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What’s up? How are you? Long time eh? How’s life?
It’s official. The solar system consists of the sun and eight planets. Pluto’s tenure as a planet ends.
I imagine Clyde Tombaugh shouting and throwing abuses in his grave. Poor man.
It’s a fine morning but…
So I’m going back to bed.
National song Vande Mataram is ‘against Islamic beliefs’ and asking Muslims to sing it would amount to ’suppression’ of the community, Shahi Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid Syed Ahmed Bukhari said on Sunday.
I’m sick and tired of his radical Islamic rhetoric. Maybe the idiot should pack his bags and fuck off to Saudi Arabia where he wont be asked to sing Vande Mataram, which after all, has no religious connotations.
After the Mumbai blasts, he “absolved” the Let and blamed the RSS for the blasts:
‘I can say with authority that it is not any Muslim but the Shiv Sena, the RSS and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad who are responsible for the serial blasts in Mumbai,” Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari told a gathering inside the historic mosque
He made his Islamofascist designs clear when he proclaimed:
”We were rulers here for 800 years. Inshaallah, we shall return to power here once again.”
In 2003, he said 9/11 was “not a matter of regret”:
In a highly controversial speech, he also defended Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban. He said despite the extensive bombing of Afghanistan, the US could not kill Osama Bin Laden, who is believed to be the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks.
“It is Allah’s wish that Osama Bin Laden stays alive. The US cannot take away his life,” he said amidst the chanting of the slogan Allah O Akbar (God is great).
We were the first country to ban The Satanic Verses even before it was published but somehow, anti-national monkeys like this idiot are tolerated without even a warning that he’s hurting the sentiments of hundreds of millions of Indians.
It’s almost 5.00 AM. The power went off at 12.00 AM. I just returned from the balcony. I’ve spent time watching the dogs in the street. Though they eat garbage, I couldnt help feel they live much better lives than we do. I envy their freedom, their freedom from things like power cuts, water supply problems, duty, “goals in life”, attachments, morality, their freedom to terrorise passersby at will, their laidback lives, the bindaas attitude they sport when they yawn spread out like lions on car tops, watching their human counterparts running around like rats in their cars and going about their pitiful lives.
It’s mid-August but it’s still hot and humid. For the last three weeks, temperatures have been like 35 – 38 degrees Centigrade, relative humidity about 80% to 90%, making it feel like 44 – 45 degrees effectively. Add to that the “force multiplier” of power cuts, for atleast 5-6 hours daily.
Anyway, it’s late, I’ll just go to bed and try to sleep. What else can I do? I dont have much choice do I? I’m just assuming the power will return. I’m also assuming I’m in the capital city of our great country. I’m assuming I’m living in a metropolitan city and not in a remote village. I’m assuming I’m a circus animal.
Circus animals are completely at the mercy of their masters. What they do, when they do, what they eat, where they live, everything is decided by their masters. Likewise, when I study, when I sleep, when I wake up, how much sleep I get, everything is decided by the power distribution company here.
Ah leave it, it’s already 5.00 AM. I have a class at 9 and I have to wake up at 8. So, all the sleep I get for today is 3 hours. I hope I wont doze off in the classroom tomorrow. I hope I wont vent my frustration on somebody else. I’m not going to shave tomorrow, I’m going to wear a crumpled shirt, I’m not going to smile so that I look as ugly as possible, as if to say “Danger. 440 Volts. Maintain distance.”
As I write this, all our respectable politicians, from our “champion of the poor” that 19th century ol’ bastard, Prakash Karat (this “champion of the poor” moves around only in airconditioned cars), to our honourable Prime Minister, must be snoring in their bedrooms. Rahul Gandhi must be fantasizing, moaning in pleasure “Yes! Yes! Yeees!” at the very thought of becoming India’s future Prime Minister. And they must be reaching for their blankets. It’s 5 AM. The airconditioning must’ve got too cold eh?
Even South Africa is divided on whether their cricket board’s decision to pull out was justified or not:
The responses were divided with some supporting the cricketers, while others saying that the players have decided to come back home “with their tails between their legs”.
The team is now on its way home via Hong Kong. The decision has drawn angry reactions from the Sri Lankans with one newspaper describing the South Africans as “chickens” while back home in South Africa many people have described the players as “sissies” (girls).
One South African caller (to a radio station) has hit the nail on the head:
“By withdrawing from the tournament between South Africa, India and Sri Lanka, our national cricket team has spelled the triumph of anarchy and terror over good reason.
