Fidgety Foots

You have to hand it to the Indian armed forces. Not only do they need to deal with well-armed terrorists, but they also need to deal with self-absorbed, moronic, politicians who decide to get in the way.

This is the part that really got my gander up:

“Sources said though the plane carrying NSG Commandos was ready by midnight, it could not take off due to the delayed arrival of a VIP, who wanted to accompany them to Mumbai, at the Delhi airport. Worse, the Commandos had to wait for a vehicle at the Mumbai airport until morning”

I would like to ask the VIP’s (Very Incompetent Politician) including the PM of India who decided to visit Mumbai in the middle of the battle, how many armed personnel were diverted from the operations to make sure you had a safe, televised visit to Mumbai?

And then just when I think that the Indian politician can’t sink any lower, I read this: Slanging match between Congress, BJP and Mumbai attacks: BJP expects vote swing.

I am glad that the brave soldiers and policemen in the middle of the firefights are a little pre-occupied to read these reports. If they were I am not sure if they would be willing to put their lives on the line knowing that these clowns are the ones calling the shots.

Teju’s addendum: looks like the VIP who delayed the NSG flight was Shivraj Patil. I heard the DG of NSF mention on TV that the union home minister flew with them and that was confirmed by this article in the Hindu. Good thing he’s been kicked out, though it makes me sick to see the BJP gloat about the current administration’s failure.

Bombs went off at 10 locations across the city today, terrorists are holding people hostage at the Taj (Colaba) and Oberoi. I’m  looking at CNN IBN - fire burning at the Taj, the NSG is en route to the Taj, bloodied hostages staring dazed into the camera, shots in the background, ATS chief Karkare shot dead. Casualties so far: 87 dead, 185 injured.

Gritty footage of JJ hospital on the screen, the hospital has been flooded with injured people. Please donate blood at:

• JJ Hospital (022 23739031)
• St George’s Hospital (022 22620240)

Re: cell phones, we were able to get through to family at 6:30 am today. Looks like you can call.

The public is advised to stay indoors.

Watch (almost) live news here: http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/video_streaming.php

The terrorists hijacked a police van and started shooting from inside. The van was chased down and found abandoned. WTF???

Am I the only one who’s irritated by the “exclusive” news coverage on CNN IBN? I understand this is the perfect time for a plug, but come on ya - I’m watching your news coverage already, stop telling me how great you are.

We went to Mithibhai college’s “open house” to collect S’s exam papers. BTW, “collect” is a euphemism for “read in a room and give back to the shouting professor”. When we got there the classroom was in chaos. All the profs had amplifiers in their voice boxes and were bellowing with abandon at the students. Ss roll number had been called and she had missed her turn so NO PAPER FOR YOU! COME BACK ONE DAY! The notice had said to collect papers “between 12:15 and 1:15pm” but actually meant “arrive at 12:15 or forfeit paper privileges”.

Poor S - exam tension was prolonged. Luckily there were many other students in the same situation, some with mothers in tow. We all were strategizing ways to get the papers early. Of the presiding teachers, there was a salwar kameez clad battle axe whom no one wanted to tangle with and a harassed man (HM) whom all the women honed in on as a promising target. Suj told the him that she had just flown in to the city and was leaving in half an hour so needed to see the paper immediately The poor man didn’t even question the preposterous story, just told her to wait an hour.

In the meantime the mommies were getting irritated. One woman told HM that she worked far away and the notice was misleading. Another asked why they couldn’t give the papers now that all students were present. The crowd became progressively more agressive and angry and HM was breaking into a sweat. Suddenly the mommies and the children started chanting “paper do na sir PLEEEEEASE”….in unison. Janata ki jai ho! The poor man started handing out papers.

On to a pet peeve about our masha-allah education system. What’s the meaning of handing out exam papers but not allowing students to find out why they got a big fat O on answers?? The english paper we got had baffling x’s and Os but S isn’t allowed to ask why. So learning goes down the drain, testing is ineffective, students are baffled and teachers garner power without accountability.

