Nothing articulates your heart like a poem. Sometimes the complex composition of a poem simplifies complex issues of life, sometimes it helps you come in terms with your surroundings. Poets from India are saddened by the recent terror attacks in Mumbai. You will find them asking questions in their poetry and sometime they are even answering them for us. Here are a few snippets of their expressions.

Glory: Image by Flickr user 50mm, used under a Creative Commons License

A 12-year-old girl from Bangalore sets her thoughts on fire. Soon after the tragic news of the hostages at Nariman House being killed was aired, Lavanya shut herself in her room for about 15 minutes and later handed her dad Anand Krishna with a poem titled ‘The city that never slept, slept’.

[…]More lives are lost,
More battles fought.
The war was raging on,
The guns just fire everywhere,
Victory goes to no one.

The terrorists may be killed,
But the void of the lost loved one is never filled.
The roads are empty, there is no sound.
Mumbai, the city that never slept,
Slept long, deep and sound.[.]

Vivek Sharma at Desicritics used metaphors from epic Indian Tales to describe the Mumbai terror in his poem, “Mumbai burns”:

[.]Did you see the sobbing reporter describe how the Taj of Mumbai burns?
How many will Asuras (devils) cause to die before O Vishnu as avataar returns?

The fanatic bullet hunts gazelles everywhere that nostalgia mourns.
Where is the machine crafted that chokes our unfinished yearns? […]

Teal titles her poem ‘Battle without a cause’ at ~ Spero ergo sum ~. She ultimately longs for peace. But her never ending questions are opaque:

[…]Has the power at center gone completely callous

focused on nothing, but creating chaos, raucous?

How many more to die, how many more to lose

Until they get the backbone to act, and set loose

The act of retribution, against these evil minions

Who, despite education and well bringing, act heinous

How dare you take away something that god has given?

How can you walk on, like nothing ever happened?[…]

Sandhya Ramachandran cannot smile in peace anymore. She finds no place to go and hide from terror in her poem, “Why can’t I smile in peace?”

[…]I seem to have no streets
to run and play and fall!
There is no place to cycle
no place to hide and crawl

I am a little kid of seven
with her book and toys and doll
Why can't I smile in peace
It is my world too, after all![.]

Ashq, a 28 year old engineer from Rajasthan wants to know when all this will end.  He titles his Hindi poem, “Aakhir kab tak?” (Untill when?).

-ये सपने नहीं जानते ,
किसी हिन्दू को न मुस्लमान को ,
न ये जानतें है हिंदुस्तान को , न पाकिस्तान को ,
फिर क्यों उन्हें ही चुकाना पड़ता है हर बार इस क़र्ज़ को ,
क्यों भूल जाते है वो ‘कायर’ मानवता के अपने फ़र्ज़ को ,
क्यों आतंक को हमेशा जेहाद कहा जाता है ,
क्यों धरम को इस तरह नंगा नचाया जाता है I

Shreya Tiwari from Mumbai is calling every Indian to come together and join hands against terror in his Untitled Hindi poem.

- आगे आओ मिलकर हाथ मिलायेंगे ,
भारत को फिर से आजाद कराएँगे ।
समझो बस इस धरती को अपनी माता ,
समझो सबको अपना ही भाई - भ्राता ।
नही ज़रूरत मुझको तख्तो ताजों की ,
नही ज़रूरत स्वागत की और बाजों की ।
मुझे ज़रूरत सबकी देश सुरक्षा में ,
मै मांगू बलिदान देश की रक्षा में ।
बोलो क्या मै ऐसे ही चिल्लाऊंगा ,
दो ज़बाब क्या ऐसे ही मै गाऊंगा ।
इंतज़ार है मुझको देश के पुत्तर का ,
इंतज़ार है मुझको सबके उत्तर का ।

If you would like to share a poem, please add it in the comment section.

“Media coverage is par for the course. We’re a very crassly inquisitive race, so why should our media be any different? And we don't have any survival instincts at all, everybody's milling around in Colaba, while there's shooting and explosions happening at the Taj. Bizarre country, it’s not resilience its apathy.”

The well-known, yet unresolved problems in Kashmir, some believe have lead to cause terror in Mumbai. While some others consider the blame game an unfair opinion. Let’s take a look at some underlying issues that are plaguing the blogosphere.

