harikumar1964's blog

Much water has flown under the bridge since the last earth hour. We may be getting undisputable warning signs of global warming, yet the recent expose on the Himalayan glacier melt prediction or shall I call it prophecy,  put IPCC the UN body under a lot of cloud. The first and foremost thing to get global accordance for actions to limit green house gas emission is to have credibility of the organization which initiates it and this is where IPCC has failed. Even under normal conditions, It is very difficult to force or convince people to give up the comforts they are used to. That needs undisputable evidence and much more. And then the big bomb exploded- IPCC always maintained that by the turn of century, global temp can rise by 1.5 to 4.5 degrees. But somewhere someone exaggerated the whole thing suggesting the vanishing of all Himalayan glaciers by 2035 which was later proved to be the handiwork of some interest groups or Panic mongers. And for the first time we had to believe there is also an interest group in play even in the global warming scene. When I read  Michael Crichton’s “State of Fear” a few years back, I thought he was writing on behalf of anti – environment lobby of Multinational coal and petroleum companies. The book gave details of how  pro environment lobby creates panic through global acts of environmental terrorism.  And this  looked all too absurd at that time. We thought those who claim to be environment friendly are saints. Not any more.

Our development mechanism  inevitably leaves behind indelible carbon footprints. Carbon free economy is either too nascent or too expensive to have  mass appeal. We may be facing most erratic climatic conditions - heavy floods in Rajasthan, unprecedented heat wave conditions in Kerala, perennial water shortages in parts where water was plenty, years of failed monsoon, consecutive years of highest ever recorded average global temperatures. – yet no one can claim this to be the outcome of accumulation of green house gases in atmosphere consequent upon the economic development. Warming skeptics are on the rise- a recent survey in US puts the skeptics at more than half.  Global warming support group in UK is dwindling. Skeptics are not denying the global warming, but only doubting the human impact on climate change. And this is bad news. Because when you are doubting the human influence, then you are not going to do anything to reduce your carbon footprints. And if there is a 90% certainty among scientific community that the global warming is due to human induced carbon emission, then we are going to only accelerate the process of warming.  Whether the threshold is 500 ppm or anything one thing is for sure – that is co2 in atmosphere is increasing and it is a green house gas. So it is prudent on our part to reduce our dependency on carbon.

This year also WWF is organizing Earth hour on the last Saturday of March- that is on 27^th. The scheduled time is between 8.30 PM and 9.30 PM.  One thing is certain, our excessive carbon emission if not right now catastrophic, is definitely  bad. And it is always  good to limit the bad. So lets all join the global initiative  to observe Earth hour- switch off the lights, and other electrical appliances, spend time in the open- and as I mentioned  in my last year’s blog – show the kids the stars and planets twinkling like never before in the dark sky. Breathe some fresh air in the open ( sorry , the last one is not for someone who is in Delhi and in other metros!).

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WISHING ALL MY FRIENDS OF THE NET
A VERY HAPPY AND PEACEFUL NEW YEAR.
LET THE YEAR 2010 AND BEYOND BRING UNPARELLELED JOY IN YOUR LIFE AND LET ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE.

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My next destination was the Golden Temple. It is just a furlong away in the same road. The holiest of holy places for the Sikhs. The headquarters of Sikhism with the Harmandir Saheb and Akal Takht. Despite the crowd, it is one of the cleanest shrine I have ever visited. We always say it is because of the crowd that our railway stations and bus stations are filthy. But this place is immaculately clean with its marble tiled floors and gold plated domes and exterior walls of the Sanctum sanctorum located in the middle of the Amrit Sarovar or Amrit Sar- the lake of Nectar built by the fourth Sikh guru � Guru Ramdas. The city got its name from this lake. The temple complex was completed during the period of the sixth guru Guru Hargobind. Harmandir Saheb- the sanctum sanctorum located at the middle of the lake is gold plated almost entirely except for the bottom part of the wall. It was designed by Fifth guru Guru ArjunDev. �It is where the Gurugranth sahib- the Holy Text of Sikhs is kept during the daytime. At night it is shifted to Akal Takht- the power centre of Sikhism- located right infront of the sanctum sanctorum.

You enter into the temple through the main gate and clock tower into the encircling walkway- which encircles the lake and Harmandir Saheb- called Parikrama. As you walk along this walkway, you enjoy the cleanliness of this shrine quite unlike many of the other crowded shrines of India. The water of the lake also is very clean and clear with lot of red black and gold fish. But when you look around you find the entire complex is bound by two story �building� with the top floor having small bird house opening like windows. Those who have been following Operation Bluestar can now visualize the large scale army casualty during the first phase. �Either side of the steps leading to parikrama� and the enclosure �building top were all occupied by militants and when the first parachute regiment of Indian army under Gen Brar tried to storm into the parikrama to flush out militants they were just mowed down by the machine gun fire of these hiding militants who were at a vantage point. The military casualty during this operation was probably the highest for such operations in India. The militants who were holed up in the� complex had all the locational advantage in comparison to the commandos of our army. There are plenty of books on blue star and aftermath, which you can always refer.� I am not going to dwell on that.

