytizing Vatican-centric aggressive soul. 

Not the one who would declare in newspaper interviews: "I think I am an ambassador for Islam". Shah Rukh is Shah Rukh, not because he is an ambassador for Islam. If that was true, he could have found a room in Deoband. Fine enough. But he became a heartthrob and a famous star because he is a great actor. He owes everything he has to Indians and not just to Muslims. We love him not because he is some Mr Khan. We love him because he has portrayed the dreams, aspirations, pains, anguish and ups and downs of our daily life. As an Indian. As one of us.If he wants to use our goodwill and love for strengthening his image as an ambassador for Islam, will we have to think to put up an ambassador for Hindus? That, at least to me, would be unacceptable because I trust everyone: a Khan or a Kaul or a Singh or a Victor. Who represents India represents us all too, including Hindus. My best ambassadorship would be an ambassadorship for the Tri-colour and not for anything else because I see my Ram and Dharma in that. I don't think even an Amitabh or a Hritik would ever think in terms Shah Rukh has chosen for himself. 

But shouldn't these big, tall, successful Indians who wear Hindu names make a movie on why Kauls were ousted? Why Godhra occurred in the first place? Why nobody, yes, not a single Muslim, comes forward to take up the cause of the exiled and killed and contemptuously marginalized Kauls whereas every Muslim complainant would have essentially a Hindu advocate to take on Hindus as fiercely as he can? 

If you are Mr Khan and found dead on the railway tracks, the entire nation would be shaken. And he was also a Rizwan. May be just a coincidence that our Mr Khan in the movie is also a Rizwan. 

Rizwan's death saw the police commissioner punished and cover stories written by missionary writers. But if you are a Sharma or a Kaul and happened to love an Ameena Yusuf in Srinagar, you would soon find your corpse inside the police thana and NONE, not even a small-time local paper would find it worthwhile to waste a column on you. No police constable would be asked to explain how a wrongly detained person was found dead in police custody? 

Because the lover found dead inside a police thana was not Mr Khan. No Karan Johar would ever come forward to make a movie on 'My name is Kaul. And I am terror-struck by Khans'. 

Give me back my identity as an Indian, Mr. Khan and I would have no problem even wearing your name and appreciating the tender love of an autistic son.

An Ant & The Grasshopper - A Story Retold!

I am dead sure that everyone of us during our lifetime must have heard the story of a hard-working ant and the frivolous/lazy grasshopper. 

Well for those who don't remember the story in a nutshell is: 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 and dances and 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. 

Now, if the same story is given the hue of the great Indian Political Circus Version, it would be something like this:

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 and dances and  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, AAJTAK, CNN-IBN 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 much?

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 UN secretary 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  and in Government Services..........

The Ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, it’s home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV, AAJTAK and CNN-IBN.

Arundhati Roy calls it ' A Triumph of Justice'.

Lalu calls it 'Socialistic Justice'.

CPM calls it the 'Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden'

UN Secretary General 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…....!!!