American beauty

                           Some movies are made and some movies happen, “American beauty” is one such movie which just happens once in a while but leave’s you agape for the rest of your life. The movie wonderfully captures the superficial nature of human emotions which is put to use, to make life look as dogmatic and congruous as it has seemingly ever been to the taste of the society.  Kevin spacey as the protagonist in the movie wonderfully portrays the frustration that arises in a person who put’s up with too much of superficiality to make everything look normal, whether it be his relationship with his wife or his attitude towards his job, Kevin spacey has pulled out a splendid performance in portraying a man who is fed up of trying to be what others want him to be.

 

                                Sometimes life seems like it is not what it used to be and we might not be sure of how it ended up that way or what went wrong or what is that we are really missing; there is always a sense of loss lurking in the mind. All along one feel’s like something is missing which has always been a part of ones life and it just takes one spark to make one realize and remember all the things which added more sense to ones life and “American Beauty” captures that wonderful moment in the life of the Lester Burnham. The crush that Lester (Kevin spacey) has on his teenager daughters’ friend makes him to take control over his life again and helps him to tear away the superficiality which made him to live his life like a dead man. Every scene in which Lester is shown dreaming about Angela there are rose petals all over the screen, I would call those scenes stunningly intelligent because the director has tried to capture the mind of a faithful husband who loves his wife Carolyn, and Carolyn loves roses and her rose garden, the director has wonderfully captured the confused mind of a man who saw the beauty of life through a teenagers face but dint realize it up until the last moment when he goes to bed with her, when Angela says this is her first time Lester is completely overtaken by a completely different emotion which reveals him to the reality of what he saw in that girl.

                                 

                       The movie amazingly captures the emotions and frustrations that one goes through because of the friction that happens between ones pursuit to be some one else and their real self, through the characters of Angela and Carolyn (Lester’s wife). “American beauty” on the whole is an amazing portrayal of real moments in people’s lives which unwraps them to savor the pure essence of life and its beauty, for Lester it just happened to be the beauty of a teenager, and for Ricky it was a plastic bag dancing to the tunes of a beautiful breeze, and for Lester’s daughter Jane it was the beauty of Ricky’s admiration for life’s beauty, and for Angela it was coming to terms with her superficiality…… "American beauty" is in itself that spark which the movie has been successful in giving an expression to.

Al Pacino.

                                         To start with, I don’t really know from when I started to appreciate the movies which made sense in other words I don’t really know from when I started to appreciate the pure pleasure that one derives out of a cinematic experience as only celluloid could offer. I had seen many movies belonging to different genre, I have seen many actors at their best but of all there is one actor I don’t mind watching million times over and over again and that actor is none other than Al Pacino. Every now and then I tend to get lucky and I watch a movie which could be termed nothing less than a master piece, I watched one such movie the other day called “Scent of a Woman”, though it’s a pretty old movie I got to watch it all alone only recently, and man Al Pacino was at his best. I had seen him in God Father series and never the less he was stunning but his class act in the movie Scent Of Woman just bowled me over. Al Pacino is a treat to watch no matter what kind of role he does, I equally enjoyed watching him play the bad boy in The Recruit and as the irritated film maker in Simone, but Lt.Col. Frank Slade stands tall above all. 

My thoughts about communalism.

                                      There might be many definitions about religion and communalism but here is my definition, "Religion is a concept theorized in a way to make it pragmatic and utilitarian, what matters is the concept but people tend to gain their identities out of its pragmatism and get stuck with it and more so many fail to move beyond it to reach the core of it or the heart of it “The concept”, people’s failure in moving forward to the heart of religion is what I call as communalism". And to tell you more there is something fundamentally wrong with our country's policy towards the concept called religion, religion is the boundary within which humanity suffers. 

                                     The word secular attains a different meaning when it is used to define our nation. We call ourselves as a secular nation by doing so we acknowledge the fact that we are different, we have carried the differences along with us through all these years and it has already become 61 odd years, its high time now that we abolish the practice of religion being considered as the primary identity of a citizen of this country. I am Prasanna Kumar and I am an Indian that should be the end of my identity, its not necessary for the government to know the religion that I practice.Well if I say that you are a true Hindu does that make you any better than what you are now as an Indian or if I say you are not a true Hindu does that make any difference at all ?

                                            I think it’s because of this fundamental fallacy that we see arguments happening even between the secularist Hindus, secularist Muslims, and secularists Christians. People who get into such argument's just have command over their will alone but they try to represent their entire community and that’s where the entire thing gets beyond the national interest. when a Muslim tries to prove that “not all the Muslims are like that” what is he trying to prove, that Muslims are generally good but its just a few people who don’t get along or when the Hindus or the Hindustanis when they try to argue that mullahas are pro pakistan what are they trying to prove?, are they trying to prove that they are more Indian just because they are against pakistan or a few indian muslims who show hatred towards our country or Christians for that matter who think Christianity is the only solution for all the chaos that’s happening around the world. If at all these people want to show their patriotism why don’t they show their anger against the root cause of all these chaos "religion". Why don’t they stop looking people through the eyes of religion.  

