Ramana's Musings

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One of the problems that I see all around me in India is the immense pressure being put on children to study and score high marks in their schools. I see children after school hours attending extra coaching classes or parents spending hours helping them with their studies and this eats into their playing time. They are also burdened with so many books that is agonizing to see them carry these in their back packs. More home work is given to them than what I remember as having been the case when I was young. This is as applicable to children as young as three or four years old, as to older teen agers. The competitive spirit to enable the parents to crow about their children’s scholastic achievements is in some ways quite morbid. This is not how I remember our school days. We had plenty of time to play and stop to just fool around and that our children do not have this any more is saddening.

It is with this background that I post this blog as a guest post from my sister Padmini who writes regularly for various magazines. This appeared in the Eves Times On Line, an emagazine targeted at the Indian woman. “Mahila” in Hindi means woman.

The popular saying is that the youth are the future. I look at it differently. The youth are the present and need to work from today for a better future. It does not matter what age they are. Each one has to work to potential and parents have a big role in this endeavour.

That does not mean that parents have to turn into ‘Old men/women and the sea’ and ride piggyback on their kids shoulders. Dreams are individual visions that can be fulfilled or let to fall by the wayside.

My greatest grief is that kids are not allowed to dream their own dreams. They are chosen to fulfill family, school and college managements’ and society’s dreams. Have you recently seen a kid just standing and watching the world go by? Have you seen a child pick up a shell, a stone, a piece of something or the other and just look at it with wonder? Have you seen a youngster look at a rainbow in the sky with wonderment or think whether the thick bank of clouds will bring rain or weave myriad patterns in the sky? (It is another matter that their hands and mouth are busy interacting with their mobiles and their vision is concentrated elsewhere with alarming consequences like accidents sometimes!)

My daughter used to think that in Paris every other child was called ‘Huit’. She observed that mothers used to drag their kids walking rapidly ahead and say ‘huit huit’. She later found out that it meant ‘hurry up’ and not the given name of the child. How many adults have the patience to measure their strides to the shorter ones of children when they walk holding hands? Older people expect children to walk at their speed. Another sight that scandalised my daughter was the leash that Moms used on main streets in London to control and rein in their children. Leashes were something associated with dogs and not children in her mind.

When we match strides with our kids then we know where they are going. They need not necessarily stride on the path that you have been used to walking on. Yes! They can walk some distance with you, but soon they must take the ‘road less travelled’ or ‘not taken’ as Robert Frost spoke of so beautifully. Years later our roads will meet but it will be the older one who follows the child trying to match his/her strides. At that time it is for the younger one to adjust their stride to the parent’s slower one.

Let our children dream. It is not necessary for them to add every kind of skill and craft to their CV’s. If they are truly interested in something they will evince an interest. Then we can encourage them to follow it. I see parents applying so much pressure on their kids….look at them on the reality shows on TV where they sing, dance, joke like little puppets under the stern gaze of their parents. The threat of losing is reflected more on the parent’s face than the child.

Are parents putting their children on sale? I had a co-traveler who was going to Mumbai to shop for clothes and accessories because her ten year old daughter had been given her first chance to model for a health drink! You can see in shops the kind of clothes that are being sold and bought for under- nubile kids. They are imitations of revealing teenage and designer clothes. Skirts are shorter, tops are skimpier, straps are thinner and dropping off shoulders. Then we talk of paedophiles and leering satyrs. The kids sing double entendre and vulgar songs that have lyrics way beyond their ages and comprehension. Young children are being pushed into adult concepts, feelings and ambitions even before they can stand on their two feet. The TRP hungry media encourages children to ape their parents and sadly the parents feel flattered!

The current mind set is to talk about tomorrow and ignore the present forgetting that this very moment is the most valuable moment of our life. Let kids live their dreams and lives in the now. The big, bad world is awaiting them anyway!

M. F, Hussein is a famous painter of Indian origin whose paintings fetch astronomical prices in the global market.

Mr. Hussein fled India when many Indians lodged court cases against him for depicting Hindu Gods and Goddesses in what was perceived to be obscene manner. He has been in exile, and has just accepted citizenship of Qatar.

His accepting Qatari citizenship has once again revived a controversy, with a vocal section of the so called intelligentsia crying foul!