The Hindu reports:
In a sensational disclosure to The Hindu, Shane Dullewe, Security Consultant for Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), has said the biggest threat to the South African team on its tour of Sri Lanka emerged from its own security officer who accompanied the side.
Mr. Dullewe, who heads the S.D. Security agency, revealed here on Friday that Faisal Nagl had misplaced four special passes issued by ICC’s Anti Corruption Unit (ACU) to those who wanted to enter the players’ dressing room during the second South Africa – Sri Lanka Test in Colombo. These passes were subsequently recovered by Sri Lankan officers.
“Just imagine what might have happened had these passes gone to the wrong hands. Somebody could have smuggled in bombs into the dressing rooms. I handed the passes over to the ACU officer for that series, Martin Hopkins,” Mr. Dullewe said.
It is strange that the South Africans themselves, who were so concerned about their players’ safety, didnt cooperate with Sri Lanka’s security agencies. Mr. Dullewe pointed out how laughably obsessed the South Africans were about security:
“This was because the South Africans felt India would be a targeted team. They seemed to be obsessed with security.”
Cricinfo reports:
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has invited Percy Sonn, the ICC president, to spend a few days in Colombo and assess for himself the security arrangements that are in place for touring teams.
Well, let us wait for what Percy Sonn has to say after he finishes his assessment. I’m sure he wont be blown to bits. Sri Lanka feel they should get compensation, not from the ICC but from South Africa, rightly so:
Dharmadasa said that the Sri Lankan board will make use of Sonn’s visit to press forward their case towards gaining compensation from South Africa…
Controversies always generate some ROTFL stuff. For example, Gerald Majola, the CSA chief executive has claimed that the decision to pull out was based on an email threat received from some group called as the “Tamil Tiger Youth League”. This is what the email allegedly contained:
“We expect you to make a proper decision by cancelling the tournament. By doing this, you can be sure that your great players are protected in any cause” and “we would like to inform you that anything can happen, therefore we urge you to return back to your homeland.”
Gerald Majola simply offered himself and his cricket board to ridicule:
The credibility of the evidence that South Africa’s decision was based upon was not helped by the announcement in Johannesburg by Gerald Majola, Cricket South Africa’s chief executive, that the “clinching factor” was a threatening email from a group called the Tamil Tiger Youth League. To those in Sri Lanka, or those who know about Sri Lankan politics, this can be translated as: “The clinching factor was a threat from an organisation that no-one has ever heard of before.” It could have been sent from a Hotmail account. (link.)
The fact is that there is no group called “Tamil Tiger Youth League” in Sri Lanka. No one has ever heard of it. So, basically, Gerald Majola’s “clinching factor” was a mere hoax and nothing more. I could’ve sent an email to them as well, saying “This message will self destruct in five seconds!” It’s just like one of those innumerous hoax calls that our police get following a bombing: “There’s a bomb waiting to explode at XXXXX place. It will go off at XXXX Hours. So chicken out.” South Africa simply said “Yes mate!”
I’ve also seen many Indians asking for their team to return from Sri Lanka. But who knows the ground situation better? These people or the captain, Rahul Dravid himself?:
Indian captain Rahul Dravid said his team was more concerned about the weather than security arrangements.” No one came to me and said he wanted to go home,” Dravid said. “Everyone is keen to play. We are probably worried more about the weather than the security.”
Dravid also acknowledged the security arrangements made:
India have stayed and Dravid said: “We are totally satisfied with the security arrangements. The Indian High Commission is in constant touch.” The intelligence branch is also giving us full support.”
Those who doubt the security arrangements in Sri Lanka and think that the Sri Lankan security agencies are a bunch of incompetent snobs should go read this article in the Indian Express. It is significant that it appeared at 0000 Hours on August 14, before the bomb blast took place:
Meet the crack team of the Sri Lanka Ministerial Security Division, responsible for VVIP security, which these days means the Indian cricket team. Trained in the US, and deployed in two rings, over 50 of them are outside the hotel with mini-Uzi guns and in ‘civvies’ and over 25 inside with M-75 9mm pistols tucked in holsters under their shirts or inside their waistbands behind their backs.
I dont think more security than that is possible. They cant move the cricketers around in armoured vehicles!
And somehow, the South Asian Games opening ceremony went on without any untoward incident. There are sporting teams from eight countries right now in Sri Lanka. Only South Africa were shit scared and they chickened out.
Sissies!
