Saurabh Verma’s Blog

Sight of barely covered, badly starved and deeply disturbing homeless souls on the footpath-strikes us instantly. We either pass them by quickly, offering probably a few thoughts of sympathies or better still-choose to ignore them-for somewhere down the line we feel guilty. Guilty, that we are more fortunate than them, guilty that we can do nothing to make circumstances a little favorable in their side. I had not thought or known much of these faceless, homeless people down the road till that day-when I spent a few hours of my life prodding into theirs. I know this would mean nothing to them, but it meant so much for me that now when such image comes in front of me- I feel more connect more empathy with them. 

It was one foggy morning in January. I joined Saurabh in his yearly exercise of distributing clothes among the poor. My sister Ruchi too, left the warmth of blanket and enthusiastically followed us in the action. As the fog gave way to drizzle-making the chill all the more piercing- the morning unfolded to make way for a day that would be itched in our memories for years to come. 

Bearing the cold we first headed to a Gurudwara near Dhaulakuan- it was my idea as I had noticed news stories about many homeless taking shelter near that particular Gurudwara. The 8-9 bags of clothes that we had collected from 3-4 families first opened up when we saw an old man struggling to bear disturbingly low temperature with a thin blanket. As we offered a sweater to him, he grabbed it and surprisingly rebuked Saurabh for failing to come the last day. As he complained that he did not have food that day, it clearly implied that he would have been given alms by a Samaritan regularly. We bought him tea and biscuits and headed for another destination. 

Daylight had broken out by now as we reached at Sain temple at Lodhi road. Saurabh was very particular about choosing the `right person’ before he handed out clothes and it made sense given the fact that we had limited stock. So after reaching the spot, we got off the vehicle and first decided to take a round and choose those who were in real need. A child, rolled up like a ring to beat the chill caught Saurabh’s attention. Though the little boy was wearing sweaters his bare legs would be making things really difficult for him. An infant and old woman became other beneficiaries.  

The old woman- Kailash, who we offered a Sari, narrated her tale of conversion from a house-maid to a beggar. “After my son died, my daughter-in-law threw me out of the house and I had no where to go, no purpose to live I felt so helpless I took up begging,” said the fate-ripped woman, her eyes moist, voice quivering.

This was first time I had heard a first hand account of a making-of-beggar that I had heard and I felt doing our token service of providing a piece of cloth would hardly make a difference to the life of those- who have been robbed off everything by the destiny- their families, belongings, aspirations and above all-hopes. 

It was the good cause that was driving us though we did feel that twist in the gut at the sight of those who are barely `alive’. I cannot forget the sight of a middle-aged man who was sleeping near a bus stop in Nizammuddin covered with sacks! Saurabh was first apprehensive about putting a blanket over him as he thought the man was already dead- but later he realized that the cold had taken toll on him-pushing him dangerously close to death. We will never know what happened to that man but everyday I read reports about homeless people dying of unbearable cold-image of that person floats in front of my eyes. Could he be the one? 

After distributed clothes among a few at Nizammuddin we headed towards Indraprastha. Experience, there, however was slightly bitter as we were almost mobbed by construction workers near the makeshift residences just off the Ring Road. As we reluctantly gave clothes to few of them, we also learnt that probably discipline and patience are some of the essentials- these people are mostly deprived of, like so many other things. But you cannot always blame them for that- for the kind of lives they lead, they have right to get more. 

Next, we hit Chankayapuri and gave woolens to few old women. Last stoppage was Saket. Situation was no better there as slum dwellers snatched bags from Saurabhs’ and Ruchi’s hands. As we were done with the social-work-sort-of-exercise, we headed towards a mall at Saket we were really starving. 

Later that day, when I was watching 3-D marvel Avatar in the late evening- I was watching two movies simultaneously- the one that was playing on the large screen in front of my eyes and the second- the more `real and naked’ one-which was playing on my mind.

