A single foot of lenght ...

The story of A

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The smell of sweat and blood were all around. A was crouching in his hole...any false move , he would die and all the war will become meaningless for him. He waited , and waited...

This was not how it was supposed to be... The enemy was supposed to be caught unawares...also they were supposed to be lesser in number and most importantly, not equipped with machine guns ! A was cursing why he landed up in this mess!

His friend and comrade B was dead, a single bullet through his head...dead instantly. He was lying, 1 feet away, on his left...

B's story

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One year back...B was graduating from the military school... maybe it was the proudest moment of his life... he felt as if all the war heroes whose pictures adonrned the dorm walls were smilling upon him...his journey was about to begin.

He was called into this conflict 2 months ago. The enemy had occupied a large track of his country. Something had to be done.

A&B 's story

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The colonel decided that the only way out was to send a scout team and get the exact positions of the enemy. It was a risky gamble and he chose the best officers under him - A & B.

A's story

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So he lay, among sweat and blood....but he kept quiet. The enemy did not move in. They were convinced that the intruder was dead.

hours past...and finally it was dark...he crept out of his hole...he took the pictures...he came back and gave a final good bye to B, who was on his right when the bullet hit him...then he left him...

The attack was a success...the enemy position were accurately marked and were destroyed.

A became a war hero. Medals were bestowed upon him....gradually with passage of years, he forgot that he was so close to the bullet that hit B in place of him...after some years, his picture was on the dorm walls, along with other war heroes.

B's story

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Minutes before the bullet hit him...A was on his left...but somehow A did not look comfortable...B figured out that there was no way he could allow A to be uncovered as it will jeopardize the whole mission. So he dragged him to his right and he took the position on A left... It was 1 foot to the left of his earlier place...but he remembered the pictures of all the war heroes and the silent promise he made to them...Sometime later, a sniper who had seen A helmet partially, got a second glance of another helmet. B never had a chance after that.... he was one foot too far in the wrong direction...

Our story

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We read about the awesome military operations and tactical victory in the great war... We read an entire page on the heroic of A... Only place B gets mentioned is as a nameless soldier....when they say "A's entire team was wiped out but he did it alone".

Sometimes... a single foot is a big distance.

The Deadly truth

Inspired by Orham Pamuk's "My name is Red"!!! :)....

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I am lying amidst the debris of what was 5 minutes ago my body. Now that i could figure out things (its about 5 mins!) i realize that not only am i dead, my body has been splitted into over 10 parts! I am not sure which part of my body is talking - the heart or the head? But since i guess i can see things it is the head. But then again, it might be the soul!! I am so confused... Whoever came up with the cliche "rest in peace"!!!

I guess you are confused what all was happening? My apologies. I was out for shopping in the main market when i was caught up in a bomb explosion. And i died. However, with it, i became supremely aware of all things around me- the past , present and the future! Somehow me not knowing the cause of my death irked me!!! It was like being forced to marry without loving that person. I decided to explore why i died.

The immediate cause was clear. I have been splitted up into several pieces and each part was incapable of independent existence. But why was this done??? dammit... i am going to get to the bottom of it!

I transport myself 5 mins back (i am dead so i can do time travel!!!)... I see what happened... There was this young man, carrying the bag, which had the bomb which after 5 minutes had exploded right under my feet. Now that i see him, i could make out that he was uneasy, excited and looked very cautious! But when i was alive, it seemed so normal! Infact i did not even notice him. But then its no fun. I know what happened in the next few minutes. So i follow the young man 2 days in the past.

I see him in deep conversation with a person in his mid 40s. They looked very intense. I decided to eavesdrop. After all they killed me so i don't think they deserve my decency!

They were talking something about independence, tyranny, oppression and lot of gas! The older guy was somehow trying to motivate the young guy (I wont call him friend since he killed me) to carry "it" out, which i figured out, was planting the bomb. Since my head was in several pieces, i could not figure out how i "thought" but believe me, it's possible!

they were parting way...after some decision, i decided to leave the youg guy and start to follow the older guy. Time travel 2 years in the past!