Osman Samiuddin, writing at Cricinfo, feels that safety is a “very personal concept”:
Many will also insist that no place in the world is really safe anymore, from any kind of violence. Can foolproof security be offered anywhere? Johannesburg is a dangerous city, as Saqlain Mushtaq and Mohammad Wasim found out on the 1997-98 tour when they were attacked and mugged, putting the tour briefly in doubt and delaying the first Test. Pakistan are playing a Test in London days after a major terrorist plot at the country’s leading airport, in a country which is still on a high level of alert. How safe are they?
But any criticism of South Africa’s decision should also be tempered, to an extent, by the understanding that safety is a very personal concept. A Pakistani player’s notion of safety is likely to be different to that of a South African. If he is a resident of Karachi, he will have few qualms in traveling to Delhi, Mumbai or Colombo because he is likely to be more immune to such incidents. Tragic as they are, because they happen regularly enough in his city, they build up a certain resistance. The same can be said of a player from Colombo, Delhi or Mumbai; unsurprisingly, since 9/11 the only countries to play a Test in Karachi are the three teams from the subcontinent.
What the good man is suggesting is that a Pakistani player is “okay” with being “attacked and mugged” but a South African is not. Dilliwallahs, Mumbaikars or the people of Colombo are “okay” with being bombed every now and then but a South African tends to take it very seriously. So, Indians, Sri Lankans and Pakistanis are used to being killed, attacked and mugged. They lack self respect and lack any notions of personal safety and so, they shouldnt be expected to take such stuff seriously while their South African counterparts have the luxury and privelege of getting shit scared.
The man, being a Pakistani himself, should be ashamed of himself for putting his country men in such poor light. The reasoning that people from the subcontinent, since they are used to being bombed around and killed every now and then, shouldnt be expected to value their lives is utterly flawed. No normal human being, be it an Afghan or an American, will ever be comfortable with bombs going off every now and then. If a person becomes “immune” or whatever, it’s mere helplessness but definitely not apathy or “thickskinnedness”. Every person from the subcontinent values his/her life as much as a South African or an Australian does. To suggest otherwise is to imply that people from the subcontinent lack self respect. If personal safety is a problem here, it’s not because the people like it that way.
An article in a Sri Lankan English newspaper, reportedly angered some South African players. It was written by Elmo Rodrigopulle in the Daily News, carrying the headline, “South African cricketers chicken out”. The man naively suggests that
The South Africans in citing the bomb blast were only making a flimsy excuse to skip the tournament. Obviously they would not have wanted to be beaten again after losing the Test series 2-nil.
Maybe true or maybe not. But he makes a very good point, bringing out all the hypocrisy:
The South Africans are used to playing under threatening conditions. In Protealand, too, there are security concerns.
There one has to be careful when even taking a stroll on their streets.
I have been to South African a few times and can vouch for the fact that it is not safe to be on the roads alone even in broad daylight for the chances of being, manhandled and mugged are great.
One incident that remains vivid in my mind was when Sri Lanka toured South Africa in March 1998. Lionel Ranasinghe who kept cheer leader Lionel Nawaragodagedera company was badly manhandled and mugged and robbed of all his belongings. He had to be hospitalised for several weeks.
Ranasinghe had gone to purchase his bus ticket and was on his way back in Johannesburg when he suffered this life threatening attack.
Also add that one in every three South African women is raped at some or the other point in her life (link):
The survey was released at the same time as the government’s latest crime statistics, which reveal that the rates of murder and rape in South Africa had declined slightly during 1998.
The murder rate nevertheless remains at 52 per 100,000 – eight times as high as in the United States.
Car hijackings last year were up by nearly 9% on the previous year’s figure, and the statistics also show an increase in the rate of burglary and mugging.
A Human Rights Watch report says:
South African women’s organizations estimate that perhaps as many as one in every three South African women will be raped and one in six South African women is in an abusive domestic relationship.
The South Africans were clearly not amused at the article in The Daily News:
Having fielded calls all day regarding the alleged split within the ranks, Gordon Templeton, the team’s media manager, also didn’t mince words when asked his opinion about the stories called by the Daily News and the Daily Mirror. “Those with anything between their ears, and who understand cricket, would find such stories utterly laughable.”
Nothing… I repeat nothing is new about this attack. Attacks like these are commonplace in Sri Lanka. They happen all the time. They are covered by all major newspapers around the world. So anyone who is literate with two eyes, a brain which works and a bit of common sense would either:
1. Go to Sri Lanka or
2. Completely avoid it.
But here we have an amusing situation wherein, they come, play cricket, sip Cola in their hotel lobby, and once a bomb goes off, run away like kids.
