The War of the Worlds

A lot has been written and discussed about current Israel-Palestine conflict these days. This looks like the hottest topic on social network, print & electronic media. However I noticed most of the "janta" have little or no clue about details of this big international conflict, so I thought of sharing some background on this issue.

To start with let us know that the noted history of this area is more than 1000 BC old. The area had predominantly been the land of Judaism from early age was intruded and invaded by Persian, Greek and roman empires during the course of history and then ruled by Arabs for centuries which made the native Jews to migrate from time to time. After the First World War this region came under British rule and the whole region was known as Palestine (under British Mandate) until the Israeli Declaration of Independence of 1948.

Initially expelling Jews from Spain and pogroms (massacre and persecution of Jews) in Eastern Europe drove the migration of Jews back to this region. With the rise of Nazism and the subsequent persecution of Jews in Europe led to huge migration of Jewish Holocaust survivors from Europe to British Mandate Palestine. This move of almost one fourth Jewish population concerned Arabs and caused Arab revolt which resulted in British imposing restrictions on Jewish immigration to Palestine.

After World War II, British govt. unable to resolve the issues between the Arabs & Jews announced their withdrawal from Palestine, United Nations proposed a plan to replace the British Mandate with "an independent Arab State, an independent Jewish State. The Jewish representation accepted the proposal but Arab representation clearly rejected it and started a civil war on Jews. After initial defense Jews also reciprocated and gained a strong hold.

A day before the expiration of the British Mandate, Jewish representation declared the establishment of a Jewish state, to be known as the State of Israel, which was immediately followed by the Arab- Israel war of 1948 when the armies of four Arab countries—Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Iraq entered what had been British Mandatory Palestine and declared a war on Israel. Israel counter attacked and gain control over majority of area. Later a ceasefire was declared with temporary borders, with Jordan taking current day West Bank, Egypt took over Gaza Strip.

The war of 1967 gave Israel more control over the area as they occupied the West Bank. It withdrew its occupying troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005, but maintains a full blockade of the territory. This occupation of West Bank is pain for Palestinians who live there constrained by walls surrounding them and check points created by Israeli troops. The war is going on for years, the peace accords of 1993 and 1995 (Oslo Accords) brought hope for time being but has deteriorated in last decade.

Now let us know few other important aspects related to the problem to understand what's going on in Gaza and how it affects the situation

1) Palestinian legislation has elected Hamas as representative of Palestinian people. Hamas is extension of Muslim Brotherhood and operates with a militant wing. Hamas refused to recognize Israel or respect past Palestinian agreements with Israel while in government. It seeks to replace Israel with a Palestinian state, and has repeatedly refused to recognize State of Israel.

2) There are other militant groups in Gaza, most notably Palestinian Islamic Jihad, who regularly launches rockets into Israel as part of their radical struggle. Israel holds Hamas responsible for all rocket fired from Gaza and this elevates the problem.

3) Israel controls the border crossing and naval paths due to security concerns and regulates the movement of products to restrict Hamas from producing rockets and getting funding that can hit Israel. Also this move politically weakens Hamas as this limited access could either cause Palestinians to shift their support to a more moderate faction or force Hamas itself to moderate. However this has also resulted in huge unemployment and lack of basic facility which creates humanitarian crisis in Palstine.

4) Gaza and West Bank, the two Palestinian territories are separated geographically. Just like Pakistan when it was divided into East Pakistan (current day Bangladesh) & West Pakistan during partition. Gaza strip is very populous area with very high density population and thus becomes the part of conflict as Hamas operates inside civilian population areas and any air attack on Hamas surely kills civilians as well due to this high density of population.

Israel justifies the occupation for its security from foreign invasion and Palestinian attacks; however Israel's blockade on Gaza strangles the economic and social freedom and punishes the civilians day in and day out. It also helps produce a climate that is hospitable to extremism, and allows Hamas to nurture a belief that even if Hamas may never win, at least refusing to put down their weapons is a form of liberation.

Hamas on other end wants to establish Arab rule in the region and their commitment to terrorism and to Israel's destruction has led to thousands of innocent lives and economic set back to Palestinians

Note: Inputs were taken from various articles, Wikipedia and other sources.

The Master Class: Sachin Tendulkar

Today when the God of cricket will pad up for the last time in his international career, the whole world will be on the feet to bid adieu to the “Master Blaster”. A hero of generations, an inspiration, a role model, an icon will conclude the unstoppable journey of two and half decade at Wankhede Stadium.

May be we are having overdose of “Sachin Nostalgia “at the moment, but who minds it when it brings all excitement and happiness. Even today one feels Goosebumps and gets trilled just by remembering those 2 matches at Sharjah.

There have been many stars in Indian milieu but none like “The little Master”.  I won’t talk of runs and records he created. If you go by cricketing skills and talent; Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting and Rahul Dravid were not any lesser by any mean. Then what makes Sachin Tendulkar “The Sachin Tendulkar”?

I feel it is not just the cricketing talent of the maestro which resulted in such high admirers and adorers. It is his attitude and behavior that has distinguished him ahead of his contemporaries.

 Sachin is the reflection of dreams and aspirations of billions of middle class Indians. You hardly see someone getting international fame at a tender age of 14-15 and sustaining it for next 24 years with same calmness.

