Goodbye Dubai - وداعا دبي

And the day has come when we finally leave Dubai to head back home to Mumbai. As we get back to leave, while we are amazed by what this city has achieved in a short period of time, making it a magnet for both investors and tourists alike. 

But the sheen is indeed wearing off a bit - the economic crises a few years back slowed the momentum, and in turn slowed the economy here. Construction activity stalled and employment of overseas workers fell.

But contrary to what one would have expected, the downturn did not have an impact on the Emiratis. Based on what I have seen here, they seem to be quite arrogant in their approach to Asians while they adore white skin!

Inside the Dubai Mall...

Umbrellas in the Dubai Mall...

Inspired by Greco-Roman tiles...

At the Emirates Store in the Dubai Mall...

"If it's not Boeing, I'm not going!"

The Airbus A380 flight simulator...

View of the simulator...

After mall ratting, we now head to the airport...

Our driver was a second generation Pakistani from Peshawar, who insisted on telling us stories about the city - about how corrupt Pakistani politicians stash their cash here in Dubai, all of which goes into the real estate market...

At the Dubai Airport, waiting to head back home. And again this time we are going to be on an Airbus A380 - my fourth A380 flight but this time on Emirates!

I Don't Want Nirvana! I Want Great Food, Always! -- Part XXV - Conversations Across The Radcliffe...

Ecstatic after spending an hour in the sky, At The Top, we were famished. We made a dash across to the Dubai Mall, and guess what...

We found Le Pain Quotidien, right here...

LPQ as Neeti and I call it, is a Belgian restaurant that we had fallen in love with after we first we visited their branch at Mumbai, BKC's Maker Maxity in September 2013...

Turkish pottery on display at the LPQ...

"Welcome to LPQ"

We were greeted very warmly by a smart young man - a guy from the subcontinent and we were  ushered to our tables...

Cooking pots from all over...

We got into a conversation with the guy. He asked us where we were from and we said India. "I am from Sialkot. My family shifted there from India in 1947" he said in Hindustani.

Conversations with people from across the Radcliffe Line are always difficult, given the difficult history that is intertwined with the lives of most North Indians, like us, whose families were severely impacted by the Partition, and all the shenanigans that those guys have been up to ever since. And I was reminded of the conversation we had with a Pakistani family in Istanbul an year back.

I was determined not to get into anything controversial and have a lovely evening.

But this guy, Faisal, was rather nice. He tried to make a connection as though he had had a blast from the past and treated us like long lost family when Neeti mentioned that her grandparents were from Sialkot. 

Faisal went out of the way to give us those extras. A complimentary dip platter with breads and soups and then we were ready to order...

Ready to order some fishy!

I went in for a grilled salmon with quinoa risotto...

And over the last few years quinoa has been recognised to be a health food - another one of those gifts that the New World has given us. Quinoa originated in the Andean region of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Chile, and was cultivated 3000-4000 years ago for consumption in the Lake Titicaca basin of Peru and Bolivia...

And for me, it was a wild mushroom and spicy seafood risotto...

As always, LPQ didn't disappoint, and we felt as though we were back home in Mumbai, sitting in Maker Maxity or in Hiranandani, Powai, enjoying a lovely meal. We felt quite homesick!

But with lovely seafood like this, there is no reason why I shouldn't say "I Don't Want Nirvana! I Want Great Food, Always!"...

Interesting Conversations In Istanbul...

As we headed back to Kennedy Caddesi from the jetty at Kabataş Motor İskelesi, quite by chance, we met a few interesting people.

There was a young couple with fair and sharp Caucasian features on the bus. The lady was in black Islamic attire and kept staring at us. And then she spoke - "Hello! Where are you from?" in perfect English.

"We are from India, Mumbai. How about you?" Neeti responded.

"Ohhh! India! We love India. Bollywood is great. We are from Baku, Azerbaijan."

Bollywood, I discovered on all my travels, is one cultural aspect of India people abroad easily identify with, alongwith Indian cuisine and yoga. And that clearly is India's incredible soft-power!

"O really, Azerbaijan! We have heard Azerbaijan is a very beautiful country and would like to visit there someday", Neeti exclaimed.

The entire Caucasus region - Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan is an area that has fascinated me for long. Not only is it stunningly scenic but it has a great deal of cultural and historical heritage. Besides those mountains (remember the photos of Mount Ararat that I had spotted on the flight to Paris) and rolling green meadows, I remembered that Baku, in Azerbaijan, is home to the Baku Ateshgah or "Fire Temple" is a castle-like religious temple located in the Surakhani suburb, that has a fire burning for a long, long time now. Natural gas or naphtha from a natural underground reservoir fuels the fire. While a lot of history on the temple is lost, certain inscriptions have been found which indicate that the temple was used as a Hindu, Sikh and Zoroastrian place of worship. Incredible.

And then a Pakistani family got on to the bus. They looked quite Indian. The man was beefy and grumpy. The lady was a bit plump and fair, clad in a salwar kameez. The couple had two sons - one would have been in his early teens while the other was either 7 or 8 years old. The younger kid was quite mischievous and was bothering his mom, who in exasperation chided and then said in chaste Urdu "These people here understand that you are being scolded. Does it look nice?" 

We were then convinced that they were Pakistanis.

She realised that we understood what she had told her son and was a bit flustered, and asked Neeti "Aap kahan se hain?" (Where are you from?)

"Hum Dilli se hain, Mumbai mein rehte hain! Aap kahan se hain?" (We belong to Delhi, but live in Mumbai. Where are you from?)

"Hum Lahore se hain! Main India gayi hun - Dilli, Agra, Lucknow, Mumbai. Mujhe Dilli bahut pasand aaya! Merey wahan rishteydaar hain"  (We belong to Lahore. I have visited India - been to Delhi, Agra, Lucknow, Mumbai. I loved Delhi. I have relatives there).

