A salute to the victims....

The Mumbai terror attack has claimed as many as 130 lives and injured about 400 or more. These include civilians, the police, army jawans and the state's three top cops: IPS officer -Mr. Ashok Kante, ATS chief - Mr. Hemant Karkare and encounter specialist - Mr. Vijay Saleskar. None of these would have thought it was their last day. I would like to extend my salutation to all the people who have been victims, to those who have sacrificed their lives and also to the cops and NSG commandos who are doing their best to save the innocent citizens from the clutches of the terrorists in this dreadful act.

Terror in India - Mumbai's nightmare!!!

Its been almost more than 32 hrs since the vibrant and lively city of Mumbai has been under terror attack. The terrorists entered the city through the sea route at the Colaba area entered Cafe Leopold and started firing indiscriminately at the innocent people....then a couple of terrorists barged into the CST railway station and opened fire at the people in the main passenger hall.....then they headed towards the Cama hospital where patients were taken as hostages apart from firing at them....then they went on to the nearby Metro cinema where they hijacked a Police vehicle and fired randomly at the crowd on the road before escaping their way out from the scene.....the next target was the Taj Mahal hotel; here again several civilians including many foreigners were taken as hostages with shooting and grenade explosions accompanying this entire situation. At about the same time there was a similar scenario taking place at the Oberoi Hotel at Nariman point. Outside the Taj Mahal hotel the ATS chief Mr. Hemant Karkare lost his life....later at the Metro cinema IPS officer Mr. Ashok Kante as well as encounter specialist Mr. Vijay Saleskar laid their lives on duty. Similar incidents also took place at the Marriot hotel in Juhu, there was a blast in a taxi at a flyover in the suburban Vile Parle, again a balst in a taxi in Mazegaun. Two terrorists were gunned down at Girgaum when they tried to escape. A group called 'Deccan Mujahideen' has claimed responsibility for these attacks. This is the exact scenario that took place in Mumbai ('http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/79152/watch-timeline-map-of-mumbai-multiple-terror-attacks.html').

Terrorism has been on a high in India in the recent past with almost about 11 attacks only in the current year of 2008. The city of Mumbai has transformed into a War zone with the NSG, the Army and the Police still fighting and trying to rescue the remaining hostages and shoot down the terrorists. Its very sad and disturbing too see the visuals of dead bodies being lined up at the hospitals and blood all over the roads, on the railway station platform, at the hospital and at the hotel lobbys. Who would have dreamt that this was their last glass of beer or cocktail at Cafe Leopold......who would have thought that uniting with their loved ones would only be a dream waiting at the platform for their respective trains.......who would have felt the slighest tinch of death while they were discussing their million dollar deals with business giants from across the world at the five-star hotels. It's so unfortunate that the entire situation of terrorism is so out of control that no single person or authority can be held responsible for such dreadful activities. One thing that this incident has brought to light is that the world will react strongly against terrorism only when their nationals are involved. The terrorists possibly chose to target the foreigners (British and the Americans to be specific) apart from the Indians just to create a wide cry of panic all across the globe....to make their presence and fear felt all over the world. Several foreigners have been killed in these attacks and we can see not only in India.....wide coverage is being aired at the Times square in New York and at London. Atleast now, I hope all the countries will respond strongly and work together to fight terrorism.

Should experience count or interest???

This is one question I often keep asking myself and yet have an ambiguous opinion. As a kid, I always dreamt of becoming a doctor and biology was my fav subject. Gradually, as I approached the end of my schooling I didn't even realize how Mathematics counted as one of my areas of interest and why I chose my career to be Engineering (no qualms as such). My career choice was not a tough decision to make (it was more like an obvious decision.....as it is the case with most of the youngsters in the recent past)....n I didnt face any opposition frm my family for this because I wanted to become an 'ENGINEER'. They wouldn't mind even if I chose to become a 'DOCTOR'. Guess why I stressed on these two terms........u r rite!!!...these are the two sole professions which I feel most of the parents consider to be d best for their children. I often think what if I said to my parents that I want to become an interior decorator, a teacher, a fashion designer etc or go for degrees in event management, hotel management, mass communication, economics etc. Would they oppose me?.....well, may be........they would have definitely tried their best to convince me not to go for those career options.

I have come across many situations where the younger generation choose their career not by choice but by pressure (let it be frm family or friends). It might look like a small decision but it's really difficult to make, especially when the person is highly ambitious and determined. So why do these differences in opinion regarding career occur?