Elodie21, has set her current mood as angry in her livejournal as she comments under the post ‘Attacks Continue’. ‘It is time for Hindu Terror groups?’ she wonders.

“..I read how one terrorist called a TV station and asked if Indians knew how many Muslims had been killed in Kashmir? Let’s ask these men back if they know how many innocents have been killed because of terrorists? This will never end… Isn't it obvious, while Pakistan plays dirty politics (there is no denying that they help militants enter India when their army fires to protect their passage by distracting the Indian army) and these jihadists kill innocents, Indians will be bitter? They will retaliate too, take it out on Muslims, this Islamophobia will build up. Its natural and it will happen - it is happening. Taking hostages, murdering people, will not solve anything. If it could have, it would have done wonders by now. But it will not. It only serves to heighten violent reaction towards innocent Muslims.  What these attacks will do is probably serve to bring the rightists to power. Like BJP. What they will do is create support for Hindu terrorist organizations. What they will serve to do is convince more youths like my friend, to join Hindutva. And they will end up worsening the situation for Muslims.”

But, do we really care, when terror strikes Kashmir and bomb blasts are an everyday affair? Rama is skeptical in his blog “Khamosh sa afsana” writing under the post ‘Cycle of Violence’.

“…we are human selectively. We are not shocked when a large number of people die or kill themselves due to starvation. We are not human when violence of such magnitude take place quite frequently on the streets of Kashmir and are undertaken by these very ATS guys. What were the demands of these pathological creatures? That killings of kashmiris is stopped? Mumbaikars have nothing to do with the other killings yes, they were chosen coz they count — their losses creates an impact. There is so much pathos in this country of ours. Disposability of certain bodies viz-a-viz the nationwide mourning of some”

At Idealistard’s weblog the post is titled ‘Mumbai attacks and Kashmir connection?’ He believes the BBC prediction has come true:

“I maybe the only one who is making this connection, but i remembered reading something about recent protests in Kashmir valley where Indian Security forces gunned down 40 unarmed civilians. What this program on BBC predicted over a month ago is chilling and right on the spot. I’ve included the BBC Article and highlighted the prediction of Al-Qaida style attacks in eventual transition of militancy.”

But in the end, Kashmir Portal is left with questions in the post ‘Only questions and concerns after Mumbai attacks’, that only time can answer. Here is one of the few.

“The Indian PM, Dr. Manmohan Singh, was quick to point finger to India’s “neighbors” (read Pakistan) and their involvement in the attack. Pakistan quickly replied that it was too early to put blame somewhere and stated that the Pakistani government did everything to stop the terrorism in its own country. Now it is proved (or at least alleged) that at least some of the gunmen had direct links with Pakistan. The blame-game has started. How will this affect the ongoing CDP (the bilateral peace process that partly deals with Kashmir, but also nuclear proliferation and other issues)? Was the purpose of the attacks to disturb this slow but forward moving process? Hardly anyone has noted that the attack happened on Wednesday, the same day as the Pakistani Foreign Minister went to New Delhi to continue the peace talks.”

This post is part of the Global Voices special coverage on the terror attacks in Mumbai, India on November 26, 2008.

‘CNN, MSNBC and FOX are good for nothing', cries Ptcbus at ‘Random Rambles':

“I was trying to find out the latest happenings in Mumbai this evening. All that I was able to see was Anderson Cooper presenting some award to someone, Hannity’s America on Fox and some shady prison documentary on MSNBC. Why do they call themselves News Channels? I had to rely on websites from BBC and other Indian sites to find out the latest videos and news stories. What do these channels achieve by keeping the American population ignorant of world news? American media: Shame on you.
- -
2227 Hrs Nov 27: The only news channel that is broadcasting any news about the Mumbai attacks right now is CNBC (which is a business news channel). Pathetic!”