Sumi Sukanya

Whoever said politicians are better actors than the professional ones was more than right for they know, what to say and do, where to say and do, how to say and do and make most of the opportunity. The recent drama around austerity drive by Congress-one must say- is nothing less than a well orchestrated crooning of swans. 

`Save taxpayers’ money’ is new anthem. Holy Cow! We do not really need such kind of drama. No wonder then that rather than seeing some reaction or response from masses, the gang of `netajis’ is seeing some serious in fights among its own members. 

First, pretentions come from a family which is no less than a political royalty forced upon than fate of the nation and then the sheep follow happily and blindly. Sonia Gandhi decides to fly economy, and then a first-time MP gets the lesson and vows never to step into business class (We all know that all this was aimed at hitting headlines rather than initiating any sustained practice)! 

Next, Gandhi scion Rahul Gandhi took rail route to Ludhiana (and poor co-passengers had to bear the brunt of going through all the hassles, thanks to the entourage that accompanied Gandhi) Shashi Tharoor, first drawing flak for putting up in a five-odd months in a five storey hotel as he thought his government bungalow was not suitable enough, terms the entire austerity drive as a stunt and dubs economy class as `cattle class’ and then gets some good backlash from the circles of his own party.  

And as if the drama in New Delhi was not enough- it spreaded its wings up to many state capitals as well. The Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC), for example, issued a circular asking its 181 elected members to opt for 20 per cent cut in their salaries for the next one year beginning this month. They even extended their advice to other parties suggesting them to follow the suit. 

Earlier in Sep last year, there was another case of Austerity drive wherein the Government decided to limit the size of delegation go to foreign meet and bilateral talks and this was done in a bid to save Rs. 2000 crore annually which also included the ban on purchase of new vehicle. Nothing worked.  In an economy like America, where the leaders normally take rented taxies to travel and they do not have any grudges against it they also live in rented house. Its very sad to see the condition, in Jharkhand and Bihar, Lalu used to travel by Chopper just to show the prosperity.

Do we need any of this? Definitely not! There are more serious issues which need immediate attention by our policy makers and rather than showing their `holier-than-thou-attitude’ something substantial is expected from them. At a time when a severe famine is staring the country in face- this game and gimmick could not have come at a worse time. 

Power corrupts, they say. And absolute power corrupts absolutely. We do not want saints ruling us because we know we cannot really have them. But we certainly do not want wolfs pretending as saints and that is not going to help. 

Dear congressmen, public is not idiot and please do not try to behave so as to draw a strong backlash from `Desh ki aam Junta’.  So better focus and concentrate on things that the rulers are supposed to do- do some development work, drive away the economy of the country out of the whirlpool of depression and make the country a better place for us to live in.  

No more stupid play like the one you call `austerity drive’. Only work. We mean business.
Saurabh Verma and Sumi Sukanya

It was bad Independence Day for King Khan. On the day the country was celebrating independence, Khan, regarded as iconic Actor in Hindi film Industry,  was made to suffer humiliation, thousands of miles away at Newark airport in USA. He was detained for over two hours because his surname gave him a suspectable identity.  

Shahrukh Khan, regarded as no less than God by cinema lovers in the country, was helpless even as he suffered humiliation in the hands of immigration officials at the airport and it was after a painful ordeal that he was finally allowed to use his cell phone for his rescue. Embarrassed he was, and embarrassed the entire nation was-but probably that is the maximum limit we can push our emotions to, nothing more. Our blood boils fast and settles faster. 

Hell would have broken had we given the same treatment to say a Tom Cruise or a Sylvester Stallone. No wonder Americans would have registered a strong resistance, had even an ordinary person from there would have harassed unnecessarily. But Indian actors, politicians and state dignitaries can be detained, strip-searched and frisked- and no one really cares! Probably because mighty is always right! And USA has all the rights to belittle those who they think just don’t fit in their stereotype of `innocent ones’. 