What I feel about America and its fall !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"I personally believe" ooops when ever I try to use these words it just makes me laugh, have you people seen the beauty pageant contest where in an American beauty says that I personally believe US Americans are unable to do so because “samma” people out there don't have maps. God just thinking about it makes me roll over on the floor . If you haven't seen the video, check it out its there in the you tube but before that go thru my views…

 Ok enough of the breezy talks now to some serious talk

 I personally believe America's fall will give a new lease of life to many poverty stricken nations. Americas GDP as on 2007 was $ 13.84 trillion which is the largest among all the nations in the world. To put it simply America is the world's largest consumer in the world, so people might ask me this question, so isn't that a good thing we have some one to whom we can sell our products to ? Before you come to such a conclusion you need to know another truth, America's debt is three times higher than their GDP which makes them the world's biggest borrower and that to my knowledge and to the knowledge of many economist or financial expert is not a good economics.

 America is a highly leveraged country and their policies on their energy security and home land security and their policies on external trading especially with the developing nations and the under developed nations are designed in such a way to maintain that leverage edge. As I said earlier the subsidies that America is giving to its farmers has ruined the African nations whose GDP entirely depends on agriculture, and it is just one example. Americans are spending more than what they are supposed to at the cost of the so called third world nation's and the developing nations.

Let me give you another example on how their economic policies are not good to the rest of the world. Americas food industry is $ 700 billion and their weight and fab(WAF) loss industry is around $ 50 billions dollars. WAF loss industry is in itself 10 times more than the GDP of most African nations, in simple terms an average American is consuming more than what he is supposed to, which otherwise if he dint would have allowed the supply shift to other places where there is a huge demand and possible economic feasibility could have been achieved to meet those demands .

"Everybody has enough for their needs but not for their greed" Their credit policies encourage an average Joe to spend more than what he earns, they have purposefully inflated themselves to make most of the nations if not the entire world depend on them. In simple words Americas fall would make it to deleverage it self in that case the money which has helped America to keep itself inflated will find its way where its needed most to the third world nations and developing nations and this change will help to create real jobs in these nations allowing them to prosper as well.

  Its true that this fall of America from its financial super power status will affect India and most of the countries which has economic ties with it. I get very infuriated when some one says that America is a developed country and everybody should follow its foot steps, America is a developed nation "my foot", America is developed at the cost of the so called third world countries, the subsidies that America is giving to its farmers has ruined the African nations whose GDP entirely depends on agriculture. Their consumeristic attitude has created havoc in the Middle East, innocent people are getting killed and many peoples lives are made miserable for big fat uncle sams oil needs.

 The arms and ammunitions that get made in America is keeping the civil war alive in many African nations. Thanks to America and its media Islam has been tainted in the eyes of people so much that people have started to see every Islamite with suspicion.

America’s financial crisis and the bail out plan…. (2)

                       As far as the bail out is concerned, I would like to believe that an Average American is not that stupid enough of not being able to see through things. Its sad that some self professed IVY educated jerk seems to think that he is more intelligent than most other Americans and using that Greek invention of sophistry is trying to recast what this Bailout is all about using thinly veiled rhetoric (in other words, its disgusting that, they’re trying to make people blind by pulling over a piece of cloth over their eyes). This is the fundamental problem with Wall Street – it thinks that an average American can’t possibly understand what they are doing so they call what they work in: instruments, vehicles, esoteric instruments, derivatives, exotic derivatives and what not. Then they say you need Calculus to understand it and you send everyone for the hills. Come on guys --- call a spade a spade --- those concepts are not that complex. At some point it’s called “GAMBLING.” And this is a BAILOUT.

                         If the system was working properly, an average American should be able to get a loan for federal rate + whatever premium his bank pays + a risk premium associated with him. But he cant, not because of him or the Fed but because banks are broken. Why are the banks broken, because they traded in junk derivatives that some 26 year old MIT math guy said had value using the integral sign’s (throw calculus at Wall Street and their eyes go cross eyed). So, the banks (Wall street) ARE broken or their credit is frozen because nobody can value the junk on their books.

