I came upon a rather disturbing article on a news website a week or so ago. The headlines went like this “'Build a bunker': Indian police warn people in Kashmir to prepare for nuclear war”. Yes, a NUCLEAR WAR! I hope the idea of suggesting a nuclear war never came in minds of those people who have power to command one. Yes, I am sure of what I say; when I claim “I would hate to see another Indo-Pak war”.
The recent attack on soldiers at the LOC was gruesome and utterly shameful on the part of whoever did it. It is a harsh reality which will probably be faced by their families for whole life. Their friends in uniform at the border would give up anything to have a chance to rip the enemy apart.
Apparently we are all sure, the Indian Army would never do any such thing. Right?
You may like to take a look at this article in a very Indian newspaper, The Hindu. We never know who is saying the truth, but there are allegations on us too! Fine, let's just leave this apart.
However, the question worth the ‘nuclear war’ is, ‘Who is the enemy?’ Even if we assume, both the nations are super powers, and both have all the capability of whatever their military generals have claimed, do we actually need to wipe cities, states or even a country from the globe? Do we need to attack some innocent people apparently because some terrorists identify themselves with the nation? Blasts in Pakistan almost every other day shows how troubled they are with the menace of terrorists.
In retrospect, we do not have an enemy neighbour, we have a troubled neighbour. The situation is same as having termites in your next door neighbours’ house. If you have ever had termites in your house you would understand how deep they are into your place and how difficult it is to completely wipe them off! Now if your neighbour has those, then those termites are certainly going to affect your walls too! What do you do? Help your highborn remove the termites or accuse him of having domesticating termites and attack his family? Also, I understand some big talking politicians of Pakistan do spread hate against India, but don’t we have enough examples of how intelligent our politicians are? To name a brilliant few, we had someone threatening to behead Hindus, we have someone announcing presence of ‘Hindu terrorists’, we have someone blaming all sort of illogical things for the rapes except the accused, etc. They surely do not and should not be an example of Indian mentality. So why do we assume certain brainless politicians as the perfect Pakistani mentality?
I personally have had some experience of meeting Pakistanis. Yes, the 'general' citizens. Those students who want to change the world with their innovations, those fathers who want to have a good business for their family to have a good life, and those guys who would befriend you just like an Indian would do. In January 2012, I had an opportunity to participate in a robotics event at IIT Bombay which involved engineering students from Pakistan as well. On the morning of the competition my teammates discover we have blown up a 7805 IC in our board. For those who do not know, this would mean our circuit board cannot work at all. I talked with the organizers, the other Indian teams participating in the event and some contacts in Bombay. No one was actually able to help me for various reasons. I do appreciate those people who wanted to help me, but let’s face it – I did not have any choice other than to quit. What happens next, changes my ‘assumptions’ about Pakistanis forever.
Without any expectations (why would anyone expect a Pakistani to help an Indian in Indo-Pak robotics championship?), I ask a student from the Pak team if he has an extra IC. Without second thoughts he zips open his backpack and gives me one. When I told that I shall be returning it to him after the competition, he smiles and assures, “Arey rakh lo aap! Koi problem nahi!” (You can keep it! No problem) I can never thank him enough for the help that day. We went on till the semifinals of the event. Also, I enjoyed discussions we had with the other teams from Pakistan. They were eager to share knowledge. We enjoyed knowing how some things were different, how some things were the same for robotics engineers from across the border!
Now, I am a student at JHU Homewood campus. For many Indians here it is relief when we come here and find and Indian grocery store which is at walk able distance from the campus! We get the same Indian basmati, choice of lentils, the celebrated ‘Priya Pickles’, the Hajmola and Swad candies, the samosas and jalebis, various types of flours, vegetables and everything at a store called ‘Punjab’. What many do not know actually is that the store is run by a group of people who are from Pakistan’s Punjab not the Indian one. He gladly helps in finding particular spices or condiments. I remember him telling someone, “Ye Indian Pakistan ki politics politician log hi karte hain. Aam aadmiyon mein ye bhavnaa kahaan hai? Kiske paas time hai 2 gaj sarhad ke lie ladne ko? Har kisiko 2 waqt ke roti ki fikar hai!” The common man concerns himself with food, shelter, a stable future. Why would anyone take pleasure at fights across the border when we already have hand full with problems we can hardly solve?
While looking for more things before concluding anything about this topic I came across this interesting video, about some 13-14 year old girls from Pakistan debating on a topic. I shall request everyone to watch this video till the very end to get better idea of how real the projected reality is!