Many of us have not forgotten the way the then Defense Minister Jeorge Fernanades had undergone similar treatment at an Airport in USA. This when he was visiting the country as a state guest and had a high level delegation with him. Still `security reasons’ made those duty-bound officials follow the rules and mister minister was strip-searched.

Some times it is Ambika Soni, other times it is some one like Neil Nitin Mukesh or Irrfan Khan- they have to undergo the same trauma. But unfortunately Indian state has failed miserably to put forward a strong communication to its American counterparts that is high time we are treated as equals and our dignitaries are given the respect they deserve.

Ideally no other minister should have gone there till an apology came from the `most powerful man on the earth’- American President. But years of bowing down has probably made us too soft to even raise voice on issues like this. We do not react enough to evoke any kind of response from tough skinned big brothers.

And our ministers, actors, dignitaries are awarded these kind of treatment, that makes our blood boil and then.. as they say public Memory is really short. We forget and those big and high posh `American Dreams’ keep returning to engulf us.

This time round our Honourable I & B minster Ambika Soni has given some bold comments on Khan Episode, but mere words do not really help. And we want some real time action. No repeat please. We had had enough of it.

Sumi and Saurabh Verma

Even as an astonished nation had started looking towards Bihar for the works of development and change- some things which have largely been elusive to the state, two back to back incidents of barbarism against women have put a blot on the name of the state. On July 23, 2009, a girl in her 20s was beaten by a man in full public view. 

The girl later told police that she was brought from Jharkhand  to Patna and was taken to a hotel by a boy named Rajesh who took her there on the pretext of giving job. 

But she was allegedly sold to a customer and she was sexually harassed. Later followed a skirmish between them and the dirty linen was washed in public even as the lens men filmed the entire episode. A drunken Rajesh beat her up and tore her clothes accusing that she had stolen his cell phone which irked him to death. He took off her Pajamas (Lower). What was even more disturbing was the fact that public remained a mute spectator. 
Girl publicly molested! Clothes stripped off

This is one of the most awful incidents, I have ever come across.  People enjoyed seeing a girl being molested and stripped off in public. She was then dubbed as a `Call girl’. Even if she is a call girl, no one has the right to molest and manhandle her, that too on a road. Later police also joined the spectators and they didn’t do anything but watched the complete shameful incidence with unabashed eyes.  

“The role of Police in this incident is to some extent good,” said SP, Patna City. This is not the first case of torture on women in the country, one hears about these kinds of incidents from many parts of the nation.

Party animals strip girl, molest her in public view

 Everyone knows what happened to the two girls on the eve of New Year in Mumbai and how Police was trying to defend the culprits who brought disgrace to the entire nation. And another one at Gateway of India, a minor girl was raped in Mumbai.

On July 24 this year, another such shameful episode came into light- again from Patna, when an old woman was being beaten by a group of women. The old woman was kicked in the stomach and head badly and once again there was no one to stop all this. The victim was said to have stolen something and the enterprising women did `Faisala On The Spot.’ 

But the one thing that is common in all the incidents is the fact that the mob takes law in their hands against a weak target and people keep watching the spectacle as if it is a `reality show’ straight out of some sundry TV channels in their drawing rooms.  Worse still, the lack of sensitivity and sympathy for `women’ is even more disturbing. 

No civil society should stand these incidents and we should shun these practices or else it would not be long before we turn into another Arab nation where Jungle Raaj persists- brutal and barbaric.

Saurabh Verma and Sumi Sukanya

King of pop moon walked into history. And with him, gone are the enigma and an era that created a storm in the entertainment industry across the globe. But as luck would have it, mystery and controversies surround his death as much as they surrounded his life. 

The biggest selling entertainer of all times started his career as a starry eyed boy. Being a black, it was not easy to make a name in the worlds of white. But greats are not greats just like that, they are ordinary people with extraordinary dreams and desires and go that extra mile to turn seemingly impossible thing into realty. And he did it. 