                The banks extended loans to people probably it shouldn’t have. If the Fed makes available a facility for Financial institutions to "park" bad instruments, there is ZERO guarantee that those instruments will ever be purchased back.It's like me making a loan to you and saying, "sure dude, give me pieces of paper and I'll give you money which I might sell back to you tomorrow if you want to buy the little pieces of paper you gave me." Hhmmmmm  Are you going to come back for those pieces of paper that you can't value now? Who knows? Uhmmmm...that's a BAILOUT. Paint it however you want, put lipstick on it (no offence to the Vice presidential nominee plain), sugar coat it, call it whatever you want. ITS A BAILOUT.

America’s financial crisis and the bail out plan….

“Wall Street thinks that an average American is a “stupid””. The proof is all over the place, in every news paper , in every news channel, which could very well stand as a vindication to my claim that American government and Wall Street thinks an average American to be a stupid. “BAIL OUT PLAN” the way in which it has been camouflaged as a solution if not a better solution to the impending national crisis and the efforts made to sell it to an Average American doesn’t leave any doubt in my mind that wall street thinks that an ‘Average American is a stupid’.

 American President George 'the' W Bush was very much clear about what he had to achieve when he set out to give his speech on the impending financial crisis, this is not the first time that he had done something like this but this time he did it with much ease as compared to his propaganda on “War on Terror” – “Rule by creating panic", yes that’s what he did,. His words like "America could slip into a financial panic and a distressing scenario would unfold. More banks could fail, including some in your community. The stock market would drop even more, which would reduce the value of your retirement account. The value of your home could plummet. Foreclosures would rise dramatically. And if you own a business or a farm, you would find it harder and more expensive to get credit. More businesses would close their doors, and millions of Americans could lose their jobs. Even if you have good credit history, it would be more difficult for you to get the loans you need to buy a car or send your children to college. And, ultimately, our country could experience a long and painful recession."

       This Financial bail out is nothing but an effort to keep the rich RICH at the cost of an ordinary taxpayers money. Why should the tax payer take the burden of someone's wrong choices, when the very same tax payer might go out of job because of the cost cutting policy followed by these major corporate giants? 

                                            Well for people who have been advocating growth at all cost and people who have been advocating this bail out plan need to understand one thing " a continuous and unchecked growth becomes cancerous" and that's what we are seeing now, America’s Top financial institutions have become cancerous enough to affect the entire American economy and the world economy. America's debt is three times its GDP. So you know the truth now. No one can keep himself prosperous for ever by borrowing and someday things have to fall and when it does it will be as worse as what we are seeing now.

                                                To me this looks more like an effort trying to inflate a balloon which has too many holes, More over the present financial crisis is the cumulative effect of the 1990’s financial crisis which saw many banks becoming insolvent and the 2000 dotcom burst. This $ 700 billion that’s going to be injected into the economy will bring in a much greater disaster in January next year.

A Reply to a kashmiri's anguish - 3

Tehseen:

Dear Kumar...You are entitled to your own views,opinions,but at the same time you have to make sure that you know the basics, you know the facts, you know the root casue of the problems and not rely solely on corrupted media,and off the sources that have vested interests,As far as kashmir is concerned it was never a part of india geographically,historically,culturally and that is the reason why Jawaharlal Nehru promised infront of the whole world to let kashmiri people decide there fate,let a referendum be held under the charter of UN and people be given the basic right of self to determination and that is what you call a democracy.Until now the basic right has been denied to kashmiri people.Let me impress you a very important fact that if given the right to self determination and in any eventuality people choose India as their soveriegn country no one will oppose that and so should respect the right to self determination.

Regarding Kashmiri hindus,christians,sikhs same should apply as in any case of plebisite.For your information Kashmir is known for its traditional religious harmony and tolerance.It was the then Goernor of kashmir Jagmohan who under a great conspiracy drove Kashmiri pandits out of kashmir.To your surprise no other minority migrated from kashmir when the moment started way back in 1989.Sikhs and even some population of pandits stayed back during the troubled times and they were looked after more then their muslim fellow bretherns.History bears witness to the fact that they too want Independence from India given the right to self detemination as this was evident during the recent march in which Sikhs and Pandits led seperate processions.

Ironically the media didnt allowed that part to be exposed to the rest of India keeping their old traditional stance of comunalism alive in kashmir.80000 thousand muslims kiled,7 thousand custodial disappearences,4 thousand rapes, 290 pandits killed and 110 sikhs killed over the period of time (Indian forces) ref:(human rights commision .j&k ref192-void60). Dear Kumar the biggest problem with Indian population is that they percieve every kashmiri advocating the cause to be a part of Pakistan which is utterly incorrect.We dont want to be a part of Pakistan neither would we allow Indians to be controlling our lives.Recent processions bear testament to the fact how darely all kashmiris want independence not pakistan.