- Looking from the parent's perspective, they would always want their children's lives to be better than theirs.......and their views goes like....'We are advising u with experience..........Finding a good job with a decent pay is more feasible in the IT industry.....Becoming a doctor is another good option...but takes time for you to settle down.......dere is not much future in event management, financing fields........doubtful abt the scope for jobs in Mass comm, Interior decoration or Fashion designing etc....What if u don't get an appropriate job in this field?.......Engineering is best and safest option for you.....go for it'.
- From the younger lot's perspective, 'What's wrong in being different? I'm interested in 'so-n-so' field.......I have the confidence n will try my best to excel in this field.....jobs may be less in this area of study but I'm sure I can do it....etc'.

I feel both may be right in their respective ideologies, but I'm biased towards the younger lot. One can definitely notice the difference between the things we do with interest and those which we do with hesitation and lack of interest. Let it be the case of academic or extra-curricular activities or anything in life. Apart from the outcome, it is also the satisfaction and happiness that counts when you choose the career that interests you. The journey in achieving the goal is equally important to achieving it. There may be risks in choosing Civil/Mechanical/Petroleum/Production Engineering, Event Management etc but why not be positive, hope for the best and support them. Who knows they may shine beautifully in their fields. Why to unnecessarily discourage and pressurize them? Every field has its own significance........and every individual should be given the freedom to take their own decisions. Why don't people realize that the significance of profession in the society is not important........why to always follow and make others also follow the trend......why not encourage people and allow them to choose what they want to do even if it is different from the usual track......why not support them even if they fail in their attempts instead of criticizing them for going against the 'experienced views'..........At the end of our lives.......we may gain a lot of experience to advise people but it is more important to attain satisfaction.....Though parents are right in thinking that experience matters most, I opine that it is not true especially in this aspect.

Caste feeling - height of ignorance and in-humanity!!!

'Prejudice is the child of ignorance' - William Hazlitt

It's been a year since I have arrived in USA. Back in India, I heard a lot about racism in the western countries since childhood (Mahatma Gandhi's train case in South Africa being the very first one). As a kid I used to wonder how mean people could behave........how could they discriminate people based on color. But as I grew up, some facts were even more astonishing........'On a highly humid day, a daily wage worker was working for a household owner. After he completed his work, he asked the owner's kid to fetch some water in order to quench his thirst. When the kid took the jug of water which he uses at his home, his father stopped him immediately and said to never do that. He instead took a separate unused jug of water and gave it to the worker. When the innocent child asked his father why he did so........his father said 'he is of lower caste, never take anything he offers; never give him the things we use'. The kid kept thinking what would be the consequence if he did so, but as a respectful son he just followed his fathers orders.' Ever came across such a situation???.......Well I'm sure most of you would have.......may be not in a similar case but at some point of time you would have come across this 'caste feeling/discrimination'. This caste discrimination has been prevalent for ages.......which I thought would fade away as the people become educated. Of course, education has nothing to do with wisdom but I have aways believed that education would make us a better person atleast in terms of thinking.

I had completed my entire education upto my undergrad at my hometown, so I never had a chance to mingle with people from across the country. When there were riots in the country, I thought may be there are certain sections of people in the society responsible for such in-differences. But, to my horror I have been proved wrong again and again...........Every 2 out of 25 people are in-tolerant to other religions or caste. People come abroad for their higher studies or for a job (which is mostly the case) leaving behind their beloved family and loved ones, but unfortunately do not forget to get the in-human and in-different attitudes along with them. I have heard people around me saying 'He/she belongs to a backward caste, I will never eat what he cooks' or things like 'Lower caste people don't have manners, they look aweful etc'. Gimme a break...........Do all the high caste people behave well-mannered? Are all of them world's most beautiful and elegant people? Are only the upper caste people extra ordinarily talented? An obvious 'NO!' is the answer for all these questions. Then, from where do these differences creep in? It's all in the mind. Never think the other person is inferior to you, coz one day you will surely be at his place. I'm not very learned to comment on or discuss about the classification of the caste system, nor do I know when and where the caste system arose. My only concern is why do people behave so low at times. Don't they realize the supreme fact that we all are humans. Very learned and well settled people too are prejudiced and the saddest part is that they feel very proud about it. In my perspective, they are inferior to others and their category may not be 'lower caste' but will surely be 'lower n in-human minds'. If at all discrimination should exist in this world it should be based on the thinking and ethical values of such people.

And finally, this caste and religious intolerant section of the society dare not talk about the racism issue. What's wrong in discriminating people based on color when people belonging to the same country, same state, same region and same religion are in-different to each other based on castes??? I'm sure they would not have an answer for this. I just keep praying to GOD each day that all these differences on this earth fade away and such people should and will definitely realize and feel the pain they have caused to others.