His childhood was not easy. He had an abusive father. And being overtly emotional a person, father’s extramarital affair disturbed him deeply. As a teenager he came across as an introvert and withdrawn child. But his stars did not let him get lost in the darkness of loneliness. He, after all, was meant for bigger things. 

Jacko started out his singing career in 1968 as part of a band called `The Jackson 5′ which he had formed with his siblings. He soon started a solo career and released his first album in 1971. Subsequent success earned him the epithet of `king of pop.’ But biggest feather in his cap was his 1982 album Thriller which sales are estimated to be between 47-109 million copies worldwide and holds the unbroken record of largest selling album ever, till date. 

With the mind-blowing success, Jacko became a craze of the contemporary generation. His complicated style of dancing, particularly `moonwalk’ and `robot’ achieved a cult status.  There would hardly be a teenager of the time from any part of the world who would not have tried a `moon walking’. His dancing style was imitated in almost every part of the world with dancers making a copy of his moves and shooting up the hall of fame (our very own Prabhudeva is one such example). Such was his popularity. 

Hysterical fans were gifted hits after hits in later years and the way he introduced video with every track defined the way music industry would adapt music for years to come. Growing channels like MTV made hay with Jackson shining brightest of all! 

His personal life however grappled with many a controversy. His fascination for white skin, for which he underwent extremes of surgeries and medication, plastic surgeries, drugs, troubled marriage life- they all did little to help the genius. And if they were not enough charges of pedophilia did the maximum damage. 

Though he was later acquitted in the case, the damage was done. Jacko had again reached the point, he had started from. Loneliness and drugs seemed only respite to the ill giant as he struggled to bring up his three children. And it was on of those sad days that he probably took excess of painkillers which his frail body could not tolerate. 

Michael Jackson is gone now. There are still many questions unanswered related to him, many theories surrounding his personality. But what we all would probably agree on is the fact that he touched our lives, in a way or the other. And that we will feel both happy and sorry when we think of that charismatic entertainer.

Sumi Sukanya

Perhaps this is the fate of team india- they throw a pleasant surprise on you when you expect hardly any good performances from them and shame you to death when you have your hopes pinned on them. Unlike the inaugural edition of T-20 World Cup, Team India started their campaign as the favourite in 2009. But the end result has not been very encouraging. Ever since Dhoni has taken over the captaincy, India have done well in every format of the game, be it Tests, ODIs and T20s. His strategic leadership, coupled with his batting skills, has given India an edge over the other cricket playing nations in the recent past.
 
He achieved some rare feats- winning T20 World Cup in 2007, winning the ODI series in Australia, winning a series in New Zealand after forty odd years and winning in Srilanka- all in a time span of a
couple of years.

Dhoni has really been on a high since he took reigns as India’s captain. And no surprise even his hardcore critics had started calling him `man with a Midas touch’. But the success seems to have gone into Dhoni and some of his team-members’ heads as there is a clear air of over-confidence, arrogance and complacency in the troupe. Moreover, the captain also seems to have grown too big for his boots- his recent dig at the media bears a testimony to the fact. Before the start of the tournament, the Indian team was bubbling with confidence, or rather over-confidence. The bunch led by Dhoni never anticipated that they would be handed such an early and embarrassing exit from the T20 World Cup, an event which made them heroes and gods two years back.
 
Though some anticipated this was coming as they were playing too much cricket. The rigors of IPL did not do any good to their already exhausted bodies. If the absence of Sehwag made the team weak, the
controversy surrounding the whole incident and the Dhoni’s inept handling of it made the team even weaker.
 
Let us examine some of the reasons that may have been responsible for India’s early ouster from the  20 World Cup 2009:
May be, too Much Cricket: May be it has been the most important reason for India’s early exit from the T20 World Cup in England. Over the last couple of years, they played almost non-stop cricket which
entailed excessive travelling. Then came Lalit Modi’s soap opera, called the Indian Premier League (IPL), which took a severe toll on the Indian players.
 
