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Showing posts from September, 2011

As we rush through life!

In Washington, DC, at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, this man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes.  During that time, approximately 2,000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. About 3 minutes: The violinist received his first dollar.  A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk. At 6 minutes: A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again. At 45 minutes: The musician played continuously.  Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while.  About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace.  The man collected a total of $32.  After 1 hour: He finished playing and silence took over.  No one noticed and no one applauded.  There was no recognition at all. No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world.  He...

Irom Sharmila's fast to un-fasten noose of AFSPA ...Part - II

( Continued from part ….........I ) To start with; let me correct some points in my first chapter,Irom Sharmila witnessed the killings that prompted her to fast unto death till the AFSPA repealed; the victims were not all ladies there were male members too. This has been corrected by one of my friends who has been closely watching the developments since long. Now let us see what AFSPA is all about. This law was passed by Indian Parliament on 11th September 1958 conferring the special powers on Armed Forces to act on Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Trupura as they all were declared disturbed areas. Later this law was extended to Jammu & Kashmir on July 1990. Now what are the special powers! The Constitution of India empowers a state government to declare it disturbed or a state of emergency is called upon. The reasons could be failure of stated administration and police to tackle the situation as the scale of unrest is too large. As a consequence; the ...

Irom Sharmila's fast to un-fasten noose of AFSPA

How do we start our days in any of our metropolis or smaller town; the busy morning schedules to catch up with our times. Even in villages where the roads and electricity have reached; the life has become more or less same; the only difference for those who are associated with farming may start the day quite early. The day may vary from one to another due to various professional and occupational differences but for all our days pose no fear. Imagine a morning you are passing by a bus stand in the outskirts of your town; people there as usual gathered to catch buses. All of sudden 'tara .. tara. ta. ; you find security perosonals on patrol opening fire to those in the bus stand with out any provocation! Ten die there instantly, in that doldrums you manage to take a glimpse, all the ten bodies are of innocent village women lying in pool of blood! What will be you reaction? Just to hurry back your home and taking recourse to nudge the very thought of that heinous killings. That...