A nice article on Terrorism

Hi All,
In the wake of all terrorism and bomb threats happening all over the country; people blaming the police, the government etc etc, I received this wonderful article via email as to who are actually responsible for the spread of terrorism.
I do not know who the author is, I just wanted to post it here so that everyone can read the same.
Read On.

Why terror isn’t just the police's problem
It should be safe to assume that for a good portion of September, we would have to hear the condemnation of terrorists' and terrorism ad nauseam. We can expect scores of camera-friendly politicians and administrators venturing out to say this in a display of well-positioned eloquence. But condemning terrorists and terrorism is the handiwork of a tribe which is unable to accomplish their agenda without using these words. And their only aim in saying this is to enlist the support of others who react to the word "terrorist" with trepidation, and helps create a mob mindset, each of whom is united by the fear of a perceived common enemy.
Having done the deed, these politicians and those governing us return home satisfied their day's service to the nation has been achieved.
Point is too many politicians and officials waste too much time talking about issues and not doing anything about them. None of them accepts that if you are unwilling to take decisions - because you don't want someone to dislike you - then its best to retire.
Politicians are supposed to represent people and take decisions. Some wont like the decision, but it's their job to take them. So each time our cities get hit by terror, commandos swarm our streets, railway stations, airports and malls. We get our false sense of security for a few days and things fall back to normal - till the next terrorist strikes. And the charade is then repeated all over again.
We may surely need slogans, rhetoric and condemnation after blasts, as terrorism often has an ideological basis. But the foot-soldiers of such ideological fanatics - who implement the act in our markets and streets and hurt our loved ones - need to be tackled like any other criminal.
Our administrators still haven't understood we need two completely different approaches - one to counter the ideology behind terrorism and the other to tackle the terrorist or the criminal who carries out the act on the ground. They still haven't figured out it may be difficult to change ideological and brainwashed individuals quickly, but it's faster and more practical to create as many hurdles as you can in the path of a terrorist.
So spouting condemnations is wonderful, but can we all get back to office and begin working to make the life of a criminal planting the explosive a bit more difficult?
Criminals look for operational ease in carrying out their act; they work incognito and are equally scared of getting caught. It's the same for terrorists. But the terrain in India is far too easy for them. And hardly provides any sort of a deterrent, both to a petty criminal or a terror module. So let's surely rush to blame the police commissioner, the DGP, the intelligence chief and the home minister each time a blast occurs. But can we also please begin slamming a few more of our gentlemen who rule and govern us?
We can begin by blaming the incompetence and corruption of our municipal bodies, our transport departments, our town planners, the dozens of notaries who sit outside court complexes attesting papers, any paper, our finance ministries, the urban development ministry and the public works department after every blast. And yes, can we also please blame our market associations, NGOs which will resist any regulation of hawking zones and traders? And finally, can we blame ourselves as well, because we are all making the terrorists' job a wee bit too easy?
It's about time politicians and officials (and us) accept they aren't keeping their eyes and minds open and are expecting the police to spot and prevent everything. They can't.
Because the hurdles that a criminal (terrorist) would face in a well managed, well developed, modern and efficient urban city, just aren't there. And these hurdles are created not just by the police, but by an overall sophistication in civic, administrative, and economic management of an urban township.