Local Mumbai newspapers: Image by Flickr user James Cirdland, used under a Creative Commons License

Let’s turn our focus to the Indian media, was their lack of digression a mistake? Could they have done any better to support the local police? Did they do a pathetic job as well? ‘Yes!’ replies Veetrag in his post, ‘Pennies prevail over prudence':

“One disappointing thing that has emerged is irresponsibility of media. Role of media is to provide information to the public but in a proper way and taking care of that they are not divulging important information. I am watching TV channels - NDTV, IBN-CNN, India TV, Sahara Samay, Star News and many other and have realized that none of them are doing their job properly. In this unfortunate event they are trying to sensationalize the information and acting irresponsibly.
First mistake they are making is providing sensitive information such as movement of NSG and Police forces to public. I am sure, this information is not useful to public at this time. At this time, people need to find out where their relatives are, who is injured, which hospitals are people taken to, what blood type is needed and where. These are much more important information if provided to public it would be helpful.  Yes, people need to know what area are safe, what is the progress but giving step by step information is not useful. There are rumors (and probably true) that the same information is retrieved by terrorists and can be used against the brave souls who are trying to protect our lives.”

Has Mumbai survived this onslaught? Or have the insurgents prevailed? SriRam Vadlamani notes at his blog Indianomics:

“Were they successful?
•    BSE and NSE the two important stock exchanges were closed on Thursday
•    India’s sovereign rating by S&P revisited but remains intact.
•    England pulls out of the cricket series and re-think the coming test series.
•    Champions league is postponed.
•    Most countries issued travel advisory.
•    Hotels and aviation stocks are losing more than 6% in today’s trading.”

He notes amongst other things that the Indian GDP is seen at 7.6%. Inflation is down to 8.84%, which he adds, ‘is something to cheer about’ and shows some positive signs:

“Terrorists were successful to some extent. But, Sensex was much more resilient and matured in its behavior. It did not tank 1000 odd points because of panic. Only select stock like aviation and hotel sectors took a beating, which is expected. Tourism, aviation and hotel sectors will see a downturn from now on, but the other sectors should be able to pick the mood up. The mood might be down for a few months but India will bounce back. If there is positive which can be take out of this, it is the resilience of India, its economy and most importantly its people.”

This post is part of the Global Voices coverage on the terror attacks in Mumbai, India on November 26, 2008.

Desh at Drishtikone, is sure that this is a war and not a religious war at that.

“……I don't want the terrorist angle to be played for long. Yes, these guys spread terror.. but MAKE NO MISTAKE.. this is NOT terror.. this is WAR. It is as much a war as any can be! If we get into this definitions of terrorism.. and then digress into Hindu nationalists should not retaliate and all the rest of the rhetoric of “resilience of Mumbaikars” etc.. then we will MISS the point - which is THAT THIS IS A WAR just as ANY that an enemy could have declared!”

Confusedgatha at Retributions is questioning Indian political leaders and is not quite happy about it.

“..As the Indian state is engaged in exterminating those who have attempted to cripple India’s financial capital, it is incumbent upon those of us forced to watch from the sidelines to support the state in its need of its hour.Because the state in a modern nation-state is much more than the government. The government is merely its representative facade which may change with each electoral cycle. The state on the other hand carries the collective faith of the Indian people–in many ways embodies the idea of Indian nationhood it self. Questioning the state at this juncture wounds the idea of India.There will be time for recrimination, for angry postmortems; and yes for accountability. But for now, as the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and leader of L.K Advani demonstrated, it is time to stand as one.”

Yossarin from Offstumped takes it straight to Prime Minister Singh,

“In a brazen act of shamelessness and crass opportunism the Prime Minister had the audacity to put up the pretense of acting against terror and even when he did so he did not “order it” he did not make a decisive announcement of taking executive action. Instead he reminded us of the spineless wimp that he is with merely making a “suggestion”. When the post mortem of the War on Mumbai is conducted it will be incomplete if it didnt look into how the Government and the media lost perspective from the unfinished war in their eagerness to draw moral equivalences and political brownie points.”

Bill Roggio is quite certain that another group is taking credit for this and he has reasons why.

Sourav Ganguly: Image by Flickr user hashmil, used under a Creative Commons License

Ganguly, also known as ‘Dada’ and ‘the Prince of Kolkata’ is still the idol millions associate their childhood with. This is more than just a simple sporting affair.