These days, international sportspersons are scrutinized by millions of fans and critics. So, they have to be on their toes day in and day out. This is not only physically demanding, but also mentally very
taxing.
 
May be, lack of Preparation: When every team was chalking out plans for the upcoming World Cup, Dhoni’s men were busy with playing IPL. They came back to India from South Africa barely seven days before the start of the Cup.
 
When they ultimately reached India and took the field, they looked to be a side without any proper planning and did not gel well as a unit. Team games require combining well as a unit more than the individual brilliance. They did not train as a team for a longer time and this prevented them from fielding a team in which players complement each other. However no excuse can justifiable enough for the kind of defeat team India faced and the the nation which is absolutely cricket crazy does not deserve any of this. Boys give us reasons to keep adoring you the way we have always done.

Sumi Sukanya and Saurabh Verma

Every Indian who would have seen this piece of news must have felt ashamed to death.. Mob burning Indian flag in India..Such a disturbing sight! It was a national SHAME and the country should have taken the day as a BLACK DAY. Attacks on national symbols or embodiments of ‘National Honour’ are a feature of dirty politics and attract media attention in advanced and emerging economies. The separatist group in Kashmir burnt national flag in public and in full media glare and no one condemned this. But see the tragedy no News channel telecast this incidence. The media which boasts of high principles and is perceived as fourth pillar of democracy has been sleeping over the matter.Let me explain how grave the concern is! See the reality!!!

Seperatist Group burning National Flag

We are proud of national symbols and the national flag, because these are the identities of our nation. We always want our national flag to be hoisted high and up. We have a long history about it, patriots sacrificed their lives in order to save the dignity of the national flag. See the pictures shown above and you will feel ashamed of yourselves.What kinds of people live there in Kashmir I don’t know?

During the ongoing Amarnath Sangarsh, Jammuites holding the Indian National Flag and chanting ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ are open fired by the J&K Police on orders from the Police Commissioner. Peaceful protesters are killed. Like in case of Amarnath case, people in Kashmir when want to get some demand fulfilled, protest by burning Indian national Flag, hosting Pakistani Flag and chanting ‘Hindustan Murdabad, Pakistan Jindabad’. But no body condemns. Infact, all such protest are followed by a team of union ministers visiting Kashmir and immediately sanctioning a few thousand crore rupees for Kashmiris. Every year on 14th Aug (Pakistani Indipendence Day), Pakistani flag is hosted everywhere in Kashmir, including the government buildings and on 15^th Aug; same people burn the Indian flag.

Today I received an e-mail from my friend Smita Shrotriya regarding the same. I was shocked to see the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. No one is bothered about the dignity of the National Flag and national symbols. People in India are disrespecting the National prestige before media and they are not showing and writing about this sensitive issue. What they need is masala news.

If Tendulkar cuts the cake which is made to look like national flag, he is condemned.

If Mandira Bedi wears a saree with the flags of all the countries being portrayed on that, she is made to apologies.

If one cop in Kolkata and one in Bangalore is terminated for throwing the Indian national flag on ground by mistake.

Reality of Media

There are number of cases where someone or other has been summoned by court or arrested but this shameful act mentioned above is not that grave a concern in the eyes of Media. I want to ask them if everything is  ommercialized, nothing is for the good of media. I have heard people talking about media playing a crucial role in the independence of our country.

Media is the watch dog of the political democracy. If it plays its role honestly, it will be a great force in building the nation but now a days, media has become a commercialized sector eying only for news that is hot and sells. Instead of giving important and  progressive information, all that one gets to see on sundry television channels is sensational depiction of all news stories, their only goal being gaining television rating points (TRPs)’ says Shalini Devrani’.

I am still trying to get the answer why the media is silent on such issues. Why does not it come as a Breaking News? Is it really of no significance?

