Dragonfire

Father, forgive then even though they know what they do.

2008-08-30T12:17:00.013+05:30

Yesterday, Friday 29th August was a holiday for Christian schools spread across India. But the holiday was not to celebrate any feast but to condemn the violence against Christians in Orissa. A fanatic Hindu extremist group began targeting Christian communities across Orissa. They were protesting the murder of one of their "gurus" & blamed the Christians for it. As a result 22 or more innocent Christians were brutally murdered, their bodies dreadfully mutilated in front of their families. In the words of a survivor, they were "butchered" . The government did nothing, the Center remained silent, as the violence spread. The flames of this violence were deliberately lit by Hindu extremest groups who became afraid that they would lose control over the population. The Christians continued to remain peaceful, unarmed and committed to social work. No conversions were carried out, but the people were quite aware who was helping them survive.
As iy has turned out, no Christian was involved with the murder of the Hindu Guru and the government has published this. Shoot on sight orders are still being followed by the police in Orissa. The violence is being controlled at long last.
I wonder will those responsible for the violence, the grusome murders, the terror that was unleashed ever be brought to justice?
This morning on one of out TV news channes, there was a picture of a group of school children carrying a placard " Father, for give them" .
Yes, it will take a merciful God to forgive these murderers.

The Indian Raj: The final nail in the coffin?

2008-08-26T19:25:00.007+05:30

Events in Kashmir are turning from Bad to worse. Every day I read that 3 or more persons have been killed by the "security forces" . Does anyone give a damn? Not the central government anyway. The government seems unable or unwilling to act. Beyond inviting the "separatists" to have talks, which now have failed miserably, nothing concrete has been done to defuse the situation. The more the government uses force to supress the agitation, the more the violence has spread.In face the separatists have become bolder & more defiant, openly saying that they are Pakistanis and that Kashmir is a part of Pakistan. Obviously India has failed to reach the hearts & minds of the Kashmiris & now Indian forces play the same role that was played by the British in our struggle for Azadi.Respected newspapers have printed the unthinkable: That Kashmir needs Azadi from India.Will this solve anything? I dont think so. In face it will tear apart the fabric that binds India as a nation. Next Punjab will secede followed by Maharashtra & so on...... will India survive Kashmiri Azadi?

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2008-07-29T20:01:00.000+05:30

Blogger Buzz: Show off your favorite blogs with a Blog List

The Anti Indians

2008-07-29T15:12:00.000+05:30

I was astonished to read in the Times of India that a certain political party had ordered shops & Malls to have their sign boards in Marathi.No eyebrow was raised or comment made. Forget about Fundamental Rights or about Freedom of Expression , of the right to choose our own language. A few weeks earlier the same political party or faction threatened, abused, thrashed some poor workers in Mumbai, solely because they were North Indians. As a result industries suffered losses because their workers had fled from Maharashtra. Naturally the NETA of the party couldn't care less.
That such narrow mindsets are literally tearing the nation apart really has little or no importance or even relevance to such people is painfully obvious.
I grew up on such poems as to india, my native land, and where the mind is without fear. & I am appalled st such actions.

Where The Mind is Without Fear

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow
domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the
dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought
 and action--
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

     -- Rabindranath Tagore