Sandman writes on what it means to be Dada’s fan, at his blog, ‘C’est la vie’:

I have always been a fierce fan of Dada. Fierce is indeed the word, for readers who might be smirking at my choice of the word. For ask anyone in class 12 B, batch of 04, Seth Anand Ram Jaipuria School, Kanpur, I once fought off an entire class of 50 in a heated debate over him on one of those not so infrequent occasions when our English teacher decided that English is better taught by letting people speak, rather than making them read. Over the years, the evolution of my own personality has mirrored that of Dada. That is probably why I am surprised that I actually feel this urge to write, on his last day in international cricket, to give an account of sorts, of what it meant to be his fan.

Vmminerva gets personal. In her post ‘Sourav Ganguly: What he’s meant to me’:

With Ganguly’s retirement today, I feel a sense of void, for apart from other reasons, his moving also takes away a bit of the childhood that I’ve continued to live to this day, for Ganguly’s India brings to me many cherished memories: the sneaking from school to find out the score, the discussion over whether Rani Mukherjee or Sourav Ganguly represented Bengal better, the yearning for rain in May just to reminisce the World Cup ’99, watching cricket at night from different time zones with red eyes and having to go to a ghostly early class the next morning, that fateful March ’03 night of the World Cup final, the stupid match day superstitions, and many more.

Praveen at Crusadertvm, recollects Ganguly’s involvement in the paving the way to the younger generation in his post, ‘Ganguly: Our own Dada’:

He brought in several youngsters like Yuvraj, Harbhajan, Sehwag etc and started building a team for the future. He guided them in such a way that he instilled in them some of his own qualities. This change was evident in that epochal series against Australia when India, playing in Ganguly's home ground, made an improbable comeback and went on to win the series. That was when the legend of Dada was born. He really became the big brother to his team mates as well as to millions of young Indian cricket fans.

At ‘Silly Point', ©hinaman writes a post to Ganguly titled, ‘where the mind is without fear – the head is held high’:

There are only a few, who really understands ‘Indian cricket’, will today disagree with you. It is also certain many of them will never acknowledge it in words. They either did not want you to be the captain or they placed you there to see you fail. Because of you we, as a team, are no longer a soft option - at home or on tour. Your team mates and players from the world over have acknowledged what you have done for us, for Team India.

You did it your way. You do not have to prove yourself to anyone anymore. Fare thee well.

‘It’s my trust vote and I’ll shout if I want’ – Mahima Kaul titles her post at her blog ‘The life and times’ , introducing us to the scene at the lower house in the Parliament of India. She writes:

They came from everywhere; wheelchairs and stretchers – jail. And the anticipation of drama delivered! From the moment a crore of rupees was placed in the House by three BJP MPs – everything changed. Read on to see how the BJP's staged drama did not hold a trust vote down.

Phoenix recaps the political setup on his blog ‘Public diary…” , under the post, ‘The Great Indian Drama: What's the big DEAL about?’

The Left withdrew support as the UPA refused to back out of the 1-2-3 agreement with the US and thus began the numbers game…. If anything, Left leaving was slightly relieving as it brought hopes that maybe, if the Govt survived, some reforms would go ahead without the political compulsions that Left's persistent threats gave rise to. Afterall, the last four years India has hardly seen an Opposition, with the NDA mostly asleep, and the Govt had to keep fighting tooth n nail within itself thanks to the communist parties.
…
When the political scene heated up with BJP finally seeming to wake up a little…

There was money up for grabs just to vote against the N-deal. And Nita tells you why, in her post – ‘Between the horse traders and traitors who is left’ on her blog, ‘A wide angle view of India’ .

There is so much corruption amongst politicians that some of our MP’s make petty money (Rs 30,000/- and above) from just raising questions in parliament and the BJP has such MP’s too.
….
The fact is that India is number one when it comes to money in Swiss bank accounts and we have no way of knowing who doesn’t have an account there. While people from all walks of life probably have accounts there, I am sure our politicians lead the pack. People who are there to make our country prosper are looting it!!

Also giving us estimates on the total amount India is said to have in the Swiss banks, “India with $1456 billion or $1.4 trillion has more money in Swiss banks than rest of the world COMBINED.” But she is disgusted:

As for the live proceedings of the Nuclear Deal Debate in the Lok Sabha on television (just before the Trust vote) that reality show should have got an “A” certificate. If children see this how do you think they will behave in class…! But this time there was no violence…throwing of chairs and pushing and shoving, all of which I have seen on live TV in parliament. I guess we should be grateful.

