Indian ship carrying Oil Seized by Iran

Today on India's independence day, the disconcerting news has just come that an Indian ship carrying oil from Iraq, was seized by Iranian revolutionary guards in international waters and taken inside Iranian waters. The Iranians have informed India that the ship was'polluting' the ocean and had been detained. This is just a smokescreen and shows two things. Firstly Iran can hold up all shipping through the strait of Hormuz and secondly it is not a friend of India. Its about time the Indian establishment led by the docile and inefficient prime minister Man Mohan Singh realized this.

The seizure in international waters portend a dangerous game by Iran. This has happened despite the US Navy maintaining a task force with an Aircraft Carrier in the area with the ostensible reason of keeping the shipping lanes through the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian gulf free of Iranian interference. Obviously the task force is unable to prevent such things happening. For long the Iranians have threatened to block the strait of Hormuz and choke the supply of oil to the world. Nearly 30% of the world's oil flows through the Persian Gulf.

The situation is fraught with dangerous possibilities and this Iranian action in seizing an Indian ship needs a measured response from India. But with a negligible naval presence in the Persian Gulf, India will be hard put to contain any further Iranian action. The foreign policy based on a sand castle, that Iran is a friend of India needs to be consigned to the depths of the Arabian Sea.

My visit to Kabul: a Recap

Kabul appears a forbidding place. Its in the news for all the wrong reasons, bombs, terror attack, suicide bombers and what not. So when I landed in Kabul it was a refreshing surprise. Kabul has a modern airport and immigration formalities did take some time. Once outside I found I had been given a bullet proof car and a gunman. He supported a AK 47. Frankly I felt they were not needed as the Afghan love Indians and I was overwhelmed with their hospitality. They hate Pakistanis, who they blame for all their troubles. Excellent food is available and the Afghan Naan is huge one. It is relished with chicken. Afghan cuisine is more akin to Indian north food. Its wonderful and the Afghan want to treat you to the best foods. There are barbed wires everywhere, a reminder that Taliban are not far off. One Afghan told me" Friend you come here in place of these bloody Americans". That's the reality. They don't want America and hope India will help. I stayed 2 days in Kabul and came back happy. Kabul is a great place. What friendly people.

Kabul : a Visit

Kabul appears a forbidding place. Its in the news for all the wrong reasons, bombs, terror attack, suicide bombers and what not. So when I landed in Kabul it was a refreshing surprise. Kabul has a modern airport and immigration formalities did take some time.

Once outside I found I had been given a bullet proof car and a gunman. He supported a AK 47. Frankly I felt they were not needed as the Afghan love Indians and I was overwhelmed with their hospitality. They hate Pakistanis, who they blame for all their troubles. Excellent food is available and the Afghan Naan is huge one. It is relished with chicken. Afghan cuisine is more akin to Indian north food. Its wonderful and the Afghan want to treat you to the best foods.

There are barbed wires everywhere, a reminder that Taliban are not far off. One Afghan told me" Friend you come here in place of these bloody Americans". That's the reality. They don't want America and hope India will help. I stayed 2 days in Kabul and came back happy. Kabul is a great place. What friendly people.b

The Law of Karma( Deeds) will always Catch up with You

Almost all religions tell us to be good. By being good means doing things that spread love and do not harm anybody, physically or mentally. Hindu religion also lays great stress on deeds or karma. Hindu thought says that in case you do good deeds this will reflect in your present life. Sometimes this good will come back in the next life i.e rebirth. One of the theories of karma is to pay the dues to all persons. In case you do not pay, God will exact payment many times what you didn't pay. Thus money lenders who take money and not acknowledge it or people who refuse to pay legitimate dues, thinking nothing will happen to them as they are outside the pale of law are living in fallacy. God will take note of this as a bad Karma and such people will face his wrath in years to come. It may come after 20 or 30 years but God keeps a balance book and at the right time bad Karma will have to be atoned. So friends and readers never cheat. This is bad karma and will surely be noted as such