Walking around the parikrama at almost three fourth way is the �causeway leading to Harmandir sahib. Being a working day, the queue on the causeway was not very long and I had to wait for only about 20 mins before getting chance to enter Harmandir sahib. The holy book- Guru Granth sahib- which has become the Official guru of Sikhs after� Guru Gobind Singh- the 10^th and last Guru- is kept decorated with floral designs at the Harmandir Saheb. Devotees bow and pray before this holy text. �It is the compilation of �all the teachings and verses of the sikh gurus originally called Aadi Granth- later renamed Gurugranth sahib by Guru Gobind Singh in 1708. Guru Gobind Singh �terminated the Guru tradition of Sikhism and instead elevated Adi granth as The eternal guru of Sikhs renaming it as Guru Granth sahib. Right across the causeway to Harmandir Saheb is the Akal Takht with its golden dome. This is the supreme power centre of Sikhs- something equivalent of Vatican for Catholics. It is from here that all the religious diktats are issued. This was the hiding place of Bhindranwale and this building was badly damaged during Operation Blue star. Now it has been reconstructed back to its original glory.

After the darshan, one can enjoy �the Langar- the free vegetarian food served at Gurudwara. But I preferred to give it a skip and �enjoy the typical Amritsari delicacy from roadside Dhaba- and the stuff they serve is really delicious- but definitely the best of the lot was Lassi- that taste seems to linger on and on and on� till this very �day.

After lunch I just happened �to venture into a shopping complex right in front of the main entrance to the temple complex. There are shops selling amritsari papad and dry fruits and dresses with phulkari embroidery �but one shop caught my attention. It is selling items glorifying Bhindranwale and his followers of the troubled era- they are selling posters with sayings of Bhindranwale and other militants of that era- with pictorial depiction of how they used to kill people by firing from �motorcycles in posters.( It reminded me of the mid 80s when I was in� Delhi as a trainee in my company and used to walk every evening from Ashok yatri Niwas in Ashok� road to India gate where there is a south Indian restaurant at Andhra Bhawan for supper. Our group of three used to take cover of the trees along the road fearful of the motorcycle riding terrorists� bullet on our return journey.) And incidentally it was the only shop were there were some customers- all Nihangs or the boy scouts of the Sikhs tradition with their blue robe and turban. I then suddenly recalled what the driver of our car told me that morning. After facing international pressure because of the support to islamist terrorism, Pakistan is again gradually resorting to instigating sikh militancy- an area Indians have forgotten or are taking lightly. There may not be many takers among modern day Sikhs, but terrorism needs only a limited few who can create trouble with assistance from across the border. And the sight at that shop to me was an ominous reminder � or may be I am imagining too much out of some vague comments made by a driver.

In the afternoon, we were taken straight to Wagha border- the only official road crossing point between India and Pakistan located in the GT Road. The border crossing is located roughly 28 Kms from Amritsar. Lahore is a further 25 Kms from Wagha. This is where we spent the evening watching the sun doing down in Pakistan (which is on the western side) amidst the retreat ceremony.

It took around 45 minutes to reach Wagha border- first of all for those who plan to go there � please note, no bags or ladies handbag or bigger purse are not allowed inside the complex. You can carry cameras but without its cover. So take less money- whatever can be kept in men�s purse and camera- otherwise you will have to leave those which are not permitted� in the car which has to be parked around 500 metres away in the parking area. �The area becomes too much crowded by evening there is every possibility of pickpocketing. So carrying credit cards and too much money is not advisable. We were not told about it- and had to keep other belongings in the car itself. In our case� the driver was a nice gentleman.

The road leading to the border runs through green agricultural fields-exemplifying the tremendous and envious agricultural growth the state has achieved in the last 50 years. But here again I started smelling blood. These fields reminded me of the enormous scale of massacre during partition forced migration. �Where many lost everything just because of the political ambition of a select few whom people on either side revere.

By 4.30 pm �there was a long queue to enter the gallery built along one side �of the road from the Swarnajayanti Dwar � a gate structure built on the Indian side 250 metres from the actual border � where the gate is located. A small gallery is also there on the other side of the road but beyond the BSF offices .� Similar galleries can also be seen across the border in the Pakistani Terrority. But unlike the overflowing gallery of thousands on the Indian side, hardly 30 or 40� could be seen �on the Pakistani side.