This is why a criminal faces negligible hurdles in stealing cars to transport men and material to various places as a getaway. In virtually any city, it can be done with child-like ease, because we just don't have enough organized parking lots or spaces. A secure, well checked parking lot makes it a little more difficult for a criminal to steal your car. So, haven't our civic administrators failed to anticipate and provide for the magnitude of the demand for parking? And now shouldn't they share the blame for making a criminal, or a terrorist's job, easier?
And what about us? We, too, park our cars anywhere; cram them in lanes, by-lanes and markets. Isn't that the reason why it's easy for a terrorist's explosive laden car, cycle or two-wheeler to melt in this chaos just about anywhere, undetected and without suspicion? Just think about it.
The chemicals and detonators terrorists' buy to assemble the bomb can be secured as easily, because the authority responsible for regulating its sale isn't making it difficult for a man with nefarious design to secure unlimited quantities. It's possible to buy anything and any amount, if you have the cash. So, why shouldn't we also slam the chemicals and fertilizers ministry, the controller of explosives and the excise department for allowing corruption and sloth to contribute to terror acts?
Walk into any road transport office, and its simple to secure a driving license without need for any documentation. Getting vehicles registered, ensuring fake identities, entering fake residence proofs for registrations is never an arduous task, again if one has spare cash. Aren't these fake identities the basis on which a terrorist manages a SIM connection for a cell phone? There isn't much of a hurdle for him here either.
So why shouldn't we rush to blame the transport and general district administration offices for abetting terrorism? And why should the notary sitting outside a court complex, who gleefully attests any document as a verified original, not be blamed for the growing threat of terror?
Most Indian cities are congested. In many, it's made worse because hawkers and casual businesses are illegally allowed to set-up their wares on pavements. Traders in most markets manage extensions and set-up temporary counters outside their establishments, adding to the chaos. The remaining spaces are taken up by cycles, two-wheelers and other wares. Somewhere in between are overflowing garbage bins, junk strewn all around it and fruit and vegetable waste thrown just about everywhere.
So, it won't really take several months of training in a Muzaffarabad terror camp to keep a bag containing a bomb in any such public place. Even you and I can do it. So why shouldn't we blame the municipal councillor, the traders' association, the local politician and the civic bodies for aiding terror by allowing physical encroachment and failing to create well managed hawking zones and spaces for hawkers and casual trade?
Why shouldn't civic bodies be held accountable as well for failing to provide well lit, well planned market complexes and roads - for allowing rampant violation of building bye-laws, all of which adds to congestion and thereby reduces the number of hurdles that a terrorist would face in executing his job? Why shouldn't we blame ourselves too, for selfishly taking advantage of such mess?
Terrorism is like prostitution. It won't go away, just because we don't like it and condemn it. Politicians, administrators and we will have to join the policeman, in our bid to frustrate a criminal by making his operating terrain difficult. By using modern, efficient ways of urban planning and maintenance. By insisting on following the rule-book and by cracking down hard on violations of any government guideline. Even if the insistence on the rule is disliked by a few of us. Politicians would need to give up for a few years the temptation of ensuring patronage for rule-breakers, no matter now trivial or insignificant they may be.
Sure, all of it sounds utopian. It's safe to conclude this may never really happen. That it's virtually impossible to achieve this. Fair point! But then lets at least applaud Ram Gopal Verma for the getting the only thing right in the past two years - the opening line of his latest movie, Contract.
It says: "We may ignore terrorism, but terrorism won't ignore us."
Consequently, God forbid, but if we get hit by another terror strike, let's do something which is surely possible. Let's go out and slam the police and the home minister. But can we look at completing the grand slam by adding the urban development minister, the civic chief, the councillor, the transport department, the notary, traders,' ourselves.