I leave what needs to be said to a highly respected retired educationalist who wrote an open letter in her blog to the editor of one of India’s leading newspapers, The Hindu. The letter was in response to an editorial in the Hindu in favour of bringing back Mr. Hussein to India. The Ram in the letter is the editor of this newspaper and obviously a personal friend of the writer. That she is a practicing Christian adds flavour to the letter. Just before the letter linked here, she has written to another newspaper in her blog which too is a good read.

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Dear Ram,

I have taken time to write this to you Ram — for the simple reason that we have known you for so many years — you and The Hindu bring back happy memories. Please take what I am putting down as those that come from an agonized soul. You know that I do not mince words and what I have to say I will — I call a spade a spade — now it is too late for me to learn the tricks of being called a ‘secularist’, if that means a bias for one, and a bias against another.

Hussain is now a citizen of Qatar — this has generated enough of heat and less of light. Qatar you know better than me is not a country which respects democracy or freedom of expression. Hussain says he has complete freedom — I challenge him to paint a picture of Mohammed, fully clad.

There is no second opinion that artists have the Right of Freedom of expression. Is such a right restricted only to Hussain? Will that right not flow to Dan Brown — why was his film Da Vinci Code not screened? Why was Satanic Verses banned — does Salman Rushdie not have that freedom of expression? Similarly, why is Taslima hunted and hounded and why fatwas have been issued on both these writers? Why has Qatar not offered citizenship to Taslima? In the present rioting in Shimoga in Karnataka against the article Taslima wrote against the tradition of burqa which appeared in the Out Look in Jan 2007. Nobody protested then either in Delhi or in any other part of the country; now when it reappears in a Karnataka paper there is rioting. Is there a political agenda to create a problem in Karnataka by the intolerant goons? Why has the media not condemned this insensitivity and intolerance of the Muslims against Taslima’s views? When it comes to the Sangh Parivar it is quick to call them goons and intolerant etc. Now, who are the goons and where is this tolerance and sensitivity?

Regarding Hussain’s artistic freedom it seems to run unfettered in an expression of sexual perversion only when he envisages the Hindu Gods and Goddesses. There is no quarrel had he painted a nude woman sitting on the tail of a monkey. The point is he captioned it as Sita. Nobody would have protested against the sexual perversion and his orientatation to sexual signs and symbols. But would he dare to caption it as ‘Fatima enjoying in Jannat with animals’?

Next example is the painting of Saraswati copulating with a lion. Here again his perversion is evident and so is his intent. Even that, let’s concede, cannot be faulted — each one’s sexual orientation is each one’s business I suppose. But he captioned it as Saraswati. This is the problem. It is Hussain’s business to enjoy in painting his sexual perversion. But why use Saraswati and Sita for his perverted expressions? Use Fatima and watch the consequence. Let the media people come to his rescue then. Now that he is in a country that gives him complete freedom, let him go ahead and paint Fatima copulating with a lion or any other animal of his choice. And then turn around and prove to India — the Freedom of expression he enjoys in Qatar.

Talking about Freedom of Expression — this is the Hussain who supported Emergency — painted Indira Gandhi as Durga slaying Jayaprakash Narayan. He supported the jailing of artists and writers. Where did this Freedom of Expression go? And you call him secularist? Would you support the jailing of artists and writers Ram – would you support the abeyance of the Constitution and all that we held sacred in democracy and the excessiveness of Indira Gandhi to gag the media writers – political opponents? Tell me, honestly why does Hussain expect this Freedom when he himself did not support others with the same freedom he wants? And the media has rushed to his rescue. Had it been a Ram who painted such obnoxious, degrading painting – the reactions of the media and the elite ‘secularists’ would have been different; because there is a different perception/ and index of secularism when it comes to Ram — and a different perception/and index of secularism when it comes to Rahim/Hussain.

It brings back to my mind an episode that happened to The Hindu some years ago. [1991] You had a separate weekly page for children with cartoons, quizzes, and with poems and articles of school children. In one such weekly page The Hindu printed a venerable bearded man — fully robed with head dress, mouthing some passages of the Koran — trying to teach children. It was done not only in good faith but as a part of inculcating values to children from the Koran. All hell broke loose. Your office witnessed goons who rushed in — demanded an apology — held out threats. In Ambur, Vaniambadi and Vellore the papers stands were burned — the copies of The Hindu were consigned to the fire. A threat to raise the issue in Parliament through a Private Members Bill was held out — Hectic activities went on — I am not sure of the nature and the machinations behind the scene. But The Hindu next day brought out a public apology in its front page. Where were you Ram? How secular and tolerant were the Muslims?