In conclusion to it all, Yossarin has few things to tell the Prime minister of India, against the speech Manmohan Singh was said to have had ready, but did not deliver. Yossarin writes in the blog ‘Offstumped’ in the post, ‘Manmohan Confidence Vote - A Pyrrhic Victory’ :

You were right to pursue the strategic intent of getting India out of the nuclear winter it has been in. But sir you did not convince any political formation to express confidence on the merits of your record. You did not convince a significant number of individual members cutting across party lines to express confidence on the voice of their conscience. Rooted in questionable abstentions this is a pyrrhic victory and it is beginning of the end of your Ultimate Perverse Alliance that saw you accidentally occupy this august office.

You can find the Prime Minister’s speech here . Who are the real winners? – the question is answered here . Neha, our South Asian Blogsphere Editor for GVO, comments here .

The following video which is from a major TV news channel, shows the chaos in the Parliament when some of the members alleged bribery and started waving big piles of cash around.

Vinodh, one of the core members, just can’t disengage himself from this passion he shares with his bunch.
He writes:

“Come weekends and we’re at our efficient best in rehearsals. Memorizing dialogues, working out the sound ideas, imagining our costumes, and rehearsing our scenes. Pages and pages of lines to memorize in the weekends for the folks who type lines and lines of codes during weekdays. Coffee and colas keep us awake between shots. Playing pranks on each other keeps us all charged up, after all we are in the serious business of making people laugh.”

The countdown for their next production “Once upon a time in Arabia” has begun and they are working overtime for this magical journey to be staged on July 26 and 27, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. If you happen to be in Chennai, if you’d like to catch the show you can get your tickets at ticketsnew.

Deepa, from Bangalore is calling the recent play she watched, ‘The women in me’, as ‘An intense and absorbing play’. The play is about a man whose wife is dead and he is deeply troubled by that and has lost his emotional balance. Based on the concept - ‘There is a woman in every man and vice versa'. Reviewing the play on Metblogs, Deepa is astounded by the use of Shadow to portray a particular scene and the rapid-fire delivery of dialogue in following sequences.

“The play disturbed me and made me think hard; I am very impressed that such a young man is able to delve so deeply into the male and female psyche and bring out the nuances of how men do not even understand when they are raping their own wives…”

Tanya Behera reviews a play titled ‘Lucknow 76′ organized by Alliance Française de Bangalore, at her blog Remainconnected.

“The plot of the play was based on politics and history, shifting between two time frames of 1876 and 1976 looking at Lucknow city through the eyes of the common man. 1876 was a milestone for the Britishers, as that was the year, when Queen Victoria took over the command from the East India Company. 1976 was also significant in history because during that time, the once proud democracy, India was under the clutches of tin pot dictator, Indira Gandhi who had declared a state of Emergency as the Prime Minister of the nation.”

She goes on to give more information on why the play was named after ‘Lucknow’, not ‘Delhi’, ‘Bombay’ or ‘Calcutta’.

“But then why ‘Lucknow' and why not ‘Delhi' or ‘Bombay' or ‘Calcutta' or ‘Madras' or ‘Bangalore'? Because the director and playwright of the play, Abhishek Majumdar (AM) had spent some part of his childhood in this city. During AM's visits to Lucknow, his grand uncle, a scholar of history and geology had inundated his mind with tales and chronicles about the city from an old bungalow.”