As a conclusion, I would like to request people to NOT believe anything and everything the media shows. News debate anchor might scream at top of his voice to put across a point which he believes is right and which may feel all true and good to hear, but that may NOT be the actual truth! Politicians speak what is good to fetch votes. They can demand for separate states, demand for reservations, install statues, spend crores for a small community which is to affect their vote bank and not for a moment, think how that thing would affect the nation and its image. Obviously, I do not ask to sit back if we are attacked. However, we should not attack just for the sake of it. The terrorists want that only! They instigate one nation and both nations fight and ultimately a common man dies, a soldier leaves his family to battle harsh realities of life, natural beauty and resources are destroyed forever and some other power makes not-so-ethical use of this opportunities. An amusing yet true account of how bad things can be if Indo-Pak war occurs is accounted here thorough analogy.
I hope people keep the good in themselves alive and we do not see another 65, 71 or 99.
The recent attack on soldiers at the LOC was gruesome and utterly shameful on the part of whoever did it. It is a harsh reality which will probably be faced by their families for whole life. Their friends in uniform at the border would give up anything to have a chance to rip the enemy apart.
Apparently we are all sure, the Indian Army would never do any such thing. Right?
You may like to take a look at this article in a very Indian newspaper, The Hindu. We never know who is saying the truth, but there are allegations on us too! Fine, let's just leave this apart.
However, the question worth the ‘nuclear war’ is, ‘Who is the enemy?’ Even if we assume, both the nations are super powers, and both have all the capability of whatever their military generals have claimed, do we actually need to wipe cities, states or even a country from the globe? Do we need to attack some innocent people apparently because some terrorists identify themselves with the nation? Blasts in Pakistan almost every other day shows how troubled they are with the menace of terrorists.
In retrospect, we do not have an enemy neighbour, we have a troubled neighbour. The situation is same as having termites in your next door neighbours’ house. If you have ever had termites in your house you would understand how deep they are into your place and how difficult it is to completely wipe them off! Now if your neighbour has those, then those termites are certainly going to affect your walls too! What do you do? Help your highborn remove the termites or accuse him of having domesticating termites and attack his family? Also, I understand some big talking politicians of Pakistan do spread hate against India, but don’t we have enough examples of how intelligent our politicians are? To name a brilliant few, we had someone threatening to behead Hindus, we have someone announcing presence of ‘Hindu terrorists’, we have someone blaming all sort of illogical things for the rapes except the accused, etc. They surely do not and should not be an example of Indian mentality. So why do we assume certain brainless politicians as the perfect Pakistani mentality?
I personally have had some experience of meeting Pakistanis. Yes, the 'general' citizens. Those students who want to change the world with their innovations, those fathers who want to have a good business for their family to have a good life, and those guys who would befriend you just like an Indian would do. In January 2012, I had an opportunity to participate in a robotics event at IIT Bombay which involved engineering students from Pakistan as well. On the morning of the competition my teammates discover we have blown up a 7805 IC in our board. For those who do not know, this would mean our circuit board cannot work at all. I talked with the organizers, the other Indian teams participating in the event and some contacts in Bombay. No one was actually able to help me for various reasons. I do appreciate those people who wanted to help me, but let’s face it – I did not have any choice other than to quit. What happens next, changes my ‘assumptions’ about Pakistanis forever.
Now, I am a student at JHU Homewood campus. For many Indians here it is relief when we come here and find and Indian grocery store which is at walk able distance from the campus! We get the same Indian basmati, choice of lentils, the celebrated ‘Priya Pickles’, the Hajmola and Swad candies, the samosas and jalebis, various types of flours, vegetables and everything at a store called ‘Punjab’. What many do not know actually is that the store is run by a group of people who are from Pakistan’s Punjab not the Indian one. He gladly helps in finding particular spices or condiments. I remember him telling someone, “Ye Indian Pakistan ki politics politician log hi karte hain. Aam aadmiyon mein ye bhavnaa kahaan hai? Kiske paas time hai 2 gaj sarhad ke lie ladne ko? Har kisiko 2 waqt ke roti ki fikar hai!” The common man concerns himself with food, shelter, a stable future. Why would anyone take pleasure at fights across the border when we already have hand full with problems we can hardly solve?
While looking for more things before concluding anything about this topic I came across this interesting video, about some 13-14 year old girls from Pakistan debating on a topic. I shall request everyone to watch this video till the very end to get better idea of how real the projected reality is!
As a conclusion, I would like to request people to NOT believe anything and everything the media shows. News debate anchor might scream at top of his voice to put across a point which he believes is right and which may feel all true and good to hear, but that may NOT be the actual truth! Politicians speak what is good to fetch votes. They can demand for separate states, demand for reservations, install statues, spend crores for a small community which is to affect their vote bank and not for a moment, think how that thing would affect the nation and its image. Obviously, I do not ask to sit back if we are attacked. However, we should not attack just for the sake of it. The terrorists want that only! They instigate one nation and both nations fight and ultimately a common man dies, a soldier leaves his family to battle harsh realities of life, natural beauty and resources are destroyed forever and some other power makes not-so-ethical use of this opportunities. An amusing yet true account of how bad things can be if Indo-Pak war occurs is accounted here thorough analogy.
I hope people keep the good in themselves alive and we do not see another 65, 71 or 99.