Saurabh and Sumi Verma

                                 Is it really worth celebrating winning oscar for Slum Dog?

Slumdog millionaire won a whopping 8 Oscars throwing the nation in a frenzy of long celebration but it also fired the debate- whether or not it is an ‘Indian’ film and why should we celebrate when a westerner has milked our poverty. And it is worth debating.

It is more Indian than British, if not completely Indian because not only is the story based on dark side of the aspiring nation, it also follows the rules of cinema- Indian film industry has relied on, for decades. It’ s a flowing story with every ingredient of a typical Indian ‘masala’ movie complete with emotions, song-dance-drama and the evergreen happy ending. True, the sensibilities of a westerner have shaped up this piece of art, in a land of hope and survival, issues and struggles, even his hands have worked more like an Indian filmmaker.

But the point is why cannot an Indian filmmaker can or could make such a film? The answer lies in probably the fact that probably we, as a nation, are not yet ready for a cinema that goes too deep in the skin, too deep…

I agree, Slumdog told a tale that could not be entirely true but is not it the fact with entire industry. When a Shahrukh Khan can land in his home in a chopper, when a bikini clad damsel could join her dad on breakfast table why make a fuss over a ‘slumdog’ learning all the answers from the interesting sagas of his own topsy-turvy life. He could have loved a gangster’s moll, could have made fool out of tourists at Tajmahal, and could have worked at a call center. He could have done it all, in style, just as ‘our hero’ does in our films.

Maybe it’s true that we do not want to see and show poverty because it is reality for us, for them it is exotic. Why not celebrate the film as a film-, which grips you, which engages you. And c’mon, movies are not primarily about solving social problems.  It is after all an art form. Telling a good story is the main objective. Rest is secondary. Movies are not even about truth.  So dont fault a movie that it is not addressing the social evils. Amazing! Hats off to the team for portraying the stark contrasts in Indian society with such vivid colors. And the kids were just amazing. The love-story and the way it’s all weaved together in the script all adds up to make it the one of the most refreshing movie experience of 2008.

The movie was in no way portraying the slums as a lesser form of living, nor was it being apologetic about the rise of capitalism in the other end of the spectrum. It is a story of two brothers growing up, with one choosing love & compassion, and the other greed & power. In fact the movie does the exact opposite and shows the slums full of life.

And above all, only Danny Boyle could know how to sell the film at Oscars, which is still beyond reach for Indian filmmakers. Isn’t it?
Sumi and Saurabh Verma

                                                                 BAN ON SMOKING

I am not up for it, nor am I against it. But one thing that I understand for sure is-“Don’t do that” is one probably a way to push someone to do exactly that. 
True, its troublesome for non-smokers to adjust in a place where they are compelled to be subject to passive smoking. But is smoking a solution to the possible health problems both smokers and non-smokers face? I doubt that.
Banning does not stop things, it never has. It only makes things go underground and promotes illegal practices to overcome legal traps. Records show that banned books are the most read ones, pornography is most sought after and political outfits are most active.

October 2 onwards, India has banned smoking in workplaces, public places, hotels and restaurants, offices, courts, banks, schools, colleges, libraries, cinemas, auditorium, shopping malls, parks, monuments railway stations, airports, bus stops, buses, taxis. 

If the Government is really serious about stopping smoking why do not they order to shutter down cigarette factories. That they would not do because they need revenues. But at the same time they do not want people to buy the. Its like having your cake and eating it too!! 

See the contradiction- in the weeks leading up to the ban, we saw no sustained public campaign in office complexes and housing colonies highlighting the dangers of lighting up and offering guidance to help inveterate smokers kick the habit. Neither the government led by that compulsive do-gooder health minister Ambumani Ramadoss  nor the voluntary agencies in the forefront of the ban smoking movement bothered to do anything of the sort.  

Worse still-  no one is clear on what exactly the law is. What is “public space”? Where can people smoke? What is the punitive action they face if they do? Who will interpret the law? The ambiguity leaves the door open for the petty tyrannies of the government machinery.  