Mahatma Gandhi whom I adore,admire not because he fought with Britishers for his Independence but because of his Ideology which is still surviving in this cruel corporate world and that is right to self determination, right to choose,right to live in honour,dignity. As far as the unfortunate recent bombings in delhi is concerned Kashmir is not even remotely associated.We strongly condemn the brute voilence,even kashmiri indegineous armed leaders strongly condemned the killings.(The killings are more to be blamed to the Indian politicians who are trying to take advantage of the situation and get their vote banks for which BJP stands for).Kashmiri moment is indegenious,going on from 1947.Dear Kumar we have been supressed from last 63 years,our paradise has been torn apart just for the reason which Mahatma Gandhi fought for,Bhagat singh laid his life for.

Until 1989 our movement was non voilent and to higlight the issue internationally there was a armed struggle for a short period of time and now you see the non voilent movement again taking its course of action and the gravity is such that noted Indian citizens arundhati roy who happend to be in Kashmir during the recent protest was compelled to say that India should give kashmir its much desired,and deserved freedom.Vir sanghvi.Krishn Ayar advocated the cause. My dear friend its not about superpower ,neither it is about Bulochistan, it is about the basic human rights that is right to self determination which we have been promised by indian constituion,UN resolutions and of which article 370 is a part off. As far as Indian army is concerned they dont have any right to kill innocent childrens,rape women,kill unarmed protesters just for the sake of vengeance that their colleague who is involved in mass murder has meted his own fate.What goes around comes around.They are supposed to safeguard the precious innocent human life not take a innocent human life. As far as as economic stabilty is concerned,Dear kumar we are self sufficient.80% of our electricy generated within the state is imported to norther indian catering 65% of their electricty needs and still we are plundered in to a well planned darkness Our agriculture is selff sustainible,our tourism industry alone can feed every kashmiri for over a century,our animal husbandary is one of the best industries provided the industry is nurtured, looked after properly.

Handicraft skills,kashmir art is unmatched and unparalled and has won accolades internationally, and if you still feel that we can't sustain then I am afraid you have to live in kashmir for a while and try yourself the potential of our products.There are number of small sized soveriegn countires in the world who have less resources then ours and still enjoy the benfits of their GDP'''s and are forces to be reckoned. Against this backdrop I would like to ask you just one simple question and analyze crtically In this age and time do you think so called biggest democracy in the world can deny people from exercising their basic right to self determination? and also How can you jusitfy the fact that Kashmir is an integral part of india when United Nations has passed a Resoultion to hold a free and fair plebiste in kashmir according to wishes ad aspirations of people of kashmir and has explicitly stated kashmir as a disputed region? Dear Kumar the onus is on to you for being a responsible citizen of india to decide and introspect and look in to the facts,check the history and then conclude and label kashmiris as terrorist. Allah says that the blood of a human being is as sacred as the wall of Kabba and whoever saves a human life has saed the whole mankind and whoever takes a human life has killed the whole mankind I hope this should satisfy you and explain to you that we dont believe in blood sheds. Due to plausity of time I must conclude here By the way I am 30 years old running a small web designing/software company in London.

Regards Tehseen

Me :

Dear Tehseen,
I am not that insensible to take whatever that is thrown at me by the Indian media, which at large has become nothing but a news churning out machine lacking in integrity, having said that I also cannot deny the fact that there are some news agencies in India which still functions true to the principles of journalism and their stance on every issue not just on Kashmir issue vindicates their worthiness and venerability.

As for your claim that Kashmir was never a part of India historically, geographically, culturally is so untrue in many ways, but it might sound true if certain facts are to be ignored conveniently. Everyone knows the fact that India as a nation came into existence in 1947, but the idea of Indian subcontinent existed in the peoples mind even before the boundary was conceived and that idea was of a much larger region than what we see as India now. Before 1947 the whole of south Asia was considered as India which was a region and not a nation. If anyone says that Kashmir has always been a part of India it is not a claim based on the physical boundary or it isn’t some political statement rather it is one of cultural ties. Entire Indian sub-continent is culturally interlinked. When I say they are culturally interlinked I don’t mean by a uniform culture, That certainly does not exist within India or within the other states too. But in the sense of a cultural continuum.

So coming back to the present day Kashmir and the dispute related to it, the Kashmir dispute is the result of post partition geo political event and everyone knows it has nothing to do with the medieval or early history of that region. In that way what you are saying might be true, the Kashmir dispute has nothing to do with Indian history or culture but the Kashmir as a region has everything to do with India historically, geographically and culturally so much so that the very name “Kashmir” is a Sanskrit word.