Geetali Tare, writing for HimVani under the post ‘The Shimla tragedy: Missing theatre, missing drama’ wants the following for Shimla:

Unlike films, plays are not a passive, one-way, pre-packaged experience. In plays, as in films, there are rehearsals. But once the show gets going, a theatre artiste does not have the opportunity to give another ‘take’ – to make another attempt at mouthing a dialogue: what has been said, has been said. Audience reactions affect acting as it happens. The warmth in the tone of a speaker travels directly to the viewer; a glimmer of a tear in the performer’s eye immediately causes the spectator to respond. A skilled actor, through the blend of voice, tone, gestures and outfits succeeds in creating a world and transporting his audience to it. The actor’s energy expands and fills up the space which is also occupied by the viewer; the energy flows from one to the other. The viewer feels the despair of Mahatma Gandhi at Pyarelal’s delinquency; he feels Zulfi’s longing for Amrita; he laughs with Dhanjisha Batliwala & quibbles with Madhukar Kulkarni.
Kay Kay, Naseruddin Shah, Dinesh Thakur, Aul Kulkarni, Shabana Azmi, Boman Irani, Mehrbanoo Mody Kotwal, Rahul Da Cunha, Feroze Khan, Sanjana Kapoor, Shernaaz Patel, Rajit Kapoor, Jayati Bhatia: they allow you to enter their world and experience, in the span of two hours, many highs and lows, rapture and anguish, a whole world of moods and happenings.
I want this in Shimla. I want this for Shimla.

The Mumbai Theatre Guide is a dedicated site for reviews and different theatre related events happening in the city of Mumbai.

Links to this post were contributed by Ramya & Sandhya.

Colrama blogs about why ‘It is time to wake up’ at Citizens Alliance, giving sketches about the Scarlett murder.

The latest incident of Scarlett Keeling, a British teenager whose body was found on the beach in Goa has been added to the list of tragic incidents that have marred the tourist circuit in India. The sad fact is that the Goa police who claim “Improving police - community relations is another thrust area…..This can happen only if we are able to perform not only on the law & order and crime front, but also in our public dealings by our helpful and sympathetic behavior towards people who come to us in their moment of distress. ……..Cases where women, children and the elderly are victims of crime should always receive our prompt attention” did not respond appropriately in the Scarlett Keeling case.
The actions of the local police to brush under the carpet what was obviously a homicide have not helped. Insistence by the mother of the victim who claimed her daughter was raped and murdered and demanded a second autopsy was casually brushed aside by the local police.

Colrama goes on to add why Goa seems to be losing its lustre and is no more a pristine tourist paradise it once was. In a recent post he has quotes from the Goan Chief Minister, Kamat, blaming Scarlett’s mother for the murder and thus trying to evade responsibility.

Kamat held Scarlett’s mother, Fiona equally responsible for her daughter’s death. “How can a mother, let her minor daughter go out so late in the night?” said Kamat.
“Tourists should take care of themselves.” he added.

Laz has taken this situation to another level; she is questioning God.

My co-worker’s revelation was met with the sadness and bile that gorge up upon hearing of tragedies like these. One of our numbers astutely pointed out that there are “sick people everywhere” and not so astutely proclaimed that this is further proof that God does not exist.
Yes, he knows that God does not exist because if there was a God he would have stopped this injustice.
What I do know is that the irrationality that such inanities betray is as much an indicator of fallen humanity’s depravity as the things that were done to this girl.

‘The Ying has settled on Goa’s Yang’ say the Happy Shiny Bloggers,

Goa, the Hippie Mecca in the late 1960's and early 1970's, gave rise to a musical culture that embedded with the spiritual culture of India to give us Goa trance.
…But if this is what you know Goa for, she houses dancers no more; Goa has been case of a 15-year old Scarlett Keeling. For those who do not know, Scarlett's body was washed upon the shore of Anjuna Beach, the place which is coincidentally the epicenter of the peace and love culture, and its night-long parties.

The Happy Shiny Bloggers are questioning why Goa has become the hide-out for the Russian Mafia. They go on to question the happy state of the locals.

Where is Goa now? With the Russian mafia using it as their hideout to launder billions of dollars, do arms deals, run prostitution rackets, real estate deals and things we may not possibly incur in our day-to-day life. Pedophiles seem to be everywhere with poor families from neighboring states selling their children to tourists, ominous signs in hotel lobbies warn clients not to take children up to their rooms…
..are the Goans happy with the last draft regional plan announced more than a year ago proposing to open 80% of agricultural and forest land for commercial exploitation. Apparently not, the current scenarios have given birth to websites like Save Goa. Fueling the Goans fury is that the police and politicians that are frequently accused of abetting crime and receiving money.
Oh wake up Goa, wake up, from being the creator of spirituality for lost souls around the world, to become the taker of souls, who would have seen. With corruption and greed fueling your streets and murdered bodies lying on your beach.

