'Split India'

Right. That's what this Chinese 'strategist' says.

While I am not surprised by the idea of a Chinese wanting India's demolition, I am definitely surprised by the tone and language of this article. It is blatant, upfront and smacks of arrogance all over.For example..

"China in its own interest and the progress of Asia, should join forces with different nationalities like the Assamese, Tamils, and Kashmiris and support the latter in establishing independent nation-States of their own, out of India. "

Or

.."It has pointed out that China can give political support to Bangladesh enabling the latter to encourage ethnic Bengalis in India to get rid of Indian control and unite with Bangladesh as one Bengali nation; if the same is not possible, creation of at least another free Bengali nation state as a friendly neighbour of Bangladesh, would be desirable"

Chinese designs are already well known in certain quarters. Their encircling India strategy has worked wonders so far, for them. If only the fools in New Delhi, at helm of country's affairs knew better.

But who am I kidding? Preaching to the choir never works, does it?

The Delhiwala babus are still soaked in the Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai fantasy fairy tale.

Someone stood up...Someone got crushed

June 4,1989. Tiananmen Square



20 years back

Yang Peiyi

BBC says China defends it's decision. (Rather lame. One expect's more from BBC's rhetorical brilliance)

"Yang Peiyi's looks are OK," Lin Hui reportedly said.
"In my opinion, she's not ugly. She looks cute."

Quite frankly I find Yang Pieyi equally cute if not more and she looks more innocent.

So much for the FACE VALUE.

Swapan puts it Best

"And like the tortoise, there are reasons to believe that blundering humans will eventually prevail over super-humans without souls."

Whoa... that's vintage Swapan Das Gupta for you.

"So, is China naturally better than us? Has Hu Jintao finally demonstrated the fallacy of the theory that robust economic development is inevitably preceded by democracy? Has competitive politics sapped India's national will to the point that we are now incapable of organising the proverbial piss-up in a brewery?"

And here's that inescapable comparison...

"When it comes to organising spectacles, dictatorships always do it better. Hitler came to power in January 1933. Yet, in just three-and-half years, he put together a great show in Berlin."

Whoa ..whoa..whoa...

'Broker of Disrepute'

Ha Ha Ha... this one is funny.

Lot of us know that "The Hindu" , India's "national newspaper" (ahem...ahem..) prostitutes for it's bosses in Beijing. But it takes courage to spell it out loudly.

Here's a good one from Aadisht (He calls himself disreputable broker)

China disliked?

Postulate : "Any entity that is seen to be tending towards being powerful or is powerful is disliked by the mainstream"

Point(s) in case : America, Microsoft, Ambanis, Oil Companies, Wal Mart, Clintons and now China

I wish to present a case in more elaborate fashion soon.

But again, there are exceptions to the rule :)

Tale of two states

There are two places i was lucky to visit as a young kid. Kashmir and Nepal. I say "lucky" coz looks like in foreseeable future i won't be able to visit them again.

I visited Kashmir (the Indian administered one) in the summer of 1989. Kashmir had still not fallen off the tourism radar till that point; but in all probability we would have been amongst the last tourists visiting it I guess. Kashmir went downhill around 1991 when Rubiana Sayeed, the daughter of the then Home Minister of India, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was kidnapped by Jihadis. Suddenly Kashmir overtook Punjab in the mainstream militant news space. By the time India woke up, Kashmir has slipped away from Democratic control and Army was the defacto ruler.

Even when we were in Kashmir in 1989, we could feel something was coming. The tension was palpable. We had heard of a public toilet blown up by a bomb in Srinagar, when we were taking a ride on Dal Lake. I still shudder to think that we actually took a private tour of rural Kashmir in a rented car. Of course we came off safe!! But we were so close to the cradle of militancy and yet so ignorant. We were a group of 10 people including uncle and aunt and their family. We went to places like Baramullah, Anantnag etc, unaware that something was brewing right THERE. To think that we could have easily been held hostage or even killed, still bothers me. We were that close to hotbed of jihadi militancy which was in it's nascent state.(I may be sounding more dramatic, but it's not too far from reality as i see in 20/20 hindsight)

20 years down the line, much water has flown through Jhelum river and some may say, a red blood filled one. To see one of the most beautiful places in the world, come to such state, kills me inside. It kills me that more that 100,000 civilians have been killed, more than 35000 Army men have lost their lives, and more than 300,000 Kashmiri Pandits have been rendered homeless by mindless violence. If this is not inhuman, nothing is.
The tranquil boat house rides of Dal Lake, the beautiful snow peaked mountains of Gulmarg, the narrow roads of Sonmarg and the beautiful natural-golf-course like landscapes of Pehelgam can only be described in an Urdu word - "Jannat". And to see this jannat become a hell is heart wrenching for any one living.