It is a known fact that Repealed by brutality of Pakistani forces Raja Hari singh the then ruler of sovereign state of Kashmir signed the accession treaty on 26th October 1947 and the largest party in Kashmir of that time, the National Conference under Sheikh Abdullah, ratified the accession-pact when the Pakistani guerilla’s invaded Kashmir. India was very much in welcome of Raja Hari singh’s decision to maintain kashmir as an independent state, before the Pakistanis invaded the valley. If not for the Nehru’s doltishness, there wouldn’t have been any Kashmir dispute or insurgency. The Indian army had just asked for 48 hours to flush out the Pakistanis out of Kashmir region but Nehru chose to go to UN to complain about the Pakistani invasion in Kashmir and to bring about a ceasefire in the region, he moved against the will of his own cabinet and army and induced an UN mandate favoring Pakistan which is the root cause of all the problems in Kashmir, POK, (Pakistan occupied Kashmir), plebiscite, article 370 came into existence which is the root cause of the dispute.

My dear friend your efforts to make certain events look insignificant by blaming someone else for some else’s crime makes me think that I am speaking to an hard core separatist. Your claim on the conspiracy by Mr. Jag Mohan seems illogical by any standards of analysis. I am a citizen of this country and I know how the governors function in the states and the authority that they can exercise over the state. Kashmir is a state which enjoys article 370 which no other Indian state enjoys. Article 370 makes Kashmir a more fragile state to handle from the Indian perspective.
Tehseen Is the Indian army made of hooligans who don’t understand the basics and the significance of a political frame of a nation or is it made of barbarians who don’t understand what human rights violation is, the very existence of article 370 is in itself proves what the position of kashmir region is in the present day geo political setting.

Take a look at this a perspective of an outsider who is neither an Indian nor an Islamist :
"As per the statement of US Congressman Joe Wilson, beginning in 1989, mosques in Kashmir declared jihad and blared warnings from loudspeakers to the Hindus that they were infidels and had to leave Kashmir. He further says that "From 1989-1990, Islamists began a terror campaign to drive Hindus from Kashmir". Some people have noted that some Kashmiri Muslims were tolerant of minorities, but since partition, most Kashmiri Muslims have adopted a more conservative approach to Islam, and since 1989, a more militant and fundamentalist approach. By the turn of the last century, only 6.4% of Kashmiri were Hindus. The US Department of State reports that, according to the Indian National Human Rights Commission, the Kashmiri Pandits population in Jammu and Kashmir dropped from 15 percent in 1941 to 0.1 percent as of 2006 "

I don’t deny the fact that human rights violations have happened within the kashmir region, and people with in the army who put the entire Indian army and the country to shame have been taken to task but the figures that you have come up with seems exaggerated especially the number of Muslims killed and the rape victims figure considering that the Indian army has excellent reputation worldwide for committing much less atrocities. That’s one of the reasons why the Indian army is in big demand for peace keeping missions.

Tehseen you seem to be a believer of theory of karma “what you give is what you get” quite rightly so according to your own belief what’s happening to Muslims in Kashmir is what the Muslim rulers did to the kashmiri pandits and to the people who belonged to other religion starting from 13th century, I hate to bring in such an analogy to the fore but your way of justifying the violence perpetrated by the hard core fundamentalist also called as terrorists just put’s me off - pardon me if I had hurt you.

Tehseen the very usage of the name Kashmir is a problem, the pre-independence kingdom of Kashmir is now 7 regions. China got 2 - aksai chin and shaksgam valley (technically a part of northern areas). Pakistan got 2 - "azad" kashmir/muzaffarabad area and the northern areas (gilgit, baltistan etc). India got 3 - ladakh, Jammu and the Kashmir valley, I would want to know if people in the kashmir valley are fighting for a Kashmir which existed pre independence or they are just fighting for the Kashmir which is under Indian occupation, if the insurgency has happened only in the Indian occupied kashmir region I have a set of question for you.

Why did the insurgency start?
What have the Kashmir’s gained out of insurgency?
What did they hope to gain?
Why did the insurgency start 42 years after acceding to India?
Why did the locals not rise in rebellion in 1965 as the Pakistanis expected them to?
Why does the start of the insurgency coincide with the end of the war in Afghanistan? Why not before? Why not significantly after?
What percentage of the Kashmiri Muslims were actively involved when the insurgency began?
What motivated the people who instigated the idea of azad Kashmir?

And to all these questions my friend I know you will have only one answer

“OPPRESSION BY THE INIDAN ARMY”, “AZADI HI HAMARI MAKSAD”, this answer would sound ridiculous if you had answered all those questions truthfully.