Indian side was blasting patriotic songs full volume- from the evergreen �Meri desh ki dharti of Upkaar to the recent ones like rang de basanti title track and the quintessential Jai ho- which of late has become sort of national song after Oscars. The songs from Pakistani side was barely audible and someone told they generally play religious songs- may be because they don�t have a working equivalent of Bollywood.

Soon the gallery began to overflow, and with continuous influx of people, BSF let people into the road allowing them to �sit on the road side through which they march and move during the retreat ceremony. And then began the patriotic fervor. Initially it was felt as one off event when a girl was handed a flag and asked to run up to the gate which was cheered by the crowd. But soon there was a big queue �aspirants who wanted to run� up to the border with the national flag and this continued for almost half an hour with� BSF personnel instigating the crowd to be more and more boisterous. They were very particular that no sound from Pakistan should reach us- it should be muted and overwhelmed by our patriotic cheers. Soon there was cries of Vande matharam, Bharat mata ki jai and Jai Hind from our end. The rather muted sound of Pakistan Jio Jio was booed by our crowd. Soon I began to feel this as a well orchestrated entertainment show. People are trying to create more of jingoism than patriotism. Patriotism is the most desirable but jingoism is dangerous.

I looked up across the fields behind the BSF office hardly a furlong away I could see the electrified fencing. It runs right through a field based on a� line drawn on map by Radcliffe. This could have been the property of one single family. Half of it is now in India and another part in Pakistan. I could see a pump house sort of shed on the Pakistani side. I told my son showing a tree just after the fencing that the tree and that pump house is in Pakistan, and his immediate response was that � yeh to Pakistan nahi lagta� ( it doesn�t look like Pakistan). I asked him what he meant by doesn�t look like. May be he has seen different colour codes for different countries. So� standing at the border when he could not feel any difference between the two territories ( it was the same field)� he was a bit surprised. He might have expected atleast ��different shades on either side.

Behind the Pakistani gallery, the sun was going down the western horizon. My son again asked- is the sun setting in Pakistan? This question really surprised me and took me to a different stratum. I thought Can we have an Indian sun and Pakistani sun? Thank god the heavenly bodies don�t follow our diktats. Otherwise tomorrow one country will decide when the sun is above them, they will not let the rays into another country! I did not answer him. �Instead �I showed him flock of birds returning to nest. Some are flying from �India to Pakistan and some reverse. They don�t have any border crossings. No body shoots them down for violating international boundary. I realized this border crossing and boundary are all purely manmade to segregate people and applicable only to the most intelligent and proclaimed to be the only sentient creature called Human. Whereas the setting of sun is only an illusion because of the rotation of earth, the movement of birds is real. Amidst all those boisterous display of patriotism, I was thinking about the John Lennon song ��Imagine� especially the stanza � Imagine there�s no country�- How meaningful those lines are and there is no better location than that for listening to this stanza.

Had there been free passage, I would have visited Lahore. It has several interesting sites including its renowned food street. �EU countries have �opened their borders and people can travel freely from one country to another with a single visa. In our case �we were one, separated only due to some dubious intentions of crafty politicians and the subsequent mistrust� filled so much poison of hatred in our veins which run so deep. Can there ever be a reunion? Atleast cessation of hostilities towards each other so that people can travel freely. Will it ever happen? Can we have a SAARC similar to �EU?

The flag lowering ceremony started just before sunset in a mutually coordinated way. The lowering of flags is synchronous. The shouts of �sawdhan� is also almost synchronous. The running and stamping of feet and the aggressive stare at each other in the eye of the BSF of India and rangers of Pakistan is pure entertainment. This lasts for about 20 minutes and culminates in the lowering of flags, folding it and carrying it back to the barracks. It was dark by then.

We walked back to our car, with the border fencing just a few metres away. How many people may have been separated, families may have lost dear ones, lost property because some Englishman drew a line in a map to create two countries? Many cannot go back to the house where they were born and grew up- meet the friends with whom they played. It is an international border where the punishment for violation is death.� It may look� as innocuous as our residential fencing- but looks are deceptive atleast here at the border .

I went to the border feeling �jingoistic- but returned with some disturbing thoughts. The sight of the border stirred my conscience. It all began with �the sun setting behind the Pakistani gallery and a simple question asked by my son.�

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My next destination was the Golden Temple. It is just a furlong away in the same road. The holiest of holy places for the Sikhs. The headquarters of Sikhism with the Harmandir Saheb and Akal Takht. Despite the crowd, it is one of the cleanest shrine I have ever visited. We always say it is because of the crowd that our railway stations and bus stations are filthy. But this place is immaculately clean with its marble tiled floors and gold plated domes and exterior walls of the Sanctum sanctorum located in the middle of the Amrit Sarovar or Amrit Sar- the lake of Nectar built by the fourth Sikh guru � Guru Ramdas. The city got its name from this lake. The temple complex was completed during the period of the sixth guru Guru Hargobind. Harmandir Saheb- the sanctum sanctorum located at the middle of the lake is gold plated almost entirely except for the bottom part of the wall. It was designed by Fifth guru Guru ArjunDev.  It is where the Gurugranth sahib- the Holy Text of Sikhs is kept during the daytime. At night it is shifted to Akal Takht- the power centre of Sikhism- located right infront of the sanctum sanctorum.

