Wit Wisdom and Whoop

The events in J&K over the past month and more are hurtling towards a situation wherein it looks like that the long pending problem may resolve itself, even though one cannot predict a time frame. The solution is creating itself. I foresee another partition wherein the Kashmir area is gobbled up by Pakistan and the Jammu area left behind for India. Pakistan after that can claim that the issue is resolved and the people have spoken. Sounds pessimistic but that is how it seems to be developing. The genesis of this situation is in events that happened more than a decade ago when the entire Pandit population was thrown out of the state to become refugees in their own country and a ethinic cleanising of the area happened. Not a single Kashmiri protested or held dharnas, no politicians screamed blue murder and if at all they did, it was to protest against those who criticised the ethnic cleansing. After all it was and is a matter of the vote bank politics that all parties follow...

Earlier this week I had this opportunity where I travelled on 4 different airlines in 4 sectors. I travelled Indigo, JetLite, Air India and Deccan/Kingfisher. When you do something like this the service levels do come to your attention. Indigo :- When I walked into Bangalore airport, I could not immediately see their counter but saw a line of gleaming self check in kiosks with Indigo displayed on the screen. Impressed I checked in even though the touch screen needed a rather hard tap to type in the details. Soon I had my boarding pass which was on top of the long page that was printed out. One could have printed out at least 4 boarding passes on that paper. So much for cost cutting and low cost flying !!!! At security I was stopped since apparently the airline should have stamped my boarding pass. Now if that is so, then why have self check in ??? After a short wait when the security searched high and low for a Indigo staff who were no where to be seen (lean and mean airline I guess)...

One of two patriarchal figures of the Indian communist movements has passed on and that leaves Jyoti Basu as the last surviving leader. While my knowledge of political history especially that pertaining to the sixties is limited I remember my late father used to keep showing his irritation whenever they showed this gentleman on TV. He kept saying - "what has this old fellow done in politics that he is given so much importance". Many have talked about how he supported the Chinese but then I think the Indian communist movement has never really cut its umblical cord with China. The support for China has been blatantly brazen at times and subdued at others but it has never ever gone away. The last 4 years saw Karat and his ilk oppose everything and today if the Congress finds itself in a sorry state, it only has the Communists to blame for this. Now a days viewing TV news or reading a newspaper is easier on the blood pressure. We dont see these hypocritical communists occupy ce...

I was in Mumbai waiting to board a flight to Bangalore when I heard the news about the blasts in Bangalore. I knew that my wife and daughter were out in the city having a day out and soon I received a message from my daughter that she was scared. The phone lines were jammed but I was so lucky that I managed to contact family and friends and infact even managed to pass messages between them. The tragedy in Ahmedabad made sad reading and viewing. The mystery however is that why was Bangalore spared ? After so many blasts in the past in various cities, I find the reasoning that it was a dry/test run for Ahmedabad rather amateurish. I hope that all politicians will at least now wake up and look at INDIA and not their own parties, idealogy, vote banks. But some things never cease to amaze me and bring a smile to my face. Some are as follows. One was the crowd of onlookers surrounding the policeman clad in bomb disposal suit as he tried to defuse the bomb in Bangalore. Aren't peopl...