The smart-aleck teenaged son joined in the conversation. "Meri teacher Chennai se hai." (My teacher is from Chennai).

We wondered how come an Indian teacher in Pakistan? How weird can it get? 

The father of the kids looked straight ahead, ignoring us completely, as though we bothered, but the lady was quite cultured and perhaps understood the weird thoughts running in our minds. "Mera beta boarding mein padta hai London mein. Hum Lahore se yahan chutti pe aaye hain." (My son studies in a boarding school in London. We live in Lahore but are here for a vacation).

Ohh, moneyed Pakistanis - they are far too rich to afford to send their kid to the United Kingdom, probably because they don't want him to go the terror way. Frankly, I have never heard of Indians sending their kids abroad to study in school - they might send them to college abroad for higher, specialised studies, but that's a different matter. Or perhaps schools in Pakistan aren't really that great.

The smart-aleck son butts in again. "Aapka Modi ke baarey mein kya khayal hai?" (What do you think of Prime Minister Modi).

This was tricky, we didn't want to get drawn into a debate, especially because Modi is regarded as controversial in Pakistan. Also he had responded resolutely, retaliating to unprovoked Pakistani firing on the border, killing quite a few Pakistanis, raising a storm, We paused a bit.

Neeti in her diplomatic best responded "Kaam karne wala banda hai aur humen kaam karne wala banda hi chahiye tha iss samay" (He is devoted to his work and we needed a guy like him at this stage).

I was happy Neeti responded as I couldn't have been so diplomatic.

"Merey school ke Indian doston mein wo bahut popular hai" (He is very popular among my Indian school friends).

The lady was quite embarrassed again and tells her younger son "Yeh pata hai Viraat Kohli se shehar se hain" (They are from the city where Viraat Kohli comes from). For those who read this blog from countries where cricket isn't played, Viraat Kohli is an extremely popular, astute and flamboyant Indian cricketer.

The lady looks at us and says "Mera beta Viraat Kohli ka bahut bada fan hai!" (My son is a big fan of Viraat Kohli). And the cute son looks at us, blushes turning his cheeks rosy red and we smile back. But the dad seated in front seems to fume. And that made us wonder he is from the establishment or the army or the ISI - the architecture that created the whole anti-India, and now anti-world terror network.

But think of it, this little kid loves and adores an Indian player, a pure and innocent human emotion. The big and dirty world of terror is so far away from him, but for how long? And that is the real tragedy, if you raise and unleash a genie like terror, it will consume you, one day. But we prayed this kid remains safe from all the masla (trouble) Pakistan has and grows up to be a sane and logical human being...

Incredible IFE, Enroute To CDG...

This has been quite an interesting flight so far!

I've watched two movies so far - Ab Tak Chappan 2 - the Nana Patekar thriller on the politician-Mafia nexus and the Liam Neeson thriller, Taken 2. A hearty chicken steak with sautéed spinach, mushrooms and polenta on the side was packed somewhere in between with a couple of glasses of plain tomato juice, which I prefer for its tanginess and low sugar content.

We flew in a north westerly direction south of Saurashtra and Karachi and flew over Pakistan somewhere in between Karachi and the port city of Gwadar. And soon the stark and barren landscape of Balochistan lay below us. Hard to imagine that this stark, weather scarred landscape does yield such substantial bounties - natural gas and minerals. But it is ironic that the benefits of being Pakistan's richest province haven't really percolated down to the fiercely independent and self-respecting Balochis, who have been at the receiving end of history for over 60 years now.

Then we flew right over Iran - Yazd, Isfahan and Tehran just short of the magical Caspian Sea. I had been longing for years to see the Caspian Sea, which is in a sense a cradle of human civilisation and is home of the prized Caspian Sea beluga sturgeon caviar, which any foodie will treasure more than a Swiss bank account! But l was despondent when I realised that we flew a couple of hundred kilometres short of the largest inland sea!

But as they say every disappointment leads to an unexpected moment, an unanticipated surprise.

We soon flew over the confluence of Iran, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. And as we crossed Yerevan, the Armenian capital, we got a magnificent view of Mount Ararat!

People say that this is the same mountain associated with Biblical traditions, the mountain where Noah's Ark rested after the giant flood. The snow capped mountain peak was clearly visible as the skies were amazingly clear without even a hint of a haze.
In Armenian mythology Mount Ararat is the home of the Gods and in the modern-era, the mountain symbolises Armenian national identity - it figures on the Armenian coat of arms and on banknotes. The mountain dominates the skyline of Armenia's capital, Yerevan.

In a few hours, we crossed Turkey and overflew the Black Sea and entered Europe over the Bulgarian and Romanian coasts. I had a whale of a time capturing the lovely sights out of my window. The first thing I would do after checking in at the hotel at Gare de Lyon would be to upload these pics on my public Facebook album, Cloudscapes, dedicated to everything Up In The Air!

That's when the next magical moment happened. I spotted a Jet Airways Boeing 777, headed to London Heathrow, flying a thousand feet below us, on the right. That was indeed an incredible moment. It is very rare for a passenger to spot another aircraft in the air and get to capture it on camera, and I feel very blessed I saw it.

As we get ready to descend into CDG, I realised that this was probably the best real inflight entertainment (IFE) I ever had!

Jiyo Malala!

Two days back, the Taliban in Pakistan's Swat Valley targetted schoolgirl activist, Malala Yousafzai - she was shot in her head.

Her crime - supporting the cause of female education much to the chagrin of the Islamic fundamentalists.

Television channels were prominently featuring this news since then. This morning news is in that Malala is out of danger - doctors in Peshawar have successfully removed the bullet from her skull.

NDTV carried a clip of the feisty Malala speaking of how determined she was to study!