Well this is of the past — today it is worse because the communal temperature in this country is at a all high — even a small friction can ignite and demolish the country’s peace and harmony. It is against this background that one should view Hussain who is bent on abusing and insulting the Hindu Gods and Goddesses. Respect for religious sentiments, need to maintain peace and harmony should also be part of the agenda of an artist — if he is great. If it is absent then he cannot say that he respects India and express his longing for India.

Let’s face it — he is a fugitive of law. Age and religion are immaterial. What does the media want — that he be absolved by the courts? Even for that he has to appear in the courts — he cannot run away. After all this is the country where he lived and gave expression to his pervert sadist, erotic artistic mind under Freedom of Expression. I simply cannot jump onto the bandwagon of the elite ‘secularist’ and uphold what he had done. With his brush he had committed jihad — bloodletting.

The issue is just not nudity — Yes the temples, the frescos in Konarak and Kajhuraho have nude figures. But does it say that they are Sita, Sarswati or any goddesses? We have the Yoni and the Phallus as sacred signs of Life-of Siva and Shakthi — take these icons to the streets, paint them — give it a caption it becomes vulgar. Times have changed. Even granted that our ancients sculptured and painted naked forms and figures, with a pervert mind to demean religion is no license to repeat that in today’s changed political and social scenario and is not a sign of secularism and tolerance. I repeat there is no quarrel with nudity — painters have time and again found in it the perfection of God’s handicraft.

Let me wish Hussain peace in Qatar — the totalitarian regime with zero tolerance. May be he will convince the regime there to permit freedom of expression in word, writing and painting. For this he could start experimenting painting forms and figure of Mohamed the Prophet-and his family. And may I fervently wish that the media — especially The Hindu, does not discriminate goons — let it not substitute tolerance for intolerance when it comes to Rahim and Antony and another index for Ram.

I hope you will read this in the same spirit that I have written. All the best to you Ram.

Dr Mrs Hilda Raja
Vadodara

I also reproduce below an email that is doing the rounds in India and overseas from some Hindus to illustrate their side of the story.

“IF THIS IS NOT ACCURATE, THEN NOTHING IS?
M F Hussain’s Hypocrisy
Be a judge yourself of Hussain’s paintings below.”

Goddess Durga in sexual union with Tiger

Prophet’s Daughter Fatima fully clothed

Goddess Lakshmi naked on Shree Ganesh’s head

M.F. Hussain’s Mother fully clothed

Naked Goddess Saraswati

Mother Teresa fully clothed

Naked Goddess Parvati

Hussain’s Daughter well clothed

Naked Draupadi

Well clothed Muslim Lady

Naked Lord Hanuman and Goddess Sita sitting on thigh of Ravana

Muslim poets Faiz, Galib are shown well-clothed

Fully Clad Muslim King and naked Hindu Brahmin. The above painting clearly indicates Hussain’s tendency to paint any Hindu as naked and thus his hatred.

Naked Bharatmata (Mother India) – Hussain has shown naked woman with names of states written on different parts of her body. He has used Ashok Chakra, Tri-colour in the painting. By doing this he has violated law & hurt National Pride of Indians. Both these things should be of grave concern to every Indian irrespective of his religion.

Out of the four leaders M. Gandhi is decapitated and Hitler is naked. Hussain hates Hitler and has said in an interview some years ago that he has depicted Hitler naked to humiliate him and as he deserves it! How come Hitler’s nudity should cause humiliation when in Hussain’s own statement nudity in art depicts purity and is in fact an honour! This shows Hussain’s perversion and hypocrisy.

Conclusion M.F. Hussain depicts the deity or person he hates as naked. He shows Prophet’s Mother, his own mother, daughter, all the Muslim personalities fully clothed, but at the same time Hindus and Hindu deities along with Hitler are shown naked. This proves his hatred for the Hindus.

Disclaimer – These obscene paintings have been given space here, only with an intention to highlight the hurt Hussain has caused to the Hindus. It is painful otherwise to reproduce this work. It is not our intention to further hurt the sentiments of Hindus.

All is well that ends well.

I refer my readers to a blog that is part of the website of Flipkart.

Mr. Kanth has been in direct communication with me and the matter has been resolved to my complete satisfaction.

This has been done with grace and humour and I appreciate what has been achieved by Flipkart.

Will I go back to them to purchase books in the future? Yes I will.