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As a young boy growing up in faraway Kerala, for me all Punjabis were Sikhs and all those who had a surname Singh was a Punjabi Sikh. It was  much later that  I realized  how ill informed I was then in the 70s. During my maiden visit to Delhi in 1974 ( I was In class-4 then) there was a fellow sikh passenger of army background and that was the first time I saw a Sardarji ( as we used to call Sikhs) from close range and  since I could not speak Hindi or English then, I was mostly silent with a smile for his frequent calls of Enna china thambi? (how do you do little boy? in tamil- and that was the only south Indian phrase he knew- and like many north Indians, he also probably might have thought all southies are Madrasis and we all talk tamil). But on my return in the class I was boastful  of my interaction with a Sardarji � the only one in my class to have done so,- much to the envy of my friends. During that period we genuinely had an impression that  Sikhs are something similar to alien beings with beard and turban and hefty built.

The first chance I got to visit Punjab was way back in 1986 in the final year of Engg college during the all India tour. We were on our way to Shimla and had to cross Punjab.  It was during the peak of the troubled phase of Punjab. That night, otherwise boisterous group of 50  was as silent as flock of chickens in the butcher�s shop.  Much later in 2007 I had visited Jullundhar twice on official trip and found Punjab really green and developed- both agriculturally and industrially.   

Insurgency in  Punjab  was so long and bloody that it grabbed  much of the headlines of papers and Doordarshan ( the only available TV channel then)  during the turbulent 80s -  for the wrong reasons. And that was the time  of Amritsar and Golden temple caught the national attention. Amritsar for a sikh is equivalent of Bathlaheim for Christians, Macca for Muslims, and Varanasi for Hindus � the Holiest of Holy. But again it caught the attention of the nation and the world for the wrong reasons-  Bindranwale and his associates and  Operation Blue star.  After reading various books and newspaper articles on Bluestar and aftermath and assassination of Indira Gandhi, I had a secret desire to visit those hot spots. But  Punjab  was a dangerous place to travel then.

Operation blue star, contrary to the anticipated outcome, actually stirred up the hornest�s nest. Various splinter groups aided by Pakistan’s ISI wreaked havoc in this most prosperous state of India- and at one point it seemed that Pakistan will be successful in taking revenge for liberation of East Pakistan as Bangladesh. Khalistan appeared all too inevitable until that bold step taken by the then PM Mr. Narasimha Rao- often wrongly portrayed by the media as the  indecisive PM (just think of liberalization) -  to hold elections in Punjab in  1993.

Wagha border is the only recognized road crossing point between India and Pakistan. (A second one -  Aman Setu- between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad has been opened since 2005). Since the first time I saw the retreat ceremony on TV, I wanted to be a part of that ceremony.  It looked patriotically entertaining. And more importantly I have never seen a border  crossing  between  countries before.

So after a couple of flopped plans, I finally managed to reach Amritsar on 30^th Sept.

Amritsar for an outsider still maintains the age old charm intertwined with modernity that too with perfect finesse. You have narrow streets with small shops selling curios and dhabas selling Amritsari Kulcha and Naan and above all Lassi,  which will transport you back to the forties- you have only seen in TV in the good old Doordarshan days of  Buniyaad. But just turn the corner and the main roads are packed with  big shops, malls and ATMs, bringing us back to the familiar  modern day city from a nostalgic 40s town. It is a perfect blend of medieval and modern era- like many other heritage cities of India.

The places of interest may not be many- but they are all historical. And you start getting a strange sense of unease engulf you. The recent past ( Last 100 years) have been particularly violent with a lot of blood shed for this region. You start smelling blood everywhere.

The first prominent location is Jalian Walla Bagh. We all have studied in our school History text book about this location where on 13^th April 1919, British Indian army under Brigadier- General Dyer opened fire on a group of peaceful demonstrators who had gathered, protesting against Rowlett act . This act  had given the British unchallenging powers to detain anybody without trial and to curtail press freedom under the guise of containing political and militant unrest threatening British rule. The resulting carnage left more than a thousand dead � many of them Ladies and children.