Let’s just face the fact if it was not for the UN mandate on plebiscite and article 370 Kashmir would have been another Tamilnadu or Maharashtra, So having said that the events that made the history were nothing but a huge blunder which has given rise to the present uncomfortable situation with in the region.
I would also like to look at other facts too; - it is only the Kashmir valley which has dreams of independence. Ladakh and Jammu have become an integral part of India.
I also know the fact that Kashmiris desire to be independent is not new, it has been the case since the Indian and Pakistani independence but the new thing is the agitations and terrorism. Well my friend you need to take a look at the maps of Pakistan and china to know their real intentions on Kashmir and the map is on no propaganda site, its Pakistan Governments official website, it’s their Official intention. I know the fact that the Indian map too seems to carry the same intention of what Pakistan and china carry on Kashmir, but the fact is, in the current geopolitical setup, it is just not feasible to realize the dream of a “independent Kashmir”. Kashmir is sitting at the junction of India, Pakistan and china and it does not have the wherewithal to resist an invasion from any one of them. Historically Kashmiris took cognizance of this fact and stayed with India and not Pakistan as an autonomous region., also their faith (more importantly, sheikh abdulla's faith) in the secular nature of India trumped any dreams of joining pakistan - which sponsored the 1947 invasion that devolved into loot, rape and what not. If by god’s will Kashmir becomes an independent nation Pakistan will annex Kashmir, Kashmir was not able to defend itself in 1947, nor would it be able to defend itself against Pakistan in future.

In the present geo- political setting, and when the world is moving towards a Globalized economy If the recent incidents pertaining to south Ossetia can happen then anything can happen with an independent Kashmir. The only possible solution that I see is, an effort should be made to make Pakistan vacate The POK. Pre-1947 war borders should be restored before allowing plebiscite to take place; this would actually bring out the real intentions of Pakistan and china into the fore.

Your views and statistics about the ability of Kashmir to be self sufficient is debatable, if at all it becomes independent by gods will. Tehseen your belief that tourism will bring in all the money that’s required for each and every Kashmiri is only a hope, I would only be more than happy if what you are saying is true. In one of the official records before militancy ravaged the valley, tourism just accounted for 15 % of states revenue. Let me give out some statistics, these statistics are not based on any Indian organizations research.

1. The GDP of the state is 4.5 % while the rest of the country grew at 6.5%. but Still the state has a very low poverty rate compared to other Indian states.

2. The real estate prices in Kashmir region has been growing continuously.

3. There are 21,000 cars in Srinagar alone a five fold increase from 1990.

4. There were 560 private schools in the valley seven years ago and now there are 1360 .

5. The state, which has little industry of its own, depends heavily on central government financing, with the valley alone, home to 5.5 million people, getting $812 million in 2007. Ninety percent of that aid is in grants, while most other Indian states get 70 percent of their aid in loans.

6. Most of the money goes to ward’s government payroll that consumes two-thirds of the state's total budget of $1.2 billion. The valley's total bureaucracy, including state, central government and daily wage workers, is estimated at 350,000 people -- about one in every 17 residents.

7. The maximum money circulating within the Kashmir valley is INDIAN government’s money.

8.Syed Ali Shah Gilani, a pro-Pakistan leader now in detention, who reported about $350 in monthly income on his tax filing but was found to have $30,000 in cash, five video cameras, 14 servants, three cars and a flat in Delhi.

9.The money to the militant groups is channeled through the jammu and kashmir banks, Since militancy began, its deposits have grown from $458 million to $2.29 billion.

10. Kashmir is extracting royal tribute from the rest of India. Strangely reminiscent of what the British did during colonial times. That is, there is massive funds flow from the Centre to J&K. Look at the magnitude of that largesse: The following table would show about money that has flowed into Kashmir in the past years which helped the kashmir region to prosper

Fiscal Year ------------------Amount (Rs, in Crores)
1991 --------------------------1,244
1992 --------------------------1,393
1993 --------------------------1,569
1994 --------------------------1,820
1995 --------------------------2,635
1996 --------------------------2,627
1997 --------------------------3,208
1998
1999 --------------------------3,833
2000------------------------- 4,604
2001------------------------- 4,437
2002------------------------- 4,578.

Now talking about the recent bomb blasts, you say that Kashmir is not even remotely related to it, pardon me you must be someone who doesn’t understand the implications of one geo political event leading to a chain of events. Terrorism in India was never so violent and rampant until insurgency and militancy started to gain its foot hold in Kashmir. These terrorists who claim themselves to be fighters of a cause are blatant liars and are nothing more than cowards. If they are brave enough as they proclaim themselves to be they would actually be fighting against the policy makers in the government. If at all they want to make their stand clear by blowing up something or somebody they should be blowing up the MP’s, and Ministers and not an ordinary kid playing in the playground or some ordinary Indian who just carries on with his harmless life. They won’t do that because their real intentions is to disintegrate India and not being a catalysts in bringing about a solution to the long standing kashmir dispute, more over their intentions of disintegrating India just requires killing an unassuming ordinary Indian and it is much easier than targeting a high profile policy maker with in the government.