A Russian drug-dealer, Anjuna Atala explains the corruption in the Goan police system, in this YouTube clip.

Meldreth from the United Kingdom, is asking the question out loud, is the world safe? In his blog post “Asking for Trouble”.

In the UK, common sense and logic has it that you just don't accept a ride in a private vehicle from a stranger. At times, this may seem like an over the top piece of parental advice, but is usually regarded as a sound tactic. Overseas, however, we lose this common sense for some reason.
Case in point: Scarlet Keeling, a Devon teenager living in India with her family, accepted a lift home from a stranger and wound up dead on a beach. Goa, India, where Keeling lived with her mother and siblings, is no London or Liverpool, but as a city of 1.5 million, similar precautions should be taken there as you might expect in the UK. However, as I can attest to, exotic countries can nullify one's sense of judgment. For example, when I was living in Nanjing, China, I thought nothing of flagging down a black cab. Well not nothing. I thought they were a cheaper alternative to licensed taxis. Granted I am a 16 year old male and Keeling was a 15 year old female, but the start of the sequence was the same. Whilst I usually traveled with several of my equally male friends, none of us were experts on the local road map and so could easily have been led into uncomfortable situations. Nothing untoward ever happened, but looking back, I was probably a bit foolish.

Ujj from Munity.in and Freedbird have more, here and here.

“When is a democracy not a democracy? When its leaders are appointed by non-democratic methods, for one thing. When heredity is 9/10 of the law; and yes, the same formula applies to the Gandhi-Nehrus and Thackerays of India, and many others.”

Sirensongs quotes from the Indian Express, “Royalism has been democratised in South Asia. In turning our backs on monarchy, we reinvent ourselves as republicans. But this is often a fragile and tenuous republicanism, as the political parties in our democratic polities are mini-kingdoms each with its own royal family.” adding to this her personal observations.

At India View, S. Venikar is apathetic to the political situation in South Asia, yet sympathizes for the crown prince ‘Bilawal' and his inheritance.

“If political leaders of the country start bequeathing their personal estates through their last will, there would be no questions asked, although any last will could be legally challenged by legitimate interests. If Kings and Queens in the 21st Century appoint their heirs to the throne that may be quite understandable.

There is really no custom or convention in the constitutional law or in the political parties for such a phenomenon. Nepotism during the lifetime of the political leaders is reluctantly accepted by their followers. Bilawal Bhutto, Rahul Gandhi and Pankaj Singh each may be viewed as the heir apparent for their respective party leadership positions in remote future.

Bilawal lofty statements regarding his faith in democracy and avenging his mother's assassination through democracy are normal expressions of a grieving and mourning teenager but alas he does not see how democracy is high jacked in his political party.”

In a previous article, “De'mo-narchy Of India”, Venikar talks of how the real threat to Indian democracy is from the new breed of politicians who are taking advantage of the institution of democracy to create dynasties.

Patrick Pringle is frightened by the similarity between the predicament of Bhutto's son, Bilawal, and that of Gandhi's. He comments on this prolonging issue all the way from London on his blog Patrick's South Asia Diary.

Nita in her blog ‘My Writings’ tries to give a definite answer regarding why this is happening now after all these years, she also believes that this scenario wouldn’t have occurred if not for the US Immigration Control.

“It’s a pity though that India has to depend on America’s visa controls to get the benefits of these brains, instead of attracting them on merit. Also, many of those who will consider coming back will do it for the sake of being close to relatives, or maybe because of patriotic feelings…but how many will come back because India’s investment climate provides equal opportunity for all and ensures success based on the merit of their idea and nothing else? As I see it India has a long long way to go before it can inspire this kind of faith in would be entrepreneurs and I guess that is why America is up there because today in spite of the country trying hard to keep the brains out, they are falling over themselves to get in.”

While Nita leaves us to ponder, Curiouscat in his ‘Science and Engineering blog' writes under the title “Brain Drain Benefits to the USA Less Than They Could Be” strongly believes that there is no turning back.