The extend of casualty is very evident the moment you reach the garden. It has only one narrow entry and exit passage which is hardly 8 to 10 feet wide. The entire ground is surrounded by old buildings with some temple like structure and a well . So when the 90 or so British Indian army soldiers entered the ground from the only entry- exit point and started firing  at the demonstrators, there was no escape for them. The official figure of 379 dead is grossly manipulated underplay by the British. Many of them jumped into the well on the side to escape firing and more than 120 bodies were recovered from this well alone later. This well is since renamed Martyr�s well. The unofficial death toll of that incident was well over a thousand. You still see bullet holes in the boundary wall and the temple like structure at the centre- which have been clearly marked and preserved by govt. to remind us how hard earned this freedom and democracy is. This incident was a watershed in the history of our freedom struggle.  General Dyer was removed from the Brigadier General Post and sent back to Britain on grounds of ill health where he died in 1927. There premises has a memorial Amar Jyoti and a monument along with a museum which has a painting of the day the massacre. A must visit for those who love India and our freedom. But the moment you enter the narrow passage to the ground � which has later been converted into a memorial garden, a strange gloom descends with a realization that this is the path through which the British Indian soldiers entered the garden and opened fire on those hapless gatherers and that too without any warning.  The place is a stark reminder of the darkest  phase of British rule and their ruthlessness. In this modern day of neo-colonials- the big corporations with turnover more than that of the annual budget of many countries, it is a signboard warning us of the possible future consequences if they are given a free hand the way post 90s govt policies are formulated in India and elsewhere in the WTO era. After all British also entered India through the trade route- The British East India Company.

                                                                                          (to be continued)

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As a young boy growing up in faraway Kerala, for me all Punjabis were Sikhs and all those who had a surname Singh was a Punjabi Sikh. It was �much later that �I realized� how ill informed I was then in the 70s. During my maiden visit to Delhi in 1974 ( I was In class-4 then) there was a fellow sikh passenger of army background and that was the first time I saw a Sardarji ( as we used to call Sikhs) from close range and� since I could not speak Hindi or English then, I was mostly silent with a smile for his frequent calls of Enna china thambi? (how do you do little boy? in tamil- and that was the only south Indian phrase he knew- and like many north Indians, he also probably might have thought all southies are Madrasis and we all talk tamil). But on my return in the class I was boastful� of my interaction with a Sardarji � the only one in my class to have done so,- much to the envy of my friends. During that period we genuinely had an impression that �Sikhs are something similar to alien beings with beard and turban and hefty built.

The first chance I got to visit Punjab was way back in 1986 in the final year of Engg college during the all India tour. We were on our way to Shimla and had to cross Punjab.� It was during the peak of the troubled phase of Punjab. That night, otherwise boisterous group of 50 �was as silent as flock of chickens in the butcher�s shop.� Much later in 2007 I had visited Jullundhar twice on official trip and found Punjab really green and developed- both agriculturally and industrially. ��

Insurgency in �Punjab� was so long and bloody that it grabbed �much of the headlines of papers and Doordarshan ( the only available TV channel then)� during the turbulent 80s -� for the wrong reasons. And that was the time� of Amritsar and Golden temple caught the national attention. Amritsar for a sikh is equivalent of Bathlaheim for Christians, Macca for Muslims, and Varanasi for Hindus � the Holiest of Holy. But again it caught the attention of the nation and the world for the wrong reasons-� Bindranwale and his associates and� Operation Blue star. �After reading various books and newspaper articles on Bluestar and aftermath and assassination of Indira Gandhi, I had a secret desire to visit those hot spots. But� Punjab �was a dangerous place to travel then.

Operation blue star, contrary to the anticipated outcome, actually stirred up the hornest�s nest. Various splinter groups aided by Pakistan’s ISI wreaked havoc in this most prosperous state of India- and at one point it seemed that Pakistan will be successful in taking revenge for liberation of East Pakistan as Bangladesh. Khalistan appeared all too inevitable until that bold step taken by the then PM Mr. Narasimha Rao- often wrongly portrayed by the media as the� indecisive PM (just think of liberalization) - �to hold elections in Punjab in� 1993.

Wagha border is the only recognized road crossing point between India and Pakistan. (A second one -� Aman Setu- between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad has been opened since 2005). Since the first time I saw the retreat ceremony on TV, I wanted to be a part of that ceremony. �It looked patriotically entertaining. And more importantly I have never seen a border �crossing� between� countries before.

So after a couple of flopped plans, I finally managed to reach Amritsar on 30^th Sept.

Amritsar for an outsider still maintains the age old charm intertwined with modernity that too with perfect finesse. You have narrow streets with small shops selling curios and dhabas selling Amritsari Kulcha and Naan and above all Lassi,� which will transport you back to the forties- you have only seen in TV in the good old Doordarshan days of �Buniyaad. But just turn the corner and the main roads are packed with �big shops, malls and ATMs, bringing us back to the familiar �modern day city from a nostalgic 40s town. It is a perfect blend of medieval and modern era- like many other heritage cities of India.