I was impressed. Girls like her will make the world a better place to live in...

Interestingly, the Pakistani journalist, Nadeem Paracha tweeted "Alas, the only real man in Pakistan turned out to be a 14-year-old school girl."

Just after that heartwarming news, there was another news of continued atrocities against women in Haryana. Supposedly, a minor had been raped in my hometown, Yamuna Nagar. I was shocked. And then the stupid comment from the strongman politician, Om Prakash Chautala, justifying underage marriage as a solution to these ghastly crimes.

How can we have these guys with a Talibani mindset govern us?

Forget politicians, I really give up on Indian men - men who have this mindset confining women to a narrow role, despite being well educated and claiming to be progressive.

While Indians may like to pan Pankistan for atrocities against women, we in India too have a long way to go. Hope India too gives birth to millions of Malalas - nearly 50% of the nation - women who have progress on their mind. They will make India a better place, an economic growth engine.

Jiyo Malala!

The Femme Fatale Came Calling!

"A femme fatale is a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations.....an archetype of literature and art. Her ability to entrance and hypnotize her victim with a spell .... seen as being literally supernatural...having a power akin to an enchantress, vampire, witch, or demon.....phrase is French for "deadly woman"..... tries to achieve her hidden purpose by using feminine wiles such as beauty, charm, and sexual allure."

(Source: Wikipedia)

Just as we in Bombay were kind of coming to terms with the volley of attacks orchestrated by our ridiculous neighbour, the Femme Fetale, Hina Rabbani Khar, came calling on India.

Now that is quite hard sounding name for a particularly svelte lady. The name rather sounds like a battery of nuclear tipped missiles imported by Pakistan from North Korea, clandestinely, and passed off as their own.

But quite frankly, the Rabbani lady was quite a missile that the Pakistani government had unleashed upon India! And it worked - the naive Indian media was simply swooning over her, her looks, her locks, her pearls, her shades, her Birkins and what not - I would not tread any further on that!

We forgot, simply forgot, about our blood that these bloodsuckers had sucked over the years and more recently two weeks back! We forgot about our vows to put to justice, the perpetrators of terror that Rabbani Khar's country shelters!

It is indeed ironic that a country which goes about begging for sustenance has a foreign minister who shamelessly carries around Hermès Birkins of over USD 10,000 and pays just 7000 units of taxes in the worthless Pakistani currency.

But what does that Khar lady seek to achieve in India? Get our geriatrics go weak in their pants, while thousands of Mukhtar Mais are gangraped in her own country?

Principally there is no point in talking to Pakistan, more so when we have such pathetic distractions for our media!

I quite liked the idea that someone on Twitter had - the only way to counter the Khar lady is to have Emran Hashmi as our foreign minister! (Emran is the serial kisser of Bollywood!)

But I have even more interesting scenarios - keep guessing what wold happen if Hina were to visit Berlosconi's Italy? Or for that matter meet Bill Clinton in a blue dress, just like Monica Lewinsky! Wonder how her countrymen would react to all this? How many fatwas would she unleash?

But for now, its "Mission Accomplished" in India, in classic Femme Fatale style! We have coolly forgotten about all this pain this blood sucking mosquito of a country has inflicted upon us and have been distracted by her! Such a stupor can be fatal for us!

Did Geronimo Have a Cadillac?

The other day, the world's most wanted man, Osama bin Laden was smoked out from his "rat hole" and hunted down by the US Navy Seals in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in an operation called "Operation Neptune's Spear", "Jackpot" being Osama's code while "Geronimo" was Osama's code in death!
Now that rang a bell - yes, there was a Modern Talking song called Geronimo's Cadillac - a popular song that reminded me of the heady 1980's! But the Geronimo of today's world is not about innocence of the 1980's, not about Cadillacs in any case!
While there is little doubt that the very thought of Osama bin Laden had terrorised the world for a little over than a decade now and he ought to have been brought to justice, Operation Neptune's Spear leads us to ask a number of unanswered questions.

Did the Operation Neptune's Spear really take place or was it another "wagging the dog" incident? That was the first thought that came to my mind when I read about the operation.
Questions on the complicity and competence of the Pakistani Army and the ISI were raised following the incident. I believe this was a grand show put up by both the United States and Pakistan. It is plausible that while the United States had been on the trail of Osama, Pakistan ensured that the "strategic asset" lived on safely, despite his kidney condition, in an army garrison town, with above-par medical facilities, and also ensured the "strategic asset" was fattened and kept ready for the slaughter.
The timing of the operation itself was a big give-away - the United States government barely averted a shutdown as the Grand Old Party and the Democrats clashed over the Budget and Obama's popularity waning.
With elections coming up in 2012, Obama needed to show some action, he needed to prove he was at least as muscular as Dubya Bush.
So, as Obama announced he is to run for the 2012 election, the Seals took off from Jalalabad, the Pakistanis turned off their radars, the Pakistani soldiers in the garrison went off into a deep slumber (or, were they "drugged"?) while the bombing was happening. And finally the Seals flashed the message - Geronimo EKIA.
It suits Pakistanis to feign ignorance now and put up a rant against the United States, while Obama walks with the "dubious claim" of eliminating terror!
Osama was terror, but terror is not Osama alone. So the myth that the world is a safer place now may soon be shattered as al-Qaeda is still not eliminated, it may live on despite Obama's feat, and would threaten the world again to prove that they are a potent force. That does not augur well for the world.
We cannot harbour unrealistic expectations today, rather have to be pragmatic today. India has tried to ride this wave and has demanded action that others on the wanted list be handed over. Pakistan will never mend its ways - you cannot teach an old dog new tricks. There is no incentive for the United States to fight for India. We cannot attack a nuclear adversary, so we go covert - fund and arm the Baluchis and Sindhis, get them to eliminate the Pakistanis on our most wanted list and also to break Pakistan from within.
Now coming back to the Geronimo story - Geronimo was a native Indian leader in the 1800s who opposed American expansionism into Apache lands, got taken as a prisoner of war, his terms of surrender were not honoured and died in 1909. It is ironic that the United States which grew on the back of expansionism and elimination of natives today preaches the world on terror.
Obama (or Geronimo) has gone, but did he have Cadillac? He sure did have a SUV fleet in Abbottabad!