*Petrol is really cheap*

I filled up my car's fuel tank, and I thought fuel has become really expensive after the recent price hike. But then I compared it with other common liquids and did some quick calculations, and I felt a little better.

To know why, see the results below – you'll be surprised at how outrageous some other prices are ! !

Diesel (regular) in Mumbai : Rs.36.08 per litre

Petrol (speed) in Mumbai : Rs.52 per litre

Coca Cola 330 ml can : Rs.20 = Rs.61 per litre

Dettol antiseptic 100 ml Rs.20 = Rs.200 per litre

Radiator coolant 500 ml Rs.160 = Rs.320 per litre

Pantene conditioner 400 ml Rs.165 = Rs.413 per litre

Medicinal Mouthwash like Listerine 100 ml Rs.45 = Rs. 450 per litre

Red Bull 150 ml can : Rs.75 = Rs.500 per litre

Corex cough syrup 100 ml Rs.57 = Rs. 570 per litre

Evian water 500 ml Rs. 330 = Rs. 660 per litre Rs. 660 for a litre of WATER !! And the buyers don't even know the source (Evian spelled backwards is Naive.)

Kores whiteout 15 ml Rs. 15 = Rs. 1000 per litre

Cup of coffee at any decent business hotel 100 ml Rs. 50 = Rs. 500 per litre

Old Spice after shave lotion 100 ml Rs. 175 = Rs. 1750 per litre

Pure almond oil 25 ml Rs. 68 = Rs. 2720 per litre

And this is the REAL KICKER... HP DeskJet colour ink cartridge 21 ml Rs.1900 = Rs. 90476 per litre!!!

Now you know why computer printers are so cheap ? So they have you hooked for the ink ! So, the next time you're at the pump, don't curse anyone – just be glad your car doesn't run on cough syrup, after shave, coffee, or God forbid, printer ink!*

Source - Email Forward

Accident because of bad driving (lady driver)

I was on my way to work after dropping my wife. I came to a small crossroad (there was lot of glass pieces strewn on the road, because of some previous accident). I was trying to be extra careful and came slightly to the right to avoid those glass pieces. I could see that a car (Gold color- old model santro)was coming from the other side perpendicularly, about to join the same road.
Just as I cleared the glass pieces and was about to get back on normal speed, this santro jammed right into my right-fender.
I was so damn angry, I immediately asked her to stop the car and get down and I was taken by surprise when she declined.
She had stopped the car but was not ready to get down from the car. I mean, I was so damn angry and asked her to just get down so that we can talk.
She was with her mother (or mother in law or someone elderly). Once she got down, I told her to simply pay for my damages to my car. She was like, why should I pay, its not my mistake etc etc.and started blaming me that I was the one who hit her car.
I tried to stay calm and explained to her logically, that if I had hit her it would be her fender which would be damaged and my front right corner(her car's left corner jammed into my right fender). But she refused to listen. By this time, there was a huge crowd of people who wanted to settle the issue (help the lady in distress).
I was pretty clear, I told her to pay for my damages. So she was like No, it was no my mistake and let's go to the police station; I was like, I am OK with going to the police station which is when people there started advising her to not go to a police station and just forget the episode and go away; and that such things happen always in Bangalore.
Seeing the number of people who started to support her, she started accusing me of rash driving and indecent talking. This really pissed me off. And she even started saying that such things are common in bangalore and you should live with it. This really irritated me, I told her that it might be common for you but not for me. I have been driving for ages and have not made such silly mistakes.
Anyways finally after lot of unecessary talk, the elderly lady gave me some money (just Rs 500).I mean, what is Rs 500 going to suffice for a thorough tinkering and painting job.
Just dropped my car for service at Green Tracks. The service advisor there told me that it would cost me Rs 2800 for the tinkering and painting :((.
Is there any other company who would do a good job for a much lesser price ?
Conclusion from today's incident :-
- When a man and a lady meet with an accident, the man is always at fault. :(, No matter what

Drivers in Bangalore

Truck Drivers: You usually don't get to see them directly because they sit somewhere at an altitude. You can however identify the cabin crew by a frantically waving hand on the non-driver side. This hand belongs to a crew-member called 'cleaner' and all scholastic efforts till date have failed to decipher the symbolic meaning of these waving. It is however Safe to assume that these waving mean 'stay away'. Fortunately the trucks are prohibited from the arterial roads. But you can see them racing each other at 30 kmph and 31 kmph on the ring road. They successfully block the whole width of the road. It is advised that you take them over from left (yes, the wrong side) for, they wont let you pass from the right side anyway. The other advice is to keep away from them.

BMTC Drivers: You can see them from a mile away from the distinguishing color and driving. It can be very dangerous and frustrating to follow a BMTC bus. The bus follows Heisenberg's uncertainty principle and at any instance you can not predict the speed AND the position correctly. One observation that might help the reader is that they always keep right between bus stops and move to left (well, almost) at bus stops. This is the apt opportunity for you to take the bus over and go stuck behind the next one. The drivers can be seen although mostly through the bus's rear view mirror. If you happen to see them directly through their window, be prepared to listen to advice for having taken them over in a dangerous fashion. While a normal bus can easily create a road block on any given road, there are special capacity joint-buses (called janti vaahana) which have an uncanny power of blocking up to 3 roads at a time at a junction.