The places of interest may not be many- but they are all historical. And you start getting a strange sense of unease engulf you. The recent past ( Last 100 years) have been particularly violent with a lot of blood shed for this region. You start smelling blood everywhere.

The first prominent location is Jalian Walla Bagh. We all have studied in our school History text book about this location where on 13^th April 1919, British Indian army under Brigadier- General Dyer opened fire on a group of peaceful demonstrators who had gathered, protesting against Rowlett act . This act� had given the British unchallenging powers to detain anybody without trial and to curtail press freedom under the guise of containing political and militant unrest threatening British rule. The resulting carnage left more than a thousand dead � many of them Ladies and children.

The extend of casualty is very evident the moment you reach the garden. It has only one narrow entry and exit passage which is hardly 8 to 10 feet wide. The entire ground is surrounded by old buildings with some temple like structure and a well . So when the 90 or so British Indian army soldiers entered the ground from the only entry- exit point and started firing �at the demonstrators, there was no escape for them. The official figure of 379 dead is grossly manipulated underplay by the British. Many of them jumped into the well on the side to escape firing and more than 120 bodies were recovered from this well alone later. This well is since renamed Martyr�s well. The unofficial death toll of that incident was well over a thousand. You still see bullet holes in the boundary wall and the temple like structure at the centre- which have been clearly marked and preserved by govt. to remind us how hard earned this freedom and democracy is. This incident was a watershed in the history of our freedom struggle.� General Dyer was removed from the Brigadier General Post and sent back to Britain on grounds of ill health where he died in 1927. There premises has a memorial Amar Jyoti and a monument along with a museum which has a painting of the day the massacre. A must visit for those who love India and our freedom. But the moment you enter the narrow passage to the ground � which has later been converted into a memorial garden, a strange gloom descends with a realization that this is the path through which the British Indian soldiers entered the garden and opened fire on those hapless gatherers and that too without any warning.� The place is a stark reminder of the darkest �phase of British rule and their ruthlessness. In this modern day of neo-colonials- the big corporations with turnover more than that of the annual budget of many countries, it is a signboard warning us of the possible future consequences if they are given a free hand the way post 90s govt policies are formulated in India and elsewhere in the WTO era. After all British also entered India through the trade route- The British East India Company.

�

������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ (to be continued)

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WISHING ALL A VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS ONAM.

FOR A CHANGE THE PICTURE I HAVE CHOSEN IS THAT OF PULIKALI OR TIGER DANCE PERFORMED FOR THE CARNIVAL LIKE EVENT ON THE 4TH ONAM AT TRICHUR -�WHICH HAPPENS TO BE MY REAL HOMETOWN.

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Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace…

-          John Lennon�s �Imagine�

8:15- that is the time our car pool starts to office � 23 Km drive from Noida to Bhikaji cama place in New Delhi. And around that time  major chunk of employees move out of house for their workplace.  And incidentally it was precisely at this moment that the first atomic bomb- nicknamed �Little Boy� a uranium bomb of 16 kiloton capacity was exploded over the Japanese city of Hiroshima 64 years ago. The first of the two incidents when a nuclear weapon was targeted at humans. The next incident was just three days later in another Japanese city of Nagasaki � for a change this time the plutonium bomb was nicknamed �Fat Man�, but the effects were more or less the  same. Living creatures  within a radius of 2 Kms vapourised into thick air- thick with the debris of nuclear waste and high level of radiation. And that number was around 70000. Quarter of a million people perished with in a year of the bombings. And even now generations are still suffering the effects of that bombings.

Just imagine the same thing happening to us-  coming out of house  to catch a bus or drive a car to office- but before that could happen, you vapourise!  Well if you vaporize, it is still  better,  for those who survive will really have a terrible time for rest of their life- however short or long that may be. And probably that would have happened to those millions of Hiroshimans and Nagasakians who survived  6^th and 9^th August 1945.

Greater irony is that Rawandan leaders, Serb leaders and all those communists and Saddam Hussain were labeled war criminals for the atrocities-  but never Harry. S. Truman. Japan apologized umpteen times for the second world war crimes, but never US or the so called victorious allies. Because they can never be wrong, they are the only morally correct souls existing in this world. Whatever they do is the right thing- they are the ones who make the rules and implement it-Their own Justice-  they are the Gods. That is why it is said that  History is written by the Victors.

Even now we try to convince ourselves that  nuclear weapons are an essential evil- a deterrant � and the main reason for not erupting  another world war. But we fail to understand is the fact there were very near misses.

The weapons the nuclear nations have today  will make Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs toys. The biggies have thousands of them which can finish this planet many times over. And they try to impose the Non- proliferation treaty . It is something similar to a chain smoking doctor proscribing patient from having a puff. Today at least 10 countries are known to have a stockpile of nuclear weapons and more and trying to join the race.  It is better to call these weapons as Assured Mutual destruction (AMD) rather than weapons of mass destruction (WMD). No nation can  survive a nuclear warfare.