Republic Day - A Day to Exult?

The 61st Republic Day is dawning upon us, this very moment.

It was on this day, in 1950, that we, Indians, got our constitution that not only defines our rights and responsibilities to the state, but also what the state is obligated to guarantee to us all.

It was also on this day in 1930, that the Congress Party adopted the Purna Swaraj declaration, or Declaration of the Independence of India, resolving the Congress and Indian nationalists to fight for Purna Swaraj, or complete self-rule independent of the British Empire. from then on, till our actual independence on August 15, 1947, this day was celebrated as our independence day, and was marked by unfurling of the national flag.

The nation belongs to Indians, the flag is a symbol that makes us proud. The state gives each citizen the right to fly the flag respectfully in our land, to exult in our freedom.

Yet, when some of our citizens are shamefully prevented from proceeding to Srinagar to unfurl the flag, to exult in the glory of our republic, I get jitters about what the custodian of our constitution, the government stands for.

What is the government trying to say, here?

Is it that Indians have no right to express their sense of pride in the freedom that we enjoy, in our own land, Kashmir?

Or is it that the government accepts that it cannot guarantee the security to anyone who wants to exult on this momentous day?

Or is it that the government has accepted that it is an "occupying force" in Kashmir?

They have to come clean on all this.

Kashmir is legally isolated from the rest of India - no one but a Kashmiri can acquire property in the state, yet the government engages in sweet talk of Kashmir being an "integral" part of India.

The fate of the Kashmiri Pundits hangs in a balance, after being persecuted in the state, forcing their exodus from the state over 20 years back. They are a forgotten, godforsaken lot in their own country, today. India, thus, has the dubious distinction of having internally displaced people from the same community as 86% of the country's population, the Hindus.

As for Kashmir today, it is a pampered state, with practically no economy of its own, even Bihar would be better off today. Kashmir survives on doles from the Indian government, with one of the highest amounts of per-capita aid from the centre.

The Kashmiris today are having a whale of a time at the cost of the Indian taxpayer, who ensure their subsistence, while they engage in their favourite pastime - pelting stones at the instruments of law and order - police and army.

They want azaadi, but I wonder how many hours would they remain azaad if India pulls out. They would be dragged into the same quicksand that Pakistan finds itself in, today.

The real irony is that we send interlocutors to talk to them, yet arrest those who want to express their pride in being Indian! Is this not a violation of the constitution on Indian soil, by the Indian government itself? Is the government not accountable for all this?

So, the question today, on Republic Day, is whether we do have a real reason to exult or not?

Did this Advertisement Foretell 9/11?

A few days back, my sister, Neelima, sent me an email forward which had a copy of an old advertisement, of Pakistan's flag carrier, PIA, from the 1970s.
The commercial advertised the shortest flight time to New York as 16 hours 30 minutes, via Orly, Paris. The advertisement showed the World Trade Center Twin Towers and the shadow of a distinguishable Boeing 747. Evidently, the Jumbo Jet was flying in to World Trade Center.
The email forward described the PIA advertisement as "visionary advertisement".
The email froward also quoted a media visionary, Marshall McLuhan, who apparently described advertising as the greatest art form of the 20th century. Though this is the first time I heard of Marshall McLuhan, I agree with him. Some advertising campaigns do fit that bill - the Amul Butter campaigns, since the mid-1970s, featuring the lovable Amul girl is a notable one.

Another notable campaign was Bobby Kooka's Air India Maharajah - a lovable, pot-bellied character with a handlebar moustache and a round turbaned head. The Maharajah defined Air India for decades with tongue in cheek campaigns showcasing their various destinations.
The email further went on to say that art at its most significant is a Distant Early Warning System that can always be relied on to tell the old culture what is beginning to happen to it. That is a bit debatable.

Let's take the example of Bollywood. In the 1980s and till the mid-1990s, Bollywood was all blood and gore. But our society did not degenerate to those lows.
But for sure, the PIA advertisement did in a very significant way, foretell the future.

It is time for some Realpolitik!