My second eventful trip was two years later, to Nepal. A so called "Hindu" kingdom ruled by a Monarchy. Nepal was just about moving to a democratic set up. And boy, did we choose the wrong time to visit that place? As fate would have it, on day of first election in the tiny kingdom we found ourselves stranded in a place called Pokhra. A beautiful valley 500kms east of Kathmandu. There was no exit route for us, once government agencies decided it was going to be a bandh. Not for a day or two, but for a week. I have to salute the management capacity of my father. He is one helluva guy. He somehow convinced 2 cab drivers to drive all of us, 20 hours to Indian border in the state of West Bengal. Me, my sister and my cousins were still school going kids then. We reached Indian border all tensed and exhausted to find some of the most disgusting custom officers trying to make money of our miseries. We finally reached Calcutta on 20th May. And God was not going to leave us at that. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in Tamil Nadu next morning, and just when we had thought we had safely reached our country, things unraveled. Calcutta was under curfew and again we were stranded.

If this all looks filmy, well it was to some extent. But never for once did i see panic on face of my Dad. He was always in command. I could see his exceptional management skills and his taking initiative and taking control of situation on a royal display on both occasions - In Kashmir and in Nepal.

Things have unraveled in both these states ever since. Nepal recently voted a Maoist regime to power It's hard enough to deal with a Communist regime next door. And Maoist is the xtreme end of Communism. It is militant communism which itself by nature is aggressive. India has just added one more foreign policy disaster to it's ever growing list since days of Nehru. Nepal. Now firmly in hands of Maoists and a Chinese sidekick. China can use Nepal the way it wants from here on. How the Chinese proxy, Pranchanda plays his role out, only time will tell.

Both Nepal and Kashmir are not natural problems, but man made ones. In both cases, these two states (one country actually) have been let down my people who should not have let them down. Even today millions of Kashmiri immigrants are trying to make ends meet. They have been uprooted from their rightful places by poor and soft policies of one nation. Same with Nepal. Kashmir may still recover some day. But Nepal has very little chance from here on. The Maoist/Communist grip can suffocate any thing in sight. It's only downhill for Nepal now. With Nepal, the encircling of India is nearly complete now.

Shhhhh.... it's the Dragon

One of my ex-bosses converted to Buddhism after he visited Tibet. He was so impressed by the simplicity of that region, it's people, it's culture, he almost felt a spiritual connection. He had some great stories to tell about the people and it's culture, but not so great stories to tell of the Chinese authorities who were changing Tibet for ever.

Tibet has been some what of an intrigue for me. Ever since Nehru and then Rajiv Gandhi stabbed the Tibetans on their backs they have been going down the slippery slope. Of course we are not allowed to support the Tibetans and their cause. It's politically uncomfortable. So we want to hush this up. "Shhhh.... don't. It's the dragon".

Arundati Roy, N.Ram and Vinod Mehta don't want to look us that way. Towards the east. Palestine and West bank is more "sexier" to discuss and come across as learned, bleeding heart, liberals.

China has an over powering influence in Indian sub continent today. 2 years back, the Maoists in Nepal caused havoc. While the dhimmi Indians watched from sidelines, China was displaying sheer vulgar power over Nepal via it's proxy the Maoist. Same with Burma. Who is the real force behind the military junta, one of the most repressive regimes of the world, is a well known secret. Only thing, no one wants to spell it out loud.

Tibet,Nepal, Burma, even Taiwan, tell us something about this imposing Dragon called China and its designs. There is invariably a shade of "imperialism" associated with Super powers. History has shown this. China is no different. It may be even more ruthless than others as it proved almost 20 years ago at Tiananmen Square. That was probably just a glimpse of it's actual mind set.

The rumors of China encircling India may after all not be far from truth. But don't worry, we won't discuss China. Israel, Palestine, Gaza strip, America are more "fun" to discuss. After all imperialism is only what the media defines. So let's enjoy Olympics. Let's see how magnificently and on a grand scale China show cases Olympics. Let's enjoy the rise of China.

P.S : More arm twisting by China here