Getting into a house is an experience in itself. As soon you enter the new house you feel you are intruding into someone else’s domain, as there are still some tell tale signs of the previous occupant. Everything about the house is new and unknown and you look at everything very critically, the first few minutes. Once you move to the bedroom or the kitchen, the two most important parts of any household, your mind automatically starts visualizing where you are going to place what. And as your future bedroom or kitchen virtually appears before you, you start connecting with the house. The condition of the house is another factor which helps in connecting with it. If its neat, the connection is instant, but if on the other hand the house has been left in a shabby condition by the previous occupant, you really take time in envisioning the house as your future abode. I have been quite lucky so far to get clean houses. But then I always make it a point to leave behind a neat and clean house, whenever we shift. So I guess if we do good, somewhere in some form it comes back to you. Having seen the house and deciding to shift in was a very easy job. The real action follows after that….?????? In shifting from one house to another, one does get uprooted for a couple of days, hence the urgency to settle down into the new one.

Posted on February 28th, 2010 under AUTHOR'S DIARY. Tags: b'day, help, house, job, party, shifting, warm. Comments: 3

Well, its over and done with. Salman Bashir came to India, met Nirupama Rao, addressed a press conference and went back. No joint statement but just polite handshakes, some smiles and thats it. Well, the meeting achieved what it was supposed to achieve, nothing. Nothing new came out of the meeting. No fresh ideas, no change from respective pre-stated positions, in fact nothing at all to write home about. What we heard were the same old statements emanating from both sides with India harping that terror must stop and Pakistan saying Kashmir first. To be candid it was expected. No body expects anything anymore to come out of Indo-Pak talks, especially this one coming as it did after Mumbai was attacked fourteen months ago. Nonetheless, aim achieved. Yes, aim achieved.

Posted on February 27th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: attack, Hafiz Saeed, JuD, Manmohan, options, talks, Terror, terrorist. Comments: 3

I saw one God yesterday. He plays for the Indian cricket team and goes by the name of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar for lesser mortals like you and me. To expect me to do justice to such a genius in one small post would itself be injustice to both Sachin and me. And in any case Gods don’t need us to praise them. If anything it is the other way round. We are the ones who need Gods. You can very well imagine what Indian cricket would’ve been without this one God.

Posted on February 25th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: century, Cricket, Double hundred, God, Sachin, team. Comments: 3

It is quite ironical that while we expect Pakistan to act against LeT, JeM and other such terrorist organisations operating from Pakistan to create terror in India our own political leaders are reluctant to act against Maoists who are nothing but terrorists, in my view. They may have a just cause or they may basically be Hindus but their methods are wrong. If killing innocent villagers, govt officials/ policemen and detonating bombs is not terrorism, what is? If this is indeed terror why is our response to these activities any different than what it is against LeT, JeM, HUJI and others? Is it because Maoists are not exactly demanding a separate country, yet? Or is it because they are also fulfilling some political objectives of certain politicians?

Posted on February 21st, 2010 under India calling. Tags: attack, BJP, Congress, maoists, Naxal, Silda, terrorist, threat. Comments: 7

After the blast in Pune Congress spokesman Manish Tiwari said that once we had made an offer of talks it is quite possible that terrorists are trying to scuttle it away by creating more trouble between the two countries and this has to be factored in in any decision that we may take now. And that decision has indeed been taken- TALKS WILL GO ON AS PLANNED. What Manish Tiwari and the Congress is yet to factor in is that Pakistan continues to allow its territory to be used by terrorists to scuttle these talks away. All this talk of non state actors is nothing but hogwash which is not going down down well either with India or with international community as such. Also, while India says that terror will be the focal point of talks Pakistan says that no talks will be complete without discussing issues of Kashmir and water, water having been added as a major issue just recently. Also, P Chidambaram had recently made a statement that PoK is very much a part of India. As is obvious there is no meeting ground for these talks between the two countries.

Posted on February 17th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: blast, intelligence, LeT, Pak, peace, Pune, support, talks, Terror. Comments: 11

We would be rather naive if among the numerous confabulations which reverberate in our monotonous regimen we chose not to coagulate our symptomatic priorities in our subconscious existence so as to mitigate any conflicting preponderances which may permeate to vitiate our environment.

Posted on February 15th, 2010 under AUTHOR'S DIARY, Feelings. Tags: bed time, constructive, creativity, food, innovate, message, moral, stories, traffic. Comments: 10

Is there anything called the ‘good Taliban’? The answer to that question will depend upon whom are you asking this question from. If you ask Indians, well, all Taliban is bad. If you ask Pakis, most of them are good. If you ask an Afghan- on second thoughts, don’t. What Afghans think doesn’t really matter, unfortunately. If you happen to ask Americans, their answer will also depend upon when is the question being asked. Till some time back the entire Taliban, possibly along with their kids, women and cattle, was bad for Americans. But times have changed and they now say that some of them are indeed good. But this is not their final position on the matter either. Don’t be surprised if they revert back to their earlier position depending upon where their offer of talks with the so called ‘good Taliban’ leads to.

Posted on February 13th, 2010 under India calling, Track the world. Tags: Af-Pak, Afghanistan, good taliban, India, Kiyani, NATO, offer, talks. Comments: 8

Now with Aleena being almost 17-odd months old things are a little manageable and everything was going well. We had just got over umpteen parties we attended or had thrown for our friends for Christmas and to welcome the new year. I was just sitting back asking myself when would I get over this feeling of tiredness and sleepless nights when Manish casually asked me if I wanted some change in my life. And I swear, being a fauzi kid, change is something I grew up with. What with change of places, houses, schools, friends, people in general and what not all. Though change is something I thrive on but it is always accompanied by butterflies in my stomach, not for anything else but in anticipation for the unknown. The very idea of something new gives me hope for something good. So, I was game when Manish suggested we move into a bigger house, now that both the girls needed space and I could also do with a separate study. I was actually very happy at the idea of having a study of my own where I could work undisturbed and Mansie and Aleena will not flick my stationary, my table will be untouched and I would find things where I left them.

Posted on February 11th, 2010 under AUTHOR'S DIARY. Tags: feelings, moving, neighbors, packing, shift. Comments: 9

Nearly fifty years ago when Shiv Sena came into being it was on Marathi Manoos plank, basically directed at South Indians within Mumbai at that time. That the agenda has not changed in the last fifty years, though the target has, shows the lack of growth within the party both intellectually and physically. And this despite the fact that they have been in power in the state. Another indicator of their lack of their growth are their strained relations with RSS and BJP, who have quite categorically said that Mumbai belongs to India and not just Mumbaikars. A couple of years ago this would have been unthinkable. Also, it is rather ironical that Shiv Sena is desperately trying to spread it’s base into other parts of the country as well. With the kind of approach they have vis-a-vis Mumbai are they implying that their own members who are from outside Maharashtra are not welcome in Mumbai? I mean, wouldn’t that be a shame?

Posted on February 8th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: Congress, Gandhi, growth, Mumbai, Rahul, Shiv sena, SRK, Thakeray. Comments: 5