One should also ask why South Africa had no problem whatsoever during the Test series. Threat levels were always high, ever since the ceasefire was violated by the LTTE. Even so, South Africa were cleared and allowed to play by their cricket board and played the two Test matches completely safe, without as much a problem as a mosquito bite. A bomb goes off and suddenly, everything changes. It’s as if there’s a foreign invasion and Sri Lanka is going to be wiped off in the following days by incessant bombing.
Even a South African schoolboys’ team was called back from Sri Lanka. Richard Venter, the team’s coach, was quite upset with the pullout and feels the threat has been amplified many times over:
… the issue has been blown out of proportion by the South African media. It was made to appear that there were bombs dropping in Colombo every moment which is simply not true.
[...]
I don’t think we were under any great threat or danger here, except perhaps, when we went to crowded places and we could so easily have avoided going to those areas. The boys were happy here. I think the people back home have over-reacted.
One can write that off as personal opinion but it’s a good opinion nevertheless, in my view.
More distressing is the fact that this pull out was based on the security assessment done by a company sitting in Dubai within 24 hours!:
“I am amazed at their decision to return home,” Mendis told AFP. “The government put in place presidential-level security for the team, yet they were not convinced. They took advice from a Dubai firm which is even more surprising. I did not see anyone from this firm in Colombo, yet they prepared a security report within 24 hours sitting in Dubai.” (link: 1, 2.)
I wonder how people residing in Dubai know the ground situation in Colombo better than even the Sri Lankan Army.
These guys were given presidential security, the sort of security that an ordinary Sri Lankan citizen would never dream of or get. Yet, it was not enough. Maybe they wanted the United States Marine Corps with them.
Neil Mantrop, a South African radio commentator, writing in SuperCricket, puts forward some flawed reasoning:
But the problem with an ‘upgrade’ of security for the team to ‘presidential’ level is that presidential security is reliant on the military which is, of course, not just a target for the Tamils, but the primary target. So does surrounding the South African team with high numbers of primary Tamil targets constitute an increase in their safety, or a significant decrease?
Tell me, who provides security? The military, the police or belly dancers, huh? By the way, the Sri Lankan military is not the sole “primary Tamil target”. Every Sinhalese Sri Lankan is one. So are all those Sinhalese Sri Lankans who serve the South African team in their hotel. So should we avoid surrounding the South African team with them? Should Sri Lanka ban any Sinhalese Sri Lankan from going too close to the South African team?
I’ve been told “It’s just cricket. Leave it.”
It’s not just cricket here. This is a very serious issue. It involves national honour. The moment South Africa asked for security certification, they spat on Sri Lanka’s face, saying even their best soldiers cant protect them. What a gesture from a country which fails to protect onethird of its own women from getting raped!
The next time Sri Lanka tours South Africa, their cricket board should ask the same Dubai based firm to provide security certification for the South African armed forces, that too within 24 hours, that too sitting in Dubai. Of course, they’d say “This is not Sri Lanka. We’re much safer.” Yes, women getting raped, people getting murdered every damn day and foreign cricketers getting mugged is very safe, I’m sure.
Six hours without electricity everday. My friends havent bathed for the past two days. Why? No water supply. In villages, you can atleast draw water from a well or get water from a canal.
A country which boasts of a near 8% economic growth rate cant provide 24 hours electricity and reliable water supply to citizens in its capital. And some people think, India will become a “developed” country within two decades. Yes, pigs can fly, I’m sure.
Atleast 5 were killed and 28 injured in a bomb blast at an ISKCON temple in Manipur. No organisation has claimed responsibility. And is that a surprise? How will a cold blooded coward ever come out and say “Hey! It’s me! I did it mate!” with a big, friendly smile on his face.
Too early to say who did it but two things:
1. The bomb attack happened during a prominent Hindu festival.
2. It took place at a temple of Lord Krishna, one of the most visible faces of the Hindu faith.
So who did it?
Naxalites?
They usually choose government installations. ISKCON is private property. Moreover, a majority of naxalites are Hindus.
Insurgents and seperatists in the northeast?
ISKCON hardly represents an Indian institution, in the sense that it has nothing to do with the Indian state.
Kashmiri insurgents?
Why would a Kashmiri ever go all the way to Manipur when he has enough Indian Army soldiers as targets in Kashmir itslef?