I was now in a jungle..no wait! not a jungle but a training camp somewhere in the middle of a jungle! Young people were getting trained for.... to be killed or to kill!!! My My My... talking of dying is so easy for people who are alive. Only the dead know what they are missing! But lets not lead you away from my story.

I see the middle age guy in some serious discussion with who looked like his boss, a bald guy who was chain smoking. I could not understand their language. Again i overheard the words Tyranny, oppression and independence. They were talking about how they planned to fight to get independence from the government! I was lost, as i could not figure out why i had to die for this!!! But wait... i heard their plan... they would carry out a major bombing to shake the government and make them accept their demand!!!! Now it was making sense to me!

But why??? The question was not answered yet. So i decided to follow the boss to the past 10 years!

He had lot of hair then and was much more handsome!!!! Seeing this i got a sadistic pleasure (come on i can since he was responsible for my present state)...i saw him as all eager eyed and idle person. He was sitting in a geography class. Or was it a History class??? They had all maps around but these maps were showing historical kingdoms/empire. Or i was in a political science classroom because the teacher was saying lots of stuff about Marx and Lenin etc! WAIT!!!! I was in the middle of a sermon!!! I paused and listened. I was informed how historically "they" were a great kingdom and how the "oppressors" have conquered them!!!!

Now i was good in studies in school but i never heard of all these stories. So i was curious. However, after 5 mins i started yawning (well the soul can yawn believe me)...the guy was saying a lot of crap. 50% stuff was made up or his own interpretation and fables! I was laughing. But then i looked at the class. Everyone was listening in rapt attention!!! I suddenly realised that i was very close to the end of my investigation.

Using my special soul-power, i went inside the mind of the "preacher"...Dude!!! He was not even a class 10th pass!!! He has heard all the stuff he was blabbering from someone else and was just vomiting out! He was talking of a past 500 years ago!!! A past that made no difference to the living!!!

I cant believe this. I died because some idiot had an idea of the past which he successfully passed on to another idiot who then passed it to 3-4 more buffoons which ultimately lead me to my death!!! GRRRRRR.... Bunch of losers!

I might have hated history and geography in school but was big time pissed of it with it now! How nice it would have been if people did not care about history and geography so much and concentrated just on making a better lives for themselves!!! DAMMIT.... I might have been alive today!!!

A question of freedom!

I was having a email converstaion with a person who was working in a NGO. It was at that time when Tata's had not pulled out of Singur. The person was defending the rights of farmers and was saying that the main question is about freedom of choice! I disagreed with him...but it set me thinking...What exactly is freedom?

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15th Aug 1947, India won her freedom. It was a tectonic shift. 1/6th of humanity became FREE!!! was it? really?

I must make it clear that i dont intend to discuss about the freedom and socio-economic inequality existing. I am more interested in analysing it from a individual viewpoint.

Are we free? People may be shocked that i am even asking this question! Of course we are, they will say! Remember the British Raj!!! But this is waht i think is weird... Our concept of Freedom is symbolised by Political freedom!

People will disagree. They will say that one has the freedom to be what he or she wants! Its upto the individual to achieve. I disagree!!

Let us start with the big things in life. We are not free to decide our race, our nationality, our mother tongue etc etc etc! I may sound crazy but keep up with me. We are not even free to decide which name society should call us! Well we can change our name and stuff, officially!!! But to do it i have to spend time n effort and resources in a gov office and more time and effort and resources to let people know my new name!!!Is it freedom then! I dont think so.

I can continue with so many things we are not "FREE" to do! But it does not make sense ne may say- these things are fact and we cannot alter them! Exactly, thats my point. We are not as free as we like to think we are!

I can continue with multiple things. After doing an exhaustive search of most important things that define us, i can finally come up with the top 5 things we are free to do! 1) Choose our career 2) Marry the person we want 3)Our religion 4) Our favourite food and dress 5) Political freedom!

Dont cry out that i a pessimist!!!

Here too, we have multiple constraints that ensures that we excercise our freedom in a very restricted field!

