The Website of India - It's Official

Facts: india.gov.in This is the Official Portal of the Indian Government, designed, developed and hosted by National Informatics Centre (NIC), the premier ICT Organisation of the Government of India under the aegis of Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology.

Views: I was amazed to see a website that represents India and that's official. The IT has definitely taken the government by storm. No doubt Mr. L. K. Advani had to pose with a laptop for BJP's election campaign this year. After all today's generation will know the domain name of India's official website, but they'll not know where the local government offices are located. This is the information age. Information is everywhere but we don't really "know" anything. All we have to know is where to find the information. Reminds me of Juhi Chawla's dialogue in Duplicate when she tells her would-be mother-in-law that she doesn't know how to cook but can definitely make a list of items to cook. (For those who don't know, she was a manager in the hotel.) So, at least now we know where to find information about India - officially!

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Story of the Ant in Lalgarh

Facts: "Media commentary on Lalgarh seems to miss out one crucial fact: Till less than a month ago, it was not a Maoist fortress but a place where a fascinating experiment with a new kind of politics was being done. Maoists were there but they had to go along with the mood inside Lalgarh, which was certainly not one of forming 'dalams' or roving guerrilla squads. In fact, as People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCPA) leader Chhatradhar Mahato told The Times of India this week, "if the state government had done even 10% of what we have done, the situation would have been very different." Read more (Article by Aditya Nigam)

Views: When the atrocities took place, the media was nowhere to be seen. Then they (the tribals) revolted and it was "the atrocity" they committed. Hunger... poverty... ignorance... what else can kill the meek and the weak? Those who are strong don't allow themselves to be dominated, but the weak becomes the victim. But it is the fool who underestimates the strength of the weak. Take "ants" for example. A small teeny weeny ant walks towards your plate on the dining table. It takes you a second to squish it. But if it's an army of ants, then beware! If they don't eat you up, they'll surely cause much harm to you. So, if you let ants flourish in your house, it's your fault. Don't take my example literally and start squishing each and every lonely Maoist coming your ways. Squish the way of thought that generates hatred and makes them create an army to kill you. Squish the way of life that oppresses their freedom and happiness and doesn't let them grow. Would I blame the government? No! Would I blame the media? Yes! It was the media that thought that an opressed tribal is a teeny weeny ant, not newsworthy at all. It was the media that was looking for the army of ants to report about. Perhaps we are not the government, but we are definitely the media.

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Ab Tak Hasan Gafoor

Facts: Hasan Gafoor is now the ex-police commissioner of Mumbai, replaced by D Sivanandan (Chief of Police Intelligence). He was in charge during the Mumbai attacks last November. The Ram Pradhan committee that probed the terror strike has indicted him among many others for failure to handle the crisis. 58 year old Gafoor is the from the 1974 batch of IPS officers and is known for being soft spoken. He was appointed on 1st March, 2008. Now he has been transferred to the police housing corporation, which he insists has nothing to do with the probe, and it was supposed to happen in due course of time.

Views: I was watching the last 2 scenes of the film "Ab Tak Chappan" on TV with mom yesterday. Nana Patekar kills the don by befriending him. And then in the last scene somewhere out of India, he talks to the police commissioner about his future plans, where the film ends. The most interesting thing that I noticed today morning is Hasan Gafoor's portrait in today's TOI. He looks just like the police commissioner in Ab Tak Chappan that was played by veteran actor Mohan Agashe. I was amazed! For a second I thought it was the actor's picture in the paper. But no! I guess Mohan Agashe's character and looks were modeled on Hasan Gafoor. Both police and politics go hand in hand. (No wonder they both start with P - PJ!!!)