It is after a long time I am writing a poem, and this is certainly my first since I started blogging. It follows below, read it and share your views as comments…

Our media say Aussies are attacking Indians,
But is racism really to blame…
In the race of getting more eyeballs and attention,
Isn’t it only a publicity game!!

Why do we forget to see,
What is happening in our own home?
When Shiv Sena hits out at fellow Indians,
It seems our unity and dignity are long gone…

Naxalites are killing policemen everyday,
Now active among 220 districts and 20 states..
Our armies might be one of the biggest,
But some problems are better solved with just opening our heart gates!

Is it not racism when we divide on caste,
Or hate a person for region or religion…
Why do we always forget that be it Biharis or Mumbaikars,
We are all part of the same legion!!

It is said every cloud has a silver lining,
And with the attacks on Indians down under…
Shiv Sena when they said would not allow Aussie… Read the rest

In the 80′s, there was terror in Punjab. Then there have been continuous terror incidents in Kashmir from the late 80s and early 90s. But the 21st century brought with it a new kind of terror in India. Terrorists now managed serial blasts all across India, and also carried out personal fidayeen attacks in many cities of India. Apart from the terror attacks, there has been religious violence in Gujarat and continuous attacks on Churches across states. There has been violence in Mumbai over North Indians, in Rajasthan over Gujjars demanding a lower SC status, in Punjab over Dera Sacha Sauda, and then there is Naxalism in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar, and many other states. So what happened to the idea of a Safe India?

Terrorism have took a new turn in the last decade. Terrorists now dared to attack the Red Fort in 2000, the Parliament in 2001 and the Akshardham Temple in Gujarat in 2002. There have been bus/car bombings in Mumbai in 2003, serial blasts in Delhi in 2005, serial attacks in Varanasi in 2006, bombings at Mecca Masjid, Hyderabad in 2007, serial attacks in Delhi, Jaipur, Bangalore, Ahmedabad in 2008 plus… Read the rest

This is an open letter to the so called protector of Marathi rights, the Shiv Sena. For those who don’t know, Shiv Sena is a major political party in Maharashtra headed by Bal Thackeray, and fights elections normally in an alliance with the BJP. The letter starts below -

Dear Shiv Sena Members,

First of all, congratulations of being a responsible political party in Maharashtra who thinks that blocking the release of a Shah Rukh Khan movie is more important than working on other civic management issues in Maharashtra and Mumbai. These other “less” important issues like lack of safe drinking water which results in diseases like diarrhea, cholera which in turn leads to high infant mortality rates.

Mumbai, where most of you Shiv Sainiks work, is a city of 14 million people but over 60% of them live in slums. And the slum population is still increasing every year. There are traffic problems, lack of housing, poor water and power distribution system, and yet you attack Shah Rukh, Mukesh Ambani and Sachin Tendulkar for saying the obvious. And remember, every time you protest / attack, you are wasting money paid as tax by your own Mumbaikars!!

Only if… Read the rest

It is often said that politics and sports should not be mixed. I have heard this a lot during the last two decades in terms of Indo-Pak relations and cricket. Needless to say, Indo-Pak relations are not exactly like bread and butter after the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai. Pakistan players were not allowed by the Pak government for IPL 2009, nor would Indian government have given them issues if Pak government would have allowed them.

Coming to IPL, it is big money and no player would want to miss it, whatever the reasons given. So when the auction for 2010 IPL was announced, Pak players wanted to be a part of it. After getting clearances from their government and as per expressed shown by IPL franchisee teams, 11 Pakistan players were included for the auction. The list included big-ticket players like Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Aamer, Umar Gul and Umar Akmal. Many of them were part of the world cup winning Pak squad and Afridi was the top runner for the most-expensive bid this time.

But what happened at the auction surprised one and all. There were no takers for the Pakistani players and they were not touched… Read the rest