Take career for example. Are we really free to decide on it? Well we have the choice to pick one career out of 40-50 listed out and approved by socio-economic parameters! To get about this, we have invented one more term called "Hobby"!!! Ya we are much more free to decide on our hobby than our careers, though socio-economic constraints also limit our choice, albeit to a lesser exent!

Marriage??? well i wont even discuss about it as it will take up too much space!!!

Religion? Well we have the freedom to believe or not to believe. But if we look into it carefully, you often have to give up this freedom to ensure you enjoy the benefits of social life.

Dress and food? Well we have a degree of personal choice. But almost 60% of stuff is off limits! Wearing your underwears outsides, or having elephant-meat for dinner, will ensure that lots of your other "freedoms" are curtailed!

Finally, our definition of freedom is only about political freedom! Well, less said about it the better!!!

In a nutshell, 90% of the stuff that define us, that make us, are not decided by us!!!! Are we really free???

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This is the most pessimistic article i have ever written. However, i think we often confuse between freedom and equality. All "freedom" movements are actually movements to ensure that people get equal rights and oppurtunities, rather than ensuring individual freedom.

on Racism and a global conspiracy

TOI, Hindu, DNA and Hindustan Times are in a race to racism! Ausssies beware...Since India is a future superpower, you are jealous of us as u cannot compete with us in the race! Moreover, since we beat Aussies in cricket and we became the T 20 champs, the aussies are seething with humiliation and the entire country is taking it out on singular unsuspecting Indian students!

However, i personally think that the Aussies are not the only one involved. In the CPM Vijayan - Lavlin case, it has been been implied that CIA is behind the framing of Vijayan as US imperialists want to destroy one of the last bastions of communism! Amazing vision , for if the comrades had not told me such, i would never have been able to find the connection between Vijayan and CIA.

Coming back to the topic, i see a CIA hand in the Indian bashing in down under (down under as in Aussie land and not that down under). The evil imperialists dont want us to progress. Since Slumdog millionaire won the Oscar, they have been trying to get back us. The question was how and where.

They could not beat us in sports! They do not play cricket well, and we do not play anyother game well. So if we lose, there wont be any humiliation for us. Who would ever watch a US-India basketball match? Even if Ekta Kapoor produces such a "Klassic" match, do you think the Indian ladies will watch it? Even if India loses the match 110-0, there wont be headlines in TOI, No crowd will go and destroy the players homes, nor will there be demands for removal of captain (one reason maybe we dont even know the name of the captain of the Indian Basketball team).But what about cricket. US had three staunch allies in Australia Pakistan and England. But of late, India, due to its emerging economic status, have been walloping them left right and center, in the cricket field. In a nutshell, CIA realised that it cannot hurt us in sporting arena.

Economically too, Western powers were shit scared of India. They tried to put us down but saying 80% of our population was below poverty line. But this hitting down under (this time body part) did not affect us. To counter this, we produced Bollywood movies, where we showed Indians as rich dudes, who fly around in choppers. Also we showed that all whites were in awe of the cool desi dude! They even danced in our songs. So economically too, we downplayed them.

Frustrated, the CIA decided that it would hit us where it will hurt us most - down under (this time i mean the body part as well as Aussie). As a part of the global conspiracy, they started to attack the future of India. Their diabolical plan was to hit at every indian, when they expected the backlash and reaction to be the least - ie when IPL and T20 world cup is on. They decided that they would finish of this operation quickly and then move to their next india destabilising excercise - making CPM and Vijayan look corrupt in the Lavlin case.

Unfortunately, the CIA miscalculated the power of Indian Media! The mighty alliance TOI, Hindu, DNA and Hindustan Times was formed to counter the greatest threat to Indian culture since Danny Boyle produced Slumdog millionaire. If one indian was taunted and attacked in a mall, they ensured it got the front page headline. Obiously this was more important than 12 cops getting killed by Maoist or Deeepika Padukone getting kissed by whats-his-name Kapoor or the ongoing protests in Kashmir. The later are all domestic problems and dont involve a global conspiracy. Clearly unnerved, the CIA bosses packed their bags and made way to the sandy beaches of Kovalam.

Also, the aussies got s*** scared. Realising that they will be screwed by India in the T20 finals, they ensured that they crashed out in the early stages.