Having said all this, as an ordinary citizen of this great nation founded on the principles of ahmisa I don’t want to see another child or an ordinary Indian or Kashmiri getting killed no matter what in the name of Allah, or Maksad, or Riyasat, or Azadi. I don’t want to see blood flowing in the streets in the name of religion or ideologies or Land.
Last but not least

“Religion is the boundary within which humanity has suffered for so long and it will continue to suffer unless that boundary ceases to exist”

A reply to a Kashmiri's anguish -2

Dear Kashmir: listen mate no offence to u but yes wen it comes to kashmir there is nothing like birds chirping,tht cool breeze,people trying to make themselves fit and fine,those smiling faces,nothing called bliss ..

What u embrace the day is cruel booted indian armies polluting the whole air by their terrible abuses,their ruthles approach,their ugly eyes on our daughters and sisters,so much hate in the air and u expect me to be a human being...I dont kno were from u belong but let me tell you very clear is we are going to hold our heads high with dignity,protect our honour,protect our lives by dragging indians out, by sacrificng our lives for a cause which is so noble for a cause that brings smile to our face,for a cause that makes our children feel safer,play safer and enjoy their lifes without trauma and terror that has been inflicted by indians from last 20 years..How can i forget those dys wen as a kid ,all of us used to live a life controlled by terror (inidan army),all our life inflicted with the pain of loosing our dears,all our dreams snatched with tht ugly barrels of guns tht indian forces used to point towards us...how ?if u have any answer to this Mr Prasanaa please feel free to write and I will be morethen obliged...and I will tender an apology of what I have wrote to you..

It always easy to percieve the pain but it is always diffcult to express the pain when u feel it....!!!!!!

tthnks

Me: Thanks for your reply dude, I live in Chennai. I am 26 years old; I have seen this city grow along with me. I love my city for what it is now and what it will be in future. I don’t really know how it feels like to be a Kashmiri or for that matter I don’t know how a gun shot or a bomb blast would sound like in real but it does not mean that I don’t understand oppression, subjugation or the worth of human blood nor it mean’s that I don’t understand hate or anger, I get very angry every time when I see innocent people getting killed because of the cowardly acts of the terrorists, the Mumbai train blast made me to lose hope on humanity. The recent events of bomb blasts in Delhi, ahemaedabad, Bangalore, jaipur shattered the little hope that I harbored in the corner of my heart that things would change.

What kind of men are these who unashamedly claim that they are fighting for the dignity of their brothers, sisters and children when they are actually killing someone else’s loved ones, someone else’s children, someone else’s mother, someone else’s father, someone else’s best friend and someone else’s lovely sister. I don’t know what makes them think that they can bring about change by blowing up a 10 year old kid into pieces or by blowing up a "hospital" gods own room which is beyond religion, creed, class, or any sort of identity humanity had created for itself. I don’t really understand what good can transpire out of such atrocious ghastly acts.

You say that the entire Indian army is oppressing the Kashmiri awam and India as a whole is hell bent to kill every Kashmiri, and every jawan over there is loitering with lust in his eyes, though i am surprised at your view you are very much entitled to have it. But I am a sane person, I like to analyze things before coming to any conclusion, I would be making nothing but a grave mistake if I come to a conclusion after seeing all these bomb blast’s that every Kashmiri is a terrorist or every Muslim is a terrorist.

"Azadi" yehi Kashmiri awam ki soch he"- I dont really understand this. I would like to know if this is the collective voice of Kashmiri Hindus, Kashmiri Christians, Kashmiri Sikhs, Kashmiri Muslims and people belonging to other religions all together. It doesn’t look like that to me. If it is just the voice of one community then Tamil Nadu or Karnataka or for that matter every other Indian state is no different, Tamils can fight for their own Tamil land, kannadigas can fight for their own kanada land. As I said earlier I don’t know how a gun shot would sound like in real because I am a Tamilian and an Indian, I love calling myself as the son of Tamil land, I love my tradition which adds more value to my country called India. Now you have been living with the sounds of gun shots and bomb blasts for the past 2 decades because you are just a Kashmiri Muslim.

The Kashmir valley has become nothing but a death trap for the Indian army stationed there and what do you expect them to do when every other day one of their men gets blown apart into pieces or shot dead. lets just face the truth, the terrorism has been gripping the valley not because of the Indian army but because of people who have taken oath to stop our country which is on the verge of becoming a super power, Kashmir is just a reason. You say that everything would come to an end if Indian army moved out of Kashmir, well what kind of stability can happen when the kashmir region is crippled by differences of opinion within, I am wondering who will be the actual beneficiaries of azad kashmir, not the people offcourse considering the economic condition of that region. what progress can happen in an region which is land locked without the help of the neighboring states, if the kashmiri Muslims are under the hope that Pakistan would help them then just for a while remember baluchistan, and the internal turmoil Pakistan is facing. You know what happened to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, the government’s which oppressed the people belonging to these countries were removed but still nothing has changed in fact things have worsened in these regions. Kashmir would become another hub for the militants, if our Indian army got subjected to the pressure which could only be termed as a communal disturbance and nothing else. Its with the help of the people within the Kashmir valley terrorism has been surviving, what can the army do when the cowards who claim themselves to be fighter's of a cause are in the garb of civilians.