LTTE?
Again, why Manipur out of all places?
Who then?
I think it’s those deranged beasts again – the jehadi terrorists, one of whose aims is to destroy Hinduism, or to put it in their lingo: “Kill the infidels.” Death be upon them and their kind.
Anyway, this is mere speculation.
By the way, read all the major newspapers in the coming days and mark my words, you wont see a single Op-Ed article about this attack by the pseudosickular monkeys in our country like Praful Bidwai, the treacherous Commun”China chamcha”ist brigade and least of all, Arundhati Roy – “the champion of justice and peace” (My God!).
South Africa have pulled out of the Unitech triseries in Sri Lanka. The series has been reduced to a bilateral series, in which India and Sri Lanka will play three onedayers.
Now coming to this habbit of foreign teams pulling out whenever a bomb goes off in the subcontinent. This is not the first time. Australia, England, Newzealand, West Indies have all had this despicable and extremely arrogant habbit of going home like a bunch of cowards whenever an explosion occurs in their host country. West Indies and Australia, in the best example of this brand of arrogance, refused to play in Sri Lanka during World Cup 1996 – so all the others who played in Sri Lanka then were a bunch of fools who dont value their lives.
And now, South Africa has joined cricket’s elite Club Of Pussies. A bomb attack took place in Colombo and in no time, the South Africans were out considering pulling out. Graeme Smith put up a case that they dont want to get caught in the crossfire. I see.
Point 1: They paid complete disregard to the fact that heavy security was provided and will be provided to them. Please dont say “If they cant protect their own country men, how will they protect us?” This is a great insult to the hosts. When you say that, you should remember that even the socalled peaceful countries of USA and UK have failed frequently to prevent terrorist attacks on their soil and what’s more, the biggest terrorist attack in recent memory occured in the United States, the “most secure nation” on the planet and many foreigners were killed in the attack.
Besides, the South African team has asked for a “security certification”:
- The South African cricket team will take part in the Unitech ODI tri-series if an independent security agency, recruited by the International Cricket Council, clears the upgraded security measures here.
Security certification?! Who the fuck are you? Guests from Mars?
Point 2: They gave the attackers exactly what they wanted. That is what the suicide bomber intended. To create havoc. And the cowards from South Africa gave themselves in nicely. Hardly what a society, which has been wounded by innumerable terrorist attacks in the past, would expect from a guest. Yes, maybe a bunch of arrogant brats who insult their hosts shouldnt play cricket. It’s a gentleman’s game you see. So let them piss off to where they came from. Good decision I say.
Point 3: Team India are a bunch of fools. Indians dont care for their lives. They dont value their lives. Or to put it in another way, South African lives are more important and more valuable than Indian and Sri Lankan lives. So, Cricket South Africa is upset with the BCCI for “sitting on the fence.” Sorry South Africa, we are not cowards. The BCCI will never pull out. We are being provided with heavy security. So, Indian cricketers will stay there and play cricket like gentlemen with our Sri Lankan brothers. They wont scream and run away like you kids did.
To sum it up for you, my dear bewildered reader, pulling out from a cricket series and leaving the host country is equivalent to this: You are invited by a friend to his house to stay for a few days in the summer. During your stay there, a murderer kills one of your host’s family members. What do you do?
1. Standby to help your friend or
2. Run away fearing for your life?
South Africa, I feel, did the latter, without any shame or guilt and not even such a thing as a formal apology. What would you call such a person? I would call him two words atleast: a coward and a bloody cheat.
Let them go.
Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh should actually gang up and put up a front here. I mean, how long will we tolerate this? It’s a shame that we dont speak out when teams from outside South Asia humiliate us asking for security certifications for our security agencies. Will England tolerate it if a visiting Indian team asks for security cerfitication for England’s security agencies, putting a case that the Indian team might be a target of jihadi terrorists based in England? Such a threat is real whenever a Indian team visits England. What if a bomb attack takes place in London and India pulls out? People like Geoffrey Boycott and Allan Border will be out splashing newspapers around the world calling Indians cowards and arrogant.
This pull out and all subsequent ones should be taken very seriously. They are an affont to national honour. South Asia has had enough of this. Teams which pull out of cricket serieses should be told bluntly and loudly, preferably with the middle finger out: “Alright. Get your silly ass out of here. And dont ever bring it back and of course, we wont come to play cricket with you brats in your country.” Period. All other considerations secondary.
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