It's common knowledge that good, pretty girls fall for the bad boys. Some perhaps know the dangers of falling for the bad boys, but still do and get hurt. Despite that, they fall head over heels all over again and again and again......, ignoring their misdemeanors and peccadilloes!
Perhaps living on the edge has an irresistible sex appeal that plain, steady guys can't match. They appear too dull and boring!
That seems to be the case with the United States's approach to our neighbourhood rogue, Pakistan. (The cartoon alongside , which appeared in the Crest edition of The Times of India, shows the opposite - America as the guy and Pakistan as the girl, with Manmohan Singh in the waiting, undoubtedly conveys the feeling that America is sleeping with the wrong partner!)
On October 4, 2010, the German newspaper, Der Spiegel, published something that we in India have known for ages. In an interview to the daily, the former Pakistani dictator, Pervez Musharraf, admitted to quite a lot - to using terror as an instrument of state policy, to using the armed forces to perpetrate terror, to the Talibanisation of Pakistani society, etc.
But the world had a muted reaction to the bad boy's admissions.
Clearly, the world prefers to turn a blind eye to what Pakistan is upto, be it export of terror or nuclear proliferation. Rather the United States perversely does encourage terror and proliferation by Pakistan by funding it, time and again that it seems like paying ransom to a kidnapper or "protection money" to a goon.
Surprisingly, India also preferred to be silent, or rather mumbled just a bit. The dictator's admissions should have been blown into a big issue by India. If Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is truly the world statesman that he is made out to be, his world on Pakistan's should carry weight.
Sadly, the present administration in India lacks the guts to take any concrete geopolitical policy decision.
Now talking of the Obama administration, somehow, the recent policy decisions to move out of Afghanistan by 2011 gives me innumerable shivers. Not all in the world seem to understand Obama's urgency to pull out, especially when that very act could threaten American security.
Is Obama's pullout realpolitik or a mere fulfillment of an election promise? How is Obama's pullout policy justified? Has his ascent to power reduced the hatred the Islamic fundamentalists have for America? Have his Cairo speech and his Nobel Peace Prize brought about a change of heart in the Muslim world, have they made the world a safer place?
No one can answer these questions convincingly, that's my challenge.
The world remains as volatile as ever, no matter what Obama does to appease Pakistan, its fundamentalists and army, no matter how many Nobel Prizes he wins, no matter when he pulls out of Afghanistan.
Rather America's pullout from Afghanistan could potentially have undesired effects - turning Afghanistan-Pakistan into overt fundamentalist states relying fomenting extremism all over the world (just read about fundamentalism reaching Cambodia!), creating a vacuum that China would enter into altering geopolitical calculations adversely, and what not.
All these would adversely impact American interests the world over, probably accelerating America's fall as a great power.
Perhaps the best option if America has to pullout of Afghanistan would be to let Pakistan stew in its own juices - to capitalise on the hatred the Sindhis, Pashtuns, Punjabis and Balochs have for each other and carve up, break up Pakistan into 4-5 entities. Likewise for Afghanistan - breaking it up into Uzbek, Tajik and Hazara spheres of influence would buy us some time. A breakup would make terror an unviable, uneconomical option for these entities - they would be too small to survive, let alone support terror.

All this would have to be done with active support of the Americans, Iranians, Indians, Russians and the Central Asians. We surely can expect the Chinese to oppose this balkanisation.
Mr. Obama, it is time for some realpolitik!

Don't Bark Up the Wrong Tree....this time

Why is common sense so uncommon?

The answer to that will always remain elusive.

For me, common sense dictates that in view of the prevailing geopolitical situation in the Af-Pak region, Iran ought to play a larger role in stabilising the region, so does India, so does Russia.

And logically so, for Iran is very different from the fanatical Islamic world. It does remain a democracy with some (or a lot of) semblance of order, notwithstanding, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's political coups and frequent rants against the West.

I had suggested about the West normalising its equations with Iran in my blog titled Iran and Peace In Asia, way back in April 2009.

The time for such a normalisation could not be more appropriate than today.

Russia, Iran and India, being in the proximity of Afghanistan have a geopolitical interest in that country that country that serves as a logical counterbalance to Pakistan's destabilising machinations in Afghanistan.

None of these three countries would like to see fanaticism seeping out of Pakistan at any cost. If it did intensify, going forward, these three countries have a lot to be worried about.

In a scenario where the United States and NATO were to pull out, the three regional forces can lend some semblance of stability to Afghanistan.

But as always, the United States and the West are barking up the wrong tree, by canoodling with the rogues in Pakistan, including the Army Chief, Ashfaq Kayani and the ISI Chief, Shuja Pasha. And this could have potentially disastrous results for the West in the next few years.

It is high time the United States woke up!

Dealing with Pakistan - Homeopathy v/s Chemotherapy

Is the Indian state coming of age?
Perhaps, we are seeing the beginning of a change in the way the country thinks.
I believe this change is very well manifested in the statement of Judge M.L. Tahiliyani's conviction of Amir Ajmal Kasab.
He said "Every man who wages war against India forfeits his life to the Indian state."
This is a far cry from the so called Gandhian philosophy of peace and non-violence. Had Gandhi been alive today, who knows he may have opened the country's borders, made more CSTs, Taj's, Oberoi's and Nariman Houses to Jihadis, hoping this may bring about a change of heart in them.
India has for years tried to follow this Gandhian philosophy in our approach to Pakistan. Each time India failed.
Perhaps now India believes we can't afford the Gandhi's utopian concepts any more. They have cost us years of progress and development, years of lack of focus and trillions of dollars in lost GDP.
But still, people like Manmohan Singh are still trying to cling on to the old ways which have not served us well.
He is trying to talk to Pakistan again. He perhaps thinks homoeopathy is a good substitute to chemotherapy, that Obama has spoken about.
I am sure he'll fail in this attempt and the will of the people to act tough with Pakistan will prevail.

Obama - India's Worst Nightmare.....

I have never been a fan of Obama.

In the past, I had expressed my apprehensions about Obama's policies in the sub-continent and more particularly towards India.

For me, Obama was like Old Wine in a New Bottle.

Undoubtedly so.

Pakistan was the hotbed of the ideology that gave birth to the 9/11 tragedy, and still is for God knows what next. That is perhaps why the former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright called Pakistan a global migraine.

Pakistan is like the school kid, a bully, who wields a stick and behaves in the most churlish, silly and unbecoming manner, harassing other diligent kids.

And Obama is like the teacher who is absolutely unable to contain the kid. He lives in the hope that rewarding the rotten kid would lead to and encourage better behaviour.

How naive can Obama get?

He is also getting ready to reward Pakistan with F-16s and God knows what. On one hand Obama claims to be custodian of democracy, but invites General Kayani for a strategic dialogue to Pakistan. Is that the right signal to send?

And then America blows hot and cold on taking relations with India to the next level.

Obama has to realise that no matter what he does for Pakistan, it will be an exercise in futility. Obama's own officials feel that Pakistan does not view America favourably.