Welcome to another post of the Friday Loose Bloggers’ Consortium when eleven of us post on the same topic chosen by one of us. Today’s topic has been chosen by Judy. Please do visit Ashok, Conrad, Grannymar, Magpie11, Maria, Gaelikaa, Helen, Judy, Anu and Ginger to see ten other views on the same topic. Some of these bloggers may be preoccupied with examinations, family problems and/or romance, so be a little indulgent in case they do not post or post late.

“Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.”
-Marcus Aurelius

Let me start off by some funny observations. If for some reason our sun stops working, it will take eight minutes for everything on the earth to begin the process of total annihilation. We however think that the sun we see now exists in real time. The brightest star that we see with our naked eyes is 8.6 light years away. In other words, the star that we see today may not even exist, as the light has had to travel 8.6 years to reach our eyes!

Time is the biggest joke that God has played on humans. Time is relative. When I am engrossed in writing my blogs, time flies. When I attend a prayer meeting, time crawls and the meeting does not seem to end at all.

So the existential question is, what time is that I am talking about when I wish that I could travel in time? If it is the past, it has disappeared. Nothing that existed a second ago is the same as it was two seconds ago. If it is the future, I do not know if I will be around to see it!

So, what is that time in which I wish that I could travel?

Let me start with the future. My desire to learn philosophy was kindled by the utter futility of what I was expected to do. Every quarter, without fail, I had to predict what would happen during the next four quarters and once a year, I had to predict what would happen five years hence. While most of it was statistics, with a lot of jargon, I had to explain to the moneybags in a language that they could understand by using ordinary English. I was among the more successful forecasters because, my forecasts came nearest to the predictions, but never, not even once did I succeed in meeting the prediction 100%. I know of no one else who has achieved this in business or politics or whatever walk of life. Philosophy taught me that there is nothing called future and there is only now. Once I learnt that simple fact of life, life became manageable and my predictions became a farce that I had to prepare to earn my livelihood. Not to be taken too seriously, but done nevertheless for practical reasons.

The past? Let me be practical. To locate some photographs for a recent post I had to go through a whole pile of them. There were some that brought a smile to my face, some that gave me heart ache and some that shamed me! What was common in all of them however was the realization that not one person in any of those photographs will, even remotely look like what the photos show, in the present. If one crossed my path now, it is doubtful that both of us would recognize each other. Even the places are unlikely to be the same and may not be recognizable.

Enough of practical pontification! If I could travel in time, I would certainly like to travel to the future, say thirty years hence and see what the world would look like. I have a sneaking suspicion, that it may not be the world, as we now know! It may well be a world ruled by a Kaliph from Afghanistan and the world’s populace may all be going around in ankle high loose trousers, turbans and burqas and hijabs. A world, whose economy will be financed by opium! Not something that I would like to see or be part of.

My hobby of bird waching will also have to be sacrificed. So, I would rather live in my present and make the most of the opportunities given to me by chance. Just so that we get a proper perceptive of just what it means to be alive on this planet earth, I request my readers to click on this link and enjoy the reality!

My friend Anil sent me a link to an article in the Evening Standard of London by Sebastian Shakespeare to say how happy he was to read such nice things about India in general and Tamil Nadu in particular.

My origins lie in Tamil Nadu and I have lived some parts of my life there. I have also traveled extensively within Tamil Nadu and can vouch for everything that Sebastian Shakespeare says about it.

What however came as a surprise to me was the thrust of the article that London is going down the tube! Now for the uninitiated, there is a play of words there and I leave it to the readers to figure it out.

As my regular readers know, I am anglophile and admire the British for many things and the article was a bit of a let down to say the least.

As if that was not enough to get me thinking about the changes that are surely taking place in Britain, another article, this time in the Independent caught my eyes. The article by Yasmin Alibhai Brown is equally troubling.

I am sure that my regular readers from the UK know that I have a date to visit London, dance in the rain and have dinner with a charming lady reader. I wouldn’t like to be treated shabbily by BA cabin crew or get stuck in queues!

My regular readers, Grannymar, Magpie, Nick and Bunc may have something to say about these matters. I look forward to their comments. Barath and Simon, your comments too will be more than welcome.

Two Middle East mothers are sitting in a cafe chatting over a plate of tabouli and a pint of goat’s milk..

The older of the two pulls a bag out of her purse and start’s flipping through photos. They start reminiscing.

This is my oldest son, Mujibar. He would have been 24 years old now.’

Yes, I remember him as a baby’ says the other mother cheerfully.