“ Religion is the boundary within which humanity has suffered for so long and it will continue to suffer if that boundary isn’t dissolved”

A reply to a Kashmiri's anguish -1

Me: If you talk about the oppression by the Indian army, why don't you take the militant attacks into account, thousands of soldiers who lost their lives because of the cowardly acts of the people who claim themselves to be the Awam of Kashmir. What about the young kashmiri boys who are made into terrorists. What has the valley become now nothing less than a death trap for the Indian soldiers who are stationed there.

Dear Kashmir: u deserve it mate u deserve to be blown apart with ur family the way u ugly bastards have let loose terror in our land..kumar we will drag u out of our land one day trust me on tht

Me: I wake up everyday to go for a jog just to see the beautiful morning sunrise and to feel the cool morning breeze caressing my face as I jog. Life seems so beautiful when listening to the chirping of the sparrows waking everybody around announcing the arrival of a new day, its so wonderful to see the faces of smiling kids carrying their schools bags racing to their school’s on their bicycles. Life seems so full to see old people taking their morning walks with their pet dogs in the parks trying their best to keep themselves fit, as if to say me and my pet dog haven’t had enough of this wonderful life.

I see so many faces as I jog, I greet them everyday they too greet me in return, some I know personally some I do not know but we greet each other its so beautiful to see their smiling faces everyday, Every day While I jog back home I stop for a cup of chai in a tea stall which often plays beautiful Tamil melody song’s, listening to the song as i sip in the hot steaming chai put’s me into bliss. This is the color the morning’s bring into my life. I live to enjoy this color and you say that “I deserve to be killed”. Any cause no matter how important it is it can never be bigger than “HUMAN BLOOD”. Thousands of innocent people have died for no fault of their’s, all because of terrorism that started in the Kashmir valley and which has spread its tentacles across the country in various forms.

Crash

It’s so intriguing and interesting to know the nuances of movie making; the more enigmatic part of it is to understand the way it weaves an experience into the being of the audience despite it being surreal in nature. It’s the experience that one goes through while watching a movie makes the entire aspect of movie making and movie as a product in particular seem so special. In showering such adulation’s over the talking pictures one is also aware that not all the movies demand that kind of respect, there are some movies which transcend the boundaries of frivolity, but there are other kind of movies which strikes you hard through the stark reality that it depicts and makes you to look at things the way it is. One such movie is “Crash”. This movie is one of my favorites; I watched this movie when it got released in Sathyam cinemas and I must admit that I was awed by its appalling veracity.

The world today is not what it was yesterday, it changes, it changes so fast that even before one comes to term with that change it changes into a whole new thing altogether. The intellectuals the symbols of evolution keep talking about the evolution of man kind, they say that man is not what he was a few thousand years ago, “he has evolved”, yes I too believe that it’s true but somewhere in that process of evolution man started to drift from himself, he has drifted from himself so much that when he realizes it he “crashes” on to himself in his efforts to bridge that gap quickly even if it ends up in a chaos. The world in which we live now is prejudiced, people have there own notions about their lives, the kind of cars they want to drive, the kind of house they want to live in, the kind of pet they would like to pamper, the kind of people they want to live around with. The movie Crash is all about those notions crashing on to each other only to disappear in thin air leaving the human being close to himself.

Picture - Edited by me

Just a thought !!!

What if I die today? I asked myself the question,
I asked what I would feel like before that
truth occurred to me,
that very moment a sudden rush in my heart
made me to cling to the life in me,
I pursued further to find the answer to the urge that
happened with in me and I questioned myself,
was it because of the unfinished Promises that
I had to keep or was it because of the lust for life within deep;
I couldn’t be sure, so I pursued further,
I asked myself Was it because of the anger that
I had for my enemies
Or for the envy that made me to feel incomplete;
I couldn’t be sure, So I pursued further,
I asked myself Was it because of the love that
I had for my kith and kin
Or was it because of the love that I had for myself;
I couldn’t be sure
but at that instance
a clarity happened within myself,
and I knew I was sure,
It was because of the love that
the macrocosm had showered upon me.
That very moment I knew I was free
life or death didn’t matter to me !!!