While many say the new regulations will need strict enforcement to be effective there are many who say that they believe the law will be used by the police and other authorities to harass people, some went on to dismiss the step as outcome of health minister’s frustration to control Bollywood biggies!! 

Whatever it is, do think twice before you feel like trooping off for a quick session of fagging while your mind wants to shed some of the office stress. You know there is someone watching you.  

May be the biggest gainer is your girl who was always disgusted when she had to tolerate with unwanted smoke, thanks to the uncle sitting nearby, while two of you had gone in that neighbourhood park to steal a few moments of coaxing and necking. I bet she would not mind fag end of fagging in public!!  

                         CAPITAL IN SHAMBLES

It was a sense of déjà vu for Delhites, but a horrendous one as five bombs ripped through busy shopping areas of India’s capital within minutes of each other, killing at least 30 people. The modus operandi of most of the blasts – orchestrated in public spaces, especially market places – indicates that there is a covert plan to strike at the root of India’s economy. 

The explosions, which also injured about 90 people, are not thought to have been very powerful but happened in crowded areas. Four unexploded bombs were also found and defused. 

More than 400 people have died since October 2005 in bomb attacks on Indian cities such as Ahmedabad and Bangalore. CNN-IBN, a TV news channel, said it had received an e-mail before the blasts from a group calling itself the “Indian Mujahideen”. “Do whatever you can. Stop us if you can,” the e-mail reportedly said. Now that is called `in your face’ terror!! 

For at least an hour after the blasts, phone lines were jammed and traffic slowed to a crawl as people rushed home to safety. WhileTwo bombs were  planted in dustbins metres away from each other in the central shopping district of Connaught Place and police believe that at least three other devices were planted at busy markets in the Karol Bagh area, on the Barakhamba Road and in the Greater Kailash area.  

Although this is not the first time that Delhi has been targeted by Islamic terrorist organizations during the festive season (on Oct. 29, 2005, 68 shoppers were killed on pre-Diwali and pre-Id bombings in Delhi) the intensity and the meticulous precision with which the blasts were carried out perhaps proves one thing: that most major cities in India, even high security zones such as Delhi, are not safe from terror strikes.

While Delhi and Mumbai have been placed on high alert, there is still a palpable sense of panic in the capital.   

A chronology of the bombings this year will reveal that the nature of most of the blasts was similar. The first occurred on May 13, in Jaipur, where almost 70 people died. On July 25, nine blasts in Bangalore, India’s IT city, killed 2 people and injured 20 others. On July 26 in Ahmedabad, 56 people were killed and 200 injured. For Delhi on Sept. 13, so far 21 people (15 men, 6 women) are officially confirmed as dead and 72 more are battling for their lives in the hospital. 

The group claiming responsibility, the Indian Mujahideen, is suspected to be an amalgamation of home-grown and Pakistan-based terror outfits that profess to seek revenge for the purported injustices and atrocities against the country’s Muslim minority. In addition to the Ahmedabad and Bangalore blasts, Indian Mujahideen has claimed to have been behind blasts in the northwestern city of Jaipur in May, as well as serial blasts the northern cities of Varanasi, Faizabad and Lucknow in November 2007. 

These blasts Saturday’s serial explosions in the national capital, Delhi and the subsequent developments are another reminder of the unpreparedness of the political class to tackle the menace of terrorism head-on. They are the fourth major terrorist strike in the country in the last six months, and come close on the heels of the Bangalore and Ahmedabad blasts.

 Perhaps it is time for the think tanks in the country to wake up and realize that the police force has to be made more efficient to tackle terrorism and insurgency in the country, and that it cannot be done with the army or paramilitary and at the cost of the human rights of ordinary and innocent residents of the country. 

But the question which needs to be answered is that whether it is terror or vendetta or a deadly combination of both?  

Sumi and Saurabh Verma