On the other hand India and America, in general, share the same values on the world, economy and democracy. That is something that America will not appreciate till it is hit by next spectacular attack emanating from the jehadi madrassas of Pakistan.

Till then, Obama will be India's Worst Nightmare..... and we will miss Dubya.....

Sania - Shoaib -- Alliance or Dalliance?

I heard a joke this week about the Shoaib - Sania alliance.
It went this way - the Indian Premier League rejected 11 Pakistanis, but Sania Mirza rejected 500 million Indian males.
Funny indeed.
Going beyond jokes, I feel this is a rather odd alliance.
Sania could have gone places had she not stepped into a medieval society like that of Pakistan. Wonder what the clergy would say about her volleying around in her short skirts. Or wouldn't the Taliban hound her.
Neo-liberalists may hate to say it, but Pakistan is indeed an enemy state. The Government has indicated that time and again. Indians feel that way, especially after each attack. Doesn't Sania feel that way?
Perhaps for her the realities are yet to sink in. As of now, everything is so rosy that she's blinded by it.
Only time will tell whether this is an alliance or a dalliance.

Aman ya Jung?

The one thing that has angered me over the last few months was the Aman ki Asha campaign, initiated by Times of India.
I have a question - will you ever sit and have a cup of tea in an aman shanti ka mahaul with a neighbour who is always pelting stones on your house?

Never, would be the unanimous answer.
Would the pseudo-liberals, pseudo-intellectuals who have spearheaded Aman ki Asha have tea with their own belligerent neighbours.
Not one would do that in reality, yet it seems the country, India, does not matter for them.
And while we kept the asha for aman and mohhabbat, we got a lovely Valentine's Day gift reecently. A grand blast and about 14 deaths at the German Bakery in Pune.
As if that's not enough, the much wanted, Hafiz Sayed, addressed a public rally in city of Lahore after the German bakery blast, and said that one 26/11 was not enough for India, there need to be more. He went on to say that they will drink blood of the Indians, rather than die thirsty.
All this in broad daylight, in a public rally, in the city of Lahore and the Pakistanis claim they cannot arrest him, because they do not know where he is.
What a bloody joke!
Just as we were coming to terms with the Pune blast, Salman Bashir and his Pakistani delegation caame to India. The press waxed eloquent about his pragmatism, attitude and his personal rapport with Nirupama Rao.
The talks happened, or rather should I say we had "tea" again. And after that the vitriolic press conference made the Pakistani intentions very clear. They'll continue throwing stones.
Its barely been two days since the talks got over and today, Indian interests were targeted in Kabul. The result: 6 Indians died.
The Taliban claimed responsibility. No prizes for guessing who supports the Taliban.
And what do we do?
We keep the Aman ki Asha.
But this is a Jung.

In one of my blogs titled "Is India Truly Independent?", I had written that we need to retaliate, an eye for an eye.
Why can't we learn from the Israelis?
An eye for an eye, a limb for a limb, should you dare touch my countrymen, should you dare even look at my motherland.
That's what we should do - systematically throttle Pakistan, cultivate fringe groups in Pakistan, encourage Baluchis and the Sindhis and get them to eliminate terrorist leaders, one by one.
But we certainly caannot afford to have tea with our neighbour. We certainly cannot hope to have any Asha because the neighbour wants a Jung.
And our pseudo-liberals, pseudo-intellectuals better realise this fact of life in India, that this is a full fledged, yet undeclared war, the Jung of our lives.

Taking on the Dragon

A few days back, I had written about The Great Game being played. The Great Game is an advanced form of conflict, a new-age Cold War confrontation.
India, in order to face this kind of conflict, needs to evolve a new strategic doctrine covering our nation's long term security, foreign affairs and economic policy. We cannot, cannot, afford to look at any of these policies in isolation any longer, any more. We need to know what our interests are, very clearly - that's the first step to evolving a doctrine. As Henry Kissinger had said "There are no permanent friends or foes in diplomacy, only permanent interests."

India's security policy for long has been Pakistan-centric. But it has become very obvious in the recent past that the real danger lurks somewhere else. And that threat is spreading slowly but surely, like a malignant cancer, all around. That threat is China.

But sadly. our strategy has been to downplay all the moves that China makes. I was appalled by the statements from the army chief Gen. Deepak Kapoor, the National Security Advisor, M.K. Narayanan and the Prime Minster that these were not major incidents.

We need to accept the situation, we should not downplay, but we should not create a hype - it is a delicate balance that our strategic minds need to maintain.

But we should, silently, prepare towards building a military strength and capability to counter the Chinese. Towards this, we could learn a bit from Sun Tzu, the Chinese philosopher and author of "The Art of War", who said "In peace prepare for war, in war prepare for peace."

To be in a absolute readiness for war or peace, as the case may be, we need a co-ordinated approach between the administration, diplomats, intelligence agencies and the armed forces. We need to evolve and institutionalise a think-tank of opinion-makers in these fields to strategise and deliberate on various war and peace scenarios. The government then needs to merely implement the capability measures that would be distilled by the think-tanks. This would also delink the strategic thought from petty party politics.

Sun Tzu also said "If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles... if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle"

To know our enemies, we need credible intelligence. Developing a capability for intelligence gathering is most critical. Intelligence experts still rue the gradual demobilisation of human intelligence (humint) networks that India had within Pakistan and other neighbours during Mr. I.K. Gujral's days as prime minister. Mr. Gujral's fascination for anything sarhad paar has cost dear and made us incapable of gathering even the basic intelligence. We need to build humint again, in Pakistan and also, more importantly, in China. Why can we use Tibetans for that?