Two legends Pirate Blue Beard and Lover Blue Beard that Enrich our Lives

Two men who are distinguished by the color of their bears are Black Beard and Blue Beard. Both men have become of part of folk tales, while Black Beard was a real character in flesh and blood and was a pirate, Blue bear is a character from the world of fairy tales and he loved women , married them and then killed them. Black Beard operated in the 17th century. He took to piracy at a time when England condoned pirates as a second line of defense. Many pirates were pardoned later and Sir Francis Drake is an excellent example. He sailed around the world and returned with booty worth 1.5 million pounds. The legend of Blue beard as brought out to children is of a man who married women and secretly killed them and kept the bodies in a closet with a special key, which he gave to his new wife with the injunction never to open the closet. However it was a case of one times too many and Blue beard was killed and his last wife rescued. Both tales of Black beard and Blue beard make interesting reading and our life is richer with tales of such characters to enliven us.

The Case of Sharrukh Khan: a man with a Flawed Thinking

Recently in Abudhabi, I was watching a Pak TV channel. It pained me to listen that Sharrukh Khan felt insecure in India. The program went on to quote him verbatim and as a patriotic Indian all this looked very bad. I expected Sharrukh to rebut this program,but till date it has not happened.

Sharrukh Khan is a Muslim star in a predominant Hindu country. He has risen up on the back of this vast Hindu populace. This is not a cliche, but a fact of everyday life. Sharrukh is nothing without this mass support from a predominant Hindu fan following. One wonders how Mr. Khan is feeling insecure in India with millions adulating him. For Sharrukh Khan to feel insecure is a traversity of Indian secularism.

I am reminded of an earlier star Dilip Kumar(Yusaf Khan) who also was involved in dubious actions. This man strutted about the stage in 1962 as patriot, when China attacked India. But come the 1965 war with Pakistan and Dilip Kumar failed to laud the Indian war effort or condemn Pakistan. One wondered where his loyality was. Sharrukh has not covered himself with glory and has shown that basically he is a small man with a petty mind. I wonder he knows about Muslim leaders like Maulana Azad and Humuyan Kabir who left Jinnah to be with Gandhi. Sharruks actions should not condoned. Its about time somebody thre the gauntalet and picked it up.India is too great a country to be trivalized by a man who cannot see beyond the horizon

Muslim Stars dominate Hindu India Cinema

The Indian movie industry has now come of age and serious movies are also being made that cater to the world market. But there is a dichotomy that is hard to explain as in a country with a overwhelming Hindu population, the major top stars all profess the Moslem religion. Thus the top stars of the Hindi films like Saif Ali Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman khan et all are Moslems. Though i

s as well but the popularity of the Moslem stars is unrivaled.

It is not only the Moslem film stars who rule the roost in India but even all other departments of film craft like direction, music, editing, songs etc are dominated by the minority community. But the fact remains that the Moslem stars have endeared themselves to the vast majority of Hindus who literally adore them. Thus any talk of discrimination against the minority community is perhaps redundant.

We have leaders like Bala sahib Thackeray and the Viswa Hindu Parishad who cater to Hindu revivalist thought. But even these organizations are unable to dent the popularity of the Moslem stars. Moslem stars have always ruled the Hindi film world ever since the movie industry was launched in India. In the earlier period just after independence most of the Moslem stars adopted Hindu names. The most prominent being Yusuf khan who adopted the name Dilip Kumar. But in the present age most Moslem stars are proud to flaunt their religion and again their popularity has not diminished among the Hindu masses.

The King of the Mumbai film world is Shah Rukh Khan who has endeared himself to the Indian public with a variety of roles. He is one star who is versatile and does justice to all his roles. The trend of male heroes is not an exception as female Moslem stars are also making a name for themselves. Prominent being Katrina kaif. One can truly say that Indian secularism has come of age.