He’s a martyr now though‹ the mother confides Oh, so sad dear’ says the
other.

And this is my second son, Khalid.He would have been 21.’

Oh, I remember him,’ says the other happily, he had such curly hair when he
was born.’

He’s a martyr too’ says the mother quietly.

‘Oh, gracious me . . . ‘ says the other.

‘And this is my third son. My baby. My beautiful Ahmed.

He would have been 18′, she whispers.

Yes’ says the friend enthusiastically, ‘I remember
when he first started school’

He’s a martyr also,’ says the mother, with tears in her eyes.

After a pause and a deep sigh, the second Muslim mother
looks wistfully at the photographs and, searching for the right words, says

They blow up so fast, don’t they!!!

Welcome to another post of the Friday Loose Bloggers’ Consortium when eleven of us post on the same topic chosen by one of us. Today’s topic has been chosen by Gaelikaa, who must be pleased as punch with the fix that she has put me in. Please do visit Ashok, Conrad, Grannymar, Magpie11, Maria, Gaelikaa, Helen, Judy, Anu and Ginger to see ten other views on the same topic. Some of these bloggers may be preoccupied with examinations, family problems and/or romance, so be a little indulgent in case they do not post or post late.

The topic has been chosen by my Rakhi Sister Gaelikaa about who I am still learning and I eagerly look forward to what wild things she was up to in her youth. In my case, to rank one as the wildest thing I ever did in my youth would be an impossibility. There were so many!

The first one that readily comes to mind is the time that I almost lost my life. I was just about 13 starting my terrible teens, when we went on a mid sea picnic on a catamaran. For my Western readers, the catamaran that I am talking about is the original. Simply a few logs tied together. In Tamil, it is kattu for tied and maram for logs. Even today, it is used by Indian fishermen for inshore fishing with a single sail. This is what catamarans here look like.

Our family had some salt pans along the Tamil Nadu coast and our Patriarch was quite friendly with the fisherfolk of that area. He organized the mid sea picnic for us and we set out on two catamarans for a few hours of unusual outing. We had a mid sea lunch from packed food that we had taken and all in all it was an exciting and interesting experience. We were sitting in water and none of us were dry throughout the voyage.

On our return, as we neared the landing point, about 200mts from the shore, the older boys, who had had a lot of experience swimming in the sea in that area, dived off the catamarans and started to swim towards the shore. I was a reasonably good swimmer but my experience was restricted to swimming in swimming pools and just bathing in the sea. Seeing the older cousins swimming as though they were just in a swimming pool, I too dived off and found that I was being pulled in all kinds of directions by the waves and the tide. I also lost sight of the shore in the waves and started to panic. I could vaguely hear the girls in our catamaran screaming and before I could drown, I was held up from the back by a fisherman who calmed me down and told me not to panic and he gently swam me back to the catamaran. That I am around 55 years later to write about it is due entirely to that anonymous fisherman, who was rewarded by my uncle. The same uncle rewarded me with some not so affectionate clouts to my ears out of relief that I did not drown.

From the time I was old enough to get driving license, I have had some sort of vehicle or the other either owned by me or available for my exclusive use. I started off with motorcycles and scooters and the first one that I owned was an LD model Lambretta scooter.

MIne was white and black and was promptly named by me as “My Love – Chiquita” written on the inside panel. Here is another photo of me on my scooter with a great friend of mine Partap Singh on his Red Indian motorcycle.

We were a bunch of wild Hyderabadi young men with plenty of hard earned money in our pockets with a passion was motor cycle racing. Mind you, I am talking about the years 1961 and 1962 when no one wore helmets and you could count the number of scooters and motorcylces on the city roads in your two hands. Partap was and to the best of my knowledge continues to be an amazing mechanic who could tune and hot rod two wheelers into performing like jet planes. We would buy, refurbish and sell for profit motorcycles for a side business and while waiting for sucker buyers, race on week ends at an abandoned second world war airstrip out of town.

We raced Norton, Triumphs, BSAs, Indians, Harley Davidsons, BMWs AJSs, Royal Enfields and souped up Lambretta scooters. Who do you reckon was the fastest? It is a no brainer. I would simply, quickly get into top gear, open the throttle to the fullest and sit. I have had a few falls and it is again divine intervention that I am alive today to write about those wild days.