Besides humint, India should also look at e-espionage in a big way. We are a country full of geeks and we can build on that knowledge. Quite a few Indian companies have entered the Chinese and other markets. Surely Indian spies can enter these countries undercover as employees of these countries to snoop on them. India needs to build intelligence gathering capabilities in China, extremely fast. We can learn a lot from Israel on humint, afterall Mossad has been very effective in gathering intelligence in a hostile environment.

Military capability building is the next step. It is well known that India has for long relied on Soviet and Russian military hardware. That served us well for all these decades. But the Admiral Gorshkov episode (India's acquisition of a mothballed Russian aircraft carrier) has proved that we cannot bank on the Russians alone to built our capability. We need to diversify our supply base, in order to avoid arm-twisting.

In a sense, the Indian establishment has recognised that. The pointers for this come from the Indian Air Force's order for the European Airbus A330 multi role tanker transport (MRTT), despite having the Russian Ilyushin IL78 in its fleet. Subsequent orders for the C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft and the Poseidon P-8I naval reconnaissance planes, both of which are American products, have driven the point home in Russia that India cannot be taken for granted. We need to realise that the Russian armament industry is in doldrums and we can surely get a good bargain. The Russians are watching us closely now. They are prepared to offer India a license for manufacturing Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighters. They are also likely to bargain hard for Indian Air Force's tender for the supply of 126 multi role combat aircraft.

India's bid to diversify the military supply options could put it on a different plane in its relationship with Washington. It remains a fact that defence contractors are big lobbies on Capitol Hill. And we can leverage on these lobbies to our advantage to gain American support for other significant issues.

The Indian defence establishment needs to focus on building a military capability spanning the globe, this crucial for protecting Indian economic interests worldwide. Towards this end, India needs to develop an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) capability fast. Thankfully now, America would be amenable to making dual-use technology available to India. India must also leverage on its relationship with Israel for availing technology and furthering joint development of advanced armaments.

There is a limit to which a superpower can rely on others for capability. We need to provide more funds to take defence research projects ahead. Ultimately, there is nothing like self-dependence.

Undoubtedly a successful military alliance complements internal capabilities. India should know that the days of the Non-Aligned Movement are over, finally, good riddance, I would say. Now India should take a lead in rallying an Asian alliance to counter China. The alliance was talked about about 5 years back, but died a premature death, with regime changes in Australia.

Across Asia, there are quite a few nations that have a deeply ingrained mistrust towards China. Taiwan, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea and Singapore are among them. We need to forge a military alliance with them, with America providing back-stop guarantees as well as a nuclear umbrella.

We need to send a strong signal to China by taking up the Tibetan cause as well as supporting Taiwan's bid for the membership in international fora. India's handling of the Tibetan issue has been a classic case of hypocrisy and double-speak, so far, after the grand Nehruvian blunder in 1959. Our support for the Tibetan issue can unsettle the Chinese establishment, which we should leverage on. Tibet is a trump card India has against China.

A military alliance in Asia, closer ties with Taiwan and support for the Tibetan cause would be the tiger's roar in response to the string of pearls that the Dragon is making.

Last but not the least, we need to lobby hard to get into the United Nations Security Council at the earliest, in order to achieve diplomatic parity with China. We American help for this, it would be tall order to do it solely. To achieve unequivocal support from Washington on this, the defence lobbies in Washington would be a big help, for which doling out defence contracts to the likes of Boeing, Lockheed, Northrop, etc. at regular intervals would help.

We can take on the Dragon, surely and successfully. The only condition for this is careful planning and flawless execution.... Let's do it!

The Great Game ...

A few years back, the then Defence Minister of the NDA government, George Fernandes created quite a furore when he stated that China was India's enemy No. 1. Was he wrong?

On the face of it, trade between India and China is booming. Indian IT companies are entering the Chinese market. Indian manufacturing companies are poised to leverage on China's low cost manufacturing. We are too happy to import anything Chinese. We apparently crossed the Great Wall, ever since Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's Beijing visit in 1988.

On the other hand, India remains the only country with whom China has not moved an inch for resolving the border disputes in Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh. China has still not recognised Sikkim's amalgamation into India. Every now and then, whispers are heard of Chinese incursions across the border and ensuing skirmishes. Very recently, there was a news on an evacuation from Nathu-la. A major skirmish was suspected. There was complete silence from officials.

And if you think these are small insignificant incidents, then sample this. China has followed a policy of encircling India, creating a "string of pearls". It is building a naval presence In Myanmar. It has set up a "listening" station in the Coco Islands of Myanmar, to snoop on India's missile test site in Orissa and ISRO facilities at Sriharikota. Not too much is known about the two deep-water ports being constructed by China at Kyaukpyu and Sittwe. Undoubtedly, these strategic assets can be used against India if the need arises.

Sri Lanka has been a significant recipient of Chinese military aid to help it fight the LTTE, while India looked the other way (though it is rumored that Indian military strategists and intelligence assets were readily made available to the Lankans). Further, the Chinese are building a port at Hambantota, in southern Sri Lanka. This is suspected to be a naval base and fuel bunkering facility for the Chinese.

Chinese involvement in Nepal is well known, so is their de-facto alliance with Pakistan. The Chinese have been heavily investing in the development of the Gwadar port in Baluchistan which is strategically located at the head of the oil tanker routes in the Persian Gulf and is rumoured to be a future naval base. Their investments in Gwadar would give them not only energy security but also an opportunity to choke oil supplies to India.

It is also suspected that when Pakistan decided to go nuclear immediately after their 1971 debacle, the Chinese not only did help provide (read: proliferate) nuclear technology to build the bomb, but also allowed the Pakistanis access to their Lop Nor nuclear test site in Xinjiang, much before India went overtly nuclear in 1974. Such support is continuing till date. Hasn't China signed the NPT?