“I don’t think this result is going to decrease. And I believe the actual loss of scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs born in the USA for significant portions of their careers to other countries will increase dramatically over the next 25 years. I agree that it is in the interests of the USA to try and retain the ‘Brain Drain’ advantages it has been receiving.”

Times have changed since 1992 and Krishnakumar has reasons to show how. He talks about the change in trend, going abroad for a better living according to him is a thing of the past.

“I passed my engineering in ‘92, well into the era of software. It was almost a norm for one to prepare for his GRE, and get going to the USA for higher studies, en route to a job abroad and life as an NRI. Of course, those who did not make it always had somebody in Dubai or nearby, who could land them a decent job. I remember, in those days, the Times of India (Bombay) had a special edition for Jobs abroad, and guys would unfailingly pick up copies of the same week after week.”

“What really gives RIs(Resident Indians) like me the greatest joy is to see that all those guys who went abroad have gradually seen that today India is not such a bad place to work at all…. today with technology, one can effectively work from anywhere… and lets face it… there is no better country to bring up your children…”

We chose The Lorax, Dr. Seuss’s rhyme filled with utterly nonsensical words, but superbly sensible message about saving the trees. We read the play, but decided that the ideas had to come from the children. Therefore we made them create Tableaus – still pictures. The topics were simple in the beginning, like “standing in the rain”. They got the hang of it and the topics got tougher. Topics became, A Ferrari car, Stuck in a Lift, At the Dentist and Any topic of your choice. The results were astounding. They had no problems handling the topics, and were often more creative than so called “mature” adults. The tableaus gave us the key to creating the play.

Theatre Capital on the other hand, not only has bits of information on their on-going projects but also pictures of various happenings all the way in Bangalore. The information that caught my attention was the results on Xth ICSE drama class, it was surprising to know that drama/theatre was already a part of the new ICSE syllabus.

The scores were spectacular to say the least. Ranging from 86% to 97% these students were winners all the way in Drama

The Playbacktheatre’s group has one of the most innovative ways to bring real life, everyday scenarios back into play.

Then we moved into stories, an eight year old shared his heart-wrenching story of losing his parents and taking to the streets, of traveling hundreds of miles taking on various jobs…before finally landing up here. We jumped into the story with gusto, each actor playing his part. At the end the audience applause lasted for a really long time.

Theatre in India seems to evolve with its worlds surround and to all those innovators and educators my heartfelt adulations but I only hope and pray that they might someday revive those ancient art forms and make it presentable to the Indian cinema cults in the genre of 99% style and 1% substance like Hawkeye reviews.

Photo Courtesy : TheatreCapital

[.]From 1991 to 2002, there was a civil war in Sierra Leone that took place alongside Liberia’s 14 year long civil war as well. Both civil wars were partially funded by “blood diamonds;” that is, diamonds from these two countries which were used finance the civil war. This spawned a whole industry of middlemen, smugglers, and so on, especially after the UN imposed sanctions.One of the stops that smugglers made was in India.[..]

The oldest communities are those of southern India and north-eastern Sri Lanka, when it comes to the Tamil language. At present there are huge number of Tamil emigrant communities scattered around the world, especially in central Sri Lanka, Malaysia, South Africa, Singapore, and Mauritius. And PK Balachandran from TW News has reports on Tamil speaking Muslims from India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia finding common ground, re-establishing ties weakened for 400 years now. Ancient histroy of their immigration, is also described.

[.]The Portuguese introduced the “cartaz” or a permit system, which in effect, prevented Muslims from using many ports in South and South East Asia. In Sri Lanka, they were driven away from the prosperous Western coast. Under Dutch rule, they were not given government contracts.[..]

Roshan from his blog is having the last laugh at the deprived state of IT education in the rural areas, and the cause for ill-favored action due to communities in the mega virtual hangouts of Orkut, towards cyber café owners. While Orkut has been having its share of trouble in India, Asif Khan from Itsmaklife writes of how he made friends through orkut who not only tipped him to bring an umbrella, but fed his Indian food hungry soul with his favorite dish Dhal, all the way in Japan

[.]I found Gautam on orkut before coming over to Japan. I contacted him via scrapbook. He was more than happy to hear from me and told me to bring an umbrella. This advice was really of great value as it rained just the next day of my arrival.[..]