The next wild and perhaps the most dangerous of all that I had experienced till then was the next episode. Fate made me relocate to Chennai, then known as Madras in late 1962. I had my younger brother Arvind living there, also with his own Lambretta scooter. He was more sedate and would not race for fun or money but was game for some stunts. Since the scooter was meant for mounting from the front, the two of us decided to see if we could change our status from rider to pillion rider while the scooter was being driven and we succeeded. The few moments when both of us would be on either side of the scooter, one moving forward to sit and drive and the other to move from the driver’s seat to the pillion, were the highest adrenalin pumping experiences I have ever had. Mind you, this had to be done on a fairly busy main road, mostly on the road running parallel to the sea shore where the road was wide enough for such stunts.

There were many other wild things which I have done in my youth and given an opportunity, would do again. A sample on water and a few on land given here, but alas,nothing in the air! Regrets? No, not any.

Gaelikaa suggested that I write about Pune after the Bomb blast of the 13th February and I had promised her that I would.

The death toll has gone up to sixteen. Some more are still in critical conditions in some of Pune’s hospitals. Some sixty people were injured and a final tally is yet to be announced. The most significant development post blast was that all the city’s blood banks got many volunteers to donate blood and now there is enough stock to meet a few more blasts.

As always is the case, the authorities lock the stables after the horses have bolted. The German Bakery and the Chabad House both have barricades and surveilance. The Osho Ashram has been provided with sand bags for reinforcement of their walls. In the meanwhile, the bombers have in all probability gone back to Pakistan. At least that is what most Punekars believe.

One politician came up with the most admirable suggestion. He suggested that all politicians give up their security detail so that the police force can go back to do what they are supposed to do instead of providing cosmetic security to the politicos.

The top police honcho of the city, wanted women to stop covering their faces so that all the surveilance cameras can catch their true identity. Pune’s women scooterists look like this specimen:

Apparently this is so that pollution does not affect their complexion. No ban has yet been announced and you can still see these ladies all over the place. Some of them may well be Metrosexual men too! Who knows?

There are also some other ladies who look like this one does:

These are not seen on scooters but quite why the top cop and other worthies have not said anything about these ladies is a matter for another post.

Some candle light meetings to promote peace and harmony were held by representatives of all religions with some short distance marches. The usual platitudes were spewed out.

Apart from these little snippets, nothing significant has happened. Life has returned to normal and partying in earnest has started over the last week end itself.

The Punekar is resilient. Does he have a choice?

Flipkart is an online book seller that I have been patronizing for the last ten months and have always had a very high opinion of their service and efficiency. I must have bought over thirty books from them so far. For the first time since I have been dealing with them, I received a book in a defective condition and I emailed them as well as spoke to them on the phone about the condition of the book.

I was advised by them that they will immeditely replace the book which they did and on my confirmation that I have received the replacement copy, they have arranged for the defective piece to be collected from my residence.

I am very impressed with their service but have decided not to patronize them in the future. The reason for this are two mails received from them. The first one about which I raised an objection started my annoyance with them. I wrote about the annoyance to them. I received a response from them in the same format for the mail from me to which I finally responded that I have decided not to deal with them any more. I had also used their “Contact” form on their website to convey my complaint and I received a response from one of their people to which I responded postively but after that there has been total silence from their end. I had also sent the complete thread of exchange of mails to one of their promoters who too has decided not to respond to my mail. I copy paste below the relevant mails. The last mail received is on the top and the rest lead up to it.

Dear Mr. Rudrapatna,

I may not be a very important customer, but you might just like to find out why even a small customer chooses to opt out of a good online seller and take corrective steps.

As a business, it is Flipkart’s privilege to do business with me or not. It is at the same time, mine too whether to do business with them or not despite their excellent service. The point however is that a good business model basing itself on a method of communication that is totally un-businesslike in the Indian context, is a sad spectacle.

Or am I being archaic and not ‘with it’?

Here are two news articles which show something that has been obvious to Indians for long and only now being brought to the knowledge of the general public of the West whose tax money has been spent on Pakistan for many decades.

The conclusion that I come to after reading both is that the establishment in Pakistan, or at least a very influential part of it, is fully aware of and supports the Taliban for its own strategic reasons. This has of course meant that India has been at the receiving end of terrorism but more importantly for my readers from the West, their soldiers in AfPak theater are losing their lives due to the shenanigans of a force supported and encouraged by elements within the Pakistani establishment.

The first one is from an eminent Pakistani columnist Irfan Hussein.

The next one is by Dexter Filkins of the New York Times.