Karna...

Since childhood, i had been intrigued by the character of Karna...somehow, he never fitted into any stereotype...he was not black nor was he white... Who was he? Why was he there in the Mahabharata? Is he the ultimate "Tragic hero" of Greek plays, who were put down by fate? Or was he more of a Shakespeare "Hamlet" type character, who did not make the right choices at the right time? 

I decided to read his story again...after so many years, i was able to understand his story, finally.

Karna was born to Kunti, who decided to experiment her new found power of concieving with her choice of Alpha males. The process ensures she remained a virgin after the birth. However, Kunti never had the courage to face the society as an unwed mother (As i realised then, the same Kunti became such a protective mother to her step sons! Did this change in her motherhood status come due to the fact that she was now married and thus society cannot cast aspersions on her?).

He was reared by a non kshatriya charioter. Talented Karna wanted to study at the best institute of the day (the academy of Drona). However he was denied admission on "reverse quota system". Frustrated, he decided to forge his caste certificate and thus got admitted in the institute of Parhuram. Unfortunately, he was so so devoted to his guru that he did not cry out in pain when a bee bit him. Instead of rewarded for such devotion, Karna was cursed (in effect his degree was not awarded!!!). All along, he knew something was wrong. But he did not crib.

Then he heard about a great contest that was being helt at Hastinapur. Here all the princes, particularly the prodigy Arjun would showcase their valor. Believing that the only thing that mattered was real talent, Karna set forth to participate.

There he exceled. But he was insulted, humiliated and put down by the most learned people of the kingdoms with racist and casteist comments. Kunti realised it was her son but she did not have the courage to accept him (I believe this was a critical point. Had she shown a bit more courage, millions of lives could have been saved. Karna would have been acceptable to all as the eldest brother). Duryodhana (either out of admiration or seeing his future potential) stood up for him and made him the king of Anga. Maybe this was the first time anyone had appreciated Karna for who he was. Thus, he decided to remain loyal to Duryodhana.

But things did not change. Thought he was a king, Draupadi refuses to marry him, even though he had won the contest (It was like rejecting a person for a job because of his caste, even though he was most qualified). Finally, when Kunti decides to approach him, it is not because she suddenly realised her maternal instincts for him. rather it was a case of her maternal instincts for her five other sons. Inspite of all that he had faced, he agrees to most of her request. His greatest action is when he refuses to take the crown and instead remain loyal to Duryodhana. Similarly, Lord Indra also makes him give up his armour and Karna, knowing the consequences, obliges. In the battle, his valor is known. He is finally killed in a clear violation of the rules of war.

True he was not a spotless person, say like Yudhisthira (which again is debatable)! Karna's behaviour during the Dice game was not proper, particularly his treatment to Draupadi. Also, he himself broke the rules to kill Abhimanyu.

But he was the true hero. He always had to fight in his life (unlike the other who were princes), for no fault of his own. Maybe his purpose was to serve as a tragic hero in the Mahabharata. But , he also made many wrong choices (Taking the crown from Pandavas as advised by Kunti, giving up his armour etc). He is a character, who took life as it came to him. That is his importance in the Mahabharata. He makes it believable. He is a real flesh and blood charatcter. The Pandavas and Kauravas are one dimensional characters (either good or bad), with a fixed sets of virtues and vices. They had no troubled childhood or any identity crisis. The older generation of Bhisma and Drona are shown as idealist. Their view of things were narrow and sometimes slavish (they did not protest during the dice game. Later on they agree to all demands of Duryodhana). Karna is the only person in Mahabharata whose actions are based on his own judgements and how society treated him. Before the war, he knows that they are going to lose (as he says to Krishna). But still he decides to go ahead.

Maybe he was a failure; but the only reason i wish to read the Mahabharata again is because of Karna. The characted developement was way ahead of its time. We can identify the pain and suffering he must have faced for no fault of his own. But inspite of all hardship, he believed in himself and excelled. A person who was never given the due respect by his contempories but who, neverthe less have outshone them in the long run. Thousands of years later, we are still fascinated by him!