As we walked out of the airport, my SIL was waiting for us and we were talking a dime a dozen. Still talking we walked toward the cabby area, interrupting our conversation for a second to ask ‘humara cab kidhar hai’, barely noticing as the cabby loaded us and luggage into the car. When we were asked for the chit at the gate there was a flurry of confusion with everyone searching bags and asking the others if they had it. Then the cabbie spoke up: “aap ke jeans pant ke pocket mein hai” (it’s in the pocket of your jeans pant), and sure enough there it was, sticking out of my front pocket!

According to this line by the Times of India, “The state will not receive much rainfall after the month of November, which will reduce drastically”.

I was thinking about the homeless man this morning (you can guess where from the title), here’s the output.

Woh khada tha freeway ke kone pe
bhooka, pyaasa, board uthaaye
hum zindagi ke bhaag mein daud rahe the
chah ke bhi hum ruk nahi paaye

Spelling is iffy - long time since I wrote devanagari

That is what I think of when I read about how Black and Latino’s overwhelmingly supported Prop 8 and practically stomped on the civil rights of another section of the population. I expected the religious right-wingers to support it, but you would think that races that have been subjected to poor treatment by a majority population would know better. And yes, I will hear arguments about how the Bible says that marriage can only be between a man and woman. Well, does it make it right to discriminate against someone else because it says so in a book? Tomorrow if some white right-wing zealot uses an interpretation of some section of the Bible to discriminate against colored people, will we allow that? Also, are non-Christian gays allowed to marry since the Bible doesn’t really apply to them?

I think this article in CNN articulates it better than I can.

On a gchat status:

“Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds discuss ideas”

My mind is sometimes small (bitching is better with a single target), mostly average and rarely great.

In my current PMSsy state it’s all small…

…is to a week what morning is to a day. The evolved are reborn every second, but I’m not there yet. For me, the beginning of the week wipes the slate clean and brings possibility.

Last week was super rough at work, with layoffs and tension and very long hours. This week I’ll keep the very long hours but ditch everything else.

Tally ho!

P.S. On being reborn at intervals - I try to achieve the slate-cleanliness/past-dropping every morning, but some days are so shitty and so long that you tumble into bed with the weight of the day pressing into you, and it hangs over (pun intended) the next day. The trick is to unwind/forgive/forget before bed - but how to that when the brain’s a-churning?

Weekends are a different texture altogether. It’s hard to carry Friday into Monday, esp for the memory-challenged  (like me).

Here’s my 120 seconds for today - in the middle of a meeting.

I try to be a meta-thinker-doer…someone who constantly watches oneself, detachedly. A hardish habit for somene naturally spontaneous, but infinitely rewarding. It helped recognize a stray flash of unkindness/impatience over the weekend. Luckily I caught and suppressed it before it hurt anyone.

Now I’m dealing with the (mild) guilt :). There are a thousand justifications for these emotions, but I firmly believe that one truly in equilibrium won’t experience them. Call it naivete if you please.

If writing is cathartic I’ll be over it by the time I hit “Publish” on this post. If it’s not I’ll fret for a few more days…

P.S. I was listening to a radio show, oh, months ago! where the author of some book (forgot name, but he was a psychiatrist who chatted with the dalai lama) argues that anger has no place in our current society. It used to be a useful emotion in earlier, dangerous times where a rush of adrenalin could give you the strength to overcome a physically superior opponent. In today’s EQ-ruled world it’s benefit-less. So anger is NEVER justified.

Does the same apply to fear, I wonder? Living the the US of A, with my rights and civil liberties guaranteed, do I ever have an excuse to fear. The body is violable, but we control the doors to our minds and hearts. Those who enter to wreak vengeance, havoc or hurt have our permission. With ones body protected should fear go out the window?

Ok, meeting over

P.P.S. The book is ‘Emotional Awareness’ and was co-authored by the Dalai Lama. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Emotional-Awareness/Dalai-Lama/e/9780805087123