The grist in the tale to tell!

It is sad to see that the position of a teacher is so repugnant to a student these days but then again, such reactions are inevitable given the facts that more and more stories of teacher mistreatment are coming to light. With the death of Rinky, a 15 year old student who was hit on the head by her teacher for having refused personal tuition, it does bring into focus the line that no teacher should cross. Are we so lacking good quality teachers that we can get only murderers and rapists to apply for that esteemed position?

Pakistan - an election that never was!

It is that time of the year when all the crazies come out of the closet and one of them just happens to be called Musharraf. The recent events has left no one in doubts as to the veracity of the current election, that said, It does make one wonder why on earth is Musharraf conducting an election that is bound to be derided from all corners of the world.

Pakistani politics does always leave one to wonder 'when is the other shoe going to drop'. Well, it is the very query that is bound to go through Musharraf's head more now than later. His position in the country as one of the most hated person’s right after General Zia is not something to be proud of, but then again, that is the bitter truth, one that Musharraf may well have to come to terms with.

With the United States all eager to prove to the rest of the world that Pakistan is a democratic country, one that no one in his or her right mind would accept, has sent in three senators to act as observers. Yeah, right! They are probably observing all that is taking place right from their hotel rooms since it is not safe for them to walk in the streets.

With one of Musharraf's chief allay lagging behind in the polls; Musharraf seems to be at a loss of words as to what is happening. I think that Musharraf must have harbored a secret desire to be crowned as king at the end of the election. I think that we can all say that is not going to happen anytime soon and even if it did, it would probably be as a result of all the rigging.

This is one election that is turning out to be something else altogether. After all the times that Musharraf had commented on the Kashmir polls, as to how unfair they were, the current situation must indeed be galling for him to say the least. India has since its independence, proved to the rest of the world that the spirit of democracy is vibrant at all corners of the nation. And, today just as Pakistan has finished with the election business, maybe Musharaff may take a page from the India book and make sure that at least the next time around, true democracy takes the place of Musharraf's autocracy. In the end, that is what this is all about, power and who acquires it.

The day that Musharraf got rid off the Supreme Court under false charges, the spirit of democracy fled Pakistan. Just hosting an election that is all in name only will not bring it back. It is high time that Musharraf went into exile; maybe he could ask the Indian leaders for refuge status as they have been accepting refugees since time immemorial. Either way, with Musharraf out of the way, may be we can hold a real election!

150 years since the first mutiny!

India today celebarated the 150th anniversary of its first mutiny by the sepoy soldiers agaist the british colonials.it was literally the first war of independance and this in turn sowed the seeds of the independance cry that finally got India her much valued freedom.
Today India is the largest democracy in the world and there is no other place in the world where people from different backgrounds with different languages and different traditions all come together in the spirit of democracy to form such a "unique" nation.one can almost say that the indian independance movement actually started the independance movement in the other british colonies as well.once the "jewel in the crown" was lost the whole crown pretty much became meaningless.today India stands proud not just for winning her independance but proud also of the way she won it.
In all of history there has been no nation,by that i mean not a single mation that had ever managed to win a war leave alone a fight by "non violence".
India was the only nation to ever do that and they have every right to be proud of that.the 'non violence'movement is a unique movement as such where a disparate group of people come together and force their issue not by force but by disobedience and when stroked down by those opposing them,they did not strike back in 99% of the cases.
the non violence movement was of course spearheaded by Mahatma Gandhi,the seeds of which were sowed by hin in south africa which were later taken by Nelson Mandela for the anti apartheid movement.it is hard to surmise what the world would have been like without the first mutiny or mahatma ghandhi or the non violence movement.each of those persons as well as event had started the downfall of "the empire that never sets".thank god that the sun has finally set on THAT empire allowing a democratic giant to rise!Jai Hind!