Handling mammoth expectations of a nation of billions where in a second you are treated as God on success and in seconds turned into dust upon failure. Managing such enormous fame with such serenity and grace isn't a task which many could do.

His focus and composure always kept the conflicts and controversies away from him and his game. Even the ball tempering and monkey gate controversy fell flat in front of his modest but mighty character. Even the critics of his game also admire his temperament, attitude and confidence.

His Iconic image grew even stronger when he became the poster boy for almost every top brand endorsements and overshadowed the film star dominated turf.  He single handedly changed the outlook and the approach to cricketing set up in the country.  For over a decade he remained a “One man army” in a team sports game. How can one forget the time when people use to switch off television sets with disappointment whenever Sachin got out.

His off the field life and gestures is also a great contributor to this fame and success. As a son, lover, husband, father, friend and social activist he has always maintain that grace and dignity which has added to his fame. Unshaken, undistracted even during rough patches of career, he fought with injuries, came to serve country even when he lost his father. Sachin is inspiration for current generation cricketers and generation to come because of all this.

Sachin evolved on the cricketing stage in the era when India was trying to evolve on global scenario. Economy was liberalizing, things were suddenly changing fast. At the same time Indian cricket and world cricket also took a giant leap with drastic changes & commercialization. Sachin spearheaded the success story for Indian cricket in that era and years after that. There was a time when greatest of players never had scored 8 centuries in their career, Sachin shocked and amazed the world by hitting 8 centuries in a calendar year.

Game has changed in era of T20 cricket but again the style and legacy of “The Master blaster” is influential to this change. With changing time he has played different roles and inspired many as a mentor and facilitator.

An era is coming to end when Sachin retires but his achievements and contributions will always inspire the lives as always for years to come

......................The Topi politics..................

World Celebrated the joyous festival Eid al-Fitr today, a festival of harmony, joy & sweets. EID reminds me of one of my favorite childhood story “Idgah”, by Munshi Premchand, where young Hamid dismisses his own temptations and buys a present for his ageing grandmother instead.  The message learnt with this story was that kindness, humbleness & compassion are real festivals.

Saw the neighborhood kids in the morning running to shops with their “Eidi” in hands & with their new clothes specially bought for the day. By afternoon refrigerator was half full with sweets, and social media was full with Eid wishes.  

Everything looks perfect, until one switch to television. Every channel is busy covering Eid, every political party trying to be Muslim friendly & becoming so called secular. I wonder at times, why they have to prove their secularism every now & then, with every second political figure flaunting their secular “Topi” and throwing Iftaar parties.

Where it is said or written that wearing or not wearing a Topi makes you secular? I never wore a Topi, nor did my Muslim friends wear Dhaga to celebrate Diwali, but that neither made us less secular nor it shrink our joy to celebrate Festivals.  The core idea about being secular lays in respecting the other religions, their viewpoints, while maintaining your own. Secularism which compromises on your identity is simply pseudo secularism.

My best experience to explain secularism comes from a Muslim friend of mine, who open heartedly invites me for home stay on visit to his city, respects my religious values and prepares separate vegetarian food for me, one who readily discusses core issues and concerns of minority and at the same time carefully listens to my viewpoints.

It is the love and respect for each other’s individuality that makes us secular. Topi & tilak are both important but not flaunting them won’t make you less secular either. You have to choose your own definition of secularism.

I wish if all can be like little Hamid of Premchand's story and understand real meaning of prayers & celebration. Every festival is wrapped with focus on kindness, humbleness & compassion and aims at spreading happiness. So with hope of a true secular nation, wish you all "Eid Mubaraq".

Life in a METRO

As I stepped in Delhi Metro this morning to begin my exhausting daily journey to Gurgaon, my cellphone started displaying battery low sign (all thanks to my brother & some inbuilt game in mobile). So with nothing to read & no music to hear, I was left with no option but to observe others.

I believe who so ever has travelled in Metro at least once must have observed the “athlete janta” of Delhi which always keeps on running the moment they enter metro premises. During morning time one can still understand that all “punctual” employees have to make it to office at least few seconds before reporting time gets over but I still don’t understand why people become Usain Bolt suddenly in evening too. I guess it is because Metro doesn’t have attached toilets.

With winters setting in, Delhi seems a much beautiful place than it is during summers. But inside metro it’s always the same; uncle’s discussing politics & current affairs or throwing some “gyan”, aunties giving weird look, girls busy with mobiles and guys busy checking them out. In addition to this there is a chunk of “solo” passengers who start off the day by sleeping the whole journey the moment they place themselves on seat. There are readers who are lost in their”book world” from boarding station to destination, music lovers with earphone plugged in and rhythm flowing in & out and off course there are observers too.

One can easily notice few common characters in every compartment; students discussing everything except studies and love birds with either their public display of love or with tantrums thrown by one of the lovers. But my favorites are opportunists who throughout the journey seek opportunity to grab a seat, their eyes anticipate every possible opportunity and body moves in all direction in search of a seat, thus they irritate others with their restlessness. But the most irritating creatures on DELHI METRO are those who shout on top of their voice over phone hoping that it will reach the receiver, especially in underground metro where signal will obviously be weak.

But then METRO is an experience too, which brings joy sometimes in form of innocence on face of kids, some musician playing amazing tunes on harmonica, sometimes with some drunk chap who speaks out distress of common man & anger  against government  and at times with presence of multiplicity of culture under the Metro roof.