Cab Drivers: Characterized by red eyes, irritable nature, unkempt facial hair, constant honking even at stationary object! They always try to go at 80 kmph, assume the urgency of an ambulance and expect everyone else has less important job. Most of them do not sleep for days together and some of them are trying to compete with David Blaine for stretching human limits. The author personally knows few cab drivers who do not have a habitat. They just keep a pair of spare uniform in the cab, eat sleep in the cab and use public bathrooms. Driving style of these indicates that many of them were auto rickshaw driver earlier. However, they still seem to carry the self image of an auto rickshaw and try to squeeze a MUV into the 1 meter gap between any two objects.

Car Drivers: Characterized by creased foreheads. Having paid through their noses and fighting to pay the EMI, they are obsessive about their cars and want to make sure nobody bumps/scratches their car body. This sits on the mind perpetually and causes those creases on foreheads. Most pitiable class of drivers having the most to lose from the mistakes of other classes of drivers.

Auto Rickshaw Drivers: Having stood over years as undisputed symbol for rash driving, they are unfortunately losing grounds to cab drivers. (Unfortunate because a rashly driven MUV is more dangerous than a rashly driven auto rickshaw). Auto rickshaws are the vehicles with most diverse speed ranges. They travel at speeds approaching zero when they have no passengers aboard and travel at speed of unto 3x108 m/s when a passenger is aboard. Analogous to the belief that "a cat can pass through any hole that is bigger than its skull" auto rickshaws can "pass through any gap that is wider than the headlight". They defy all laws of Physics. A typical auto driver sits with a calm and indifferent attitude of a formula-1 driver just before the race. Based on his age, he is a Rajkumar/Shankarnag/Darshan fan. He feels strongly towards these actors and towards Karnataka and Kannada. In a surprising observation, many auto drivers refuse 1.5 times the meter reading after 10 PM if you are exiting from Ranga Shankara*. This is their humble way of commemorating their favorite star who made films like Auto-Raja.
* Ranga Shankara is a theater built in memory of late Shankar Nag and it is the place where all new dramas are staged first

Two Wheeler Drives: The class in the most advantageous position. They consist of a variety of sub-populations like office goers, salesmen, mothers dropping children to school, college students, neighborhood store owner transporting about 1 ton weight on a moped, whole families of 4-5 children going on an outing etc. They usually mind their own business and do not cause inconvenience to other types of vehicles. They use all possible space on and around the road, including footpaths, medians, drainages, staircases etc and thus enhance infrastructure utilization .

Author - unknown - Email Forward.

20 Golden Rules of Office Ambience

1. Rule 1. - The Boss is always right.
2. Rule 2. - If the Boss is wrong, see rule 1 .
3. Those who work get more work. Others get pay, perks, and promotions.
4. Ph.D. Stands for "Pull Him Down". The more intelligent a person, the more hardworking a person, the more committed a person; the more number of persons are engaged in pulling that person down.
5. If you are good, you will get all the work. If you are really good, you will get out of it.
6. When the Bosses talk about improving productivity, they are never talking about themselves.
7. It doesn't matter what you do, it only matters what you say you've done and what you are going to do.
8. A pat on the back is only a few centimeters from a kick in the butt.
9. Don't be irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted.
10. The more crap you put up with, the more crap you are going to get.
11. If at first you don't succeed, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it.
12. When you don't know what to do, walk fast and look worried.
13. Following the rules will not get the job done.
14. If it weren't for the last minute, nothing would get done.
15. Everything can be filed under "Miscellaneous" .
16. No matter how much you do, you never do enough.
17. You can do any amount of work provided it isn't the work you are supposed to be doing.
18. In order to get a promotion, you need not necessarily know your job.
19. In order to get a promotion, you only need to pretend that you know your job.
20. The last person that quit or was fired will be held responsible for everything that goes wrong.
Author - Unknown - Email Forward

Updates

i know i haven't been here for quite a long time now..
Well updates from last time till now
- bought a car :D :D (am happy)
- got married :D (am very happy)

Thought Provoking