Arming the Pakistani military was always a non-issue for the Chinese. The Chinese have apparently facilitated the transfer of North Korean missile technology to Pakistan, which was the foundation of the Pakistani IRBM programme.

The Chinese have also built the Karakorum Highway right from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir into Xinjiang. This undoubtedly is a strategic asset for both countries - China gets a road access to Pakistani ports in the Persian Gulf while all-weather road transport facilitates Pakistan's easy access to heavy-duty Chinese military hardware. China has very smartly propped up Pakistan, as a constant threat, a constant pin-prick to keep India occupied to further its agenda of dominance.

China is also focussing on building a strategic relationship with Bangladesh, along similar lines.

China has played quite a dubious role in promoting insurgency movements in the North-East as well as the Maoist and Naxal movements all throughout the mineral rich areas of eastern and central India. It is a clear attempt of weakening India from within, an act of war, which we have failed to recognise till date.

A few weeks back, on August 8, 2009, newspapers here covered an article, authored by Zhong Guo Zhan Lue Gang, which appeared on a Chinese website (http://www.iiss.cn/) captioned 'If China takes a little action, the so-called Great Indian Federation can be broken up'. The article which been analysed on rediff.com clearly talked about breaking India into 20-30 pieces.

Clearly, the Chinese are following Deng Xiaopeng's doctrine of "Keep a cool head and maintain a low profile. Never take the lead - but aim to do something big." They appear to be overtly warm and friendly but do not spare any opportunity to undermine India.

Talking of undercutting, Chinese intentions became crystal clear when the Indo-US nuclear deal was being culminated and the Nuclear Suppliers Group was considering the US sponsored India-specific waivers. The Chinese all along indicated their support but started dithering just before the vote. It took a desperate phone call from the then US President George W. Bush to the Chinese President Hu Jintao at 1 AM Washington time to get the Chinese on board.

Chinese lobbies worldwide have been fairly active in supporting the grand objective that China has. Australia under Prime Minister John Howard was quite eager to start uranium supplies to India. However, John Howard was succeeded by Kevin Rudd, who has been experiencing an orgasm with China, as he has himself said!!!! Now Kevin Rudd had been a relative unknown on the Australian political theatre and his election was marked with controversies of Chinese funding benefiting him directly! Australian blogs have sarcastically been calling Rudd a Mandarin Chinese!

Now Rudd did a complete U-turn on assuming office - he stymied all attempts to sell uranium to India citing a stand of non-proliferation. He tries to project an image of maintaining a moral high ground, but his actions are quite suspect. On whose insistence is Rudd taking this stance? I think we have sufficient clues on this.

The scramble for resources has led both India, China and other powers into Africa. The Chinese have very often outbid all other competitors. Very often this has achieved by bribing successive regimes. If the incumbents do not oblige, the Chinese arm insurgents. The Chinese have had quite a success in acquiring such assets, but their subsequent actions and attitudes towards the locals have brought fears of a second round of imperialism. This has happened in Zambian copper mines and tin mines in the Congo, besides other African countries. Chinese "neo-imperialism" has been well covered in the international press, including the The New York Times.

Why is China playing the Great Game to outbid, outsmart and keep India on its toes?

The answer lies within China.

China is a multi-ethnicity rag-tag union held together with an iron fist. The recent Uighur unrest in Xinjiang and the Tibetan protests in 2008, which were spontaneous but heartfelt, indicate a very strong undercurrent which would erupt at any moment the fist loosens.

That is precisely what the Chinese establishment is scared of. It needs to keep the economic miracle running. This can be sustained only by gobbling up whatever resources are available.

India can possibly be the only challenge that China faces for dominance in Asia. "How can India (despite being a multi-"ethnicity" country still thrive?" is a question that bothers the Chinese establishment. It therefore has to prove a point that India is a horrible example to look up to. This is a point which has to be proved at any cost. And Pakistan, Bangladesh, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) do the job well for the Chinese establishment.

India, in a sense, can also be called a multi-ethnicity union. But the difference lies in the a benevolent governance here unlike an iron fist. While there is discontent from time to time, every "ethnicity" does get a voice, is heard and issues do get sorted out.

That is something which is hugely comforting, but is not enough till the Great Game is on. Sadly, few Indian governments have ever recognised the Great Game.

The Chinese philospher Sun Tzu had said "For, to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill." China is doing just that.

The Great Game is an all out war, without combat, without war being declared. George Fernandes recognised this fact.

India needs to recognise that the Great Game is being played.

India needs to evolve a set of carefully calibrated strategies to play Great Game. I would be talking of some of these strategies in my subsequent blog posts.

Air Force One, Singh is King, etc. etc.

Air Force One is here. During an interview to CNBC earlier this week, Obama was pursued by a persistent fly. Obama reached out and swatted the fly. Fly swatting is fine, but what about swatting out the Taliban and the al Qaeda from their cave hideouts in Af-Pak? How the hell can he do that when he coolly lets out terror suspects from Guantanamo Bay into exotic locales like Bermuda, as The New York Times reported earlier this week? Perhaps, he thinks these guys deserve a paid vacation, right?



Our Prime Minister is truly a King. Without battling an eyelid, he told Zardari that terror from Pakistan has to stop. Finally someone from India had the guts to do it. Zardari apparently is so pissed off that he has decided to give the NAM summit a miss. That is what has to be done. The Prime Minister has again proved that Singh is indeed King..... But there will challenges ahead and best wishes to him to tackle the challenges that he would face ahead.

I was saddened by the off-colour jokes that our FM channels have been playing about Shiney Ahuja allegedly raping his servant. Whether it's true or not, I am not going to debate that. Rape is indeed an heinous crime, but till the accused has been proven guilty, he remains an accused. Who has thought of the trauma that the families of both the accused and the victim would be facing now? But the media in a grave display of insensitivity goes on and on ad-nauseum.