Here we are all gathered in what seems to be the centre of the storm
Neighbours once friendly now stand each side of the line that has been drawn
They�ve been fighting here for years, but now theres killing on the streets
While small coffins are lined up sadly, now united in defeat.

-          Phil Collins�s �Both sides of the story�.

Yes we will be united in defeat. And just think of those renegade scientists taking the nuclear technology to the terrorists.

We say we have conscience- and only we have conscience -  even though many of our actions raises serious question mark on this claim. If we truly have conscience, then the best thing we can do is to eliminate these weapons from the face of earth- not an easy choice- but a definitely a sensible one � for the humanity, for all the living beings on this only known habitable space in the universe. Can we ever achieve it?

You may say that I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one.

-          John Lennon�s �Imagine�

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Forty years ago on a nice afternoon of 20^th July, 1969 ( of course it was US time,. In India it was 21^st July wee hours of the morning)� a shy man by the name Neil Armstrong climbed down the Lunar module, put his feet firmly on the lunar soil- first living being on its surface in the 4.5 billion years of its existence- with the since then immortalized words- �that�s one small step for a man- a giant leap for the mankind.�� When we are within the state, we identify ourselves with the town or district. When out of state we identify with the state or region. When out of country, we identify with the country or at times even with continent. Extending the same, when out of earth, we would identify with this globe called earth. We are the citizens of� Earth. So truly it was the giant leap for the mankind, not just� for Americans.

Since the July 1969 Apollo mission, US sent six more missions to moon ( Apollo 12 to 17, Except for the Apollo 13- about which every body knows) �they managed to land humans on lunar soil- 12 in total. Somehow, by the last mission in December 1972, people lost fascination for moon as lunar landing became passe and the mission got scrapped. Saturn-V , the most powerful rocket ever built by man was relegated to the exhibition area of NASA. The true driving force behind the Apollo mission was the cold war between US and erstwhile USSR. In the previous two space races, USSR outsmarted US by putting the first artificial satellite (Sputnik) and the first human in space ( Yuri Gagarin). It was a challenge to capitalism, and in 1961 �Kennedy� vowed to put man on moon by the end of that decade (60s). Even though Kennedy was not alive to hear the small step or watch the giant leap, his dream, his vision was fulfilled.

In the early 70s it appeared that it is only a matter of a few more years, before man would set his feet for the first time on another planet- of course Mars. In 1975, two Viking landers landed on mars sending first close up pictures of Mars., an we believed we would be there in the next few years. ( NASA of course knew the difficulties and had envisaged human landing only by the 50^th anniversary of Lunar landing). But after scrapping the Apollo mission,� NASA focused attention on developing reusable spacecrafts like Discovery, Challenger and Columbia. This automatically put the manned mission to other planets on the backburner. Had they worked on the Saturn -V rocket, improving on it, man would have been very close to Mars by now. As the situation stands today, even NASA is not planning to send anyone to Moon before 2019, and the earliest manned Mars mission will not be possible before 2039- and even that is too ambitious. Because of the scrapping of Saturn-V technology, today NASA is in a situation of re-inventing the wheel.

If moon is just 3 days away, Mars in one direction is 6 to 9 months away depending on the timing of launch and the position of the planet. So the entire mission can last as much as �one and a half to two years. So a very limited crew will have to survive on packaged food for two years without any scope of replenishing by supply ships (as done in International space station). So a very efficient recycling mechanism has to be developed for the survival and sustenance of the crew. Otherwise the space ship itself will be so bulky that our rockets may not be powerful enough to take it to Mars. But even if you think this can be overcome by first building or parking �the space craft in the outer space - like the space station or on Moon, fill it with supplies, through sorties, and then send the crew later and lift off from space- which means needing much less power than from earth, the psychological trauma of the crew due to two years of isolation is something� everybody needs to worry about. Experiments are already on in isolation chambers for understanding the psychological condition of spacefarers - the recently concluded 105 days experiment in Russia was one in such a direction. Maintaining high spirits for a short mission to moon lasting probably a week is easy, but extending it for two years in total isolation with even the basic communications with earth taking more than 10 minutes and upto 22 minutes is something that can dampen the spirits of even the most enthusiastic.� Because of the thrust considerations of the space craft, we cannot afford� a bigger crew. So the biggest challenge �for the Mars mission eventually may not be technological, but psychological.�

Millions have traveling to America and Australia, yet we still remember Columbus and Captain Cook. Thousands have climbed Mount Everest, yet we remember Hillary and Tenzing. Because they were the first explorers who dared through the vast , unknown expanse of unpredictability , with danger lurking at every corner. Likewise Even though 12 men landed on Moon, we still remember Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins- because they were the pioneers- with no previous data or experience to bank on, traveled through the vast expanse of Space to Moon risking their very life .� Lets all salute the Human spirit and quest which made us so much different from rest of the creatures on this planet.

