by Dilip Goswami

The Zen Buddhists,
should have taken up writing.

A writer knows how to empty
himself of thought.

Just start writing!
It never fails.

All those wonderful thoughts and ideas,
flee with the contact of ink on paper.

Leaving the Writer,
in his useless Zen moment.

We empty ourselves of thought,
to learn what we are, without thought.

We are not the thought,
but its master.

Thought is an implement,
like the pen and paper.

On second thought,
maybe writers should take up Zen.

(more…)

Just a few days ago, 8 blasts rocked the commuter trains of Mumbai. I was in the city, about to head out for the evening, when the news came on the television. At first there were no footage, merely reporters talking, and some jumbled footage of people running. The news of the blasts also came in slowly, first five, then six, then seven, and finally eight.

Mumbai is a long suffering city, previous riots and terrorist attacks have rocked the city, but inevitably life goes on. Even now, life does go on, albeit with a bit of extra caution and nerves on the part of train commuters.

What can people do but go on about their lives? The government inspires little faith, when it condemns terrorist attacks. What measures will they end up taking in fact? The sentiment among Mumbaiites is that they will do little to none once this blows over.

The home minister announced little over an hour after the blasts occurred that they had nothing to do with Kashmir or Pakistan. Just before that, an LeT militant was captured, carrying RDX (the explosive compound in C-4). Any moron watching TV can put two and two together, as the newspapers did the next day (after the militant had been interrogated and confessed what seemed obvious). Unfortunately the Home Minister was less informed than us viewers at home. So why feed misinformation when he had no idea? There is this ridiculous idea among the politicians that the truth is dangerous. I firmly believe that more harm is done through their obfuscation and half truths than through any truth, however divisive they may believe it to be.

The home minister and other government officials then went to meet with Sonia Gandhi to recieve instructions, even before meeting with the Prime Minister. Honestly, this is just making a mockery of our government. Why have a Prime Minister, if he is to be simply a figure head, and someone with no official government position is to be making all the decisions.

It almost feels like India has become so inured to such events, that there is no longer public outrage. People have come to expect that the government is incompetent when it comes to such things. And yet, a government that does not take some serious action in the face of 200+ dead in it’s financial capital (a similar situation to a terrorist attack in say… New York, for america), cannot claim to provide much to its people after all.

These terrorists are harbored, trained and exported from Pakistan. The government needs to cut off all travel to and from Pakistan, make it illegal for an Indian citizen to travel to Pakistan, and freeze any and all Pakistani assets in India. This won’t absolutely prevent any terrorists from infiltrating the country, but it will certainly change how ridiculously easy it is for them to do so currently. Also, India needs to adopt the American policy of refusing to negotiate with terrorists. Only those who have respect for human life deserve to be negotiated with. If someone has no respect for your life, will they have any respect for an agreement with you?

In the end there is little I can do but to offer a prayer for the victims, and attempt to inspire others, those who vote, into making terrorism and security a serious election issue in India. We need leaders who are not afraid to step up and accept responsibility for the safety of the people, and do what is necessary to protect them.

A prayer for Mumbai, and India:
Om lokah samastha sukhino bhavantu
Om lokah samastha sukhino bhavantu
Om lokah samastha sukhino bhavantu
Om shanti shanti shanti
Om

I visited Akshardham today. Wow. Go look at the site, and if you’re lucky, go visit.

-D