�

At this point, it will not be appropriate to ignore all those disbelievers and skeptics who still think that the entire Lunar landing episode is a big Hoax. They believe it was staged in some remote set in the Nevada desert. They cite some plausible mismatches in the lunar landing. One of the major objections is the fluttering of US flag on Lunar surface- where there is no air. Then the shadows of the astronauts and equipments are pointing in different directions - which is impossible with a single source of light (The sun) . Also the only object visible in the lunar sky is the earth. Where have all the stars gone? . They think that it is impossible for any living creature to cross the intense radiation belt- extending from 800 Kms to 38000 Kms above earth known as Van Allen Belt. If at all anybody survives this, he will have serious� diseases like cancer due to radiation exposure. None of the 9 surviving men on Moon had shown any such symptoms- nor did the three who are no more. Based on the above reasons,� they claim Moon landing is a big Hoax. NASA and BBC websites have answered these above points giving scientific explanation to each of the points.� Also if there was a foul play, more than 400,000 people were involved in the Apollo mission, and it would have come out in greater detail. There is bound to be some whistle blowers. The most pressing reason to believe the Moon landing is USSR. Had the mission been a Hoax, USSR would have been the first to highlight it with details. During the lunar landings, one unmanned soviet craft was keeping an eye on Moon.� And it was the height of cold war. No way USSR would have allowed US to get away with it had it been a Hoax.

Many of us were lucky to be alive during the Lunar landings and experienced the excitement even though vicariously. Will we be the lucky enough to experience the excitement of Martian landing as well? �Lets be optimistic.

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Not many knew there was a lunar eclipse today morning- of course it was not visible in India. And wherever it was visible � mainly in the southern hemisphere, it was a penumbral eclipse- means- moon will be only under light shadow of earth, so pretty difficult to detect and far from spectacular unless you have some viewing aids like a powerful binoculars or telescope.

And it is heyday for astrologers- the doomsday mongers. Because as per them it is a series of triple eclipse starting today. On 22 july, India will witness a total solar eclipse and on 6^th August there will be a partial penumbral lunar eclipse. They say it is very rare and is associated with calamity. Any astral event is a harbinger of doom in astrology. Be it aligning of two or three planets, or closest approach of a planet, or of course the visit of comets. Even in this 21^st century they find more takers� to it than ever before.

Some say Kurukshetra war was preceded by a triple eclipse. We don�t know whether there really was a Kurukshetra war and if at all it took place, in which year it happened. This and some other speculative events like the deluge of Dwarka are the basis for these doomsday predictions. How easily we conclude things based on certain myths(?) �and hearsay.

Triple eclipse is not a rare phenomenon. Infact all full moon and new moon days are potential candidates for an eclipse. It does not happen because of the tilt in the lunar orbit around earth with respect to earth�s orbit around sun. Infact the last one happened in 1991 july and nothing alarming happened then. But then if you start tracing for some calamity, each year something or other happens. �

You have eclipses happening every year, triple and double happening less frequently, but not utter rarity.� Comets visit every now and then. Some are more magnificient with long tails, others are invisible. And we don�t know for sure when the next visit will be- as we don�t know how many comets are wandering around in solar system and what is their time period of solar approach. Some may come back more frequently like the Haley�s comet, some may appear only once in thousands of years. Many of them many not have been logged so far.

This is the year of astronomy- being the 400^th anniversary of Galileo�s telescope- a watershed in astronomy. And by chance there is a total solar eclipse and the closest approach of Mars to earth in August- which will make the red planet brightest in the recorded history of mankind. Lets enjoy these celestial events. Understand the true science behind them. Not shut down indoors and starve.

During the 1995 total solar eclipse, I have seen people in our colony remaining indoors with doors and windows shut. I was the only soul in the terrace trying to get the real view with the help of welding glasses.� And then the most peculiar phenomenon, immediately after the eclipse, nomads appeared from nowhere, collecting food from houses cooked before the eclipse. It is believed by some that the food becomes poisonous during eclipse and so they give it to nomads. But then if it is really poisonous, if we are religious and pious and ethical people, as we claim to be should we give it to a fellow human being. Fortunately those illiterate nomads are less superstitious than the so called educated lot like us. And so they get a good meal at least on that day. �

The timing of this eclipse is not the most suitable for viewing. July is the peak of Monsoon season in India. And the eclipse starts early in the morning- so there is every chance of the skies remaining cloudy. Lets hope for a clearer day on 22^nd july atleast till 10 AM. Otherwise we will be missing the longest eclipse of the century and of course our lifetime.

�

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